Development and Psychometric Properties of a New Questionnaire to Assess Mental Health and Concerning Behaviors in Children and Young People with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD): The Assessment of Concerning Behavior (ACB) Scale.

Although 70% of autistic children and young people meet criteria for co-occurring psychiatric conditions, there are few screening measures specifically for autistic individuals. We describe the development and validation of the Assessment of Concerning Behavior (ACB), an instrument co-developed with the autistic community to assess mental health and problematic/risky behaviors. Items include descriptions to facilitate symptom recognition by autistic people, and carers/professionals. The ACB was completed by 255 parents, 149 autistic children and young people and 30 teachers. Internal consistency, stability and validity was assessed. The ACB parent-version fit a two-factor model (internalizing and externalizing problems) and showed adequate test-retest reliability, internal consistency and construct validity. The ACB is a promising new measure for research and clinical use in autism.

Tunable Magnetic Vortex Dynamics in Ion-Implanted Permalloy Disks.

Nanoscale, low-phase-noise, tunable transmitter-receiver links are key for enabling the progress of wireless communication. We demonstrate that vortex-based spin-torque nano-oscillators, which are intrinsically low-noise devices because of their topologically protected magnetic structure, can achieve frequency tunability when submitted to local ion implantation. In the experiments presented here, the gyrotropic mode is excited with spin-polarized alternating currents and anisotropic magnetoresistance measurements yield discrete frequencies from a single device. Indeed, chromium-implanted regions of permalloy disks exhibit different saturation magnetization than neighboring, non-irradiated areas, and thus different resonance frequency, corresponding to the specific area where the core is gyrating. Our study proves that such devices can be fabricated without the need for further lithographical steps, suggesting ion irradiation can be a viable and cost-effective fabrication method for densely packed networks of oscillators.

Ion-Irradiation-Induced Cobalt/Cobalt Oxide Heterostructures: Printing 3D Interfaces.

Interfaces separating ferromagnetic (FM) layers from non-ferromagnetic layers offer unique properties due to spin-orbit coupling and symmetry breaking, yielding effects such as exchange bias, perpendicular magnetic anisotropy, spin-pumping, spin-transfer torques, and conversion between charge and spin currents and vice versa. These interfacial phenomena play crucial roles in magnetic data storage and transfer applications, which require the formation of FM nanostructures embedded in non-ferromagnetic matrices. Here, we investigate the possibility of creating such nanostructures by ion irradiation. We study the effect of lateral confinement on the ion-irradiation-induced reduction of nonmagnetic metal oxides (e.g., antiferro- or paramagnetic) to form ferromagnetic metals. Our findings are later exploited to form three-dimensional magnetic interfaces between Co, CoO, and Pt by spatial-selective irradiation of CoO/Pt multilayers. We demonstrate that the mechanical displacement of O atoms plays a crucial role in the reduction from insulating, non-ferromagnetic cobalt oxides to metallic cobalt. Metallic cobalt yields both perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in the generated Co/Pt nanostructures and, at low temperatures, exchange bias at vertical interfaces between Co and CoO. If pushed to the limit of ion-irradiation technology, this approach could, in principle, enable the creation of densely packed, atomic-scale ferromagnetic point-contact spin-torque oscillator (STO) networks or conductive channels for current-confined-path-based current perpendicular-to-plane giant magnetoresistance read heads.

Intermediate Temperature Brittleness in Metallic Glasses.

All metallic glasses (MGs), irrespective of their compositions, become brittle in the intermediate temperature range of 0.6-0.7 Tg However, most materials are expected to carry higher strains during deformation with increasing temperature. This behavior of MGs is explained by describing the competition between shear banding and diffusive relaxation processes, and is reminiscent of the "intermediate temperature ductility minimum" observed in polycrystalline metals.

Synthesis and properties of flexible nanocable with carbon nanotube @ polymer hierarchical structure.

A multi-functional polymer-carbon nanotube (CNT) nanocable with a hierarchical structure is fabricated by grafting poly (glycidyl methacrylate) (PGMA) from the CNT surface via activators regenerated by electron transfer atom transfer radical polymerization. Multiple CNTs are arranged in parallel in the fabricated nanocable and exhibit strong binding force with sheathing PGMA. In situ mechanical and electrical tests conducted on an individual nanocable reveal its high flexibility and excellent surface insulation, with an electrical resistance of approximately 1 GΩ. On increasing the voltage to the nanocable's electrical breakdown point, nanoscale electrical trees are observed. Such degradation behavior is discussed in the wider context of breakdown mechanisms in polymer based CNTs.