Synthesis and Photocatalytic Performance of TiO2-CNT and Magnetized Fe3O4-TiO2-CNT Multifunctional Hybrids: A Pickering Emulsion Platform for Organic Degradation

The oil and textile industries produce billions of gallons of wastewater containing toxic, and sometimes carcinogenic or mutagenic, chemicals that often disperse throughout wastewater as suspended oil droplets. Photocatalytic degradation is a promising method for organic degradation, but needs to be improved. Tuning the photoactivity of a photocatalyst, enhancing the reactor design, and ensuring a facile method to remove the photocatalysts from the purified wastewater will help photocatalysis become a realistic option for use in advanced water treatment plants. Thus, this study set out to engineer an efficient and reusable method to degrade dispersed organic chemicals, by combining the photocatalytic properties of titania (TiO2), the electronic and hydrophobic properties of carbon nanotubes (CNTs), the magnetic abilities of iron oxide magnetite (Fe3O4), and the novel reactor design of Pickering emulsions. In this study, CNTs were hybridized with TiO2 and magnetized with Fe3O4 following a sol-gel method in order to form TiO2-CNTs and magnetic Fe3O4-TiO2-CNTs. The nanohybrids were used to stabilize Pickering emulsions, and preliminary dye degradation was demonstrated.Chemical EngineeringCivil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineerin

Values and Heritage Conservation: Research Report, The Getty Conservation Institute, Los Angeles

Researches values and benefits of cultural heritage conservation undertaken by GCI through its Agora initiative as a means of articulating and furthering ideas that have emerged from the conservation field in recent years

The food insecurity gap and protracted humanitarian crisis

In 2022, record-high food prices, supply-chain disruptions and increasing climate and conflict risks are causing millions of people across the globe to face worsening levels of food insecurity. But the trend toward greater food insecurity is not simply a product of current events. The Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC) 2022 highlights that the population considered in need of urgent action due to acute food insecurity doubled between 2016 and 2021. Food insecurity can cause, deepen, or worsen humanitarian crises, and understanding the most effective ways to target assistance is crucial to preventing multiple and protracted crises.What is food insecurity?Acute food insecurity is faced by people who are unable to afford or access essential food needs, and presents the risks of malnutrition, starvation or death. While the risk of food insecurity is greater for those in humanitarian crisis contexts, a humanitarian crisis does not have to be present for countries to experience high levels of food insecurity.There are a number of metrics which indicate the overall level of food insecurity in a country: the absolute size of a population facing food insecurity; the size of a population facing food insecurity relative to the total population; and the intensity of the food insecurity felt by the population in need, as measured by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) acute food insecurity Phases 1-5.IPC phases range from 1 to 5, where Phases 1 or 2 (minimal or stressed) indicate no immediate unmet food needs; and Phases 3, 4, and 5 (crisis, emergency and catastrophe/famine) indicate increasing severity of unmet food needs and the requirement for urgent assistance. The number of people in Phase 3 and above is a primary metric in tracking food insecurity, although the IPC does not cover every country every year. In 2022, the GRFC assessed 53 countries experiencing acute food insecurity and requiring external emergency assistance to cope. To produce a global total, other sources such as humanitarian needs assessments can be used to supplement IPC data, although these figures may use differing definitions of food security. For more information on calculating the number of people facing food insecurity in countries not covered by the IPC, see the methodology in the Appendix.The food insecurity gapKnowing the overall numbers of people facing food insecurity does not give a complete picture, as the intensity of food insecurity differs between populations, ranging from crisis-level (IPC Phase 3) to catastrophic levels or even famine (IPC Phase 5).We can understand the difference in these levels as increasing gaps in food insecurity: populations with a greater gap – or deeper food insecurity – are experiencing more intense food insecurity and require a different and more urgent set of interventions. Measuring how the intensity of food insecurity differs and changes between populations is vital to understanding and comparing levels of need, and tracking progress over time. To do this, we created a metric known as the 'food insecurity gap', a single percentage figure which indicates the intensity of food insecurity across a population. See the Appendix for more information on the methodology used to calculate this metric.How do we define humanitarian crisis?We define countries experiencing humanitarian crisis as those with a United Nations (UN)-coordinated humanitarian appeal. We identify countries facing protracted crisis as those with five or more consecutive years of UN-coordinated humanitarian appeals, while recurrent-crisis countries are those with two to four consecutive years of appeals. As of September 2022, there are 71 countries with UN-coordinated humanitarian appeals and 44 facing protracted crisis

Resilience amid Uncertainty: The on-going impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on nonprofits in Washington State

This report represents the second phase of on-going research to understand how nonprofits in Washington State have responded to the twin public health crises of systemic racism and the COVID-19 pandemic. The first report focused on the initial phases of the pandemic from March to July 2020 and revealed that many nonprofits faced precarious financial and operational conditions precipitated by an increased demand for services and dwindling revenue sources. Our second phase sought to understand how nonprofits fared in the subsequent period, specifically to investigate (a) how nonprofits, especially organizations led by and serving communities of color, which bore the greatest burden of the twin pandemics, have been able to navigate, (b) the types of support that organizations have been able to access, what that support has allowed them to do (i.e. the needs it covered), the sufficiency of that support to meet organizational needs, and any challenges experienced in receiving support, and (c) the financial and operational outlook for the future of nonprofits in Washington State.We interviewed 37 nonprofit leaders located across Washington State from March to August 2021. Our sample included many of our 2020 survey respondents as well as nonprofits serving communities of color and rural communities. Our interviews revealed that nonprofits responded to the twin pandemics with resilience, compassion, and initiative.

Global Humanitarian Assistance Report 2022

This report documents how the humanitarian system is being challenged as never before: facing the impacts of systemic shocks from the Covid-19 pandemic and climate change, and the unstinting growth of need, with more countries enduring crisis, for longer. It also shows how, at the same time, the budgets of countries on which so much humanitarian response relies are constrained by global economic slowdown and competing domestic and international demands for funding. In 2022, the crisis in Ukraine is a predominant concern for many donors, and includes the risk of wider conflict in the region, and knock-on impacts from the conflict on a global fuel and food crisis, as well as escalating humanitarian needs.In this context, this year's report provides a critical, system-wide and long-term overview of how financing has been organised and delivered to respond to crises. We analyse how the demand for and cost of humanitarian assistance remains historically high, how total funding has plateaued (Chapter 2) and how the donor base on which the system rests remains shallow and precarious (Chapter 3). The GHA Report 2022 also summarises findings from new, in-depth research on gender-related funding, the role of private donors, and localisation (in terms of funding and indirect cost-sharing).At Development Initiatives, we have recently emerged from a period of strategic planning, setting a new course for the next decade of our work in response to ever-changing and growing global challenges. The GHA Report remains a key resource for the wider crisis-financing community and we will continue to ensure that it equips our partners with robust and meaningful data-driven evidence to support action on some of the most pressing challenges of our time. We hope that this year's report provides you with the reliable, relevant evidence that you need, moving towards our shared goals of building resilient communities and reducing the incidence and impacts of crisis.An HTML version of this report can be found at https://devinit.org/resources/global-humanitarian-assistance-report-2022

Family experiences of infant and young child feeding in lower-income countries: protocol for a systematic review of qualitative studies

PRISMA-P checklist. Completed checklist indicating inclusion of items noted. (DOCX 128 kb

Successful Utilization of Mechanical Thrombectomy in a Presentation of Pediatric Acute Ischemic Stroke

Guidelines regarding the management of acute ischemic stroke (AIS) in the pediatric population using mechanical recanalization procedures are lacking. We present a case of a 14-year-old male diagnosed in the Emergency Department with an acute onset stroke who underwent successful mechanical clot removal by interventional radiology

"INTEGRO INTEGRated Psychotherapeutic InterventiOn" on the management of chronic pain in patients with fbromyalgia: the role of the therapeutic relationship

Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic disease characterized by a heterogeneous set of physical and psychological conditions. The chronic experience of disability felt by patients and the impact on quality of life (QoL) of the disease may worsen the cognitive reappraisal ability and contribute to maintaining an altered pain modulation mechanism. This paper presents the study protocol of an INTEGRated psychotherapeutic interventiOn on the management of chronic pain in patients with fibromyalgia (INTEGRO). The aim of the study is to investigate the efficacy of an integrated psychotherapeutic intervention focused on pain management on QoL and pain perception, in a pilot sample of 45 FM patients with idiopathic chronic pain. The contribution of perceived therapeutic relationship (alliance) and physiological attunement, in both the patient and therapist, will be considered as possible mediators of intervention efficacy. Attachment dimensions, traumatic experiences, difficulties in emotion regulation, mindfulness attitude and psychophysiological profile will also be considered as covariates. The objectives are to evaluate longitudinally if patients will experience an increase in QoL perception (primary endpoint), pain-managing self-efficacy and emotion-regulation abilities as well as a reduction in pain intensity (secondary endpoints), considering the mediating role of perceived therapeutic alliance and physiological attunement in both the patient and therapist