Colloidal bimetallic platinum–ruthenium nanoparticles in ordered mesoporous carbon films as highly active electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction

Hydrogen features a very high specific energy density and is therefore a promising candidate for clean fuel from renewable resources. Water electrolysis can convert electrical energy into storable and transportable hydrogen gas. Under acidic conditions, platinum is the most active and stable monometallic catalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Yet, platinum is rare and needs to be used efficiently. Here, we report a synthesis concept for colloidal bimetallic platinum–ruthenium and rhodium–ruthenium nanoparticles (PtRuNP, RhRuNP) and their incorporation into ordered mesoporous carbon (OMC) films. The films exhibit high surface area, good electrical conductivity and well-dispersed nanoparticles inside the mesopores. The nanoparticles retain their size, crystallinity and composition during carbonization. In the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), PtRuNP/OMC catalyst films show up to five times higher activity per Pt than Pt/C/Nafion® and PtRu/C/Nafion® reference catalysts.TU Berlin, Open-Access-Mittel - 2020European Metrology Research Programme (EMRP), 16ENG0, Hybrid metrology for thin films in energy applications (HyMET)BMBF, 03VP05390, Nanostrukturierte Elektroden der nächsten Generation für eine energieeffiziente Produktion von Chlor - Next-Gen-ChlorBMBF, 03EK3009, Design hocheffizienter Elektrolysekatalysatore

Multi-institution analysis of racial disparity among African- American men eligible for prostate cancer active surveillance

There is a significant controversy on whether race should be a factor in considering active surveillance for low-risk prostate cancer. To address this question, we analyzed a multi-institution database to assess racial disparity between African-American and White-American men with low risk prostate cancer who were eligible for active surveillance but underwent radical prostatectomy. A retrospective analysis of prospectively collected clinical, pathologic and oncologic outcomes of men with low-risk prostate cancer from seven tertiary care institutions that underwent radical prostatectomy from 2003–2014 were used to assess potential racial disparity. Of the 333 (14.8%) African-American and 1923 (85.2%) White-American men meeting active surveillance criteria, African-American men were found to be slightly younger (57.5 vs 58.5 years old; p = 0.01) and have higher BMI (29.3 v 27.9; p \u3c 0.01), pre-op PSA (5.2 v 4.7; p \u3c 0.01), and maximum percentage cancer on biopsy (15.1% v 13.6%; p \u3c 0.01) compared to White-American men. Univariate and multivariate analysis demonstrated similar rates of upgrading, upstaging, positive surgical margin, and biochemical recurrence between races. These results suggest that single institution studies recommending more stringent AS enrollment criteria for AA men with a low-risk prostate cancer may not capture the complete oncologic landscape due to institutional variability in cancer outcomes. Since all seven institutions demonstrated no significant racial disparity, current active surveillance eligibility should not be modified based upon race until a prospective study has been completed. © Dinizo et al

Incertitude de la mesure de terrain en géomorphologie littorale. Approche statistique et quantification des marges d'erreur

479 p.Un des objectifs de la mesure en géomorphologie littorale est d'étudier de façon diachronique les changements morphosédimentaires d'un environnement côtier. La période d'observation et la fréquence des relevés dépendent du but recherché. On choisira une haute fréquence (relevé hebdomadaire) lorsque la problématique est d'analyser le rôle des épisodes à forte récurrence (tempêtes hivernales) dans la mobilité des formes littorales (Lee et Birkemeir, 1993). À l'inverse, une fréquence beaucoup plus faible sera adoptée (relevé annuel) lorsque l'objectif est de suivre l'évolution d'une côte sur du long terme à très long terme (Levoy, 1998). Le problème qui se pose alors est de savoir si les modifications observées relèvent bien de l'action des agents de forçage météo-marins ou si elles ne sont pas le résultat d'erreurs inhérentes à la mesure. Cette étude se propose de quantifier à partir de traitements statistiques les incertitudes liées à la mesure de terrain effectuée au théodolite (figure 1a et 1b), et auDGPS (figure 1c et 1d). Les données utilisées proviennent de suivis réalisés sur plusieurs plages du Finistère et des Côtes d'Armor effectués dans le cadre de travaux de thèse et/ou de recherches contractuelles. Une partie de ces résultats, ceux qui concernent la mesure au théodolite, a déjà fait l'objet d'une présentation dans le cadre des séminaires de notre UMR LETG - 6554 CNRS (Suanez et al., 2005). Pour cette étude, ces données ont été réactualisées en intégrant notamment le travail sur la mesure DGPS

A Gauss-Kuzmin theorem for continued fractions associated with non-positive interger powers of an integer m≥2m \geq 2

We consider a family $\{\tau_m:m\geq 2\}$ of interval maps introduced by Hei-Chi Chan [5] as generalizations of the Gauss transformation. For the continued fraction expansion arising from $\tau_m$, we solve its Gauss-Kuzmin-type problem by applying the method of Rockett and Sz\"usz [18].Comment: 18 page

High-performance biosensing systems based on various nanomaterials as signal transducers

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De patricios y nación. Los valores de la política liberal en la España de mediados del siglo XIX

El objetivo de este artículo es analizar la cultura de «la política moderna» a partir del sistema de valores desplegado por los políticos liberales españoles a mediados del sigloxix. A partir de la correspondencia privada del progresista Fermín Caballero, se estudia la representación del patricio y de la comunidad, local y nacional, que se puso en juego en las épocas electorales. La reflexión se adentra en el problema de la política liberal que rechaza y discute la legitimidad de las luchas partidistas, la pluralidad de la ciudadanía y la diversidad de la sociedad civil. Para ello se postula, por último, una perspectiva comparada que atienda tanto las especificidades históricas del liberalismo europeo como las aportaciones de otras disciplinas, además de la historia. RESUMÉ: Cet article analyse la culture de la « politique moderne » à partir du système de valeurs des libéraux espagnols au milieu du xixe siècle. En s¿appuyant sur la correspondance privée du progressiste Fermín Caballero, l¿auteur étudie la représentation des notables et des communautés, locale et nationale, pendant les périodes électorales. La réflexion porte sur la politique libérale qui rejette et conteste la légitimité des luttes partisanes, la diversité de la citoyenneté et de la société civile. Cette étude adopte une approche comparatiste qui tient compte des spécificités historiques du libéralisme européen ainsi que de la contribution de disciplines autres que l¿histoire. ABSTRACT: This article seeks to analyse the culture of «modern politics» on the basis of the value system displayed by Spanish liberal politicians in the mid-19th century. Centring on the private correspondence of the progressive Fermín Caballero, the author examines the way in which the patriciate and the local and national community were projected in the jockeying typical of electoral periods. She looks closely at the problem of the kind of liberal politics that rejected and questioned the legitimacy of inter-party struggles, the plurality of the citizenry and the diversity of civil society. Finally, the article proposes a comparative perspective through which to address both the historical specificities of European liberalism and the contributions of other disciplines besides history

Linking notions of justice and project outcomes in carbon offset forestry projects: Insights from a comparative study in Uganda

Over the last 20 years, Uganda has emerged as a testing ground for the various modes of carbon forestry used in Africa. Carbon forestry initiatives in Uganda raise questions of justice, given that people with comparatively negligible carbon footprints are affected by land use changes initiated by the desire of wealthy people, firms, and countries to reduce their more extensive carbon footprints. This paper examines the notions of justice local people express in relation to two contrasting carbon forestry projects in Uganda, the Mount Elgon Uganda Wildlife Authority – Forests Absorbing Carbon Emissions (UWA-FACE) project and Trees for Global Benefit (TFGB). UWA-FACE closed down its initial operations at Mount Elgon after 10 years as a result of deep controversies and negative international publicity, whereas TFGB is regarded by many as an exemplary design for smallholder carbon forestry in Africa. Our approach builds upon an emerging strand in the literature, of empirical analyses of local people’s notions of justice related to environmental interventions. The main contribution of the paper is to examine how people’s notions of justice have influenced divergent project outcomes in these cases. In particular, we highlight the relative success of TFGB in the way it meets people’s primarily distributional concerns, apparently without significantly challenging prevalent expectations of recognition or procedural justice. In contrast, we illuminate how controversy across the range of justice dimensions in UWA-FACE at Mount Elgon ultimately led to the project’s decline. This paper therefore explores how attention to notions of justice can contribute to a fuller understanding of the reactions of people to carbon forestry projects, as well as the pathways and ultimate outcomes of such interventions

Analysing wear in carpets by detecting varying local binary patterns

Currently, carpet companies assess the quality of their products based on their appearance retention capabilities. For this, carpet samples with different degrees of wear after a traffic exposure simulation process are rated with wear labels by human experts. Experts compare changes in appearance in the worn samples to samples with original appearance. This process is subjective and humans can make mistakes up to 10% in rating. In search of an objective assessment, research using texture analysis has been conducted to automate the process. Particularly, Local Binary Pattern (LBP) technique combined with a Symmetric adaptation of the Kullback-Leibler divergence (SKL) are successful for extracting texture features related to the wear labels either from intensity and range images. We present in this paper a novel extension of the LBP techniques that improves the representation of the distinct wear labels. The technique consists in detecting those patters that monotonically change with the wear labels while grouping the others. Computing the SKL from these patters considerably increases the discrimination between the consecutive groups even for carpet types where other LBP variations fail. We present results for carpet types representing 72% of the existing references for the EN1471:1996 European standard