Although animated maps are widely promoted as ideal vehicles for learning and scientific discovery, there has been little empirical work that demonstrates their relative effectiveness in relation to static small-multiple alternatives. In this article, we attempt to clarify the issues related to the potential of animation from an explicitly geographic perspective, but one that is also grounded in broader cognitive science and human-computer interaction considerations. We compared the effectiveness of animated with static small-multiple maps, specifically in relation to map readers' ability to identify clusters that move over space and through time. In this study, we focused on several factors that might impact (or help explain) map readers' ability to correctly identify clusters. These factors included animation pace, cluster coherence, and gender. We found that map readers answer more quickly and identify more patterns correctly when using animated maps than when using static small-multiple maps. We also found that pace and cluster coherence interact so that different paces are more effective for identifying certain types of clusters (none vs. subtle vs. strong), and that there are some gender differences in the animated condition. This study is one of a small number of controlled experiments directed to the relative advantages of animated and static small-multiple maps. It provides the basis for further research that is needed to better understand the cognitive load involved in reading animated maps, to better describe and understand gender differences, and to investigate the efficacy of animated maps for other types of map reading tasks.
Cytosolic protein
delivery is of great importance for basic cell
biology and the discovery of novel protein-based biotherapeutics.
It remains a challenging task because of the limited binding sites
on proteins and their relatively large size. As a result, most current
approaches for cytosolic protein delivery need covalent modification
on native proteins, which is usually involved with complicated synthesis,
reduced protein bioactivity, and unexpected safety concerns. In this
study, we proposed a novel strategy to deliver proteins of different
molecular sizes and isoelectric points by specific recognitions between
natural polyphenols and boronic acid-containing polymers. Protein
molecules were decorated with polyphenols via noncovalent hydrogen-bond/hydrophobic
interactions or reversible dynamic covalent bonds. The natural polyphenols
increase the binding affinity between proteins and boronic acid-containing
polymers, allow the release of bound proteins in acidic environments
because of pH-sensitive property of catechol–boronate esters,
and thus greatly promote the cytosolic delivery efficiency. This strategy
showed robust efficiency in the delivery of various proteins such
as bovine serum albumin, phycoerythrin, and ribonuclease A and maintained
the protein bioactivity after intracellular release. The reported
strategy permits the development of a polyphenol-involved polymer
platform for cytosolic protein delivery.
The heterojunction in photocatalysis establishes an internal
electric
field between the semiconductors, which is one of the effective methods
for enhancing the separation of photogenerated carriers of semiconductors.
Herein, a strategy is rationally proposed, which is performed in situ
to transform the hybrid photocatalyst composed of the Ni–Co
Prussian blue analogue (PBA) and CdS (CP) into another more active
hybrid photocatalyst consisting of NiS and CdS (CN) during photocatalysis
in the sulfur sacrificial reagent. The coupled component on the n-type
CdS is converted from an n-type Ni–Co PBA to another p-type
NiS during the process, thus constructing a p–n heterojunction
and achieving a good photocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER)
performance. Moreover, the carrier transfer mechanism is also an in
situ transition from type I in CP to type II in CN during the HER
process, which is supported by surface photovoltage and transient
absorption spectroscopy. The CP-2 photocatalyst in the sulfur sacrificial
reagent has a high photocatalytic hydrogen evolution amount of 176.6
μmol, which is 13.9 times higher than that of pure CdS. Overall,
this work develops an in situ carrier transfer mechanism conversion
strategy for expanding the HER photocatalysts and enhancing their
photocatalytic HER performance.
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