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Hydrogen production using water electrolysers equipped with an anion exchange membrane, a pure water feed and cheap components (catalysts and bipolar plates) can challenge proton exchange membrane electrolysis systems as the state of the art.

The Swiss Plasma Center (SPC) is planning a divertor upgrade for the TCV tokamak. The upgrade aims at extending the research of conventional and alternative divertor configurations to operational scenarios and divertor regimes of greater relevance for a fusion reactor. The main elements of the upgrade are the installation of an in-vessel structure to form a divertor chamber of variable closure and enhanced diagnostic capabilities, an increase of the pumping capability of the divertor chamber and the addition of new divertor poloidal field coils. The project follows a staged approach and is carried out in parallel with an upgrade of the TCV heating system. First calculations using the EMC3-Eirene code indicate that realistic baffles together with the planned heating upgrade will allow for a significantly higher compression of neutral particles in the divertor, which is a prerequisite to test the power dissipation potential of various divertor configurations.

We present the results of the characterization of Mg/Co periodic multilayers and their thermal stability for the EUV range. The annealing study is performed up to a temperature of 400\degree C. Images obtained by scanning transmission electron microscopy and electron energy loss spectroscopy clearly show the good quality of the multilayer structure. The measurements of the EUV reflectivity around 25 nm (~49 eV) indicate that the reflectivity decreases when the annealing temperature increases above 300\degreeC. X-ray emission spectroscopy is performed to determine the chemical state of the Mg atoms within the Mg/Co multilayer. Nuclear magnetic resonance used to determine the chemical state of the Co atoms and scanning electron microscopy images of cross sections of the Mg/Co multilayers reveal changes in the morphology of the stack from an annealing temperature of 305\degreee;C. This explains the observed reflectivity loss. Published in Applied Physics A: Materials Science \& Processing Published at http://www.springerlink.com.chimie.gate.inist.fr/content/6v396j6m56771r61/ 21 pages

The latent heat flux (LE) between the terrestrial biosphere and atmosphere is a major driver of the global hydrological cycle. In this study, we evaluated LE simulations by 45 general circulation models (GCMs) in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) by a comparison with eddy covariance (EC) observations from 240 globally distributed sites from 2000 to 2009. In addition, we improved global terrestrial LE estimates for different land cover types by synthesis of seven best CMIP5 models and EC observations based on a Bayesian model averaging (BMA) method. The comparison results showed substantial differences in monthly LE among all GCMs. The model CESM1-CAM5 has the best performance with the highest predictive skill and a Taylor skill score (S) from 0.51–0.75 for different land cover types. The cross-validation results illustrate that the BMA method has improved the accuracy of the CMIP5 GCM’s LE simulation with a decrease in the averaged root-mean-square error (RMSE) by more than 3 W/m2 when compared to the simple model averaging (SMA) method and individual GCMs. We found an increasing trend in the BMA-based global terrestrial LE (slope of 0.018 W/m2 yr−1, p < 0.05) during the period 1970–2005. This variation may be attributed directly to the inter-annual variations in air temperature (Ta), surface incident solar radiation (Rs) and precipitation (P). However, our study highlights a large difference from previous studies in a continuous increasing trend after 1998, which may be caused by the combined effects of the variations of Rs, Ta, and P on LE for different models on these time scales. This study provides corrected-modeling evidence for an accelerated global water cycle with climate change.

AbstractThe rotational spectra of two isotopologues of the 1:1 complex formed between acetone and ethanol have been recorded and analyzed by using Fourier‐transform microwave spectroscopy. One rotamer was detected, in which ethanol adopts the gauche form. The two subunits are linked by a conventional O−H⋅⋅⋅O and a weak C−H⋅⋅⋅O hydrogen bond, forming a six‐membered ring. Each rotational transition is split into five component lines due to the internal rotations of two nonequivalent acetone methyl groups. The V3 barriers to internal rotation of the two CH3 tops of acetone were determined to be 252(4) and 220(1) cm−1, which are noticeably lower than the value for the monomer (266 cm−1).

Artículo escrito por un elevado número de autores, solo se referencian el que aparece en primer lugar, el nombre del grupo de colaboración, si le hubiere, y los autores pertenecientes a la UAM For more than five decades, research has been conducted at Ny-Ålesund, in Svalbard, Norway, to understand the structure and functioning of High-Arctic ecosystems and the profound impacts on them of environmental change. Terrestrial, freshwater, glacial and marine ecosystems are accessible year-round from Ny-Ålesund, providing unique opportunities for interdisciplinary obser-vational and experimental studies along physical, chemical, hydrological and climatic gradients. Here, we synthesize terrestrial and freshwater research at Ny-Ålesund and review current knowledge of biodiversity patterns, species population dynamics and interactions, ecosystem processes, biogeochemical cycles and anthropogenic impacts. There is now strong evidence of past and ongoing biotic changes caused by climate change, including negative effects on populations of many taxa and impacts of rain-on-snow events across multiple trophic levels. While species-level characteristics and responses are well under-stood for macro-organisms, major knowledge gaps exist for microbes, inverte-brates and ecosystem-level processes. In order to fill current knowledge gaps, we recommend (1) maintaining monitoring efforts, while establishing a long-term ecosystem-based monitoring programme; (2) gaining a mechanistic under-standing of environmental change impacts on processes and linkages in food webs; (3) identifying trophic interactions and cascades across ecosystems; and (4) integrating long-term data on microbial, invertebrate and freshwater com-munities, along with measurements of carbon and nutrient fluxes among soils, atmosphere, freshwaters and the marine environment. The synthesis here shows that the Ny-Ålesund study system has the characteristics needed to fill these gaps in knowledge, thereby enhancing our understanding of High-Arctic ecosystems and their responses to environmental variability and change