S. EPA Reference Dose values. The study shows that dust is an important human exposure source for common PBDE formulations in New Zealand. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.”
“The influence of oxygen and nitrogen impurities on the performance of thin-film solar Vadimezan cells based on microcrystalline silicon (mu c-Si:H) has been systematically investigated. Single mu c-Si:H layers and complete mu c-Si:H solar cells have been prepared with intentional contamination by admitting oxygen and/or nitrogen during

the deposition process. The conversion efficiency of similar to 1.2 mu m thick mu c-Si: H solar cells is deteriorated if the oxygen content in absorber layers exceeds the range from 1.2 x 10(19) to 2 x 10(19) cm(-3); in the case of nitrogen contamination the critical impurity level is lower ([N](critical)=6 x 10(18)-8 x 10(18) cm(-3)). It was revealed that both oxygen and nitrogen impurities thereby modify structural and electrical properties of mu c-Si:H films. It was

observed that the both contaminant types act as donors. Efficiency losses due to oxygen or nitrogen impurities are attributed to fill factor decreases and to a reduced external quantum efficiency at wavelengths of >500 nm. In the case of an air leak during the mu c-Si:H deposition process, the cell performance drops at an air leak fraction from 140 to 200 ppm compared to the total gas flow during i-layer deposition. It is demonstrated that oxygen and nitrogen impurities close to the p/i-interface have a stronger effect on the cell performance compared to impurities close to the n/i-interface. Moreover, thick mu c-Si:H solar BEZ235 supplier cells are found to be more impurity-sensitive than thinner Cell Cycle inhibitor cells. (C) 2009 American Institute of Physics. [DOI: 10.1063/1.3104781]“
“The occurrence, removal and bioaccumulation

of steroid estrogens such as the natural estrone (E1), 17 beta-estradiol (E2) and estriol (E3), as well as the synthetic 17 alpha-ethynylestradiol (EE2) were investigated in Dianchi Lake catchment, China. The results show that traditional secondary treatment processes in eight sewage treatment plants (STPs) of Kunming were not efficient enough to completely remove steroid estrogens, but ultraviolet (UV) photodegradation in advanced treatment displayed more effectively for the removal of the residual compounds. The amount of total steroid estrogens (Sigma SEs) discharged to Dianchi Lake catchment by the eight STPs was 35.8 g/day, in which STP-3 was the dominant source, accounting for 50.8%. Because of the pollution input from treated and untreated sewages, estrogens were widely detected in surface water and sediment samples collected from 21 inflow rivers of Dianchi lake, 10 National Surface Water Quality Monitoring Sites of the lake itself and its unique outflow river, with the mean concentration of Sigma SEs in the range of 5.3-798.2 ng/L (water) and 3.7-202.4 ng/g (dry weight, sediment), 1.5-39.2 ng/L (water) and 2.7-20.