D1.15 Impact Assessment Report for RP 2

This deliverable provides the impact assessment report for RP2 (M16-M30). It provides an update on the overall and specific objectives of the EXCELSIOR project that have been achieved within RP2. This task undertakes the establishment of a methodology for the yearly monitoring of the impact of the different activities carried out by Eratosthenes Centre of Excellence (ECoE) and its partners through EXCELSIOR against a set of quantified targets. The list of Key Performance Indicators established in D1.12 has been revised based on the comments received by the EXCELSIOR project reviewers on 23 June 2021 following the first project review. This list is hereby updated to reflect the activities of RP2. By monitoring the impact for the RP2, it will provide direction of the activities needed to fulfil the KPIs for the following reporting periods. The impact assessment report will be used to assess the implementation of the work plan and adjust the activities in agreement with WP and task Leaders to ensure the achievement of the Project’s strategic objectives. WP1 provides the KPI monitoring framework and general quality processes, while the WP3 defines concrete actions affecting all other WPs for meeting the Impact KPIs. This task’s activities will be coordinated with WP3 activities on strategy definition as a continuous process, in order to update the human resources, infrastructure acquisition and overall work plan and to meet new priorities identified. The analysis outputs will update the Project Action Plan of Task 1.1. The following activities were examined and assessed according to the KPIs. These activities include proposals, dissemination events, publications, academia, networks, etc. The impact for each activity was also included

Earth Observation in the EMMENA Region: Scoping Review of Current Applications and Knowledge Gaps

Earth observation (EO) techniques have significantly evolved over time, covering a wide range of applications in different domains. The scope of this study is to review the research conducted on EO in the Eastern Mediterranean, Middle East, and North Africa (EMMENA) region and to identify the main knowledge gaps. We searched through the Web of Science database for papers published between 2018 and 2022 for EO studies in the EMMENA. We categorized the papers in the following thematic areas: atmosphere, water, agriculture, land, disaster risk reduction (DRR), cultural heritage, energy, marine safety and security (MSS), and big Earth data (BED); 6647 papers were found with the highest number of publications in the thematic areas of BED (27%) and land (22%). Most of the EMMENA countries are surrounded by sea, yet there was a very small number of studies on MSS (0.9% of total number of papers). This study detected a gap in fundamental research in the BED thematic area. Other future needs identified by this study are the limited availability of very high-resolution and near-real-time remote sensing data, the lack of harmonized methodologies and the need for further development of models, algorithms, early warning systems, and services

CATALYTIC AND ELECTROCATALYTIC ACTIVITY OF Pt-Ru/C ELECTRODE FOR HYDROGEN OXIDATION IN ALKALINE

The kinetics of the oxidation of H2 on PtRu/C gas-diffusion electrode was studied by interfacing the electrode with aqueous electrolytes at different pH values. The conducting electrolytes were KOH and HClO4 aqueous solutions with different concentrations. It is shown that the nature of the aqueous electrolyte plays the role of an active catalyst support for the PtRu/C electrode which drastically affects its catalytic properties. During the aforementioned interaction, termed electrochemical metal support interaction (EMSI), the electrochemical potential of the electrons at the catalyst Fermi level is equalised with the electrochemical potential of the solvated electron in the aqueous electrolyte. The electrochemical experiments carried out at various pH values showed that the electrochemical promotion catalysis (EPOC) is more intense when the catalyst-electrode is interfaced with electrolytes with high pH values where the OH– ionic conduction prevails. It was concluded that similar to the solid state electrochemical systems EPOC proceeds through the formation of a polar adsorbed promoting layer of , electrochemically supplied by the OH- species, at the three phase boundaries of the gas exposed gas diffusion catalyst-electrode surface

Synthesis and sintering of ceramic nanocomposites with high mixed conductivity

Metastable solid solutions of complex oxides with fluorite and perovskite structures are obtained by mechanosynthesis. Dense ceramics on the base of these metastable phases was obtained by thermal sintering of nanopowders due to kinetic stabilization. Different degrees of a chemical interaction (interdiffusion) are observed during sintering of "perovskite+fluorite" and "perovskite+perovskite" composites. It is shown, that optimization of the composition, mixing conditions of individual phases and their sintering, preparation of ceramic composites with mixed conductivity for use in catalytic membrane reactors is possible. Unusual behavior of complex perovskites and fluorites is discovered during sintering, enabling determination of an optimum sintering temperature and time for which a qualitative explanation is given. It is established that rearrangement of fine crystalline particles as a whole plays a key role in shrinkage