36,128 research outputs found
Non-linear resistivity and heat dissipation in monolayer graphene
We have experimentally studied the nonlinear nature of electrical conduction
in monolayer graphene devices on silica substrates. This nonlinearity manifests
itself as a nonmonotonic dependence of the differential resistance on applied
DC voltage bias across the sample. At temperatures below ~70K, the differential
resistance exhibits a peak near zero bias that can be attributed to
self-heating of the charge carriers. We show that the shape of this peak arises
from a combination of different energy dissipation mechanisms of the carriers.
The energy dissipation at higher carrier temperatures depends critically on the
length of the sample. For samples longer than 10um the heat loss is shown to be
determined by optical phonons at the silica-graphene interface.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Burden of podoconiosis in poor rural communities in Guliso woreda, western Ethiopia
Background. Podoconiosis is an environmental lymphoedema affecting people living and working barefoot on irritant red clay soil. Podoconiosis is relatively well described in southern Ethiopia, but remains neglected in other parts of the Ethiopian highlands. This study aimed to assess the burden of podoconiosis in rural communities in western Ethiopia.
Methodology/Principal Findings. A cross-sectional study was conducted in Gulliso woreda (district), west Ethiopia. A household survey in the 26 rural kebeles (villages) of this district was conducted to identify podoconiosis patients and to measure disease prevalence. A more detailed study was done in six randomly selected kebeles to describe clinical features of the disease, patients’ experiences of foot hygiene, and shoe wearing practice. 1,935 cases of podoconiosis were registered, giving a prevalence of 2.8%. The prevalence was higher in those aged 15 – 64 years (5.2%) and in females than males (prevalence ratio 2.6:1). 90.3% of patients were in the 15 – 64 year age group. In the detailed study, 335 cases were interviewed and their feet assessed. The majority of patients were farmers, uneducated, and poor. Two-third of patients developed the disease before the age of thirty. Almost all patients (97.0%) had experienced adenolymphangitis (ALA - red, hot legs, swollen and painful groin) at least once during the previous year. Patients experienced an average of 5.5 ALA episodes annually, each of average 4.4 days, thus 24 working days were lost annually. The incidence of ALA in podoconiosis patients was higher than that reported for filariasis in other countries. Shoe wearing was limited mainly due to financial problems.
Conclusions. We have documented high podoconiosis prevalence, frequent adenolymphangitis and high disease-related morbidity in west Ethiopia. Interventions must be developed to prevent, treat and control podoconiosis, one of the core neglected tropical diseases in Ethiopia
Drag resistance of 2D electronic microemulsions
Motivated by recent experiments of Pillarisetty {\it et al}, \prl {\bf 90},
226801 (2003), we present a theory of drag in electronic double layers at low
electron concentration. We show that the drag effect in such systems is
anomolously large, it has unusual temperature and magnetic field dependences
accociated with the Pomeranchuk effect, and does not vanish at zero
temperature
Artifacts at 4.5 and 8.0 um in Short Wavelength Spectra from the Infrared Space Observatory
Spectra from the Short Wavelength Spectrometer (SWS) on ISO exhibit artifacts
at 4.5 and 8 um. These artifacts appear in spectra from a recent data release,
OLP 10.0, as spurious broad emission features in the spectra of stars earlier
than ~F0, such as alpha CMa. Comparison of absolutely calibrated spectra of
standard stars to corresponding spectra from the SWS reveals that these
artifacts result from an underestimation of the strength of the CO and SiO
molecular bands in the spectra of sources used as calibrators by the SWS.
Although OLP 10.0 was intended to be the final data release, these findings
have led to an additional release addressing this issue, OLP 10.1, which
corrects the artifacts.Comment: 14 pages, AASTex, including 5 figures. Accepted by ApJ Letter
Late-Time Evolution of Charged Gravitational Collapse and Decay of Charged Scalar Hair - II
We study analytically the initial value problem for a charged massless
scalar-field on a Reissner-Nordstr\"om spacetime. Using the technique of
spectral decomposition we extend recent results on this problem. Following the
no-hair theorem we reveal the dynamical physical mechanism by which the charged
hair is radiated away. We show that the charged perturbations decay according
to an inverse power-law behaviour at future timelike infinity and along future
null infinity. Along the future outer horizon we find an oscillatory inverse
power-law relaxation of the charged fields. We find that a charged black hole
becomes ``bald'' slower than a neutral one, due to the existence of charged
perturbations. Our results are also important to the study of mass-inflation
and the stability of Cauchy horizons during a dynamical gravitational collapse
of charged matter in which a charged black-hole is formed.Comment: Latex 15 pages, Revtex.st
Nuclear Track Detectors. Searches for Exotic Particles
We used Nuclear Track Detectors (NTD) CR39 and Makrofol for many purposes: i)
Exposures at the SPS and at lower energy accelerator heavy ion beams for
calibration purposes and for fragmentation studies. ii) Searches for GUT and
Intermediate Mass Magnetic Monopoles (IMM), nuclearites, Q-balls and
strangelets in the cosmic radiation. The MACRO experiment in the Gran Sasso
underground lab, with ~1000 m^2 of CR39 detectors (plus scintillators and
streamer tubes), established an upper limit for superheavy GUT poles at the
level of 1.4x10^-16 cm^-2 s^-1 sr^-1 for 4x10^-5 <beta<1. The SLIM experiment
at the high altitude Chacaltaya lab (5230 m a.s.l.), using 427 m^2 of CR39
detectors exposed for 4.22 y, gave an upper limit for IMMs of ~1.3x10^-15 cm^-2
s^-1 sr^-1. The experiments yielded interesting upper limits also on the fluxes
of the other mentioned exotic particles. iii) Environmental studies, radiation
monitoring, neutron dosimetry.Comment: Talk given at "New Trends In High-Energy Physics" (experiment,
phenomenology, theory) Yalta, Crimea, Ukraine, September 27-October 4, 200
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