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Experimental evidence on promotion of electric and improved biomass cookstoves.
Improved cookstoves (ICS) can deliver "triple wins" by improving household health, local environments, and global climate. Yet their potential is in doubt because of low and slow diffusion, likely because of constraints imposed by differences in culture, geography, institutions, and missing markets. We offer insights about this challenge based on a multiyear, multiphase study with nearly 1,000 households in the Indian Himalayas. In phase I, we combined desk reviews, simulations, and focus groups to diagnose barriers to ICS adoption. In phase II, we implemented a set of pilots to simulate a mature market and designed an intervention that upgraded the supply chain (combining marketing and home delivery), provided rebates and financing to lower income and liquidity constraints, and allowed households a choice among ICS. In phase III, we used findings from these pilots to implement a field experiment to rigorously test whether this combination of upgraded supply and demand promotion stimulates adoption. The experiment showed that, compared with zero purchase in control villages, over half of intervention households bought an ICS, although demand was highly price-sensitive. Demand was at least twice as high for electric stoves relative to biomass ICS. Even among households that received a negligible price discount, the upgraded supply chain alone induced a 28 percentage-point increase in ICS ownership. Although the bundled intervention is resource-intensive, the full costs are lower than the social benefits of ICS promotion. Our findings suggest that market analysis, robust supply chains, and price discounts are critical for ICS diffusion
Tunable Cavity Optomechanics with Ultracold Atoms
We present an atom-chip-based realization of quantum cavity optomechanics
with cold atoms localized within a Fabry-Perot cavity. Effective sub-wavelength
positioning of the atomic ensemble allows for tuning the linear and quadratic
optomechanical coupling parameters, varying the sensitivity to the displacement
and strain of a compressible gaseous cantilever. We observe effects of such
tuning on cavity optical nonlinearity and optomechanical frequency shifts,
providing their first characterization in the quadratic-coupling regime.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
State Legislative Response to the Housing Crisis
Great public attention has recently been focused on the crisis in housing facing all major urban areas in this country. This article has been prepared to bring close attention to one segment of the hoped for solution-legislative action needed on the state level
Magnetoresistance and magnetic breakdown in the quasi-two-dimensional conductors (BEDT-TTF)MHg(SCN)[M=K,Rb,Tl]
The magnetic field dependence of the resistance of
(BEDT-TTF)MHg(SCN)[M=K,Rb,Tl] in the density-wave phase is explained in
terms of a simple model involving magnetic breakdown and a reconstructed Fermi
surface. The theory is compared to measurements in pulsed magnetic fields up to
51 T. The value implied for the scattering time is consistent with independent
determinations. The energy gap associated with the density-wave phase is
deduced from the magnetic breakdown field. Our results have important
implications for the phase diagram.Comment: 5 pages, RevTeX + epsf, 3 figures. To appear in Physical Review B,
Rapid Communications, September 15, 199
Field-induced spin density wave in (TMTSF)NO
Interlayer magnetoresistance of the Bechgaard salt (TMTSF)NO is
investigated up to 50 teslas under pressures of a few kilobars. This compound,
the Fermi surface of which is quasi two-dimensional at low temperature, is a
semi metal under pressure. Nevertheless, a field-induced spin density wave is
evidenced at 8.5 kbar above 20 T. This state is characterized by a
drastically different spectrum of the quantum oscillations compared to the low
pressure spin density wave state.Comment: to be published in Phys. Rev. B 71 (2005
Microfluidic generation of droplet interface bilayer networks incorporating real-time size sorting in linear and non-linear configurations
In this study, a novel droplet based microfluidic method for the generation of different sized droplet interface bilayers is reported. A microfluidic platform was designed, which allows the generation and packing of picoliter lipid coated water droplets. Droplets were generated by hydrodynamic focusing coupled with selective transport along grooves according to their size. A trapping structure at the end of the groove and a fine control of the flow pressures allowed for the droplets to be successfully trapped and aligned on demand. This technology facilitates the fine control of droplet size production as well as the generation of extended networks from a variety of lipids including 1,2-diphytanoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine and 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine in linear and non-linear configurations, which is vital to the application of Droplet Interface Bilayers to biological network construction on-chip
Correlation between Fermi surface transformations and superconductivity in the electron-doped high- superconductor NdCeCuO
Two critical points have been revealed in the normal-state phase diagram of
the electron-doped cuprate superconductor NdCeCuO by exploring
the Fermi surface properties of high quality single crystals by high-field
magnetotransport. First, the quantitative analysis of the Shubnikov-de Haas
effect shows that the weak superlattice potential responsible for the Fermi
surface reconstruction in the overdoped regime extrapolates to zero at the
doping level corresponding to the onset of superconductivity.
Second, the high-field Hall coefficient exhibits a sharp drop right below
optimal doping where the superconducting transition
temperature is maximum. This drop is most likely caused by the onset of
long-range antiferromagnetic ordering. Thus, the superconducting dome appears
to be pinned by two critical points to the normal state phase diagram.Comment: 9 pages; 7 figures; 1 tabl
Destruction of density-wave states by a pseudo-gap in high magnetic fields: application to (TMTSF)ClO
A model is presented for the destruction of density-wave states in
quasi-one-dimensional crystals by high magnetic fields. The model is consistent
with previously unexplained properties of the organic conductors
(TMTSF)ClO and (BEDT-TTF)MHg(SCN) (M=K,Rb,Tl). As the magnetic
field increases quasi-one-dimensional density-wave fluctuations increase,
producing a pseudo-gap in the electronic density of states near the transition
temperature. When the pseudo-gap becomes larger than the mean-field transition
temperature formation of a density-wave state is not possible.Comment: 4 pages, RevTeX, 2 figures in uuencoded compressed tar file. Small
changes to text and Figure 1. Final version to appear in Physical Review
Letter
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