Mdpi ag jul 2016 (4 Ergebnisse)

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Given the state-of-the-art in solar photovoltaic (PV) technology and favorable financing terms, it is clear that PV has already obtained grid parity in specific locations [1]. Advances in the next generation of photovoltaic materials and photovoltaic devices can further reduce costs to enable all of humanity to utilize sustainable and renewable solar power [2]. This Special Issue of Materials will cover such materials, including modeling, synthesis, and evaluation of new materials and their solar cells. Specifically, this Special Issue will focus on five material technologies for advanced solar cells: 1. New Concepts in PV Materials: Nanostructured materials, low-dimensional physics, multiple charge generation, up/down converters, thermophotovoltaics, low-cost III-V materials, bandgap engineering, hot-carrier effects, plasmonics, metamorphic materials, perovskite and related novel PV materials, novel light trapping, rectennas, quantum dots, carbon nanotubes, and graphene composites. 2. Organic PV Materials: Polymer, hybrid and dye sensitized solar cells, high performance contacts, and lifetime degradation and mechanisms. 3. Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSCs) Materials: Recent developments in dyes, working electrodes, technologies for device fabrications, and advances in new electrolytes. 4. Amorphous, Nanostructured, and Thin Film Silicon PV Materials: Microstructure characterization, light induced degradation (SWE), large area and high deposition rates, novel processing routes, light trapping, multi-layers, and multi-junction devices. 5. Passive Materials for all PV: Transparent conductive oxides (TCOs), encapsulation, connections, optics, glass, anti-reflection coatings (ARCs), alternative buffer layer materials, and contacts.…

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The articles in this volume collectively represent the latest advances in how people think of social dilemma problems, how we may be able to enhance cooperation and reduce free-riding in such problems and how we can extend the lessons learned to a host of other similar issues facing us. We have learned, for instance, that a 'take' frame does not necessarily lead to lower cooperation compared to a 'give' frame but combining a 'take' frame with fine-grained individual level feedback leads to more extreme behavior in terms of both greater cooperation and greater free-riding. We have also learned that a strategy based on payoff sampling may provide a more parsimonious and less parameter dependent way of modelling behavior in common pool resource extraction games. We find that people behave differently in social dilemmas when making decisions of their own as opposed to deciding on behalf of someone else.…

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - JMSE | Special Issue : Tsunami Science and Engineering Recent earthquake-tsunamis including the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, with over 230,000 casualties, and the 2011 Tohoku Tsunami in Japan, with over 18,500 people missing or dead, serve as tragic reminders that such waves pose a major natural hazard to human beings. Landslide-tsunamis, including the 1958 Lituya Bay case, may exceed 150 m in height and if similar waves are generated in lakes or reservoirs (so-called impulse waves), then they may overtop dams and cause significant devastation downstream, such as in the 1963 Vaiont case with around 2,000 casualties. The after-effects due to such catastrophes are not limited to the region immediately impacted by the wave; for example, the 1963 Vaiont case affected hydropower plant planning and management globally and the 2011 Tohoku Tsunami initiated changes to nuclear power plant policies worldwide. Active prevention of the wave generation is extremely unlikely and limited to rare cases where creeping slides could be stabilized. Scientists and engineers thus work mainly on passive methods to face this hazard. In many cases, the propagation time between generation and shoreline is sufficiently long, allowing early warning systems for evacuation to be an effective passive method. For impulse waves in smaller water bodies, however, the propagation time is too short for an adequate evacuation so further passive methods are critical. Such methods include sea walls, reinforced infrastructure and the provision of adequate freeboards of dam reservoirs. These methods require detailed knowledge of (i) the wave features as a function of the generation mechanism, (ii) the shoreline run-up and (iii) the interaction with structures. Despite a significant increase in research activities after the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, there certainly can be - and needs to be - more research with the aim to reduce the destruction caused by tsunamis to us and our environment.…

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Viruses are obligate intracellular parasites that need to co-opt a living cell's machinery for replication. At the heart of the viral replication machinery are the nucleic acid polymerases, which are responsible for efficiently copying the viral genome. This process must often be coordinated with other viral processes, including protein translation and viral packaging. The polymerases and other components of the replication machinery may serve as potential anti-viral targets. Section 1 of this book is devoted to the basic structure-function relationships of viral nucleic acid polymerases and related proteins. Section 2 then discusses how interactions between the viral polymerase and viral nucleic acids and other proteins help to coordinate nucleic acid synthesis and other important viral processes. Section 3 builds on this discussion by including the roles of host proteins in these processes. Many viruses also co-opt host lipid membranes to provide more conducive environments for RNA synthesis and virus replication, which is discussed in Section 4. Finally, many of the processes discussed in the preceding sections are potential antiviral drug targets, which is discussed in Section 5.…