Advances in Thermoelectricity: Foundational Issues, Materials and Nanotechnology


Book Description

The field of thermoelectricity has continued to develop rapidly in recent years and remains one of the most exciting areas of research for a materials physicist. The need for sustainable energy has added a technological momentum to the challenge of devising materials with exceptional properties such as low thermal conductivity, high electrical conductivity and a large Seebeck coefficient, and has triggered a global, interdisciplinary effort. More recently, research on thermoelectric materials has promoted and motivated a major research endeavor to clarify the factors affecting thermal conductivity in nanostructures as part of a more general effort to apply nanotechnology to enhance the performance of thermoelectric materials for use in thermoelectric generators and coolers. This book contains the lectures presented as Course 207 of the International School of Physics Enrico Fermi, Advances in Thermoelectricity: Foundational Issues, Materials, and Nanotechnology, held in Varenna, Italy from 15 – 20 July 2019. This comprehensive course aimed to provide students with a modern vision of the physics of thermoelectric phenomena, starting from the thermodynamics of thermoelectricity and from the physics of transport processes and demonstrating how material structure and nanostructure, together with defects, have been used to tailor the physical properties of advanced thermoelectrics. Special attention was also given to areas of current research – from spin-caloritronics to charge transport in polymers – and to a selected number of applications for heat recovery. Encompassing the full complexity of modern thermoelectricity and covering the most cogent themes relevant to current research, the book will be of interest to all those working in the field.





Book Description




Materials Research to Meet 21st-Century Defense Needs


Book Description

In order to achieve the revolutionary new defense capabilities offered by materials science and engineering, innovative management to reduce the risks associated with translating research results will be needed along with the R&D. While payoff is expected to be high from the promising areas of materials research, many of the benefits are likely to be evolutionary. Nevertheless, failure to invest in more speculative areas of research could lead to undesired technological surprises. Basic research in physics, chemistry, biology, and materials science will provide the seeds for potentially revolutionary technologies later in the 21st century.




Nanotechnology Research Directions: IWGN Workshop Report


Book Description

energy production, environmental management, transportation, communication, computation, and education. As the twenty-first century unfolds, nanotechnology's impact on the health, wealth, and security of the world's people is expected to be at least as significant as the combined influences in this century of antibiotics, the integrated circuit, and human-made polymers. Dr. Neal Lane, Advisor to the President for Science and Technology and former National Science Foundation (NSF) director, stated at a Congressional hearing in April 1998, "If I were asked for an area of science and engineering that will most likely produce the breakthroughs of tomorrow, I would point to nanoscale science and engineering. " Recognizing this potential, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) have issued a joint memorandum to Federal agency heads that identifies nanotechnology as a research priority area for Federal investment in fiscal year 2001. This report charts "Nanotechnology Research Directions," as developed by the Interagency W orking Group on Nano Science, Engineering, and Technology (IWGN) of the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC). The report incorporates the views of leading experts from government, academia, and the private sector. It reflects the consensus reached at an IWGN-sponsored workshop held on January 27-29, 1999, and detailed in contributions submitted thereafter by members of the V. S. science and engineering community. (See Appendix A for a list of contributors.




Fundamentals of Nanotechnology


Book Description

WINNER 2009 CHOICE AWARD OUTSTANDING ACADEMIC TITLE! Nanotechnology is no longer a subdiscipline of chemistry, engineering, or any other field. It represents the convergence of many fields, and therefore demands a new paradigm for teaching. This textbook is for the next generation of nanotechnologists. It surveys the field’s broad landscape, exploring the physical basics such as nanorheology, nanofluidics, and nanomechanics as well as industrial concerns such as manufacturing, reliability, and safety. The authors then explore the vast range of nanomaterials and systematically outline devices and applications in various industrial sectors. This color text is an ideal companion to Introduction to Nanoscience by the same group of esteemed authors. Both titles are also available as the single volume Introduction to Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Qualifying instructors who purchase either of these volumes (or the combined set) are given online access to a wealth of instructional materials. These include detailed lecture notes, review summaries, slides, exercises, and more. The authors provide enough material for both one- and two-semester courses.




Hands-On Mathematics for Deep Learning


Book Description

A comprehensive guide to getting well-versed with the mathematical techniques for building modern deep learning architectures Key FeaturesUnderstand linear algebra, calculus, gradient algorithms, and other concepts essential for training deep neural networksLearn the mathematical concepts needed to understand how deep learning models functionUse deep learning for solving problems related to vision, image, text, and sequence applicationsBook Description Most programmers and data scientists struggle with mathematics, having either overlooked or forgotten core mathematical concepts. This book uses Python libraries to help you understand the math required to build deep learning (DL) models. You'll begin by learning about core mathematical and modern computational techniques used to design and implement DL algorithms. This book will cover essential topics, such as linear algebra, eigenvalues and eigenvectors, the singular value decomposition concept, and gradient algorithms, to help you understand how to train deep neural networks. Later chapters focus on important neural networks, such as the linear neural network and multilayer perceptrons, with a primary focus on helping you learn how each model works. As you advance, you will delve into the math used for regularization, multi-layered DL, forward propagation, optimization, and backpropagation techniques to understand what it takes to build full-fledged DL models. Finally, you’ll explore CNN, recurrent neural network (RNN), and GAN models and their application. By the end of this book, you'll have built a strong foundation in neural networks and DL mathematical concepts, which will help you to confidently research and build custom models in DL. What you will learnUnderstand the key mathematical concepts for building neural network modelsDiscover core multivariable calculus conceptsImprove the performance of deep learning models using optimization techniquesCover optimization algorithms, from basic stochastic gradient descent (SGD) to the advanced Adam optimizerUnderstand computational graphs and their importance in DLExplore the backpropagation algorithm to reduce output errorCover DL algorithms such as convolutional neural networks (CNNs), sequence models, and generative adversarial networks (GANs)Who this book is for This book is for data scientists, machine learning developers, aspiring deep learning developers, or anyone who wants to understand the foundation of deep learning by learning the math behind it. Working knowledge of the Python programming language and machine learning basics is required.




Thermoelectricity Abstracts


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New Frontiers for Metrology: From Biology and Chemistry to Quantum and Data Science


Book Description

The use of standard and reliable measurements is essential in many areas of life, but nowhere is it of more crucial importance than in the world of science, and physics in particular. This book contains 20 contributions presented as part of Course 206 of the International School of Physics Enrico Fermi on New Frontiers for Metrology: From Biology and Chemistry to Quantum and Data Science, held in Varenna, Italy, from 4 -13 July 2019. The Course was the 7th in the Enrico Fermi series devoted to metrology, and followed a milestone in the history of measurement: the adoption of new definitions for the base units of the SI. During the Course, participants reviewed the decision and discussed how the new foundation for metrology is opening new possibilities for physics, with several of the lecturers reflecting on the implications for an easier exploration of the unification of quantum mechanics and gravity. A wide range of other topics were covered, from measuring color and appearance to atomic weights and radiation, and including the application of metrological principles to the management and interpretation of very large sets of scientific data and the application of metrology to biology. The book also contains a selection of posters from the best of those presented by students at the Course. Offering a fascinating exploration of the latest thinking on the subject of metrology, this book will be of interest to researchers and practitioners from many fields.




Topological Insulators


Book Description

This book is the result of dynamic developments that have occurred in condensed matter physics after the recent discovery of a new class of electronic materials: topological insulators. A topological insulator is a material that behaves as a band insulator in its interior, while acting as a metallic conductor at its surface. The surface current car




Thermoelectrics


Book Description

This book provides a concise but comprehensive introduction to the fundamentals and current state of the art in thermoelectrics. Addressing an audience of materials scientists and engineers, the book covers theory, materials selection, and applications, with a wide variety of case studies reflecting the most up-to-date research approaches from the past decade, from single crystal to polycrystalline form and from bulk to thin films to nano dimensions. The world is facing major challenges for finding alternate energy sources that can satisfy the increasing demand for energy consumption while preserving the environment. The field of thermoelectrics has long been recognized as a potential and ideal source of clean energy. However, the relatively low conversion efficiency of thermoelectric devices has prevented their utility on a large scale. While addressing the need for thermal management in materials, device components, and systems, thermoelectrics provides a fundamental solution to waste heat recovery and temperature control. This book summarizes the global efforts that have been made to enhance the figure of merit of various thermoelectric materials by choosing appropriate processes and their influence on properties and performance. Because of these advances, today, thermoelectric devices are found in mainstream applications such as automobiles and power generators, as opposed to just a few years ago when they could only be used in niche applications such as in aeronautics, infrared imaging, and space. However, the continued gap between fundamental theoretical results and actual experimental data of figure of merit and performance continues to challenge the commercial applications of thermoelectrics. This book presents both recent achievements and continuing challenges, and represents essential reading for researchers working in this area in universities, industry, and national labs.