A prevention programme for drinking driving

A drinking-driving programme introduced in one borough of Toronto, Canada, is evaluated. Based on evidence from previous programmes judged effective, it combined a highly visible “random” spot-check enforcement component with a drinking-driving educational component. A three-wave telephone survey showed significant increases in public knowledge of drinking and driving and of the programme in the experimental area. The subjective perception of arrest risk was increased for the “average driver” but not for “myself”. Unfortunately, only indirect evidence was available on driver behaviour and this tended to indicate fewer impaired drivers on the road. Finally, police reported alcohol-related accidents and injuries indicated an overall downward trend in Toronto, but the urban nature and restricted size of the experiment's geographic unit, as well as similar changes in control areas and contaminations to the data rendered the analysis highly ambiguous. Thus, the programme experienced some positive although by no means conclusive indicators of success.     

Failure of posthypnotic responding to occur outside the experimental setting.

Ten highly hypnotizable subjects and two groups of 10 nonhypnotizable simulators were formally tested for posthypnotic responding in two experimental sessions. All subjects passed at least three of the four formal tests. Between the formal test session, subjects were administered three informal tests in which the posthypnotic cue word was presented outside of the experimental context. Two of these informal tests were conducted by confederates who were unknown to any of the subjects, and the third informal test was conducted by the hypnotist. About half of the subjects in each group responded to the informal cue given by the hypnotist. However, none of the subjects in any group responded to the informal cue given by Confederate 1, and only 1 simulator and none of the high hypnotizables responded to the informal cue given by Confederate 2. These findings support the hypothesis that posthypnotic responding is expectancy-mediated, goal-directed action. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Synthesis, characterization, and optical properties of ordered arrays of III-nitride nanocrystals

A new approach involving self-assembling block copolymer micellar templates and gas-phase reactions to synthesize arrays of monodisperse III-nitrides nanocrystals in the size range of 1-5 nm with uniform spacings between the nanoparticles is demonstrated. The photoluminescence emission spectra revealed the GaN nanocrystals are in the quantum-confined regime. This method not only offers great promise for the controlled synthesis of arrays of ternary III-nitride nanocrystals but may also enable doping in binary nitrides.     

Single and Double Polymer Layer Arrangements of Acid Groups Containing Cellulose and Basic Groups Containing Polyethyleneimine on Steel

This paper presents the first results of a project aimed at investigating the arrangement of polyelectrolyte layers on unalloyed steel. We studied the structure of double and single polymer layers consisting of cellulose phosphate (HP‐PP‐C) and polyethyleneimine (PEI). Layers were characterized by variable angle ellipsometry, AFM and XPS. In particular, XPS indicated the incorporation of iron ions into cellulose phosphate layers, but, in contrast, these ions could not be observed in PEI layers. Results indicated that the homogeneity and qualitative corrosion performance of double layers (HP‐PP‐C/PEI) on unalloyed steel depend on the deposition of cellulose phosphate at the interface with steel.

     

Total variation regularization for fMRI-based prediction of behavior

While medical imaging typically provides massive amounts of data, the extraction of relevant information for predictive diagnosis remains a difficult challenge. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data, that provide an indirect measure of task-related or spontaneous neuronal activity, are classically analyzed in a mass-univariate procedure yielding statistical parametric maps. This analysis framework disregards some important principles of brain organization: population coding, distributed and overlapping representations. Multivariate pattern analysis, i.e., the prediction of behavioral variables from brain activation patterns better captures this structure. To cope with the high dimensionality of the data, the learning method has to be regularized. However, the spatial structure of the image is not taken into account in standard regularization methods, so that the extracted features are often hard to interpret. More informative and interpretable results can be obtained with the l(1) norm of the image gradient, also known as its total variation (TV), as regularization. We apply for the first time this method to fMRI data, and show that TV regularization is well suited to the purpose of brain mapping while being a powerful tool for brain decoding. Moreover, this article presents the first use of TV regularization for classification.     

The Sequence‐Specific Cellular Uptake of Spherical Nucleic Acid Nanoparticle Conjugates

The sequence‐dependent cellular uptake of spherical nucleic acid nanoparticle conjugates (SNAs) is investigated. This process occurs by interaction with class A scavenger receptors (SR‐A) and caveolae‐mediated endocytosis. It is known that linear poly(guanine) (poly G) is a natural ligand for SR‐A, and it has been proposed that interaction of poly G with SR‐A is dependent on the formation of G‐quadruplexes. Since G‐rich oligonucleotides are known to interact strongly with SR‐A, it is hypothesized that SNAs with higher G contents would be able to enter cells in larger amounts than SNAs composed of other nucleotides, and as such, cellular internalization of SNAs is measured as a function of constituent oligonucleotide sequence. Indeed, SNAs with enriched G content show the highest cellular uptake. Using this hypothesis, a small molecule (camptothecin) is chemically conjugated with SNAs to create drug‐SNA conjugates and it is observed that poly G SNAs deliver the most camptothecin to cells and have the highest cytotoxicity in cancer cells. Our data elucidate important design considerations for enhancing the intracellular delivery of spherical nucleic acids.     

Multifunctional Three‐Dimensional T‐Junction Graphene Micro‐Wells: Energy‐Efficient,Plasma‐Enabled Growth and Instant Water‐Based Transfer for Flexible Device Applications

The “third‐generation” 3D graphene structures, T‐junction graphene micro‐wells (T‐GMWs) are produced on cheap polycrystalline Cu foils in a single‐step, low‐temperature (270 °C), energy‐efficient, and environment‐friendly dry plasma‐enabled process. T‐GMWs comprise vertical graphene (VG) petal‐like sheets that seemlessly integrate with each other and the underlying horizontal graphene sheets by forming T‐junctions. The microwells have the pico‐to‐femto‐liter storage capacity and precipitate compartmentalized PBS crystals. The T‐GMW films are transferred from the Cu substrates, without damage to the both, in de‐ionized or tap water, at room temperature, and without commonly used sacrificial materials or hazardous chemicals. The Cu substrates are then re‐used to produce similar‐quality T‐GMWs after a simple plasma conditioning. The isolated T‐GMW films are transferred to diverse substrates and devices and show remarkable recovery of their electrical, optical, and hazardous NO₂ gas sensing properties upon repeated bending (down to 1 mm radius) and release of flexible trasparent display plastic substrates. The plasma‐enabled mechanism of T‐GMW isolation in water is proposed and supported by the Cu plasma surface modification analysis. Our GMWs are suitable for various optoelectronic, sesning, energy, and biomedical applications while the growth approach is potentially scalable for future pilot‐scale industrial production.