3,650 research outputs found
Sputtered Tungsten Oxide as Hole Contact for Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells
Reactively sputtered tungsten oxide WOx was investigated as hole contact on n type crystalline silicon. Varying the oxygen gas flow during sputtering enables variation of the WOx conductivity from 0.01 to 1000 amp; 937; cm, while the band bending at the interface and the implied fill factor FF change by 70 meV and 1.5 . SputteredWOx shows higher resistivity and higher absorption in the visible range compared with indium tin oxide ITO . Therefore, stacks of WOx and ITO are used in solar cells. It was found that at least 20 nm thick WOx is needed to prevent detrimental effects of the ITO work function on the band bending at the junction, the implied FF, and the real FF of solar cells. WOx hole contacts of different thicknesses and conductivity were applied in solar cells and it was found that the highest FF is achieved using about 20 nm thick interlayers of WOx with the highest possible conductivity. It was found that sputtering enables a drastic improvement of WOx silicon solar cells compared with thermal evaporation, due to the precise control of the WOx conductivity. Unfortunately, the resistivity of the sputteredWOx is still limiting the FF of these device
Etched graphene quantum dots on hexagonal boron nitride
We report on the fabrication and characterization of etched graphene quantum
dots (QDs) on hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) and SiO2 with different island
diameters. We perform a statistical analysis of Coulomb peak spacings over a
wide energy range. For graphene QDs on hBN, the standard deviation of the
normalized peak spacing distribution decreases with increasing QD diameter,
whereas for QDs on SiO2 no diameter dependency is observed. In addition, QDs on
hBN are more stable under the influence of perpendicular magnetic fields up to
9T. Both results indicate a substantially reduced substrate induced disorder
potential in graphene QDs on hBN
Buyback Problem - Approximate matroid intersection with cancellation costs
In the buyback problem, an algorithm observes a sequence of bids and must
decide whether to accept each bid at the moment it arrives, subject to some
constraints on the set of accepted bids. Decisions to reject bids are
irrevocable, whereas decisions to accept bids may be canceled at a cost that is
a fixed fraction of the bid value. Previous to our work, deterministic and
randomized algorithms were known when the constraint is a matroid constraint.
We extend this and give a deterministic algorithm for the case when the
constraint is an intersection of matroid constraints. We further prove a
matching lower bound on the competitive ratio for this problem and extend our
results to arbitrary downward closed set systems. This problem has applications
to banner advertisement, semi-streaming, routing, load balancing and other
problems where preemption or cancellation of previous allocations is allowed
RNA secondary structure design
We consider the inverse-folding problem for RNA secondary structures: for a
given (pseudo-knot-free) secondary structure find a sequence that has that
structure as its ground state. If such a sequence exists, the structure is
called designable. We implemented a branch-and-bound algorithm that is able to
do an exhaustive search within the sequence space, i.e., gives an exact answer
whether such a sequence exists. The bound required by the branch-and-bound
algorithm are calculated by a dynamic programming algorithm. We consider
different alphabet sizes and an ensemble of random structures, which we want to
design. We find that for two letters almost none of these structures are
designable. The designability improves for the three-letter case, but still a
significant fraction of structures is undesignable. This changes when we look
at the natural four-letter case with two pairs of complementary bases:
undesignable structures are the exception, although they still exist. Finally,
we also study the relation between designability and the algorithmic complexity
of the branch-and-bound algorithm. Within the ensemble of structures, a high
average degree of undesignability is correlated to a long time to prove that a
given structure is (un-)designable. In the four-letter case, where the
designability is high everywhere, the algorithmic complexity is highest in the
region of naturally occurring RNA.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figure
The Low Quiescent X-Ray Luminosity of the Transient X-Ray Burster EXO 1747-214
We report on X-ray and optical observations of the X-ray burster EXO
1747-214. This source is an X-ray transient, and its only known outburst was
observed in 1984-1985 by the EXOSAT satellite. We re-analyzed the EXOSAT data
to derive the source position, column density, and a distance upper limit using
its peak X-ray burst flux. We observed the EXO 1747-214 field in 2003 July with
the Chandra X-ray Observatory to search for the quiescent counterpart. We found
one possible candidate just outside the EXOSAT error circle, but we cannot rule
out the possibility that the source is unrelated to EXO 1747-214. Our
conclusion is that the upper limit on the unabsorbed 0.3-8 keV luminosity is L
< 7E31 erg/s, making EXO 1747-214 one of the faintest neutron star transients
in quiescence. We compare this luminosity upper limit to the quiescent
luminosities of 19 neutron star and 14 black hole systems and discuss the
results in the context of the differences between neutron stars and black
holes. Based on the theory of deep crustal heating by Brown and coworkers, the
luminosity implies an outburst recurrence time of >1300 yr unless some form of
enhanced cooling occurs within the neutron star. The position of the possible
X-ray counterpart is consistent with three blended optical/IR sources with
R-magnitudes between 19.4 and 19.8 and J-magnitudes between 17.2 and 17.6. One
of these sources could be the quiescent optical/IR counterpart of EXO 1747-214.Comment: 7 pages, accepted by the Astrophysical Journa
Ground-State and Domain-Wall Energies in the Spin-Glass Region of the 2D Random-Bond Ising Model
The statistics of the ground-state and domain-wall energies for the
two-dimensional random-bond Ising model on square lattices with independent,
identically distributed bonds of probability of and of
are studied. We are able to consider large samples of up to
spins by using sophisticated matching algorithms. We study
systems, but we also consider samples, for different aspect ratios
. We find that the scaling behavior of the ground-state energy and
its sample-to-sample fluctuations inside the spin-glass region () are characterized by simple scaling functions. In particular, the
fluctuations exhibit a cusp-like singularity at . Inside the spin-glass
region the average domain-wall energy converges to a finite nonzero value as
the sample size becomes infinite, holding fixed. Here, large finite-size
effects are visible, which can be explained for all by a single exponent
, provided higher-order corrections to scaling are included.
Finally, we confirm the validity of aspect-ratio scaling for : the
distribution of the domain-wall energies converges to a Gaussian for ,
although the domain walls of neighboring subsystems of size are
not independent.Comment: 11 pages with 15 figures, extensively revise
Effects of environmental enrichment on behavioral responses to novelty, learning, and memory, and the circadian rhythm in cortisol in growing pigs
Previously we showed that pigs reared in an enriched environment had higher baseline salivary cortisol concentrations during the light period than pigs reared under barren conditions. In the present experiment, it was investigated whether these higher baseline salivary cortisol concentrations were a real difference in cortisol concentration or merely represented a phase difference in circadian rhythm. The effects of different cortisol concentrations on the behavioral responses to novelty and learning and long-term memory in a maze test were also studied in enriched and barren housed pigs. At 9 weeks of age enriched and barren housed pigs did not differ in baseline salivary cortisol concentrations nor in circadian rhythm, but at 22 weeks of age barren housed pigs had a blunted circadian rhythm in salivary cortisol as compared to enriched housed pigs. The differences in baseline salivary cortisol concentrations between enriched- and barren-housed pigs are age-dependent, and become visible after 15 weeks of age. Enriched- and barren-housed piglets did not differ in time spent on exploration in the novel environment test. Barren-housed pigs had an impaired long-term memory in the maze test compared to enriched-housed pigs; however, no differences in learning abilities between enriched- and barren-housed pigs were found. Because blunted circadian cortisol rhythms are often recorded during states of chronic stress in pigs and rats or during depression in humans, it is suggested that the blunted circadian rhythm in cortisol in barren-housed pigs similarily may reflect decreased welfare.
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