This is why research teams from TU Wien and the Fritz Haber Institute in Berlin have developed a novel approach that allows to have “triple eyes” on a catalytic reaction — using three different surface microscopies. This way, they were able to show that during the catalytic conversion of hydrogen and oxygen to water, reaction fronts on the crystal surface not only form remarkable geometric patterns, but also a new mechanism of the propagation of these fronts was discovered. Especially for climate-relevant technologies such as ecologically clean hydrogen-based energy production, a comprehensive understanding of such processes is crucial.

Different measurements in a single instrument

“Many scientific questions can only be answered by combining different microscopy methods on the same sample, which is called correlative microscopy,” says Prof. Günther Rupprechter from the Institute of Materials Chemistry at TU Wien. “However, this usually comes with limitations.” You have to remove a sample from one instrument and perform the same experiment again in another microscope. Often, for methodological reasons, the experimental conditions are then completely different — some measurements take place in a vacuum, others in air. Often temperatures are different. In addition, you may not be looking at the same spot on the sample with different instruments — this can also influence the results. Thus, it is difficult to combine the results of different measurements in a reliable way.

Ultraviolet, X-rays and electrons

Now, however, it has been possible to combine three different microscopies in a way that the same spot on the same sample was examined under the same environmental conditions. Three different electron microscopies were used: two different variants of photoemission electron microscopy (PEEM), namely UV-PEEM and X-PEEM, and low energy electron microscopy (LEEM).

In UV-PEEM and X-PEEM, the sample surface is illuminated with ultraviolet light and X-rays, respectively. In both cases, it results in electrons being emitted from the surface. Similar to how light beams are focused in an optical microscope, the electron beams form a real-time image of the surface and of the processes taking place there. In an X-PEEM, one can additionally filter the emitted electrons according to their energies and thereby determine the chemical composition of the sample surface. Access to the necessary high-energy, high-intensity X-rays was provided to the research team by the Berlin synchrotron (HZB BESSY II). In the LEEM technique, the surface is irradiated with an electron beam. The electrons that are backscattered from the surface create the real time image of the sample surface and of the ongoing processes, such as a catalytic reaction.

Since all three microscopies use different imaging mechanisms, this allowed to study different aspects of catalytic hydrogen oxidation on a structurally identical site of the sample , says Prof. Yuri Suchorski, who has been involved in surface microscopy since 1974. “In addition, the X-PEEM technique provides chemical contrast and therefore allows us to correlate the pattern formation on the surface with the chemical composition of the surface and the reactants present on the surface, hence the term correlative microscopy.”

Watching how hydrogen oxidizes to water

Thus, it became possible to study the oxidation of hydrogen on structurally well-defined microscopic regions of a rhodium foil (structure determination by researchers at USTEM of TU Wien) in a versatile way and in real time.

The reaction spreads over the surface like a wave, revealing a new kind of pattern formation that had never been encountered before. “In front of the spreading reaction front, new small islands of catalytically active areas form, accelerating the propagation of the reaction,” says Prof. Rupprechter. In computer simulations that provide virtual reaction microscopy, the team was able to model and explain the formation of these islands.

Through the correlative approach, it was now possible to effectively use the specific strength of each of the respective microscopy methods (spatial and energy resolution, field of view, magnification down to the nanometer range), and thus to image an ongoing catalytic reaction in unprecedented detail.

The oxidation of hydrogen to water by solid catalysts is one of the significant processes that enable energy generation without combustion and without pollution (the exhaust gas consists of pure water), e.g., in fuel cells. For future developments of new green energy production technologies, it will be important to watch ongoing catalytic reactions at work with several eyes in order to deeply understand fine details of the catalytic processes.

With EV sales soaring worldwide, potential buyers are not just weighing up the price tag, but also the logistics and expense of charging the planet-friendly cars.

UniSA engineers have calculated that EV owners can reduce annual electricity costs by almost 40 per cent if households are not totally reliant on the grid and they charge at home during off-peak periods.

In a new paper published in Renewable Energy, Professor Mahfuz Aziz and colleagues address EV owners’ concerns about charging costs, one of the main obstacles in opting for an environmentally-friendly vehicle.

“Electric vehicles will become an important component of household energy consumption globally under plans to replace petrol-fuelled cars within the next decade,” Prof Aziz says.

“For motorists with private car spaces, home charging is the most convenient option, but for those still totally reliant on the electricity grid for their energy, the costs could mount significantly.”

Record-low prices for rooftop photovoltaic (PV) systems and declining battery costs are encouraging households to ‘go green,’ but consumers need to factor in multiple variables, researchers say.

Using data from South Australia, where over 40 per cent of homes have rooftop solar panels, the researchers compared several household scenarios, considering EV charging demand, PV solar panel installation cost, battery degradation and export power limits.

Based on typical household energy consumption (17 kW/day in SA) and motorists’ average daily travel distance (36.7km in AU), researchers analysed annual energy costs for households with petrol-based cars and those with EVs. They also analysed energy consumption during peak periods, between 5pm-9pm.

“In a basic case, all energy is imported from the grid where there are no solar panels, batteries or electric vehicles,” Prof Aziz says.

“When solar panels are added, about 20 per cent less energy is imported and with batteries this is reduced by around 83 per cent. When electric vehicles are added, consumed energy rises significantly but imported energy can be reduced by around 89 per cent of total consumption.

“Our results demonstrate that households with petrol-based cars can reduce their annual energy costs by 6.71 per cent using solar panels, and by 10.38 per cent with the addition of a battery system. Replacing petrol-based cars with electric vehicles can reduce annual energy costs by 24 per cent and 32 per cent respectively. The most significant reduction (39.6 per cent) can be achieved with off-peak charging.”

The research team includes PhD student Ms Yan Wu and co-supervisor Dr Mohammed Haque. The team is currently investigating cost effective EV charging strategies for larger groups such as residential communities and university campuses while minimising impact on the power grid and distribution feeders.

The popularity of electric vehicles is rapidly increasing across the globe, according to drive.com and it’s estimated that by 2030 there will be 145 million EVs on the road — compared to 11 million today. Despite the pandemic, electric vehicle sales increased globally by 43 per cent in 2020, although only made up 0.7 per cent of all car sales in Australia.

By 2030, however, at least 50 per cent of all new cars sales in NSW are expected to be electric and other states are anticipated to follow this trend.

Teachers’ turnover intentions, burnout symptoms and poor experienced teacher-working environment fit are interlinked, and therefore also likely to occur simultaneously. If a teacher experiences one of the above, the risk of experiencing others increases, too.

The researchers explored experienced burnout and teacher-working environment fit and compared teacher cohorts with or without persistent turnover intentions. The data included 1,064 Finnish basic education teachers (working in grades 1-9, teaching pupils aged 7-16), of whom 344 (32%) reported persistent turnover intentions in a five-year follow-up.

The tendency to experience work-related exhaustion, cynicism and feelings of inadequacy in the teaching profession proved rather permanent. According to the researchers, it seems that more work experience does not protect against the risk of burnout; instead, teachers experience their workload relatively similarly regardless of how long their career is.

“Some teachers seem to feel that they have very little opportunity to influence their workload, and they are mainly just trying to cope with the factors contributing to it. Workload management skills can therefore play an important role in promoting teachers’ coping,” says Doctoral Researcher, lead author Katariina Räsänen of the University of Eastern Finland.

Burnout symptoms are associated with having few positive experiences

Support provided by the professional community is an important factor in preventing the development of burnout.

“Positive experiences in the workplace, received recognition and a constructive and enabling work climate seem to protect against cynicism towards, and alienation from, the professional community,” says Räsänen, who herself also works as a lecturer.

According to Räsänen, getting professional recognition is, rather surprisingly, more likely in the early stages of the teaching career.

“Opportunities to get professional encouragement, support and recognition, which are needed by everyone, mostly seem to coincide with the early stages of the teaching career.”

Influencing one’s own work plays an important role

The teacher-working environment fit is affected by several individual and work-related factors. The study indicates that school size plays a role in teachers’ perceived well-being at work.

“Smaller schools often have a constructive and enabling work climate that also provides support for the teacher-working environment fit,” Räsänen says.

According to the results, teachers with leadership tasks had a lower risk of burnout than teachers who did not have an opportunity to influence their work through such tasks. Teachers with leadership tasks also experienced less feelings of inadequacy and had a better experienced teacher-work environment fit. The difference may be explained by better possibilities to influence one’s own work.

“This interesting observation shows how teachers’ autonomy, or a lack thereof, is also associated with the development of burnout. It seems that fostering teachers’ autonomy continues to be a key factor in promoting their well-being at work.”

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Materials provided by University of Eastern Finland. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

The study appeared in Cell Reports on Sept. 27.

The researchers, led by Professor Valter Longo in collaboration with Professors Christian Pike and Pinchas Cohen, found that mice that had undergone several cycles of the fasting-mimicking diet showed less Alzheimer’s pathology. The researchers found lower levels of two major hallmarks of the disease: amyloid beta — the primary driver of plaque buildup in the brain — and hyperphosphorylated tau protein, which forms tangles in the brain. They also found that brain inflammation lessened and better performance on cognitive tests compared to the mice that were fed a standard diet.

The fasting-mimicking diet (FMD) is high in unsaturated fats and low in overall calories, protein, and carbohydrates and is designed to mimic the effects of a water-only fast while still providing necessary nutrients. Previous research led by Longo has indicated that brief, periodic FMD cycles are associated with a range of beneficial effects, including the promotion of stem cell regeneration, lessening of chemotherapy side effects, and lowering risk factors for cancer, diabetes, heart disease and other age-related diseases in mice and humans.

Promising results in mouse models of Alzheimer’s

Alongside healthy mice, the team investigated two mouse models of Alzheimer’s, E4FAD and 3xTg. During the study, mice were fed the fasting-mimicking diet for 4 or 5 days twice per month and were allowed to eat normally between FMD cycles. In a long-term experiment to see the effects in aged mice, 3xTg mice were placed on the diet for 30 cycles in 15 months. Shorter-term experiments in both 3xTg and E4FAD mice ranged from a single FMD cycle to 12 cycles in 6 months.

In both models, mice who underwent FMD cycles showed promising reductions in amyloid beta — which form the sticky, disruptive plaques in the brain — and tau pathology compared to mice eating a standard diet. The FMD mice also showed lower levels of brain inflammation, including a reduction in the number of active microglia, the immune cells that seek and destroy pathogens and damaged cells in the brain. In addition, mice on the diet demonstrated a lower level of oxidative stress, which plays a role in Alzheimer’s pathology by damaging neurons and contributing to the accumulation of amyloid in the brain. The study specifically pointed to the free radical “superoxide” as a central culprit in the damage occurring in these Alzheimer’s mouse models, Longo explained.

Outwardly, mice of both Alzheimer’s models who underwent the FMD showed less cognitive decline than their standard diet counterparts. Cognitive behavior, including exploration and performance within mazes, was tested in young mice before the dietary regimen began and again after several months of either a standard diet or twice-monthly FMD cycles. The Alzheimer’s mice given the FMD significantly outperformed the Alzheimer’s mice given standard diets and in some instances performed similarly to the non-Alzheimer’s-prone control mice, indicating that cognitive decline had been significantly slowed.

The FMD cycles appeared effective in reversing a range of pathology markers but also cognitive defects in two of the major mouse models for Alzheimer’s disease. Longo said that the results are promising.

Small clinical study explores feasibility for humans

In addition to the study in mice, Longo and colleagues also included data from a small Phase 1 clinical trial of the fasting-mimicking diet in human patients diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment or mild Alzheimer’s disease. Forty such patients who were otherwise healthy and had family support were randomized to either a once-monthly, 5-day fasting-mimicking diet or a 5-day period in which lunch or dinner was replaced with a meal based on pasta or rice.

Initial data indicates that the FMD is safe and feasible for patients with mild impairment or early Alzheimer’s disease. Further tests in the ongoing clinical trial will measure cognitive performance, inflammation and more, Longo said.

Other early trials of the diet published by Longo and colleagues have indicated other benefits of a monthly cycle, such as a loss of fat mass without loss of muscle mass and improved cardiometabolic risk factors, especially in overweight or obese people.

Notably, in a recently published clinical trial in which Longo was a co-author, FMD cycles were associated with disease regression in diabetes patients. Diabetes nearly doubles the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, per the Alzheimer’s Association.

Other authors included co-first authors Priya Rangan, Fleur Lobo and Edoardo Parrella of USC; Terri-Leigh Stephen, Christian J. Pike, Pinchas Cohen, Kyle Xia, Katelynn Tran, Brandon Ann, and Dolly Chowdhury of USC; Anna Laura Cremonini, Luca Tagliafico, Angelica Persia, Irene Caffa, Fiammetta Monacelli, Patrizio Odetti, Tommaso Bonfiglio, and Alessio Nencioni of the University of Genoa, Italy; Nicolas Rochette, Marco Morselli, and Matteo Pellegrini of UCLA; Mary Jo LaDu of the University of Illinois at Chicago; and Martina Pigliautile, Virginia Boccardi, and Patrizia Mecocci of the University of Perugia, Italy.

The study was funded in part by National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Aging grants AG20642, AG025135, and P01 AG034906 to Longo; AG058068 to Pike; the NIA T32 training grant AG052374 to Rangan; and the PE-2016-02362694 and PE-2016-02363073 grants by the Italian Ministry of Health to Odetti, Mecocci, Monacelli, and Longo. The LaDu lab is funded by NIH (NIA) R01 AG056472, R01 AG057008, UH2/3 NS10012, R56 AG058655, 1R44 AG060826, institutional funds from the College of Medicine at the University of Illinois, Chicago, and generous philanthropic contributions.

Longo is the founder of and has an ownership interest in L-Nutra; the company’s food products are used in studies of the fasting-mimicking diet. Longo’s interest in L-Nutra was disclosed and managed per USC’s conflict-of-interest policies. USC has an ownership interest in L-Nutra and the potential to receive royalty payments from L-Nutra. USC’s financial interest in the company has been disclosed and managed under USC’s institutional conflict-of-interest policies.

“This time we have really hit the jackpot with our excavations,” said site director and archaeologist Professor Hans-Peter Kuhnen with regard to the outcome of the most recent undertakings in the area around the early Islamic caliph’s palace Khirbat al-Minya in Israel. The team of archaeologists from Mainz made this major discovery using geomagnetic methods and by digging test pits on the basis of the findings. They discovered that in the early 8th century the caliph had commissioned the building of his palace, with its incorporated mosque and a 15-meter-high gateway tower, not — as hitherto suspected — on greenfield land on the unoccupied shore of the Sea of Galilee, but adjacent to and respectfully co-existing with a prior settlement. The research project was initially conceived as a means of training students in archeological field work. It was undertaken with the support of the Israel Antiquities Authority and financed by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation, the Axel Springer Foundation, the Santander Foundation, and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). The team was accommodated in the Tabgha Pilgerhaus guesthouse run by the German Association of the Holy Land (DVHL), which has owned the site of the excavations on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee since 1895.

During their dig, the Mainz archaeological team found stone structures made of basalt dating to various periods, with plastered walls, colorful mosaic floors, and a water cistern. The plants portrayed in one of the mosaics are particularly remarkable as they have the long, curved stems typical of those also depicted in so-called Nile-scene mosaics created in the 5th to 6th centuries. The mosaic’s images of the flora and fauna native to the Nile valley symbolized the life-giving power of the mighty river with its annual floods guaranteeing Egypt’s agricultural fertility. That explains why both late-antique churches, such as that in the nearby Church of the Multiplication in Tabgha, and luxurious dwellings in cities of late antiquity were decorated with Nile-scene mosaics.

Lakeside settlement was there long before the caliph’s palace was planned

The recently discovered mosaic, together with related ceramic finds dating to the 5th to 7th centuries, show that the settlement on the shores of the lake was already thriving centuries before the work on the caliph’s palace had commenced. Its original inhabitants were either Christians or Jews and they were subsequently joined by a small Islamic community, for whom the caliph had a side entrance constructed in the early 8th century so that they could access his palace mosque. The unearthed ceramics have revealed that the site remained occupied under the control of the Umayyad and then Abbasid caliphates from the 7th to the 11th century. New construction projects were initiated in this period during which parts of the mosaics fell victim to pickaxes wielded by religiously inspired iconoclasts, sections of old walls were demolished, and the stones were transported away for reuse elsewhere. The remains finally became the location of a graveyard in which the dead were buried, in accordance with Muslim custom, lying on their side with their faces directed towards Mecca.

Nearby, the Mainz team also exposed a stone built furnace used to process sugar cane. Although sugar cane represented one of the top agricultural exports of the Holy Land from the period of the early Middle Ages and brought in considerable wealth for the landowners, vast volumes of water were needed to cultivate it while large amounts of wood were required to operate boiling furnaces. The result was extensive soil erosion and an environmental disaster that the area around the lake had not fully recovered from even by the 20th century. The immense scale of sugarcane cultivation in the Middle Ages was demonstrated by both the findings of the excavations at the Caliph’s Palace — those from 1936 to 1939 and those in 2016 — and by the 2019 Mainz geomagnetic surveys, which all revealed evidence of dozens of such furnaces in operation between the 12th and 13th/14th centuries. “Our most recent excavations show that Caliph Walid had his palace built on the shore of the Sea of Galilee in an already carefully structured landscape that had long been inhabited. It was here that considerable money was subsequently made through the cultivation of sugar cane, sadly causing lasting damage to the ecosystem,” said Kuhnen. “Our research has brought this settlement adjacent to the caliph’s palace to light again, putting it in its rightful context among the history of human settlement of the Holy Land. Over the centuries, it experienced alternating periods of innovation and decline, but there was no real disruption to its existence during its lifetime.”

Geomagnetic surface surveys showed where to dig

The Mainz-based team was able to locate this historic hotspot so accurately with its test pits due to the results of geomagnetic surface surveys conducted on-site in a pilot project in 2019. The technology employs magnetic sensors to detect and map tiny variations in the Earth’s magnetic field caused by soil disturbances, for example those caused by construction work. This allows archaeologists to predict with a fair degree of confidence the course of walls and flooring and to identify the site of hearths and ovens hidden under the soil, without recourse to a spade. However, to actually verify whether magnetometry results indeed indicate the presence of something interesting and in order to date the potential structures, archaeologists need to dig targeted test pits — as did the team from JGU’s Department of Ancient Studies at Khirbat al-Minya.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Kuhnen and his team had to wait three long years before they were able to get back to the site to see what was waiting for them. However, toiling away under the scorching August sun, they were richly rewarded for their efforts. “It was our prior geomagnetic scans that provided us with unusually accurate indications of what we were likely to find below the surface. The outcome of our excavations has been exactly what we hoped for. Combining these two methods of investigation requires less exertion, helps preserve the archaeological heritage, and is thus the future of our discipline,” concluded Professor Hans-Peter Kuhnen in the light of the current excavations on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, which will continue next year.

Australian law was not drafted with widespread use of facial recognition in mind. Led by UTS Industry Professors Edward Santow and Nicholas Davis, the report recommends reform to modernise Australian law, especially to address threats to privacy and other human rights.

Facial recognition and other remote biometric technologies have grown exponentially in recent years, raising concerns about privacy, mass surveillance and unfairness experienced, especially by people of colour and women, when the technology makes mistakes.

In June 2022, an investigation by consumer advocacy group CHOICE revealed that several large Australian retailers were using facial recognition to identify customers entering their stores, leading to considerable community alarm and calls for improved regulation. There have also been widespread calls for reform of facial recognition law — in Australia and internationally.

This new report responds to those calls. It recognises that our faces are special, in the sense that humans rely heavily on each other’s faces to identify and interact. This reliance leaves us particularly vulnerable to human rights restrictions when this technology is misused or overused.

“When facial recognition applications are designed and regulated well, there can be real benefits, helping to identify people efficiently and at scale. The technology is widely used by people who are blind or have a vision impairment, making the world more accessible for those groups,” said Professor Santow, the former Australian Human Rights Commissioner and now Co-Director of the Human Technology Institute.

“This report proposes a risk-based model law for facial recognition. The starting point should be to ensure that facial recognition is developed and used in ways that uphold people’s basic human rights,” he said.

“The gaps in our current law have created a kind of regulatory market failure. Many respected companies have pulled back from offering facial recognition because consumers aren’t properly protected. Those companies still offering in this area are not required to focus on the basic rights of people affected by this tech,” said Professor Davis, a former member of the executive committee at the World Economic Forum in Geneva and Co-Director of the Human Technology Institute.

“Many civil society organisations, government and inter-governmental bodies and independent experts have sounded the alarm about dangers associated with current and predicted uses of facial recognition,” he said.

This report calls on Australian Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus to lead a national facial recognition reform process. This should start by introducing a bill into the Australian Parliament based on the model law set out in the report.

The report also recommends assigning regulatory responsibility to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner to regulate the development and use of this technology in the federal jurisdiction, with a harmonised approach in state and territory jurisdictions.

The model law sets out three levels of risk to human rights for individuals affected by the use of a particular facial recognition technology application, as well as risks to the broader community.

Under the model law, anyone who develops or deploys facial recognition technology must first assess the level of human rights risk that would apply to their application. That assessment can then be challenged by members of the public and the regulator.

Based on the risk assessment, the model law then sets out a cumulative set of legal requirements, restrictions and prohibitions.

The report, Facial Recognition Technology: towards a model law, has been co-authored by Prof Nicholas Davis, Prof Edward Santow, and Lauren Perry of the Human Technology Institute, UTS.

Further information: https://www.uts.edu.au/human-technology-institute/explore-our-work/facial-recognition-technology-towards-model-law