486 research outputs found
Recent trends in the early childhood obesity epidemic: the good, the bad, and the unexpected.
Presented at: New Mexico Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics 2016 Annual Conference and Expo; April 25-26, Santa Fe, NM.https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/prc-posters-presentations/1021/thumbnail.jp
Nanowires: A route to efficient thermoelectric devices
Miniaturization of electronic devices aims at manufacturing ever smaller
products, from mesoscopic to nanoscopic sizes. This trend is challenging
because the increased levels of dissipated power demands a better understanding
of heat transport in small volumes. A significant amount of the consumed energy
is transformed into heat and dissipated to the environment. Thermoelectric
materials offer the possibility to harness dissipated energy and make devices
less energy-demanding. Heat-to-electricity conversion requires materials with a
strongly suppressed thermal conductivity but still high electronic conduction.
Nanowires can meet nicely these two requirements because enhanced phonon
scattering at the surface and defects reduces the lattice thermal conductivity
while electric conductivity is not deteriorated, leading to an overall
remarkable thermoelectric efficiency. Therefore, nanowires are regarded as a
promising route to achieving valuable thermoelectric materials at the
nanoscale. In this paper, we present an overview of key experimental and
theoretical results concerning the thermoelectric properties of nanowires. The
focus of this review is put on the physical mechanisms by which the efficiency
of nanowires can be improved. Phonon scattering at surfaces and interfaces,
enhancement of the power factor by quantum effects and topological protection
of electron states to prevent the degradation of electrical conductivity in
nanowires are thoroughly discussed
Raman and infrared studies of La_1-ySr_yMn_1-xM_xO_3 (M=Cr, Co, Cu, Zn, Sc or Ga): Oxygen disorder and local vibrational modes
We present results of our study of polarized Raman scattering and infrared
reflectivity of rhombohedral ceramic La_1-ySr_yMn_1-xM_xO_3 manganites in the
temperature range between 77 and 320K. In our samples, a part of the Mn atoms
is substituted by M = Cr, Co, Cu, Zn, Sc, or Ga with x in the range 0 -- 0.1.
The hole concentration was kept at the optimal value of about 32% by tuning the
Sr content y. We have monitored the distortions of the oxygen sublattice by the
presence of broad bands in the Raman spectra, the increase of d.c. resistivity
extracted from the infrared reflectivity, and the change of the critical
temperature of the ferromagnetic transition. Our results support the idea, that
these properties are mainly determined by the radius of the substituent ion,
its electronic and magnetic structure playing only a minor role. Furthermore,
the Raman spectra exhibit an additional A_g-like high frequency mode attributed
to the local breathing vibration of oxygens surrounding the substituent ion.
Its frequency and intensity strongly depend on the type of the substituent. In
the Co-substituted sample, the mode anomalously softens when going from 300 to
77K. The frequency of the bulk A_{1g} mode depends linearly on the angle of the
rhombohedral distortion.Comment: 11 pages, 11 Figures, best-fit values table added, a discussion adde
Local government debt: an application to the Spanish case
For the last years, Europe has been subject to fiscal austerity in order to satisfy the Maastrich criteria. In this way, Spanish municipalities have been affected by new regulations and local government structure has changed. This paper is focused on the main factors that explain local government debt. In particular, budgetary information of a group of Spanish municipalities is used (1990-2000). Econometric analysis of cross section and panel data are presented. Key words:Fiscal Federalism, Local Government, debt, decentralization.
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