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Progress in science often follows or parallels the development of new techniques. The optical microscope helped convert medicine and biology from a speculative activity in old times to today's sophisticated scientific disciplines. The telescope changed the study and interpretation of heavens from mythology to science. X-ray diffraction enabled the flourishing of solid state physics and materials science. The technique object of this review, Ambient Pressure Photoelectron Spectroscopy or APPES for short, has also the potential of producing dramatic changes in the study of liquid and solid surfaces, particularly in areas such as atmospheric, environment and catalysis sciences. APPES adds an important missing element to the host of techniques that give fundamental information, i.e., spectroscopy and microscopy, about surfaces in the presence of gases and vapors, as encountered in industrial catalysis and atmospheric environments. APPES brings electron spectroscopy into the realm of techniques that can be used in practical environments. Decades of surface science in ultra high vacuum (UHV) has shown the power of electron spectroscopy in its various manifestations. Their unique property is the extremely short elastic mean free path of electrons as they travel through condensed matter, of the order of a few atomic distances in the energy rangemore » from a few eV to a few thousand eV. As a consequence of this the information obtained by analyzing electrons emitted or scattered from a surface refers to the top first few atomic layers, which is what surface science is all about. Low energy electron diffraction (LEED), Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS), and other such techniques have been used for decades and provided some of the most fundamental knowledge about surface crystallography, composition and electronic structure available today. Unfortunately the high interaction cross section of electrons with matter also prevents them from traveling long distances unscattered in gas environments. Above the millibar pressure range this distance is reduced to less that a millimeter, effectively preventing its use in the most relevant environments, usually between millibars and atmospheric pressures. There is therefore a large gap of several orders of magnitude where information about surfaces is scarce because these powerful electron spectroscopies cannot operate. One characteristic of surfaces in ambient pressure environments is that they are covered by dense layers of molecules, even when their binding energy is weak. Water for example is known to form layers several molecules thick at room temperature in humid environments. Metals readily form oxide films several layers thick in oxygen atmospheres. Dense layers of adsorbed molecules can also be produced in ultra high vacuum, often by the simple and expedient method of cooling the sample to cryogenic temperatures. A large amount of data has been obtained in the past in UHV by surface scientists using this method. While this has provided valuable information it begs the question of whether the structures formed in this manner represent equilibrium structures or metastable ones, kinetically trapped due to high activation energies that cannot be overcome at low temperature. From a thermodynamic point of view is interesting to consider the entropic contribution to the Gibbs free energy, which we can call 'the pressure factor', equal to kT.logP. This factor amounts to a sizeable 0.3 eV difference at room temperature between UHV (<10{sup -8} Pascal) and atmospheric pressures. Such change if free energy can definitely result in changes in surface structure and stability. Entire areas of the phase diagram are out of reach due to the pressure gap. Even when cooling is not necessary, many surface treatments and most chemical reactions necessitate the presence of gases at pressures ranging from millibar to bars. What is the structure and chemical nature of the species formed on the surface in equilibrium with such gases? As we shall illustrate in this review, APPES provides a much needed electron spectroscopy to analyze surface electronic structure and composition in equilibrium with gases.« less

This report addresses the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) organization’s desire to minimize the learning time required to understand the implications of smart-grid concepts so APEC members can advance their thinking in a timely manner and advance strategies regarding smart approaches that can help meet their environmental-sustainability and energy-efficiency policy goals. As significant investments are needed to grow and maintain the electricity infrastructure, consideration needs to be given to how information and communications technologies can be applied to electricity infrastructure decisions that not only meet traditional needs for basic service and reliability, but also provide the flexibility for a changing the mix of generation sources with sensitivity to environmental and societal impacts.

The costs for carbon dioxide (CO2) capture and storage (CCS) in geologic formations is estimated to be $6–75/t CO2 .I n the absence of a mandate to reduce greenhouse gas emissions or some other significant incentive for CCS deployment, this cost effectively limits CCS technology deployment to small niche markets and stymies the potential for further technological development through learning by doing until these disincentives for the free venting of CO2 are in place. By far, the largest current fraction of these costs is capture (including compression and dehydration), commonly estimated at $25–60/t CO2 for power plant applications, followed by CO2 transport and storage, estimated at $0–15/t CO2. Of the storage costs, only a small fraction of the cost will go to accurate geological characterization. These one time costs are probably on the order of $0.1/t CO2 or less as these costs are spread out over the many millions of tons likely to be injected into a field over many decades. Geologic assessments include information central to capacity prediction, risk estimation for the target intervals and development facilities engineering. Since assessment costs are roughly two orders of magnitude smaller than capture costs, and assessment products carry other tangible societal benefits, such as improved accuracy in fossil fuel and ground water reserves estimates, government or joint private–public funding of major assessment initiatives should underpin early policy choices regarding CO2 storage deployment and should serve as a point of entry for policy makers and regulators. Early assessment is also likely to improve the knowledge base upon which the first commercial CCS deployments will rest. 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Lancet Countdown : le suivi des progrès en matière de santé et de changement climatique est une collaboration de recherche internationale et multidisciplinaire entre des établissements universitaires et des praticiens du monde entier. Il fait suite aux travaux de la Commission Lancet de 2015, qui a conclu que la réponse au changement climatique pourrait être « la plus grande opportunité de santé mondiale du XXIe siècle ». Le compte à rebours du Lancet vise à suivre les impacts sur la santé des risques climatiques ; la résilience et l'adaptation en matière de santé ; les co-bénéfices pour la santé de l'atténuation du changement climatique ; l'économie et la finance ; et l'engagement politique et plus large. Ces domaines d'intervention forment les cinq groupes de travail thématiques du Lancet Countdown et représentent différents aspects de l'association complexe entre la santé et le changement climatique. Ces groupes thématiques fourniront des indicateurs pour une vue d'ensemble mondiale de la santé et du changement climatique ; des études de cas nationales mettant en évidence les pays qui ouvrent la voie ou vont à l'encontre de la tendance ; et un engagement avec un éventail de parties prenantes. Le compte à rebours du Lancet vise finalement à rendre compte chaque année d'une série d'indicateurs dans ces cinq groupes de travail. Ce document décrit les indicateurs potentiels et les domaines d'indicateurs à suivre par la collaboration, avec des suggestions sur les méthodologies et les ensembles de données disponibles pour atteindre cet objectif. Les domaines d'indicateurs proposés doivent être affinés et marquent le début d'un processus de consultation en cours - de novembre 2016 au début de 2017 - pour développer ces domaines, identifier les domaines clés non couverts actuellement et modifier les indicateurs si nécessaire. Cette collaboration cherchera activement à s'engager dans les processus de suivi existants, tels que les objectifs de développement durable des Nations Unies et les profils de pays de l'OMS en matière de climat et de santé. Les indicateurs évolueront également au fil du temps grâce à une collaboration continue avec des experts et un éventail de parties prenantes, et dépendront de l'émergence de nouvelles preuves et connaissances. Au cours de ses travaux, le Lancet Countdown adoptera un processus collaboratif et itératif, qui vise à compléter les initiatives existantes, à accueillir l'engagement avec de nouveaux partenaires et à être ouvert au développement de nouveaux projets de recherche sur la santé et le changement climatique. The Lancet Countdown: tracking progress on health and climate change es una colaboración de investigación internacional y multidisciplinaria entre instituciones académicas y profesionales de todo el mundo. Sigue el trabajo de la Comisión Lancet de 2015, que concluyó que la respuesta al cambio climático podría ser "la mayor oportunidad de salud global del siglo XXI". The Lancet Countdown tiene como objetivo realizar un seguimiento de los impactos en la salud de los peligros climáticos; la resiliencia y la adaptación a la salud; los beneficios colaterales para la salud de la mitigación del cambio climático; la economía y las finanzas; y el compromiso político y más amplio. Estas áreas de enfoque forman los cinco grupos de trabajo temáticos de The Lancet Countdown y representan diferentes aspectos de la compleja asociación entre la salud y el cambio climático. Estos grupos temáticos proporcionarán indicadores para una visión global de la salud y el cambio climático; estudios de casos nacionales que destacan a los países que lideran el camino o van en contra de la tendencia; y el compromiso con una variedad de partes interesadas. En última instancia, The Lancet Countdown tiene como objetivo informar anualmente sobre una serie de indicadores en estos cinco grupos de trabajo. Este documento describe los posibles indicadores y dominios de indicadores a ser rastreados por la colaboración, con sugerencias sobre las metodologías y conjuntos de datos disponibles para lograr este fin. Los dominios de indicadores propuestos requieren un mayor refinamiento y marcan el comienzo de un proceso de consulta continuo, desde noviembre de 2016 hasta principios de 2017, para desarrollar estos dominios, identificar áreas clave que actualmente no están cubiertas y cambiar los indicadores cuando sea necesario. Esta colaboración buscará activamente involucrarse con los procesos de monitoreo existentes, como los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible de la ONU y LOS perfiles climáticos y de salud de los países de la OMS. Los indicadores también evolucionarán con el tiempo a través de la colaboración continua con expertos y una variedad de partes interesadas, y dependerán de la aparición de nuevas pruebas y conocimientos. Durante el transcurso de su trabajo, The Lancet Countdown adoptará un proceso colaborativo e iterativo, que tiene como objetivo complementar las iniciativas existentes, dar la bienvenida al compromiso con nuevos socios y estar abierto al desarrollo de nuevos proyectos de investigación sobre salud y cambio climático. The Lancet Countdown: tracking progress on health and climate change is an international, multidisciplinary research collaboration between academic institutions and practitioners across the world. It follows on from the work of the 2015 Lancet Commission, which concluded that the response to climate change could be "the greatest global health opportunity of the 21st century". The Lancet Countdown aims to track the health impacts of climate hazards; health resilience and adaptation; health co-benefits of climate change mitigation; economics and finance; and political and broader engagement. These focus areas form the five thematic working groups of the Lancet Countdown and represent different aspects of the complex association between health and climate change. These thematic groups will provide indicators for a global overview of health and climate change; national case studies highlighting countries leading the way or going against the trend; and engagement with a range of stakeholders. The Lancet Countdown ultimately aims to report annually on a series of indicators across these five working groups. This paper outlines the potential indicators and indicator domains to be tracked by the collaboration, with suggestions on the methodologies and datasets available to achieve this end. The proposed indicator domains require further refinement, and mark the beginning of an ongoing consultation process-from November, 2016 to early 2017-to develop these domains, identify key areas not currently covered, and change indicators where necessary. This collaboration will actively seek to engage with existing monitoring processes, such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals and WHO's climate and health country profiles. The indicators will also evolve over time through ongoing collaboration with experts and a range of stakeholders, and be dependent on the emergence of new evidence and knowledge. During the course of its work, the Lancet Countdown will adopt a collaborative and iterative process, which aims to complement existing initiatives, welcome engagement with new partners, and be open to developing new research projects on health and climate change. العد التنازلي لمجلة لانسيت: تتبع التقدم المحرز في مجال الصحة وتغير المناخ هو تعاون بحثي دولي متعدد التخصصات بين المؤسسات الأكاديمية والممارسين في جميع أنحاء العالم. ويتبع ذلك عمل لجنة لانسيت لعام 2015، التي خلصت إلى أن الاستجابة لتغير المناخ يمكن أن تكون "أعظم فرصة صحية عالمية في القرن الحادي والعشرين". يهدف العد التنازلي لمجلة لانسيت إلى تتبع الآثار الصحية للمخاطر المناخية ؛ والمرونة الصحية والتكيف ؛ والفوائد الصحية المشتركة للتخفيف من آثار تغير المناخ ؛ والاقتصاد والتمويل ؛ والمشاركة السياسية والأوسع نطاقًا. تشكل مجالات التركيز هذه مجموعات العمل المواضيعية الخمسة للعد التنازلي لمجلة لانسيت وتمثل جوانب مختلفة من الارتباط المعقد بين الصحة وتغير المناخ. وستوفر هذه المجموعات المواضيعية مؤشرات لإلقاء نظرة عامة عالمية على الصحة وتغير المناخ ؛ ودراسات حالة وطنية تسلط الضوء على البلدان التي تقود الطريق أو تسير عكس الاتجاه ؛ والمشاركة مع مجموعة من أصحاب المصلحة. يهدف العد التنازلي لمجلة لانسيت في نهاية المطاف إلى تقديم تقرير سنوي عن سلسلة من المؤشرات عبر مجموعات العمل الخمس هذه. تحدد هذه الورقة المؤشرات المحتملة ومجالات المؤشرات التي سيتم تتبعها من خلال التعاون، مع اقتراحات حول المنهجيات ومجموعات البيانات المتاحة لتحقيق هذه الغاية. تتطلب مجالات المؤشرات المقترحة مزيدًا من التنقيح، وتمثل بداية عملية تشاور مستمرة - من نوفمبر 2016 إلى أوائل 2017 - لتطوير هذه المجالات، وتحديد المجالات الرئيسية غير المشمولة حاليًا، وتغيير المؤشرات عند الضرورة. سيسعى هذا التعاون بنشاط إلى المشاركة في عمليات الرصد القائمة، مثل أهداف الأمم المتحدة للتنمية المستدامة والملامح القطرية للمناخ والصحة لمنظمة الصحة العالمية. ستتطور المؤشرات أيضًا بمرور الوقت من خلال التعاون المستمر مع الخبراء ومجموعة من أصحاب المصلحة، وستعتمد على ظهور أدلة ومعارف جديدة. خلال عملها، سيعتمد العد التنازلي لمجلة لانسيت عملية تعاونية وتكرارية، تهدف إلى استكمال المبادرات الحالية، والترحيب بالمشاركة مع شركاء جدد، والانفتاح على تطوير مشاريع بحثية جديدة حول الصحة وتغير المناخ.

Capítulos en libros It is generally believed that plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) offer environmental and energy security advantages compared to conventional vehicles. Policies are stimulating electric transportation deployment, and PEV adoption may grow significantly. New technology and business models are being developed to organize the PEV interface and their interaction with the wider grid. This paper analyzes the PEVs integration into a building s Energy Management System (EMS), differentiating between vehicle to macrogrid (V2M) and vehicle to microgrid (V2m) applications. This relationship is modeled by the Distributed Energy Resources Customer Adoption Model (DER-CAM), which finds optimal equipment combinations to meet microgrid requirements at minimum cost, carbon footprint, or other criteria. Results derive battery value to the building and the possibility of a contractual affiliation sharing the benefit. Under simple annual fixed payments and energy exchange agreements, vehicles are primarily used to avoid peak demand charges supplying cheaper off-peak electricity to the building during workdays. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Abstract. Aerosol samples were collected at a pasture site in the Amazon Basin as part of the project LBA-SMOCC-2002 (Large-Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia – Smoke Aerosols, Clouds, Rainfall and Climate: Aerosols from Biomass Burning Perturb Global and Regional Climate). Sampling was conducted during the late dry season, when the aerosol composition was dominated by biomass burning emissions, especially in the submicron fraction. A 13-stage Dekati low-pressure impactor (DLPI) was used to collect particles with nominal aerodynamic diameters (Dp) ranging from 0.03 to 0.10 μm. Gravimetric analyses of the DLPI substrates and filters were performed to obtain aerosol mass concentrations. The concentrations of total, apparent elemental, and organic carbon (TC, ECa, and OC) were determined using thermal and thermal-optical analysis (TOA) methods. A light transmission method (LTM) was used to determine the concentration of equivalent black carbon (BCe) or the absorbing fraction at 880 nm for the size-resolved samples. During the dry period, due to the pervasive presence of fires in the region upwind of the sampling site, concentrations of fine aerosols (Dp<2.5 μm: average 59.8 μg m−3) were higher than coarse aerosols (Dp> 2.5 μm: 4.1 μg m−3). Carbonaceous matter, estimated as the sum of the particulate organic matter (i.e., OC × 1.8) plus BCe, comprised more than 90% to the total aerosol mass. Concentrations of ECa (estimated by thermal analysis with a correction for charring) and BCe (estimated by LTM) averaged 5.2 ± 1.3 and 3.1 ± 0.8 μg m−3, respectively. The determination of EC was improved by extracting water-soluble organic material from the samples, which reduced the average light absorption Ångström exponent of particles in the size range of 0.1 to 1.0 μm from >2.0 to approximately 1.2. The size-resolved BCe measured by the LTM showed a clear maximum between 0.4 and 0.6 μm in diameter. The concentrations of OC and BCe varied diurnally during the dry period, and this variation is related to diurnal changes in boundary layer thickness and in fire frequency.

Abstract. We use a Lagrangian dispersion model driven by a mesoscale model with four-dimensional data assimilation to simulate the dispersion of elemental carbon (EC) over a region encompassing Mexico City and its surroundings, the study domain for the 2006 MAX-MEX experiment, which was a component of the MILAGRO campaign. The results are used to identify periods when biomass burning was likely to have had a significant impact on the concentrations of elemental carbon at two sites, T1 and T2, downwind of the city, and when emissions from the Mexico City Metropolitan Area (MCMA) were likely to have been more important. They are also used to estimate the median ages of EC affecting the specific absorption of light, αABS, at 870 nm as well as to identify periods when the urban plume from the MCMA was likely to have been advected over T1 and T2. Median EC ages at T1 and T2 are substantially larger during the day than at night. Values of αABS at T1, the nearer of the two sites to Mexico City, were smaller at night and increased rapidly after mid-morning, peaking in the mid-afternoon. The behavior is attributed to the coating of aerosols with substances such as sulfate or organic carbon during daylight hours, but such coating appears to be limited or absent at night. Evidence for this is provided by scanning electron microscopy images of aerosols collected at the sampling sites. During daylight hours the values of αABS did not increase with aerosol age for median ages in the range of 1–4 h. There is some evidence for absorption increasing as aerosols were advected from T1 to T2 but the statistical significance of that result is not strong.