Native American Agencies for Native American Children: Fulfilling the Promise of the Indian Child Welfare Act

The Indian Child Welfare Act seeks to protect Indian children from family and cultural disruption. The Act mandates minimum standards for the removal of Indian children and for their placement in foster care. However, a recent national survey suggests that requirements for Indian foster homes are not being met in public agency substitute care programs. At the same time, Native American child welfare agencies have developed a range of services for Native American children. The authors show that the intent of the Act will be better served if the case management of Native American children in public agency care is transferred to Native American child welfare agencies

Synthesis of high-oxidation Y-Ba-Cu-O phases in superoxygenated thin films

It is known that solid-state reaction in high-pressure oxygen can stabilize high-oxidation phases of Y-Ba-Cu-O superconductors in powder form. We extend this superoxygenation concept of synthesis to thin films which, due to their large surface-to-volume ratio, are more reactive thermodynamically. Epitaxial thin films of $\rm{YBa_2Cu_3O_{7-\delta}}$ grown by pulsed laser deposition are annealed at up to 700 atm O$_2$ and 900$^\circ$C, in conjunction with Cu enrichment by solid-state diffusion. The films show clear formation of $\rm{Y_2Ba_4Cu_7O_{15-\delta}}$ and $\rm{Y_2Ba_4Cu_8O_{16}}$ as well as regions of $\rm{YBa_2Cu_5O_{9-\delta}}$ and YBa$_2$Cu$_6$O$_{10-\delta}$ phases, according to scanning transmission electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction and x-ray absorption spectroscopy. Similarly annealed $\rm{YBa_2Cu_3O_{7-\delta}}$ powders show no phase conversion. Our results demonstrate a novel route of synthesis towards discovering more complex phases of cuprates and other superconducting oxides.Comment: Accepted for publication in Physical Review Material

The ASCA spectrum of the z=4.72 blazar, GB 1428+4217

The X-ray luminous quasar GB 1428+4217 at redshift 4.72 has been observed with ASCA. The observed 0.5-10 keV flux is 3.2E-12 erg/s/cm2. We report here on the intrinsic 4-57 keV X-ray spectrum, which is very flat (photon index of 1.29). We find no evidence for flux variability within the ASCA dataset or between it and ROSAT data. We show that the overall spectral energy distribution of GB 1428+4217 is similar to that of lower redshift MeV blazars and present models which fit the available data. The Doppler beaming factor is likely to be at least 8. We speculate on the number density of such high redshift blazars, which must contain rapidly-formed massive black holes.Comment: 5 pages, 3 Postscript figures, to appear in MNRA

Conformational Dependence of a Protein Kinase Phosphate Transfer Reaction

Atomic motions and energetics for a phosphate transfer reaction catalyzed by the cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) are calculated by plane-wave density functional theory, starting from structures of proteins crystallized in both the reactant conformation (RC) and the transition-state conformation (TC). In the TC, we calculate that the reactants and products are nearly isoenergetic with a 0.2 eV barrier; while phosphate transfer is unfavorable by over 1.2 eV in the RC, with an even higher barrier. With the protein in the TC, the motions involved in reaction are small, with only P$_\gamma$ and the catalytic proton moving more than 0.5 \AA. Examination of the structures reveals that in the RC the active site cleft is not completely closed and there is insufficient space for the phosphorylated serine residue in the product state. Together, these observations imply that the phosphate transfer reaction occurs rapidly and reversibly in a particular conformation of the protein, and that the reaction can be gated by changes of a few tenths of an \AA in the catalytic site.Comment: revtex4, 7 pages, 4 figures, to be submitted to Scienc

Supporting depressed mothers at home: Their views on an innovative relationship-based intervention

This study explored the responses of a group of 111 mothers who experienced distress and/or depression in the early months after childbirth and who received an innovative home visiting service until their child's first birthday. The current study reports a thematic content analysis of the qualitative questionnaire responses returned by the mothers after completing the intervention. The mothers valued the home visiting program for its capacity to increase their parenting confidence and to enhance their bond to their infants. They attributed this to the reassurance provided by the program and the skills and qualities of the home visitors. Their responses complement the benefits identified in quantitative analysis of the program and demonstrate its impact from participants' viewpoint. © eContent Management Pty Ltd

PMN J0525-3343: soft X-ray spectral flattening in a blazar at z=4.4

We report optical, radio and X-ray observations of a new distant blazar, PMN J0525-3343, at a redshift of 4.4. The X-ray spectrum measured from ASCA and BeppoSAX flattens below a few keV, in a manner similar to the spectra of two other z>4 blazars, GB 1428+4217 (z=4.72) reported by Boller et al and RXJ 1028.6-0844 (z=4.28) by Yuan et al. The spectrum is well fitted by a power-law continuum which is either absorbed or breaks at a few keV. An intrinsic column density corresponding to 2 x 10^23 H-atoms cm-2 at solar abundance is required by the absorption model. This is however a million times greater than the neutral hydrogen, or dust, column density implied by the optical spectrum, which covers the rest-frame UV emission of the blazar nucleus. We discuss the problems raised and suggest that, unless there is intrinsic flattening in the spectral distribution of the particles/seed photons producing X-rays via inverse Compton scattering, the most plausible solution is a warm absorber close to the active nucleus.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures; MNRAS, in pres