Tracking the structural arrangement of ions in carbon supercapacitor nanopores using in situ small-angle X-ray scattering

The charge storage mechanism and ion arrangement inside electrically charged carbon nanopores is a very active research field with tremendous importance for advanced electrochemical technologies, such as supercapacitors or capacitive deionization. Going far beyond the state of art, we present for the first time a comprehensive study of tracking ion electrosorption in aqueous electrolytes during charging and discharging of porous carbon electrodes using in situ X-ray scattering. We provide novel and quantitative insights into the local concentration of anions and cations and demonstrate that the global number of ions within the pores does not vary during charging and discharging. In addition, we have unique access to the spatial arrangement of ions inside carbon nanopores by using a simple, yet powerful two-phase model. Applying this model to our data, we show that double-layer formation is accomplished by a unique combination of preferred counter-ion adsorption directly at the pore wall which drains ions from their local surrounding inside carbon nanopores. Effectively, this leads to a situation which globally appears as ion swapping

A function-based typology for Earth’s ecosystems

As the United Nations develops a post-2020 global biodiversity framework for the Convention on Biological Diversity, attention is focusing on how new goals and targets for ecosystem conservation might serve its vision of ‘living in harmony with nature’1,2. Advancing dual imperatives to conserve biodiversity and sustain ecosystem services requires reliable and resilient generalizations and predictions about ecosystem responses to environmental change and management3. Ecosystems vary in their biota4, service provision5 and relative exposure to risks6, yet there is no globally consistent classification of ecosystems that reflects functional responses to change and management. This hampers progress on developing conservation targets and sustainability goals. Here we present the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Global Ecosystem Typology, a conceptually robust, scalable, spatially explicit approach for generalizations and predictions about functions, biota, risks and management remedies across the entire biosphere. The outcome of a major cross-disciplinary collaboration, this novel framework places all of Earth’s ecosystems into a unifying theoretical context to guide the transformation of ecosystem policy and management from global to local scales. This new information infrastructure will support knowledge transfer for ecosystem-specific management and restoration, globally standardized ecosystem risk assessments, natural capital accounting and progress on the post-2020 global biodiversity framework

Constraints on cosmic strings using data from the first Advanced LIGO observing run

Cosmic strings are topological defects which can be formed in grand unified theory scale phase transitions in the early universe. They are also predicted to form in the context of string theory. The main mechanism for a network of Nambu-Goto cosmic strings to lose energy is through the production of loops and the subsequent emission of gravitational waves, thus offering an experimental signature for the existence of cosmic strings. Here we report on the analysis conducted to specifically search for gravitational-wave bursts from cosmic string loops in the data of Advanced LIGO 2015-2016 observing run (O1). No evidence of such signals was found in the data, and as a result we set upper limits on the cosmic string parameters for three recent loop distribution models. In this paper, we initially derive constraints on the string tension Gμ and the intercommutation probability, using not only the burst analysis performed on the O1 data set but also results from the previously published LIGO stochastic O1 analysis, pulsar timing arrays, cosmic microwave background and big-bang nucleosynthesis experiments. We show that these data sets are complementary in that they probe gravitational waves produced by cosmic string loops during very different epochs. Finally, we show that the data sets exclude large parts of the parameter space of the three loop distribution models we consider

Axioms for Rational Reinforcement Learning

We provide a formal, simple and intuitive theory of rational decision making including sequential decisions that affect the environment. The theory has a geometric flavor, which makes the arguments easy to visualize and understand. Our theory is for complete decision makers, which means that they have a complete set of preferences. Our main result shows that a complete rational decision maker implicitly has a probabilistic model of the environment. We have a countable version of this result that brings light on the issue of countable vs finite additivity by showing how it depends on the geometry of the space which we have preferences over. This is achieved through fruitfully connecting rationality with the Hahn-Banach Theorem. The theory presented here can be viewed as a formalization and extension of the bettin

Fracture in equiaxed two phase alloys: part ii. fracture in alloys with isolated plastic particles

A model, describing fracture of two phase equiaxed alloys containing isolated plastic particles within an elastically deforming matrix, has been developed. The model relates fracture toughness parameters to the microstructure and mechanical characteristics of the individual phases. The model utilizes the concepts of a process zone and crack closing forces in the process zone along with recent developments in the fracture mechanics of toughened ceramics. One adjustable parameter, either the extent of the process zone or the effective gauge length of plastic particles within the process zone, is used in the analysis. The values of these parameters, as deduced from experimental fracture mechanics studies in Co-CoAl alloys, are reasonable in their magnitude and depend on alloy microstructure in the manner predicted from the analysis