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Climate change is an emerging global health crisis, disproportionately affecting low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where health outcomes are increasingly compromised by environmental stressors such as pollution, natural disasters, and human migration. With a focus on promoting health equity, Global Surgery advocates for expanding access to surgical care and enhancing health outcomes, particularly in resource-limited and disaster-affected areas like LMICs. The healthcare industry—and more specifically, surgical care—significantly contributes to the global carbon footprint, primarily through resource-intensive settings, i.e. operating rooms that generate greenhouse gases and substantial medical waste. Therefore, Global Surgery efforts aimed at improving surgical access through an increase in surgical volumes may inadvertently exacerbate health challenges for vulnerable populations by further contributing to environmental degradation. This predicament is particularly pronounced in LMICs, who already suffer from a disproportionate share of the global burden of disease, and where the demand for surgery is rising without corresponding resilient infrastructure. LMICs face a double jeopardy of health inequity coupled with climate vulnerability. As a movement positioned to improve health around the world, Global Surgery has an increasingly significant role in envisioning and ensuring a sustainable future. Global Surgery initiatives must prioritise sustainable infrastructure in both high-income countries (HICs) and LMICs, all while accounting for the unequal polluting contributions between HICs and LMICs and, consequently, moral responsibilities moving forward. Moreover, through targeting upstream causes of poor health at urban and perioperative levels, Global Surgery’s interventions may help to reduce the global burden of disease—avoiding preventable surgeries and their carbon footprints from the outset. Altogether, Global Surgery and climate change are two matters of social justice whose solutions must synergistically centralise the health of both the planet and its most vulnerable people.

Climate change is an emerging global health crisis, disproportionately affecting low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where health outcomes are increasingly compromised by environmental stressors such as pollution, natural disasters, and human migration. With a focus on promoting health equity, Global Surgery advocates for expanding access to surgical care and enhancing health outcomes, particularly in resource-limited and disaster-affected areas like LMICs. The healthcare industry—and more specifically, surgical care—significantly contributes to the global carbon footprint, primarily through resource-intensive settings, i.e. operating rooms that generate greenhouse gases and substantial medical waste. Therefore, Global Surgery efforts aimed at improving surgical access through an increase in surgical volumes may inadvertently exacerbate health challenges for vulnerable populations by further contributing to environmental degradation. This predicament is particularly pronounced in LMICs, who already suffer from a disproportionate share of the global burden of disease, and where the demand for surgery is rising without corresponding resilient infrastructure. LMICs face a double jeopardy of health inequity coupled with climate vulnerability. As a movement positioned to improve health around the world, Global Surgery has an increasingly significant role in envisioning and ensuring a sustainable future. Global Surgery initiatives must prioritise sustainable infrastructure in both high-income countries (HICs) and LMICs, all while accounting for the unequal polluting contributions between HICs and LMICs and, consequently, moral responsibilities moving forward. Moreover, through targeting upstream causes of poor health at urban and perioperative levels, Global Surgery’s interventions may help to reduce the global burden of disease—avoiding preventable surgeries and their carbon footprints from the outset. Altogether, Global Surgery and climate change are two matters of social justice whose solutions must synergistically centralise the health of both the planet and its most vulnerable people.

Les conséquences du changement climatique sont particulièrement aiguës au Kenya, où 80 % des terres sont arides ou semi-arides. Quelle perspective critique et constructive le concept d’habitabilité peut-il offrir dans ce contexte ? Fondé sur un travail de terrain réalisé au Kenya en 2022 et 2023, cet article entend affiner une définition in situ de l’habitabilité, en utilisant exclusivement des données qualitatives issues de deux phases de recherche, complétées par des exercices de vidéo-cartographie. Loin de proposer une lecture positiviste de l’habitabilité, portée par une conception exclusivement mécanique et linéaire des dynamiques de mobilité, cette étude propose de mieux relier l’habitabilité aux pratiques quotidiennes, aux habitudes, aux solidarités, voire aux résistances qui constituent la vie ordinaire des habitants des communautés et des personnes déplacées. L’habitabilité se situerait alors au cœur de l’intrication entre socialité et spatialité, entre social et biologique, qui définit – selon Stanley Cavell – la forme de vie humaine. The consequences of climate change are particularly acute in Kenya, where 80% of the land is arid or semi-arid. What critical and constructive perspective can the concept of habitability offer in this context? Based on fieldwork carried out in Kenya in 2022 and 2023, this article aims to refine an in-situ definition of habitability, using exclusively qualitative data from two research phases, supplemented by video-mapping exercises. Far from proposing a positivist reading of habitability, driven by an exclusively mechanical and linear conception of mobility dynamics, this study proposes to better link habitability to the daily practices, habits, solidarities and even resistances that make up the ordinary lives of community dwellers and displaced persons. Habitability would then lie at the heart of the intricacy between sociality and spatiality, between the social and the biological, which defines – according to Stanley Cavell – “the human form of life.”

Les conséquences du changement climatique sont particulièrement aiguës au Kenya, où 80 % des terres sont arides ou semi-arides. Quelle perspective critique et constructive le concept d’habitabilité peut-il offrir dans ce contexte ? Fondé sur un travail de terrain réalisé au Kenya en 2022 et 2023, cet article entend affiner une définition in situ de l’habitabilité, en utilisant exclusivement des données qualitatives issues de deux phases de recherche, complétées par des exercices de vidéo-cartographie. Loin de proposer une lecture positiviste de l’habitabilité, portée par une conception exclusivement mécanique et linéaire des dynamiques de mobilité, cette étude propose de mieux relier l’habitabilité aux pratiques quotidiennes, aux habitudes, aux solidarités, voire aux résistances qui constituent la vie ordinaire des habitants des communautés et des personnes déplacées. L’habitabilité se situerait alors au cœur de l’intrication entre socialité et spatialité, entre social et biologique, qui définit – selon Stanley Cavell – la forme de vie humaine. The consequences of climate change are particularly acute in Kenya, where 80% of the land is arid or semi-arid. What critical and constructive perspective can the concept of habitability offer in this context? Based on fieldwork carried out in Kenya in 2022 and 2023, this article aims to refine an in-situ definition of habitability, using exclusively qualitative data from two research phases, supplemented by video-mapping exercises. Far from proposing a positivist reading of habitability, driven by an exclusively mechanical and linear conception of mobility dynamics, this study proposes to better link habitability to the daily practices, habits, solidarities and even resistances that make up the ordinary lives of community dwellers and displaced persons. Habitability would then lie at the heart of the intricacy between sociality and spatiality, between the social and the biological, which defines – according to Stanley Cavell – “the human form of life.”

In the quest for more efficient solar thermal systems, accurately determining the thermal emittance of low-emissive materials is crucial in determining the power losses. This paper describes the calorimetric method designed to precisely measure the thermal emittance of Selective Solar Absorbers (SSAs) to be used in High Vacuum Flat Plate Collectors (HVFPCs). The method’s capability is demonstrated through the successful correction of thermal emittance values for copper samples of varying sizes, including dimensions down to 49 cm2. Results highlight the method’s potential to significantly reduce measurement errors associated with small-size and/or low-emittance samples, providing a path forward to improve the design and efficiency of SSAs. This research marks a significant step in advancing solar thermal technology by enabling emittance measurements with a precision better than 0.003, which is essential for the development of high-performance solar thermal absorbers. The method has also been applied to correct the thermal emittance value of SSA measured in previous measurement campaigns, and it allows a better estimation of the SSA efficiency conversion curve.

In the quest for more efficient solar thermal systems, accurately determining the thermal emittance of low-emissive materials is crucial in determining the power losses. This paper describes the calorimetric method designed to precisely measure the thermal emittance of Selective Solar Absorbers (SSAs) to be used in High Vacuum Flat Plate Collectors (HVFPCs). The method’s capability is demonstrated through the successful correction of thermal emittance values for copper samples of varying sizes, including dimensions down to 49 cm2. Results highlight the method’s potential to significantly reduce measurement errors associated with small-size and/or low-emittance samples, providing a path forward to improve the design and efficiency of SSAs. This research marks a significant step in advancing solar thermal technology by enabling emittance measurements with a precision better than 0.003, which is essential for the development of high-performance solar thermal absorbers. The method has also been applied to correct the thermal emittance value of SSA measured in previous measurement campaigns, and it allows a better estimation of the SSA efficiency conversion curve.

Degradation issues correlated to microstructural changes are the main obstacles to solid oxide fuel cell and electrolyser applications, making their identification and understanding fundamental steps. Coupling experimental activities with modelling, this work analyses the state-of-the-art Ni-YSZ (Yttria-Stabilized Zirconia)/YSZ/CGO (Cerium Gadolinium Oxide)/LSCF (Lanthanum Strontium Cobalt Ferrite)-CGO-based cell after 1000 h of galvanostatic electrolysis operation at fixed temperature and high steam composition in the inlet gas. Following a multiscale approach, the system behaviour is characterized through electrochemical impedance spectra and polarization curves as well as studying microstructure evolution, with a focus on Ni-cermet functional layer in view of Ni instability detected as the main degradation cause. A comparison with a cell consisting of the same initial geometrical structure and materials but aged in fuel cell mode allows to highlight the influence of operating mode and parameters on Ni-YSZ microstructure. Ni particle size and phase fraction variations experimentally observed on the electrode surface are correlated to water content and applied polarization simulated local values. Ni uneven distribution at the electrolyte interface and particle coarsening, above all, lead to an increase in polarization loss under electrolysis and fuel cell mode, respectively, since both penalise the charge transfer reaction and migration.

Degradation issues correlated to microstructural changes are the main obstacles to solid oxide fuel cell and electrolyser applications, making their identification and understanding fundamental steps. Coupling experimental activities with modelling, this work analyses the state-of-the-art Ni-YSZ (Yttria-Stabilized Zirconia)/YSZ/CGO (Cerium Gadolinium Oxide)/LSCF (Lanthanum Strontium Cobalt Ferrite)-CGO-based cell after 1000 h of galvanostatic electrolysis operation at fixed temperature and high steam composition in the inlet gas. Following a multiscale approach, the system behaviour is characterized through electrochemical impedance spectra and polarization curves as well as studying microstructure evolution, with a focus on Ni-cermet functional layer in view of Ni instability detected as the main degradation cause. A comparison with a cell consisting of the same initial geometrical structure and materials but aged in fuel cell mode allows to highlight the influence of operating mode and parameters on Ni-YSZ microstructure. Ni particle size and phase fraction variations experimentally observed on the electrode surface are correlated to water content and applied polarization simulated local values. Ni uneven distribution at the electrolyte interface and particle coarsening, above all, lead to an increase in polarization loss under electrolysis and fuel cell mode, respectively, since both penalise the charge transfer reaction and migration.