Wrap-bake-peel process for nanostructural transformation from beta-FeOOH nanorods to biocompatible iron oxide nanocapsules

The thermal treatment of nanostructured materials to improve their properties generally results in undesirable aggregation and sintering. Here, we report on a novel wrap-bake-peel process, which involves silica coating, heat treatment and finally the removal of the silica layer, to transform the phases and structures of nanostructured materials while preserving their nanostructural characteristics. We demonstrate, as a proof-of-concept, the fabrication of water-dispersible and biocompatible hollow iron oxide nanocapsules by applying this wrap-bake-peel process to spindle-shaped akagenite (beta-FeOOH) nanoparticles. Depending on the heat treatment conditions, hollow nanocapsules of either haematite or magnetite were produced. The synthesized water-dispersible magnetite nanocapsules were successfully used not only as a drug-delivery vehicle, but also as a T2 magnetic resonance imaging contrast agent. The current process is generally applicable, and was used to transform heterostructured FePt nanoparticles to high-temperature face-centred-tetragonal-phase FePt alloy nanocrystals.     

Biofunctionalized lipid-polymer hybrid nanocontainers with controlled permeability

We have successfully developed, for the first time, a novel polymer-lipid hybrid nanocontainer with controlled permeability functionality. The nanocontainer is made by nanofabricating holes with desired dimensions in an impermeable polymer scaffold by focused ion beam drilling and sealing them with lipid bilayers containing remote-controlled pore-forming channel proteins. This system allows exchange of solutions only after channel activation at will to form temporary pores in the container. Potential applications are foreseen in bionanosensors, nanoreactors, nanomedicine, and triggered delivery.     

Layered Li0.88[Li0.18Co0.33Mn0.49]O2 nanowires for fast and high capacity Li-Ion storage material

Layered Li0.88[Li0.18Co0.33Mn0.49]O2 nanowires are prepared using Co0.4Mn0.6O2 nanowires and lithium nitrate as precursors at 200 degrees C via a hydrothermal method for fast and high capacity Li-ion storage material. The obtained nanowires exhibit a reversible capacity of 230 mAh/g between 2 and 4.8 V, even at the high current rate of 3600 mA/g.     

Formation of ge nanocrystals in SiO2 by electron beam evaporation

Ge nanocrystals were formed by electron beam evaporation on SiO2 covered Si substrates. The size and distribution of the nanocrystals were studied by atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy. Dependencies of the nanocrystal size, of the nanocrystal surface coverage, and sheet resistance obtained by van der Pauw method of the Ge layer have been found on the evaporation time. The suggested growth mechanism for the formation of nanocrystals is the Volmer-Weber type. The sheet resistance exhibited a power dependence on the nanocrystal size.     

A polydiacetylene microchip based on a biotin-streptavidin interaction for the diagnosis of pathogen infections

A micropatterned polydiacetylene (PDA) chip, utilizing the unique fluorogenic property of PDA and a specific biotin-streptavidin (STA) interaction, is constructed to detect pathogen infections. To construct the PDA chip, biotin-modified diacetylene liposomes are immobilized on aldehyde glass and conjugated with STA, followed by UV irradiation to polymerize the STA-functionalized diacetylene liposomes. Genomic DNA of a model pathogen, Chlamydia trachomatis, is isolated from human samples and biotin-labeled target DNA is obtained through PCR amplification using biotin-11-dUTP. Owing to the stimulus caused by the biotin-STA interaction, the biotinylated DNA induces an intense fluorescence signal on the immobilized PDA. By using this strategy, it is possible to diagnose Chlamydia infections by applying DNA samples from several nonhealthy humans to a single PDA chip. The results of this study serve as the basis for a new strategy for fluorogenic PDA microarray-based diagnosis of pathogen infections.     

Creating trauma-informed systems: Child welfare, education, first responders, health care, juvenile justice.

Children and adolescents who are exposed to traumatic events are helped by numerous child-serving agencies, including health, mental health, education, child welfare, first responder, and criminal justice systems to assist them in their recovery. Service providers need to incorporate a trauma-informed perspective in their practices to enhance the quality of care for these children. This includes making sure that children and adolescents are screened for trauma exposure; that service providers use evidence-informed practices; that resources on trauma are available to providers, survivors, and their families; and that there is a continuity of care across service systems. This article reviews how traumatic stress impacts children and adolescents' daily functioning and how various service systems approach trauma services differently. It also provides recommendations for how to make each of these service systems more trauma informed and an appendix detailing resources in the National Child Traumatic Stress Network that have been produced to meet this objective. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dynamic life prediction of pitch and yaw bearings for wind turbine

The design guideline of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is a standard for designing and verifying pitch and yaw bearings of wind turbines. The usability of the guideline was evaluated by comparing with analytical results obtained by a commercial software. Results from calculation equations of the NREL guideline and from a commercial software were compared in terms of the main design evaluation items of pitch and yaw bearings, such as dynamic life, static load factor, and case-core interface models. Calculation and analysis were conducted using specifications and loading conditions for the yaw bearing of a 2.5 MW wind turbine. Results showed that the values computed using the NREL guideline were more conservative than those derived using the commercial software. Although the guideline showed some differences from the analytical results obtained using the software, they can be used in the initial design of pitch and yaw bearings because of the advantage of the simplicity and the characteristics of conservative output.     

Designing Multicolored Photonic Micropatterns through the Regioselective Thermal Compression of Inverse Opals

Colloidal assemblies develop pronounced structural colors due to the selective diffraction of light. Micropatterns with multiple structural colors are appealing for the use in a variety of photonic applications. Here, a lithographic approach is reported, which provides a high level of control over the size, shape, and color of a micropattern using the anisotropic shrinkage of inverse opals made of a negative photoresist heated to high temperatures. Shrinkage occurs uniformly across the thickness of the film, leading to a blueshift in the structural color while maintaining a high reflectivity across the full visible spectrum. The rate of shrinkage is determined by the annealing temperature and the photoresist crosslinking density. The rate can, therefore, be spatially modulated by applying UV radiation through a photomask to create multicolor micropatterns from single‐colored inverse opals. The lateral dimensions of the micropattern features can be as small as the thickness of the inverse opal.