Polymer–Fullerene Bulk‐Heterojunction Solar Cells

Solution‐processed bulk heterojunction organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices have gained serious attention during the last few years and are established as one of the leading next generation photovoltaic technologies for low cost power production. This article reviews the OPV development highlights of the last two decades, and summarizes the key milestones that have brought the technology to today’s efficiency performance of over 7%. An outlook is presented on what will be required to drive this young photovoltaic technology towards the next major milestone, a 10% power conversion efficiency, considered by many to represent the efficiency at which OPV can be adopted in wide‐spread applications. With first products already entering the market, sufficient lifetime for the intended application becomes more and more critical, and the status of OPV stability as well as the current understanding of degradation mechanisms will be reviewed in the second part of this article.     

A multiperiod nonlinear programming approach for operation of air separation plants with variable power pricing

Cryogenic air separation processes consume a large amount of electricity producing significant quantities of high purity gases. Rather than operating at a fixed steady state, it may be profitable to switch among different operating conditions because of variability of electrical prices and product demands. This article addresses the problem of determining the optimal daily multiperiod operating conditions for an air separation process under variable electricity pricing and uncertain product demands. The multiperiod nonlinear programming formulation includes a rigorous nonlinear model of the highly‐coupled process, and decision variables include the operating conditions within each period, as well as the transition times. Demand uncertainty is treated using the loss function included in the objective function and constraints on customer satisfaction levels. Solutions are obtained with high computational efficiency, allowing management to make informed decisions regarding operating strategies while considering the trade off between profitability and customer satisfaction levels. © 2010 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2011     

Influence of layer charge on swelling of smectites

Six separate processes control the swelling of smectites saturated with alkali and alkaline earth cations in aqueous systems. The basic mechanism and forces controlling each of the processes are different. Crystalline swelling occurs between smectite layers within quasicrystals and involves the intercalation of zero to four discrete layers of water molecules. A balance between strong electrostatic-attraction and hydration-repulsion forces controls crystalline swelling. The extent of crystalline swelling decreases with increasing layer charge. Double-layer swelling occurs between quasicrystals. An electrostatic repulsion force develops when the positively charged diffuse portions of double layers from two quasicrystals overlap in an aqueous suspension. Layer charge has little or no direct effect on double-layer swelling. The break up and formation of quasicrystals is a dynamic process that controls the average size of quasicrystals in an aqueous smectite suspension. As layer charge increases, quasicrystals tend to become larger and more stable. In smectite suspensions with more than one type of exchangeable cation, the cations can demix (e.g., Na and Ca may be segregated in different interlayer regions) due to a complex feed-back between cation exchange selectivity and crystalline swelling. Demixing influences the breakup and formation of quasicrystals because quasicrystals preferentially cleave along interlayers dominated by alkali cations. Increasing layer charge increases selectivity for alkaline earth cations relative to Na or Li, and hence reduces the breakup of quasicrystals. Co-volume swelling is an entropy driven process caused by restrictions on the rotational freedom of suspended quasicrystals. Brownian swelling is also an entropy driven process resulting from random thermal motion of suspended colloids. There is no reason to believe that layer charge directly influences either co-volume or Brownian swelling. Macroscopic measures of swelling (e.g., change in total volume or water content) necessarily measure the combined effect of all swelling processes occurring within the system.     

AN INVESTIGATION OF FININGS FROM FISHSKINS

Finings have been produced from the skins of a variety of cold and deep water fish and the properties of these solutions compared with those of conventional isinglass finings. Although appreciable fining action was obtained with certain of the fishskin finings—notably those from ling—the variable quality and general inferiority to isinglass precludes the use of these materials as an alternative source of collagen in finings production.     

Cyclic deformation of tungsten monofilament-reinforced multicrystalline copper composites

In an attempt to understand the cyclic deformation behavior of continuous fiber reinforced metal matrix composites, plastic strain controlled tests have been performed on tungsten monofilament-reinforced, multicrystalline, copper composites. The cyclic hardening response of the composites greatly depends on the fatigue dislocation structures corresponding to the strain amplitude. For example, at high strain amplitude, i.e. 1×10⁻³, secondary slip stimulated by the self-stresses of the primary dislocations becomes more active, and secondary hardening even occurs during saturation. At low strains, loop patches form and are associated with fine slip. At intermediate strains, persistent slip bands occur, but their distribution is altered by the presence of the fiber. The paper introduces a simple model to link the cyclic stress–strain response of the multicrystalline composites to those of monolithic single crystals and fibers. This model not only represents the fiber reinforcement by the rule of mixtures, but also adopts the Sachs model for the single crystal–polycrystal conversion factor. The results calculated by the model show very good agreement with the experimental data in all strain amplitudes at which the composites were fatigued. This encouraging outcome suggests that the new model could be applied to high-cycle fatigue of commercial continuous-fiber-reinforced polycrystalline metal matrix composites.     

Altered nociception, analgesia and aggression in mice lacking the receptor for substance P

The peptide neurotransmitter substance P modulates sensitivity to pain by activating the neurokinin-1 (NK-1) receptor, which is expressed by discrete populations of neurons throughout the central nervous system. Substance P is synthesized by small-diameter sensory 'pain' fibres, and release of the peptide into the dorsal horn of the spinal cord following intense peripheral stimulation promotes central hyperexcitability and increased sensitivity to pain. However, despite the availability of specific NK-1 antagonists, the function of substance P in the perception of pain remains unclear. Here we investigate the effect of disrupting the gene encoding the NK-1 receptor in mice. We found that the mutant mice were healthy and fertile, but the characteristic amplification ('wind up') and intensity coding of nociceptive reflexes was absent. Although substance P did not mediate the signalling of acute pain or hyperalgesia, it was essential for the full development of stress-induced analgesia and for an aggressive response to territorial challenge, demonstrating that the peptide plays an unexpected role in the adaptive response to stress.     

Spinal mechanisms underlying persistent pain and referred hyperalgesia in rats with an experimental ureteric stone

Spinal neurons processing information from the ureter have been characterized in rats 1-4 days after the implantation of an experimental ureteric stone and compared with those of normal rats. The effects of a conditioning noxious stimulation of the ureter in the presence of the hyperalgesia evoked by the calculosis also were examined. Extracellular recordings were performed at the T12-L1 segments of the spinal cord. In rats with calculosis, more neurons expressed a ureter input (53 vs. 42% in normal rats); such cells being more likely to show background activity, at a higher rate than normals (6.6 +/- 1.2 vs. 3.2 +/- 0.9 spikes/s; mean +/- SE) and increasing with the continuing presence of the stone. The threshold pressure for a ureteric response was higher than in normal rats (79 +/- 5 vs. 54 +/- 4 mmHg) but the neurons failed to encode increasing intensities of stimulation. Thirty-five percent of the neurons with exclusively innocuous somatic receptive fields had a ureter input in rats with calculosis, whereas none were seen in normal rats. A noxious ureteric distention applied to neurons with ureter input evoked a complex mixture of increases and decreases in somatic receptive field size and/or somatic input properties markedly different from the generalized increases in excitability seen when such a stimulus was applied to normal animals. We conclude that the presence of a ureteric stone evokes excitability changes of spinal neurons (enhanced background activity, greater number of ureter-driven cells, decreased threshold of convergent somatic receptive fields), which likely account for the referred hyperalgesia seen in rats with calculosis. However, further noxious visceral input occurring in the presence of persistent hyperalgesia produces selective changes that cannot be explained by a generalized excitability increase and suggest that the mechanisms underlying maintenance of hyperalgesia include alteration of both central inhibitory and excitatory systems.     

Mutagenicity of 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine is mediated by the mammalian DNA methyltransferase

The cytosine analog 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine has been used clinically to reactivate genes silenced by DNA methylation. In particular, patients with beta-thalassemia show fetal globin expression after administration of this hypomethylating drug. In addition, silencing of tumor suppressor gene expression by aberrant DNA methylation in tumor cells may potentially be reversed by a similar regimen. Consistent with its function in maintaining tumor suppressor gene expression, 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine significantly reduces intestinal tumor multiplicity in the predisposed Min mouse strain. Despite its utility as an anti-cancer agent, the drug is highly mutagenic by an unknown mechanism. To gain insight into how 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine induces mutations in vivo, we examined the mutational spectrum in an Escherichia coli lac I transgene in colonic DNA from 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine-treated mice. Mutations induced by 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine were predominantly at CpG dinucleotides, which implicates DNA methyltransferase in the mutagenic mechanism. C:G-->G:C transversions were the predominant class of mutations observed. We suggest a model for how the mammalian DNA methyltransferase may be involved in facilitating these mutations. The observation that 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine-induced mutations are mediated by the enzyme suggests that novel inhibitors of DNA methyltransferase, which can inactivate the enzyme before its interaction with DNA, are needed for chemoprevention or long term therapy.