No abstract

The Pre-Elementary Education Longitudinal Study (PEELS) examines the preschool and early elementary school experiences of a nationally representative sample of 3,104 children ages 3-5 with disabilities from 2004 through 2009. This paper describes the special education and related services received by a subsample of 186 preschoolers with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in 2003-2004 and parental satisfaction with those services. Past research and patterns of litigation suggest that parents of children with ASD are not wholly satisfied with the special education and related services their children receive. In the current study, the authors found many similarities between children with ASD and children with other disabilities in the type of services received under IDEA and in parent satisfaction with these services. Still, some significant differences emerged in the number of services received, the amount of time children with ASD spent in special education settings, and parent satisfaction with the amount of time children spent with typically developing peers. Implications about the importance of parent satisfaction and social validity measures are discussed.

Facile synthesis of 2-10 nm-sized graphene quantum dots (GQDs) from graphite powder by organic solvent-assisted liquid exfoliation using a sonochemical method is reported in this study. Synthesized GQDs are well dispersed in organic solvents like ethyl acetoacetate (EAA), dimethyl formamide (DMF) and also in water. MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry reveals its selective mass fragmentation. Detailed characterizations by various techniques like X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Raman spectroscopy and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) confirm the formation of disordered, functional GQDs. Density functional theory (DFT) calculation confirms HOMO-LUMO energy gap variation with changing size and functionalities. Photoluminescence (PL) properties of as-prepared GQDs were studied in detail. The ensemble studies of GQDs showed excellent photoluminescence properties comprising normal and upconverted fluorescence, delayed fluorescence and room-temperature phosphorescence. PL decay dynamics of GQDs has been explored using time-correlated single-photon technique (TCSPC) as well as femtosecond fluorescence upconversion technique. In vitro cytotoxicity study reveals its biocompatibility and high cell viability (>91%) even at high concentration (400 μg mL(-1)) of GQDs in Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells.

This study describes special education alternative route (AR) teacher preparation programs. The authors developed a national database of programs and collected information on program sponsorship, length and intensity, features, and participant demographics. Most of the 235 programs in the database were in states that had significant shortages of special education teachers, and the authors received 101 responses to the survey. Active collaboration and use of professional standards in program development were commonplace. Most programs required full-time teaching, although the length of preteaching preparation varied dramatically, as did overall program length. Although many participants were general education teachers or recent degree recipients, the largest subgroup consisted of midcareer changers. This article discusses these findings and provides recommendations for additional research.

No abstract

Herein, we present an environmentally benign method capable of mineralization and deposition of nanomaterials to introduce antibacterial functionalities into cotton fabrics under mild conditions. Similar to the way in which many naturally occurring biominerals evolve around the living organism under ambient conditions, this technique enables flexible substrates like the cotton fabric to be coated with inorganic-based functional materials. Specifically, our strategy involves the use of long-chain polyamines known to be responsible in certain biomineralization processes, to nucleate, organize, and deposit nanostructured ZnO on cotton bandage in an aqueous solution under mild conditions of room temperature and neutral pH. The ZnO-coated cotton bandages as characterized by SEM, confocal micro-Raman spectroscopy, XRD, UV-DRS, and fluorescence microscopy demonstrate the importance of polyamine in generating a stable and uniform coating of spindle-shaped ZnO particles on individual threads of the fabric. As the coating process requires only mild conditions, it avoids any adverse effect on the thermal and mechanical properties of the substrate. Furthermore, the ZnO particles on cotton fabric show efficient antibacterial activity against both gram-positive and gram-negetive bacteria. Therefore, the developed polyamine mediated bioinspired coating method provides not only a facile and "green" synthesis for coating on flexible substrate but also the fabrication of antibacterial enabled materials for healthcare applications.

In this study, the effect of different numbers of layers of reduced graphene oxide (RGO) on the ferromagnetic behavior of zinc oxide-reduced graphene oxide (ZnO-RGO) hybrid architectures has been investigated. Scanning and transmission electron microscopy along with x-ray diffraction of these hybrids confirm that ZnO nanorods are wrapped with different numbers of layers of RGO in a controlled way and their hexagonal phase is unaffected by these layers. Raman and photoelectron spectroscopy of these hybrids reveals that RGO does not alter the nonpolar optical phonon E(2) (high) mode and chemical state of Zn(2+) in ZnO. Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectra show that RGO passivates singly charged oxygen vacancies (VOS⁺) in ZnO. It correlates the passivation efficiency of VOS⁺ to the number of RGO layers and this has been achieved up to 90% by ∼31 layers of RGO. Due to passivation of VOS⁺ in ZnO by RGO, the ferromagnetic behavior (saturation magnetization and divergence between zero field cooled and field cooled) in ZnO-RGO hybrids is suppressed as compared to ZnO. Combining the EPR and magnetic behavior, a direct link between the passivation of the singly charged oxygen vacancies present on the surface of ZnO nanorods and the number of RGO layers is established.

Our group already demonstrated that europium hydroxide nanorods (EHNs) show none or mild toxicity in C57BL/6 mice even at high dose and exhibited excellent pro-angiogenic activity towards in vitro and in vivo models. In the present study, we evaluated the in vivo cytogenetic toxicity of intraperitoneally administered EHNs (12.5-250 mg/kg/b.w.) in male and female Swiss albino mice by analyzing chromosomal aberrations (CAs), mitotic index (MI), micronucleus (MN) from bone marrow and peripheral blood. Furthermore, we performed the cytogenetic toxicity study of EHNs towards Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells, in order to compare with the in vivo results. The results of CA assay of mice treated with EHNs (12.5-125 mg/kg/b.w.) showed no significant change in the formation of aberrant metaphases compared to the control group. Also, there was no significant difference in the number of dividing cells between the control group and EHNs-treated groups observed by MI study, suggesting the non-cytotoxicity of EHNs. Additionally, FACS study revealed that EHNs do not arrest cells at any phase of cell cycle in the mouse model. Furthermore, MN test of both bone marrow and peripheral blood showed no significant differences in the induction of MNs when compared with the control group. In vitro results from CHO cells also support our in vivo observations. Considering the role of angiogenesis by EHNs and the absence of its genotoxicity in mouse model, we strongly believe the future application of EHNs in treating various diseases, where angiogenesis plays an important role such as cardiovascular diseases, ischemic diseases and wound healing.