2,011 research outputs found
Enhanced thermoelectric figure of merit in vertical graphene junctions
In this work, we investigate thermoelectric properties of junctions
consisting of two partially overlapped graphene sheets coupled to each other in
the cross-plane direction. It is shown that because of the weak van-der Waals
interactions between graphene layers, the phonon conductance in these junctions
is strongly reduced, compared to that of single graphene layer structures,
while their electrical performance is weakly affected. By exploiting this
effect, we demonstrate that the thermoelectric figure of merit can reach values
higher than 1 at room temperature in junctions made of gapped graphene
materials, for instance, graphene nanoribbons and graphene nanomeshes. The
dependence of thermoelectric properties on the junction length is also
discussed. This theoretical study hence suggests an efficient way to enhance
thermoelectric efficiency of graphene devices.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, submitte
Spin Gap in the Single Spin-1/2 Chain Cuprate SrCaCuO
We report Cu nuclear magnetic resonance and muon spin rotation
measurements on the S=1/2 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg spin chain compound
SrCaCuO. An exponentially decreasing spin-lattice
relaxation rate 1/T indicates the opening of a spin gap. This behavior is
very similar to what has been observed for the cognate zigzag spin chain
compound SrCaCuO, and confirms that the occurrence of a
spin gap upon Ca doping is independent of the interchain exchange coupling
. Our results therefore generally prove the appearance of a spin gap in an
antiferromagnetic Heisenberg spin chain induced by a local bond disorder of the
intrachain exchange coupling . A low temperature upturn of 1/T evidences
growing magnetic correlations. However, zero field muon spin rotation
measurements down to 1.5 K confirm the absence of magnetic order in this
compound which is most likely suppressed by the opening of the spin gap.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
The Philia project – for the successful integration of the young through their empowerment and social network development
The Philia+ project has been approved for funding within the Erasmus + Programme. Several partners from Belgium, France, Germany, Portugal and Romania (from higher education and social work institutions) have worked to support the academic success and social inclusion of (pre)adolescents aged 13-18 in foster care, and to enhance, preserve and develop their support networks. Training programmes were held for teachers, trainers and researchers involved in the project, as well as for students and social work professionals and young people in difficulty in the care of associations and organizations providing them social and psychological support. The aim has always been to change their position according to the theoretical DPAPC (empowerment of individuals and communities) framework and to the methodological RAC (collaborative research-action) framework, in order to enable them to understand the mechanism of the social determinism of success and failure and to enhance their support networks. We managed to create two training modules, teasers of experienced testimonies (focus groups, comprehensive conversations), educational films for the two modules, educational films on accompanying Roma and unaccompanied minors.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
How realistic are air quality hindcasts driven by forcings from climate model simulations?
Predicting how European air quality could evolve over the next decades in the context of changing climate requires the use of climate models to produce results that can be averaged in a climatologically and statistically sound manner. This is a very different approach from the one that is generally used for air quality hindcasts for the present period; analysed meteorological fields are used to represent specifically each date and hour. Differences arise both from the fact that a climate model run results in a pure model output, with no influence from observations (which are useful to correct for a range of errors), and that in a "climate" set-up, simulations on a given day, month or even season cannot be related to any specific period of time (but can just be interpreted in a climatological sense). Hence, although an air quality model can be thoroughly validated in a "realistic" set-up using analysed meteorological fields, the question remains of how far its outputs can be interpreted in a "climate" set-up. For this purpose, we focus on Europe and on the current decade using three 5-yr simulations performed with the multiscale chemistry-transport model MOCAGE and use meteorological forcings either from operational meteorological analyses or from climate simulations. We investigate how statistical skill indicators compare in the different simulations, discriminating also the effects of meteorology on atmospheric fields (winds, temperature, humidity, pressure, etc.) and on the dependent emissions and deposition processes (volatile organic compound emissions, deposition velocities, etc.). Our results show in particular how differing boundary layer heights and deposition velocities affect horizontal and vertical distributions of species. When the model is driven by operational analyses, the simulation accurately reproduces the observed values of O<sub>3</sub>, NO<sub>x</sub>, SO<sub>2</sub> and, with some bias that can be explained by the set-up, PM<sub>10</sub>. We study how the simulations driven by climate forcings differ, both due to the realism of the forcings (lack of data assimilated and lower resolution) and due to the lack of representation of the actual chronology of events. We conclude that the indicators such as mean bias, mean normalized bias, RMSE and deviation standards can be used to interpret the results with some confidence as well as the health-related indicators such as the number of days of exceedance of regulatory thresholds. These metrics are thus considered to be suitable for the interpretation of simulations of the future evolution of European air quality
Preparation and optimization of a titanium-based feedstock for Fused Deposition Modeling
In this work the preparation and optimization of a titanium-based metal injection moulding (MIM) feedstock for Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) is presented. The composition of the plastic binder system, consisting of a backbone polymer, a water-soluble polymer and a lubricant was optimized and MIM feedstocks with titanium contents ranging from 50 to 68 vol.% were prepared in a laboratory-scale internal mixer. During the feedstock preparation the torque of the mixing screws of the internal mixer was recorded, which allowed to determine an optimum Ti content of 59–61 vol.%. The morphology, thermal and rheological properties of the prepared MIM feedstocks were characterized using various techniques such as optical microscopy, SEM, FTIR, DSC, TGA, MFI and oscillatory rheometry. This study contributes to the emerging research on additive manufacturing of MIM feedstocks with the aim of producing pure titanium components with complicated shapes and high density from novel MIM feedstock as the starting material
First experimental results of very high accuracy centroiding measurements for the neat astrometric mission
NEAT is an astrometric mission proposed to ESA with the objectives of
detecting Earth-like exoplanets in the habitable zone of nearby solar-type
stars. NEAT requires the capability to measure stellar centroids at the
precision of 5e-6 pixel. Current state-of-the-art methods for centroid
estimation have reached a precision of about 2e-5 pixel at two times Nyquist
sampling, this was shown at the JPL by the VESTA experiment. A metrology system
was used to calibrate intra and inter pixel quantum efficiency variations in
order to correct pixelation errors. The European part of the NEAT consortium is
building a testbed in vacuum in order to achieve 5e-6 pixel precision for the
centroid estimation. The goal is to provide a proof of concept for the
precision requirement of the NEAT spacecraft. In this paper we present the
metrology and the pseudo stellar sources sub-systems, we present a performance
model and an error budget of the experiment and we report the present status of
the demonstration. Finally we also present our first results: the experiment
had its first light in July 2013 and a first set of data was taken in air. The
analysis of this first set of data showed that we can already measure the pixel
positions with an accuracy of about 1e-4 pixel.Comment: SPIE conference proceeding
Coarctation of the aorta: pre and postoperative evaluation with MRI and MR angiography; correlation with echocardiography and surgery
Aims: To compare MRI and MRA with Doppler-echocardiography (DE) in native and postoperative aortic coarctation, define the best MR protocol for its evaluation, compare MR with surgical findings in native coarctation. Materials and methods: 136 MR studies were performed in 121 patients divided in two groups: Group I, 55 preoperative; group II, 81 postoperative. In group I, all had DE and surgery was performed in 35 cases. In group II, DE was available for comparison in 71 cases. MR study comprised: spin-echo, cine, velocity-encoded cine (VEC) sequences and 3D contrast-enhanced MRA. Results: In group I, diagnosis of coarctation was made by DE in 33 cases and suspicion of coarctation and/or aortic arch hypoplasia in 18 cases. Aortic arch was not well demonstrated in 3 cases and DE missed one case. There was a close correlation between VEC MRI and Doppler gradient estimates across the coarctation, between MRI aortic arch diameters and surgery but a poor correlation in isthmic measurements. In group II, DE detected a normal isthmic region in 31 out of 35 cases. Postoperative anomalies (recoarctation, aortic arch hypoplasia, kinking, pseudoaneurysm) were not demonstrated with DE in 50% of cases. Conclusions: MRI is superior to DE for pre and post-treatment evaluation of aortic coarctation. An optimal MR protocol is proposed. Internal measurement of the narrowing does not correspond to the external aspect of the surgical narrowin
Unveiling True Three-dimensional Microstructural Evolution in Novel Chalcogenide Nanocomposites as a Route to Infrared Gradient Refractive Index Functionality
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