Examining the moderating effect of inconsistent reviews and its gender differences on consumers’ online shopping decision

The prevalence of social media has provided consumers with many opportunities to post online reviews on a wide range of products on the Internet. In this study, we attempt to investigate the moderating effect of inconsistent reviews (i.e., a mix of positive and negative reviews) on consumers’ purchase decision. We further examine whether the effect will differ from female to male consumers.     

The Development of a New Measure of Pupils' Self-Esteem in Singapore Secondary Schools

This article is a brief account of the development of a new measure of pupils' self-esteem for use in Singapore's secondary schools. The new measure named “Self-Esteem Checklist” (SEC), is a self-reporting instrument comprising 25 items grouped under 4 subscales. It has been pilot tested twice (in September 1986 and March 1987), before the main study was conducted in May, 1987. The findings of the second pilot study and main study yield support to the validity and reliability of the SEC, and its correlation with pupils' academic achievement. This instrument, when used with proper guidance, may facilitate teacher-counsellors' understanding of pupils' self-esteem, and help pupils know more about themselves, in the pastoral care as well as career guidance programmes.     

Continuity and Discontinuity Between Training and School Experience: Follow-up Studies of Former Students of the Institute of Education

The present report is based on three pilot projects that aimed to explore and describe teachers' perceptions of their training and the transition experience of teachers in the shift from being a student on a teacher training programme to being a full-fledged teacher in the primary or secondary school. The three studies were prompted by the concern for a possible lack of fit, even under the best circumstances, between pre-service training and the work of a full-time teacher in a typical school. In the main, then, this report focuses on the continuity between campus-based training and teaching practice and full-time teaching experience.     

Three-dimensional printing-based electro-millifluidic devices for fabricating multi-compartment particles

In this work, we demonstrate the use of stereolithographic 3D printing to fabricate millifluidic devices, which are used to engineer particles with multiple compartments. As the 3D design is directly transferred to the actual prototype, this method accommodates 3D millimeter-scaled features that are difficult to achieve by either lithographic-based microfabrication or traditional macrofabrication techniques. We exploit this approach to produce millifluidic networks to deliver multiple fluidic components. By taking advantage of the laminar flow, the fluidic components can form liquid jets with distinct patterns, and each pattern has clear boundaries between the liquid phases. Afterwards, droplets with controlled size are fabricated by spraying the liquid jet in an electric field, and subsequently converted to particles after a solidification step. As a demonstration, we fabricate calcium alginate particles with structures of (1) slice-by-slice multiple lamellae, (2) concentric core-shells, and (3) petals surrounding the particle centers. Furthermore, distinct hybrid particles combining two or more of the above structures are also obtained. These compartmentalized particles impart spatially dependent functionalities and properties. To show their applicability, various ingredients, including fruit juices, drugs, and magnetic nanoparticles are encapsulated in the different compartments as proof-of-concepts for applications, including food, drug delivery, and bioassays. Our 3D printed electro-millifluidic approach represents a convenient and robust method to extend the range of structures of functional particles.     

Droplet based microfluidic fabrication of designer microparticles for encapsulation applications

Developing carriers of active ingredients with pre-determined release kinetics is a main challenge in the field of controlled release. In this work, we fabricate designer microparticles as carriers of active ingredients using droplet microfluidics. We show that monodisperse droplet templates do not necessarily produce monodisperse particles. Magnetic stirring, which is often used to enhance the droplet solidification rate, can promote breakup of the resultant microparticles into fragments; with an increase in the stirring time, microparticles become smaller in average size and more irregular in shape. Thus, the droplet solidification conditions affect the size, size distribution and morphology of the fabricated particles, and these attributes of the microparticles strongly influence their release kinetics. The smaller the average size of the microparticles is, the higher the initial release rate is. The release kinetics of drug carriers is strongly related to their characteristics. The understanding of this relationship enables the fabrication of tailor-designed carriers with a specified release rate, and even programmed release to meet the needs of applications that require a complex release profile of the active ingredients.     

天王与专利 迈克尔·杰克逊的专利故事

迈克尔·杰克逊（MichaelJackson,歌迷昵称MJ）,一个享誉世界的歌王和舞王,一个浑身上下充满神秘的力量,被称为神奇怪物的人,他的突然离世再次引起了人们对他排山倒海般的关注,只是这次变得更加温情、善意,更加乐意将他还原为本真的普通人。比如,人们突然发现,原来天王不仅仅是靠四肢舞蹈,同时还在靠智慧、头脑,甚至专利……