BACKGROUND There are large geographic gradients in mortality rates for a number of cancers in the U.S. (e.g., rates are approximately twice as high in the northeast compared with the southwest). Risk factors such as diet fail to explain this variation. Previous studies have demonstrated that the geographic distributions for five types of cancer are related inversely to solar radiation. The purp...

in the present work, a prototype of a new type of solar collectors, which called direct absorption solar collector, was built and its thermal performance is experimentally compared with conventional flat plate solar collector under transient and steady state conditions. different volume fractions of multi wall carbon nanotubes in water and ethylene glycol mixture (70%:30% in volume) were used a...

Ozone depletion leads to an increase in the ultraviolet-B (UV-B) component (280-315 nm) of solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR) reaching the surface of the Earth with important consequences for human health. Solar UVR has many harmful and some beneficial effects on individuals and, in this review, information mainly published since the previous report in 2003 (F. R. de Gruijl, J. Longstreth, M. No...

The reliable quantification of ultraviolet (UV) radiation at the earth’s surface requires accurate measurements of spectral global solar UV irradiance in order to determine the UV exposure to human skin and to understand long-term trends in this parameter. Array spectroradiometers (ASRMs) are small, light, robust and cost-effective instruments, and are increasingly used for spectral irradiance ...

A method for the three dimensional representation of erythemally effective ultraviolet radiation (UVery) incident to the human body has been developed from a series of polysulphone dosimeter (PS) measurements to the face, neck, arms, legs and hands of a manikin model. The technique has been used to represent a series of human UVery exposure patterns in the solar zenith angle (SZA) range 30-50 m...

Chronic exposure to environmental ultraviolet radiation (UVR) plays a key role both in photocarcinogenesis and induction of accelerated skin ageing. Sailors commonly experience a significant number of cutaneous problems, related to the exposure to environmental factors due to their working conditions. Among these factors, sun exposure is able to determine both acute and chronic skin damage, mos...

The total ozone column of 265 ± 11 Dobson Units in the tropical-equatorial zones and 283 ± 16 Dobson Units in the subtropics of Brazil are among the lowest on Earth, and as a result, the prevalence of skin cancer due to solar ultraviolet radiation is among the highest. Daily erythemal doses in Brazil can be over 7,500 J m. Erythemal dose rates on cloudless days of winter and summer are typicall...

UNLABELLED Morphological stability is a key requirement for outdoor operation of organic solar cells. We demonstrate that morphological stability and lifetime of polymer/fullerene based solar cells under thermal stress depend strongly on the substrate interface on which the active layer is deposited. In particular, we find that the stability of benchmark PCDTBT/PCBM solar cells under modest the...

Highly ordered anodic TiO2 nanotube arrays fabricated by electrochemical anodization were sensitized with ruthenium dye N-719 to yield dye-sensitized TiO2 nanotube solar cells. Rational surface treatments on photoanode TiO2 nanotubes markedly improved the device performance. With TiCl4 treatment, in conjunction with oxygen plasma exposure under optimized conditions, dye-sensitized TiO2 nanotube...