Rapid Health and Needs assessments after disasters: a systematic review

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Publichealth care providers, stakeholders and policy makers request a rapid insight into health status and needs of the affected population after disasters. To our knowledge, there is no standardized rapid assessment tool for European countries. The aim of this article is to describe existing tools used internationally and analyze them for the development of a workable rapid assessment.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A review was conducted, including original studies concerning a rapid health and/or needs assessment. The studies used were published between 1980 and 2009. The electronic databasesof Medline, Embase, SciSearch and Psychinfo were used.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Thirty-three studies were included for this review. The majority of the studies was of US origin and in most cases related to natural disasters, especially concerning the weather. In eighteen studies an assessment was conducted using a structured questionnaire, eleven studies used registries and four used both methods. Questionnaires were primarily used to asses the health needs, while data records were used to assess the health status of disaster victims.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Methods most commonly used were face to face interviews and data extracted from existing registries. Ideally, a rapid assessment tool is needed which does not add to the burden of disaster victims. In this perspective, the use of existing medical registries in combination with a brief questionnaire in the aftermath of disasters is the most promising. Since there is an increasing need for such a tool this approach needs further examination.</p

Metal-Substituted Microporous Aluminophosphates

This chapter aims to present the zeotypes aluminophosphates (AlPOs) as a complementary alternative to zeolites in the isomorphic incorporation of metal ions within all-inorganic microporous frameworks as well as to discuss didactically the catalytic consequences derived from the distinctive features of both frameworks. It does not intend to be a compilation of either all or the most significant publications involving metal-substituted microporous aluminophosphates. Families of AlPOs and zeolites, which include metal ion-substituted variants, are the dominant microporous materials. Both these systems are widely used as catalysts, in particular through aliovalent metal ions substitution. Here, some general description of the synthesis procedures and characterization techniques of the MeAPOs (metal-contained aluminophosphates) is given along with catalytic properties. Next, some illustrative examples of the catalytic possibilities of MeAPOs as catalysts in the transformation of the organic molecules are given. The oxidation of the hardly activated hydrocarbons has probably been the most successful use of AlPOs doped with the divalent transition metal ions Co2+, Mn2+, and Fe2+, whose incorporation in zeolites is disfavoured. The catalytic role of these MeAPOs is rationalized based on the knowledge acquired from a combination of the most advanced characterization techniques. Finally, the importance of the high specificity of the structure-directing agents employed in the preparation of MeAPOs is discussed taking N,N-methyldicyclohexylamine in the synthesis of AFI-structured materials as a driving force. It is shown how such a high specificity could be predicted and how it can open great possibilities in the control of parameters as critical in catalysis as crystal size, inter-and intracrystalline mesoporosity, acidity, redox properties, incorporation of a great variety of heteroatom ions or final environment of the metal site (surrounding it by either P or Al)

Bifunctional heterogeneous catalysts for selective epoxidation and visible light driven photolysis: Nickel oxide-containing porous nanocomposite

Over the last decades, intense research activities have been devoted on the development of efficient heterogeneous catalysts because of their convenient use and facile recycling.([1]) In particular, porous transition metal oxides have attracted special attention as promising catalyst materials since transition metal ions can show high catalytic activity for redox- and photoinduced-reactions, and moreover the expansion of surface area through the fabrication of porous structure can provide a large number of catalytically active sites.([2]) Among various synthetic routes to porous inorganic solids, one of the most powerful methods is the self-assembly of inorganic precursors with the help of surfactant molecules or block copolymers.([3]) This synthetic route is very effective for creating mesoporous silica-based catalysts like MCM-41 and MCM-48, however it is less successful in preparing thermally stable porous transition metal oxides. As an alternative route, the intercalation reaction of metal oxide into layered inorganic solids is useful for synthesizing porous transition metal oxides.([4]) Furthermore, this method can provide a unique merit of hybridizing two different metal oxides into a porous lattice, leading to the synergetic combination of two physicochemical properties. Recently nanoporous nickel phosphate prepared by microwave irradiation has been reported to show high catalytic activity for the epoxidation of olefin molecules.([5]) Moreover, nanocrystalline nickel oxide has been widely used as a co-catalyst for improving the photocatalytic activity of semiconductive materials.([6]) In this regard, nickel oxide-containing porous compound is expected to be active not only as a redox catalyst but also as a photocatalyst. Up to date, however, there have been no reports on the synthesis of porous intercalation compound of nickel oxide nanoparticle and layered inorganic solids. A previous attempt to dope a small amount of nickel oxide (< 1wt%) into the interlayer space or on the surface of layered perovskite metal oxide was unsuccessful in producing porous NiO-based materials.([7]) Recently it was reported that the intercalation of bulky organic molecules leads to the exfoliation of transition metal oxides into colloidal nanoshects.([8]) Since the resultant individual monolayers are negatively charged, they are expected to easily be reassembled with positively charged nickel hydroxide nanoclusters,([9]) leading to the formation of porous nickel oxide-based materials (Scheme 1). In the present work, we are successful in synthesizing for the [GRAPHICS] first time porous nickel oxide-titanium oxide (hereafter it is called as NT) nanocomposites with exfoliated titanium oxide nanosheets and characterized their multifunctional catalytic activities and chemical bonding nature.X1188sciescopu