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8th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion; 342-345, Thermal admittance spectroscopy (TAS) is often used to analyze trap states in CdTe thin-film photovoltaics. Specifically, the apparent energy level and the concentration of defects can be calculated using this method. In this work, we present TAS measurements on CdSeTe photovoltaic devices with varying Se concentrations and power conversion efficiencies from 12 % to 20 %. The results show two main trap signatures. The defects concentrations are evaluated using the emission parameter instead of the typically used capture cross-section. After correcting the emission parameter by the kinetic compensation effect, plots of PV performance versus the emission parameter of trap signature 1 show a good correlation, indicating that the emission parameter is suitable for determining concentration differences between the various samples.

Migration is one of the channels West African populations can use to adjust to the negative impacts of climate change. Using novel geo-referenced and high-frequency data, this study investigates the extent to which soil moisture anomalies drive international migration decisions within the region and toward Europe. The findings show that drier soil conditions decrease (rather than increase) the probability to migrate. A standard deviation decrease in soil moisture leads to a 2 percentage point drop in the probability to migrate, equivalent to a 25 percent decrease in the number of migrants. This effect is concentrated during the crop-growing season, and likely driven by financial constraints. The effect is only seen for areas that are in the middle of the income distribution, with no impact on the poorest or richest areas of a country, suggesting that the former were constrained to start and the latter can address those financial constraints. Migration ist eine der Möglichkeiten, welche die westafrikanische Bevölkerung nutzen kann, um sich an die negativen Auswirkungen des Klimawandels anzupassen. Unter Verwendung neuartiger georeferenzierter und hochfrequenter Daten wird in dieser Studie untersucht, inwieweit Anomalien der Bodenfeuchte internationale Migrationsentscheidungen innerhalb der Region und in Richtung Europa beeinflussen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass trockenere Bodenbedingungen die Migrationswahrscheinlichkeit verringern (anstatt zu erhöhen). Eine Abnahme der Standardabweichung der Bodenfeuchte resultiert in einem Rückgang der Migrationswahrscheinlichkeit um 2 Prozentpunkte, was einem Rückgang der Anzahl der Migranten um 25 Prozent entspricht. Dieser Effekt konzentriert sich auf die Anbausaison und wird wahrscheinlich durch finanzielle Einschränkungen verursacht. Der Effekt ist nur für Gebiete beobachtbar, die in der Mitte der Einkommensverteilung liegen, ohne Auswirkung auf die ärmsten oder reichsten Gebiete eines Landes, was darauf hindeutet, dass erstere zu Beginn eingeschränkt waren und letztere die finanziellen Beschränkungen ausgleichen können.

RET.Con 2020: Tagungsband : 3. Regenerative Energietechnik-Konferenz in Nordhausen 13.-14. Februar 2020, p. 72

The metabolism of xenobiotics by humans and other organisms is a complex process involving numerous enzymes that catalyze phase I (functionalization) and phase II (conjugation) reactions. Herein we introduce MetScore, a machine learning model that can predict both phase I and phase II reaction sites of drugs in a single prediction run. We developed cheminformatics workflows to filter and process reactions to obtain suitable phase I and phase II data sets for model training. Employing a recently developed molecular representation based on quantum chemical partial charges, we constructed random forest machine learning models for phase I and phase II reactions. After combining these models with our previous cytochrome P450 model and calibrating the combination against Bayer in-house data, we obtained the MetScore model that shows good performance, with Matthews correlation coefficients of 0.61 and 0.76 for diverse phase I and phase II reaction types, respectively. We validated its potential applicability to lead optimization campaigns for a new and independent data set compiled from recent publications. The results of this study demonstrate the usefulness of quantum-chemistry-derived molecular representations for reactivity prediction.

Objective To estimate how labor force participation is affected when adult children provide informal care to their parents. Data source Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe from 2004 to 2013. Study design To offset the problem of endogeneity, we exploit the availability of other potential caregivers within the family as predictors of the probability to provide care for a dependent parent. Contrary to most previous studies, the dataset covers the whole working-age population in the majority of European countries. Individuals explicitly had to opt for or against the provision of care to their care-dependent parents, which allows us to more precisely estimate the effect of caregiving on labor force participation. Principal findings Results reveal a negative causal effect that indicates that informal care provision reduces labor force participation by 14.0 percentage points (95 percent CI: -0.307, 0.026). Point estimates suggest that the effect is larger for men; however, this gender difference is not significantly different from zero at conventional levels. Conclusions Results apply to individuals whose consideration in long-term care policy is highly relevant, that is, children whose willingness to provide informal care to their parents is altered by available alternatives of family caregivers.

Chemical Science, 12 (32), ISSN:2041-6520, ISSN:2041-6539

This paper provides an explanation for why many information campaigns fail to affect decision-making. The authors experimentally show that a large information intervention about a profitable and climate-friendly household investment had limited effects if it only provided generic data. In contrast, it caused households to make new investments when it followed a campaign strategy designed to minimize information processing costs. This finding is consistent with a model of selective attention, where individuals prioritize information believed to be valuable after accounting for the costs of attending to the data that arise due to limited mental energy and time. The paper studies a range of possible mechanisms and finds corroborative evidence of selective attention as an inhibitor to learning.

This paper uses the roll-out of the national health insurance in Ghana to assess the cushioning effect of coverage on the financial consequences of health shocks and resulting changes in coping behaviors. The analysis finds a strong reduction in medical expenditures, preventing households from cutting non-food consumption and causing a decrease in the volume of received remittances as well as the labor supply of healthy adult household members. Moreover, the paper presents evidence that the insurance scheme reduced the likelihood that households experiencing a health shock pulled their children out of school to put them to work. Avoidance of such costly coping mechanisms is potentially an important part of the social value of formal health insurance.

Non-compliance with established medical treatment guidelines can have dire consequences for public health and economic well-being. Based on the Demographic and Health Surveys, we examine malaria-treatment practices of various health-care providers in sub-Saharan Africa, where more than 90% of malaria-induced deaths occur. We estimate each provider's likelihood (i) to comply with guidelines to administer (effective) antimalarial drugs and (ii) to relieve children of fever—a symptom of malaria—after having had a fever episode within the previous two weeks. Our results indicate that, relative to self-medication, seeking treatment at most providers is positively associated with taking an antimalarial drug and negatively associated with using only ineffective chloroquine. Non-traditional healers are also associated with fever relief.

This paper examines weight loss and the formation of healthy habits through cash rewards in the context of a multi-phase randomized controlled trial involving 700 obese individuals. We find effects of monetary incentives for weight loss of up to EUR 300 on body weight during all experimental phases, including a period of a year and a half following the exposure to the financial rewards. We also find effects on healthy behavior during this follow-up phase. After the initial incentive period, we additionally provided participants who had lost a substantial amount of weight with monetary rewards of up to EUR 500. These had only short-term effects on body weight and healthy behavior. We argue that our findings are best explained by monetarily incentivized participants having formed healthy habits by the time the experiment ended and that only the speed of the transition to the new (health) equilibrium was affected by the additional rewards. Contrary to the pessimistic perspective presented in earlier empirical research on habit formation, our results suggest that a simple program relying on weight loss rewards can result in long-term health behavioral change. Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht den Zusammenhang von Geldprämien und der Herausbildung gesundheitsförderlicher Verhaltensmuster im Rahmen eines mehrphasigen randomisierten Experiments mit 700 adipösen Teilnehmern. Geldprämien von bis zu 300 € für erfolgreiches Abnehmen zeigen in allen Phasen des Experiments Effekte auf das Körpergewicht der Teilnehmer, einschließlich einer Follow-Up-Phase von eineinhalb Jahren nach Ende der monetären Incentivierung. In der Follow-Up-Phase zeigen sich auch Effekte auf gesundheitsrelevantes Verhalten. Nach Ende der ersten Phase des Experiments, in der die Gewichtsreduktion monetär incentiviert wurde, wurden Teilnehmer die substantiell abgenommen hatten erneut mit Geldprämien von bis zu 500 € incentiviert. Diese zusätzlichen Anreize zeigten lediglich kurzfriste Effekte auf Körpergewicht und gesundheitsrelevantes Verhalten. Diese Asymmetrie in den langfristigen Effekten der beiden Anreize lässt sich am besten dadurch erklären, dass die incentivierten Teilnehmer innerhalb der Dauer des Experiments gesundheitsförderliche Verhaltensroutinen herausgebildet hatten, und dass der das Erreichen dieses neuen ('gesünderen') Gleichgewichts durch den zweiten Anreiz lediglich beschleunigt wurde. Im Gegensatz zur überwiegend pessimistischen Sicht in der Literatur, hinsichtlich der Möglichkeit, mittels temporärer Geldanreize langfristige gesundheitsförderliche Verhaltensänderungen zu erreichen, deuten die Ergebnisse darauf hin, dass temporäre monetäre Abnehmanreize dazu in der Lage sind.

There is a paucity of evidence on the heterogeneous impacts of financial incentives on weight loss. Between March 2010 and January 2012, in a randomized controlled trial, we assigned 700 obese persons to three experimental arms. We test whether particular subgroups react differently to financial incentives for weight loss. Two treatment groups obtained a cash reward (€150 and €300 with 237 and 229 participants, respectively) for achieving an individually-assigned target weight within four months; the control group (234 participants) was not incentivized. Participants and administrators were not blinded to the intervention. We find that monetary rewards effectively induced obese individuals to reduce weight across all subgroups. However, there is no evidence for treatment-effect heterogeneity for those groups that were incentivized. Among those who were in the €300 group, statistically significant and large weight losses were observed for women, singles, and those who are not working (all above 4 kg in four months). In addition, the magnitude of the reward matters only for women and migrants. The effectiveness of financial incentives to reduce weight nevertheless raises sensitive ethical issues that should be taken into consideration by policymakers.

Machine learning models for site of metabolism (SoM) prediction offer the ability to identify metabolic soft spots in low-molecular-weight drug molecules at low computational cost and enable data-based reactivity prediction. SoM prediction is an atom classification problem. Successful construction of machine learning models requires atom representations that capture the reactivity-determining features of a potential reaction site. We have developed a descriptor scheme that characterizes an atom's steric and electronic environment and its relative location in the molecular structure. The partial charge distributions were obtained from fast quantum mechanical calculations. We successfully trained machine learning classifiers on curated cytochrome P450 metabolism data. The models based on the new atom descriptors showed sustained accuracy for retrospective analyses of metabolism optimization campaigns and lead optimization projects from Bayer Pharmaceuticals. The results obtained demonstrate the practicality of quantum-chemistry-supported machine learning models for hit-to-lead optimization.

We examine the link between workforce reduction, subjective job insecurity, and mental health using individual level panel data for private-sector employees in Germany. We first estimate the effect of firm-level workforce reductions on mental health, finding a strong, negative, and statistically significant relationship. We then extensively examine the role of subjective job insecurity as mediating variable and its importance relative to other possible channels for the effect of workforce reduction on mental health. Eventually, as an extension to our analysis, we use life satisfaction as alternative outcome variable.

Author(s): Fechner, Uli; de Graaf, Chris; Torda, Andrew E; Gussregen, Stefan; Evers, Andreas; Matter, Hans; Hessler, Gerhard; Richmond, Nicola J; Schmidtke, Peter; Segler, Marwin HS; Waller, Mark P; Pleik, Stefanie; Shea, Joan-Emma; Levine, Zachary; Mullen, Ryan; van den Broek, Karina; Epple, Matthias; Kuhn, Hubert; Truszkowski, Andreas; Zielesny, Achim; Fraaije, Johannes Hans; Gracia, Ruben Serral; Kast, Stefan M; Bulusu, Krishna C; Bender, Andreas; Yosipof, Abraham; Nahum, Oren; Senderowitz, Hanoch; Krotzky, Timo; Schulz, Robert; Wolber, Gerhard; Bietz, Stefan; Rarey, Matthias; Zimmermann, Markus O; Lange, Andreas; Ruff, Manuel; Heidrich, Johannes; Onlia, Ionut; Exner, Thomas E; Boeckler, Frank M; Bermudez, Marcel; Firaha, Dzmitry S; Holloczki, Oldamur; Kirchner, Barbara; Tautermann, Christofer S; Volkamer, Andrea; Eid, Sameh; Turk, Samo; Rippmann, Friedrich; Fulle, Simone; Saleh, Noureldin; Saladino, Giorgio; Gervasio, Francesco L; Haensele, Elke; Banting, Lee; Whitley, David C; Oliveira Santos, Jana Sopkova-de; Bureau, Ronan; Clark, Timothy; Sandmann, Achim; Lanig, Harald; Kibies, Patrick; Heil, Jochen; Hoffgaard, Franziska; Frach, Roland; Engel, Julian; Smith, Steven; Basu, Debjit; Rauh, Daniel; Kohlbacher, Oliver; Boeckler, Frank M; Essex, Jonathan W; Bodnarchuk, Michael S; Ross, Gregory A; Finkelmann, Arndt R; Goller, Andreas H; Schneider, Gisbert; Husch, Tamara; Schutter, Christoph; Balducci, Andrea; Korth, Martin; Ntie-Kang, Fidele; Gunther, Stefan; Sippl, Wolfgang; Mbaze, Luc Meva'a

There is widespread concern about the quality of care in nursing homes. On the basis of administrative data of a large health insurance fund, we investigate whether nursing home prices are associated with relevant quality of care indicators at the resident level. Our results indicate negative associations between price and both inappropriate and psychotropic medication. In contrast, we do not find any relationship between the price and impairments of physical health.

Ab initio derived atomic partial charges offer a simple, yet informative representation of the molecular electron density. We demonstrate the potential of different partial charge schemes for molecular descriptor construction. NPA and CM5 charges turned out to be largely conformation-independent and constitute representations of choice for molecular modelling and design.

This paper examines the sustainability of weight loss achieved through cash rewards and, for the first time, the potential of monetary incentives to prevent weight cycling. In a three period randomized controlled trial, about 700 obese persons were assigned to two treatment groups, which were promised different cash rewards contingent on the achievement of an individually assigned target weight, and to a control group. Successful participants were subsequently allocated to two treatment groups offered different monetary incentives for maintaining the previously achieved target weight and to a control group. This is the first experiment of this kind that finds sustainable effects of weight loss rewards on the body weight of the obese even 18 months after the rewards were removed. Additional incentives to maintain an achieved body weight improve the sustainability of weight loss only while are in place.

We complement the empirical evidence on the sustainability of weight loss achieved through cash rewards and, for the first time, rigorously examine the potential of cash rewards to prevent weight cycling. In a three period randomized controlled trial, about 700 obese persons were first assigned to two treatment groups, which were promised cash contingent on the achievement of an individually assigned target weight, and to a control group. Successful participants were subsequently allocated to two treatment groups offered cash rewards for confirming the previously achieved target weight and to a control group. This is the first experiment of this kind that finds effects of weight loss rewards up to 18 months after they were removed. Additional rewards only significantly improve the sustainability of weight loss while they are in place. Die empirische Analyse untersucht zum einen die Nachhaltigkeit einer Gewichtsreduktion, die mittels Geldanreizen erzielt wurde, und zum anderen die Wirksamkeit von Geldanreizen zur Verhinderung des Jo-Jo-Effekts nach einer erfolgreichen Gewichtsreduktion. In einem drei-phasigen Feldexperiment wurden ca. 700 fettleibige Teilnehmer zunächst zufällig auf zwei Anreizgruppen und einer Kontrollgruppe verteilt. Unabhängig von der Gruppenzugehörigkeit sollten ein individuelles Gewichtsreduktionziel erreicht werden, wobei nur Mitglieder der Anreizgruppen eine Geldprämie für das Erreichen des Zieles erhalten konnten. Erfolgreiche Teilnehmer wurden danach erneut zufällig einer Kontrollgruppe und zwei Anreizgruppen zugewiesen, wobei das Halten des Zielgewichts nur für letztere durch eine Geldprämie inzentiviert wurde. Anders als in früheren Experimenten, können Effekt der Abnehmprämie selbst 18 Monate nach ihrem Auslaufen nachgewiesen werden. Monetäre Anreize zur Verhinderung des Jo-Jo-Effekt wirken hingegen nicht über ihr Auslaufen hinaus.

New results are reported from a measurement of pi(0) electroproduction near threshold using the p(e , e'p)pi(0) reaction. The experiment was designed to determine precisely the energy dependence of s- and p-wave electromagnetic multipoles as a stringent test of the predictions of chiral perturbation theory (ChPT). The data were taken with an electron beam energy of 1192 MeV using a two-spectrometer setup in Hall A at Jefferson Lab. For the first time, complete coverage of the. phi*(pi) and. theta*(pi) angles in the p pi(0) center of mass was obtained for invariant energies above threshold from 0.5 up to 15 MeV. The 4-momentum transfer Q(2) coverage ranges from 0.05 to 0.155 (GeV/c)(2) in fine steps. A simple phenomenological analysis of our data shows strong disagreement with p-wave predictions from ChPT for Q(2) > 0.07 (GeV/c)(2), while the s-wave predictions are in reasonable agreement.

Obesity may not only be linked to undesirable health outcomes but also to limitations in sexual life. The present paper aims to assess whether there is a causal relationship between weight loss and sexual activity in adult obese individuals. To address the endogeneity of weight loss that is likely to result in biased estimation results, the analysis is based on data from a randomized field experiment. In this experiment financial weight-loss rewards were offered to a random subgroup of participants and can be used as exogenous source of weight variation in an instrumental variables approach. Estimation results indicate that for obese males loosing weight increases the probability for being involved in a sexual relationship. Conditional on having already lost some weight, a further reduction in obesity also increases the frequency of sexual intercourse. Übergewicht steht nicht nur im Zusammenhang mit Beeinträchtigungen im Gesundheitszustand, sondern ist auch mit Einschränkungen im Sexualleben assoziiert. Die vorliegende Arbeit analysiert, ob es einen kausalen Zusammenhang zwischen Gewichtsverlust und sexueller Aktivität bei erwachsenen übergewichtigen Personen gibt. Die Analyse basiert auf einem randomisierten Feldexperiment, um die Problematik der Endogenität des Gewichtsverlusts adäquat zu adressieren. In dem Experiment wurden finanzielle Anreize für eine zufällige Gruppe ausgelobt und als exogene Quelle von Gewichtsveränderung im Rahmen eines instrumentenvariablen Ansatzes verwendet. Die Schätzergebnisse zeigen, dass für übergewichtige Männer Abnehmen die Wahrscheinlichkeit erhöht, sich in einer sexuellen Beziehung zu befinden. Gegeben, dass bereits Gewicht abgenommen wurde, erhöht ein weiterer Rückgang des Übergewichts auch die Häufigkeit des Geschlechtsverkehrs.

Obesity may not only be linked to undesirable health outcomes but also to limitations in sexual life. The present paper aims to assess whether there is a causal relationship between weight loss and sexual activity in adult obese individuals. To address the endogeneity of weight loss that is likely to result in biased estimation results, the analysis is based on data from a randomized field experiment. In this experiment financial weight-loss rewards were offered to a random subgroup of participants and can be used as exogenous source of weight variation in an instrumental variables approach. Estimation results indicate that for obese males loosing weight increases the probability for being involved in a sexual relationship. Conditional on having already lost some weight, a further reduction in obesity also increases the frequency of sexual intercourse.