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Background and Purpose To describe implementation and lessons learned from use of a mock trial as a teaching-learning and assessment activity in a required evidence-based practice course. This innovative self-directed learning strategy reinforced evidence-based skills and affective domain competencies in Center for the Advancement of Pharmaceutical Education (CAPE) 2013 Outcomes and Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) Standards 2016. Educational Activity and Setting During spring semesters 2015 and 2016, first professional year (P1) cohorts were divided into teams and assigned controversial topics to research and debate in mock trials. The activity provided opportunities for teaching-learning and assessment. Statistical analysis included inter-rater reliability (IRR), comparison of faculty-judge and student-juror evaluation of trial performance. Findings Two cohorts were divided into eight teams (four per cohort) to debate four issues. Students within each team were assigned individual scores. Mean individual scores are reported by trial/topic. Faculty-judges and student-jurors rated eight criteria including content/knowledge, critical thinking, application/discussion of federal/state law, citations/references, visual aids, delivery/style, and active listening. Analysis indicated students met competency expectations with overall judges’ and jurors’ mean scores above 54/60 points (90%) in 2015 and above 51/60 points (85%) in 2016. Judges’ scores showed a wider distribution than jurors’ scores. Peer evaluation mean scores were above 55/60 points in all four trials. Intra-class correlation was calculated. Judges’ scores had excellent IRR in two trials, and good IRR in a third trial, whereas jurors had good IRR in one trial. Summary Evaluation scores demonstrated students successfully applied knowledge and skills from this and prior P1 courses, and met competency expectations for the mock trial.

We have measured the electric transport of double quantum point contacts in series at low temperatures. Two pairs of metal gates are placed longitudinally and sequentially with an edge-to-edge distance of 600 nm. They are used to form two quantum point contacts in a GaAs / Al x Ga 1 ‐ x As heterostructure. Isolating from an insulating layer, a top gate is also fabricated on top of the quantum point contacts to modify the electron densities in the quantum point contacts and the two dimensional electron gas as well. The transport is characterized by the direct transmission probability T d which represents the portions of electrons travelling ballistically from one quantum point contact to the other. Our results show that the parameter T d decreases with decreasing carrier density. The transport is partially adiabatic in high 2D electron densities and transits to completely ohmic regimes in low densities. Because of the correlation between the coherence length and transmission probability, we attribute the result to the reduction of the coherence length and mean free path in the unconstricted electron gas between quantum point contacts.

We have measured the low-temperature resistivities of a series of bulk crystalline disordered Ti 73− x Al 27 Sn x alloys ( x ≲5) as well as the sheet resistances of a number of thin ferromagnetic Ni films (≈120 A thick) sandwiching an ultrathin Ag or Au (≲5 A) layer. The level of impurities (concentration of Sn in the former case, and thickness of Ag or Au in the latter case) is progressively increased in order to enhance the spin–orbit scattering in a controllable manner. The influence of the spin–orbit scattering on the electron–electron interaction effects is studied from the temperature dependence of resistivities (sheet resistance) at low temperatures. We find that the electron–electron interaction contribution to the resistivities (sheet resistances) increases slightly with increasing spin–orbit scattering. Our observation is discussed in terms of the current theoretical concept for the electron–electron interactions in disordered metals.

We have performed electronic tunneling density of states and resistivity measurements in three-dimensional CuxGe100−x films spanning the weakly and strongly localized regimes. We found that the Coulomb anomaly in tunneling density of states in the strongly disordered regime is very profound and grows in strength with resistivity. However, when the system becomes less disorderly and approaches the weakly disordered regime, this anomaly weakens rapidly. The data suggest that the disorder enhanced electron–electron interaction effects can drive the crossover from weak disorder to strong disorder in CuGe alloy system.

The transition temperature T c and upper critical field H c2 of sputtered Fe/Nb trilayers and multilayers have been determined by measurement of electrical resistivity. For a fixed Fe layer thickness, T c decreases with decreasing Nb thickness up to a critical thickness d Nb crit ≈ 34 nm below which superconductivity vanishes. When the superconducting layers are thin ( d Nb 140 nm ) and decoupled by pair breaking in the ferromagnetic layers, the parallel critical field exhibits nonlinear temperature dependence, revealing a change in the superconducting dimensionality. The strong decrease of T c with decreasing Nb thickness as well as the temperature dependence of H c2 can be well described by theoretical model.

We present the first measurements of giant magnetoresistance with current perpendicular to the layer planes (CPP-MR) of an exchange-biased spin-valve (EBSV) - a controllable spin-switch. Interpreted with the theory of Valet and Fert, data on EBSVs of permalloy (Py) with Cu yield an unexpectedly short spin-diffusion length in Py − l sf Py =5.5± nm. Such a short length has implications for the interpretation of Johnson's data on a Py/Au/Py spin-switch.

Electron tunneling measurements on ultrathin quench-condensed films near the superconductor-to-insulator (SI) transition reveal that the superconducting state degrades with increasing normal state sheet resistance, R□, in a manner that depends strongly on film morphology. In homogeneously disordered films, the superconducting energy gap Δo decreases continuously and appears to go to zero at the SI transition. In granular films the transport properties degrade while Δo remains constant. Measurements in the normal state reveal disorder enhanced e- -e- interaction corrections to the density of states. These effects are strong and depend on morphology in a manner that is consistent with their playing an important role in driving the SI transition.

We present measurements of the temperature dependence of the tunneling density of states near the Fermi energy, G 0 (T) , and resistive transitions, R(T) , of ultrathin PbBi films. Both R(T) and G 0 (T) broaden substantially near the superconductor to insulator transition (SIT). The broadening in R(T) is not affected by the proximity of a ground plane suggesting that long range Coulomb interactions are not important to the SIT. The results suggest that the transport properties of films near the SIT are influenced by fluctuations in both the phase and the amplitude of the order parameter. We discuss the data in terms of recent theories of the superconducting transition in low superfluid density systems.

Na x CoO 2 ( x ∼0.68) thin films were fabricated on sapphire (0 0 0 1) substrates via the lateral diffusion of sodium into Co 3 O 4 (1 1 1) films, which were grown by pulsed-laser deposition. From the results of X-ray diffraction and in-plane resistivity ρ ab , the single phase and the metallic behaviors of these Na x CoO 2 films can be identified. For the same sodium content x , ρ ab is consistent with that of single crystals. In addition, the O 1 s X-ray absorption near edge spectra of thin films are measured and compared with those of single crystals.

We have observed superconducting properties in three dimensional CuxGe100−x samples with 38⩽x⩽67. Transition temperature Tc is about 0.4 K . Upper critical magnetic field Hc2 has been measured in these samples confirming that they are indeed superconductors. Near the zero field Tco, Hc2 depends linearly on temperature. Our results show robust superconducting properties present in CuGe samples with weakly disorder.

We have successfully made a series of thick CuxGe100−x films spanning the weakly and strongly localized regimes. With decreasing mole concentration of Cu relative to Ge, the resistivity of film becomes bigger at a given temperature and demonstrates a stronger temperature dependence at low temperatures. When x is big, 46⩽x⩽56, resistivity increases with the square root of the decreasing temperature, implying a weak-disorder behavior. For x small, 14⩽x⩽20, resistivity increases exponentially with decreasing temperature, implying a strongly localized behavior. The results show that the low-temperature transport in these films is dominated by the disorder enhanced electron–electron interaction effects.

We have studied the inelastic electron dephasing scattering times, τi, in disordered CuxGe100−x (35⩽x⩽60) alloys between 1 and 15 K. The values of τi−1 (∼Tp), and especially the exponent of temperature p, are extracted from weak localization studies. We find that the value of p continuously decreases from ∼3 to ∼1 as x gradually decreases from 60 to 35. Our observation is understood in terms of a crossover of the inelastic electron dephasing in impure metals from e–ph scattering to critical e–e scattering as the disorder greatly increases and the system moves significantly toward the mobility edge.

We have observed a positive (inverse) CPP-MR in magnetic multilayers of the forms: (a) ( X Y/Cu/Co/Cu) n with X Y being the alloys Fe Cr, Fe V, Ni Cr, Co Cr, and (b) (Z/Cr/NiFe/Cr) n with Z = Fe and Co. For (a) the inverted results arise primarily from spin-dependent scattering in the bulk of the alloy, and are linked consistently to: (1) their magnetization; (2) band-structure calculations and (3) resistivity of bulk alloys. For (b) samples, the inverse MRs arise primarily from the scattering at the Fe/Cr and Co/Cr interfaces . Inverse MR for X/Y interfaces and XY alloys (eg. Fe/Cr and Fe Cr) arises from the similarity of the matching problem of X and Y d levels at interfaces and in alloys. For all X Y the CIP-MR was negative , confirming that CIP-MR is strongly influenced by channeling effect and current inhomogenieties.

We present eletron transport measurement that demonstrate that Pb films that are on the insulating side of the two dimensional superconductor to insulator transitions can be made superconducting by depositing a normal metal, Ag, on them.

Electron tunneling measurements of the Coulomb anomaly in the density of states in strongly disordered quench condensed granular films are presented. The strength of this anomaly grows with increasing sheet resistance, R N , at low R N but saturates at high R N . We suggest that the granular morphology of these films is responsible for the saturation.

Two organic donors based on the tetrathiafulvalene astructure were prepared They are bis(ethylenediseleno)-TTF (BEDSe-TTF) and bis(oxydimethylene)-TTF (BODM-TTF). Both compounds show two reversible one-electron oxidation with E1 = 0.47V and E2 = 0.87V for BEDSe-TTF and E1 = 0.35V and E2 = 0.66V for BODM-TTF. Interestingly, BODM-TTF was found to possess the lowest half-wave potentials among the known TTF derivatives.

Treatment of alkenes with t-butyl hydroperoxide in the presence of Cr(CO) 6 or Cr(CO) x (CH 3 CN) y species results in oxidation of allylic methylene groups to give α,β-unsaturated ketones, selectively in the presence of certain alcohols, and in moderate to excellent yields.

Friedel-Crafts acetylation of dicarbonyl(η 4 -cyclohexadiene)triphenylphos-phineiron is accomplished in 96% yield under mild conditions to give dicarbonyl-(η 4 -5- endo -acetylcyclohexa-1,3-diene)triphenylphosphineiron. The structure of the product was established by direct comparison with the epimeric complex dicarbonyl(η 4 -5- exo -acetylcyclohexa-1,3-diene)triphenylphosphineiron produced by reaction of methyl magnesium iodide with dicarbonyl(η 4 -5- exo -cyanocyclohexa-1,3-diene)triphenylphosphineiron.