Alien Registration- Barteau, Lida M. (Portland, Cumberland County)

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The Impact of Religiosity and Gender on Attitudes Toward Juvenile Sex Offenders

Personal characteristics of mental health professionals can impact their attitudes toward juvenile sex offenders (JSOs) and affect treatment. The correlation between mental health professionals\u27 religiosity and their attitudes has not been examined, and there is limited research about the correlation between professionals\u27 gender and attitudes. The purpose of this study was to examine how mental health professionals\u27 religiosity and gender related to their attitudes toward JSO treatment. Labeling theory provided the theoretical foundation for this study. This theory posits that individuals label certain populations, such as sex offenders, as deviant and this labeling perpetuates a cycle of criminal behavior. Using a quantitative approach, 123 mental health professionals completed an Internet survey that included demographic information, the Santa Clara Strength of Religious Faith Questionnaire, and the Attitudes Toward Treatment of Sex Offenders survey. These served to identify gender and measure religiosity and attitudes toward JSO treatment. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis was then used to examine the research questions and hypotheses. There were no statistically significant findings about how participants\u27 religiosity and gender relate to their attitudes toward JSO treatment. However, further analyses revealed that type of profession and race of the participants affected their attitudes toward treatment. The findings can guide training programs to educate professionals that personal characteristics may affect their attitudes toward treatment. The potential for social change is that professionals\u27 increased awareness may improve treatment effectiveness, which might ultimately lower offenders\u27 recidivism and increase protection for the public

Role of Strain and Ligand Effects in the Modification of the Electronic and Chemical Properties of Bimetallic Surfaces

Periodic density functional calculations are used to illustrate how the combination of strain and ligand effects modify the electronic and surface chemical properties of Ni, Pd, and Pt monolayers supported on other transition metals. Strain and the ligand effects are shown to change the width of the surface d band, which subsequently moves up or down in energy to maintain a constant band filling. Chemical properties such as the dissociative adsorption energy of hydrogen are controlled by changes induced in the average energy of the d band by modification of the d-band width

Formic Acid Dehydrogenation on Au-Based Catalysts at Near-Ambient Temperatures

Formic acid (HCOOH) is a convenient hydrogen carrier in fuel cells designed for portable use. Recent studies have shown that HCOOH decomposition is catalyzed with Ru-based complexes in the aqueous phase at near-ambient temperatures. HCOOH decomposition reactions are used frequently to probe the effects of alloying and cluster size and of geometric and electronic factors in catalysis. These studies have concluded that Pt is the most active metal for HCOOH decomposition, at least as large crystallites and extended surfaces. The identity and oxidation state of surface metal atoms influence the relative rates of dehydrogenation (HCOOH {yields} H{sub 2} + CO{sub 2}) and dehydration (HCOOH {yields} H{sub 2}O + CO) routes, a selectivity requirement for the synthesis of CO-free H{sub 2} streams for low-temperature fuel cells. Group Ib and Group VIII noble metals catalyze dehydrogenation selectively, while base metals and metal oxides catalyze both routes, either directly or indirectly via subsequent water-gas shift (WGS) reactions

Amphiphilic block copolymers enhance the cellular uptake of DNA molecules through a facilitated plasma membrane transport

Amphiphilic block copolymers have been developed recently for their efficient, in vivo transfection activities in various tissues. Surprisingly, we observed that amphiphilic block copolymers such as Lutrol® do not allow the transfection of cultured cells in vitro, suggesting that the cell environment is strongly involved in their mechanism of action. In an in vitro model mimicking the in vivo situation we showed that pre-treatment of cells with Lutrol®, prior to their incubation with DNA molecules in the presence of cationic lipid, resulted in higher levels of reporter gene expression. We also showed that this improvement in transfection efficiency associated with the presence of Lutrol® was observed irrespective of the plasmid promoter. Considering the various steps that could be improved by Lutrol®, we concluded that the nucleic acids molecule internalization step is the most important barrier affected by Lutrol®. Microscopic examination of transfected cells pre-treated with Lutrol® confirmed that more plasmid DNA copies were internalized. Absence of cationic lipid did not impair Lutrol®-mediated DNA internalization, but critically impaired endosomal escape. Our results strongly suggest that in vivo, Lutrol® improves transfection by a physicochemical mechanism, leading to cellular uptake enhancement through a direct delivery into the cytoplasm, and not via endosomal pathways

Probing the in vitro mechanism of action of cationic lipid/DNA lipoplexes at a nanometric scale

Cationic lipids are used for delivering nucleic acids (lipoplexes) into cells for both therapeutic and biological applications. A better understanding of the identified key-steps, including endocytosis, endosomal escape and nuclear delivery is required for further developments to improve their efficacy. Here, we developed a labelling protocol using aminated nanoparticles as markers for plasmid DNA to examine the intracellular route of lipoplexes in cell lines using transmission electron microscopy. Morphological changes of lipoplexes, membrane reorganizations and endosomal membrane ruptures were observed allowing the understanding of the lipoplex mechanism until the endosomal escape mediated by cationic lipids. The study carried out on two cationic lipids, bis(guanidinium)-tris(2-aminoethyl)amine-cholesterol (BGTC) and dioleyl succinyl paramomycin (DOSP), showed two pathways of endosomal escape that could explain their different transfection efficiencies. For BGTC, a partial or complete dissociation of DNA from cationic lipids occurred before endosomal escape while for DOSP, lipoplexes remained visible within ruptured vesicles suggesting a more direct pathway for DNA release and endosome escape. In addition, the formation of new multilamellar lipid assemblies was noted, which could result from the interaction between cationic lipids and cellular compounds. These results provide new insights into DNA transfer pathways and possible implications of cationic lipids in lipid metabolism