The increasing rate of suicidality and death by suicide among military service members has gained considerable attention from the Department of Defense (DOD), members of Congress, and the civilian populace as military suicide rates have surpassed suicides in the general population. Although suicide prevention has become a national research priority, it has been difficult to identify specific and modifiable risk factors contributing to the rise of military suicides. Previous research suggests that both victims and perpetrators of bullying are at greater risk for suicide, but the prevalence of bullying and its impact on suicidal ideation and behaviors within military populations in unknown. The current study will explore the relationship between bullying and suicidal behaviors among military service members using baseline data from a multisite DOD-funded suicide prevention study. Participants include 125 active duty Soldiers and Marines who have engaged in recent suicidal behavior and/or reported current suicidal ideation. As part of a larger clinical interview, participants were asked about suicidal thoughts and behaviors and experiences of bullying in the military workplace. Regression analyses will be conducted to assess whether bullying constitutes a risk factor for increased suicidality. We predict that greater instances of bullying within the military context will be associated with higher rates of suicidal ideation and increased suicide attempts. To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine bullying and suicidality among U.S. active duty service members. A better understanding of this risk factor may contribute to more effective suicide assessment and prevention strategies in the military.

Solar energy is arguably the most promising source of renewable energy because it is thought to be both the cleanest and most abundant source. Several types of photovoltaics are now available, including inorganic, organic, and hybrid organic-inorganic. While inorganic photovoltaics have high efficiencies, good charge carrier mobilities, and relatively long charge carrier times, their widespread implementation has suffered from expensive production and materials competition with the microelectronics industry. Organic photovoltaics are solution processable and applicable to flexible substrates; however, their output has been hindered by their low charge carrier mobilities and short exciton diffusion lengths. Hybrid organic-inorganic photovoltaics have been introduced in an attempt to overcome the shortcomings of both organic and inorganic photovoltaics. Inorganic semiconductors are used in hybrid photovoltaics as the electron acceptor due to the ease of changing their size and shape, and therefore the bandgap, of these materials, which allows them to contribute to the photocurrent of the cell while being solution processable and potentially enhancing the conductivity. Conjugated polymers are used as electron donors due to their large absorption cross-section and solution processability. This project addresses the synthesis of hybrid cadmium selenide (CdSe) nanotetrapods, which we believe will facilitate control of the direction of electron motion in the active layer of the cell. Amines are needed for CdSe tetrapod functionalization with semiconducting polymers according to our reaction scheme. Tetrapods tend to convert into quantum dots because dots are thermodynamically favorable; our approach to have kinetic control, and thus have the tetrapods retain their shape, has involved synthesizing the tetrapods with amines as ligands. The reaction time, growth temperature, ligand type, and monomer concentration are used to control the synthesis, and the effects of each variable on the size and shape of the tetrapods will be studied via transmission electron microscopy (TEM).

Interest in renewable energy resources has increased in recent years due to the rising demand and dwindling supply of fossil fuels. While inorganic materials, such as silicon, have traditionally dominated the solar energy market, the use of organic photovoltaics (OPVs) has grown more popular due to their potential to be low cost, light weight, and their ability to comply with flexible substrates. Poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) is a polymer that readily self-assembles into nanowires under proper conditions, resulting in nanowire domain sizes that are on the order of the exciton diffusion length. Directing polymer self-assembly provides an opportunity to control the structure property relationships of OPVs and can greatly improve charge transport within the active layer. The regioregularity of a polymer is a measure of the uniformity of its geometric isomers. Because individual P3HT chains begin to kink into S-like shapes during self-assembly, a correlation between the P3HT regioregularity and the frequency of resulting nanowire defects is expected. In an attempt to understand the process of self-assembly, we would like to determine if these defects are incorporated into the nanowires during self-assembly, or if they are excluded from their crystalline domains. To investigate this, P3HT nanowires were made from solutions of anisole and chloroform in varying ratios, heated at 70 °C and thoroughly mixed for 24 hours, then removed from heat and allowed to self-assemble for at least three days. These solutions were then filtered to separate the nanowires from the decanted solution, and analyzed separately. A variety of characterization methods were used to study the presence of nanowire defects as well as their effects, including nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, gel permeation chromatography, differential scanning calorimetry, atomic force microscopy, and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization spectroscopy.

BTX/A is often used in human masticatory muscles to treat TMJ disorders or reduce muscular mass. Although its multiple applications are common practice, the consequences of its neuromuscular blockage in masticatory muscles are unknown. The goal of this study is to investigate these consequences by analyzing the compound muscle action potential or evoked electromyography (eEMG) of bilateral masseter muscles (MAs) in rabbits. Eighteen female rabbits were injected with either 10 units of BTX/A (n=13) or the equivalent 0.9% saline (n=5) into three locations on one masseter at weeks 0, 12 and 24. At week 36, bilateral MA nerve trunks were exposed through surgery, and eEMGs from 11 sites of injected and non-injected MAs were examined through inserted fine-wire electrodes when the nerve was electrically stimulated at the threshold intensity (5-6V) with 2Hz frequency. Ten consecutive evoked pulses from each recording site were identified and filtered. Time domains were analyzed to calculate onset, duration, peak and integral values of these pulses. Paired t tests and non-parametric statistics were used to test differences between injected and non-injected MAs, and between BTX/A and saline injected MAs, respectively. The preliminary results show that although the overall values of stimulated pulses were smaller in the BTX/A injected than non-injected MAs, significant differences were only found in a few sites, and these sites were mainly located at the middle portion of MAs. However, there was no difference between saline injected and non-injected MAs. The comparison between BTX/A and saline injected MAs are ongoing. These results suggest that multiple applications of BTX/A in MAs may not lead to severe neuromuscular blockages over a long term as seen in the single application of BTX/A over a short term. The new information provided by these findings can lead to a better understanding and use of BTX/A in clinical dentistry.