Reliability Improvement in III-V Concentrator Solar Cells by Means of Perimeter Protection

This paper presents the evolution in the strategy to assess the reliability of III-V solar cells and a new thermal ageing test carried out over GaAs single junction solar cells at three different temperatures (130, 150 and 170° C). The perimeter of the solar cells has been protected with silicone, which seems to be an effective way of enhancing the reliability of the solar cells. A preliminary analysis of the results indicates a mean time to failure (MTTF) one order of magnitude larger than the one obtained in a previous thermal test with the perimeter uncoated

Population studies of arthropods on Melia azedarach in Seville (Spain), with special reference to Eutetranychus orientalis (Acari: Tetranychidae) and its natural enemies

Eutetranychus orientalis has become an important pest of the ornamental tree Melia 8 azedarach in the city of Seville (Spain). Trees suffer total defoliation at the end of summer. 9 Studies were conducted in a regular plantation of this tree in the Miraflores Park in 2008 and 10 2009, to determine the arthropod faunal composition, with particular interest in the possible 11 natural enemies of E. orientalis. Eutetranychus orientalis accounted for 98.3% of the 12 arthropods found on the leaflets. Two species of phytoseiids were found, Euseius scutalis and 13 Euseius stipulatus, but they only represented 0.2% of the arthropods. The most abundant 14 insect was the predator thrips Scolothrips longicornis, which accounted for 0.9% of the 15 arthropods found. The population of E. orientalis reached two peaks in 2008, with 325 16 individuals per leaflet in August, and 100 individuals per leaflet in November. Scolothrips 17 longicornis densities closely followed E. orientalis, and predation was observed on various 18 mite instars. Phytoseiids did not show such a response to the E. orientalis densities. 19 Eutetranychus orientalis was more abundant in the exterior part of the plantation. No 20 differences of arthropod densities were found between the various orientations in the 21 plantation (north vs. south, east vs. west), although E. orientalis densities were different 22 between rows. Distribution of E. orientalis population was highly aggregative, that of S. 23 longicornis population was less aggregative, whereas the phytoseiid population showed a 24 random distribution

Embedded optimization-based controllers for industrial processes

© 20xx IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.Due to the growth of computational capabilities and the proliferation of field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), the utilization of model predictive control (MPC) for embedded applications in the industry has become a possibility and a fact. This paper presents and discusses the possibilities of the use of online MPC, embedded in an educational device from National Instruments, using two different optimization algorithms and code generators, which have come out in recent years by the academia: CVXGEN, which implements a primal-dual interior-point algorithm, and qpOASES, which relies on the online active-set strategy algorithm. Both algorithms have been tested both in simulation and in real-time experimentation to control a four-tank pilot plant.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Raman Spectroscopy and DFT calculations for the Electronic Structure Characterization of Conjugated Polymers

Flash presentationIn the last three decades, there has been a broad academic and industrial interest in conjugated polymers as semiconducting materials for organic electronics. Their applications in polymer light-emitting diodes (PLEDs), polymer solar cells (PSCs), and organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) offer opportunities for the resolution of energy issues as well as the development of display and information technologies1. Conjugated polymers provide several advantages including low cost, light weight, good flexibility, as well as solubility which make them readily processed and easily printed, removing the conventional photolithography for patterning2. A large library of polymer semiconductors have been synthesized and investigated with different building blocks, such as acenes or thiophene and derivatives, which have been employed to design new materials according to individual demands for specific applications. To design ideal conjugated polymers for specific applications, some general principles should be taken into account, including (i) side chains (ii) molecular weights, (iii) band gap and HOMO and LUMO energy levels, and (iv) suited morphology.3-6 The aim of this study is to elucidate the impact that substitution exerts on the molecular and electronic structure of π-conjugated polymers with outstanding performances in organic electronic devices. Different configurations of the π-conjugated backbones are analyzed: (i) donor-acceptor configuration, (ii) 1D lineal or 2D branched conjugated backbones, and (iii) encapsulated polymers (see Figure 1). Our combined vibrational spectroscopy and DFT study shows that small changes in the substitution pattern and in the molecular configuration have a strong impact on the electronic characteristics of these polymers. We hope this study can advance useful structure-property relationships of conjugated polymers and guide the design of new materials for organic electronic applications.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Necesidad de la Gestión de Contenidos en la Administración Pública

Los CMS son elementos muy útiles en las organizaciones para gestionar contenidos Web, especialmente en la Administración Pública. En este artículo se detallan las funcionalidades que aportan y que justifican su implantación en este entorno. Debido a las particularidades que presenta la Administración es necesaria la definición de cuatro roles con funcionalidades muy específicas, de workflows con validaciones específicas según el tipo de contenido y la identificación digital para facilitar los workflows y el trabajo en general. También se estudian las normativas europeas y españolas que impulsan la creación de sistemas. Por este motivo y teniendo en cuenta las características esperadas de un CMS se ha diseñado una arquitectura formada por cuatro bloques: uno para el acceso a datos, otro con el grueso de funcionalidades, otro para la presentación de los datos y el más externo para soportar la multicanalidad

The long bar as seen by the VVV Survey: II. Star counts

Context: There is still some debate about the presence and the morphological properties of the long bar in the inner Galaxy. Aims: We investigate the morphological properties of the long Galactic bar using the VVV survey extending star counts at least 3 mag deeper than 2MASS. Our study covers the relatively unexplored negative longitudes of the Galactic bar. We obtain a detailed description of the spatial distribution of star counts towards the long Galactic bar as well as to measure its parameters. Methods: We performed star counts towards -20<l<0 deg., |b|< 2 deg. using VVV, 2MASS, and GLIMPSE data. We applied an average interstellar extinction correction. We also adjusted latitudinal profiles to obtain the centroid variation and bar thickness. Results: We probe the structure of long Galactic bar, as well as its far edge at l=-14 deg. The differences between counts with and without extinction correction allow us to produce a crude extinction map showing regions with high extinction, mainly beyond the end of long Galactic bar. The latitudinal profiles show evidence of the centroid vertical variation with Galactic longitude reaching a minimum at l=-13.8 deg. The bar has an inclination angle 43+/-5 deg with respect to the line Sun-Galactic center. In addition, we have determined the bar parameters, such as thickness, length, and stellar distribution.Comment: Accepted for publication at Astronomy \& Astrophysics (17 pages, 17 figures). Second version: 1- Only minor changes on the abstract of the manuscript. 2- Abstract of arXiv.org modified to be in accordingly to Astronomy & Astrophysics abstract structur

Avanzando hacia la sostenibilidad en la industria extractiva: el caso de la Comunidad de Madrid

El concepto de sostenibilidad comienza a ser ampliamente utilizado desde que en 1987,Ia primera ministra noruega Gro Harlem Brundtland, en un informe presentado en la Comisión Mundial para el Medio Ambiente y el Desarrollo Sostenible lo define como"Aquel desarrollo que satisface las necesidades del presente sin comprometer la capacidad de las generaciones futuras para satisfacer sus propias necesidades" Este concepto de sostenibilidad, que ha dado origen a diversas interpretaciones, ha ido evolucionando desde una concepción puramente ecológica a otra mucho más amplia donde se recogen otros aspectos como los económicos y sociales. Efectivamente, el concepto de sostenibilidad en la actividad humana ha de entenderse como una conjugación de esas tres facetas o dimensiones: la ecológica, la social y la económica, ya que sin esta percepción el desarrollo humano quedaría prácticamente limitado a una actividad semiprimitiva, donde no se afecta al entorno pero tampoco se satisfacen las necesidades de la sociedad

Conservation Status of the Masked Bobwhite in Sonora, Mexico

The historical distribution of the endangered masked bobwhite (Colinus virginianus ridgwayi) ranged from southern Arizona, United States, to Central Sonora, Mexico. Research in Sonora the past 30 years focused on the largest known populations, near the town of Benjamin Hill on the El Carrizo ranch. Research and perceptions by local residents pointed to a decline in masked bobwhite over the past decade. We evaluated existence of the subspecies during 2013-15 by searching transects and interviewing local residents. Our evaluation yielded no validated observations of masked bobwhite, and subsequently we call for further coordinated population monitoring and the development of technology to identify vocalizations by the subspecies