CSI: Dognapping workshop : an outreach experiment designed to produce students that are hooked on science.

The CSI: Dognapping Workshop is a culmination of the more than 65 Sandian staff and intern volunteers dedication to exciting and encouraging the next generation of scientific leaders. This 2 hour workshop used a 'theatrical play' and 'hands on' activities that was fun, exciting and challenging for 3rd-5th graders while meeting science curriculum standards. In addition, new pedagogical methods were developed in order to introduce nanotechnology to the public. Survey analysis indicated that the workshop had an overall improvement and positive impact on helping the students to understand concepts from materials science and chemistry as well as increased our interaction with the K-5 community. Anecdotal analyses showed that this simple exercise will have far reaching impact with the results necessary to maintain the United States as the scientific leader in the world. This experience led to the initiation of over 100 Official Junior Scientists

Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 79 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks, 1990-2015: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015

Forouzanfar MH, Afshin A, Alexander LT, et al. Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 79 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks, 1990-2015: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015. LANCET. 2016;388(10053):1659-1724.Background The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2015 provides an up-to-date synthesis of the evidence for risk factor exposure and the attributable burden of disease. By providing national and subnational assessments spanning the past 25 years, this study can inform debates on the importance of addressing risks in context. Methods We used the comparative risk assessment framework developed for previous iterations of the Global Burden of Disease Study to estimate attributable deaths, disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), and trends in exposure by age group, sex, year, and geography for 79 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks from 1990 to 2015. This study included 388 risk-outcome pairs that met World Cancer Research Fund-defined criteria for convincing or probable evidence. We extracted relative risk and exposure estimates from randomised controlled trials, cohorts, pooled cohorts, household surveys, census data, satellite data, and other sources. We used statistical models to pool data, adjust for bias, and incorporate covariates. We developed a metric that allows comparisons of exposure across risk factors-the summary exposure value. Using the counterfactual scenario of theoretical minimum risk level, we estimated the portion of deaths and DALYs that could be attributed to a given risk. We decomposed trends in attributable burden into contributions from population growth, population age structure, risk exposure, and risk-deleted cause-specific DALY rates. We characterised risk exposure in relation to a Socio-demographic Index (SDI). Findings Between 1990 and 2015, global exposure to unsafe sanitation, household air pollution, childhood underweight, childhood stunting, and smoking each decreased by more than 25%. Global exposure for several occupational risks, high body-mass index (BMI), and drug use increased by more than 25% over the same period. All risks jointly evaluated in 2015 accounted for 57.8% (95% CI 56.6-58.8) of global deaths and 41.2% (39.8-42.8) of DALYs. In 2015, the ten largest contributors to global DALYs among Level 3 risks were high systolic blood pressure (211.8 million [192.7 million to 231.1 million] global DALYs), smoking (148.6 million [134.2 million to 163.1 million]), high fasting plasma glucose (143.1 million [125.1 million to 163.5 million]), high BMI (120.1 million [83.8 million to 158.4 million]), childhood undernutrition (113.3 million [103.9 million to 123.4 million]), ambient particulate matter (103.1 million [90.8 million to 115.1 million]), high total cholesterol (88.7 million [74.6 million to 105.7 million]), household air pollution (85.6 million [66.7 million to 106.1 million]), alcohol use (85.0 million [77.2 million to 93.0 million]), and diets high in sodium (83.0 million [49.3 million to 127.5 million]). From 1990 to 2015, attributable DALYs declined for micronutrient deficiencies, childhood undernutrition, unsafe sanitation and water, and household air pollution; reductions in risk-deleted DALY rates rather than reductions in exposure drove these declines. Rising exposure contributed to notable increases in attributable DALYs from high BMI, high fasting plasma glucose, occupational carcinogens, and drug use. Environmental risks and childhood undernutrition declined steadily with SDI; low physical activity, high BMI, and high fasting plasma glucose increased with SDI. In 119 countries, metabolic risks, such as high BMI and fasting plasma glucose, contributed the most attributable DALYs in 2015. Regionally, smoking still ranked among the leading five risk factors for attributable DALYs in 109 countries; childhood underweight and unsafe sex remained primary drivers of early death and disability in much of sub-Saharan Africa. Interpretation Declines in some key environmental risks have contributed to declines in critical infectious diseases. Some risks appear to be invariant to SDI. Increasing risks, including high BMI, high fasting plasma glucose, drug use, and some occupational exposures, contribute to rising burden from some conditions, but also provide opportunities for intervention. Some highly preventable risks, such as smoking, remain major causes of attributable DALYs, even as exposure is declining. Public policy makers need to pay attention to the risks that are increasingly major contributors to global burden. Copyright (C) The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd

Global, regional, and national life expectancy, all-cause mortality, and cause-specific mortality for 249 causes of death, 1980-2015 : a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015

Background Improving survival and extending the longevity of life for all populations requires timely, robust evidence on local mortality levels and trends. The Global Burden of Disease 2015 Study (GBD 2015) provides a comprehensive assessment of all-cause and cause-specific mortality for 249 causes in 195 countries and territories from 1980 to 2015. These results informed an in-depth investigation of observed and expected mortality patterns based on sociodemographic measures. Methods We estimated all-cause mortality by age, sex, geography, and year using an improved analytical approach originally developed for GBD 2013 and GBD 2010. Improvements included refinements to the estimation of child and adult mortality and corresponding uncertainty, parameter selection for under-5 mortality synthesis by spatiotemporal Gaussian process regression, and sibling history data processing. We also expanded the database of vital registration, survey, and census data to 14 294 geography-year datapoints. For GBD 2015, eight causes, including Ebola virus disease, were added to the previous GBD cause list for mortality. We used six modelling approaches to assess cause-specific mortality, with the Cause of Death Ensemble Model (CODEm) generating estimates for most causes. We used a series of novel analyses to systematically quantify the drivers of trends in mortality across geographies. First, we assessed observed and expected levels and trends of cause-specific mortality as they relate to the Socio-demographic Index (SDI), a summary indicator derived from measures of income per capita, educational attainment, and fertility. Second, we examined factors affecting total mortality patterns through a series of counterfactual scenarios, testing the magnitude by which population growth, population age structures, and epidemiological changes contributed to shifts in mortality. Finally, we attributed changes in life expectancy to changes in cause of death. We documented each step of the GBD 2015 estimation processes, as well as data sources, in accordance with Guidelines for Accurate and Transparent Health Estimates Reporting (GATHER). Findings Globally, life expectancy from birth increased from 61.7 years (95% uncertainty interval 61.4-61.9) in 1980 to 71.8 years (71.5-72.2) in 2015. Several countries in sub-Saharan Africa had very large gains in life expectancy from 2005 to 2015, rebounding from an era of exceedingly high loss of life due to HIV/AIDS. At the same time, many geographies saw life expectancy stagnate or decline, particularly for men and in countries with rising mortality from war or interpersonal violence. From 2005 to 2015, male life expectancy in Syria dropped by 11.3 years (3.7-17.4), to 62.6 years (56.5-70.2). Total deaths increased by 4.1% (2.6-5.6) from 2005 to 2015, rising to 55.8 million (54.9 million to 56.6 million) in 2015, but age-standardised death rates fell by 17.0% (15.8-18.1) during this time, underscoring changes in population growth and shifts in global age structures. The result was similar for non-communicable diseases (NCDs), with total deaths from these causes increasing by 14.1% (12.6-16.0) to 39.8 million (39.2 million to 40.5 million) in 2015, whereas age-standardised rates decreased by 13.1% (11.9-14.3). Globally, this mortality pattern emerged for several NCDs, including several types of cancer, ischaemic heart disease, cirrhosis, and Alzheimer's disease and other dementias. By contrast, both total deaths and age-standardised death rates due to communicable, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional conditions significantly declined from 2005 to 2015, gains largely attributable to decreases in mortality rates due to HIV/AIDS (42.1%, 39.1-44.6), malaria (43.1%, 34.7-51.8), neonatal preterm birth complications (29.8%, 24.8-34.9), and maternal disorders (29.1%, 19.3-37.1). Progress was slower for several causes, such as lower respiratory infections and nutritional deficiencies, whereas deaths increased for others, including dengue and drug use disorders. Age-standardised death rates due to injuries significantly declined from 2005 to 2015, yet interpersonal violence and war claimed increasingly more lives in some regions, particularly in the Middle East. In 2015, rotaviral enteritis (rotavirus) was the leading cause of under-5 deaths due to diarrhoea (146 000 deaths, 118 000-183 000) and pneumococcal pneumonia was the leading cause of under-5 deaths due to lower respiratory infections (393 000 deaths, 228 000-532 000), although pathogen-specific mortality varied by region. Globally, the effects of population growth, ageing, and changes in age-standardised death rates substantially differed by cause. Our analyses on the expected associations between cause-specific mortality and SDI show the regular shifts in cause of death composition and population age structure with rising SDI. Country patterns of premature mortality (measured as years of life lost [YLLs]) and how they differ from the level expected on the basis of SDI alone revealed distinct but highly heterogeneous patterns by region and country or territory. Ischaemic heart disease, stroke, and diabetes were among the leading causes of YLLs in most regions, but in many cases, intraregional results sharply diverged for ratios of observed and expected YLLs based on SDI. Communicable, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional diseases caused the most YLLs throughout sub-Saharan Africa, with observed YLLs far exceeding expected YLLs for countries in which malaria or HIV/AIDS remained the leading causes of early death. Interpretation At the global scale, age-specific mortality has steadily improved over the past 35 years; this pattern of general progress continued in the past decade. Progress has been faster in most countries than expected on the basis of development measured by the SDI. Against this background of progress, some countries have seen falls in life expectancy, and age-standardised death rates for some causes are increasing. Despite progress in reducing age-standardised death rates, population growth and ageing mean that the number of deaths from most non-communicable causes are increasing in most countries, putting increased demands on health systems. Copyright (C) The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.Peer reviewe

Discutindo a educação ambiental no cotidiano escolar: desenvolvimento de projetos na escola formação inicial e continuada de professores

A presente pesquisa buscou discutir como a Educação Ambiental (EA) vem sendo trabalhada, no Ensino Fundamental e como os docentes desta escola compreendem e vem inserindo a EA no cotidiano escolar., em uma escola estadual do município de Tangará da Serra/MT, Brasil. Para tanto, realizou-se entrevistas com os professores que fazem parte de um projeto interdisciplinar de EA na escola pesquisada. Verificou-se que o projeto da escola não vem conseguindo alcançar os objetivos propostos por: desconhecimento do mesmo, pelos professores; formação deficiente dos professores, não entendimento da EA como processo de ensino-aprendizagem, falta de recursos didáticos, planejamento inadequado das atividades. A partir dessa constatação, procurou-se debater a impossibilidade de tratar do tema fora do trabalho interdisciplinar, bem como, e principalmente, a importância de um estudo mais aprofundado de EA, vinculando teoria e prática, tanto na formação docente, como em projetos escolares, a fim de fugir do tradicional vínculo “EA e ecologia, lixo e horta”.Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educació

Oxalate co-precipitation synthesis of calcium zirconate and calcium titanate powders.

Fine powders of calcium zirconate (CaZrO{sub 3}, CZ) and calcium titanate (CaTiO{sub 3}, CT) were synthesized using a nonaqueous oxalate co-precipitation route from Ca(NO{sub 3}){sub 2}{center_dot}4 H{sub 2}O and group(IV) n-butoxides (Ti(OBu{sup n}){sub 4} or Zr(OBu{sup n}){sub 4}). Several reaction conditions and batch sizes (2-35 g) were explored to determine their influence on final particle size, morphology, and phase. Characterization of the as-prepared oxalate precursors, oven dried oxalate precursors (60-90 C), and calcined powders (635-900 C) were analyzed with TGA/DTA, XRD, TEM, and SEM. Densification and sintering studies on pressed CZ pellets at 1375 and 1400 C were also performed. Through the developed oxalate co-precipitation route, densification temperatures for CZ were lowered by 125 C from the 1500 C firing temperature required for conventional mixed oxide powders. Low field electrical tests of the CZ pellets indicated excellent dielectric properties with dielectric constants of {approx}30 and a dissipation factor of 0.0004 were measured at 1 kHz

Synthesis and Characterization of Solvothermal Processed Calcium Tungstate Nanomaterials from Alkoxide Precursors

An evaluation of calcium tungsten oxide (CaWO₄) nanoparticles’ properties was conducted using the powders generated from an all-alkoxide solvothermal (SOLVO) route. The reaction involved a toluene/pyridine mixture of tungsten­(V) ethoxide ([W­(OEt)₅]) with calcium bis­(trimethyl silyl) amide ([Ca­(N­(Si­(CH₃)₃)₂]) modified in situ by a series of alcohols (H-OR) including <i>neo</i>-pentanol (H-OCH₂C­(CH₃)₃ or H-ONep) or sterically varied aryl alcohols (H-OC₆H₃R₂-2,6 where R = CH₃ (H-DMP), CH­(CH₃)₂ (H-DIP), C­(CH₃)₃ (DBP))]. Attempts to identify the intermediates generated from this series of reactions led to the crystallographic identification of [(OEt)₄W­(μ-OEt)₂Ca­(DBP)₂] (<b>1</b>). Each different SOLVO generated “initial” powder was found by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) to be nanomaterials roughly assigned as the scheelite phase (PDF 00-041-1431); however, these initial powders displayed no luminescent behavior as determined by photoluminescence (PL) measurements. Thermal processing of these powders at 450, 650, and 750 °C yielded progressively larger and more crystalline scheelite nanoparticles. Both PL and cathodoluminescent (CL) emission (422–425 and 429 nm, respectively) were observed for the nanomaterials processed at 750 °C. Ion beam induced luminescence (IBIL, 478 nm) appeared to be in agreement with these PL and CL measurements. Further processing of the materials at 1000 °C, led to a coalescence of the particles and significant improvement in the observed PL (445 nm) and CL measurements; however, the IBIL spectrum of this material was significantly altered upon exposure. These data suggest that the smaller nanoparticles were more stable to radiation effects possibly due to the lack of energy deposits based on the short track length; whereas the larger particles appear to suffer from radiation induced structural defects

Synthesis and Characterization of Tris(trimethylsilyl)siloxide Derivatives of Early Transition Metal Alkoxides That Thermally Convert to Varied Ceramic–Silica Architecture Materials

In an effort to generate single-source precursors for the production of metal–siloxide (MSiO_<i>x</i>) materials, the tris­(trimethylsilyl)­silanol (H-SST or H-OSi­(SiMe₃)₃ (<b>1</b>) ligand was reacted with a series of group 4 and 5 metal alkoxides. The group 4 products were crystallographically characterized as [Ti­(SST)₂(OR)₂] (OR = OPr^<i>i</i> (<b>2</b>), OBu^<i>t</i> (<b>3</b>), ONep (<b>4</b>)); [Ti­(SST)₃(OBu^<i>n</i>)] (<b>5</b>); [Zr­(SST)₂­(OBu^<i>t</i>)₂(py)] (<b>6</b>); [Zr­(SST)₃­(OR)] (OR = OBu^<i>t</i> (<b>7</b>), ONep, (<b>8</b>)); [Hf­(SST)₂­(OBu^<i>t</i>)₂] (<b>9</b>); and [Hf­(SST)₂­(ONep)₂(py)_<i>n</i>] (<i>n</i> = 1 (<b>10</b>), <i>n</i> = 2 (<b>10a</b>)) where OPr^<i>i</i> = OCH­(CH₃)₂, OBu^<i>t</i> = OC­(CH₃)₃, OBu^<i>n</i> = O­(CH₂)₃CH₃, ONep = OCH₂C­(CH₃)₃, py = pyridine. The crystal structures revealed varied SST substitutions for: monomeric Ti species that adopted a tetrahedral (<i>T</i>-4) geometry; monomeric Zr compounds with coordination that varied from <i>T</i>-4 to trigonal bipyramidal (<i>TBPY</i>-5); and monomeric Hf complexes isolated in a <i>TBPY</i>-5 geometry. For the group 5 species, the following derivatives were structurally identified as [V­(SST)₃(py)₂] (<b>11</b>), [Nb­(SST)₃­(OEt)₂] (<b>12</b>), [Nb­(O)­(SST)₃(py)] (<b>13</b>), 2­[H]­[(Nb­(μ-O)₂­(SST))₆(μ₆-O)] (<b>14</b>), [Nb₈O₁₀(OEt)₁₈­(SST)₂·1/5Na₂O] (<b>15</b>), [Ta­(SST)­(μ-OEt)­(OEt)₃]₂ (<b>16</b>), and [Ta­(SST)₃­(OEt)₂] (<b>17</b>) where OEt = OCH₂CH₃. The group 5 monomeric complexes were solved in a <i>TBPY</i>-5 arrangement, whereas the Ta of the dinculear <b>16</b> was solved in an octahedral coordination environment. Thermal analyses of these precursors revealed a stepwise loss of ligand, which indicated their potential utility for generating the MSiO_<i>x</i> materials. The complexes were thermally processed (350–1100 °C, 4 h, ambient atmosphere), but instead of the desired MSiO_<i>x</i>, transmission electron microscopy analyses revealed that fractions of the group 4 and group 5 precursors had formed unusual metal oxide silica architectures