► Complete methodology to characterize, simulate and evaluate CPVT hybrids. ► Proposed methodology was exemplified in a particular case study. ► The hybrid parameters were experimentally determined. ...► Comparison of the tested CPVT hybrid against conventional alternatives.
Some of the main bottlenecks for the development and commercialization of photovoltaic/thermal hybrids are the lack of an internationally recognized standard testing procedure as well as a method to compare different hybrids with each other and with conventional alternatives. A complete methodology to characterize, simulate and evaluate concentrating photovoltaic/thermal hybrids has been proposed and exemplified in a particular case study. By using the suggested testing method, the hybrid parameters were experimentally determined. These were used in a validated simulation model that estimates the hybrid outputs in different geographic locations. Furthermore, the method includes a comparison of the hybrid performance with conventional collectors and photovoltaic modules working side-by-side. The measurements show that the hybrid electrical efficiency is 6.4% while the optical efficiency is 0.45 and the
U-value 1.9
W/m
2
°C. These values are poor when compared with the parameters of standard PV modules and flat plate collectors. Also, the beam irradiation incident on a north–south axis tracking surface is 20–40% lower than the global irradiation incident on a fixed surface at optimal tilt. There is margin of improvement for the studied hybrid but this combination makes it difficult for concentrating hybrids to compete with conventional PV modules and flat plate collectors.
Semiconductor nanowires of III–V materials have generated much interest in recent years. However, the growth mechanisms by which these structures form are not well understood. The so‐called ...vapor–liquid–solid (VLS) mechanism has often been proposed for III–V systems, with a chemically inert, liquid metal particle (typically Au) acting as a physical catalyst. We assert here that Au is, in fact, not inert with respect to the semiconductor material but rather interacts with it to form a variety of intermetallic compounds. Moreover, we suggest that III–V nanowire growth can best be understood if the metallic particle is not a liquid, but a solid‐phase solution or compound containing Au and the group III material. The four materials GaP, GaAs, InP, and InAs will be considered, and growth behavior related to their particular temperature‐dependent interaction with Au.
The growth behavior of III–V semiconductor nanowires and nano‐ trees assisted by Au particles is considered (see Figure). The particle is not inert with respect to the semiconductor, as often assumed, but interacts with it. The growth and morphology of these structures are determined by the temperature‐dependent solid‐phase interaction between the Au particle and each of the III–V materials discussed, which include GaP, GaAs, InP, and InAs.
To meet the scientific and political call for effective prevention of child and youth mental health problems and associated long-term consequences, we have co-created, tested, and optimized a ...transdiagnostic preventive parent-training intervention, Supportive parents - coping kids (SPARCK), together with and for the municipal preventive frontline services. The target group of SPARCK is parents of children between 4 and 12 years who display symptoms of anxiety, depression, and/or behavioral problems, that is, indicated prevention. The intervention consists of components from various empirically supported interventions representing different theorical models on parent-child interactions and child behavior and psychopathology (i.e., behavioral management interventions, attachment theory, emotion socialization theory, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and family accommodation intervention). The content and target strategies of SPARCK are tailored to the needs of the families and children, and the manual suggests how the target strategies may be personalized and combined throughout the maximum 12 sessions of the intervention. The aim of this project is to investigate the effectiveness of SPARCK on child symptoms, parenting practices, and parent and child stress hormone levels, in addition to later use of specialized services compared with usual care (UC; eg. active comparison group).
We describe a randomized controlled effectiveness trial in the frontline services of child welfare, health, school health and school psychological counselling services in 24 Norwegian municipalities. It is a two-armed parallel group randomized controlled effectiveness and superiority trial with 252 families randomly allocated to SPARCK or UC. Assessment of key variables will be conducted at pre-, post-, and six-month follow-up.
The current study will contribute with knowledge on potential effects of a preventive transdiagnostic parent-training intervention when compared with UC. Our primary objective is to innovate frontline services with a usable, flexible, and effective intervention for prevention of childhood mental health problems to promote equity in access to care for families and children across a heterogeneous service landscape characterized by variations in available resources, personnel, and end user symptomatology.
ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NTCT05800522.
This case-control study primarily compared the trigeminal nociceptive function, the intraoral somatosensory profile and possible structural nerve changes between diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN, ...n = 12) patients and healthy participants (n = 12). The nociceptive blink reflex (nBR) was recorded applying an electrical stimulation over the entry zone of the right supraorbital (V1R), infraorbital (V2R) and mental (V3R) and left infraorbital (V2L) nerves. The outcomes were: individual electrical sensory (I
) and pain thresholds (I
); root mean square (RMS), area-under-the-curve (AUC) and onset latencies of R2 component of the nBR. Furthermore, a standardized full battery of quantitative sensory testing (QST) and intraepidermal nerve fibre density (IENFD) or nerve fibre length density (NFLD) assessment were performed, respectively, on the distal leg and oral mucosa. As expected, all patients had altered somatosensory sensitivity and lower IENFD in the lower limb. DPN patients presented higher I
, I
, RMS and AUC values (p < 0.050), lower warm detection thresholds (WDT) (p = 0.004), higher occurrence of paradoxical heat sensation (PHS) (p = 0.040), and a lower intraoral NFLD (p = 0.048) than the healthy participants. In addition, the presence of any abnormal intraoral somatosensory finding was more frequent in the DPN patients when compared to the reference group (p = 0.013). Early signs of trigeminal nociceptive facilitation, intraoral somatosensory abnormalities and loss of intraoral neuronal tissue can be detected in DPN patients.
Nutrient conservation plays an important role in plants adapted to infertile environments. Nutrients can be
conserved mainly by extending the life span of plant parts and/or by minimizing the ...nutrient content of those parts
that are abscissed. Together these two parameters (life span and resorption) define the mean residence time
(MRT) of a nutrient. In this review we summarize available information on nitrogen resorption and life span, and
evaluate their relationship to the MRT of nitrogen, both between and within species. Abundant information with
respect to nitrogen resorption efficiency and life span is available at the leaf level. By definition, woody evergreen
plants have a much longer leaf life span than species of other life-forms. Conversely, differences in resorption
efficiency among life-forms or among plants in habitats differing in soil fertility appear to be small. Inter-specific
variation in leaf life span is much larger than intra-specific variation (factor of >200 compared with 2,
respectively), while resorption efficiency varies by about the same magnitude at both levels (factor of 3.8 compared
with 2.7, respectively). The importance of resorption efficiency in determining leaf-level MRT increases
exponentially towards and above the maximum resorption efficiency observed in nature. This effect is independent
of leaf life span, which may explain the lack of life-form related differences in resorption efficiency. When scaling
up from the leaf to the whole-plant level, fundamental differences in turnover rate among different plant organs
must be considered. Woody species invest c. 50% of their net productivity into their low-turnover stems, while
in herbaceous species the life span of stems is only slightly longer than that of leaves. As a result, nutrient turnover
of woody (evergreen and deciduous) plants is generally lower than that of herbaceous species (herbs and
graminoids) on a whole-plant basis. At the intra-specific level empirical data show that both biomass life span (i.e.
the inverse of biomass loss rate) and resorption efficiency are important sources of variation in MRT. However,
we argue that the relative importance of resorption efficiency in explaining variation in MRT is lower at the inter-specific level, whereas the reverse is true for life span. This is because variation in MRT and life span is much
larger at the inter-specific level compared with variation in resorption efficiency. Plant traits related to nutrient
conservation are discussed with respect to their implications for leaf structure, plant growth, competition,
succession and ecosystem nutrient cycling.
Cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) were employed in the aqueous electrodeposition of nickel and cadmium for battery metal recycling. The electrowinning of mixed Ni-Cd metal ion recycling solutions ...demonstrated that cadmium with a purity of over 99% could be selectively extracted while leaving the nickel in the solution. Two types of CNFs were evaluated: negatively charged CNFs (a-CNF) obtained through acid hydrolysis (−75 μeq. g
−1
) and positively charged CNFs (q-CNF) functionalized with quaternary ammonium groups (+85 μeq. g
−1
). The inclusion of CNFs in the Ni-Cd electrolytes induced growth of cm-sized dendrites in conditions where dendrites were otherwise not observed, or increased the degree of dendritic growth when it was already present to a lesser extent. The augmented dendritic growth correlated with an increase in deposition yields of up to 30%. Additionally, it facilitated the formation of easily detachable dendritic structures, enabling more efficient processing on a large scale and enhancing the recovery of the toxic cadmium metal. Regardless of the charged nature of the CNFs, both negatively and positively charged CNFs led to a significant formation of protruding cadmium dendrites. When deposited separately, dendritic growth and increased deposition yields remained consistent for the cadmium metal. However, dendrites were not observed during the deposition of nickel; instead, uniformly deposited layers were formed, albeit at lower yields (20%), when positively charged CNFs were present. This paper explores the potential of utilizing cellulose and its derivatives as the world's largest biomass resource to enhance battery metal recycling processes.
Cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) were employed in the aqueous electrodeposition of nickel and cadmium for battery metal recycling.
Advances in molecular profiling have opened up the possibility to map the expression of genes in cells, tissues, and organs in the human body. Here, we combined single-cell transcriptomics analysis ...with spatial antibody-based protein profiling to create a high-resolution single-cell type map of human tissues. An open access atlas has been launched to allow researchers to explore the expression of human protein-coding genes in 192 individual cell type clusters. An expression specificity classification was performed to determine the number of genes elevated in each cell type, allowing comparisons with bulk transcriptomics data. The analysis highlights distinct expression clusters corresponding to cell types sharing similar functions, both within the same organs and between organs.
Zoonomia is the largest comparative genomics resource for mammals produced to date. By aligning genomes for 240 species, we identify bases that, when mutated, are likely to affect fitness and alter ...disease risk. At least 332 million bases (~10.7%) in the human genome are unusually conserved across species (evolutionarily constrained) relative to neutrally evolving repeats, and 4552 ultraconserved elements are nearly perfectly conserved. Of 101 million significantly constrained single bases, 80% are outside protein-coding exons and half have no functional annotations in the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) resource. Changes in genes and regulatory elements are associated with exceptional mammalian traits, such as hibernation, that could inform therapeutic development. Earth's vast and imperiled biodiversity offers distinctive power for identifying genetic variants that affect genome function and organismal phenotypes.
HIV-1 neutralization requires Ab accessibility to the functional envelope glycoprotein (Env) spike. We recently reported the isolation of previously unidentified vaccine-elicited, CD4 binding site ...(CD4bs)-directed mAbs from rhesus macaques immunized with soluble Env trimers, indicating that this region is immunogenic in the context of subunit vaccination. To elucidate the interaction of the trimer-elicited mAbs with gp120 and their insufficient interaction with the HIV-1 primary isolate spike, we crystallized the Fab fragments of two mAbs, GE136 and GE148. Alanine scanning of their complementarity-determining regions, coupled with epitope scanning of their epitopes on gp120, revealed putative contact residues at the Ab/gp120 interface. Docking of the GE136 and GE148 Fabs to gp120, coupled with EM reconstructions of these nonbroadly neutralizing mAbs (non-bNAbs) binding to gp120 monomers and EM modeling to well-ordered trimers, suggested Ab approach to the CD4bs by a vertical angle of access relative to the more lateral mode of interaction used by the CD4bs-directed bNAbs VRC01 and PGV04. Fitting the structures into the available cryo-EM native spike density indicated clashes between these two vaccine-elicited mAbs and the topside variable region spike cap, whereas the bNAbs duck under this quaternary shield to access the CD4bs effectively on primary HIV isolates. These results provide a structural basis for the limited neutralizing breadth observed by current vaccine-induced, CD4bs-directed Abs and highlight the need for better ordered trimer immunogens. The analysis presented here therefore provides valuable information to guide HIV-1 vaccine immunogen redesign.
Exposure to artificial gravity (AG) in a short-arm centrifuge has potential benefits for maintaining human performance during long-term space missions. Eleven subjects were investigated during three ...campaigns of 5 days head-down bed rest: 1) bed rest without countermeasures (control), 2) bed rest and 30 min of AG (AG1) daily, and 3) bed rest and six periods of 5 min AG (AG2) daily. During centrifugation, the supine subjects were exposed to AG in the head-to-feet direction with 1 G at the center of mass. Subjects participated in the three campaigns in random order. The cardiovascular effects of bed rest and countermeasures were determined from changes in tolerance to a head-up tilt test with superimposed lower body negative pressure (HUT), from changes in plasma volume (PV) and from changes in maximum aerobic power (V̇o2 peak) during upright work on a cycle ergometer. Complete data sets were obtained in eight subjects. After bed rest, HUT tolerance times were 36, 64, and 78% of pre-bed rest baseline during control, AG1 and AG2, respectively, with a significant difference between AG2 and control. PV and V̇o2 peak decreased to 85 and 95% of pre-bed rest baseline, respectively, with no differences between the treatments. It was concluded that the AG2 countermeasure should be further investigated during future long-term bed rest studies, especially as it was better tolerated than AG1. The superior effect of AG2 on orthostatic tolerance could not be related to concomitant changes in PV or aerobic power.
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