Collective reflection strategy for moderating conformity tendency and promoting reflective judgment performance

Reflective judgement is crucial for medical-related practitioners in dealing with controversial issues. However, the conformity phenomenon is likely to occur and interfere with reflective judgement learning during interactive activities. Effective strategies are required to moderate the conformity behaviour tendency (CBT) and improve reflective judgement performance (RJP). This study demonstrates two significant results: (a) Compared with the guided self-reflection learning strategy, the online collective reflection (OCR) learning strategy effectively weakened the learners' general CBT while dealing with professional controversial issues; and (b) a significantly negative correlation between the RJP achieved and the change of CBT in online environment was detected in the OCR group. The implications and potential applications in higher education were discussed. Further studies are needed to confirm the long-term effects and the extending application to other professional studies.     

Exploring networks with traceroute-like probes: Theory and simulations

Mapping the Internet generally consists in sampling the network from a limited set of sources by using traceroute-like probes. This methodology, akin to the merging of different spanning trees to a set of destination, has been argued to introduce uncontrolled sampling biases that might produce statistical properties of the sampled graph which sharply differ from the original ones. In this paper, we explore these biases and provide a statistical analysis of their origin. We derive an analytical approximation for the probability of edge and vertex detection that exploits the role of the number of sources and targets and allows us to relate the global topological properties of the underlying network with the statistical accuracy of the sampled graph. In particular, we find that the edge and vertex detection probability depends on the betweenness centrality of each element. This allows us to show that shortest path routed sampling provides a better characterization of underlying graphs with broad distributions of connectivity. We complement the analytical discussion with a throughout numerical investigation of simulated mapping strategies in network models with different topologies. We show that sampled graphs provide a fair qualitative characterization of the statistical properties of the original networks in a fair range of different strategies and exploration parameters. Moreover, we characterize the level of redundancy and completeness of the exploration process as a function of the topological properties of the network. Finally, we study numerically how the fraction of vertices and edges discovered in the sampled graph depends on the particular deployements of probing sources. The results might hint the steps toward more efficient mapping strategies.     

Mechanism and dynamics of shrinking island grains in mazed bicrystal thin films of Au

This work investigates the mechanism and dynamics of grain boundary migration driven by capillary forces via in situ electron microscopy, complemented by molecular-dynamics simulations. Using thin films of Au with the mazed bicrystal geometry, the shrinkage of island grains with 90°〈1 1 0〉 tilt grain boundaries was observed by diffraction contrast and high-resolution imaging. The grains remained cylindrical throughout the shrinkage, and there was no measurable grain rotation even at very small sizes. The rate of shrinkage was found to be erratic and inconsistent with parabolic kinetics, accelerating before complete disappearance. Residual defects were found immediately after complete shrinkage, although the type and magnitude of the defects varied from grain to grain. Measurement of the grain boundary shape anisotropy showed a preference for facets on low-index planes of the crystals, including the mirror-symmetry planes of the bicrystal. These facets were also found directly on individual images extracted from high-resolution video recordings of shrinking grains at ～300 °C. The dynamics of boundary motion were found to be limited by nucleation and propagation of steps on these facets. The cylindrical geometry and size of the experimentally observed island grains allow direct comparison with molecular-dynamics simulations on the same length scale, which reproduced many of the experimentally observed features, including non-parabolic shrinkage, absence of systematic grain rotation, step-controlled migration and dislocation debris after complete grain shrinkage. Differences between model and experiment are discussed in terms of the possible role of impurities, surfaces and interfacial steps.     

Enzymatic polymerization of polythiophene by immobilized glucose oxidase

In this study ‘green’, environmentally friendly enzymatic reaction-based synthesis of conducting polymer polythiophene (PTP) is proposed. Glucose oxidase (GO_x) was shown as an effective catalyst, which, in the presence of glucose, produces hydrogen peroxide suitable for the oxidative polymerization of PTP under ambient conditions at neutral pH. Enzymatically induced formation of the PTP layer over GO_x-modified graphite rod electrode (GRE) was demonstrated and evaluated amperometrically and by attenuated total reflectance – Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy. Surface morphology of GO_x- and PTP-modified GR electrodes was characterized by atomic force microscopy. It was clearly shown that the apparent kinetic Michaelis constant (K_M(app.)) of GO_x/PTP-modified GRE increased by increasing the duration of polymerization reaction. Therefore, enzymatic polymerization could be applied in adjustment and/or tuning of K_M(app.) and other kinetic parameters of GO_x-based electrodes used in biosensor design.     

Evaluation of amperometric glucose biosensors based on glucose oxidase encapsulated within enzymatically synthesized polyaniline and polypyrrole

In this article potential and suitability of enzymatically synthesized conducting polymers polyaniline (PANI) and polypyrrole (PPY) for fabrication of enzymatic amperometric glucose biosensors were evaluated. The polymerisation of these polymers was induced by catalytic activity of glucose oxidase (GOx) from Penicillium vitale cross-linked by glutaraldehyde (GA) on the graphite rod electrode (GOx-electrode) surface. The main precursors for initiation of polymerisation reactions were hydrogen peroxide as an initiator of polymerisation reaction and β-d-gluconic acid as a medium, which reduced the pH towards acidic one is the most suitable for the formation of PANI and PPY. During the polymerisation reactions the immobilized GOx was self-encapsulated within formed PANI or PPY layers in order to form GOx/PANI- and GOx/PPY-modified electrodes (GOx/PANI-electrode and GOx/PPY-electrode, respectively). Kinetic properties of GOx, which is acting as a biocatalyst in GOx/PANI- and GOx/PPY-electrodes, were studied and results were compared with GOx-electrode. The results show that in both GOx/PANI- and GOx/PPY-electrodes self-encapsulated GOx exhibited different parameters of catalysed reaction kinetics due to increasing diffusion limitations if compared with that of the GOx-electrode and it allowed the detection of glucose in a wider concentration interval. Moreover, both GOx/PANI- and GOx/PPY-electrodes exhibited good operational stability and reproducibility of analytical signal. The electrochemical characteristics of formed PANI and PPY in the GOx/PANI- and GOx/PPY-electrodes were also determined. In addition, the influence of temperature, pH and common interfering compounds on the steady-state current response of modified electrodes were investigated and discussed.     

Liquid crystalline polyamines containing side dendrons: Toward the building of ion channels based on polyamines

In this article, we modified poly[2-(aziridin-1-yl)ethanol] (PAZE) with the dendron 3,4,5-tris[4-(n-dodecan-1-yloxy)benzyloxy]benzoic acid, to obtain liquid crystalline columnar polyamines. The chemical modification reaction was first tuned on a model compound, N,N-dimethyl-2-hydroxyethylamine. The best results were obtained by the esterification method with N,N'-dicyclohexylcarbodiimide at room temperature, in the presence of 4-dimethylaminopyridine. The obtained copolymers showed higher char yield than starting PAZE. In all cases they exhibited small crystalline portions after annealing and columnar mesophases, as inferred by DSC, XRD and POM. The dimension of the unit cell resulted slightly narrower than in the case of the copolyethers bearing the same dendron. This is probably due to the presence of a longer spacer in PAZE, which allows better accommodating of the side tapered group.     

Highly monodisperse core-shell particles created by solid-state reactions

The size distribution of particles, which is essential for many properties of nanomaterials, is equally important for the mechanical behaviour of the class of alloys whose strength derives from a dispersion of nanoscale precipitates. However, particle size distributions formed by solid-state precipitation are generally not well controlled. Here we demonstrate, through the example of core-shell precipitates in Al-Sc-Li alloys, an approach to forming highly monodisperse particle size distributions by simple solid-state reactions. The approach involves the use of a two-step heat treatment, whereby the core formed at high temperature provides a template for growth of the shell at lower temperature. If the core is allowed to grow to a sufficient size, the shell develops in a 'size focusing' regime, where smaller particles grow faster than larger ones. These results suggest strategies for manipulating precipitate size distributions in similar systems through simple variations in thermal treatments.