The subject of this paper is the interdependence of communication and digital literacy, as original entities, and especially digital communication and science and scientific knowledge. In the present ...day, digital literacy is a necessary ability for scientific professionals. The concept of digital literacy is increasingly prevalent in the 21st century. Scientific research requires the capacity to efficiently use digital tools, platforms, and databases as technology continues to improve at an unparalleled rate. The capacity to get and assess data from a variety of online sources is a crucial component of digital literacy for scientific professionals. In order to encourage cooperation and creativity across scientific groups, digital literacy is vital. Moreover, scientific professionals that possess digital literacy are better equipped to disseminate their research findings to a larger audience. The essence is that the higher the level of digital literacy, the easier it is to find suitable and therefore the best forms of communication.
Citizen science has advanced science for hundreds of years, contributed to many peer-reviewed articles, and informed land management decisions and policies across the United States. Over the last ...10years, citizen science has grown immensely in the United States and many other countries. Here, we show how citizen science is a powerful tool for tackling many of the challenges faced in the field of conservation biology. We describe the two interwoven paths by which citizen science can improve conservation efforts, natural resource management, and environmental protection. The first path includes building scientific knowledge, while the other path involves informing policy and encouraging public action. We explore how citizen science is currently used and describe the investments needed to create a citizen science program. We find that:1.Citizen science already contributes substantially to many domains of science, including conservation, natural resource, and environmental science. Citizen science informs natural resource management, environmental protection, and policymaking and fosters public input and engagement.2.Many types of projects can benefit from citizen science, but one must be careful to match the needs for science and public involvement with the right type of citizen science project and the right method of public participation.3.Citizen science is a rigorous process of scientific discovery, indistinguishable from conventional science apart from the participation of volunteers. When properly designed, carried out, and evaluated, citizen science can provide sound science, efficiently generate high-quality data, and help solve problems.
•Citizen science can improve conservation efforts by building scientific knowledge.•It can also improve conservation efforts by encouraging public action.•Project design must match the needs for science and public involvement.•Citizen science is a powerful tool for tackling conservation challenges.
In the Funding statement, a funding organization and grant providing financial support for the fourth author is incorrectly omitted. The following should be read with the Funding statement: "Louis D ...Weise acknowledges support from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (http://www.nwo.nl) ^ (NWO Grant No. 613.000.604) of the research Council for Physical Sciences (EW)."
Thin-film fabrication
The deposition of thin films from multiple materials is essential to a range of materials fabrication processes. Layer-by-layer processes involve the sequential deposition of ...two or more materials that physically bond together. Richardson
et al.
review some of the techniques and materials that are used to make thin films, including sequential dip coating, spraying, and electrochemical deposition. Despite the versatility of the methods and the range of materials that can be deposited, the techniques remain mostly confined to the lab because of challenges in industrial scaling. But because there is tremendous scope for fine-tuning the structure and properties of the multilayers, there is interest in broadening the use of these techniques.
Science
, this issue
10.1126/science.aaa2491
BACKGROUND
Over the past few decades, layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly of thin films has been of considerable interest because of its ability to exert nanometer control over film thickness and its extensive choice of usable materials for coating planar and particulate substrates. The choice of materials allows for responsive and functional thin films to be engineered for various applications, including catalysis, optics, energy, membranes, and biomedicine. Furthermore, there is now a growing realization that the assembly technologies substantially affect the physicochemical properties and, ultimately, the performance of the thin films.
ADVANCES
Recent advances in LbL assembly technologies have explored different driving forces for the assembly process when compared with the diffusion-driven kinetics of classical LbL assembly, where a substrate is immersed in a polymer solution. Examples of different assembly technologies that are now available include: dipping, dewetting, roll-to-roll, centrifugation, creaming, calculated-saturation, immobilization, spinning, high gravity, spraying, atomization, electrodeposition, magnetic assembly, electrocoupling, filtration, microfluidics, and fluidized beds. These technologies can be condensed into five broad categories to which automation or robotics can also be applied—namely, (i) immersive, (ii) spin, (iii) spray, (iv) electromagnetic, and (v) fluidic assembly. Many of these technologies are still new and are actively being explored, with research shedding light on how the deposition technologies and the underlying driving forces affect the formation, properties, and performance of the films, as well as the ease, yield, and scale of the processing.
OUTLOOK
Layer-by-layer assembly has proven markedly powerful over the past two decades and has had a profound interdisciplinary effect on scientific research. Scaling up the process is crucial for furthering real-world applications, and moving forward, an understanding of how to carefully select assembly methods to harness the specific strengths of different technologies has the potential to be transformative. Comprehensive comparisons between the technologies still need to be conducted, especially in regard to coating particulate substrates, where comparisons are limited but crucial for advancing fundamental research and practical applications.
Layer-by-layer assembly of nanofilms for preparing functional materials.
The properties and performance of the resulting films depend on the substrate and layer material choices, as well as the assembly technology.
ILLUSTRATION CREDIT: ALISON E. BURKE AND CASSIO LYNM
Multilayer thin films have garnered intense scientific interest due to their potential application in diverse fields such as catalysis, optics, energy, membranes, and biomedicine. Here we review the current technologies for multilayer thin-film deposition using layer-by-layer assembly, and we discuss the different properties and applications arising from the technologies. We highlight five distinct routes of assembly—immersive, spin, spray, electromagnetic, and fluidic assembly—each of which offers material and processing advantages for assembling layer-by-layer films. Each technology encompasses numerous innovations for automating and improving layering, which is important for research and industrial applications. Furthermore, we discuss how judicious choice of the assembly technology enables the engineering of thin films with tailor-made physicochemical properties, such as distinct-layer stratification, controlled roughness, and highly ordered packing.
Citations are increasingly used as performance indicators in research policy and within the research system. Usually, citations are assumed to reflect the impact of the research or its quality. What ...is the justification for these assumptions and how do citations relate to research quality? These and similar issues have been addressed through several decades of scientometric research. This article provides an overview of some of the main issues at stake, including theories of citation and the interpretation and validity of citations as performance measures. Research quality is a multidimensional concept, where plausibility/soundness, originality, scientific value, and societal value commonly are perceived as key characteristics. The article investigates how citations may relate to these various research quality dimensions. It is argued that citations reflect aspects related to scientific impact and relevance, although with important limitations. On the contrary, there is no evidence that citations reflect other key dimensions of research quality. Hence, an increased use of citation indicators in research evaluation and funding may imply less attention to these other research quality dimensions, such as solidity/plausibility, originality, and societal value.
Citizen science as a way of communicating science and doing public engagement has over the past decade become the focus of considerable hopes and expectations. It can be seen as a win–win situation, ...where scientists get help from the public and the participants get a public engagement experience that involves them in real and meaningful scientific research. In this paper we present the results of a series of qualitative interviews with scientists who participated in the ‘OPAL’ portfolio of citizen science projects that has been running in England since 2007: What were their experiences of participating in citizen science? We highlight two particular sets of issues that our participants have voiced, methodological/epistemological and ethical issues. While we share the general enthusiasm over citizen science, we hope that the research in this paper opens up more debate over the potential pitfalls of citizen science as seen by the scientists themselves.
This paper aims to encourage an ethos of care in the study of science and technology. It starts with a reading of Bruno Latour's notion of 'matters of concern' as favouring an awareness of the ...ethico-political effects of constructivist accounts in STS. Introducing attention to concern brings us closer to a notion of care. However, there is a 'critical' edge to care that Latour's politics of things tends to disregard. Drawing upon feminist knowledge politics, I propose to treat matters of fact and sociotechnical assemblages as 'matters of care' and argue that engaging with care requires a speculative commitment to neglected things.
Background
Periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) is a complication of arthroplasty surgery with significant morbidity and mortality. Surgical helmets are a possible source of infection. Pre-existing ...dust and microorganisms on its surface may be blown into the surgical field by the helmet ventilation system.
Methods
Twenty surgical helmets at our institution were assessed through microscopy and polymerase chain reaction testing. Helmets were arranged with agar plates under the front and rear outflow vents. Helmets ran while plates were exchanged at different time points. Bacterial growth was assessed via colony counts and correlated with fan operating time. Gram staining and 16S sequencing were performed to identify bacterial species.
Results
The primary microbiological contaminate identified was Burkholderia. There was an inverse relationship between colony formation and fan operating time. The highest number of colonies was found within the first minute of fan operating time. There was a significant decrease in the number of colonies formed from the zero-minute to the three (27 vs 5; P = <.01), four (27 vs 3; P = <.01), and five-minute (27 vs 4; P = <.01) time points for the front outflow plates. A significant difference was also observed between the one-minute and four-minute time points (P = .046).
Conclusion
We observed an inverse relationship between bacterial spread helmet fan operation time, which may correlate with dispersion of pre-existing contaminates. To decrease contamination risk, we recommend that helmets are run for at least 3 min prior to entering the operating room.
Press fit fixation is becoming more popular in RSA to preserve, in theory, bone capital. Several studies report that bone resorption can be very high around humeral stems depending on their size, ...shape and mode of fixation. The aim of the current study is to mid-term follow-up clinical and radiological result of a press fit ovoid regular stem RSA in non acute trauma cases.
Materials and Methods
We performed a retrospective monocentric study of patients continuously implanted with the Humeris® stem RSA for degenerative change of the shoulder. Nineteen shoulders, in eighteen patients (74.6 y.o (from 69 to 81)), were available at minimum five years follow-up.
Results
The mean final adjusted Constant score was 111.9 (65 to 130), and the mean ASES score was 49.82 (10 to 60). Humeral resorption was observed in 21% of cases. We found a statistically significant (p = .014) lower adjusted Constant score in patients presenting with resorption on post-operative X-rays compared to those without resorption (115.6 vs. 98.25). Half cases of patients presenting a resorption underwent L’Episcopo procedure during surgery. Humeral resorption occurs the first year after surgery and do not increase even 8 years after surgery. Analysis demonstrated no correlation between the value of filling ratios and bone resorption.
Conclusion
The current study confirms a low rate of stress shielding around the studied stem, with rare bony resorption and no osteopenia around the humeral stem. This study highlights the importance of choosing the appropriate proximal shape and length of the humeral stem for press fit fixation in RSA.
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