Student and Faculty Perceptions: Appropriate Consequences of Lapses in Academic Integrity in Health Sciences Education

Background: A breadth of evidence supports that academic dishonesty is prevalent among higher education students, including students in health sciences educational programs. Research suggest individuals who engage in academic dishonesty may continue to exhibit unethical behaviors in professional practice. Thus, it is imperative to appropriately address lapses in academic dishonesty among health sciences students to ensure the future safety of patients. However, students and faculty have varying perceptions of what constitutes academic dishonesty and the seriousness of breaches in academic dishonesty. The purpose of this study is to gain health sciences faculty and students’ perceptions on the appropriate consequences of lapses in academic integrity. Methods: Faculty and students from different health care disciplines were asked to complete the anonymous survey in which 10 different academic (non-clinical) and clinical scenarios were presented. For each scenario, students or faculty needed to address their concern and assign an academic consequence that they considered appropriate (ranked from no consequence to dismissal). A mixed-effects model was used to assess the difference of questionnaire scores between subgroups. The study was completed in the Spring of 2017. Results: A total of 185 faculty and 295 students completed the electronic survey. Across all survey questions (clinical and non-clinical), the perceived severity of the behavior predicted the consequence chosen by the respondent, indicating that both faculty and students assigned what they felt to be appropriate consequences directly based on their values and perceptions. Both faculty and students show congruence in their opinions regarding the perceived seriousness of clinical cases (p = 0.220) and the recommended consequences assigned to such lapses (p = 0.110). However, faculty and students statistically significantly disagreed in their perception of the severity of non-clinical academic dishonesty scenarios and recommended consequences (p \u3c 0.001). Conclusions: Our research supports the need for collaborative work between faculty and students in putting forth clear guidelines on how to manage and uphold rules related to lapses in academic integrity not only for nonclinical situations, but especially for clinical ones in a health care setting. Recommendations from this research include using an honor code utilized in clinical settings

Interfacial Polymerization on Dynamic Complex Colloids: Creating Stabilized Janus Droplets

Complex emulsions, including Janus droplets, are becoming increasingly important in pharmaceuticals and medical diagnostics, the fabrication of microcapsules for drug delivery, chemical sensing, E-paper display technologies, and optics. Because fluid Janus droplets are often sensitive to external perturbation, such as unexpected changes in the concentration of the surfactants or surface-active biomolecules in the environment, stabilizing their morphology is critical for many real-world applications. To endow Janus droplets with resistance to external chemical perturbations, we demonstrate a general and robust method of creating polymeric hemispherical shells via interfacial free-radical polymerization on the Janus droplets. The polymeric hemispherical shells were characterized by optical and fluorescence microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and confocal laser scanning microscopy. By comparing phase diagrams of a regular Janus droplet and a Janus droplet with the hemispherical shell, we show that the formation of the hemispherical shell nearly doubles the range of the Janus morphology and maintains the Janus morphology upon a certain degree of external perturbation (e.g., adding hydrocarbon–water or fluorocarbon–water surfactants). We attribute the increased stability of the Janus droplets to (1) the surfactant nature of polymeric shell formed and (2) increase in interfacial tension between hydrocarbon and fluorocarbon due to polymer shell formation. This finding opens the door of utilizing these stabilized Janus droplets in a demanding environment

Optical visualization and quantification of enzyme activity using dynamic droplet lenses

In this paper, we describe an approach to measuring enzyme activity based on the reconfiguration of complex emulsions. Changes in the morphology of these complex emulsions, driven by enzyme-responsive surfactants, modulate the transmission of light through a sample. Through this method we demonstrate how simple photodetector measurements may be used to monitor enzyme kinetics. This approach is validated by quantitative measurements of enzyme activity for three different classes of enzymes (amylase, lipase, and sulfatase), relying on two distinct mechanisms for coupling droplet morphology to enzyme activity (host–guest interactions with uncaging and molecular cleavage).Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Institute for Soldier NanotechnologiesNational Institutes of Health (U.S.). Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (Award GM106550)Tianjin University (Internship Program

Bi-phase emulsion droplets as dynamic fluid optical systems

Micro-scale optical components play a critical role in many applications, in particular when these components are capable of dynamically responding to different stimuli with a controlled variation of their optical behavior. Here, we discuss the potential of micro-scale bi-phase emulsion droplets as a material platform for dynamic fluid optical components. Such droplets act as liquid compound micro-lenses with dynamically tunable focal lengths. They can be reconfigured to focus or scatter light and form images. In addition, we discuss how these droplets can be used to create iridescent structural color with large angular spectral separation. Experimental demonstrations of the emulsion droplet optics are complemented by theoretical analysis and wave-optical modelling. Finally, we provide evidence of the droplets utility as fluidic optical elements in potential application scenarios

Dynamically reconfigurable complex emulsions via tunable interfacial tensions

Emulsification is a powerful, well-known technique for mixing and dispersing immiscible components within a continuous liquid phase. Consequently, emulsions are central components of medicine, food and performance materials. Complex emulsions, including Janus droplets (that is, droplets with faces of differing chemistries) and multiple emulsions, are of increasing importance in pharmaceuticals and medical diagnostics, in the fabrication of microparticles and capsules for food, in chemical separations, in cosmetics, and in dynamic optics. Because complex emulsion properties and functions are related to the droplet geometry and composition, the development of rapid, simple fabrication approaches allowing precise control over the droplets’ physical and chemical characteristics is critical. Significant advances in the fabrication of complex emulsions have been made using a number of procedures, ranging from large-scale, less precise techniques that give compositional heterogeneity using high-shear mixers and membranes, to small-volume but more precise microfluidic methods. However, such approaches have yet to create droplet morphologies that can be controllably altered after emulsification. Reconfigurable complex liquids potentially have great utility as dynamically tunable materials. Here we describe an approach to the one-step fabrication of three- and four-phase complex emulsions with highly controllable and reconfigurable morphologies. The fabrication makes use of the temperature-sensitive miscibility of hydrocarbon, silicone and fluorocarbon liquids, and is applied to both the microfluidic and the scalable batch production of complex droplets. We demonstrate that droplet geometries can be alternated between encapsulated and Janus configurations by varying the interfacial tensions using hydrocarbon and fluorinated surfactants including stimuli-responsive and cleavable surfactants. This yields a generalizable strategy for the fabrication of multiphase emulsions with controllably reconfigurable morphologies and the potential to create a wide range of responsive materials.Eni S.p.A. (Firm) (Eni-MIT Alliance Solar Frontiers Program)Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies (Contract W911NF-13-D-0001)National Institutes of Health (U.S.). Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Fellowship (EB014682)National Institutes of Health (U.S.). Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Fellowship (GM106550

Bi-phase emulsion droplets as dynamic fluid optical systems

Micro-scale optical components play a critical role in many applications, in particular when these components are capable of dynamically responding to different stimuli with a controlled variation of their optical behavior. Here, we discuss the potential of micro-scale bi-phase emulsion droplets as a material platform for dynamic fluid optical components. Such droplets act as liquid compound micro-lenses with dynamically tunable focal lengths. They can be reconfigured to focus or scatter light and form images. In addition, we discuss how these droplets can be used to create iridescent structural color with large angular spectral separation. Experimental demonstrations of the emulsion droplet optics are complemented by theoretical analysis and wave-optical modelling. Finally, we provide evidence of the droplets utility as fluidic optical elements in potential application scenarios

Reconfigurable and responsive droplet-based compound micro-lenses

Micro-scale optical components play a crucial role in imaging and display technology, biosensing, beam shaping, optical switching, wavefront-analysis, and device miniaturization. Herein, we demonstrate liquid compound micro-lenses with dynamically tunable focal lengths. We employ bi-phase emulsion droplets fabricated from immiscible hydrocarbon and fluorocarbon liquids to form responsive micro-lenses that can be reconfigured to focus or scatter light, form real or virtual images, and display variable focal lengths. Experimental demonstrations of dynamic refractive control are complemented by theoretical analysis and wave-optical modelling. Additionally, we provide evidence of the micro-lenses’ functionality for two potential applications—integral micro-scale imaging devices and light field display technology—thereby demonstrating both the fundamental characteristics and the promising opportunities for fluid-based dynamic refractive micro-scale compound lenses.National Science Foundation (U.S.) (DMREF-1533985)Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (Graduate Fellowship)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant DMR-1410718)Max Planck Society for the Advancement of ScienceMassachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineerin