Nanoscale metallic conductivity demonstrataed in ferroelectrics

ScienceDaily (Jan. 9, 2012) ? The prospect of electronics at the nanoscale may be even more promising with the first observation of metallic conductance in ferroelectric nanodomains by researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Ferroelectric materials, which switch their polarization with the application of an electric field, have long been used in devices such as ultrasound machines and sensors. Now, discoveries about ferroelectrics' electronic properties are opening up possibilities of applications in nanoscale electronics and information storage.

In a paper published in the American Chemical Society's Nano Letters, the ORNL-led team demonstrated metallic conductivity in a ferroelectric film that otherwise acts as an insulator. This phenomenon of an insulator-metal transition was predicted more than 40 years ago by theorists but has eluded experimental proof until now.

"This finding unambiguously identifies a new conduction channel that percolates through the insulating matrix of the ferroelectric, which opens potentially exciting possibilities to 'write' and 'erase' circuitry with nanoscale dimensions," said lead author Peter Maksymovych of ORNL's Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences.

From an applied perspective, the ability to use only an electric field as a knob that tunes both the magnitude of metallic conductivity in a ferroelectric and the type of charge carriers is particularly intriguing. Doing the latter in a semiconductor would require a change of the material composition.

"Not only can we turn on metallic conductivity, but if you keep changing the bias dials, you can control the behavior very precisely," Maksymovych said. "And the smaller the nanodomain, the better it conducts. All this occurs in the exact same position of the material, and we can go from an insulator to a better metal or a worse metal in a heartbeat or faster. This is potentially attractive for applications, and it also leads to interesting fundamental questions about the exact mechanism of metallic conductivity."

Although the researchers focused their study on a well-known ferroelectric film called lead-zirconate titanate, they expect their observations will hold true for a broader array of ferroelectric materials.

"We also anticipate that extending our studies onto multiferroics, mixed-phase and anti-ferroelectrics will reveal a whole family of previously unknown electronic properties, breaking new ground in fundamentals and applications alike," said co-author and ORNL senior scientist Sergei Kalinin.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

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Journal Reference:

  1. Peter Maksymovych, Anna N. Morozovska, Pu Yu, Eugene A. Eliseev, Ying-Hao Chu, Ramamoorthy Ramesh, Arthur P. Baddorf, Sergei V. Kalinin. Tunable Metallic Conductance in Ferroelectric Nanodomains. Nano Letters, 2011; : 111230141342002 DOI: 10.1021/nl203349b

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120109155944.htm

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Nigerian president pleads with public ahead of strike (Reuters)

ABUJA (Reuters) ? President Goodluck Jonathan pleaded with Nigerians on Saturday to support the removal of fuel subsidies and pledged to cut government salaries, in an effort to prevent a nationwide strike planned for Monday.

Nigeria's fuel regulator announced on January 1 the end of the subsidy as part of efforts to cut government spending and weed out corruption in the downstream oil industry, which it hopes will encourage more foreign investment in local refining.

Petrol prices have more than doubled to around 150 naira ($0.93) per litre and protests have erupted across the nation.

Trade unions have said they will begin an indefinite general strike from Monday, including workers in Africa's largest energy sector. Industry sources do not expect strikes to significantly affect crude exports.

"If I were in your shoes at this moment, I probably would have reacted in the same manner as some of our compatriots, or hold the same critical views about government," Jonathan said in a statement, his first official comment on subsidies since the policy was announced.

"The deregulation of the petroleum sector is a necessary step that we had to take. I want to assure every Nigerian that whatever pain you may feel at the moment will be temporary."

Nigeria produces more than 2 million barrels per day of crude oil but almost all of this is shipped to the United States, Europe and Asia. Nigeria has to import its refined fuel, like petrol and diesel, because decades of mismanagement and corruption mean its refineries are in disrepair.

Economists say the subsidy encouraged corruption and waste and handed over billions of dollars of government cash to a cartel of wealthy fuel importers.

The government estimates it will save 1 trillion naira ($6.21 billion) this year by eliminating it.

CORRUPTION

Most people in Nigeria live on less than $2 a day and view cheap fuel as the only benefit they get from living in an oil-rich state. Critics say wealthy politicians should have found savings within government and tackled oil industry corruption before imposing costs on the public.

Jonathan said he understood the problems of corruption and the high cost of government, which were being addressed.

"We are all greatly concerned about the issue of corruption. The deregulation policy is the strongest measure to tackle this challenge in the downstream sector."

"To save Nigeria, we must all be prepared to make sacrifices. On the part of government, we are taking several measures aimed at cutting the size and cost of governance."

He said this year the basic salaries of all politicians in the executive arm of government would be reduced by 25 percent. This does not include members of parliament, whose salaries make up a large portion of government spending.

Jonathan said all overseas travel by politicians would be reduced to the bare minimum and the size of delegations on foreign trips would be cut. He also said overlapping committees and departments would be looked at to reduce costs.

Jonathan's critics say he is guilty of wasting money on committees and dozens of special advisers.

He is also under fire for failing to rein in almost daily attacks by an Islamist sect in the northeast of Nigeria.

Many Christians have begun to flee northern Nigeria after dozens were killed in a series of religious attacks in recent days.

(Reporting by Felix Onuah; writing by Joe Brock; editing by Andrew Roche)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120107/wl_nm/us_nigeria_strikes_president

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Men look at the wreckage of a car following a bomb blast at St. Theresa Catholic Church on Christmas Day

Men look at the wreckage of a car following a bomb blast at St. Theresa Catholic Church on Christmas Day

Men look at the wreckage of a car following a bomb blast at St. Theresa Catholic Church outside the Nigerian capital Abuja on December 25. Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has said violence blamed on Islamist group Boko Haram was worse than the country's 1960s civil war, with sympathisers of the sect in government and security agencies.

Source: AFP - Copyright AFP 2008, AFP stories and photos shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium

Source: http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=iafpCNG.ed128266ce5d327171f799741cd639cb.b1p2&show_article=1

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Meet the Billionaire Who Wants to Help Newt Gingrich Destroy Mitt Romney (The Atlantic Wire)

Newt Gingrich may not be able to win the Republican presidential nomination, but with the help of a wealthy casino magnate with powerful allies around globe, he's going to do everything he can to make sure Mitt Romney doesn't either. After pledging for months to avoid negative campaigning, a pro-Gingrich "super PAC" is now pushing an anti-Romney documentary that features interviews with working-class people who were the victims of Bain?Capital?layoffs. (See the trailer below.) Adverstisments promoting the film will run across South Carolina in the run-up to next week's primary.

Related: Another Poll Confirms Trump as Republican Frontrunner

That PAC ? called Winning Our Future?? is paying for the ads?with a huge influx of cash that it just got from Sheldon Adelson, a Las Vegas billionaire with ties to China, Israel, and the Bush family. That's him on the far right, sitting next to Israeli President Shimon Peres and George W. Bush in 2008. Adelson, who Forbes listed at the third-richest American in 2008, has quietly become Gingrich's biggest backer. On Saturday it was announced that he gave $5 million to Winning Our Future, and some reports say he plans to spend as much as $20 million before the campaign is over. It may not be enough to save Gingrich's bid, but it could be enough to burn down the Republican front runner in the process.

Related: We Now Know Perry Doesn't Like to Debate for a Reason

Related: Gingrich Now Even Challenging Romney in New Hampshire

Adelson grew up in the working class neighborhoods outside Boston and got started in business selling toiletries to hotels. He later dropped out of college, became a mortgage broker and ran a tour business. According to this profile from The New Yorker?in 2008?(which is an excellent primer on Adeleson's rise to power), he made and lost more than one fortune, but then in 1979, he started a computer trade show in Las Vegas. (Comdex, an ancient ancestor of this week's CES.) Within a decade, his success with the show led him to purchase the old Las Vegas Sands Hotel. That was was he went from "merely rich" to a billionaire.?He built a massive convention center next door, turning the city into a huge business destination, then tore down the aging casino itself and built the Venetian, a?massive?complex with shopping,?restaurants, spacious hotel rooms, indoor canals, and of course, a glittery casino that exemplified the "new" opulent Las Vegas.

Related: Gingrich Opens Up a Huge Lead in Iowa

It was around the time that he bought the Sands that Adelson, who grew up as a?Massachusetts?Democrat, had a conversion to Republicanism, after befriending William Bush, the brother of George H. W. Bush. A relative newcomer to the world of the super rich, Adelson had the same proverbial epiphany that most newly rich people make when they see their 1040, arguing: ?Why is it fair that I should be paying a higher percentage of taxes than anyone else?? The rest is obvious history.

Related: Newt as Haunted by Health Care as Mitt

As Adelson gained influence in Vegas, he began to spread his reach around the globe. In 2004, he made a deal with the Chinese government to open the first American-owned casino in Macao, a move that?multiplied?his wealth fourteen times in the last decade. As a demonstration of his closeness China, he allegedly helped kill a Congressional bill?denouncing Beijing's 2008 Olympic bid.)?He has also been a major player in Israel-American politics, donating millions to AIPAC, the?American Israel Public Affairs Committee, until abandoning the group after they supported an increase in aid to the?Palestinians, who he considers an "invented people."?He met with President George W. Bush in the White House to lobby against peace?negotiations?and?worked to oust former Israel Prime Minister (and former friend) Ehud Olmert after he declared a willingness to negotiate a two-state solution. In 2007, he opened in his own free daily newspaper in Israel that has been called a mouthpiece for current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In America, the 78-year-old billionaire has aligned himself with Gingrich who shares similar views on Israel. He was the biggest supporter of ?American Solutions for Winning the Future, a different PAC that Gingrich personally ran before he was a candidate, and was replaced with the "independent" Winning Our Future. Legally, Winning Our Future and the Gingrich campaign must remain separate, but this latest move only underscores how?flimsy?those rules are and how massive an influence super PACs are having on the primary. When essentially one person can keep an entire ad campaign alive, even after the candidate it means to support ceases to be viable, that's a discouraging fact of American politics. ?It's also one that won't quell any fears about the power of the 1%.

In any case, it's clear that Gingrich's supporters, with Adelson's help, mean to take down Romney, no matter what it does to Gingrich's reputation or the general election chances of any?Republican?nominee.?Like Gingrich, Adelson appears to be a man who doesn't forget or forgive a slight, and isn't afraid to get his hands dirty. And also one with a nasty temper.

One more story from The New Yorker article gives some insight into his personal business style. As the story goes, a former?colleague?once recorded a meeting where Adelson was giving orders to his staff and when Adelson later complained that they didn't follow his instructions, the?colleague?offered to play the tape to prove that they had. Adelson's response:??What are you guys, crazy? Who are you gonna believe, me or the tape??

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/atlantic/20120109/pl_atlantic/meetbillionairewhowantshelpnewtgingrichdestroymittromney47131

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Sunday's GOP debate: 6 takeaways (Politico)

If it?s Sunday, it?s meet the candidates.

In a debate moderated by ?Meet the Press? host David Gregory, the six remaining major GOP presidential hopefuls took the stage for the second time in 12 hours ? and this one was a far livelier and entertaining debate than the forum the night before.

Continue Reading

Below are POLITICO?s six takeaways from the NBC News/Facebook event in Concord, N.H.:

1) For the most part, the attacks on Mitt Romney didn?t stick

Romney was under much more forceful attack in Sunday morning?s debate than he was in the Saturday night faceoff. He handled it with mixed levels of success.

For the first half of the debate, Romney was under sustained assault from Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum ? the ghosts of his 1994 race against Ted Kennedy were summoned again ? and the former Massachusetts governor generally handled it smoothly.

Romney didn?t get rattled and lose his cool, as he did in the Las Vegas debate when Rick Perry went at him. And he pushed back hard against the aggressors.

He also managed to respond to a question about comments he made in 1994 about supporting gay rights, well, without sounding like he was distancing himself from them.

However, he had some faulty moments, including his boast that he?d forced Kennedy to take out a mortgage on his home to keep fighting for his seat ? a line that Democrats are sure to use against the multimillionaire in an economic climate with a high rate of foreclosures. Romney also gave an eyebrow-raiser about why he decided not to run for Massachusetts governor again, after Santorum noted he was seen as trailing in the polls.

His exchange with Gingrich about super PACs ? in which he said he hadn?t seen ads by a group supporting him and then listed specifically every attack in them ? may live on. His opponents have, if not explicitly, then tacitly, decided to make an issue of character instead of Romney?s specific record, most notably ?Romneycare.?

However, Romney is still a superior debater compared to the field, most of whom seemed either unable or unwilling to maintain attacks against him. Once again, Ron Paul came to Romney?s rescue by changing the subject instead of answering a question about whether his rival is electable.

At this point, Romney?s so far ahead of the pack ? particularly in New Hampshire ? that it?s not clear how much a Sunday morning debate will resonate going forward.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/politico_rss/rss_politico_mostpop/http___www_politico_com_news_stories0112_71208_html/44113288/SIG=11mo6lr8s/*http%3A//www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/71208.html

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1913Intel: Thousands of US troops land in Israel. Aircraft carrier coming soon http://t.co/W9go9GqS

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Gawker fires blogger over Kanye West post (Reuters)

NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) ? Gawker fired blogger Seth Abramovitch Thursday for a post about Kanye West in which he used a certain unpalatable racial slur, TheWrap has confirmed.

Abramovitch wrote a post about West's marathon Twitter rant late Wednesday night, in which he used the "n word" to explain what DONDA stood for. DONDA, as it happens, is the name of West's late mother.

The New York Observer picked up on it, prompting an "editorial pow wow" and an apology, according to new Gawker editor A.J. Daulerio.

"I thought it was a half-assed apology," Daulerio told TheWrap. "I basically do not want people working for the site who do not care.

"I had a conversation with Seth and he told me he really didn't care."

Abramovitch took issue with that characterization, telling TheWrap in an e-mail: "My apology was completely sincere. After waking up to the vitriol over the post, I looked at the post again and agreed it featured a dumb joke using an offensive term, and that my attempt at edgy humor fell flat. I conferred with my coworkers (Daulerio was unavailable) and they concurred.

"I wanted it to be clear and concise, and I ran it by the Gawker team to make sure it was sufficient. The consensus was that it was. It was most certainly sincere, and I have no clue why AJ would say I said otherwise. Ironically, it was the very fact that I posted an apology, and didn't stand by my work, that AJ initially cited as the reason for my firing."

So what was this apology? This one:

"*DONDA is actually the name of Kanye's deceased mother, not the acronym above, which was meant to be the kind of thing Kanye would make up in a late-night creative writing fit, but has offended many people. So sorry, to everyone who was offended, and for the confusion. Sorries all around!"

The original post left the offending word uncensored, but it was updated to have stars replacing three of the letters and a strikethrough on the phrase. Then that note was added.

Daulerio, the former editor at Deadspin, does not officially begin his new gig until next week, but said this situation required his immediate attention.

"It's a horrible joke and I don't want it on the site regardless," Daulerio said. "... That was atrocious to me."

Daulerio added that Abramovitch's firing was not just a result of this post and the apology, but a "series of events." He would not go into further detail.

Abramovitch objected to Daulerio speaking to the press about it, writing "As a longtime Gawker Media employee since 2005, I'm hugely dismayed that Daulerio hasn't respected my privacy or the confidentiality expected in this situation. I'm further troubled that a meeting was called to discuss my termination with other employees of Gawker Media, and that Mr. Daulerio confirmed the termination with The New York Observer and The Wrap, during which he divulged -- incorrectly -- the alleged contents of a private professional conversation."

That was Abramovitch's second response. He initially e-mailed this explanation to TheWrap:

"Yes, it's true, I'm leaving Gawker. I was a part-time freelancer since early last year, and I'm proud of the writing I've done there. I'm also looking forward to having my nights off again."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/enindustry/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120106/media_nm/us_gawker

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jimrome: Oh CRAP. Rome's talking about his horses again. No I'm not. But Forbes is. http://t.co/QXoPL8d8

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Oh CRAP. Rome's talking about his horses again. No I'm not. But Forbes is. tinyurl.com/7azmyhd jimrome

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iPhone Apps For Pets: A Frog, Lizard, Cat &? | Bit Rebels

Author: Diana Adams

By day, Diana is a geek and the CEO of Adams Consulting Group, Inc. in Atlanta, Georgia (part of the Apple certified consultants network). At night, she writes, and writes, and writes... ?I could write all night every night and not get tired of it. I think that is when you know you?ve tapped into a true passion." Diana also spends time assisting homeless men and women. She's a fan of extra hot chicken wings, Caramel Macchiatos, Star Wars, anything made out of Lego, and the #BA75 women on Twitter. You can reach her on email at diana@bitrebels.com.

Source: http://www.bitrebels.com/technology/iphone-apps-for-pets-a-frog-lizard-cat-dog-play-games/

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After Brief Calm, Europe Again Worries Over Debt

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Source: www.nytimes.com --- Thursday, January 05, 2012
Investors seem reluctant to put their trust in the long-term bonds of many euro zone governments. ...

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/06/business/global/06iht-rates06.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

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