Impact of oxygen concentration during the deposition of window layers on lowering the metastability effects in Cu(In,Ga)Se2/CBD Zn(S,O) based solar cell

The purpose of the present paper is to focus on the impact of oxygen gas partial pressure during the sputtering of i‐ZnO and ZnMgO on the transient behavior of Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ (CIGSe) based solar cells parameters when a CBD‐Zn(S,O) buffer layer is used. Based on electrical characterization of cells, it is observed that the effect of light soaking is different on J–V characteristics depending on whether oxygen is or is not present during the first deposition time of the i‐ZnO or ZnMgO layers. In fact, when cells are prepared with standard i‐ZnO, the efficiencies are very low and a pronounced transient behavior is observed. However, when the first 10 nm of i‐ZnO or ZnMgO is formed by sputtered layer without adding oxygen during the process, depending on the thickness of the buffer layer, the transient effects strongly decreases. It is then possible to get stable cells reaching efficiencies quite similar to the CdS reference cells, especially with ZnMgO, without any post‐treatments. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Radical‐scavenging properties of extracts from the white button mushroom,Agaricus bisporus

BACKGROUND: Agaricus bisporus is the premier cultivated edible mushroom but is usually considered to be of lesser value nutritionally and medicinally compared with other cultivated mushrooms. The objective of this study was to investigate the radical‐scavenging properties of methanolic extracts and the free radical‐processing enzyme activities of water extracts from A. bisporus fruit bodies. Analyses were performed on total fruit bodies from three strains and on separated stipe, cap and gills from one strain, all cultivated experimentally under the same conditions. RESULTS: EC₅₀ values of scavenging ability on 1,1‐diphenyl‐2‐picrylhydrazyl radicals (DPPH^?), scavenging ability on 2,2‐azino‐bis(3‐ethylbenzothiazoline‐6‐sulfonic acid) radical cations (ABTS^?+) and reducing power of methanolic extracts from total fruit bodies ranged between 1.7 and 5.0 and were 1.1–1.9 times higher in a white hybrid than in two wild strains, cream and brown. The gills exhibited higher antioxidant activities relative to the stipe and cap. In water extracts, glutathione peroxidase activities were up to eight times higher than glutathione reductase activities and no difference was observed between strains. Catalase activity was highest in the brown wild strain. The only significant differences in free radical‐processing enzymes between the three parts of the mushroom were higher catalase activity in the gills and lower glutathione reductase activity in the stipe. CONCLUSION: The radical‐scavenging properties of the button mushroom are comparable to those of other edible mushrooms and dependent on the strain and on the section of the fruit body. Copyright © 2008 Society of Chemical Industry     

Incorporation and metabolic conversion of erucic acid in various tissues of the rat in short term experiments

Rats were intravenously injected with a mixture of free (14-¹⁴C) erucic acid (22∶1) and (9–10³H) oleic acid (18∶1). After 2, 4, 8, 16, and 30 min, radioactivity was examined in blood, liver, heart, kidneys, and spleen. Free (¹⁴C) 22∶1 disappeared from the blood more rapidly than free (¹⁴C) 18∶1 between 0 and 8 min. Incorporation of label into triglycerides only appeared after 16 min and at 30 min they represented 4% of the injected radioactivity. In this fraction, 63% of¹⁴C radioactivity was present as 18∶1 and not as the original 22∶1, while almost all³H radioactivity was recovered as unchanged 18∶1. At all times studied, the majority of radioactivity was found in the liver, primarily as triglycerides (60% of radioactivity in total lipids) and as phospholipids (20–30%).¹⁴C was present in nearly the same proportion as³H (13% of injected radioactivity after only 2 min, 11% at 30 min).¹⁴C radioactivity was contained in 18∶1 in higher proportion than 22∶1 (45% in triglycerides, 65% in phospholipids). Since labeled triglycerides of blood, rich in (¹⁴C) 18∶1, mainly originate from the liver triglycerides, it appears that 18∶1 is the major form of utilization of 22∶1 in the tissues after its conversion in liver. In the other organs tested, radioactivity was found 10–15 times lower than in liver. In the heart,¹⁴C was 3 to 4 times higher than³H. More than 80% was recovered as 22∶1 in triglycerides. In spleen and kidneys, the¹⁴C:³H ratio was particularly high in free fatty acids and monoglycerides. In kidneys, 60% of¹⁴C was present as nervonic acid (24∶1) in monoglycerides and 40% in phospholipids, suggesting that the mononervonin formed was used for phospholipid biosynthesis. A preliminary report of this work was presented at the 10th International Congress of Nutrition, Kyoto, Japan, August 1975.     

Melt‐stable poly(1,4‐dioxan‐2‐one) (co)polymers by ring‐opening polymerization via continuous reactive extrusion

Bulk polymerization of ?‐caprolactone (CL), 1,4‐dioxan‐2‐one (PDX), and mixtures of PDX and CL was carried out by initiation with Al(O^secBu)₃ in a co‐rotating twin‐screw extruder through a fast single‐step process. Both homopolymerizations and copolymerization of PDX and CL proceed very rapidly and reach almost complete (co)‐ monomer(s) conversion as soon as 8 mol% of CL are added in the feed. Even though poly(1,4‐dioxan‐2‐one) (PPDX) is known to thermally degrade mainly through unzipping depolymerization promoted from the hydroxyl end‐groups and yielding PDX monomer, it turns out that the thermal stability of PPDX chains is substantially improved by the copolymerization of PDX with limited amounts of CL. Interestingly, DSC analysis of the so‐obtained P(PDX‐co‐CL) copolymers has demonstrated that a CL molar fraction as high as 11 mol% does not prevent the crystallization of the resulting copolymer, which retains a melting temperature close to 95°C. This last observation has been explained by the formation of a blocky‐like copolymer structure, in which short PPDX and PCL sequences are randomly distributed. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 45:622–629, 2005. © 2005 Society of Plastics Engineers.     

Three-dimensional h-adaptivity for the multigroup neutron diffusion equations

Adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) has been shown to allow solving partial differential equations to significantly higher accuracy at reduced numerical cost. This paper presents a state-of-the-art AMR algorithm applied to the multigroup neutron diffusion equation for reactor applications. In order to follow the physics closely, energy group-dependent meshes are employed. We present a novel algorithm for assembling the terms coupling shape functions from different meshes and show how it can be made efficient by deriving all meshes from a common coarse mesh by hierarchic refinement. Our methods are formulated using conforming finite elements of any order, for any number of energy groups. The spatial error distribution is assessed with a generalization of an error estimator originally derived for the Poisson equation.Our implementation of this algorithm is based on the widely used Open Source adaptive finite element library deal.II and is made available as part of this library's extensively documented tutorial. We illustrate our methods with results for 2-D and 3-D reactor simulations using 2 and 7 energy groups, and using conforming finite elements of polynomial degree up to 6.     

Secure Self-healing Group Key Distribution Scheme with Constant Storage for SCADA Systems in Smart Grid

Wireless Personal Communications - Smart grid has a great advantage over the traditional power grid and it is a critical condition in people’s daily life. The security of data communication...     

A novel method for elimination of aflatoxin M1 in milk using Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG biofilm

This study aimed to develop a new method for detoxification of milk from aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) by using Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG biofilm. After inoculation of milk contaminated with AFM1 into L. rhamnosus GG biofilm, the unbound AFM1 was extracted and quantified by HPLC. The stability of the formed AFM1/biofilm complex using different AFM1 contamination levels of milk was also studied. We found that the percentages of bound AFM1 by L. rhamnosus GG biofilm reached up to 60.74%. While no significant difference in milk proteins content was observed after AFM1 binding, some changes in total dry matter and fat content were noticed.     

The role of user requirements in data repository design

International Journal on Software Tools for Technology Transfer - Requirements engineering plays a crucial role in the development process of an information system as it aims at providing a...     

Acetyldiaminobutanoic acid,a potential lathyrogenic amino acid in leaves of Acacia angustissima

Acacia angustissima has potential in agroforestry systems for forage production in tropical environments. However, feeding trials indicate that the leaves are potentially toxic. Signs of toxicity in sheep are similar to those presented by sheep fed flatpea (Lathyrus sylvestris) hay which contains a high concentration of the non‐protein amino acid 2,4‐diaminobutanoic acid (DABA). Cation exchange chromatography, high‐performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and NMR were used to isolate and identify the non‐protein amino acid in A angustissima leaves. A quantitative HPLC method was used to determine the content of the non‐protein amino acid in leaves from 20 accessions. The non‐protein amino acid was identified as 4‐N‐acetyl‐2,4‐diaminobutanoic acid (ADAB), previously reported to occur in seeds. The average and range in ADAB content were 16.8 and 10.6–25.4 mg g^?1 respectively. This content of ADAB is higher than the levels of DABA in flatpea hay that are toxic to sheep. © 2001 Society of Chemical Industry