Factors Associated With Incarceration of Adolescents With Learning Disabilities

Incarceration of adolescents in the United States has grown substantially during the last 3 decades with nearly 53,000 adolescents held every day in correctional facilities. Many researchers have raised concerns about the greater percentage of adolescents with learning disabilities (LDs) in the juvenile system. In the state of Washington, one study in residential placements showed approximately 20% of youth incarcerated had a diagnosed LD. The purpose of this quantitative cross-sectional study was to use the therapeutic change, length of stay, and recidivism in incarcerated juvenile offenders in Washington state, 2008–2015 data set to examine possible factors associated with incarceration of youth with LDs. The study was guided by Bronfenbrenner’s social ecological model. Using a binary logistic regression, the research questions tested potential relationships between a diagnosis of LD and several factors (sexual/physical abuse, family imprisonment, drug/alcohol abuse) among incarcerated adolescents aged 10 to 19 years. Confounding factors that may influence these associations were controlled. The sample included 637 incarcerated adolescents. Findings showed that specific LD diagnosis had a statistically significant association with sex abuse (OR: .518, 95% CI: .295, .910, p = .022) and physical abuse (OR: .581, 95% CI: .379, .890, p = .013) but no association with history of family imprisonment and substance abuse in this population. Positive social change resulting from this study may include a better understanding of the factors associated with incarceration of adolescents with LD and guidance for adequate collaborative public health interventions to help decrease this burden in the United States

Le Laser

International audienc

Adsorption of fullerene and azafullerene on Cu(111) studied by electron energy loss spectroscopy

Fullerene and azafullerene films were studied by electron energy loss spectroscopy in reflection geometry. Compared to C60, (C59N)2 multilayers show additional vibrational modes that are characteristic of the dimer structure. The (C59N)2 is semiconductor-like and giant optically allowed excitonic transitions are found in the gap in drastic contrast with C60. The azafullerene monolayer on Cu(111) no longer shows the presence of dimers, indicating monomer adsorption. Similarly to C60, azafullerene molecules in contact with the metal substrate receive a transferred charge between two and three electrons. However, the C59N appears more covalently bound to Cu because it decomposes when heated above 660 K while C60 only desorbs.

Smart hybrid nanostructures for cancer treatment

The project leading to this work has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 751903

Physically stimulated nanotheranostics for next generation cancer therapy: Focus on magnetic and light stimulations

Physically or externally stimulated nanostructures often employ multimodality and show encouraging results at preclinical stage in cancer therapy. Specially designed smart nanostructures such as hybrid nanostructures are responsive to external physical stimuli such as light, magnetic field, electric, ultrasound, radio frequency, X-ray, etc. These physically responsive nanostructures have been widely explored as nonconventional innovative “nanotheranostics” in cancer therapies. Physically stimulated (particularly magnetic and light) nanotheranostics provide a unique combination of important properties to address key challenges in modern cancer therapy: (i) an active tumor targeting mechanism of therapeutic drugs driven by a physical force rather than passive antibody matching, (ii) an externally/remotely controlled drugs on-demand release mechanism, and (iii) a capability for advanced image guided tumor therapy and therapy monitoring. Although primarily addressed to the scientific community, this review offers valuable and accessible information for a wide range of readers interested in the current technological progress with direct relevance to the physics, chemistry, biomedical field, and theranostics. We herein cover magnetic and light-triggered modalities currently being developed for nonconventional cancer treatments. The physical basis of each modality is explained; so readers with a physics or, materials science background can easily grasp new developments in this field

Lithographyically defined, room temperature low threshold subwavelength red-emitting hybrid plasmonic lasers

Hybrid plasmonic lasers provide deep subwavelength optical confinement, strongly enhanced light-matter interaction and together with nanoscale footprint promise new applications in optical communication, bio-sensing and photolithography. The subwavelength hybrid plasmonic lasers reported so far often use bottom up grown nanowires, nanorods and nanosquares, making it difficult to integrate these devices into industry-relevant high density plasmonic circuits. Here, we report the first experimental demonstration of AlGaInP based, red-emitting hybrid plasmonic lasers at room temperature using lithography based fabrication processes. Resonant cavities with deep subwavelength 2D and 3D mode confinement of lambda square/56 and lambda cube/199, respectively are demonstrated. A range of cavity geometries (waveguides, rings, squares and disks) show very low lasing thresholds of 0.6-1.8 mJ/cm square with wide gain bandwidth (610 nm-685 nm), which are attributed to the heterogeneous geometry of the gain material, the optimized etching technique, and the strong overlap of the gain material with the plasmonic modes. Most importantly, we establish the connection between mode confinements and enhanced absorption and stimulated emission, which play a critical role in maintaining low lasing thresholds at extremely small hybrid plasmonic cavities. Our results pave the way for the further integration of dense arrays of hybrid plasmonic lasers with optical and electronic technology platforms.Comment: 20 page

Chemical imaging of single 4,7,12,15-tetrakis †2.2 ‡paracyclophane by spatially resolved vibrational spectroscopy

Single 4,7,12,15-tetrakis͓2.2͔paracyclophane were deposited on NiAl͑110͒ surface at 11 K. Two adsorbed species with large and small conductivities were detected by the scanning tunneling microscope ͑STM͒. Their vibrational properties were investigated by inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy ͑IETS͒ with the STM. Five vibrational modes were observed for the species with the larger conductivity. The spatially resolved vibrational images for the modes show striking differences, depending on the coupling of the vibrations localized on different functional groups within the molecule to the electronic states of the molecule. The vibrational modes are assigned on the basis of ab initio calculations. No IETS signal is resolved from the species with the small conductivity

Coordination controlled electrodeposition and patterning of layers of palladium/copper nanoparticles on top of a self-assembled monolayer

Support by EPSRC (EP/E061303/1, EP/D048761/1) and the Chinese Scholarship Council and the University of St Andrews for a stipend (Z. Y.) are gratefully acknowledged.A scheme for the generation of bimetallic nanoparticles is presented which combines electrodeposition of one type of metal, coordinated to a self-assembled monolayer (SAM), with another metal deposited from the bulk electrolyte. In this way PdCu nanoparticles are generated by initial complexation of Pd2+ to a SAM of 3-(4-(pyridine-4-yl)phenyl)propane-1-thiol (PyP3) on Au/mica and subsequent reduction in an acidic aqueous CuSO4 electrolyte. Cyclic voltammetry reveals that the onset of Cu deposition is triggered by Pd reduction. Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) shows that layers of connected particles are formed with an average thickness of less than 3 nm and lateral dimensions of particles in the range of 2 to 5 nm. In X-ray photoelectron spectra a range of binding energies for the Pd 3d signal is observed whereas the Cu 2p signal appears at a single binding energy, even though chemically different Cu species are present: normal and more noble Cu. Up to three components are seen in the N 1s signal, one originating from protonated pyridine moieties, the others reflecting the SAM-metal interaction. It is suggested that the coordination controlled electrodeposition yields layers of particles composed of a Pd core and a Cu shell with a transition region of a PdCu alloy. Deposited on top of the PyP3 SAM, the PdCu particles exhibit weak adhesion which is exploited for patterning by selective removal of particles employing scanning probe techniques. The potential for patterning down to the sub-10 nm scale is demonstrated. Harnessing the deposition contrast between native and PdCu loaded PyP3 SAMs, structures thus created can be developed into patterned continuous layers.PostprintPeer reviewe