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Lateral hypothalamus (LH) neurons containing the neuropeptide hypocretin (HCRT; orexin) modulate affective components of arousal, but their relevant synaptic inputs remain poorly defined. Here we identified inputs onto LH neurons that originate from neuronal populations in the bed nuclei of stria terminalis (BNST; a heterogeneous region of extended amygdala). We characterized two non-overlapping LH-projecting GABAergic BNST subpopulations that express distinct neuropeptides (corticotropin-releasing factor, CRF, and cholecystokinin, CCK). To functionally interrogate BNST→LH circuitry, we used tools for monitoring and manipulating neural activity with cell-type-specific resolution in freely behaving mice. We found that Crf-BNST and Cck-BNST neurons respectively provide abundant and sparse inputs onto Hcrt-LH neurons, display discrete physiological responses to salient stimuli, drive opposite emotionally valenced behaviors, and receive different proportions of inputs from upstream networks. Together, our data provide an advanced model for how parallel BNST→LH pathways promote divergent emotional states via connectivity patterns of genetically defined, circuit-specific neuronal subpopulations.

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Current environmental monitoring approaches focus primarily on chemical occurrence. However, based on concentration alone, it can be difficult to identify which compounds may be of toxicological concern and should be prioritized for further monitoring, in-depth testing, or management. This can be problematic because toxicological characterization is lacking for many emerging contaminants. New sources of high-throughput screening (HTS) data, such as the ToxCast database, which contains information for over 9000 compounds screened through up to 1100 bioassays, are now available. Integrated analysis of chemical occurrence data with HTS data offers new opportunities to prioritize chemicals, sites, or biological effects for further investigation based on concentrations detected in the environment linked to relative potencies in pathway-based bioassays. As a case study, chemical occurrence data from a 2012 study in the Great Lakes Basin along with the ToxCast effects database were used to calculate exposure-activity ratios (EARs) as a prioritization tool. Technical considerations of data processing and use of the ToxCast database are presented and discussed. EAR prioritization identified multiple sites, biological pathways, and chemicals that warrant further investigation. Prioritized bioactivities from the EAR analysis were linked to discrete adverse outcome pathways to identify potential adverse outcomes and biomarkers for use in subsequent monitoring efforts.

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We propose a type of pn-junction not formed by impurity-doping, but rather by grading the Al composition in an AlxGa1−xN thin film, resulting in alternating p and n conducting regions due to polarization charge. By linearly grading AlxGa1−xN from 0% to x (x ≤ 30%) and back to 0% Al, a polarization induced pn-junction is formed, even in the absence of any impurity doping. X-ray diffraction reciprocal space maps are used to determine the strain state of the different graded composition samples. Polarization induced doping also provides a solution to the problem of p-type doping efficiency for III-nitrides.

Despite dramatically improved efficiency of inorganic-organic metal hybrid perovskite solar cells (PSCs), electron transport is still a challenging issue. In this paper, we report the use of ZnO nanorods prepared by hydrothermal self-assembly as the electron transport layer in perovskite solar cells. The efficiency of perovskite solar cells is dramatically enhanced by passivating the interface defects via atomic layer deposition of Al2O3 monolayers on ZnO nanorods. By employing Al2O3 monolayers, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of CH3NH3PbI3 (MAPbI3) PSCs is typically boosted from 10.33% to 15.06% on average, with the highest efficiency of 16.08%. We suggest that passivation of defects using atomic layer deposition of monolayers might provide a new pathway for improving all types of PSCs. 1 Instruction Although sunlight is a clean, cheap, abundant, and renewable energy source, it is poorly utilized. The growing demand for cheap and renewable energy sources has led to substantial research effort to invent low-cost and highly-efficient photovoltaic materials and devices. third generation solar cells, halide perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have a great

Porous conducting polymer poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) nanocomposite prepared on reduced graphene oxide (RGO) film was used as efficient chemiresistor sensor platform for NO2 detection. The comparable electrical performance between RGO and porous PEDOT nanostructure, the large surface area and opening porous structure of this RGO/porous PEDOT nanocomposite resulted in excellent synergistic effect. The gas sensing performance revealed that, in contrast to bare RGO, the RGO/porous PEDOT exhibited the enhanced sensitivity (2 orders of magnitude) as well as response and recovery performance. As a result of the highly uniform distribution of PEDOT porous network and excellent synergetic effect between RGO and porous PEDOT, this nanocomposite based sensor exhibited higher selectivity to NO2 in contrast to other oxidant analyte gases, e.g., HCl, H2S and SO2.