Welfare and Convergence Speed in the Ramsey Model under two Classes of Gorman Preferences

Using a one-sector, discrete-time Ramsey model, we analyze and compare the implications for welfare, capital accumulation, and speed of convergence to the steady state of two classes of utility functions that represent Gorman preferences, namely homothetic and Stone\u2013Geary preferences. For identical economies, we show that the preference structure does not affect only the capital dynamics and social welfare but also the speed of convergence to the steady-state equilibrium

Mechanical and electrochemical response of all-solid-state lithium-ion batteries

All-solid-state rechargeable lithium-ion batteries have attracted much interest because they have features particularly favorable for large-scale application to automotive applications and to stationary load-leveling for intermittent power generation from solar or wind energy. The replacement of an organic liquid electrolyte with a nonflammable and more reliable inorganic solid electrolyte (SE) simplifies the battery design and improves safety and durability of the system [1]. However, the mechanical behavior of such electrodes will be considerably different than their liquid electrolyte counterparts. Direct stacking of solid-state cells enables the achievement of high operating voltages in a reduced volume. Furthermore, all-solid-state batteries allow the use of large-capacity electrode materials, for instance, sulfur positive electrode paired with a lithium metal negative electrode, which are difficult to employ in conventional liquid electrolyte batteries. A key development to the success of all-solid-state batteries is a SE with high Li+ ion conductivity at room Temperature [2, 3, 4]. In recent years, several SEs having the same level of conductivity as organic liquid electrolytes have been discovered and tested with many active materials. The durability of a cohering solid–solid interface between electrode and electrolyte is likely to be important practical consideration. Notwithstanding the several techniques have been investigated to increase the contact area at the interface [5], interface cohesion and its effects on the rate capability and the overall performance throughout the expected life cycles needs to be maintained. This research focuses on the development of a nonlinear continuum model able to account for the combined effects of Li diffusion and for the consequent isotropic or anisotropic volumetric expansion of the hosting material. The electrode and electrolyte are modeled as idealized as elastic-viscoplastic materials, with elastic properties varying with lithium concentration. A discrete approximation of such a model has been implemented (in the framework of finite elements) to simulate mechanical and elctrochemical response of the system. Side reactions being mostly inhibited in all-solid cells, the battery life depends in larger measure on the mechanical integrity of the composite system [6]. As physical values for the SE’s mechanical behavior are not available, our calculations indicate trends of how mechanical reliability will depend on temperature-dependent viscoelastic behavior. When mechanical properties become available, they can be used directly in our model. Of relevant practical interest is thus the prediction of stress, plastic flow, and damage within the bulk and in particular at the electrode–electrolyte interface. KEY WORDS Lithium ion batteries, All-solid-state batteries, Electrochemical–mechanical continuum model, Diffusion, Elasto-viscoplastic material REFERENCES [1] Kazunori Takada. Progress and prospective of solid-state lithium batteries. Acta Materialia. 2013, 61(3), 759–770. [2] Bates, J.B., Dudney, N.J., Neudecker, B., Ueda, A., Evans, C.D. Thin-film lithium and lithium-ion batteries. Solid State Ionics. 2000, 135(1–4), 33–45. [3] Yoshikatsu Seino, Tsuyoshi Ota, Kazunori Takada, Akitoshi Hayashi, and Masahiro Tatsumisago. A sulphide lithium super ion conductor is superior to liquid ion conductors for use in rechargeable batteries. Energy Environ. Sci. 2014, 7, 627–631. [4] Noriaki Kamaya, Kenji Homma, Yuichiro Yamakawa, Masaaki Hirayama, Ryoji Kanno, Masao Yonemura, Takashi Kamiyama, Yuki Kato, Shigenori Hama, Koji Kawamoto, Akio Mitsui. A lithium superionic conductor. Nature Mater. 2011, 10(9), 682–686. [5] Masahiro Tatsumisago, Motohiro Nagao, Akitoshi Hayashi. Recent development of sulfide solid electrolytes and interfacial modification for all-solid-state rechargeable lithium batteries. J Asian Ceram Soc. 2013, 1(1), 17–25. [6] Akitoshi Hayashi, Kousuke Noi, Atsushi Sakuda, Masahiro Tatsumisago. Superionic glass-ceramic electrolytes for room-temperature rechargeable sodium batteries. Nature Commun. 2012, 3

Passive Multi-Target Tracking Using the Adaptive Birth Intensity PHD Filter

Passive multi-target tracking applications require the integration of multiple spatially distributed sensor measurements to distinguish true tracks from ghost tracks. A popular multi-target tracking approach for these applications is the particle filter implementation of Mahler's probability hypothesis density (PHD) filter, which jointly updates the union of all target state space estimates without requiring computationally complex measurement-to-track data association. Although this technique is attractive for implementation in computationally limited platforms, the performance benefits can be significantly overshadowed by inefficient sampling of the target birth particles over the region of interest. We propose a multi-sensor extension of the adaptive birth intensity PHD filter described in (Ristic, 2012) to achieve efficient birth particle sampling driven by online sensor measurements from multiple sensors. The proposed approach is demonstrated using distributed time-difference-of-arrival (TDOA) and frequency-difference-of-arrival (FDOA) measurements, in which we describe exact techniques for sampling from the target state space conditioned on the observations. Numerical results are presented that demonstrate the increased particle density efficiency of the proposed approach over a uniform birth particle sampler.Comment: 21st International Conference on Information Fusio

Boltzmann Suppression of Interacting Heavy Particles

Matsumoto and Yoshimura have recently argued that the number density of heavy particles in a thermal bath is not necessarily Boltzmann-suppressed for T << M, as power law corrections may emerge at higher orders in perturbation theory. This fact might have important implications on the determination of WIMP relic densities. On the other hand, the definition of number densities in a interacting theory is not a straightforward procedure. It usually requires renormalization of composite operators and operator mixing, which obscure the physical interpretation of the computed thermal average. We propose a new definition for the thermal average of a composite operator, which does not require any new renormalization counterterm and is thus free from such ambiguities. Applying this definition to the model of Matsumoto and Yoshimura we find that it gives number densities which are Boltzmann-suppressed at any order in perturbation theory. We discuss also heavy particles which are unstable already at T=0, showing that power law corrections do in general emerge in this case.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures. New section added, with the discussion of the case of an unstable heavy particle. Version to appear on Phys. Rev.

Radon mitigation during the installation of the CUORE 0νββ0\nu\beta\beta decay detector

CUORE - the Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events - is an experiment searching for the neutrinoless double-beta ($0\nu\beta\beta$) decay of $^{130}$Te with an array of 988 TeO$_2$ crystals operated as bolometers at $\sim$10 mK in a large dilution refrigerator. With this detector, we aim for a $^{130}$Te $0\nu\beta\beta$ decay half-life sensitivity of $9\times10^{25}$ y with 5 y of live time, and a background index of $\lesssim 10^{-2}$ counts/keV/kg/y. Making an effort to maintain radiopurity by minimizing the bolometers' exposure to radon gas during their installation in the cryostat, we perform all operations inside a dedicated cleanroom environment with a controlled radon-reduced atmosphere. In this paper, we discuss the design and performance of the CUORE Radon Abatement System and cleanroom, as well as a system to monitor the radon level in real time.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, 1 tabl

The Effect of Stress on Battery-Electrode Capacity

Constraint-induced stresses develop during Li-ion battery cycling, because anode and cathode materials expand and contract as they intercalate or de-intercalate Li. We show in this manuscript that these stresses, in turn, can significantly modify the maximum capacity of the device at a given cell voltage. All-solid-state batteries impose an external elastic constraint on electrode particles, promoting the development of large stresses during cycling. We employ an analytic and a finite element model to study this problem, and we predict that the electrode's capacity decreases with increasing matrix stiffness. In the case of lithiation of a silicon composite electrode, we calculate 64% of capacity loss for stresses up to 2 GPa. According to our analysis, increasing the volume ratio of Si beyond 25-30% has the effect of decreasing the total capacity, because of the interaction between neighboring particles. The stress-induced voltage shift depends on the chemical expansion of the active material and on the constraint-induced stress. However, even small voltage changes may result in very large capacity shift if the material is characterized by a nearly flat open-circuit potential curve. Keywords: Finite element modeling; Li-ion battery; Solid electrolyte; Stress-potential coupling; ThermodynamicsUnited States. Department of Energy (Grant DE-SC0002633)United States. Department of Energy. Office of Basic Energy Sciences (Contract DE-FG02-10ER46771

The Dependence of Work Function on Thickness in Epitaxial Cu-Pd Systems

Changes in work function have been measured with a Kelvin probe for the initial stages of epitaxial growth of (111) Cu on (111) Pd and (111) Pd on (111) Cu and for CO adsorption on selected bilayers at room temperature. The results of this study show that, at low metal coverages, the overlayers have properties which differ significantly from those of bulk crystals. One of the most interesting observations was that a quarter monolayer of Cu on Pd (111) increases the saturation work function change upon CO adsorption by more than a factor of three as compared to a thick Pd (111) film

The CRESST Dark Matter Search

We present first competitive results on WIMP dark matter using the phonon-light-detection technique. A particularly strong limit for WIMPs with coherent scattering results from selecting a region of the phonon-light plane corresponding to tungsten recoils. The observed count rate in the neutron band is compatible with the rate expected from neutron background. CRESST is presently being upgraded with a 66 channel SQUID readout system, a neutron shield and a muon veto system. This results in a significant improvement in sensitivity.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, to be published in the proceedings of the 5th International Workshop on the Identification and Detection of Dark Matter IDM 2004, Edinburgh, Sept. 2004, World Scientifi

Detection of the Natural Alpha Decay of Tungsten

The natural alpha decay of 180W has been unambiguously detected for the first time. The alpha peak is found in a (gamma,beta and neutron)-free background spectrum. This has been achieved by the simultaneous measurement of phonon and light signals with the CRESST cryogenic detectors. A half-life of T1/2 = (1.8 +- 0.2) x 10^18 y and an energy release of Q = (2516.4 +- 1.1 (stat.) +- 1.2 (sys.)) keV have been measured. New limits are also set on the half-lives of the other naturally occurring tungsten isotopes.Comment: Submitted to Physical Review C Revised versio

Exposure to Kynurenic Acid during Adolescence Increases Sign-Tracking and Impairs Long-Term Potentiation in Adulthood

Changes in brain reward systems are thought to contribute significantly to the cognitive and behavioral impairments of schizophrenia, as well as the propensity to develop co-occurring substance abuse disorders. Presently, there are few treatments for persons with a dual diagnosis and little is known about the neural substrates that underlie co-occurring schizophrenia and substance abuse. One goal of the present study was to determine if a change in the concentration of kynurenic acid (KYNA), a tryptophan metabolite that is increased in the brains of people with schizophrenia, affects reward-related behavior. KYNA is an endogenous antagonist of NMDA glutamate receptors and α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, both of which are critically involved in neurodevelopment, plasticity, and behavior. In Experiment 1, rats were treated throughout adolescence with L-kynurenine (L-KYN), the precursor of KYNA. As adults, the rats were tested drug-free in an autoshaping procedure in which a lever was paired with food. Rats treated with L-KYN during adolescence exhibited increased sign-tracking behavior (lever pressing) when they were tested as adults. Sign-tracking is thought to reflect the lever acquiring incentive salience (motivational value) as a result of its pairing with reward. Thus, KYNA exposure may increase the incentive salience of cues associated with reward, perhaps contributing to an increase in sensitivity to drug-related cues in persons with schizophrenia. In Experiment 2, we tested the effects of exposure to KYNA during adolescence on hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP). Rats treated with L-KYN exhibited no LTP after a burst of high-frequency stimulation that was sufficient to produce robust LTP in vehicle-treated rats. This finding represents the first demonstrated consequence of elevated KYNA concentration during development and provides insight into the basis for cognitive and behavioral deficits that result from exposure to KYNA during adolescence