Prediction of Room Temperature High Thermoelectric Performance in n-type La(Ru,Rh)4Sb12

First principles calculations are used to investigate the band structure and the transport related properties of unfilled and filled 4d skutterudite antimonides. The calculations show that, while RhSb3 and p-type La(Rh,Ru)4Sb12 are unfavorable for thermoelectric application, n-type La(Rh,Ru)4Sb12 is very likely a high figure of merit thermoelectric material in the important temperature range 150-300 K.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figures. To appear, Appl. Phys. Let

Deep-sea image processing

High-resolution seafloor mapping often requires optical methods of sensing, to confirm interpretations made from sonar data. Optical digital imagery of seafloor sites can now provide very high resolution and also provides additional cues, such as color information for sediments, biota and divers rock types. During the cruise AT11-7 of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) vessel R/V Atlantis (February 2004, East Pacific Rise) visual imagery was acquired from three sources: (1) a digital still down-looking camera mounted on the submersible Alvin, (2) observer-operated 1-and 3-chip video cameras with tilt and pan capabilities mounted on the front of Alvin, and (3) a digital still camera on the WHOI TowCam (Fornari, 2003). Imagery from the first source collected on a previous cruise (AT7-13) to the Galapagos Rift at 86°W was successfully processed and mosaicked post-cruise, resulting in a single image covering area of about 2000 sq.m, with the resolution of 3 mm per pixel (Rzhanov et al., 2003). This paper addresses the issues of the optimal acquisition of visual imagery in deep-seaconditions, and requirements for on-board processing. Shipboard processing of digital imagery allows for reviewing collected imagery immediately after the dive, evaluating its importance and optimizing acquisition parameters, and augmenting acquisition of data over specific sites on subsequent dives.Images from the deepsea power and light (DSPL) digital camera offer the best resolution (3.3 Mega pixels) and are taken at an interval of 10 seconds (determined by the strobe\u27s recharge rate). This makes images suitable for mosaicking only when Alvin moves slowly (≪1/4 kt), which is not always possible for time-critical missions. Video cameras provided a source of imagery more suitable for mosaicking, despite its inferiority in resolution. We discuss required pre-processing and imageenhancement techniques and their influence on the interpretation of mosaic content. An algorithm for determination of camera tilt parameters from acquired imagery is proposed and robustness conditions are discussed

The role of financial variables in predicting economic activity

Previous research has shown that the US business cycle leads the European cycle by a few quarters, and can therefore help predicting euro area GDP. We investigate whether financial variables provide additional predictive power. We use a VAR model of the US and the euro area GDPs and extend it to take into account common global shocks and information provided by selected combinations of financial variables. In-sample analysis shows that shocks to financial variables influence real activity with a peak around 4 to 6 quarters after the shock. Out-of-sample Root-Mean- Squared Forecast Error (RMFE) shows that adding financial variables yields smaller errors in fore-casting US economic activity, especially at a five- quarter horizon, but the gain is overall tiny in economic terms. This link is even less prominent in the euro area, where financial indicators do not improve short and medium term GDP forecasts even when their timely availability, relative to a given GDP release, is exploited. The same conclusion is reached with a dataset of quarterly industrial production indices, although financial variables marginally improve fore- casts of monthly industrial production. We argue that the findings that financial variables have no predictive power for future activity in the euro area relate to the unconditional nature of the RMFE metric. When forecasting ability is assessed as if in real time (i.e. conditionally on the information available at the time when forecasts are made), we find that models using financial variables would have been preferred in many episodes, and in particular between 1999 and 2002. Results from the historical decomposition of a VAR model indeed suggest that in that period shocks were predominantly of financial nature. JEL Classification: F30, F42, F47conditional forecast, Financial Variables, international linkages, VAR

Kinetic study of pilot-scale supercritical CO2 extraction of rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) leaves

NOTICE: This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Journal of Supercritical Fluids. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Journal of Supercritical Fluids, 55 (2011). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.supflu.2010.09.030Rosmarinus officinalis (rosemary) extracts were obtained in a supercritical pilot-scale plant. Based on experimental information available in the literature for analytical or low-scale processes, extraction temperature and pressure were selected to be 313 K and 30 MPa. At these extraction conditions, the kinetic behavior of the pilot-scale overall extraction curve were determined with respect to yield, antioxidant activity and carnosic acid content. The overall extraction curve was represented using Sovova’s model; the average deviation between measured and calculated yields was lower than 2%. Mass transfer coefficients in the fluid and solid phases were determined and were compared with previous data reported in the literature for low-scale rosemary supercritical extraction. A two-stage depressurization procedure was accomplished and the effect of both on-line fractionation and extraction time on the antioxidant activity of the samples collected was studied. The antioxidant activity of the different fractions could be straight correlated with the carnosic acid content with a regression coefficient of 0.92This work has been financed by Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid (ALIBIRD-S2009/AGR-1469) and project FUN-C-FOOD, CSD2007-00063 (CONSOLIDER-INGENIO) from Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Spain

A record of eruption and intrusion at a fast spreading ridge axis : axial summit trough of the East Pacific Rise at 9–10°N

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2009. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems 10 (2009): Q10T07, doi:10.1029/2008GC002354.High-resolution side-scan sonar, near-bottom multibeam bathymetry, and deep-sea photo and bathymetry traverses are used to map the axial summit trough (AST) at the East Pacific Rise between 9 and 10°N. We define three ridge axis morphologic types: no AST, narrow AST, and wide AST, which characterize distinct ridge crest domains spanning tens of kilometers along strike. Near-bottom observations, modeling of deformation above intruding dikes, and comparisons to the geologic and geophysical structure of the ridge crest are used to develop a revised model of AST genesis and evolution. This model helps constrain the record of intrusive and extrusive magmatism and styles of lava deposition along the ridge crest at time scales from hundreds to tens of thousands of years. The grabens in the narrow-AST domain (9°43′–53′N) are consistent with deformation above the most recent (<10) diking events beneath the ridge crest. Frequent high–effusion rate extrusive volcanism in this domain (several eruptions every ∼100 years) overprints near-axis deformation and maintains a consistent AST width. The most recent eruption at the ridge crest occurred in this area and did not significantly modify the physical characteristics of the AST. The grabens in the wide-AST domain (9°23′–43′N) originated with similar dimensions to the narrow AST. Spreading, driven primarily by the intrusion of shallow dikes within a narrow axial zone, causes the initial graben bounding faults to migrate away from the axis. Infrequent extrusive volcanism (several eruptions every ∼1000 years) fills a portion of the subsidence that accumulates over time but does not significantly modify the width of the AST. Outside of these domains, lower–effusion rate constructional volcanism without efficient drain-back fills and erases the signature of the AST. The relative frequency of intrusive versus extrusive magmatic events controls the morphology of the ridge crest and appears to remain constant over millennial time scales within the domains we have identified; however, over longer time scales (∼10–25 ka), domain-specific intrusive-to-extrusive ratios do not appear to be fixed in space, resulting in a fairly consistent volcanic accretion over the length scale of the second-order ridge segment between 9°N and 10°N.This work was supported by NSF grants OCE-0525863 to D. Fornari and S. A. Soule; OCE-0732366 to S. A. Soule; and OCE-9819261 to H. Schouten, M. Tivey, and D. Fornari and by CNRS to J. Escartın