Measuring the Early Adulthood Outcomes of Young Adults with Disabilities: Developing Constructs using NLTS2 Data

Secondary data analysis was used to develop and examine disability-related differences in outcome constructs from the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2. Findings suggest that outcome constructs could be created that represented key elements of quality of life domains including social relationships, financial independence, financial supports, employment, emotional well-being, postsecondary education, independent living, health status, access to services, and advocating for needs. The constructs could be measured equivalently across disability groups, but young adults with high incidence disabilities, generally, experienced more positive outcomes than those with more severe disabilities, despite the finding that those with more severe disabilities have greater access to services and financial supports. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.     

New insights into brazilwood lake pigments manufacture through the use of historically accurate reconstructions

A multi-analytical approach for the study of brazilwood and its lake pigments was carried out based on historically accurate reconstructions. Recipes for brazilwood lakes from the fifteenth century technical text Livro de como se fazem as cores and the Winsor & Newton nineteenth century colourman's archive were reproduced and compared. Both primary sources allowed for the successful preparation of brazilwood lake pigments with colours that vary from light pink to dark red. The main steps and ingredients for the manufacture of these pigments were common in both sources, particularly the addition of Al³⁺ in the form of alum, and calcium carbonate (chalk). Reconstructions revealed that the latter acts as a pH buffer and filler, controlling the pH at which the lake pigment precipitates. The main difference between the two sources is that the nineteenth century recipes give the quantities for all ingredients, the precise temperatures and time, and achieved higher relative pigment yields (75% versus 45%). Full chemical characterisation of the reconstructions provided detailed information on the individual steps in the pigment manufacture and revealed that the presence of calcium sulphate dihydrate (gypsum) in the final pigment was a result of its formation in situ. Infrared, reflectance, and fluorescence spectroscopy proved to be essential and complementary techniques: while infrared was used to characterise additives and binders, reflectance and fluorescence data were fundamental for identifying the chromophore. The pigments and paints produced can now be used as standards for the identification and investigation of brazilwood lake pigments found in artworks.     

Infant Pathways to Externalizing Behavior: Evidence of Genotype × Environment Interaction

To further the understanding of the effects of early experiences, 9-month-old infants were observed during a frustration task. The analytical sample was composed of 348 linked triads of participants (adoptive parents, adopted child, and birth parent[s]) from a prospective adoption study. It was hypothesized that genetic risk for externalizing problems and affect dysregulation in the adoptive parents would independently and interactively predict a known precursor to externalizing problems: heightened infant attention to frustrating events. Results supported the moderation hypotheses involving adoptive mother affect dysregulation: Infants at genetic risk showed heightened attention to frustrating events only when the adoptive mother had higher levels of anxious and depressive symptoms. The Genotype × Environment interaction pattern held when substance use during pregnancy was considered.     

Practical Patriotism: Camp Fire Girls,Girl Scouts,and Americanization

Drawing primarily on discourses and events from the period surrounding World War I, this essay examines the methods deployed by Camp Fire Girls and Girls Scouts to recruit the daughters of immigrants and, upon joining, acculturate these new members to the American way of life. The argument begins by analyzing those discourses describing the so-called “new immigrant” from southern and eastern Europe as a threat to national unity. Turning to the ways in which the new immigrant problem was gendered through the rhetorical construction of a “girl problem,” this author argues that the advocates describing the girl problem leveraged the presumed cultural rift between foreign-born parents and their new-world children in order to induce the daughters of the foreign-born to perform as American. The essay closely analyzes the discourses of two groups committed to the project of Americanizing the daughters of immigrants: the Camp Fire Girls and Girl Scouts. The article contends that these groups, the two most popular of the period, Americanized the daughter of the foreign-born by using recruitment tactics that invited her to dissociate from an old-world ethnicity, deploying legendary heroines re-figuring the girl's American belonging, and engineering patriotic regimens habituating her to American customs. Ultimately, this essay demonstrates how these groups rhetorically refigured the cultural and social belonging of their members in order to assuage public concerns about national unity.     

Rapid production of protein-loaded biodegradable microparticles using surface acoustic waves

We present a straightforward and rapid surface acoustic wave (SAW) atomization-based technique for encapsulating proteins into 10 μm order particles composed of a biodegradable polymeric excipient, using bovine serum albumin (BSA) as an exemplar. Scans obtained from confocal microscopy provide qualitative proof of encapsulation and show the fluorescent conjugated protein to be distributed in a relatively uniform manner within the polymer shell. An ELISA assay of the collected particles demonstrates that the BSA survives the atomization, particle formation, and collection process with a yield of approximately 55%. The SAW atomization universally gave particles with a textured morphology, and increasing the frequency and polymer concentration generally gave smaller particles (to 3 μm average) with reduced porosity.