These two properties define what physicists call the "figure of merit" of a thermoelectric substance, which describes the power a device made of that substance could generate.

这两种属性决定着热电材料的“品质因数”。“品质因数”是用来描述用热电材料所制成的元器件的输出功率的单位。

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It is the key problem to fully improve the thermoelectric figure of merit.

如何最大限度地提高材料的热电优值是当今热电材料研究的主要问题。

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And it's getting worse: We are now 53 percent more likely than our parents to trust polls of dubious merit. That figure is totally made up.

而情况变得更糟的是：与父母相比，我们对可疑成绩的投票的信任度上升了53%。(这一数字完全是捏造出来的吗？)

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There the figure of merit is the cost of bandwidth, dollars per gigabyte not ounce, seemingly ethereal but anchored very much in the physical world of hundreds of thousands of miles of oceanic cables.

FORBES: Bullish Economic Indicators: Gold and Global Bandwidth Prices Both Fall

They thus have a high figure of merit.

ECONOMIST: Thermoelectrics