Monolithically-integrated BiVO4/p+-n GaAs1-xPx tandem photoanodes capable of unassisted solar water splitting

Monolithically-integrated tandem photoanodes were fabricated on substrates consisting of epitaxial n-GaAs_1-xP_x (x ? 0.32) grown on n⁺-GaAs wafers. A p⁺-n junction photovoltaic (PV) cell was first formed by zinc diffusion into the n-GaAs_0.68P_0.32 from a deposited ZnO coating. After diffusion the ZnO serves as a transparent electrical contact to the resulting p⁺-GaAs_0.68P_0.32 surface layer. Transparent, conducting SnO₂:F provides chemical and mechanical protection for the ZnO and the underlying PV cell, and it electrically connects this cell to a top BiVO₄ photocatalyst layer. In some photoanodes, a WO₃ thin film was interposed between the SnO₂:F and BiVO₄. All oxide coatings were produced by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis except WO₃, which was spin coated. Unassisted (unbiased) solar water splitting was achieved, with a solar-to-hydrogen efficiency approaching 2%, without addition of any co-catalyst to the BiVO₄ surface. This work can provide insights to other researchers regarding scalable, low cost approaches for the planar monolithic integration of oxide photoanode materials with PV cells to create new tandem devices.     

Analysis of the deformation of polypropylene hot-tool butt welds

Thin microtomed samples from hot-tool butt welds of polypropylene pipes are subjected to uniaxial tensile stress using a specially built instrumented microtesting machine. The deformation of the interface between the weld and the bulk polymer is measured by an optical method. An analysis of these measurements is carried out using the finite element method, and contours of the effective stress are obtained. There is a steep stress gradient at the junction of the weld flash and the bulk polymer, although the stress concentration factor is relatively low. The stress is essentially constant in the bulk polymer apart from the region near the weld zone. Tests on samples without the weld flash show that the maximum stress occurs within the weld zone. This is consistent with long-term tests on larger samples, where the fracture is found to initiate within the weld. The method of analysis enables the stress-strain response of the weld material to be determined.     

Prevention of violence

Primary care physicians can easily incorporate efforts toward the primary and secondary prevention of family violence into their practices. By designing a preventive effort using the phases of the family life cycle, a developmentally appropriate system of prevention is created. The anticipatory guidance at each (annual) visit acknowledges family transitions and assures the family that abuse is a health issue and that the physician is a resource for issues of violence prevention. Using the FLC, the first phase is Coupling, when there is a risk of partner violence that continues as long as there is a partnership. Pregnancy and childbirth bring concerns of child neglect and battery. Older children are at additional risk for child sexual abuse. As families age, risks develop for elder abuse, too. The regular discussion of these issues raises the awareness that the potential for family violence continues over the life span and allows the physician opportunities to assess the risk of violence in that family and make appropriate preventive referrals. Primary care physicians are optimally positioned to address violence and its prevention in the office: they know and care for family units over time. Physicians are respected and trusted advisors who can become effective in preventing violence.     

Certain nonlinear partially observable stochastic optimal controlproblems with explicit control laws equivalent to LEQG/LQG problems

This paper is concerned with partially observed stochastic optimal control problems when nonlinearities enter the dynamics of the unobservable state and the observations as gradients of potential functions. Explicit representations for the information state are derived in terms of a finite number of sufficient statistics. Consequently, the partially observed problem is recast as one of complete information with a new state generated by a modified version of the Kalman filter. When the terminal cost is quadratic in the unobservable state and includes the integral of the nonlinearities, the optimal control laws are explicitly computed, similar to linear-exponential-quadratic-Gaussian (LEQG) and linear-quadratic-Gaussian (LQG) tracking problems. The results are applicable to filtering and control of Hamiltonian systems     

Use of weibull statistics to quantify property variability in TiAl alloys

Tensile experiments have been performed on specimens of four different investment-cast TiAl-based alloys with variations in casting conditions. The average ductilities obtained in these experiments vary between approximately 0.8 to 2.0 pct plastic strain to failure in tension. By using the three-parameter form of the Weibull relation, with the 0.2 pct offset yield strength as the minimum failure strength, the resulting variability in the data can be quantified and is found to be similar for those alloys with similar microstructural scale (grain size). Large variations in lamellar volume fraction, segregation, and phase distribution have a minor influence on property variability, compared to changes in the scale of the grain structure caused by either variations in cooling rate during casting or the addition of grain refiners.     

Oxygen content of the fixative is important in the interpretation of the ultrastructure of ischaemic myocardium

Isolated rat hearts were subjected to 15, 45, or 60 minutes of global ischaemia and then fixed by perfusion at 37°C with glutaraldehyde containing various amounts of oxygen. This either had been bubbled with 100% oxygen (PO₂ 620 mm Hg) or with 100% nitrogen (PO₂ 40 mm Hg) immediately before use, or it had been routinely prepared and stored exposed to atmospheric oxygen (PO₂ 245 mm Hg). The ultrastructure of myocytes and endothelial cells subjected to 15 minutes of ischaemia was not affected by the treatment of the fixative. However, when the tissue subjected to longer periods of ischaemia was fixed with routinely prepared or oxygen-bubbled glutaraldehyde, ultrastructural changes characteristic of reoxygenation damage were uniformly evident in both the microvasculature and myocytes. These qualitatively distinct changes included mitochondrial swelling, cell swelling, endothelial bleb formation, and narrowing of capillary lumina. These abnormalities were not observed in tissue fixed with nitrogen-bubbled glutaraldehyde. These findings indicate that deliberate steps should be taken to reduce or eliminate dissolved oxygen from the fixatives used to study ischaemic tissues. Otherwise artefactual reoxygenation damage in vitro may occur and make valid ultrastructural interpretation difficult or impossible.     

Hand, space and attentional asymmetries in goal-directed manual aiming

Two experiments were conducted to explore the interaction of the two cerebral hemispheres in motor control, by examining hand, space and attentional asymmetries in goal-directed aiming. In Experiment 1, right-handed subjects moved to targets more quickly with their right hand than their left hand. In addition, each hand was faster when moving in its own hemispace. Although in a control condition, movements were initiated more quickly with the left hand, visual distractors disrupted left hand performance more than right hand performance. For contralateral aiming, ipsilateral distractors caused the greatest interference. In Experiment 2, when targets and distractors were all presented at the midline, a right hand advantage was found for movement time along with a left hand advantage for reaction time, independent of target and distractor location. Our findings are discussed in terms of a right hemisphere role in movement preparation and the allocation of attention in space, and greater left hemisphere involvement in movement execution.     

Organochlorine Contaminants of Wintering Ducks Foraging on Detroit River Sediments

Organochlorine analysis was performed on carcasses of 13 diving ducks from a 1981 wintering population that foraged on contaminated sediments in the lower Detroit River. Mean total PCB concentrations were 10 mg/kg for seven lesser scaups (Aythya affinis), 11 mg/kg for three greater scaups (A. marila), and 7.6 mg/kg for three goldeneyes (Bucephala clangula). Highest mean levels of other residues were measured for hexachlorobenzene (1.7 mg/kg) in goldeneyes, and transnonachlor (0.33 mg/kg) and 4,4’-DDE (1.3 mg/kg) in greater scaup. Quantitative analysis of 72 PCB congeners also was applied to water, seston, sediment, benthie oligochaetes, and carp from the same site. Principal congeners in most of the samples included some of the more toxic and persistent PCBs. Results of a multivariate analysis indicated that ratios of more conservative to less conservative PCBs did not vary significantly among ducks (α = .05), but differed from those in carp, oligochaetes, and sediment. For the February through March period of fat mobilization, concentrations of total PCB in lipid were inversely correlated with percent lipid (r = 0.76) in ducks. The percentage of conservative PCBs increased slightly. The distribution and partitioning of organochlorines, including toxic PCB congeners, varied considerably within this water column-sediment-fauna ecosystem. Estimates of toxic exposure based on total PCB values may be unreliable.     

Water-soluble copolymers: 22. Copolymers of acrylamide with 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropanedimethylammonium chloride: Aqueous solution properties of a polycation

The viscometric, turbidimetric and potentiometric properties of copolymers of acrylamide (AM) with 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropanedimethylammonium chloride (AMPDAC) were studied in aqueous solutions. The AMPDAC polymers exhibit poor salt tolerance and large, negative viscosity/temperature coefficients. Furthermore, the polymers were found to be sensitive to changes in pH. The AMPDAC polymers undergo phase separation in the presence of dianions as a function of temperature and AMPDAC composition.