Nanocarbons And Quantum Dots Formation In New Hybrid Materials

We present technique of obtaining complex hybrid structures combining the multi-walled carbon nanotubes or multi-layer graphene and luminescent hydrophobic semiconductor core/shell quantum dots CdSe/ZnS. As a result, a formation of quantum dot decorated carbon nanotubes and graphene films is evidenced by 2D microluminescence and micro-Raman mapping of quantum dots and nanocarbons, respectively, where a spatial correlation between the luminescence and Raman signals is found. © 2014 SPIE.912612-02-00938; RFBR; Russian Foundation for Basic Research; 12-02-01263; RFBR; Russian Foundation for Basic ResearchKalantar-Zadeh, K., (2008) Nanotechnology-Enabled Sensors, p. 490. , K. Kalantar-zadeh, B. Fry. New York.: Springer Science & Business Media(1955) Springer Handbook of Nanotechnology, , Ed. B. Bhusha.-New York.: Springer Science & Business Media, 2010, ISBN: 978-3-642-02524-2Cattanach, K., Kulkarni, R.D., Kozlov, M., Manohar, S.K., Flexible carbon nanotube sensors for nerve agent simulants (2006) Nanotechnology, 17, pp. 4123-4128Peng, S., O'Keeffe, J., Wei, C., Cho, K., Kong, J., Chen, R., Franklin, N., Dai, H., Carbon nanotube chemical and mechanical sensors (2001) Proceedings of the 3rd International Workshop on Structural Health Monitoring, pp. 1-8. , USA, September 17-19, 2001, Stanford University, StanfordSnow, E.S., Perkins, F.K., Houser, E.H., Badescu, S.C., Reinecke, T.L., (2005) Science, 307, pp. 1942-1945. , Chemical detection with a single-walled carbon nanotube capacitorStar, A., Joshi, V., Skarupo, S., Thomas, D., Gabriel, J.-C.P., Gas sensor array based on metal-decorated carbon nanotubes (2006) J. Phys. Chem. B, 110, pp. 21014-21020Xu, Z., Gao, H., Guoxin, H., Solution-based synthesis and characterization of a silver nanoparticle-graphene hybrid film Carbon, 49 (14), pp. 4731-4738Cao, A., Liu, Z., Chu, S., Wu, M., Ye, Z., Cai, Z., Chang, Y., Liu, Y., A facile one-step method to produce graphene-cds quantum dot nanocomposites as promising optoelectronic materials (2010) Adv. Mater, 22, pp. 103-106Yang, Y.-K., He, Ch.-E., He, W.-J., Yu, L.-J., Peng, R.-G., Xie, X.-L., Wang, X.-B., Mai, Y.-W., Reduction of silver nanoparticles onto graphene oxide nanosheets with N,Ndimethylformamide and SERS activities of GO/Ag composites (2011) J Nanopart. Res, 13, pp. 5571-5581Lightcap, V., Kamat, P.V., Fortification of cdse quantum dots with graphene oxide. Excited state interactions and light energy conversion (2012) J. Am. Chem. Soc, 134, pp. 7109-7116Ghosh, A., Rao, K.V., Voggu, R., George, S.J., Non-covalent functionalization, solubilization of graphene and single-walled carbon nanotubes with aromatic donor and acceptor molecules (2010) Chemical Physics Letters, 488, pp. 198-201Kim, Y.-T., Han, J.H., Hong, B.H., Kwon, Y.-U., Electrochemical synthesis of cdse quantum-dot arrays on a graphene basal plane using mesoporous silica thin-film templates (2010) Adv. Mater, 22, pp. 515-518Konstantatos, G., Badioli, M., Gaudreau, L., Osmond, J., Bernechea, M., Arquer De Garcia, F.P., Gatti, F., Koppens, L.F.H., Hybrid graphene-quantum dot phototransistors with ultrahigh gain (2012) Nature Nanotechnology, 7, pp. 363-368Wang, Y., Yao, H.-B., Wang, X.-H., Yu, Sh.-H., One-pot facile decoration of CdSe quantum dots on graphene nanosheets: Novel graphene-CdSe nanocomposites with tunable fluorescent properties (2011) J. Mater. Chem, 21, pp. 562-566Murray, C.B., Gaschler, W., Sun, S., Doyle, H., Betley, T.A., Kagan, C.R., Colloidal synthesis of nanocrystals and nanocrystal superlattices IBM J. Res. & Dev., 45 (1), pp. 47-56Ermakov, V.A., Alaferdov, A.V., Vaz, A.R., Baranov, A.V., Moshkalev, S.A., Nonlocal laser annealing to improve thermal contacts between multi-layer graphene and metals (2013) Nanotechnology, 24 (15), p. 15530110Bogdanov, K., Fedorov, A., Osipov, V., Enoki, T., Takai, K., Hayashi, T., Ermakov, V., Moshkalev A, S., Annealing-induced structural changes of carbon onions: High-resolution transmission electron microscopy and Raman studies Baranov Carbon, , 02/201

Radar probing of surfactant films on the water surface using dual co-polarized SAR

Microwave radar is a very perspective tool for all-weather monitoring of film slicks which appear in radar imagery of the water surface as areas of reduced backscattering due to damping of short wind waves. Information about the backscatter variations obtained from single band/one polarization radar seems to be insufficient for film characterization, so, new capabilities of multi-polarization radar for monitoring of film slicks have been actively discussed in the literature. In this paper results of new field experiments on remote sensing of film slicks using dual co-polarized radars: a satellite X-band TerraSAR-X and recently designed at IAP RAS a Multifrequency Radar Complex - three-band scatterometer operating in X-/C-/S-bands and mounted onboard a ship are presented. Along with backscattering depression the variations of polarized (Bragg) and non polarized radar backscatter components in slicks were analyzed. It is obtained that VV-to-HH backscatter ratio is smaller than the ratio predicted by a Bragg (two-scale) model thus indicating that additional, non polarized (NP), component also contributes to the total radar backscatter. Assuming the radar backscatter to be a sum of polarized (Bragg) and NP components the latter was eliminated from the total radar backscatter, and contrasts for the Bragg and NP components were obtained. The contrasts for the polarized component allowed us to estimate damping of gravity-capillary wind waves at Bragg wavelengths in slick and to give more accurate comparison with models of wave damping due to elastic film

Global, regional, and national age-sex-specific mortality and life expectancy, 1950–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017

BACKGROUND: Assessments of age-specific mortality and life expectancy have been done by the UN Population Division, Department of Economics and Social Affairs (UNPOP), the United States Census Bureau, WHO, and as part of previous iterations of the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD). Previous iterations of the GBD used population estimates from UNPOP, which were not derived in a way that was internally consistent with the estimates of the numbers of deaths in the GBD. The present iteration of the GBD, GBD 2017, improves on previous assessments and provides timely estimates of the mortality experience of populations globally. METHODS: The GBD uses all available data to produce estimates of mortality rates between 1950 and 2017 for 23 age groups, both sexes, and 918 locations, including 195 countries and territories and subnational locations for 16 countries. Data used include vital registration systems, sample registration systems, household surveys (complete birth histories, summary birth histories, sibling histories), censuses (summary birth histories, household deaths), and Demographic Surveillance Sites. In total, this analysis used 8259 data sources. Estimates of the probability of death between birth and the age of 5 years and between ages 15 and 60 years are generated and then input into a model life table system to produce complete life tables for all locations and years. Fatal discontinuities and mortality due to HIV/AIDS are analysed separately and then incorporated into the estimation. We analyse the relationship between age-specific mortality and development status using the Socio-demographic Index, a composite measure based on fertility under the age of 25 years, education, and income. There are four main methodological improvements in GBD 2017 compared with GBD 2016: 622 additional data sources have been incorporated; new estimates of population, generated by the GBD study, are used; statistical methods used in different components of the analysis have been further standardised and improved; and the analysis has been extended backwards in time by two decades to start in 1950. FINDINGS: Globally, 18·7% (95% uncertainty interval 18·4–19·0) of deaths were registered in 1950 and that proportion has been steadily increasing since, with 58·8% (58·2–59·3) of all deaths being registered in 2015. At the global level, between 1950 and 2017, life expectancy increased from 48·1 years (46·5–49·6) to 70·5 years (70·1–70·8) for men and from 52·9 years (51·7–54·0) to 75·6 years (75·3–75·9) for women. Despite this overall progress, there remains substantial variation in life expectancy at birth in 2017, which ranges from 49·1 years (46·5–51·7) for men in the Central African Republic to 87·6 years (86·9–88·1) among women in Singapore. The greatest progress across age groups was for children younger than 5 years; under-5 mortality dropped from 216·0 deaths (196·3–238·1) per 1000 livebirths in 1950 to 38·9 deaths (35·6–42·83) per 1000 livebirths in 2017, with huge reductions across countries. Nevertheless, there were still 5·4 million (5·2–5·6) deaths among children younger than 5 years in the world in 2017. Progress has been less pronounced and more variable for adults, especially for adult males, who had stagnant or increasing mortality rates in several countries. The gap between male and female life expectancy between 1950 and 2017, while relatively stable at the global level, shows distinctive patterns across super-regions and has consistently been the largest in central Europe, eastern Europe, and central Asia, and smallest in south Asia. Performance was also variable across countries and time in observed mortality rates compared with those expected on the basis of development. INTERPRETATION: This analysis of age-sex-specific mortality shows that there are remarkably complex patterns in population mortality across countries. The findings of this study highlight global successes, such as the large decline in under-5 mortality, which reflects significant local, national, and global commitment and investment over several decades. However, they also bring attention to mortality patterns that are a cause for concern, particularly among adult men and, to a lesser extent, women, whose mortality rates have stagnated in many countries over the time period of this study, and in some cases are increasing

Estimates of global, regional, and national incidence, prevalence, and mortality of HIV, 1980�2015: the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015

Background Timely assessment of the burden of HIV/AIDS is essential for policy setting and programme evaluation. In this report from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015 (GBD 2015), we provide national estimates of levels and trends of HIV/AIDS incidence, prevalence, coverage of antiretroviral therapy (ART), and mortality for 195 countries and territories from 1980 to 2015. Methods For countries without high-quality vital registration data, we estimated prevalence and incidence with data from antenatal care clinics and population-based seroprevalence surveys, and with assumptions by age and sex on initial CD4 distribution at infection, CD4 progression rates (probability of progression from higher to lower CD4 cell-count category), on and off antiretroviral therapy (ART) mortality, and mortality from all other causes. Our estimation strategy links the GBD 2015 assessment of all-cause mortality and estimation of incidence and prevalence so that for each draw from the uncertainty distribution all assumptions used in each step are internally consistent. We estimated incidence, prevalence, and death with GBD versions of the Estimation and Projection Package (EPP) and Spectrum software originally developed by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). We used an open-source version of EPP and recoded Spectrum for speed, and used updated assumptions from systematic reviews of the literature and GBD demographic data. For countries with high-quality vital registration data, we developed the cohort incidence bias adjustment model to estimate HIV incidence and prevalence largely from the number of deaths caused by HIV recorded in cause-of-death statistics. We corrected these statistics for garbage coding and HIV misclassification. Findings Global HIV incidence reached its peak in 1997, at 3·3 million new infections (95 uncertainty interval UI 3·1�3·4 million). Annual incidence has stayed relatively constant at about 2·6 million per year (range 2·5�2·8 million) since 2005, after a period of fast decline between 1997 and 2005. The number of people living with HIV/AIDS has been steadily increasing and reached 38·8 million (95% UI 37·6�40·4 million) in 2015. At the same time, HIV/AIDS mortality has been declining at a steady pace, from a peak of 1·8 million deaths (95% UI 1·7�1·9 million) in 2005, to 1·2 million deaths (1·1�1·3 million) in 2015. We recorded substantial heterogeneity in the levels and trends of HIV/AIDS across countries. Although many countries have experienced decreases in HIV/AIDS mortality and in annual new infections, other countries have had slowdowns or increases in rates of change in annual new infections. Interpretation Scale-up of ART and prevention of mother-to-child transmission has been one of the great successes of global health in the past two decades. However, in the past decade, progress in reducing new infections has been slow, development assistance for health devoted to HIV has stagnated, and resources for health in low-income countries have grown slowly. Achievement of the new ambitious goals for HIV enshrined in Sustainable Development Goal 3 and the 90-90-90 UNAIDS targets will be challenging, and will need continued efforts from governments and international agencies in the next 15 years to end AIDS by 2030. Funding Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and National Institute of Mental Health and National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health. © 2016 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY licens

Global, regional, national, and selected subnational levels of stillbirths, neonatal, infant, and under-5 mortality, 1980�2015: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015

Background Established in 2000, Millennium Development Goal 4 (MDG4) catalysed extraordinary political, financial, and social commitments to reduce under-5 mortality by two-thirds between 1990 and 2015. At the country level, the pace of progress in improving child survival has varied markedly, highlighting a crucial need to further examine potential drivers of accelerated or slowed decreases in child mortality. The Global Burden of Disease 2015 Study (GBD 2015) provides an analytical framework to comprehensively assess these trends for under-5 mortality, age-specific and cause-specific mortality among children under 5 years, and stillbirths by geography over time. Methods Drawing from analytical approaches developed and refined in previous iterations of the GBD study, we generated updated estimates of child mortality by age group (neonatal, post-neonatal, ages 1�4 years, and under 5) for 195 countries and territories and selected subnational geographies, from 1980�2015. We also estimated numbers and rates of stillbirths for these geographies and years. Gaussian process regression with data source adjustments for sampling and non-sampling bias was applied to synthesise input data for under-5 mortality for each geography. Age-specific mortality estimates were generated through a two-stage age�sex splitting process, and stillbirth estimates were produced with a mixed-effects model, which accounted for variable stillbirth definitions and data source-specific biases. For GBD 2015, we did a series of novel analyses to systematically quantify the drivers of trends in child mortality across geographies. First, we assessed observed and expected levels and annualised rates of decrease for under-5 mortality and stillbirths as they related to the Soci-demographic Index (SDI). Second, we examined the ratio of recorded and expected levels of child mortality, on the basis of SDI, across geographies, as well as differences in recorded and expected annualised rates of change for under-5 mortality. Third, we analysed levels and cause compositions of under-5 mortality, across time and geographies, as they related to rising SDI. Finally, we decomposed the changes in under-5 mortality to changes in SDI at the global level, as well as changes in leading causes of under-5 deaths for countries and territories. We documented each step of the GBD 2015 child mortality estimation process, as well as data sources, in accordance with the Guidelines for Accurate and Transparent Health Estimates Reporting (GATHER). Findings Globally, 5·8 million (95 uncertainty interval UI 5·7�6·0) children younger than 5 years died in 2015, representing a 52·0% (95% UI 50·7�53·3) decrease in the number of under-5 deaths since 1990. Neonatal deaths and stillbirths fell at a slower pace since 1990, decreasing by 42·4% (41·3�43·6) to 2·6 million (2·6�2·7) neonatal deaths and 47·0% (35·1�57·0) to 2·1 million (1·8-2·5) stillbirths in 2015. Between 1990 and 2015, global under-5 mortality decreased at an annualised rate of decrease of 3·0% (2·6�3·3), falling short of the 4·4% annualised rate of decrease required to achieve MDG4. During this time, 58 countries met or exceeded the pace of progress required to meet MDG4. Between 2000, the year MDG4 was formally enacted, and 2015, 28 additional countries that did not achieve the 4·4% rate of decrease from 1990 met the MDG4 pace of decrease. However, absolute levels of under-5 mortality remained high in many countries, with 11 countries still recording rates exceeding 100 per 1000 livebirths in 2015. Marked decreases in under-5 deaths due to a number of communicable diseases, including lower respiratory infections, diarrhoeal diseases, measles, and malaria, accounted for much of the progress in lowering overall under-5 mortality in low-income countries. Compared with gains achieved for infectious diseases and nutritional deficiencies, the persisting toll of neonatal conditions and congenital anomalies on child survival became evident, especially in low-income and low-middle-income countries. We found sizeable heterogeneities in comparing observed and expected rates of under-5 mortality, as well as differences in observed and expected rates of change for under-5 mortality. At the global level, we recorded a divergence in observed and expected levels of under-5 mortality starting in 2000, with the observed trend falling much faster than what was expected based on SDI through 2015. Between 2000 and 2015, the world recorded 10·3 million fewer under-5 deaths than expected on the basis of improving SDI alone. Interpretation Gains in child survival have been large, widespread, and in many places in the world, faster than what was anticipated based on improving levels of development. Yet some countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, still had high rates of under-5 mortality in 2015. Unless these countries are able to accelerate reductions in child deaths at an extraordinary pace, their achievement of proposed SDG targets is unlikely. Improving the evidence base on drivers that might hasten the pace of progress for child survival, ranging from cost-effective intervention packages to innovative financing mechanisms, is vital to charting the pathways for ultimately ending preventable child deaths by 2030. Funding Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. © 2016 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY license

Global, regional, and national incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disability for 310 diseases and injuries, 1990�2015: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015

Background Non-fatal outcomes of disease and injury increasingly detract from the ability of the world's population to live in full health, a trend largely attributable to an epidemiological transition in many countries from causes affecting children, to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) more common in adults. For the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2015 (GBD 2015), we estimated the incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disability for diseases and injuries at the global, regional, and national scale over the period of 1990 to 2015. Methods We estimated incidence and prevalence by age, sex, cause, year, and geography with a wide range of updated and standardised analytical procedures. Improvements from GBD 2013 included the addition of new data sources, updates to literature reviews for 85 causes, and the identification and inclusion of additional studies published up to November, 2015, to expand the database used for estimation of non-fatal outcomes to 60�900 unique data sources. Prevalence and incidence by cause and sequelae were determined with DisMod-MR 2.1, an improved version of the DisMod-MR Bayesian meta-regression tool first developed for GBD 2010 and GBD 2013. For some causes, we used alternative modelling strategies where the complexity of the disease was not suited to DisMod-MR 2.1 or where incidence and prevalence needed to be determined from other data. For GBD 2015 we created a summary indicator that combines measures of income per capita, educational attainment, and fertility (the Socio-demographic Index SDI) and used it to compare observed patterns of health loss to the expected pattern for countries or locations with similar SDI scores. Findings We generated 9·3 billion estimates from the various combinations of prevalence, incidence, and YLDs for causes, sequelae, and impairments by age, sex, geography, and year. In 2015, two causes had acute incidences in excess of 1 billion: upper respiratory infections (17·2 billion, 95% uncertainty interval UI 15·4�19·2 billion) and diarrhoeal diseases (2·39 billion, 2·30�2·50 billion). Eight causes of chronic disease and injury each affected more than 10% of the world's population in 2015: permanent caries, tension-type headache, iron-deficiency anaemia, age-related and other hearing loss, migraine, genital herpes, refraction and accommodation disorders, and ascariasis. The impairment that affected the greatest number of people in 2015 was anaemia, with 2·36 billion (2·35�2·37 billion) individuals affected. The second and third leading impairments by number of individuals affected were hearing loss and vision loss, respectively. Between 2005 and 2015, there was little change in the leading causes of years lived with disability (YLDs) on a global basis. NCDs accounted for 18 of the leading 20 causes of age-standardised YLDs on a global scale. Where rates were decreasing, the rate of decrease for YLDs was slower than that of years of life lost (YLLs) for nearly every cause included in our analysis. For low SDI geographies, Group 1 causes typically accounted for 20�30% of total disability, largely attributable to nutritional deficiencies, malaria, neglected tropical diseases, HIV/AIDS, and tuberculosis. Lower back and neck pain was the leading global cause of disability in 2015 in most countries. The leading cause was sense organ disorders in 22 countries in Asia and Africa and one in central Latin America; diabetes in four countries in Oceania; HIV/AIDS in three southern sub-Saharan African countries; collective violence and legal intervention in two north African and Middle Eastern countries; iron-deficiency anaemia in Somalia and Venezuela; depression in Uganda; onchoceriasis in Liberia; and other neglected tropical diseases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Interpretation Ageing of the world's population is increasing the number of people living with sequelae of diseases and injuries. Shifts in the epidemiological profile driven by socioeconomic change also contribute to the continued increase in years lived with disability (YLDs) as well as the rate of increase in YLDs. Despite limitations imposed by gaps in data availability and the variable quality of the data available, the standardised and comprehensive approach of the GBD study provides opportunities to examine broad trends, compare those trends between countries or subnational geographies, benchmark against locations at similar stages of development, and gauge the strength or weakness of the estimates available. Funding Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. © 2016 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY licens

Intensification of mass transfer with chemical reaction under conditions of concentration-capillary convection

The regularities of mass transfer with a chemical reaction in the system of aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide (solid medium) / butyric acid (transportable component) / carbon tetrachloride (dispersed phase) in spray extractors are studied. It is shown that the resulting chemocapillary instability can significantly reduce the height of the transfer unit. The conditions for the occurrence of spontaneous concentration-capillary convection during mass transfer with a chemical reaction under conditions of constrained drop movement are determined

On the role of wind direction in ERS SAR signatures of internal waves on the Iberian shelf

The relationship between internal wave (IW) signatures in Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images and wind velocity is investigated. The effect of the wind velocity relative to the IW propagation direction on the IW signature is studied by means of a defined signature mode parameter (Sm). Sm is the parameter that quantifies the signature of the IW intensity profile in relation to the mean backscatter of the image background.A wind contrast model based on a simple first-order Bragg scattering theory is combined with hydrodynamic modulation theory to explain the modulation of IW signatures. It takes into account the modulation of short-scale surface waves by the effect of the relative variations of wind velocity and the surface currents generated by the IWs.It is shown that the signature mode parameter increases with the angle between the wind velocity and the IW propagation direction so that IWs propagating against the wind direction are imaged mostly as positive sign signatures, while those propagating in the wind direction are mostly negative sign signatures