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Salt marshes filter pollutants, protect coastlines against storm surges, and sequester carbon, yet are under threat from sea level rise and anthropogenic modification. The sustained existence of the salt marsh ecosystem depends on the topographic evolution of marsh platforms. Quantifying marsh platform topography is vital for improving the management of these valuable landscapes. The determination of platform boundaries currently relies on supervised classification methods requiring near-infrared data to detect vegetation, or demands labour-intensive field surveys and digitisation. We propose a novel, unsupervised method to reproducibly isolate salt marsh scarps and platforms from a digital elevation model (DEM), referred to as Topographic Identification of Platforms (TIP). Field observations and numerical models show that salt marshes mature into subhorizontal platforms delineated by subvertical scarps. Based on this premise, we identify scarps as lines of local maxima on a slope raster, then fill landmasses from the scarps upward, thus isolating mature marsh platforms. We test the TIP method using lidar-derived DEMs from six salt marshes in England with varying tidal ranges and geometries, for which topographic platforms were manually isolated from tidal flats. Agreement between manual and unsupervised classification exceeds 94% for DEM resolutions of 1 m, with all but one site maintaining an accuracy superior to 90% for resolutions up to 3 m. For resolutions of 1 m, platforms detected with the TIP method are comparable in surface area to digitised platforms and have similar elevation distributions. We also find that our method allows for the accurate detection of local block failures as small as 3 times the DEM resolution. Detailed inspection reveals that although tidal creeks were digitised as part of the marsh platform, unsupervised classification categorises them as part of the tidal flat, causing an increase in false negatives and overall platform perimeter. This suggests our method may benefit from combination with existing creek detection algorithms. Fallen blocks and high tidal flat portions, associated with potential pioneer zones, can also lead to differences between our method and supervised mapping. Although pioneer zones prove difficult to classify using a topographic method, we suggest that these transition areas should be considered when analysing erosion and accretion processes, particularly in the case of incipient marsh platforms. Ultimately, we have shown that unsupervised classification of marsh platforms from high-resolution topography is possible and sufficient to monitor and analyse topographic evolution.
Experimenting with Lurchi
(2019)
Plant growth and survival depend on photosynthesis in the leaves. This involves the uptake of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and the simultaneous capture of light energy to produce organic molecules, which enter metabolism and are converted to many other compounds which then serve as building blocks for biomass growth. Leaves are organs specialised for photosynthetic carbon dioxide fixation. The function of leaves involves many trade-offs which must be optimised in order to achieve effective use of resources and maximum photosynthesis. It is known that the morphology of leaves adjusts to the growth environment of plants and this is important for optimising their function for photosynthesis. However, it is unclear how this adjustment is regulated. The general aim of the work presented in this thesis is to understand how leaf growth and morphology are regulated in the model species Arabidopsis thaliana. Special attention was dedicated to the possibility that there might be internal metabolic signals within the plant which affect the growth and development of leaves. In order to investigate this question, leaf growth and development must be considered beyond the level of the single organ and in the context of the whole plant because leaves do not grow autonomously but depend on resources and regulatory influences delivered by the rest of the plant. Due to the complexity of this question, three complementary approaches were taken. In the first and most specific approach it was asked whether a proposed down-stream component of sucrose signalling, trehalose-6-phosphate (Tre-6-P), might influence leaf development and growth. To investigate this question, transgenic Arabidopsis lines with perturbed levels of Tre-6-P were generated using the constitutive 35S promoter to express bacterial enzymes involved in trehalose metabolism. These experiments also led to an unanticipated project concerning a possible role for Tre-6-P in stomatal function, which is another very important function in leaves. In a second and more general approach it was investigated whether changes in sugar levels in plants affect the morphogenesis of leaves in response to light. For this, a series of metabolic mutants impaired in central metabolism were grown in one light environment and their leaf morphology was analysed. In a third and even more general approach the natural variation in leaf and rosette morphological traits was investigated in a panel of wild Arabidopsis accessions with the aim of understanding how leaf morphology affects leaf function and whole plant growth and how different traits relate to each other. The analysis included measurements of leaf morphological traits as well as the number of leaves in the plant to put leaf morphology in a whole plant context. The variance in plant growth could not be explained by variation in photosynthetic rates and only to a small degree by variation in rates of dark respiration. There were four key axes of variation in rosette and leaf morphology – leaf area growth, leaf thickness, cell expansion and leaf number. These four processes were integrated in the context of whole plant growth by models that employed a multiple linear regression approach. This then led to a theoretical approach in which a simple allometric mathematical model was constructed, linking leaf number, leaf size and plant growth rate together in a whole plant context in Arabidopsis.
The macroscale function of multicomponent polymeric materials is dependent on their phase-morphology. Here, we investigate the morphological structure of a multiblock copolymer consisting of poly(L-lactide) and poly(epsilon-caprolactone) segments (PLLA-PCL), physically cross-linked by stereocomplexation with a low molecular weight poly(D-lactide) oligomer (PDLA). The effects of blend composition and PLLA-PCL molecular structure on the morphology are elucidated by AFM, TEM and SAXS. We identify the formation of a lattice pattern, composed of PLA domains within a PCL matrix, with an average domain spacing d0 = 12 - 19 nm. The size of the PLA domains were found to be proportional to the block length of the PCL segment of the copolymer and inversely proportional to the PDLA content of the blend. Changing the PLLA-PCL / PDLA ratio caused a shift in the melt transition Tm attributed to the PLA stereocomplex crystallites, indicating partial amorphous phase dilution of the PLA and PCL components within the semicrystalline material. By elucidating the phase structure and thermal character of multifunctional PLLA-PCL / PDLA blends, we illustrate how composition affects the internal structure and thermal properties of multicomponent polymeric materials. This study should facilitate the more effective incorporation of a variety of polymeric structural units capable of stimuli responsive phase transitions, where an understanding the phase-morphology of each component will enable the production of multifunctional soft-actuators with enhanced performance.
The review describes how morphological priming can be utilised to study the processing of morphologically complex words in bilinguals. The article starts with an overview of established experimental paradigms based on morphological priming, discusses a number of basic methodological pitfalls with regard to experimental design and materials, then reviews previous L2 morphological priming studies, and concludes with a brief discussion of recent developments in the field as well as possible future directions.
Calcium phosphate nanofibers with a diameter of only a few nanometers and a cotton-ball-like aggregate morphology have been reported several times in the literature. Although fiber formation seems reproducible in a variety of conditions, the crystal structure and chemical composition of the fibers have been elusive. Using scanning transmission electron microscopy, low dose electron (nano)diffraction, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and energy-filtered transmission electron microscopy, we have assigned crystal structures and chemical compositions to the fibers. Moreover, we demonstrate that the mineralization process yields true polymer/calcium phosphate hybrid materials where the block copolymer template is closely associated with the calcium phosphate.
In organic solar cells, the resulting device efficiency depends strongly on the local morphology and intermolecular interactions of the blend film. Optical spectroscopy was used to identify the spectral signatures of interacting chromophores in blend films of the donor polymer PM6 with two state-of-the-art nonfullerene acceptors, Y6 and N4, which differ merely in the branching point of the side chain. From temperature-dependent absorption and luminescence spectroscopy in solution, it is inferred that both acceptor materials form two types of aggregates that differ in their interaction energy. Y6 forms an aggregate with a predominant J-type character in solution, while for N4 molecules the interaction is predominantly in a H-like manner in solution and freshly spin-cast film, yet the molecules reorient with respect to each other with time or thermal annealing to adopt a more J-type interaction. The different aggregation behavior of the acceptor materials is also reflected in the blend films and accounts for the different solar cell efficiencies reported with the two blends.
Die vorliegende Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit der Synthese und den Eigenschaften von linearen und verzweigten amphiphilen Polypeptid-Blockcopolymeren. Die Frage nach dem Einfluss der Topologie und Konformation der Blockcopolymere auf die supramolekularen und kolloidalen Eigenschaften bildete einen wichtigen Aspekt bei den Untersuchungen. Die Blockcopolymere wurden nach einem mehrstufigen Reaktionsschema durch Kombination von anionischer und ringöffnender Polymerisation von Aminosäuren-N-Carboxyanhydriden (NCA) synthetisiert. Die Untersuchung der Polypeptid-Blockcopolymere hinsichtlich ihres Aggregationsverhaltens in fester Phase sowie in verdünnter wässriger Lösung erfolgte mittels Streumethoden (SAXS, WAXS, DLS) sowie abbildender Methoden (TEM). Durch Einsatz der Blockcopolymere als polymere Stabilisatoren in der Emulsionspolymerisation wurden Oberflächen funktionalisierte Latizes erhalten. Als Beispiel für eine pharmazeutische Anwendung wurden bioverträgliche Polypeptid-Blockcopolymere als Wirkstoff-Trägersysteme in der Krebstherapie eingesetzt.
Editorial
(2016)
The urban heat island (UHI) effect, describing an elevated temperature of urban areas compared with their natural surroundings, can expose urban dwellers to additional heat stress, especially during hot summer days. A comprehensive understanding of the UHI dynamics along with urbanization is of great importance to efficient heat stress mitigation strategies towards sustainable urban development. This is, however, still challenging due to the difficulties of isolating the influences of various contributing factors that interact with each other. In this work, I present a systematical and quantitative analysis of how urban intrinsic properties (e.g., urban size, density, and morphology) influence UHI intensity.
To this end, we innovatively combine urban growth modelling and urban climate simulation to separate the influence of urban intrinsic factors from that of background climate, so as to focus on the impact of urbanization on the UHI effect. The urban climate model can create a laboratory environment which makes it possible to conduct controlled experiments to separate the influences from different driving factors, while the urban growth model provides detailed 3D structures that can be then parameterized into different urban development scenarios tailored for these experiments. The novelty in the methodology and experiment design leads to the following achievements of our work.
First, we develop a stochastic gravitational urban growth model that can generate 3D structures varying in size, morphology, compactness, and density gradient. We compare various characteristics, like fractal dimensions (box-counting, area-perimeter scaling, area-population scaling, etc.), and radial gradient profiles of land use share and population density, against those of real-world cities from empirical studies. The model shows the capability of creating 3D structures resembling real-world cities. This model can generate 3D structure samples for controlled experiments to assess the influence of some urban intrinsic properties in question. [Chapter 2]
With the generated 3D structures, we run several series of simulations with urban structures varying in properties like size, density and morphology, under the same weather conditions. Analyzing how the 2m air temperature based canopy layer urban heat island (CUHI) intensity varies in response to the changes of the considered urban factors, we find the CUHI intensity of a city is directly related to the built-up density and an amplifying effect that urban sites have on each other. We propose a Gravitational Urban Morphology (GUM) indicator to capture the neighbourhood warming effect. We build a regression model to estimate the CUHI intensity based on urban size, urban gross building volume, and the GUM indicator. Taking the Berlin area as an example, we show the regression model capable of predicting the CUHI intensity under various urban development scenarios. [Chapter 3]
Based on the multi-annual average summer surface urban heat island (SUHI) intensity derived from Land surface temperature, we further study how urban intrinsic factors influence the SUHI effect of the 5,000 largest urban clusters in Europe. We find a similar 3D GUM indicator to be an effective predictor of the SUHI intensity of these European cities. Together with other urban factors (vegetation condition, elevation, water coverage), we build different multivariate linear regression models and a climate space based Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) model that can better predict SUHI intensity. By investigating the roles background climate factors play in modulating the coefficients of the GWR model, we extend the multivariate linear model to a nonlinear one by integrating some climate parameters, such as the average of daily maximal temperature and latitude. This makes it applicable across a range of background climates. The nonlinear model outperforms linear models in SUHI assessment as it captures the interaction of urban factors and the background climate. [Chapter 4]
Our work reiterates the essential roles of urban density and morphology in shaping the urban thermal environment. In contrast to many previous studies that link bigger cities with higher UHI intensity, we show that cities larger in the area do not necessarily experience a stronger UHI effect. In addition, the results extend our knowledge by demonstrating the influence of urban 3D morphology on the UHI effect. This underlines the importance of inspecting cities as a whole from the 3D perspective. While urban 3D morphology is an aggregated feature of small-scale urban elements, the influence it has on the city-scale UHI intensity cannot simply be scaled up from that of its neighbourhood-scale components. The spatial composition and configuration of urban elements both need to be captured when quantifying urban 3D morphology as nearby neighbourhoods also cast influences on each other. Our model serves as a useful UHI assessment tool for the quantitative comparison of urban intervention/development scenarios. It can support harnessing the capacity of UHI mitigation through optimizing urban morphology, with the potential of integrating climate change into heat mitigation strategies.
Effects of solvent additive on "s-shaped" curves in solution-processed small molecule solar cells
(2016)
A novel molecular chromophore, p-SIDT(FBTThCA8)(2), is introduced as an electron-donor material for bulk heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells with broad absorption and near ideal energy levels for the use in combination with common acceptor materials. It is found that films cast from chlorobenzene yield devices with strongly s-shaped current-voltage curves, drastically limiting performance. We find that addition of the common solvent additive diiodooctane, in addition to facilitating crystallization, leads to improved vertical phase separation. This yields much better performing devices, with improved curve shape, demonstrating the importance of morphology control in BHJ devices and improving the understanding of the role of solvent additives.
Of Trees and Birds
(2019)
Gisbert Fanselow’s work has been invaluable and inspiring to many researchers working on syntax, morphology, and information structure, both from a theoretical and from an experimental perspective. This volume comprises a collection of articles dedicated to Gisbert on the occasion of his 60th birthday, covering a range of topics from these areas and beyond. The contributions have in common that in a broad sense they have to do with language structures (and thus trees), and that in a more specific sense they have to do with birds. They thus cover two of Gisbert’s major interests in- and outside of the linguistic world (and perhaps even at the interface).
Previous research has shown that high phonotactic frequencies
facilitate the production of regularly inflected verbs in English-learning
children with specific language impairment (SLI) but not with typical
development (TD). We asked whether this finding can be replicated
for German, a language with a much more complex inflectional
verb paradigm than English. Using an elicitation task, the production
of inflected nonce verb forms (3 rd person singular with -t suffix)
with either high- or low-frequency subsyllables was tested in
sixteen German-learning children with SLI (ages 4;1–5 ;1), sixteen
TD-children matched for chronological age (CA) and fourteen TD-
children matched for verbal age (VA) (ages 3;0–3 ;11). The findings
revealed that children with SLI, but not CA- or VA-children, showed
differential performance between the two types of verbs, producing
more inflectional errors when the verb forms resulted in low-frequency
subsyllables than when they resulted in high-frequency subsyllables,
replicating the results from English-learning children.
Previous research has shown that high phonotactic frequencies facilitate the production of regularly inflected verbs in English-learning children with specific language impairment (SLI) but not with typical development (TD). We asked whether this finding can be replicated for German, a language with a much more complex inflectional verb paradigm than English. Using an elicitation task, the production of inflected nonce verb forms (3rd person singular with - t suffix) with either high-or low-frequency subsyllables was tested in sixteen German-learning children with SLI (ages 4;1-5;1), sixteen TD-children matched for chronological age (CA) and fourteen TD-children matched for verbal age (VA) (ages 3;0-3;11). The findings revealed that children with SLI, but not CA-or VA-children, showed differential performance between the two types of verbs, producing more inflectional errors when the verb forms resulted in low-frequency subsyllables than when they resulted in high-frequency subsyllables, replicating the results from English-learning children.
Organic semiconductors combine the benefits of organic materials, i.e., low-cost production, mechanical flexibility, lightweight, and robustness, with the fundamental semiconductor properties light absorption, emission, and electrical conductivity. This class of material has several advantages over conventional inorganic semiconductors that have led, for instance, to the commercialization of organic light-emitting diodes which can nowadays be found in the displays of TVs and smartphones. Moreover, organic semiconductors will possibly lead to new electronic applications which rely on the unique mechanical and electrical properties of these materials. In order to push the development and the success of organic semiconductors forward, it is essential to understand the fundamental processes in these materials. This thesis concentrates on understanding how the charge transport in thiophene-based semiconductor layers depends on the layer morphology and how the charge transport properties can be intentionally modified by doping these layers with a strong electron acceptor. By means of optical spectroscopy, the layer morphologies of poly(3-hexylthiophene), P3HT, P3HT-fullerene bulk heterojunction blends, and oligomeric polyquaterthiophene, oligo-PQT-12, are studied as a function of temperature, molecular weight, and processing conditions. The analyses rely on the decomposition of the absorption contributions from the ordered and the disordered parts of the layers. The ordered-phase spectra are analyzed using Spano’s model. It is figured out that the fraction of aggregated chains and the interconnectivity of these domains is fundamental to a high charge carrier mobility. In P3HT layers, such structures can be grown with high-molecular weight, long P3HT chains. Low and medium molecular weight P3HT layers do also contain a significant amount of chain aggregates with high intragrain mobility; however, intergranular connectivity and, therefore, efficient macroscopic charge transport are absent. In P3HT-fullerene blend layers, a highly crystalline morphology that favors the hole transport and the solar cell efficiency can be induced by annealing procedures and the choice of a high-boiling point processing solvent. Based on scanning near-field and polarization optical microscopy, the morphology of oligo-PQT-12 layers is found to be highly crystalline which explains the rather high field-effect mobility in this material as compared to low molecular weight polythiophene fractions. On the other hand, crystalline dislocations and grain boundaries are identified which clearly limit the charge carrier mobility in oligo-PQT-12 layers. The charge transport properties of organic semiconductors can be widely tuned by molecular doping. Indeed, molecular doping is a key to highly efficient organic light-emitting diodes and solar cells. Despite this vital role, it is still not understood how mobile charge carriers are induced into the bulk semiconductor upon the doping process. This thesis contains a detailed study of the doping mechanism and the electrical properties of P3HT layers which have been p-doped by the strong molecular acceptor tetrafluorotetracyanoquinodimethane, F4TCNQ. The density of doping-induced mobile holes, their mobility, and the electrical conductivity are characterized in a broad range of acceptor concentrations. A long-standing debate on the nature of the charge transfer between P3HT and F4TCNQ is resolved by showing that almost every F4TCNQ acceptor undergoes a full-electron charge transfer with a P3HT site. However, only 5% of these charge transfer pairs can dissociate and induce a mobile hole into P3HT which contributes electrical conduction. Moreover, it is shown that the left-behind F4TCNQ ions broaden the density-of-states distribution for the doping-induced mobile holes, which is due to the longrange Coulomb attraction in the low-permittivity organic semiconductors.
Glyco-assemblies derived from amphiphilic sugar-decorated block copolymers (ASBCs) have emerged prominently due to their wide application, for example, in biomedicine and as drug carriers. However, to efficiently construct these glyco-assemblies is still a challenge. Herein, we report an efficient technology for the synthesis of glyco-inside nano-assemblies by utilizing RAFT polymerization of a galactose-decorated methacrylate for polymerization-induced self-assembly (PISA). Using this approach, a series of highly ordered glyco-inside nano-assemblies containing intermediate morphologies were fabricated by adjusting the length of the hydrophobic glycoblock and the polymerization solids content. A specific morphology of complex vesicles was captured during the PISA process and the formation mechanism is explained by the morphology of its precursor and intermediate. Thus, this method establishes a powerful route to fabricate glyco-assemblies with tunable morphologies and variable sizes, which is significant to enable the large-scale fabrication and wide application of glyco-assemblies.
Organic bulk heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells require energetic offsets between the donor and acceptor to obtain high short-circuit currents (J(SC)) and fill factors (FF). However, it is necessary to reduce the energetic offsets to achieve high open-circuit voltages (V-OC). Recently, reports have highlighted BHJ blends that are pushing at the accepted limits of energetic offsets necessary for high efficiency. Unfortunately, most of these BHJs have modest FF values. How the energetic offset impacts the solar cell characteristics thus remains poorly understood. Here, a comprehensive characterization of the losses in a polymer:fullerene BHJ blend, PIPCP:phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PC61BM), that achieves a high V-OC (0.9 V) with very low energy losses (E-loss = 0.52 eV) from the energy of absorbed photons, a respectable J(SC) (13 mA cm(-2)), but a limited FF (54%) is reported. Despite the low energetic offset, the system does not suffer from field-dependent generation and instead it is characterized by very fast nongeminate recombination and the presence of shallow traps. The charge-carrier losses are attributed to suboptimal morphology due to high miscibility between PIPCP and PC61BM. These results hold promise that given the appropriate morphology, the J(SC), V-OC, and FF can all be improved, even with very low energetic offsets.
Previous research with younger adults has revealed differences between native (L1) and non-native late-bilingual (L2) speakers with respect to how morphologically complex words are processed. This study examines whether these L1/L2 differences persist into old age. We tested masked-priming effects for derived and inflected word forms in older L1 and L2 speakers of German and compared them to results from younger L1 and L2 speakers on the same experiment (mean ages: 62 vs. 24). We found longer overall response times paired with better accuracy scores for older (L1 and L2) participants than for younger participants. The priming patterns, however, were not affected by chronological age. While both L1 and L2 speakers showed derivational priming, only the L1 speakers demonstrated inflectional priming. We argue that general performance in both L1 and L2 is affected by aging, but that the more profound differences between native and non-native processing persist into old age.
Open porous foams with identical foam density but different pore-size distributions (bimodal or monomodal) are prepared from a shape-memory polyetherurethane (PEU) by thermally induced phase separation. The shape-memory effect of the two PEU foams is explored by cyclic thermomechanical compression tests and microstructural analysis. The obtained results reveal that the PEU foam with a bimodal pore-size distribution exhibits an increased shape-recovery under stress-free conditions, both on the macro- (foam level) as well as the microscale (pore level). While bimodal pore-size distributions induce microscale bending during compression, buckling occurs in foams with monomodal pore-size distributions, leading to both a reduced and delayed shape recovery.
The authors present efficient all-polymer solar cells comprising two different low-bandgap naphthalenediimide (NDI)-based copolymers as acceptors and regioregular P3HT as the donor. It is shown that these naphthalene copolymers have a strong tendency to preaggregate in specific organic solvents, and that preaggregation can be completely suppressed when using suitable solvents with large and highly polarizable aromatic cores. Organic solar cells prepared from such nonaggregated polymer solutions show dramatically increased power conversion efficiencies of up to 1.4%, which is mainly due to a large increase of the short circuit current. In addition, optimized solar cells show remarkable high fill factors of up to 70%. The analysis of the blend absorbance spectra reveals a surprising anticorrelation between the degree of polymer aggregation in the solid P3HT:NDI copolymer blends and their photovoltaic performance. Scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements reveal important information on the blend morphology. It is shown that films with high degree of aggregation and low photocurrents exhibit large-scale phase-separation into rather pure donor and acceptor domains. It is proposed that, by suppressing the aggregation of NDI copolymers at the early stage of film formation, the intermixing of the donor and acceptor component is improved, thereby allowing efficient harvesting of photogenerated excitons at the donoracceptor heterojunction.
A series of multiblock copolymers (PDLCL) synthesized from oligo(omega-pentadecalactone) diol (OPDL) and oligo(epsilon-caprolactone) diol (OCL), which are linked by 2,2(4), 4-trimethyl-hexamethylene diisocyanate (TMDI), is investigated by the Langmuir monolayer technique at the air-water interface. Brewster angle microscopy (BAM) and spectroscopic ellipsometry are employed to characterize the polymer film morphologies in situ. PDLCL containing >= 40 wt% OCL segments form homogeneous Langmuir monofilms after spreading. The film elasticity modulus decreases with increasing amounts of OPDL segments in the copolymer. In contrast, the OCL-free polyesterurethane OPDL-TMDI cannot be spread to monomolecular films on the water surface properly, and movable slabs are observed by BAM even at low surface pressures. The results of the in situ morphological characterization clearly show that essential information concerning the reliability of Langmuir monolayer degradation (LMD) experiments cannot be obtained from the evaluation of the pi-A isotherms only. Consequently, in situ morphological characterization turns out to be indispensable for characterization of Langmuir layers before LMD experiments.
Distributed optimality
(2001)
In this thesis I propose a synthesis (Distributed Optimality, DO) between Optimality Theory (OT, Prince & Smolensky, 1993) and a morphological framework in a genuine derivational tradition, namely Distributed Morphology (DM) as developed by Halle & Marantz (1993). By carrying over the apparatus of OT to DM, phenomena which are captured in DM by language-specific rules or features of lexical entries, are given a more principled account in the terms of ranked universal constraints. On the other hand, also the DM part makes two contributions, namely strong locality and impoverishment. The first gives rise to a simple formal interpretation of DO, while the latter is shown to be indispensable in any theoretically satisfying account of agreement morphology. The empirical basis of the work is given by the complex agreement morphology of genetically different languages. Theoretical focus is mainly on two areas: First, so-called direction marking which is shown to be preferably treated in terms of constraints on feature realization. Second, the effects of precedence constraints which are claimed to regulate the status of agreement affixes as prefixes or suffixes and their respective order. A universal typology for the order of agreement categories by means of OT-constraints is proposed.
A fundamental understanding of the relationship between the bulk morphology and device performance is required for the further development of bulk heterojunction organic solar cells. Here, non-optimized (chloroform cast) and nearly optimized (solvent-annealed o-dichlorobenzene cast) P3HT:PCBM blend films treated over a range of annealing temperatures are studied via optical and photovoltaic device measurements. Parameters related to the P3HT aggregate morphology in the blend are obtained through a recently established analytical model developed by F. C. Spano for the absorption of weakly interacting H-aggregates. Thermally induced changes are related to the glass transition range of the blend. In the chloroform prepared devices, the improvement in device efficiency upon annealing within the glass transition range can be attributed to the growth of P3HT aggregates, an overall increase in the percentage of chain crystallinity, and a concurrent increase in the hole mobilities. Films treated above the glass transition range show an increase in efficiency and fill factor not only associated with the change in chain crystallinity, but also with a decrease in the energetic disorder. On the other hand, the properties of the P3HT phase in the solvent-annealed o-dichlorobenzene cast blends are almost indistinguishable from those of the corresponding pristine P3HT layer and are only weakly affected by thermal annealing. Apparently, slow drying of the blend allows the P3HT chains to crystallize into large domains with low degrees of intra- and interchain disorder. This morphology appears to be most favorable for the efficient generation and extraction of charges.
Previous research has shown that heritage speakers struggle with inflectional morphology. 'Limitations of online resources' for processing a non-dominant language has been claimed as one possible reason for these difficulties. To date, however, there is very little experimental evidence on real-time language processing in heritage speakers. Here we report results from a masked priming experiment with 97 bilingual (Turkish/German) heritage speakers and a control group of 40 non-heritage speakers of Turkish examining regular and irregular forms of the Turkish aorist. We found that, for the regular aorist, heritage speakers use the same morphological decomposition mechanism ('affix stripping') as control speakers, whereas for processing irregularly inflected forms they exhibited more variability (i.e., less homogeneous performance) than the control group. Heritage speakers also demonstrated semantic priming effects. At a more general level, these results indicate that heritage speakers draw on multiple sources of information for recognizing morphologically complex words.
ShapeRotator
(2018)
The quantification of complex morphological patterns typically involves comprehensive shape and size analyses, usually obtained by gathering morphological data from all the structures that capture the phenotypic diversity of an organism or object. Articulated structures are a critical component of overall phenotypic diversity, but data gathered from these structures are difficult to incorporate into modern analyses because of the complexities associated with jointly quantifying 3D shape in multiple structures. While there are existing methods for analyzing shape variation in articulated structures in two-dimensional (2D) space, these methods do not work in 3D, a rapidly growing area of capability and research. Here, we describe a simple geometric rigid rotation approach that removes the effect of random translation and rotation, enabling the morphological analysis of 3D articulated structures. Our method is based on Cartesian coordinates in 3D space, so it can be applied to any morphometric problem that also uses 3D coordinates (e.g., spherical harmonics). We demonstrate the method by applying it to a landmark-based dataset for analyzing shape variation using geometric morphometrics. We have developed an R tool (ShapeRotator) so that the method can be easily implemented in the commonly used R package geomorph and MorphoJ software. This method will be a valuable tool for 3D morphological analyses in articulated structures by allowing an exhaustive examination of shape and size diversity.
ShapeRotator
(2018)
The quantification of complex morphological patterns typically involves comprehensive shape and size analyses, usually obtained by gathering morphological data from all the structures that capture the phenotypic diversity of an organism or object. Articulated structures are a critical component of overall phenotypic diversity, but data gathered from these structures are difficult to incorporate into modern analyses because of the complexities associated with jointly quantifying 3D shape in multiple structures. While there are existing methods for analyzing shape variation in articulated structures in two-dimensional (2D) space, these methods do not work in 3D, a rapidly growing area of capability and research. Here, we describe a simple geometric rigid rotation approach that removes the effect of random translation and rotation, enabling the morphological analysis of 3D articulated structures. Our method is based on Cartesian coordinates in 3D space, so it can be applied to any morphometric problem that also uses 3D coordinates (e.g., spherical harmonics). We demonstrate the method by applying it to a landmark-based dataset for analyzing shape variation using geometric morphometrics. We have developed an R tool (ShapeRotator) so that the method can be easily implemented in the commonly used R package geomorph and MorphoJ software. This method will be a valuable tool for 3D morphological analyses in articulated structures by allowing an exhaustive examination of shape and size diversity.
Cryo-electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and light microscopy investigations provide experimental evidence that amphiphilic emulsion copolymerization particles change their morphology in dependence on concentration. The shape of the particles is spherical at solids content above 1%, but it changes to rod-like, ring-like, and web-like structures at lower concentrations. In addition, the shape and morphology of these particles at low concentrations are not fixed but very flexible and vary with time between spheres, flexible pearlnecklace structures, and stretched rods.
The aim of this thesis is to achieve a deep understanding of the working mechanism of polymer based solar cells and to improve the device performance. Two types of the polymer based solar cells are studied here: all-polymer solar cells comprising macromolecular donors and acceptors based on poly(p-phenylene vinylene) and hybrid cells comprising a PPV copolymer in combination with a novel small molecule electron acceptor. To understand the interplay between morphology and photovoltaic properties in all-polymer devices, I compared the photocurrent characteristics and excited state properties of bilayer and blend devices with different nano-morphology, which was fine tuned by using solvents with different boiling points. The main conclusion from these complementary measurements was that the performance-limiting step is the field-dependent generation of free charge carriers, while bimolecular recombination and charge extraction do not compromise device performance. These findings imply that the proper design of the donor-acceptor heterojunction is of major importance towards the goal of high photovoltaic efficiencies. Regarding polymer-small molecular hybrid solar cells I combined the hole-transporting polymer M3EH-PPV with a novel Vinazene-based electron acceptor. This molecule can be either deposited from solution or by thermal evaporation, allowing for a large variety of layer architectures to be realized. I then demonstrated that the layer architecture has a large influence on the photovoltaic properties. Solar cells with very high fill factors of up to 57 % and an open circuit voltage of 1V could be achieved by realizing a sharp and well-defined donor-acceptor heterojunction. In the past, fill factors exceeding 50 % have only been observed for polymers in combination with soluble fullerene-derivatives or nanocrystalline inorganic semiconductors as the electron-accepting component. The finding that proper processing of polymer-vinazene devices leads to similar high values is a major step towards the design of efficient polymer-based solar cells.