Evaluating satisfaction with teaching innovation, its relationship to academic performance and the application of a video-based microlearning.

AIM: To develop and validate a questionnaire to assess satisfaction with teaching innovation, assess the student satisfaction with a video-based microlearning intervention in its video-based modality and to verify its impact on academic performance. DESIGN: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted. The study used the COSMIN checklist for studies on measurement instruments. METHODS: One hundred and ten nursing students from Salus Infirmorum University Centre (Andalusia, Spain) participated in the study. The items of the instrument were designed based on a literature review and its validity and stability were analysed. After that, 6 weeks of video-based microlearning intervention were implemented. Then students were asked to fill the satisfaction questionnaire and then took the subject exam. RESULTS: The resulting questionnaire consisted of 5 items with only one dimension. The questionnaire showed good validity and reliability. A direct correlation was observed between satisfaction with the video-based microlearning intervention and the marks of the subject exam.

The Impact of Clinical Training Seminars on Stress and Perception of Clinical Placement Stressors among Spanish Undergraduate Nursing Students: A Two-Phase Mixed-Methods Study.

Stress and stressors related to clinical practice are some of the main reasons for the discomfort reported by nursing students. It is important to identify the causes of stress and seek strategies to reduce the stress levels in nursing students. Clinical training seminars have proven to be a useful tool to reduce stress levels. This study aims to evaluate the effects of a series of clinical training seminars on the levels of stress and perception of stress factors before the start of clinical practice among undergraduate Spanish nursing students. A two-phase, sequential mixed-methods design was used. For the quantitative phase, data were collected using Cohen's Perceived Stress Scale and the KEZKAK questionnaire before and after the clinical training seminars. Qualitative data were collected through a focus group session held after the clinical training period. The results show a significant reduction (p = 0.002) in perceived stress levels after the clinical training seminars, and also a change in students' perception of stressors in the clinical placement. This study provides valuable information for the development of content for clinical training seminars. Universities should develop strategies to reduce stress in their students caused by the clinical placement.

Theory of drift-enabled control in nonlocal magnon transport.

Electrically injected and detected nonlocal magnon transport has emerged as a versatile method for transporting spin as well as probing the spin excitations in a magnetic insulator. We examine the role of drift currents in this phenomenon as a method for controlling the magnon propagation length. Formulating a phenomenological description, we identify the essential requirements for existence of magnon drift. Guided by this insight, we examine magnetic field gradient, asymmetric contribution to dispersion, and temperature gradient as three representative mechanisms underlying a finite magnon drift velocity, finding temperature gradient to be particularly effective.

Empathy, Burnout, and Attitudes towards Mental Illness among Spanish Mental Health Nurses.

Mental health nurses, together with psychiatrists, are the healthcare professionals who display the highest levels of empathy and the best attitudes towards patients with mental disorders. However, burnout is a common problem among these professionals. The aim of our study is to describe the association between empathy, burnout, and attitudes towards patients with mental disorders among mental health nurses in Spain. A descriptive cross-sectional design was used involving a sample of 750 specialist nurses working in mental health facilities in Spain. An intentional, non-probability, non-discriminative, exponential snowball sampling method was used. The Jefferson Scale of Empathy, the Maslach Burnout Inventory, and the Community Attitudes towards Mental Illness Inventory were used to measure the study variables. A positive correlation was observed between empathy and all the study variables, with the exception of the personal accomplishment dimension of burnout and the social restrictiveness and authoritarianism dimensions of attitudes towards mental illness, where a negative relation was observed. Our findings suggest that empathy is associated with an increase in positive attitudes towards patients with mental disorders, decreasing associated stigma, but did not act as a protective factor against burnout in the study sample.

Observation of Yu-Shiba-Rusinov States in Superconducting Graphene.

When magnetic atoms are inserted inside a superconductor, the superconducting order is locally depleted as a result of the antagonistic nature of magnetism and superconductivity. Thereby, distinctive spectral features, known as Yu-Shiba-Rusinov states, appear inside the superconducting gap. The search for Yu-Shiba-Rusinov states in different materials is intense, as they can be used as building blocks to promote Majorana modes suitable for topological quantum computing. Here, the first observation of Yu-Shiba-Rusinov states in graphene, a non-superconducting 2D material, and without the participation of magnetic atoms, is reported. Superconductivity in graphene is induced by proximity effect brought by adsorbing nanometer-scale superconducting Pb islands. Using scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy the superconducting proximity gap is measured in graphene, and Yu-Shiba-Rusinov states are visualized in graphene grain boundaries. The results reveal the very special nature of those Yu-Shiba-Rusinov states, which extends more than 20 nm away from the grain boundaries. These observations provide the long-sought experimental confirmation that graphene grain boundaries host local magnetic moments and constitute the first observation of Yu-Shiba-Rusinov states in a chemically pure system.

Design of a nursing objective structured clinical examination of a first-year clinical practice program.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to design a content-valid nursing objective structured clinical examination attending a first-year clinical nursing practice program. METHOD: The examination was designed following a procedure based on the consensus of experts which was comprised of three phases: selection of the activities in which students should be competent according to the learning outcomes of the course, clinical case design, and integration of the clinical cases designed into the stations of the test. RESULTS: Of the 44 surveys submitted for the design of the stations, 37 were answered, of which 31 respondents met the inclusion criteria of the panel of experts. The activities on which the experts reached the highest degrees of consensus were: basic physical assessment and monitoring of vital signs, assessment of hygiene and skin status, ability to develop care plans, management of safety principles in administration of medication and administration of oral medication. Based on the selected activities, the experts developed 20 clinical cases, from which a four-station nursing objective structured clinical examination was designed. CONCLUSION: The structured methodology based on the design of experts enabled the design of a content-valid objective structured clinical examination appropriate for the evaluation of the learning outcomes achieved by the students attending a clinical practice program.

Backbone charge transport in double-stranded DNA.

Understanding charge transport in DNA molecules is a long-standing problem of fundamental importance across disciplines1,2. It is also of great technological interest due to DNA's ability to form versatile and complex programmable structures. Charge transport in DNA-based junctions has been reported using a wide variety of set-ups2-4, but experiments so far have yielded seemingly contradictory results that range from insulating5-8 or semiconducting9,10 to metallic-like behaviour11. As a result, the intrinsic charge transport mechanism in molecular junction set-ups is not well understood, which is mainly due to the lack of techniques to form reproducible and stable contacts with individual long DNA molecules. Here we report charge-transport measurements through single 30-nm-long double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) molecules with an experimental set-up that enables us to address individual molecules repeatedly and to measure the current-voltage characteristics from 5 K up to room temperature. Strikingly, we observed very high currents of tens of nanoamperes, which flowed through both homogeneous and non-homogeneous base-pair sequences. The currents are fairly temperature independent in the range 5-60 K and show a power-law decrease with temperature above 60 K, which is reminiscent of charge transport in organic crystals. Moreover, we show that the presence of even a single discontinuity ('nick') in both strands that compose the dsDNA leads to complete suppression of the current, which suggests that the backbones mediate the long-distance conduction in dsDNA, contrary to the common wisdom in DNA electronics2-4.

Dynamical Coulomb Blockade as a Local Probe for Quantum Transport.

Quantum fluctuations are imprinted with valuable information about transport processes. Experimental access to this information is possible, but challenging. We introduce the dynamical Coulomb blockade (DCB) as a local probe for fluctuations in a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) and show that it provides information about the conduction channels. In agreement with theoretical predictions, we find that the DCB disappears in a single-channel junction with increasing transmission following the Fano factor, analogous to what happens with shot noise. Furthermore we demonstrate local differences in the DCB expected from changes in the conduction channel configuration. Our experimental results are complemented by ab initio transport calculations that elucidate the microscopic nature of the conduction channels in our atomic-scale contacts. We conclude that probing the DCB by STM provides a technique complementary to shot noise measurements for locally resolving quantum transport characteristics.

Design of a nursing objective structured clinical examination of a first-year clinical practice program / Projeto de um exame clínico estruturado objetivo de enfermagem de um programa de prática clínica do primeiro ano / Diseño de una prueba de evaluación clínica objetiva estructurada de cuidados de enfermería del primer curso de prácticas clínicas

ABSTRACT Objective: The aim of the present study was to design a content-valid nursing objective structured clinical examination attending a first-year clinical nursing practice program. Method: The examination was designed following a procedure based on the consensus of experts which was comprised of three phases: selection of the activities in which students should be competent according to the learning outcomes of the course, clinical case design, and integration of the clinical cases designed into the stations of the test. Results: Of the 44 surveys submitted for the design of the stations, 37 were answered, of which 31 respondents met the inclusion criteria of the panel of experts. The activities on which the experts reached the highest degrees of consensus were: basic physical assessment and monitoring of vital signs, assessment of hygiene and skin status, ability to develop care plans, management of safety principles in administration of medication and administration of oral medication. Based on the selected activities, the experts developed 20 clinical cases, from which a four-station nursing objective structured clinical examination was designed. Conclusion: The structured methodology based on the design of experts enabled the design of a content-valid objective structured clinical examination appropriate for the evaluation of the learning outcomes achieved by the students attending a clinical practice program.

RESUMO Objetivo: O objetivo do presente estudo foi elaborar um exame clínico estruturado de objetivos de enfermagem com conteúdo válido, participando de um programa de prática clínica de enfermagem do primeiro ano. Método: O exame foi elaborado seguindo um procedimento baseado no consenso de especialistas que compreendeu três fases: seleção das atividades nas quais os alunos deveriam ser competentes de acordo com os resultados de aprendizagem do curso, desenho do caso clínico e integração do quadro clínico casos projetados para as estações do teste. Resultados: Das 44 pesquisas submetidas para a concepção das estações, 37 foram respondidas, das quais 31 respondentes atenderam aos critérios de inclusão do painel de especialistas. As atividades nas quais os especialistas alcançaram maior grau de consenso foram: avaliação física básica e monitoramento dos sinais vitais, avaliação da higiene e do estado da pele, capacidade de desenvolver planos de cuidados, gestão dos princípios de segurança na administração de medicamentos e administração de medicamentos orais. Com base nas atividades selecionadas, os especialistas desenvolveram 20 casos clínicos, a partir dos quais foi elaborado um exame clínico estruturado objetivo de enfermagem em quatro estações. Conclusão: A metodologia estruturada baseada na concepção de especialistas permitiu a concepção de um exame clínico estruturado objetivo válido e de conteúdo adequado para a avaliação dos resultados de aprendizagem alcançados pelos alunos que frequentam um programa de prática clínica.

RESUMEN Objetivo: El objetivo de este estudio fue diseñar una Evaluación Clínica Objetiva Estructurada con validez de contenido para evaluar el nivel de competencias de estudiantes de primer curso de formación practico-clínica enfermera. Método: Se diseñó la prueba siguiendo un procedimiento basado en consenso de expertos con tres fases: selección de las actividades en la que los alumnos debían ser competentes en base a los resultados de aprendizaje de la asignatura, diseño de casos clínicos, e integración de los casos clínicos diseñados en las estaciones de la prueba. Resultados: Las actividades que alcanzaron mayor consenso por parte de los expertos fueron: valoración física básica y monitorización de signos vitales, valoración de la higiene y estado de la piel, capacidad para elaborar planes de cuidados, manejo de los principios de seguridad en la administración de medicación y administración de medicación oral. En base a las actividades seleccionadas, los expertos elaboraron 20 casos clínicos, a partir de los cuales se diseñó una evaluación clínica objetiva estructurada de cuidados de enfermería formada por cuatro estaciones. Conclusión: La metodología estructurada basada en el diseño de expertos permitió el diseño de una evaluación clínica objetiva estructurada adecuada para evaluar los resultados de aprendizaje alcanzados por los estudiantes de primer curso de formación práctico-clínica.

Tuning Structure and Dynamics of Blue Copper Azurin Junctions via Single Amino-Acid Mutations.

In the growing field of biomolecular electronics, blue-copper Azurin stands out as one of the most widely studied protein in single-molecule contacts. Interestingly, despite the paramount importance of the structure/dynamics of molecular contacts in their transport properties, these factors remain largely unexplored from the theoretical point of view in the context of single Azurin junctions. Here we address this issue using all-atom Molecular Dynamics (MD) of Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Azurin adsorbed to a Au(111) substrate. In particular, we focus on the structure and dynamics of the free/adsorbed protein and how these properties are altered upon single-point mutations. The results revealed that wild-type Azurin adsorbs on Au(111) along two well defined configurations: one tethered via cysteine groups and the other via the hydrophobic pocket surrounding the Cu 2 + . Surprisingly, our simulations revealed that single amino-acid mutations gave rise to a quenching of protein vibrations ultimately resulting in its overall stiffening. Given the role of amino-acid vibrations and reorientation in the dehydration process at the protein-water-substrate interface, we suggest that this might have an effect on the adsorption process of the mutant, giving rise to new adsorption configurations.

Mechanical Deformation and Electronic Structure of a Blue Copper Azurin in a Solid-State Junction.

Protein-based electronics is an emerging field which has attracted considerable attention over the past decade. Here, we present a theoretical study of the formation and electronic structure of a metal-protein-metal junction based on the blue-copper azurin from pseudomonas aeruginosa. We focus on the case in which the protein is adsorbed on a gold surface and is contacted, at the opposite side, to an STM (Scanning Tunneling Microscopy) tip by spontaneous attachment. This has been simulated through a combination of molecular dynamics and density functional theory. We find that the attachment to the tip induces structural changes in the protein which, however, do not affect the overall electronic properties of the protein. Indeed, only changes in certain residues are observed, whereas the electronic structure of the Cu-centered complex remains unaltered, as does the total density of states of the whole protein.

A Solid-State Protein Junction Serves as a Bias-Induced Current Switch.

A sample-type protein monolayer, that can be a stepping stone to practical devices, can behave as an electrically driven switch. This feat is achieved using a redox protein, cytochrome C (CytC), with its heme shielded from direct contact with the solid-state electrodes. Ab initio DFT calculations, carried out on the CytC-Au structure, show that the coupling of the heme, the origin of the protein frontier orbitals, to the electrodes is sufficiently weak to prevent Fermi level pinning. Thus, external bias can bring these orbitals in and out of resonance with the electrode. Using a cytochrome C mutant for direct S-Au bonding, approximately 80 % of the Au-CytC-Au junctions show at greater than 0.5 V bias a clear conductance peak, consistent with resonant tunneling. The on-off change persists up to room temperature, demonstrating reversible, bias-controlled switching of a protein ensemble, which, with its built-in redundancy, provides a realistic path to protein-based bioelectronics.

Doping hepta-alanine with tryptophan: A theoretical study of its effect on the electrical conductance of peptide-based single-molecule junctions.

Motivated by a recent experiment [C. Guo et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 113, 10785 (2016)], we carry out a theoretical study of electron transport through peptide-based single-molecule junctions. We analyze the pristine hepta-alanine and its functionalizations with a single tryptophan unit, which is placed in three different locations along the backbone. Contrary to expectations from the experiment on self-assembled monolayers, we find that insertion of tryptophan does not raise the electrical conductance and that the resulting peptides instead remain insulating in the framework of a coherent transport picture. The poor performance of these molecules as conductors can be ascribed to the strongly off-resonant transport and low electrode-molecule coupling of the frontier orbitals. Although the introduction of tryptophan increases the energy of the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) of the peptides in the gas phase, the new HOMO states are localized on the tryptophan unit and therefore essentially do not contribute to coherent charge transport.

Ab initio electronic structure calculations of entire blue copper azurins.

We present a theoretical study of the blue-copper azurin extracted from Pseudomonas aeruginosa and several of its single amino acid mutants. For the first time, we consider the whole structure of this kind of protein rather than limiting our analysis to the copper complex only. This is accomplished by combining fully ab initio calculations based on density functional theory with atomic-scale molecular dynamics simulations. Beyond the main features arising from the copper complex, our study reveals the role played by the peripheral parts of the proteins. In particular, we find that oxygen atoms belonging to carboxyl groups which are distributed all over the protein contribute to electronic states near the HOMO. The contribution of the outer regions to the electronic structure of azurins had so far been overlooked. Our results highlight the need to investigate them thoroughly; this is especially important in prospect of understanding complex processes such as the electronic transport through metal-metalloprotein-metal junctions.

Publisher Correction: Study of radiative heat transfer in Ångström- and nanometre-sized gaps.

This corrects the article DOI: 10.1038/ncomms14479.

Tunneling explains efficient electron transport via protein junctions.

Metalloproteins, proteins containing a transition metal ion cofactor, are electron transfer agents that perform key functions in cells. Inspired by this fact, electron transport across these proteins has been widely studied in solid-state settings, triggering the interest in examining potential use of proteins as building blocks in bioelectronic devices. Here, we report results of low-temperature (10 K) electron transport measurements via monolayer junctions based on the blue copper protein azurin (Az), which strongly suggest quantum tunneling of electrons as the dominant charge transport mechanism. Specifically, we show that, weakening the protein-electrode coupling by introducing a spacer, one can switch the electron transport from off-resonant to resonant tunneling. This is a consequence of reducing the electrode's perturbation of the Cu(II)-localized electronic state, a pattern that has not been observed before in protein-based junctions. Moreover, we identify vibronic features of the Cu(II) coordination sphere in transport characteristics that show directly the active role of the metal ion in resonance tunneling. Our results illustrate how quantum mechanical effects may dominate electron transport via protein-based junctions.

Peltier cooling in molecular junctions.

The study of thermoelectricity in molecular junctions is of fundamental interest for the development of various technologies including cooling (refrigeration) and heat-to-electricity conversion 1-4 . Recent experimental progress in probing the thermopower (Seebeck effect) of molecular junctions 5-9 has enabled studies of the relationship between thermoelectricity and molecular structure 10,11 . However, observations of Peltier cooling in molecular junctions-a critical step for establishing molecular-based refrigeration-have remained inaccessible. Here, we report direct experimental observations of Peltier cooling in molecular junctions. By integrating conducting-probe atomic force microscopy 12,13 with custom-fabricated picowatt-resolution calorimetric microdevices, we created an experimental platform that enables the unified characterization of electrical, thermoelectric and energy dissipation characteristics of molecular junctions. Using this platform, we studied gold junctions with prototypical molecules (Au-biphenyl-4,4'-dithiol-Au, Au-terphenyl-4,4''-dithiol-Au and Au-4,4'-bipyridine-Au) and revealed the relationship between heating or cooling and charge transmission characteristics. Our experimental conclusions are supported by self-energy-corrected density functional theory calculations. We expect these advances to stimulate studies of both thermal and thermoelectric transport in molecular junctions where the possibility of extraordinarily efficient energy conversion has been theoretically predicted 2-4,14 .

Electron Transport Through Homopeptides: Are They Really Good Conductors?

Motivated by recent experiments, we performed a theoretical study of electron transport through single-molecule junctions incorporating four kinds of homopeptides (based on alanine, glutamic acid, lysine, and tryptophan). Our results suggest that these molecules are rather insulating and operate in off-resonance tunneling as their main transport mechanism. We ascribe their poor performance as conductors to the high localization of their frontier orbitals. We found that binding scenarios in which side chains lie on the side of gold protuberances could give rise to an increase in conductance with respect to end-to-end binding configurations. These findings provide an insight into the conductance mechanism of the building blocks of proteins and identify key issues that need to be further investigated.

Bioengineering a Single-Protein Junction.

Bioelectronics moves toward designing nanoscale electronic platforms that allow in vivo determinations. Such devices require interfacing complex biomolecular moieties as the sensing units to an electronic platform for signal transduction. Inevitably, a systematic design goes through a bottom-up understanding of the structurally related electrical signatures of the biomolecular circuit, which will ultimately lead us to tailor its electrical properties. Toward this aim, we show here the first example of bioengineered charge transport in a single-protein electrical contact. The results reveal that a single point-site mutation at the docking hydrophobic patch of a Cu-azurin causes minor structural distortion of the protein blue Cu site and a dramatic change in the charge transport regime of the single-protein contact, which goes from the classical Cu-mediated two-step transport in this system to a direct coherent tunneling. Our extensive spectroscopic studies and molecular-dynamics simulations show that the proteins' folding structures are preserved in the single-protein junction. The DFT-computed frontier orbital of the relevant protein segments suggests that the Cu center participation in each protein variant accounts for the different observed charge transport behavior. This work is a direct evidence of charge transport control in a protein backbone through external mutagenesis and a unique nanoscale platform to study structurally related biological electron transfer.