Light Management in Organic Photovoltaics Processed in Ambient Conditions Using ZnO Nanowire and Antireflection Layer with Nanocone Array

Low carrier mobility and lifetime in semiconductor polymers are some of the main challenges facing the field of organic photovoltaics (OPV) in the quest for efficient devices with high current density. Finding novel strategies such as device structure engineering is a key pathway toward addressing this issue. In this work, the light absorption and carrier collection of OPV devices are improved by employment of ZnO nanowire (NW) arrays with an optimum NW length (50 nm) and antireflection (AR) film with nanocone structure. The optical characterization results show that ZnO NW increases the transmittance of the electron transporting layer as well as the absorption of the polymer blend. Moreover, the as‐deposited polymer blend on the ZnO NW array shows better charge transfer as compared to the planar sample. By employing PC70BM:PV2000 as a promising air‐stable active‐layer, power conversion efficiencies of 9.8% and 10.1% are achieved for NW devices without and with an AR film, indicating 22.5% and 26.2% enhancement in PCE as compared to that of planar device. Moreover, it is shown that the AR film enhances the water‐repellent ability of the OPV device.     

ADAM10 Plasma and CSF Levels Are Increased in Mild Alzheimer’s Disease

ADAM10 is the main α-secretase that participates in the non-amyloidogenic cleavage of amyloid precursor protein (APP) in neurons, inhibiting the production of β-amyloid peptide (Aβ) in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Strong recent evidence indicates the importance of the localization of ADAM10 for its activity as a protease. In this study, we investigated ADAM10 activity in plasma and CSF samples of patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and mild AD compared with cognitively healthy controls. Our results indicated that plasma levels of soluble ADAM10 were significantly increased in the mild AD group, and that in these samples the protease was inactive, as determined by activity assays. The same results were observed in CSF samples, indicating that the increased plasma ADAM10 levels reflect the levels found in the central nervous system. In SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells, ADAM10 achieves its major protease activity in the fraction obtained from plasma membrane lysis, where the mature form of the enzyme is detected, confirming the importance of ADAM10 localization for its activity. Taken together, our results demonstrate the potential of plasma ADAM10 to act as a biomarker for AD, highlighting its advantages as a less invasive, easier, faster, and lower-cost processing procedure, compared to existing biomarkers.     

Efficient and Stable Mesoscopic Perovskite Solar Cells Using PDTITT as a New Hole Transporting Layer

Stability is the main challenge in the field of organic–inorganic perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Finding low‐cost and stable hole transporting layer (HTL) is an effective strategy to address this issue. Here, a new donor polymer, poly(5,5‐didecyl‐5H‐1,8‐dithia‐as‐indacenone‐alt‐thieno[3,2‐b]thiophene) (PDTITT), is synthesized and employed as an HTL in PSCs, which has a suitable band alignment with respect to the double‐A cation perovskite film. Using PDTITT, the hole extraction in PSCs is greatly improved as compared to commonly used HTLs such as 2,2′,7,7′‐tetrakis[N,N‐di(4‐methoxyphenyl)amino]‐9,9′‐spirobifluorene (spiro‐OMeTAD), addressing the hysteresis issue. After careful optimization, an efficient PSC is achieved based on mesoscopic TiO₂ electron transporting layer with a maximum power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 18.42% based on PDTITT HTL, which is comparable with spiro‐OMeTAD‐based PSC (19.21%). Since spiro‐based PSCs suffer from stability issue, the operational stability in the PSC with PDTITT HTL is studied. It is found that the device with PDTITT retains 88% of its initial PCE value after 200 h under illumination, which is better than the spiro‐based PSC (54%).     

A codec for HDTV signal transmission through terrestrial and satellite digital links

A codec for digital transmission of HDTV is described. The bit-rate compression algorithm is based on advanced techniques such as spatial discrete cosine transform (DCT), temporal differential PCM (DPCM), variable length coding. The codec is designed to operate with both the interlaced studio systems 1125/60 and 1250/50, and, thanks to the inherent flexibility of the packet structure, a wide range of line bit-rates can be used as a compromise between video quality and bit-rate constraints of the digital transmission link. The flexibility of the HDTV codec is highlightened through examples of applications over satellite digital links in practical situations.     

The European system for digital multi-programme television bysatellite

The general concepts of the system for digital television transmission by satellite developed within the European DVB (digital video broadcasting) project and standardised by ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) are described. The system, named DVB-S, is intended to provide DTH (direct-to-home) multi-programme TV services in the BSS (broadcasting satellite service) and FSS (fixed satellite service) bands and is addressed to consumer IRDs (integrated receiver decoders), as well as collective antenna systems (SMATV, satellite master antenna TV) and cable television head-end stations, with a likelihood of remodulation. The exploitation of the multiplex flexibility allows the use of the transmission capacity for a variety of TV service configurations. The use of flexible and advanced error protection techniques, based on the concatenation of Reed-Solomon and convolutional codes (with Viterbi decoding), allows optimum adaptation to different satellite transponder characteristics, i.e. bandwidth and power, providing high service quality and availability with small receiving antennas. For example, in climatic zone E (in Europe) on a 33 MHz transponder a data-rate of 38.1 Mbit/s can be transmitted, adequate to provide five standard definition TV programmes (SDTV) or, alternatively three to four enhanced definition programmes (EDTV), while ensuring 99.90% service availability (in the average year) with 50-cm receiving antenna within the 51 dBW EIRP (equivalent isotropic radiated power) service area contour     

Urinary Metabolic Phenotyping Reveals Differences in the Metabolic Status of Healthy and Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Children in Relation to Growth and Disease Activity

Background: Growth failure and delayed puberty are well known features of children and adolescents with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), in addition to the chronic course of the disease. Urinary metabonomics was applied in order to better understand metabolic changes between healthy and IBD children. Methods: 21 Pediatric patients with IBD (mean age 14.8 years, 8 males) were enrolled from the Pediatric Gastroenterology Outpatient Clinic over two years. Clinical and biological data were collected at baseline, 6, and 12 months. 27 healthy children (mean age 12.9 years, 16 males) were assessed at baseline. Urine samples were collected at each visit and subjected to ¹H Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Results: Using ¹H NMR metabonomics, we determined that urine metabolic profiles of IBD children differ significantly from healthy controls. Metabolic differences include central energy metabolism, amino acid, and gut microbial metabolic pathways. The analysis described that combined urinary urea and phenylacetylglutamine—two readouts of nitrogen metabolism—may be relevant to monitor metabolic status in the course of disease. Conclusion: Non-invasive sampling of urine followed by metabonomic profiling can elucidate and monitor the metabolic status of children in relation to disease status. Further developments of omic-approaches in pediatric research might deliver novel nutritional and metabolic hypotheses.     

Digital video broadcasting over satellite (DVB‐S): a system for broadcasting and contribution applications

The general system concepts for digital television transmission and broadcasting by satellite, developed within the European digital video broadcasting (DVB) Project and standardized by ETSI are described. The system (EN 300 421) is designed to provide direct‐to‐home (DTH) multi‐programme TV services in the BSS and FSS bands and is addressed to consumer integrated receiver decoders (IRDs), as well as collective antenna systems (SMATV) and cable television head‐end stations, with a likelihood of remodulation. The system operational modes have been extended in 1998 (EN 301 210) to cover also ‘contribution’ applications by satellite, such as conveying vision and sound material between TV studios, or from remote locations directly to the broadcaster's premises through light and portable up‐link terminal digital satellite news gathering (DSNG). The exploitation of the multiplex flexibility allows the use of the transmission capacity for a variety of TV service configurations. The use of flexible and advanced error protection techniques, based on the concatenation of Reed‐Solomon and convolutional codes (with Viterbi decoding), allows optimum adaptation to different satellite transponder characteristics, i.e. bandwidth and power, providing high service quality and availability with small receiving antennas (DTH applications) or transmitting terminals (DSNG applications). Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An Integrated Behavioral Model of Land Use and Transport System: A Hyper-network Equilibrium Approach

The interaction between the land use and transport in the urban context is a relevant issue in policy making. The connection between both systems arises since the former is causal of urban development while the latter is a consequence of it and significant contributor at the same time. One difficulty to unmask such interactions is to understand and determine the global system equilibrium, which is the matter of this paper. The households’ decisions, from their residential location to their travel and route choices, are described as a process of interdependent discrete choices that reflect the long term equilibrium. Consumers are assumed to optimize their combined residence and transport options, which are represented as a set of paths in an extended network that includes the transport system together with fictitious additional links that represents land use and location market. At equilibrium no household is better off by choosing a different option for residential location or by choosing a different set of trips’ destinations and routes. We study several alternative models starting from a simple case with fixed real estate supply and exogenous travel demand, to more complex situations with a real estate market, trip destination choices and variable trip frequencies. The equilibrium is characterized by an equivalent optimization problem which is strictly convex coercive and unconstrained. The optimality conditions for this optimization problem reproduce the transport equilibrium conditions as much as the land use equilibrium conditions. The approach provides a comprehensive characterization of the solution regarding existence and uniqueness, together with an algorithm to obtain the solution with well-defined convergence properties. The model is applicable to real size problems, with heterogeneous population and locations, as well as multiple trip purposes.