Thermally assisted ordering in Mott insulators

Ginzburg-Landau theory describes phase transitions as the competition between energy and entropy: The ordered phase has lower energy, while the disordered phase has larger entropy. When heating the system, ordering is reduced entropically until it vanishes at the critical temperature. This established picture implicitly assumes that the energy difference between ordered and disordered phase does not change with temperature. We show that for the Mott insulator KCuF3 this assumption is strongly violated: thermal expansion energetically stabilizes the orbitally-ordered phase to such and extent that no phase transition is observed. This new mechanism explains not only the absence of a phase transition in KCuF3 but even suggests the possibility of an inverted transition in closed-shell systems, where the ordered phase emerges only at high temperatures.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

An empirical investigation of the relationship between the real economy and stock returns for the United States

This is the post-print version of the final paper published in the Journal of Policy Modeling. The published article is available from the link below. 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. Copyright @ 2009 Elsevier B.V.US asset prices are modelled in the short- and long-run with the use of a seemingly unrelated system using monthly data over the time period, 1983–2004. Once the shocks of 1987, 1997 and post-“9·11” have been accounted for, then volatility only affects the consumption and inflation equations. In the long run excess returns and inflation are driven by consumption growth. Money growth impacts excess returns and inflation via consumption. Income is super exogenous implying that policy can be made conditional on this variable and that in the long run investors are primarily concerned with income growth

Open data to accelerate the electric mobility revolution : deploying journey electric vehicle chargers in rural Scotland

Governments across the world are exploring options to transition their population away from internal combustion vehicles toward alternative low- and zero-carbon technologies. For small “light-duty” personal and commercial vehicles, the transition toward battery-powered electric vehicles (EVs) appears to be the candidate solution. In Scotland since 2013, more than £50 million (∼US$63 million) has been invested in a nationwide EV charging network consisting of more than 2,400 charging points. Statistics for the year 2022 indicate that more than 2 million vehicle charging sessions took place on the public charging network in Scotland (not including third-party operators nor private charging points) and delivered approximately 43 GWh of energy to vehicles. As of January 2023, there were 69 public charging points per 100,000 people with 17.3 public rapid charging points per 100,000 people. A rapid charger is a device capable of charging an EV at ≥ 25 kW. Generally, rapid charging points are rated at 50-kW dc and above. Increasingly, the classification “rapid” is being replaced by the term journey charging

Employment Testing and Incentives to Learn

Employment tests predict job performance because they measure or are correlated with a large set of malleable developed abilities which are causally related to productivity. Our economy currently under-rewards the achievements that are measured by these tests. Consequently, economic incentives to study hard in high school are minimal and this absence of incentives has contributed to the low levels of achievement in math and science. The paper concludes with a discussion of ways in which employment tests can strengthen incentives to learn

From planning to deployment - insights into installing publicly-accessible journey EV charging infrastructure

Deploying publicly accessible electric vehicle charging infrastructure involves engaging with multiple stakeholders from various organisations to ensure successful project delivery. When installing a fleet of charging points across a wide area, the number of stakeholders increases often resulting in a disjointed or non-standardised experience for EV infrastructure developers. Based on real-world learnings, this paper suggests several improvements that could be implemented by distribution network operators that would help streamline infrastructure deployment and help accelerate the uptake of zero-carbon transport solutions

Is small beautiful? A multicriteria assessment of small-scale energy technology applications in local governments

In its 2003 White Paper the UK government set ambitious renewable energy targets. Local governments and households have an increasing role in the overall energy system as consumers, suppliers of smaller-scale applications and citizens discussing energy projects. In this paper, we consider if small-scale or large-scale approaches to renewable energy provision can achieve energy targets in the most socially, economically and environmentally (SEE) effective way. We take a local case study of renewable energy provision in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in Yorkshire, UK, and apply a multi-criteria decision analysis methodology to compare the small-scale schemes implemented in Kirklees with large-scale alternatives. The results indicate that small-scale schemes are the most SEE effective, despite large-scale schemes being more financially viable. The selection of the criteria on which the alternatives are assessed and the assigned weights for each criterion are of crucial importance. It is thus very important to include the relevant stakeholders to elicit this information

Ageless Aluminum-Cerium-Based Alloys in High-Volume Die Casting for Improved Energy Efficiency

Strong chemical reactions between Al and Ce lead to the formation of intermetallics with exceptional thermal stability. The rapid formation of intermetallics directly from the liquid phase during solidification of Al-Ce alloys leads to an ultrafine microconstituent structure that effectively strengthens as-cast alloys without further microstructural optimization via thermal processing. Die casting is a high-volume manufacturing technology that accounts for greater than 40% of all cast Al products, whereas Ce is highly overproduced as a waste product of other rare earth element (REE) mining. Reducing heat treatments would stimulate significant improvements in manufacturing energy efficiency, exceeding (megatonnes/year) per large-scale heat-treatment line. In this study, multiple compositions were evaluated with wedge mold castings to test the sensitivity of alloys to the variable solidification rate inherent in high-pressure die casting. Once a suitable composition was determined, it was successfully demonstrated at 800 lbs/h in a 600-ton die caster, after which the as-die cast parts performed similarly to ubiquitous A380 in the same geometry without requiring heat treatment. This work demonstrates the compatibility of Al REE alloys with high-volume die-casting applications with minimal heat treatments

Identifying predictors of attitudes towards local onshore wind development with reference to an English case study

The threats posed by climate change are placing governments under increasing pressure to meet electricity demand from low-carbon sources. In many countries, including the UK, legislation is in place to ensure the continued expansion of renewable energy capacity. Onshore wind turbines are expected to play a key role in achieving these aims. However, despite high levels of public support for onshore wind development in principle, specific projects often experience local opposition. Traditionally this difference in general and specific attitudes has been attributed to NIMBYism (not in my back yard), but evidence is increasingly calling this assumption into question. This study used multiple regression analysis to identify what factors might predict attitudes towards mooted wind development in Sheffield, England. We report on the attitudes of two groups; one group (target) living close to four sites earmarked for development and an unaffected comparison group (comparison). We found little evidence of NIMBYism amongst members of the target group; instead, differences between general and specific attitudes appeared attributable to uncertainty regarding the proposals. The results are discussed with respect to literature highlighting the importance of early, continued and responsive community involvement in combating local opposition and facilitating the deployment of onshore wind turbines. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved