Development of a Polycrystalline Si1-xGex Gate Material by LPCVD/PVD

Polycrystalline Si1-xGex (poly Si-Ge) was explored as a process compatible alternative gate material for PMOS transistors at RIT. This material has been previously shown to exhibit several favorable characteristics when used as a gate material for PMOS transistors. Benefits include the ability to engineer the workfunction, improved dopant activation for reduced gate depletion effects, and reduced boron encroachment. A process by which poly Si-Ge could be integrated as a gate material into the RIT submicron CMOS process was developed by alternating polycrystalline silicon deposition by LPCVD and the application of germanium by PVD. The effects on physical composition of the gate stack and an attempt to understand germanium diffusion through polysilicon was also explored

The craft settings in Kainua-Marzabotto: places and archaeological issues

Excavations in the Etruscan city of Marzabotto, the ancient Kainua, have brought to light a well-developed production structure over time which, especially for the Etruscan world, makes Marzabotto an especially favourable, paradigmatic context for the study of this particular aspect. Thanks to the contributions from the most recent investigations, together with the revision of older excavation data, this theme has in recent years benefitted from a series of updated considerations. The quality and variety of the data collected permits analyses from multiple points of view, not only on an architectural and urban planning level, but also on social, economic and political-institutional levels

Did Neoliberalizing West African Forests Produce a New Niche for Ebola?

A recent study introduced a vaccine that controls Ebola Makona, the Zaire ebolavirus variant that has infected 28,000 people in West Africa. We propose that even such successful advances are insufficient for many emergent diseases. We review work hypothesizing that Makona, phenotypically similar to much smaller outbreaks, emerged out of shifts in land use brought about by neoliberal economics. The epidemiological consequences demand a new science that explicitly addresses the foundational processes underlying multispecies health, including the deep-time histories, cultural infrastructure, and global economic geographies driving disease emergence. The approach, for instance, reverses the standard public health practice of segregating emergency responses and the structural context from which outbreaks originate. In Ebola's case, regional neoliberalism may affix the stochastic "friction" of ecological relationships imposed by the forest across populations, which, when above a threshold, keeps the virus from lining up transmission above replacement. Export-led logging, mining, and intensive agriculture may depress such functional noise, permitting novel spillovers larger forces of infection. Mature outbreaks, meanwhile, can continue to circulate even in the face of efficient vaccines. More research on these integral explanations is required, but the narrow albeit welcome success of the vaccine may be used to limit support of such a program.SCOPUS: re.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Exploring the Expectations of Transport Professionals Concerning the Future Automobility System: Visions, challenges and transitions

A mixture of potentially significant changes in technology, commercial structures and social practices are currently entering the automobility system. These changes have the potential to combine together and lead to a substantial shift in the manner in which society fuels, owns and makes use of its cars. This paper reports a research project which made use of focus groups to examine the narratives of British transport professionals concerning forthcoming developments in the automobility system. Specific attention was given to what the expectations for future change in automobility are, if these changes will likely lead to a transition towards a more sustainable system and the manner in which a transition of this nature could be facilitated. The oral testimony offered during the focus groups has been assessed qualitatively using thematic analysis. The results suggest that there is a commonly held view that the automobility system is entering a stage of flux which may lead to considerable changes in system configuration. However, the attainment of a sustainable transition for the system will likely be inhibited by a series of institutional, societal and physical barriers which may restrict system developments

Nuovi spazi della produzione in territori non metropolitani. I makerspace dell’Emilia centrale.

Urban manufacture has recently entered city planning discourses, fostering an increasing number of urban policies that promote the return and/or the conservation of production activities in the city. Many research programs have studied the diffusion of coworking and makerspaces, concentrating mostly in global cities and regions. Nonetheless, recent inquires reveal that such activities shape a reticular geography, which includes also medium-sized cities, industrial districts and non-metropolitan territories. The paper investigates this territorial diffusion, assuming the central area of Emilia-Romagna region as a case-study for the co-existence of two processes of manufacture transformation. On the one hand, the transformation of traditional specialized, industrial districts, due to globalisation, the economic crisis and knowledge economy improvement. On the other hand, the diffusion of different makerspaces. Some of them are sustained by public policies, while others are linked to private initiatives. Some are located in middle-sized and capital cities, whereas others have flourished in dispersed urbanisations. By analysing three concrete experiences (fablab in Modena, Reggio Emilia and Fiorano M.), the paper addresses the following research questions: do they have relationships with local industrial ecosystems and education/research system? Do they shape peculiar spaces and/or transform existing urban spaces? Do they contribute to social innovation and/or local welfare system