• Energy Research
• Open Access close
• Open Source close
• Embargo close
• GB close
• ES close
• FR close
• EU close

Climate change is a global problem, which affects the various geographical regions at different levels. It is also associated with a wide range of human health problems, which pose a burden to health systems, especially in regions such as Africa. Indeed, across the African continent public health systems are under severe pressure, partly due to their fragile socioeconomic conditions. This paper reports on a cross-sectional study in six African countries (Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Namibia, Ethiopia, and Kenya) aimed at assessing their vulnerabilities to climate change, focusing on its impacts on human health. The study evaluated the levels of information, knowledge, and perceptions of public health professionals. It also examined the health systems’ preparedness to cope with these health hazards, the available resources, and those needed to build resilience to the country’s vulnerable population, as perceived by health professionals. The results revealed that 63.1% of the total respondents reported that climate change had been extensively experienced in the past years, while 32% claimed that the sampled countries had experienced them to some extent. Nigerian respondents recorded the highest levels (67.7%), followed by Kenya with 66.6%. South Africa had the lowest level of impact as perceived by the respondents (50.0%) when compared with the other sampled countries. All respondents from Ghana and Namibia reported that health problems caused by climate change are common in the two countries. As perceived by the health professionals, the inadequate resources reiterate the need for infrastructural resources, medical equipment, emergency response resources, and technical support. The study’s recommendations include the need to improve current policies at all levels (i.e., national, regional, and local) on climate change and public health and to strengthen health professionals’ skills. Improving the basic knowledge of health institutions to better respond to a changing climate is also recommended. The study provides valuable insights which may be helpful to other nations in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Simple indicators are often used to summarize the complexity of systems or products, commonly through color-coded labels paired with letters. These labels, like those indicating energy efficiency or nutritional ratings, help users quickly understand essential characteristics. Building on this approach, the Quality Urban Label (QUL) has been developed to assess public space adaptation to urban climate change. The QUL utilizes four key indicators, called quality components: air quality (pollutants), noise pollution, thermal comfort, and visual comfort. It ranges from 0 to 25 and is represented by a color and letter code (green, A, ranging from 0 to 2; blue, B, ranging from 6 to 11; orange, C, ranging from 15 to 19; and red, D, ranging from 22 to 25), with green representing better quality and red poorer quality. The QUL aims to evaluate public spaces based on energy consumption reduction, greenhouse gas emissions reduction, and progress toward carbon neutrality. This article explores some ecological and climate benefits of the QUL, especially in warm Mediterranean cities. An objective label that quantifies the alignment of urban public space with climate neutrality has numerous advantages, which are discussed in the article. In addition, it is a key tool for urban project planning, focused on reducing urban social inequalities and promoting a just energy transition of urban public space.

Abstract. The impact of multiphase reactions involving nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and aromatic compounds was simulated in this study. A mechanism (CAPRAM 2.4, MODAC Mechanism) was applied for the aqueous phase reactions, whereas RACM was applied for the gas phase chemistry. Liquid droplets were considered as monodispersed with a mean radius of 0.1 µm and a liquid content (LC) of 50 µg m-3. The multiphase mechanism has been further extended to the chemistry of aromatics, i.e. reactions involving benzene, toluene, xylene, phenol and cresol have been added. In addition, reaction of NO2 with dissociated hydroxyl substituted aromatic compounds has also been implemented. These reactions proceed through charge exchange leading to nitrite ions and therefore to nitrous acid formation. The strength of this source was explored under urban polluted conditions. It was shown that it may increase gas phase HONO levels under some conditions and that the extent of this effect is strongly pH dependent. Especially under moderate acidic conditions (i.e. pH above 4) this source may represent more than 75% of the total HONO/NO2 - production rate, but this contribution drops down close to zero in acidic droplets (as those often encountered in urban environments).

AbstractHydrodynamics plays a major role in wet grinding processes used to produce nanoparticles, but its influence on the mechanisms of fragmentation is not fully understood. The focus is on hydrodynamics in the gap between two grinding beads. Using particle image velocimetry in a large‐scale experiment, the velocity field between the beads has been investigated when the beads get closer (down to one‐tenth of their radius). Different configurations have been studied, varying from frontal approach to tangential collision. Finally, a capture probability of suspended particles has been estimated.

This paper addresses some questions that climate change raises for international law. It focuses in particular on the request for an advisory opinion submitted by the United Nations General Assembly to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on 29 March 2023. This request is analysed as a further manifestation of the international community’s concern to clarify the international responsibility of states to prevent, mitigate and remedy the damage caused by climate change. The study argues that the ICJ could clarify obligations under existing treaties. There may also be a particular opportunity for the Court to expand its jurisprudence on other sources of international law. In particular, it asks whether the ICJ could confirm the emergence of a specific customary rule on the issue.

Abstract In this paper I present findings and insights from an empirical study of two case study solar farm developments from rural areas of the South West, UK. Drawing on a Habermasian theoretical frame, I examine local resident narratives that emerged through the local public sphere and how these formed discursive meanings that provided shared background social norms for residents towards the solar farm developments. The paper begins by operationalising Habermas's theoretical ideas for empirical research and situating the research within existing literature. The theoretical and methodological sections are followed by the examination of three local narratives that emerged: idealised rural land use, farming and income generation, and money making and the pursuit of profit. Such narratives are considered in view of public opportunities for robust dialogue and debate to judge the normative democratic character of the solar farm developments. The paper concludes that the community development offered significantly more discursive space for debate than the commercial development and increased the developments' overall democratic legitimacy. It is maintained that such a Habermasian theoretical frame adapted for empirical analysis is valuable for normatively assessing democratic processes which are needed in view of conceptually weak accounts of ‘energy democracy’.

Abstract Motivation: The steady growth of the number of available protein structures has constantly motivated the development of new algorithms for detecting structural correspondences in proteins. Detecting structural equivalences in two or more proteins is computationally demanding as it typically entails the exploration of the combinatorial space of all possible amino acid pairings in the parent proteins. The search is often aided by the introduction of various constraints such as considering protein fragments, rather than single amino acids, and/or seeking only sequential correspondences in the given proteins. An additional challenge is represented by the difficulty of associating to a given alignment, a reliable a priori measure of its statistical significance. Results: Here, we present and discuss MISTRAL (Multiple STRuctural ALignment), a novel strategy for multiple protein alignment based on the minimization of an energy function over the low-dimensional space of the relative rotations and translations of the molecules. The energy minimization avoids combinatorial searches and returns pairwise alignment scores for which a reliable a priori statistical significance can be given. Availability: MISTRAL is freely available for academic users as a standalone program and as a web service at http://ipht.cea.fr/protein.php. Contact: michelet@sissa.it Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.