Race, Class or Neighborhood Context: Which Matters More in Measuring Satisfaction with Police?

The primary purpose of this study is to assess the relative effects of race and class, at both individual and neighborhood levels, on public satisfaction with police. Using hierarchical linear modeling on 1,963 individuals nested within 66 neighborhoods, this study analyzes how individual-level variables, including race, class, age, gender, victimization and contact with police, and neighborhood-level factors, including racial composition, concentrated disadvantage, residential mobility and violent crime rate, influence residents\u27 satisfaction with police. The results from the individual-level analysis indicate that both race and class are equally important predictors. African Americans and lower-class people tend to be less satisfied with police. The significant effects of race and class, however, disappear when neighborhood-level characteristics are considered simultaneously. Neighborhood racial composition affects satisfaction with police, with residents in predominately White and racially mixed neighborhoods having more favorable attitudes than those in predominately African American communities. Further analyses reveal that African Americans in economically advantaged neighborhoods are less likely than Whites in the same kind of neighborhoods to be satisfied with police, whereas African Americans and Whites in disadvantaged communities hold similar levels of satisfaction with police. Implications for future research and policy are discussed

Social Disorganization and the Ability and Willingness to Enact Control: A Preliminary Test

Dominant models in the social disorganization literature differentially focus on the ability of neighborhoods to enact social control and the willingness to do so. Despite the interest in both concepts, often no clear definition of either is provided, and there is little discussion of their relationship or how they interact to affect neighborhood crime rates. This paper begins to explore the relationship between ability and willingness to enact social control. The findings suggest that, for formal control, ability and willingness are closely related. Furthermore, at the aggregate level, concentrated disadvantage combined with perceived inability has a strong impact on neighborhood crime rates

Neighborhood Characteristics and Crime: A Test of Sampson and Groves\u27 Model of Social Disorganization

In 1989 Sampson and Groves proposed a model of social disorganization. In this model, neighborhoods with low socioeconomic status, high residential mobility, racial heterogeneity, and family disruption were predicted to have sparse local friendship networks\u27, low organizational participation, and unsupervised youth groups. These, in turn, were predicted to increase neighborhood crime rates. Although Sampson and Groves\u27 work represents the most complete model of social disorganization to date, it has only been tested twice and then on the same data set. Using data from 36 neighborhoods from 7 U.S. cities, this study examines extensions of Sampson and Groves\u27 model suggested by past research findings. The results indicate that Sampson and Groves\u27 model is modestly supported by the data. Social disorganization variables are more effective in transmitting the effects of neighborhood structural characteristics on assault than on robbery. Implications of the study and directions for future research are discussed

Inkjet-Printed Carbon Nanotubes for Fabricating a Spoof Fingerprint on Paper.

A spoof fingerprint was fabricated on paper and applied for a spoofing attack to unlock a smartphone on which a capacitive array of sensors had been embedded with a fingerprint recognition algorithm. Using an inkjet printer with an ink made of carbon nanotubes (CNTs), we printed a spoof fingerprint having an electrical and geometric pattern of ridges and furrows comparable to that of the real fingerprint. With this printed spoof fingerprint, we were able to unlock a smartphone successfully; this was due to the good quality of the printed CNT material, which provided electrical conductivities and structural patterns similar to those of the real fingerprint. This result confirms that inkjet-printing CNTs to fabricate a spoof fingerprint on paper is an easy, simple spoofing route from the real fingerprint and suggests a new method for outputting the physical ridges and furrows on a two-dimensional plane

Manipulating Multiple Order Parameters via Oxygen Vacancies: The case of Eu0.5Ba0.5TiO3-{\delta}

Controlling functionalities, such as magnetism or ferroelectricity, by means of oxygen vacancies (VO) is a key issue for the future development of transition metal oxides. Progress in this field is currently addressed through VO variations and their impact on mainly one order parameter. Here we reveal a new mechanism for tuning both magnetism and ferroelectricity simultaneously by using VO. Combined experimental and density-functional theory studies of Eu0.5Ba0.5TiO3-{\delta}, we demonstrate that oxygen vacancies create Ti3+ 3d1 defect states, mediating the ferromagnetic coupling between the localized Eu 4f7 spins, and increase an off-center displacement of Ti ions, enhancing the ferroelectric Curie temperature. The dual function of Ti sites also promises a magnetoelectric coupling in the Eu0.5Ba0.5TiO3-{\delta}.Comment: Accepted by Physical Review B, 201

Preocupações de carreira e adaptabilidade : estudo exploratório com uma amostra de candidatos a sargentos e oficiais do Exército Português

Tese de mestrado, Psicologia (Psicologia dos Recursos Humanos, do Trabalho e das Organizações), Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Psicologia, 2010O presente trabalho consiste num estudo exploratório sobre as preocupações de carreira e as dimensões da adaptabilidade, baseando-se na Perspectiva de Desenvolvimento da Carreira de Donald Super e na Perspectiva Construtivista de Mark Savickas. Pretende-se, ainda, contribuir para a investigação acerca do Inventário sobre Adaptabilidade, que se encontra ainda em estudo no âmbito de um Projecto Internacional. Foram aplicados o Inventário das Preocupações de Carreira e o Inventário sobre Adaptabilidade a uma amostra de 75 adultos candidatos a Sargentos e Oficiais do Exército Português. Os resultados obtidos tendem a confirmar as hipóteses de investigação formuladas, apontando para a relação entre a variável idade e as tarefas de desenvolvimento das fases da carreira Exploração e Estabelecimento, para a predominância das dimensões Confiança e Cooperação, e para a relação entre preocupações de carreira e dimensões da adaptabilidade. Apresentam-se as conclusões do presente estudo, algumas limitações deste e futuras linhas de investigação. Tecem-se também algumas considerações sobre as implicações do estudo para as práticas de gestão de carreira.This work is an exploratory study about the career concerns and the dimensions of adaptability, based on the Perspective of the Career Development of Donald Super and the Constructivist Perspective of Mark Savickas. It is also intended to contribute to the research on the Career Adapt-Abilities Inventory, which is still under investigation as part of an International Project. The Career Concerns Inventory and the Career Adapt-Abilities Inventory were applied to a sample of 75 adult candidates to Sergeants and Officers of the Portuguese Army. The results seem to confirm the research hypotheses, pointing to the relation between the variable age and the developmental tasks of the Exploration and Establishment career phases, to the predominance of the dimensions Cooperation, and Confidence and also to the relation between career concerns and adaptability dimensions. The findings of this study, some of its limitations and future research paths are presented. Some reflections are also discussed in what concerns the study's implications for the career management practices

Direct immobilization of DNA probes on non-modified plastics by UV irradiation and integration in microfluidic devices for rapid bioassay

DNA microarrays have become one of the most powerful tools in the field of genomics and medical diagnosis. Recently, there has been increased interest in combining microfluidics with microarrays since this approach offers advantages in terms of portability, reduced analysis time, low consumption of reagents, and increased system integration. Polymers are widely used for microfluidic systems, but fabrication of microarrays on such materials often requires complicated chemical surface modifications, which hinders the integration of microarrays into microfluidic systems. In this paper, we demonstrate that simple UV irradiation can be used to directly immobilize poly(T)poly(C)-tagged DNA oligonucleotide probes on many different types of plastics without any surface modification. On average, five- and fourfold improvement in immobilization and hybridization efficiency have been achieved compared to surface-modified slides with aminated DNA probes. Moreover, the TC tag only costs 30% of the commonly used amino group modifications. Using this microarray fabrication technique, a portable cyclic olefin copolymer biochip containing eight individually addressable microfluidic channels was developed and used for rapid and parallel identification of Avian Influenza Virus by DNA hybridization. The one-step, cost-effective DNA-linking method on non-modified polymers significantly simplifies microarray fabrication procedures and permits great flexibility to plastic material selection, thus making it convenient to integrate microarrays into plastic microfluidic systems

Spintronic Quantum Phase Transition in a Graphene/Pb0.24Sn0.76TeGraphene/Pb_{0.24}Sn_{0.76}Te Heterostructure with Giant Rashba Spin-Orbit Coupling

Mechanical stacking of two dissimilar materials often has surprising consequences for heterostructure behavior. In particular, a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) is formed in the heterostructure of the topological crystalline insulator Pb0.24Sn0.76Te and graphene due to contact of a polar with a nonpolar surface and the resulting changes in electronic structure needed to avoid polar catastrophe. We study the spintronic properties of this heterostructure with non-local spin valve devices. We observe spin-momentum locking at lower temperatures that transitions to regular spin channel transport only at ~40 K. Hanle spin precession measurements show a spin relaxation time as high as 2.18 ns. Density functional theory calculations confirm that the spin-momentum locking is due to a giant Rashba effect in the material and that the phase transition is a Lifshitz transition. The theoretically predicted Lifshitz transition is further evident in the phase transition-like behavior in the Land\'e g-factor and spin relaxation time.Comment: 33 pages, 17 figures, supplemental information include

Online coupling of reverse-phase and hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography for protein and glycoprotein characterization

We have developed a novel system for coupling reverse-phase (RP) and hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) online in a micro-flow scheme. In this approach, the inherent solvent incompatibility between RP and HILIC is overcome through the use of constant-pressure online solvent mixing, which allows our system to perform efficient separations of both hydrophilic and hydrophobic compounds for mass spectrometry-based proteomics applications. When analyzing the tryptic digests of bovine serum albumin, ribonuclease B, and horseradish peroxidase, we observed near-identical coverage of peptides and glycopeptides when using online RP-HILIC—with only a single sample injection event—as we did from two separate RP and HILIC analyses. The coupled system was also capable of concurrently characterizing the peptide and glycan portions of deglycosylated glycoproteins from one injection event, as confirmed, for example, through our detection of 23 novel glycans from turkey ovalbumin. Finally, we validated the applicability of using RP-HILIC for the analysis of highly complex biological samples (mouse chondrocyte lysate, deglycosylated human serum). The enhanced coverage and efficiency of online RP-HILIC makes it a viable technique for the comprehensive separation of components displaying dramatically different hydrophobicities, such as peptides, glycopeptides, and glycans