Climate change effects on people’s livelihood

Generally climate is defined as the long-term average weather conditions of a particular place, region, or the world. Key climate variables include surface conditions such as temperature, precipitation, and wind. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) broadly defined climate change as any change in the state of climate which persists for extended periods, usually for decades or longer (Allwood et al. 2014). Climate change may occur due to nature’s both internal and external processes. External process involves anthropogenic emission of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, and volcanic eruptions. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) made a distinction between climate change attributable to human contribution to atmospheric composition and natural climate variability. In its Article 1, the UNFCCC defines climate change as “a change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods” (United Nations 1992, p. 7)

Wound dressing where there is limitation of choice

Background Many sophisticated dressings are available to the wound care practitioner in the developed countries. These materials are made from a wide range of products like polyurethane, salts of alginic acid and other gelable polysaccharides. The situation is different in the developing countries where what is commonly available to wound care provider are traditional agents such as sodium hypochlorite, hydrogen-peroxide, cetrimide solution, chlorhexidine and others. The aim of this study is to reappraise the problem of limitation of wound dressing selection in the developing countries and to sensitize the wound care practitioner on the use of the commonly available products based on the needs of a different wound or even the same wound throughout its healing course. Patients and methods Patients attending the General Outpatient Department (GOPD) of our hospital for wound dressing were used for the study. Five surgeons who are familiar with wound care management visited the dressing unit of the GOPD daily for one week in October 2005. A proforma was designed where information on each of the patient was recorded. Results Fifty-three patients attended the dressing unit of our GOPD during the study period. Twenty-six patients (49.1%) had their wounds dressed with hypochlorite solution (Eusol), seventeen patients (32.1%) had their wounds dressed with honey and two patients, wound were being dressed with hydrogen peroxide. Conclusion While we are still awaiting the availability of the newer products in the developing countries, we should make use of the traditional products that are readily available to us according to the need of a particular wound, by this, our choice of wound dressing will not be arbitrary, ineffective and wasteful both in terms of time and physical resources

Corrosion inhibition of copper in aqueous chloride solution by 1H-1,2,3-triazole and 1,2,4-triazole and their combinations: electrochemical, Raman and theoretical studies

Triazoles are well-known organic corrosion inhibitors of copper. 1H-1,2,3-Triazole and 1,2,4-triazole, two very simple molecules with the only difference being the positions of the nitrogen atoms in the triazole ring, were studied in this work as corrosion inhibitors of copper in 50 mM NaCl solution using a set of electrochemical and analytical techniques. The results of electrochemical tests indicate that 1H-1,2,3-triazole exhibited superior inhibitor properties but could not suppress anodic copper dissolution at moderate anodic potentials (4+300 mV SCE), while 1,2,4-triazole, although it exhibited higher anodic currents, suppressed anodic copper dissolution at very anodic potentials. Density functional theory calculations were also performed to interpret the measured data and trends observed in the electrochemical studies. The computational studies considered either the inhibitors isolated in the gaseous phase or adsorbed onto Cu(111) surface models. From the calculations, the mechanisms of the inhibitive effects of both triazoles were established and plausible mechanisms of formation of the protective films on the Cu surface were proposed. The results of this study hold positive implications for research in the areas of catalysis, and copper content control in water purification systems.This work was developed in the scope of the project CICECO – Aveiro Institute of Materials, POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007679 (Ref. FCT UID/CTM/50011/2013), financed by national funds through the FCT/MEC and when applicable co-financed by FEDER under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement. Financed in the framework of project reference PTDC/QEQ-QFI/4719/2014, funded by Project 3599 - Promover a Produção Científica e Desenvolvimento Tecnológico e a Constituição de Redes Temáticas (3599-PPCDT) and FEDER funds through COMPETE 2020, Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização (POCI). The authors also thank financial support from FCT and COMPETE (PTDC/CTM-MAT/1515/2012 and Programa Investigador FCT). JT thanks FCT for the research grant IF/00347/2013. This work has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreements No 645662 and No 645676. This work has also received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2012-2016) under the grant agreement no. 280759.publishe