Academic Curiosity Research Articles

A hemodialysis curriculum for nephrology fellows using a blended learning approach: best of both worlds?

A comprehensive, hands-on hemodialysis curriculum during nephrology training is necessary for effective learning and optimal patient care. Traditional instructive approaches are unable to fully meet the needs of the digitally inclined learner and are limited by time constraints and increasing clinical workload. Internet based learning (E-learning) is becoming increasingly popular in medical education and nephrology and gaining even greater relevance in the COVID era. However, it presents technical challenges and may create an environment of social isolation. A ‘blended learning approach’ combines E-learning with traditional methods of teaching and offers advantages over either approach alone. We have designed and implemented a formalized hemodialysis curriculum at our institution that is based on blended learning, utilizing faculty-created E-learning tools combined with traditional pedagogical methods (bed-side and classroom). The web-based tools discuss hemodialysis adequacy, principles of urea transport, hemodialysis access examination and access complications. These tools are open access and structured around the science of cognitive learning using animation, interactivity, self-assessment and immediate feedback features. They have been viewed by a wide audience of nephrologists, dialysis nurses as well as medicine house-staff and have received strong validation in a post-test survey. The online tools have supported a ‘flipped classroom’ instructive model and our blended curriculum has been successfully used for nephrology fellow training at our institution. Incorporating faculty designed/approved E-learning tools to create a ‘blended’ nephrology curriculum for trainees at various levels of medical education, can help streamline active and time-efficient learning, with the goal of improving learner engagement, knowledge acquisition and academic curiosity in the field.

LC–NMR for Natural Product Analysis: A Journey from an Academic Curiosity to a Robust Analytical Tool

Liquid chromatography (LC)–nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) combines the advantage of the outstanding separation power of liquid chromatography (LC) and the superior structural elucidating capability of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). NMR has proved that it is a standout detector for LC by providing maximum structural information about plant originated extracts, particularly on the isolating ability of isomeric (same molecular formula) and/or isobaric (same molecular weight) compounds as compared to other detectors. The present review provides an overview of the developmental trends and application of LC–NMR in natural product analysis. The different LC–NMR operational modes are described, and how technical improvements assist in establishing this powerful technique as an important analytical tool in the analysis of complex plant-derived compounds is also highlighted. On-flow, stop-flow and loop-storage modes, as well as the new offline mode LC–solid phase extraction (SPE)–NMR and capillary LC (capLC)–NMR configurations which avoid the ingestion of expensive deuterated solvents throughout the experiment, are mentioned. Utilization of cryogenic probe and microprobe technologies, which are the other important promising approaches for guaranteeing sensitivity, are also described. Concluding remarks and future outlooks are also discussed.

Mathematical description of the bulk fluid flow and that of the contained impurity dispersion which uses Caputo or Riemann-Liouville fractional order partial derivatives is nonobjective

In this paper it is shown that the mathematical description of a Newtonian, incompressible, viscous bulk fluid flow and that of the contained impurity dispersion which uses Caputo or Riemann-Liouville fractional order derivative, having integral representation on finite interval, is nonobjective. This means that, two different observers describing the flow or the contained impurity dispersion with these tools obtain two different results which cannot be reconciled i.e. transformed into each other using only formulas that link the coordinates of a point in two fixed orthogonal reference frames and formulas that link the numbers representing a moment of time in two different choices of the origin of time measuring. This is not an academic curiosity! It is rather a problem: which of the obtained results is correct?

Mathematical Description of the Groundwater Flow and that of the Impurity Spread, which Use Temporal Caputo or Riemann–Liouville Fractional Partial Derivatives, Is Non-Objective

In this paper, it is shown that the mathematical description of the bulk fluid flow and that of content impurity spread, which uses temporal Caputo or temporal Riemann–Liouville fractional order partial derivatives, having integral representation on a finite interval, in the case of a horizontal unconfined aquifer is non-objective. The basic idea is that different observers using this type of description obtain different results which cannot be reconciled, in other words, transformed into each other using only formulas that link the numbers representing a moment in time for two different choices from the origin of time measurement. This is not an academic curiosity; it is rather a problem to find which one of the obtained results is correct.

Self-assembled poly-catenanes from supramolecular toroidal building blocks.

Mechanical interlocking of molecules (catenation) is a nontrivial challenge in modern synthetic chemistry and materials science1,2. One strategy to achieve catenation is the design of pre-annular molecules that are capable of both efficient cyclization and of pre-organizing another precursor to engage in subsequent interlocking3-9. This task is particularly difficult when the annular target is composed of a large ensemble of molecules, that is, when it is a supramolecular assembly. However, the construction of such unprecedented assemblies would enable the visualization of nontrivial nanotopologies through microscopy techniques, which would not only satisfy academic curiosity but also pave the way to the development of materials with nanotopology-derived properties. Here we report the synthesis of such a nanotopology using fibrous supramolecular assemblies with intrinsic curvature. Using a solvent-mixing strategy, we kinetically organized a molecule that can elongate into toroids with a radius of about 13 nanometres. Atomic force microscopy on the resulting nanoscale toroids revealed a high percentage of catenation, which is sufficient to yield 'nanolympiadane'10, a nanoscale catenane composed of five interlocked toroids. Spectroscopic and theoretical studies suggested that this unusually high degree of catenation stems from the secondary nucleation of the precursor molecules around the toroids. By modifying the self-assembly protocol to promote ring closure and secondary nucleation, a maximum catenation number of 22 was confirmed by atomic force microscopy.

Advances in high-dimensional quantum entanglement

Since its discovery in the last century, quantum entanglement has challenged some of our most cherished classical views, such as locality and reality. Today, the second quantum revolution is in full swing and promises to revolutionize areas such as computation, communication, metrology, and imaging. Here, we review conceptual and experimental advances in complex entangled systems involving many multilevel quantum particles. We provide an overview of the latest technological developments in the generation and manipulation of high-dimensionally entangled photonic systems encoded in various discrete degrees of freedom such as path, transverse spatial modes or time/frequency bins. This overview should help to transfer various physical principles for the generation and manipulation from one to another degree of freedom and thus inspire new technical developments. We also show how purely academic questions and curiosity led to new technological applications. Here fundamental research provides the necessary knowledge for coming technologies such as a prospective quantum internet or the quantum teleportation of all information stored in a quantum system. Finally, we discuss some important problems in the area of high-dimensional entanglement and give a brief outlook on possible future developments.

David Robertshaw

Professor emeritus of physiology, he led a life of academic excellence, adventure, service, curiosity, integrity and faith.

استخدام معلمي العلوم بالمرحلة الإبتدائية للتقويم القائم على الأداء وعلاقته ببعض مخرجات التعلم لدى تلاميذهم

هدف البحث الحالي إلى معرفة مدى ممارسة معلمي العلوم بالمرحلة الإبتدائية للتقويم القائم على الأداء وعلاقته ببعض مخرجات التعلم (التحصيل الدراسي- حب الاستطلاع) لدي تلاميذهم. ولتحقيق ذلک تم استخدام المنهج الوصفي, وتم إعداد أدوات البحث المتمثلة في استبانة , وبطاقة ملاحظة لمعلمي العلوم وتطبيقها على عينة مکونة من (48) معلما ومعلمة, وأيضا اختبار تحصيلي , ومقياس حب استطلاع وتطبيقها على عينة مکونة من (480) تلميذا وتلميذة من تلاميذ الصف السادس الإبتدائي بمدارس تابعة لإدارات (الجمالية - ميت سلسيل - غرب المنصورة - بلقاس) التعليمية بمحافظة الدقهلية, وأسفرت النتائج عن أن المعلمين يمارسون التقويم القائم على الأداء بدرجة کبيرة, وأن مستوى التحصيل الدراسي وحب الاستطلاع لدى تلاميذ المعلمين الذين يستخدمون التقويم القائم على الأداء کان أفضل بدرجة کبيرة من مستوي التحصيل الدراسي وحب الاستطلاع لدى تلاميذ المعلمين الذين يستخدمون التقويم القائم على الأداء بدرجة متوسطة ومنخفضة. The Use of primary stage Science teachers to performance-based- assessment and its relationship with some of their students, learning outcomes Abstract: The aim of the current research is to know the extent of the use of the primary stage science teachers to performance-based-assessment and its relationship with some of their students, learning outcomes (academic achievement - curiosity). To achieve that, the descriptive method was used, and the research tools of a questionnaire and a note for science teachers were prepared, these tools were applied on a sample of (48) teachers, as well as an achievement test, a measure of curiosity were applied to a sample of (480) students. The sixth primary schools in the departments of (Elgamaliya - Mitt Salsil - West Mansoura - Belqas) educational Dakahlia Governorate, The results showed that teachers practiced performance-based assessment to a large extent, and that the level of academic achievement and curiosity of students of teachers using the performance-based assessment was significantly better than the level of educational achievement and curiosity of students of teachers using the performance-based assessment medium and low.

The Knowledge Body of Requirement Engineering in IST Innovations: An Ontological Analysis

Requirement Engineering is considered a key factor for Information Systems and Technology (IST) success in innovation. After roughly 40 years, important questions about the impact of RE in innovations remains. Literature review and bibliometric reports are well-known techniques for describing the state of the art; however, both can cover what has been done, but fail to identify the less developed areas. An alternative method is used to describe the whole knowledge body of RE (KBoRE) for IST innovations, and then systematically identify the most, less and uncovered areas. This paper proposes an Ontological framework of the KBoRE for IST innovations, by decomposing it through the identification of taxonomies and concepts that represent the field. Then, we apply the ontology to map articles from SCOPUS and WoS databases. Results reveal emphases that help to design research agendas and feed the KBoRE for IST Innovations to fill the gaps between the academic curiosity and the industry progress.

Supported Catalytically Active Supramolecular Hydrogels for Continuous Flow Chemistry

AbstractInspired by biology, one current goal in supramolecular chemistry is to control the emergence of new functionalities arising from the self‐assembly of molecules. In particular, some peptides can self‐assemble and generate exceptionally catalytically active fibrous networks able to underpin hydrogels. Unfortunately, the mechanical fragility of these materials is incompatible with process developments, relaying this exciting field to academic curiosity. Here, we show that this drawback can be circumvented by enzyme‐assisted self‐assembly of peptides initiated at the walls of a supporting porous material. We applied this strategy to grow an esterase‐like catalytically active supramolecular hydrogel (CASH) in an open‐cell polymer foam, filling the whole interior space. Our supported CASH material is highly efficient towards inactivated esters and enables the kinetic resolution of racemates. This hybrid material is robust enough to be used in continuous flow reactors, and is reusable and stable over months.

Supported Catalytically Active Supramolecular Hydrogels for Continuous Flow Chemistry.

Inspired by biology, one current goal in supramolecular chemistry is to control the emergence of new functionalities arising from the self-assembly of molecules. In particular, some peptides can self-assemble and generate exceptionally catalytically active fibrous networks able to underpin hydrogels. Unfortunately, the mechanical fragility of these materials is incompatible with process developments, relaying this exciting field to academic curiosity. Here, we show that this drawback can be circumvented by enzyme-assisted self-assembly of peptides initiated at the walls of a supporting porous material. We applied this strategy to grow an esterase-like catalytically active supramolecular hydrogel (CASH) in an open-cell polymer foam, filling the whole interior space. Our supported CASH material is highly efficient towards inactivated esters and enables the kinetic resolution of racemates. This hybrid material is robust enough to be used in continuous flow reactors, and is reusable and stable over months.

Aqueous two-phase systems: Towards novel and more disruptive applications

Aqueous two-phase systems (ATPS) have been mainly proposed as powerful platforms for the separation and purification of high-value biomolecules. However, after more than seven decades of research, ATPS are still a major academic curiosity, without their wide acceptance and implementation by industry, leading to the question whether ATPS should be mainly considered in downstream bioprocessing. Recently, due to their versatility and expansion of the Biotechnology and Material Science fields, these systems have been investigated in novel applications, such as in cellular micropatterning and bioprinting, microencapsulation, to mimic cells conditions, among others. This perspective aims to be a reflection on the current status of ATPS as separation platforms, while overviewing their applications, strengths and limitations. Novel applications, advantages and bottlenecks of ATPS are further discussed, indicating some directions on their use to create innovative industrial processes and commercial products.

Exploring Quasi-1D Oxides As Ca2+ Hosts for Calcium Battery Applications

The study of intercalation compounds [1] led to the identification of redox reactions in host transition metal compounds involving reversible (usually topotactic) insertion and deinsertion of Mn+ ions. Studies with Li+ turned out to be a cornerstone in the development of the Li-ion battery technology [2] that has synergistically boosted portable electronics, while intercalation of multivalent cations (n>1) remained an academic curiosity. Yet, the current energy needs for batteries require significant improvement in energy density, beyond the capabilities of the traditional Li-ion technology, and multivalent cation chemistries represent a thrilling alternative in terms of the amount of energy that can be delivered. Ca metal based batteries have been almost unexplored as reversible plating and stripping of Ca with conventional organic electrolytes at moderate temperature was reported only recently [3,4]. The alkylcarbonate based electrolytes used in this work offer a wide electrochemical stability window, thus inciting the exploration of possible high voltage cathode materials with reliable electrochemical set-ups [5]. Development of potential multivalent host structures is challenging and the choice of cathode materials extremely limited, as divalent cation insertion/extraction is associated with sluggish solid state diffusion kinetics and high activation energies for the charge transfer kinetics. Layered intercalation compounds, with expandable interlayer space like TiS2, V2O5, MoO3, etc., are typically the most studied, but fundamental understanding of the reaction mechanisms in these phases is limited [6,7]. In this work we have explored the possibility of using Ca3Co2O6 cobaltite as Ca-based battery cathode [8]. The pristine compound has a 1D structure of CoO6 octahedra and prisms alternating along chains. By means of ex-situ synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction we have realized that Ca can be extracted by electrochemical methods driving to an incommensurate structure of the type Can+2Con+1O3n+3 (or, equivalently Ca1+xCoO3), characterized by the alternation of n octahedra and one prism along the Co-chain. The reversibility of the redox process seems to be rather limited in the present experimental conditions, indicating some kinetic or thermodynamic issues. Structurally related phases have been also explored as strategy for identifying alternative Ca2+ hosts.

LC-NMR for Natural Products Analysis: A Journey from an Academic Curiosity to a Robust Analytical Tool

LC–NMR combines the advantage of the outstanding separation power of liquid chromatography (LC) and the superior structural elucidating capability of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). NMR has proved that it is a standout detector for LC by providing maximum structural information about plant originated extracts particularly in its isolating ability of isomeric (same molecular formula) and/or isobaric (same molecular weight) compounds as compared to other detectors. The present review provides an overview of the LC–NMR developmental trends and its application in natural products analysis. The different LC–NMR operational modes are described, as well as how technical improvements assist in establishing this powerful technique as an important analytical tool in the analysis of complex plant-derived compounds. On-flow, stop-flow and loop-storage modes, as well as the new offline mode LC–SPE–NMR and capLC-NMR configurations that avoid the ingestion of expensive deuterated solvents throughout the experiment are mentioned. Utilization of cryogenic probe and microprobe technologies which are the other important promising approaches for guaranteeing the sensitivity issues are also described. Concluding remarks and future outlooks are also discussed.

Pharmacometrics, Physiologically Based Pharmacokinetics, Quantitative Systems Pharmacology-What's Next?-Joining Mechanistic and Epidemiological Approaches.

The application of modeling and simulation (M&S) tools to biological, physiological, and clinical data has great potential to enhance drug development and regulatory decision making. The strategic development of multidisciplinary projects aimed at integrating methodologies from different disciplines may bridge between preclinical and clinical drug development as well as between academic curiosity and clinical practice. Herein we review the history and present the state of M&S approaches as well as our vision for future challenges and applications.

Evolving a Model of Sustainable Leadership: An Ex-post Facto Research

The cascading effects of globalization, changing business environment, economic uncertainties, technological advancements, heightened stress levels and increasing incidence of behavioural deviance have changed the workplace requiring sustainable leadership. Although there is plethora of literature on leadership, there is dearth of scholarly work on sustainable leadership as the subject is still evolving. This aroused academic curiosity and provided impetus to me to undertake this study to explore the ideology of the leaders in political and organizational contexts and study their attributes in the backdrop of extant literature on spiritual leadership and humanistic management to find answer to the question ‘does spirituo-humanistic ideology lead to sustainable leadership?’ The present research seeks to (a) study the link between secular spirituality and leadership, (b) examine attributes and behaviour of leaders of long standing in political and business contexts and (c) evolve a model of sustainable leadership for organizations with an operational definition. For a long-time spirituality and leadership were considered apart: one, a realm of intangible ideas and emotions; the other, a practical area of scientific inquiry, however, the article embraces a holistic view of secular spiritual leadership. It adopts anti-positivism paradigm (theory) focusing on qualitative analysis (Cohen et al., Research Methods in Education [5th ed.], London: Routledge Falmer, 2000). As research on sustainable leadership requires studying leadership behaviour over a period, the study adopted ex-post facto research for conducting two case studies of leaders in political and business contexts from India who provided leadership in their respective spheres for decades. Finally, the study contributes a spirituo-humanistic model of sustainable leadership for organizations.

Atomic Scale Design, Structure and Stability of Quantum Nanowires Located on Epitaxial Interfaces and Free‐Standing in Space

Metal nanowires excite remarkable academic curiosity as physical systems with confined geometry, reduced dimensionality, and peculiar quantum properties. The exotic features of the nanowires are strongly dependent on their size, shape and morphology, and therefore detailed knowledge of the nanowire fine atomic structure is indispensable. The present paper gives an overview on the problem of structural instability, spontaneous breakdown, and complete disintegration of metal nanowires located on epitaxial interfaces or free‐standing in space. The introduced new physical model reveals specific multi‐step vacancy‐mediated mechanism of thermaly activated nanowire rupture. Accounting for the impact of essential physical quantities on the nanowire instability including system temperature, number of defects, lattice mismatch, interface anisotropy, atomic interactions, ridgidity and flexibility, this model identify a general scenario of nanowire decomposition. The complete rupture kinetics of monatomic nanowire breakdown is described by a set of rate equations and on that background expressions are derived for physically important and experimentally accessible quantities including time‐dependent probability for nanowire breakdown and nanowire mean lifetime. The presented ensemble of studies contributes to a new type atomic‐scale design of epitaxial interfaces, giving insight into thermal instability, rupture mechanism and fine tuning of the structural, morphological and thermodynamic properties of a large variety of metal nanowires.

Catalyst: Is the Amino Acid a New Frontier for Biorefineries?

Prof. Ning Yan obtained his BS and PhD degrees from Peking University in 2004 and 2009, respectively. Thereafter, he worked as a Marie-Curie research fellow at Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland. He joined the National University of Singapore (NUS) as an assistant professor, established the Lab of Green Catalysis in 2012, and was promoted to the position of associate professor in 2018. Yunzhu Wang received her BE degree from NUS in 2014. She joined Prof. Yan’s group in the same year and is currently pursuing her PhD. Her research interests include nanoscale metal catalysts and their applications in producing renewable nitrogen-containing chemicals.

Influence Of Strategy Implementation On The Performance Of Maritime Cluster Firms In Kenya

The study of strategy implementation on the performance of maritime cluster firms has not been fully exhausted for economic growth despite its vast potential resources. In recent times, many countries near the oceans, seas, lakes, rivers and dams are exploiting their natural resources both off shore and on shore (for blue economy) with an aim of increasing their competitive advantage to create employment opportunities, wealth as new frontier by implementing maritime clusters strategy for economic growth and sustainability. This process helps them strengthen their national and regional competitiveness through clustering for their industrial development through processing, manufacturing and value addition of their products. This study seeks to stir up an academic curiosity in the field of maritime academic discipline and anticipates enhancing both policy and knowledge gaps in maritime related cluster firms. The findings of the research will be of importance to policy makers within the government and the maritime cluster firms as well as contribute to the body of knowledge as a reference material for future research works. The main objective of this study is to establish the influence of strategy implementation on performance of Maritime Cluster firms in Kenya and the specific objectives of this study are to establish the influence of strategic policies, strategic direction, organization structure, resource capability, technology innovation, firms’ size and years of operation on the performance of maritime cluster firms in Kenya. The research will allow collection of both quantitative and qualitative data and adopt descriptive research (statistical research) as well as inferential statistics designs in which variables of interest will not be controlled or manipulated. The target population of the study is 1386 maritime firms and the sample size of 94 firms which will be randomly selected as a basis for unit of analysis. Thus, the study will perform a pilot test to support reliability and validity tests based on 10% of the sample size of about 10 firms out of 94 firms which will not be included in the main study sample. Both primary and secondary data will be collected by use of questionnaires, structured interviews as instrument of data collection. Both factor analysis and correlation analysis will be used to determine the magnitude and direction of the association between research variables. The study will further perform hypothesis testing using ANOVA. The quantitative data collected will be analysed further through descriptive statistics such as mean, median, standard deviation supported by the statistical package for social science SPSS version 22 whereas the qualitative data will be analysed by use thematic analysis.

Racial Identity, Racial Discrimination, and Classroom Engagement Outcomes Among Black Girls and Boys in Predominantly Black and Predominantly White School Districts

This study examined the associations among racial identity beliefs (centrality and public regard), racial discrimination, and academic engagement outcomes among 1,659 African American adolescents across two demographically distinct school districts, one predominantly Black, working class ( n = 1,100) and one predominantly White, middle class ( n = 559). Across these districts, the youths reported that race was a central aspect of their identity and demonstrated varying levels of public regard. Racial discrimination was negatively associated with academic curiosity and persistence, but this effect was moderated by gender and racial identity. Our findings demonstrate the harmful influence of discrimination on the academic engagement of African American adolescents and the protective roles of racial identity beliefs across gender and school racial contexts.