Synthesis of polyacrylonitrile/polytetrahydropyrimidine (PAN/PTHP) nanofibers with enhanced antibacterial and anti-viral activities for personal protective equipment.

Emerging infectious diseases caused by the spread of bacteria and viruses are a major burden on global economic development and public health. At present, most personal protective equipment has weak antibacterial and anti-viral properties. The PAN/PTHP nanofibers reported in this article provide a new method for the development of personal protective equipment. In this study, a mixture of PTHP and PAN was prepared into PAN/PTHP nanofibers with high-efficiency and long-lasting antibacterial effects (>99.999%) through the electrospinning process. Live/dead staining and cell proliferation experiments showed that the preparation of PAN/PTHP nanofibers has good cell compatibility. In addition, PAN/PTHP nanofibers show obvious destructive effects on lentiviruses. Based on these characteristics, PAN/PTHP nanofibers were applied to facial masks, which can be used as the inflatable biocidal layer of facial masks and have an excellent interception effect on particles in the air. The successful synthesis of these fascinating materials may provide new insights for the development of new protective materials.

COP negotiations and Malaysian climate change roadmap: a comparative assessment using a dynamic environmental model.

This study critically evaluates two COP proposals on Malaysia that have been under consideration to reduce climate damage. A top-down disaggregation framework deploying an "Empirical Regional Downscaling Dynamic Integrated Model of Climate and the Economy" is used to evaluate the local government climate roadmap and Malaysia's emissions reduction agendas under COP21 and subsequently COP22 proposals. The findings show that the costs from climate damage over the period 2010-2110 under the Malaysian Optimal Climate Action scenario will amount to MYR5,483 (US$1589) billion. The commensurate climate damage costs under the COP21 and COP22 scenario would be MYR5, 264 (US$1526) billion. Thus, the effective proposal for reducing climate damage in Malaysia over the period 2010-2110 is the COP22 time-adjusted COP21 proposal but there are a number of macroeconomic cost implications for savings and consumption that policy makers must address before acting.

A Low-Cost, Rapidly Integrated Debubbler (RID) Module for Microfluidic Cell Culture Applications.

Microfluidic platforms use controlled fluid flows to provide physiologically relevant biochemical and biophysical cues to cultured cells in a well-defined and reproducible manner. Undisturbed flows are critical in these systems, and air bubbles entering microfluidic channels can lead to device delamination or cell damage. To prevent bubble entry into microfluidic channels, we report a low-cost, Rapidly Integrated Debubbler (RID) module that is simple to fabricate, inexpensive, and easily combined with existing experimental systems. We demonstrate successful removal of air bubbles spanning three orders of magnitude with a maximum removal rate (dV/dt)max = 1.5 mL min-1, at flow rates required to apply physiological wall shear stress (1-200 dyne cm-2) to mammalian cells cultured in microfluidic channels.

Modeling technical change in climate analysis: evidence from agricultural crop damages.

This study accounts for the Hicks neutral technical change in a calibrated model of climate analysis, to identify the optimum level of technical change for addressing climate changes. It demonstrates the reduction to crop damages, the costs to technical change, and the net gains for the adoption of technical change for a climate-sensitive Pakistan economy. The calibrated model assesses the net gains of technical change for the overall economy and at the agriculture-specific level. The study finds that the gains of technical change are overwhelmingly higher than the costs across the agriculture subsectors. The gains and costs following technical change differ substantially for different crops. More importantly, the study finds a cost-effective optimal level of technical change that potentially reduces crop damages to a minimum possible level. The study therefore contends that the climate policy for Pakistan should consider the role of technical change in addressing climate impacts on the agriculture sector.

Climate change mitigation: comparative assessment of Malaysian and ASEAN scenarios.

This paper analyses empirically the optimal climate change mitigation policy of Malaysia with the business as usual scenario of ASEAN to compare their environmental and economic consequences over the period 2010-2110. A downscaling empirical dynamic model is constructed using a dual multidisciplinary framework combining economic, earth science, and ecological variables to analyse the long-run consequences. The model takes account of climatic variables, including carbon cycle, carbon emission, climatic damage, carbon control, carbon concentration, and temperature. The results indicate that without optimal climate policy and action, the cumulative cost of climate damage for Malaysia and ASEAN as a whole over the period 2010-2110 would be MYR40.1 trillion and MYR151.0 trillion, respectively. Under the optimal policy, the cumulative cost of climatic damage for Malaysia would fall to MYR5.3 trillion over the 100 years. Also, the additional economic output of Malaysia will rise from MYR2.1 billion in 2010 to MYR3.6 billion in 2050 and MYR5.5 billion in 2110 under the optimal climate change mitigation scenario. The additional economic output for ASEAN would fall from MYR8.1 billion in 2010 to MYR3.2 billion in 2050 before rising again slightly to MYR4.7 billion in 2110 in the business as usual ASEAN scenario.

Implications of climate change damage for agriculture: sectoral evidence from Pakistan.

This paper gives a projection of the possible damage of climate change on the agriculture sector of Pakistan for the period 2012-2037, based on a dynamic approach, using an environment-related applied computable general equilibrium model (CGE). Climate damage projections depict an upward trend for the period of review and are found to be higher than the global average. Further, the damage to the agricultural sector exceeds that for the overall economy. By sector, climatic damage disproportionately affects the major and minor crops, livestock and fisheries. The largest losses following climate change, relative to the other agricultural sectors, are expected for livestock. The reason for this is the orthodox system of production for livestock, with a low adaptability to negative shocks of climate change. Overall, the findings reveal the high exposure of the agriculture sector to climate damage. In this regard, policymakers in Pakistan should take seriously the effects of climate change on agriculture and consider suitable technology to mitigate those damages.

Exploring factors influencing farmers' willingness to pay (WTP) for a planned adaptation programme to address climatic issues in agricultural sectors.

This study empirically estimates farmers' willingness to pay (WTP) for a planned adaptation programme for addressing climate issues in Pakistan's agricultural sectors. The contingent valuation method (CVM) was employed to determine a monetary valuation of farmers' preferences for a planned adaptation programme by ascertaining the value attached to address climatic issues. The survey was conducted by distributing structured questionnaires among Pakistani farmers. The study found that 67 % of respondents were willing to pay for a planned adaptation programme. However, several socioeconomic and motivational factors exert greater influence on their willingness to pay (WTP). This paper specifies the steps needed for all institutional bodies to better address issues in climate change. The outcomes of this paper will support attempts by policy makers to design an efficient adaptation framework for mitigating and adapting to the adverse impacts of climate change.