• Energy Research
• 12. Responsible consumption close
• 6. Clean water close
• 4. Education close
• ES close
• Aurora Universities Network close

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are airborne pollutants that are deposited on soils. As climate change is already altering temperature and solar radiation, the global warming is suggested to impact the environmental fate of PAHs. This study was aimed at evaluating the effect of climate change on the PAH photodegradation in soils. Samples of Mediterranean soils were subjected to different temperature and light radiation conditions in a climate chamber. Two climate scenarios were considered according to IPCC projections: 1) a base (B) scenario, being temperature and light intensity 20°C and 9.6W/m(2), respectively, and 2) a climate change (CC) scenario, working at 24°C and 24W/m(2), respectively. As expected, low molecular weight PAHs were rapidly volatilized when increasing both temperature and light intensity. In contrast, medium and high molecular weight PAHs presented different photodegradation rates in soils with different texture, which was likely related to the amount of photocatalysts contained in both soils. In turn, the hydrogen isotopic composition of some of the PAHs under study was also investigated to verify any degradation process. Hydrogen isotopes confirmed that benzo(a)pyrene is degraded in both B and CC scenarios, not only under light but also in the darkness, revealing unknown degradation processes occurring when light is lacking. Potential generation pathways of PAH photodegradation by-products were also suggested, being a higher number of metabolites formed in the CC scenario. Consequently, in a more or less near future, although humans might be less exposed to PAHs, they could be exposed to new metabolites of these pollutants, which might be even more toxic.

The progressive geography of climate change impacts places the African continent among the most vulnerable regions of the world. In line with the prediction of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in its first report (1990), the involuntary migration of population is already proving to be one of the most serious of such impacts across the region. The overwhelming majority of victims remain within their own countries. Therefore, coupled with conflict, violence and development projects, slow-onset and rapid-onset disasters have currently made Africa home to the largest number of internally displaced people. Determined to tackle this plight, on 23rd October 2009 the African Union adopted its Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa (Kampala Convention), articulating the need for a holistic response based on a combined framework of international human rights law and international humanitarian law. Five years since the convention entered into force (on 6th December 2012), this paper aims to taking stock of the progress made in its implementation and, in particular, assessing its effectiveness in protecting people environmentally displaced in the context of climate change. To this end, it identifies the existing and ongoing normative, policy and institutional processes on domestication and implementation of the convention and explores the degree to which these processes provide for the protection due to people displaced by environmental disasters, specially those slow-onset (e.g. desertification). The paper finds that, despite the remarkable efforts towards the implementation of the said convention, the concrete impact of its provisions on enhancing the protection of and assistance to environmental IDPs is still unperceiv

In the present article, the thermodynamic potential of a sustainable plasma-assisted nitrogen fixation process for co-production of ammonia and hydrogen is investigated. The developed process takes advantage of chemical looping system by using a liquid metal such as gallium to drive nitrogen fixation reaction using three reactors including reactor R1 to produce gallium nitride from gallium and nitrogen, reactor R2 to produce ammonia and hydrogen from gallium nitride, and plasma reactor R3 to convert gallium oxide to pure gallium. The results of the thermodynamic assessments showed that the proposed reactions are spontaneous and feasible to occur in the reactors. Likewise, the first two reactions are exothermic with ΔH=-230[Formula presented] and ΔH=-239[Formula presented] in the reactors R1 and R2, respectively with an equilibrium chemical conversion of 100%. The plasma reactor requires thermal energy to drive an endothermic reaction of gallium oxide dissociation withΔH=+870[Formula presented]. Thermochemical equilibrium analysis showed that the molar ratio of steam to GaN, as well as the operating pressure and temperature of reactor R2 are the main operating parameters identifying the product composition in the reactor such that by increasing the temperature, the molar ratio of hydrogen to ammonia increases. However, by increasing the molar ratio of steam/GaN (φ value) from 0.1 to 1, the hydrogen content of the reactor increases from 45% to 70% at 400 °C. For φ > 1.0, the hydrogen content decreases while more hydrogen participate in the formation of NH3 thereby increasing the mole fraction of ammonia in the reactor. The equilibrium chemical conversion of all three reactors is expected to reach the completion point (χ = 100%) due to the highly negative Gibbs free energy of the liquid metal-based reactions together with a large thermal driving force supported by thermal plasma reactor. Finally, a scalability study points at a possible use of the new disruptive process design at small scale, and possible industrial transformation scenarios for a distributed production at a local site of consumption are depicted.

Abstract This ‘reflective practice’ presents and critically describes the case of the “Schools for Tourism” (CAT), a case of promoting tourism and tourist culture in Colombian public schools through early vocational training, reporting the idea, development, outreach, and achievements of this program, as this initiative has experienced significant growth over the last few years. The methodology to this paper is of qualitative nature, i.e. primary literature sources as well as a focus group with high-school students and in-depth interviews with initiators of the project were carried out. Appraisals on the ground suggest that teachers' enthusiasm and commitment are primary factors driving the success of this kind of tourism and hospitality training programs, as is the support given to the teachers implementing CAT. More funding (in form of college scholarships or loans) would be very welcome. While the program's benefits are more than clear to all of the stakeholders, a thorough evaluation is still to be carried out so as to fully assess the benefits but also the weaknesses of the program.

School violence and bullying re worrying problems due to their growing prevalence and severe consequences for adolescent and youth health and wellbeing. Sociocultural factors can contribute to, complicate, and increase the cases of violence in classrooms and spaces related to educational centers. Transphobic violence in this article is defined as the type of violence suffered by transgender and nonbinary adolescents and youth as a manifestation of the problem of discrimination and hate against gender and sexual diversity. This work intends to study the complex sociocultural dynamics of violence detected in educational contexts affecting transgender and nonbinary adolescents and youth identified by recent high- impact studies. At the same time, we aim to fill the gap in the scientific literature on transphobic violence and articulate successful strategies to prevent and combat it. In this review, transphobic violence is defined as the violence affecting transgender adolescents and youth, continuous in time, influenced by peers, and taking place in spaces or realities related to educational centers. The reviewed studies point at the complexity of this kind of violence due to the combination of socio-personal factors and its variety in manifestations. Furthermore, we study the consequences of transphobic violence for the wellbeing and health of transgender and nonbinary adolescents and youth to deepen the knowledge of their mental health repercussions. We end by providing suggestions for how this problem can be prevented in educational environments, grounded on scientific evidence in the materialization of a transformative approach.

Land use is central to addressing sustainability issues, including biodiversity conservation, climate change, food security, poverty alleviation, and sustainable energy. In this paper, we synthesize knowledge accumulated in land system science, the integrated study of terrestrial social-ecological systems, into 10 hard truths that have strong, general, empirical support. These facts help to explain the challenges of achieving sustainability in land use and thus also point toward solutions. The 10 facts are as follows: 1) Meanings and values of land are socially constructed and contested; 2) land systems exhibit complex behaviors with abrupt, hard-to-predict changes; 3) irreversible changes and path dependence are common features of land systems; 4) some land uses have a small footprint but very large impacts; 5) drivers and impacts of land-use change are globally interconnected and spill over to distant locations; 6) humanity lives on a used planet where all land provides benefits to societies; 7) land-use change usually entails trade-offs between different benefits—"win–wins" are thus rare; 8) land tenure and land-use claims are often unclear, overlapping, and contested; 9) the benefits and burdens from land are unequally distributed; and 10) land users have multiple, sometimes conflicting, ideas of what social and environmental justice entails. The facts have implications for governance, but do not provide fixed answers. Instead they constitute a set of core principles which can guide scientists, policy makers, and practitioners toward meeting sustainability challenges in land use.