Search

This column is intended to address the kinds of knotty problems and dilemmas with which many scholars grapple in studying health professions education. In this article, the authors address the question of why papers may be desk rejected (rejected without going out for formal peer review) and describe simple steps for authors to optimize their work so it gets past the desk reject stage. Submitted/Accepted version

A series of new coloring materials in nanoscale based on 5-(2-aminothiazol-5-yl) thiazol-2-amine and 5-(4-aminophenyl) thiazol-2-amine were synthesized. The nanoscale pigments were prepared using a grinding high˗energy ball-milling technique. X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy were employed to determine the particle size of the nanoscale pigments (40–80 nm). The synthesized pigments in normal and nanoscale were applied in the printing of polyester fabrics. The fastness and colorimetric properties of the printed samples were carefully studied. Additionally, the synthesized pigments were applied as water-based flexographic ink for paper and carton. The hue of the color pigments L*, a*, b*, glossiness, and fastness to light were measured. The comparison of the new heterocyclic benzidine analogs in normal and nanoscale with commercial benzidine pigments demonstrated better results, particularly for the nanoscale pigments.

SummaryInhibitors of the cyclin-dependent kinases 4/6 (CDK4/6i) have been practice-changing and are now considered the standard of care in combination with endocrine therapy for the first- or second-line treatment in advanced hormone-receptor-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2‑negative breast cancer. Recently, CDK4/6i have also emerged as an appealing targeted cancer therapy in early breast cancer, however results of large clinical trials are controversial. This position paper summarizes the evidence, and provides guidance for clinical practice.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging linear-accelerator (MRI-linac) equipment has recently been introduced to multiple centres in Australia and New Zealand. MRI equipment creates hazards for staff, patients and others in the MR environment; these hazards must be well understood, and risks managed by a system of environmental controls, written procedures and a trained workforce. While MRI-linac hazards are similar to the diagnostic paradigm, the equipment, workforce and environment are sufficiently different that additional safety guidance is warranted. In 2019 the Australasian College of Physical Scientists and Engineers in Medicine (ACPSEM) formed the Magnetic Resonance Imaging Linear-Accelerator Working Group (MRILWG) to support the safe clinical introduction and optimal use of MR-guided radiation therapy treatment units. This Position Paper is intended to provide safety guidance and education for Medical Physicists and others planning for and working with MRI-linac technology. This document summarises MRI-linac hazards and describes particular effects which arise from the combination of strong magnetic fields with an external radiation treatment beam. This document also provides guidance on safety governance and training, and recommends a system of hazard management tailored to the MRI-linac environment, ancillary equipment, and workforce.

Consistency and clear guidelines on dosimetry are essential for accurate and precise dosimetry, to ensure the best patient outcomes and to allow direct dose comparison across different centres. Magnetic Resonance Imaging Linac (MRI-linac) systems have recently been introduced to Australasian clinics. This report provides recommendations on reference dosimetry measurements for MRI-linacs on behalf of the Australiasian College of Physical Scientists and Engineers in Medicine (ACPSEM) MRI-linac working group. There are two configurations considered for MRI-linacs, perpendicular and parallel, referring to the relative direction of the magnetic field and radiation beam, with different impacts on dose deposition in a medium. These recommendations focus on ion chambers which are most commonly used in the clinic for reference dosimetry. Water phantoms must be MR safe or conditional and practical limitations on phantom set-up must be considered. Solid phantoms are not advised for reference dosimetry. For reference dosimetry, IAEA TRS-398 recommendations cannot be followed completely due to physical differences between conventional linac and MRI-linac systems. Manufacturers’ advice on reference conditions should be followed. Beam quality specification of TPR20,10 is recommended. The configuration of the central axis of the ion chamber relative to the magnetic field and radiation beam impacts the chamber response and must be considered carefully. Recommended corrections to delivered dose are $${k}_{{Q}_{msr}{Q}_{0}}^{{f}_{msr}{f}_{ref}}$$ k Q msr Q 0 f msr f ref , a correction for beam quality and $${k}_{\overrightarrow{B},{Q}_{msr}}^{{f}_{msr}}$$ k B → , Q msr f msr , for the impact of the magnetic field on dosimeter response in the magnetic field. Literature based values for $${k}_{\overrightarrow{B},{Q}_{msr}}^{{f}_{msr}}$$ k B → , Q msr f msr are given. It is important to note that this is a developing field and these recommendations should be used together with a review of current literature.

Publisher Copyright: © 2022, The Author(s). Direct fire, indirect heat, and extinguishing water cause great damage to cultural assets upon a fire disaster in a library or archive. Conservation and restoration of heat-damaged papers are particularly challenging due to the complexity and severity of the damage. Since valuable originals obviously cannot be used for the development of treatment methods and only to a limited extent for the analysis of the damage, it is necessary to produce model paper materials that have a high degree of similarity to fire-damaged papers, which was addressed in the present study. Three different heating methods were tested to produce model papers of different heating levels. Their altered optical, structural, and chemical properties were analyzed and compared with the results of original fire-damaged samples. The study points out pathways to enable the production of comparable sample materials. Heating between hot plates or in an oven produces papers that have properties quite similar to the originals in terms of surface area, paper structure, cellulose integrity, and interactions with water. Stack heating in the oven has proven to be a particularly effective manufacturing method for larger quantities of model papers.

The gas flow through sheet-like porous materials such as paper can show marked lateral variations due to a heterogeneous, locally varying microstructure. Hence, reliable predictions of such lateral flux variations require an appropriate consideration of local variations in the microstructure. The flow through such sheet-like materials is commonly described with Darcy’s law in which permeances are formulated in terms of microstructure properties, such as porosities, tortuosities, or hydraulic radii. This work proposes an extension of existing permeance models that directly considers the variation and the cross-dependence between local microstructure properties. The extended model is applied to local air fluxes through a paper sheet to exemplarily reveal the joint impact of local porosities and local tortuosities on the air flux. The key extension is to consider a joint distribution of porosity and tortuosity. The latter is constructed from the univariate property distributions using a copula approach and yields local tortuosities including their variation for any encountered local porosity. These values jointly enter any permeance model that qualitatively captures the dependence of the air flux on the porosity. To assess the merit of the model, variations in the air flux and in the pore space properties are independently determined from the same measured microstructure of paper. Air flux variations are provided by computational fluid dynamics simulations on multiple, nonoverlapping segments taken from the microstructure. A statistical analysis of the entire microstructure provides the distribution of local porosity, tortuosity, and thicknesses. Our model quantitatively explains that porosity-dependent variations in the tortuosity, in particular the ones associated with high-volume pathways, decisively determine air flux variations.

Background The number of citations a paper receives reflects its impact on the scientific community. We aimed to identify and explore the characteristics of the most cited papers on total anomalous pulmonary venous connection (TAPVC). Methods Web of Science Core Collection Expanded Science Citation Index (1900 to present) was searched and papers on TAPVC were reviewed. Articles were ranked by the number of citations and the 100 most cited papers were analyzed. Results The 100 most cited papers were published between 1952 and 2018 with a mean number of citations of 52 (range 26 to 148). The 1990s was the most productive decade. All articles except one were written in English. The 100 most cited articles were published in 24 journals, led by Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery (21 articles), followed by Annals of Thoracic Surgery (20 articles), and Circulation (16 articles). The United States of America contributed most of the 100 most cited papers (60 articles). Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto led the list of citation classics with six papers. Christopher A. Caldarone, John W. Kirklin, and P. E. F. Daubeney were the most productive authors with 3 articles each. More than half of the papers were cohort studies (51 articles). Surgery, radiology and etiology were the main topics. Thirty-one articles were funded by public foundations, and none received support from commercial companies. Conclusions The bibliometric analysis gives a historical perspective on scientific progress in the field of TAPVC and lays the foundation for future research.

This exploratory study compares how young people (ages 15–16) learn circuitry concepts and layout design principles important to electrical engineering using one of two educational circuitry toolkits: paper circuits and traditional solderless breadboards. Paper-based prototyping kits are representative of a trend that incorporates new materials and approaches to integrating arts into traditional STEM disciplines. Extending prior research on how non-traditional toolkits enhance learning of electrical engineering outcomes, including basic circuitry concepts (i.e., current flow, polarity, and connections), this study examines the material affordances and design choices of the kits that contribute to youth’s understanding of more advanced circuitry layout design principles, including space allocation, placement of electronic components, and routing. Results indicate that paper circuits better afford the learning of layout design principles for printed circuit boards (PCBs) with large effect sizes. This study illuminates how the materials of educational toolkits uniquely solicit body- and material-syntonic patterns of activity, and thus differentially engage learners’ powerful ideas around circuitry and design principles. This investigation encourages careful consideration of the material affordances of some toolkits over others for learning purposes.

This paper presents the case of an adjunct university professor to illustrate the dilemma of using artificial intelligence (AI) technology to grade student papers. The hypothetical case discusses the benefits of using a commercial AI service to grade student papers—including discretion, convenience, pedagogical merits of consistent feedback for students, and advances made in the field that yield high-quality work—all of which are achieved quickly. Arguments against using AI to grade student papers involve cost, privacy, legality, and ethics. The paper discusses career implications for faculty members in both situations and concludes with implications for researchers within the discourse on academic integrity.

We present a translation of the 1933 paper by R. F\"urth in which a profound analogy between quantum fluctuations and Brownian motion is pointed out. This paper opened in some sense the way to the stochastic methods of quantization developed almost 30 years later by Edward Nelson and others., Comment: 23 pages, 4 figures

Computer vision is one of the artificial intelligence’s most challenging fields, enabling computers to interpret, analyse and derive meaningful information from the visual world. There are various utilizations of computer vision algorithms, and most of them, from simpler to more complicated, have an object and shape recognition in common. Traditional pen and paper tests are designed in a pre-established format and consist of numerous basic shapes, which designate the important parts of the test itself. With that in mind, many computer vision applications regarding pen and paper tests arise as an opportunity. Massive courses and large schooling organizations mostly conduct their exams in paper format and assess them manually, which imposes a significant burden on the teaching staff. Any kind of automatization that will facilitate the grading process is highly desirable. Hence, an automated answer recognition system in assessment was developed to mitigate the problems above. The system uses images of scanned test pages obtained from the test scanning process and performs the necessary image manipulation steps to increase target recognition accuracy. Further, it manages to identify regions of interest containing multiple-choice questions and contours. Finally, the system verifies obtained results using the knowledge of the whereabouts of the test template regions of interest.

Background Paediatric orthopaedics is a significant and difficult for undergraduate students to master. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we used the WeChat platform to combine the advantages offered by problem-based learning (PBL), case-based learning (CBL) and paper review teaching methods to establish a new blended online teaching model and demonstrated its feasibility and effectiveness. Objective This study aims to demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of a new blended pedagogical method that uses the WeChat platform and combines PBL, CBL and paper review. Methods We enrolled 22 students participating in the Department of Paediatric Orthopaedics. They participated in the WeChat blended pedagogy mode. Their departmental rotation examination scores were compared with those of 23 students who participated in the traditional teaching method. Moreover, an anonymous questionnaire was used to evaluate students’ perceptions and experiences. Results The total average scores of students who participated in the WeChat blended pedagogy mode and the traditional teaching method were 47.27 and 44.52, respectively. There were no statistically significant differences between the online teaching mode and the traditional teaching method in terms of possessing professional accomplishment, gaining knowledge and promoting interpersonal skills (P = 0.07, P = 0.12 and P = 0.65, respectively). In terms of independent clinical thinking, self-improving capability and improving clinical skills, the scores associated with the WeChat blended pedagogy mode were 8.00, 8.00 and 6.00, whereas those associated with the traditional teaching method were 6.70, 6.87 and 7.48. The overall satisfaction with the WeChat blended pedagogy mode reached 100%. A total of 64%, 86%, 68%, 64% and 59% of students chose very large or large in response to the items concerning professional accomplishment, knowledge absorption, independent clinical thinking skills, English reading and literature exploring capacity, as well as interpersonal skills, respectively. Fifteen participants claimed that the WeChat blended pedagogy mode was less helpful to them with regard to promoting the improvement of their clinical skills. Nine students claimed that the WeChat blended pedagogy mode was time-consuming. Conclusions Our study verified the feasibility and effectiveness of the WeChat blended pedagogy mode for undergraduate paediatric orthopaedics internships. Trial Registration Retrospectively registered.

The study presents the integration of architectural design approaches in the fashion design process suggesting a new educational method based on structural model fabrication. The paper addresses the output of an experimental collaborative practice-based workshop titled ‘Fashion Clash’ that mixes both architects and fashion designers. The workshop focused on testing self-structural garments following a manual workflow which is divided into three main phases, (1) modeling and form-finding, (2) assembly, and (3) fabrication. Paper-based materials are used for transforming full-scale garments into textiles. The results presented seven garments displayed at a fashion show that show the effect of the folding techniques in reaching stability and highlighting the interdisciplinary integration of architects and fashion designers. The study concludes that implementing a parametric design logic based on architectural perspective in fashion would generate innovative ways of testing self-supporting geometry. Digitally computing the forces and structure before fabrication are left for further research.

In this study, we present a promising and facile approach toward the fabrication of non-toxic, water-stable, and eco-friendly luminescent fiber paper composed of polycaprolactone (PCL) polymer and CsPbBr3@SiO2 core–shell perovskite nanocrystals. PCL-perovskite fiber paper was fabricated using a conventional electrospinning process. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) clearly revealed incorporation of CsPbBr3@SiO2 nanocrystals in the fibers, while scanning electron microscopy (SEM) demonstrated that incorporation of CsPbBr3@SiO2 nanocrystals did not affect the surface and diameter of the PCL-perovskite fibers. In addition, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and contact angle measurements have demonstrated that the PCL-perovskite fibers exhibit excellent thermal and water stability. The fabricated PCL-perovskite fiber paper exhibited a bright green emission centered at 520 nm upon excitation by ultra-violet (UV) light (374 nm). We have demonstrated that fluorescent PCL-perovskite fiber paper is a promising candidate for anti-counterfeiting applications because various patterns can be printed on the paper, which only become visible after exposure to UV light at 365 nm. Cell proliferation tests revealed that the PCL-perovskite fibers are cytocompatibility. Consequently, they may be suitable for biocompatible anti-counterfeiting. The present study reveals that PCL-perovskite fibers may pave way toward next generation biomedical probe and anti-counterfeiting applications. Graphical Abstract

In this work, the efficiency of a polyelectrolyte complex (PEC) to retain different cellulose micro/nanofibers (CMNFs) during paper formation and to improve the physical properties of recycled unbleached fiber paper was analyzed. CMNFs were obtained from a commercial bleached eucalyptus pulp (BEP) using a PFI refiner followed by a chemical treatment with oxalic acid at two different concentrations. Finally, the pulp was fibrillated using a high-pressure homogenizer at three different intensities. The PEC was formed by addition of the xylan (Xyl) solution on chitosan (CH) solution with a Xyl/CH mass ratio of 80/20. The required dosages of PEC solution to neutralize the charges of different nanocellulose fractions were determined by ζ-potential measurements, and the CMNF retentions on recycled unbleached fibers were evaluated in a Britt Dynamic Drainage Jar. The results showed that the maximum retention was obtained when the neutral PEC-CMNF system was added to pulp. Besides, a significant decrease on °SR was observed when PEC and PEC-CMNF systems were added to the untreated pulp, limiting the negative effects of nanocellulose addition on pulp drainability. The incorporation of PEC-CMNF systems to the handsheets increased the tensile index (up to 28%), Mullen index (up to 40%) and internal bonding (up to 255%). Finally, the compressive strength of the handsheets, namely SCT and CMT, increased up to 30 and 70%, respectively. These simultaneous improvement on drainability and mechanical properties makes the proposed PEC-CMNF system a promising solution for the production of packaging paper.

Organic sticky contaminants represent one of the biggest technical challenges in the paper recycling process. These contaminants reduce paper strength, cause plugging of wires and felts, and stick to or deposit on machine parts affecting the runnability of the paper machine. The removal of these sticky contaminants is difficult to achieve along the process due to the heterogeneous nature of these organic contaminants. In this study, the nature of sticky contaminants in multiple wastepaper grades was analyzed and characterized using screening, solvent extraction with subsequent analysis such as FT-IR, GC-MS, and SEM. The content of stickies in wastepaper varies among different paper grades and their recovery methods. The majority of wastepaper grades collected from a recycled paper mill contains 3–5 wt% stickies, while a sample from a curb side collection from a residential area contains about 15 wt% stickies. Polyvinyl acetate (PVA) polymers, styrene butadiene rubber (SBR), paraffin waxes and polyamines are the major components in the extracted sticky contaminants. In addition, these stickies deposit heavily on fibers surface leading to high negative charge in fibers suspension ranging between 2 ~ 4.5 µeq/L. It is expected that these findings will assist addressing the knowledge gaps in understanding the nature of stickies and their behaviors, and to eventually develop highly efficient technologies for contamination removal in the paper recycling process.

Apart from protecting the environment from undesired waste impacts, wastewater treatment is a crucial platform for recovery. The exploitation of suitable technology to transform the wastes from pulp and paper industries (PPI) to value-added products is vital from an environmental and socio-economic point of view that will impact everyday life. As the volume and complexity of wastewater increase in a rapidly urbanizing world, the challenge of maintaining efficient wastewater treatment in a cost-effective and environmentally friendly manner must be met. In addition to producing treated water, the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) has a large amount of paper mill sludge (PMS) daily. Sludge management and disposal are significant problems associated with wastewater treatment plants. Applying the biorefinery concept is necessary for PPI from an environmental point of view and because of the piles of valuables contained therein in the form of waste. This will provide a renewable source for producing valuables and bio-energy and aid in making the overall process more economical and environmentally sustainable. Therefore, it is compulsory to continue inquiry on different applications of wastes, with proper justification of the environmental and economic factors. This review discusses current trends and challenges in wastewater management and the bio-valorization of paper mills. Lignin has been highlighted as a critical component for generating valuables, and its recovery prospects from solid and liquid PPI waste have been suggested.

Flexible electrodes are widely used in the manufacture of flexible sensors and wearable devices. However, with the development of science and technology and the large-scale utilization of metal resources, the question whether alternative materials can be found to ease the use of metal materials has been raised. Among them, paper-based electrodes have attracted special attention in the industry because of their degradability, low cost and high flexibility. Therefore, a low delay flexible paper-based electrode filled for capacitive sensors is proposed through carbon materials. Different from discussing the influence of single fiber, the paper-based electrode is manufactured by wet process. The effects of different fiber substrates on the physical properties and electrical signal properties of paper-based electrodes were discussed. The results show that the paper-based electrode has high conductivity, which is 18.52 S/cm. And there is a low delay in the process of electrical signal transmission. The phase frequency angle hardly changes at the signal frequency of 1 kHz, and the change of phase frequency angle is only 4.9 ° at the signal frequency of 300 kHz. The thickness of the guided electric paper is about 90 μm. Lower than common paper products. This study shows that the paper-based electrode has the advantages of high conductivity, low hysteresis, light and thin, which provides the possibility to be used as a flexible electrode.

We present a historical study of Quantum Technology 2.0 using more than 66,000 papers from 1980 to 2020 that had been assigned to four subfields. We applied the method reference publication year spectroscopy to respective publication sets of the subfields in order to identify their historical roots and seminal papers. We found 126 of them in total, 43 in quantum metrology and sensing, 46 in quantum communication and cryptography, 42 in quantum computing, and 33 in quantum information science–with a significant overlap between subfields–which are all discussed in their relevance for the respective subfield. We compared the subfields regarding their interrelationship and distinctiveness in terms of their most influential papers and were able to deduce a common core set of five seminal publications in all four subfields.

This study was performed to evaluate trends in and provide future direction for anesthesiology education, research, and clinical practice.We collected high-impact papers, ranking in the top 10% in the field of anesthesiology and published from 2011 to 2020, by the InCites tool based on the Web of Science Core Collection. We analyzed the trends, locations, distribution of subject categories, research organizations, collaborative networks, and subject terms of these papers.A total of 4,685 high-impact papers were included for analysis. The number of high-impact papers increased from 462 in 2011 to 520 in 2020. The paper with the highest value of category normalized citation impact (115.95) was published in Anesthesia and Analgesia in 2018. High-impact papers were mainly distributed in the subject categories of "Anesthesiology," "Clinical Neurology," "Neurosciences," and "Medicine General Internal." They were primarily cited in "Anesthesiology," "Clinical Neurology," "Neurosciences," "Medicine General Internal," and "Surgery." Most of these high-impact papers came from the USA, UK, Canada, Germany, and Australia. The most productive institutions were the League of European Research Universities, Harvard University, University of Toronto, University of London, University of California System, and University Health Network Toronto. Research collaboration circles have been formed in the USA, UK, and Canada. Subject-term analysis indicated postoperative analgesia, chronic pain, and perioperative complications were high-interest topics, and COVID-19 became a new hot topic in 2020.The current study provides a historical view of high-impact papers in anesthesiology in the past ten years. High-impact papers were mostly from the USA. Postoperative analgesia, chronic pain, and perioperative complications have been hot topics, and COVID-19 became a new topic in 2020. These findings provide references for education, research, and clinical practice in the field of anesthesiology.RéSUMé: OBJECTIF: Cette étude a été réalisée pour évaluer les tendances et fournir une orientation future à l’enseignement, la recherche et la pratique clinique en anesthésiologie. MéTHODE: Nous avons colligé des articles à fort impact, classés dans le top 10 % dans le domaine de l’anesthésiologie et publiés de 2011 à 2020, par l’outil InCites basé sur la Web of Science Core Collection. Nous avons analysé les tendances, les emplacements, la répartition des catégories de sujets, les organismes de recherche, les réseaux de collaboration et les termes des sujets de ces articles. RéSULTATS: Au total, 4685 articles à fort impact ont été inclus pour analyse. Le nombre de manuscrits à fort impact est passé de 462 en 2011 à 520 en 2020. L’article ayant la valeur la plus élevée de l’impact normalisé des citations de catégorie (CNCI) (115,95) a été publié dans la revue Anesthesia and Analgesia en 2018. Les articles à fort impact ont été principalement distribués dans les catégories de thèmes « Anesthésiologie », « Neurologie clinique », « Neurosciences » et « Médecine générale interne ». Ils ont été principalement cités dans les catégories « Anesthésiologie », « Neurologie clinique », « Neurosciences », « Médecine générale interne » et « Chirurgie ». La plupart de ces articles à fort impact provenaient des États-Unis, du Royaume-Uni, du Canada, d’Allemagne et d’Australie. Les établissements les plus productifs étaient la League of European Research Universities, l’Université Harvard, l’Université de Toronto, l’Université de Londres, l’Université de Californie System et le University Health Network de Toronto. Des cercles de collaboration en recherche ont été formés aux États-Unis, au Royaume-Uni et au Canada. L’analyse des termes indiquait que l’analgésie postopératoire, la douleur chronique et les complications périopératoires étaient des sujets suscitant un fort intérêt, et la COVID-19 est devenue un nouveau sujet brûlant en 2020. CONCLUSION: La présente étude propose une vue historique des articles à fort impact en anesthésiologie au cours des dix dernières années. Les manuscrits à fort impact provenaient principalement des États-Unis. L’analgésie postopératoire, la douleur chronique et les complications périopératoires ont été des sujets d’actualité, et la COVID-19 est devenue un nouveau sujet en 2020. Ces résultats fournissent des références pour la formation, la recherche et la pratique clinique dans le domaine de l’anesthésiologie.