User:Rznml/sandbox

Critiquing an Article
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology

- The History section is very scare. Although the university is quite young (and so this is understandable), a short summary on how long it took to build and the selection of the first president, administrators and faculty members might be helpful here.

- The page doesn't mention Jean Fréchet and this is a travesty. (In general, very little mention of the notable names associated with KAUST).

- I think the students section needs a complete rehaul. Perhaps it could be refashioned in the image of other university's 'demographics' sections. Some of the statistics do not seem to have citations

- I have a major issue with the wording in these sentences "Saudi authorities hope the mixed-gender center will help modernize the Kingdom's deeply conservative society. The religious police do not operate on-site. Women are allowed to mix freely with men and to drive on campus, and they are not required to wear veils in the coeducational classes."

- To begin with which Saudi authorities? Also, 'Saudi' is slang. The more appropriate term is 'Saudi Arabian' - minor, but not really minor when you're talking about 'authorities'.

- Mention of religious police without context is kind of unnecessarily inflammatory. The university is located on the west coast, near Jeddah, a relatively less conservative city in which the hold of the religious police is dubious to begin with. Plus, I would ask "What exactly do you mean by religious police?". I think the term is a misnomer to begin with and such a short sentence really does nothing to enlighten a reader who has little formal understanding of the culture.

- The phrase "Women are allowed to mix freely with men" is seriously outdated. I don't really want to get in to all the issues with the phrasing here but I think this could definitely be improved.

- Overall, the article occasionally has a 'straw-man' feel to it in that to appears to be informative but the information does not stand up to scrutiny or isn't necessarily valuable. See residential neighborhoods subsection

Adding to an Article
Jeddah Islamic Port - Added some necessary citations

Fouzi Ayoub Sabri

- Added some necessary citations

Nadhmi Al-Nasr

- Added some citations

- Cleaned up dead links

- Added new information

Reflective Essay

 * 1) I worked on "Digital Microfluidics and Mass Spectrometry" and "Digital Microfluidics and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance". These were new subsections in an existing article.
 * 2) My contributions include:
 * 3) * All the information was not previously on wikipedia
 * 4) * An attempt at a balanced view-point
 * 5) * Easy 'readability', that is, clear and concise writing that is focused around the fact that not all wikipedia readers are experts in this field
 * 6) I received some feedback from friends who edit wikipedia, from my two assigned peer-reviewers and from the DMF group. Below is an overview:
 * 7) * The DMF group highlighted the potential for more examples. I attempted this in adding the section about SAW - another idea I heard about from a member of the DMF group.
 * 8) * One major comment I got was the need for more sources. I struggled with this initially, but in expanding my article and adding more examples, was able to get to the lower limit. I think this is an area that still can be improved.
 * 9) * Many changes in wording. Different people understood or didn't understand different things and so having so many people look at it meant that things changed quite often.
 * 10) I think this assignment got me to think and read about the topic I was assigned much more than I would have had no paper or writing portion been assigned. Another form of term paper could have also done this but, at least in my case, knowing that what I'm writing is going to be added to this larger institute of knowledge adds an extra layer of formality and sincerity. Since the beginning, I knew that I really wanted to make sure what I was writing was correct, complete and legible.   When it comes to literature review and research, especially in the scientific field, there are well established ways of finding and defining good papers and so the specific use of wikipedia wasn't more valuable over some other form, but still, any opportunity is a good practice for these skills. I think critical evaluation of peers is perhaps the highlight of this assignment. It was helpful to evaluate and exceedingly helpful to be evaluated but I do think perhaps the guidelines for peer-evaluation could be more specific as the quality of peer-reviews I received was varying and I felt a little lost in helping others.   I think my sections are a very good start and I do hope they will be of use to readers. I think they are quite informative but the information they contain is not very high-level, as in, well-versed readers may not find the information specifically helpful.

Article Before Peer Review
Mass Spectrometry

The interface of DMF and Mass Spectrometry can largely be categorized into in-direct off-line analysis, direct off-line analysis, and inline analysis [1] and the main advantages of this interface are decreased solvent and reagent use as well as decreases in analysis times [2].

In-direct off-line analysis is the usage of DMF devices to combine reactants and isolate products, which are then removed and manually transferred to a mass spectrometer. This approach offers the advantages of DMF initially but, in requiring manual intervention, allows opportunities for contamination and does not optimize overall analysis time.

Direct off-line analysis is the usage of DMF devices fabricated in a way that allows the device, as a whole or in parts, to be placed in to a mass spectrometer. This process is still considered off-line, however as some post-reaction procedures may be carried out manually (but on chip), without the use of the digital capabilities of the device. Such devices are most often used in conjugation with MALDI-MS. In MALDI-based direct off-line devices, the droplet must be dried and recrystallized along with matrix – operations that often times must happen in vacuum chambers [1][3]. The chip with crystallized analyte is then placed in to the MALDI-MS for analysis. One issue raised with MALDI-MS coupling to DMF is that the matrix necessary for MALDI-MS can be highly acidic which may interfere with the reactions happening on the chip[5].

Inline analysis is the usage of devices that feed directly into mass spectrometers, thereby eliminating any manual manipulation. Inline analysis may require specially fabricated devices and connecting hardware between the device and the mass spectrometer [1]. Inline analysis is often coupled with electrospray ionization. In one first foray into this coupling, a DMF chip was fabricated with a hole that led to a microchannel [4]. This microchannel was, in turn, connected to an electrospray ionizer that emitted directly into a mass spectrometer.

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy can be used in conjunction with digital microfluidics (DMF) through the use of a NMR microcoil, an electromagnetic conducting coil that is less than 1 mm in size. Due to their size, these microcoils have several limitations, directly effecting the sensitivity of the machinery they operate within.

Microchannel/microcoil interfaces, previous to digital microfluidics, had several drawbacks in that many created large amounts of solvent waste and were easily contaminated [6] [7]. In this way, the use of digital microfluidics and its capability to manipulate singlet droplets is promising.

The interface between digital microfluidics and NMR relaxometry has led to the creation of systems such as those used to detect and quantify the concentrations of specific molecules on microscales[7] which have applications in many fields, and specifically in biology and medicine. Some such systems use two step processes in which DMF devices guide droplets to the NMR detection site [8]. Introductory systems of high-field NMR and 2D NMR in conjunction with microfluidics have also been developed [6]. These systems use single plate DMF devices with NMR microcoils in place of the second plate.

References:

1.     Kirby, Andrea E., and Aaron R. Wheeler. 2013. “Digital Microfluidics: An Emerging Sample Preparation Platform for Mass Spectrometry.” Analytical Chemistry 85 (13): 6178–84. doi:10.1021/ac401150q.

2.     Wang, X., Yi, L., Mukhitov, N., Schrell, A. M., Dhumpa, R., & Roper, M. G. (2015). Microfluidics-to-Mass Spectrometry: A review of coupling methods and applications. ''Journal of Chromatography. A, 0'', 98–116. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.chroma.2014.10.039

3.     Chatterjee, Debalina, A. Jimmy Ytterberg, Sang Uk Son, Joseph A. Loo, and Robin L. Garrell. 2010. “Integration of Protein Processing Steps on a Droplet Microfluidics Platform for MALDI-MS Analysis.” Analytical Chemistry 82 (5): 2095–2101. doi:10.1021/ac9029373.

4.     Jebrail, Mais J., Hao Yang, Jared M. Mudrik, Nelson M. Lafreniere, Christine McRoberts, Osama Y. Al-Dirbashi, Lawrence Fisher, Pranesh Chakraborty, and Aaron R. Wheeler. 2011. “A Digital Microfluidic Method for Dried Blood Spot Analysis.” Lab Chip 11 (19): 3218–24. doi:10.1039/C1LC20524B.

5.     Küster, Simon K., Stephan R. Fagerer, Pascal E. Verboket, Klaus Eyer, Konstantins Jefimovs, Renato Zenobi, and Petra S. Dittrich. 2013. “Interfacing Droplet Microfluidics with Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Mass Spectrometry: Label-Free Content Analysis of Single Droplets.” Analytical Chemistry 85 (3): 1285–89. doi:10.1021/ac3033189.

6.     Swyer, Ian, Ronald Soong, Michael D. M. Dryden, Michael Fey, Werner E. Maas, Andre Simpson, and Aaron R. Wheeler. 2016. “Interfacing Digital Microfluidics with High-field Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy.” Lab Chip 16 (22): 4424–35. doi:10.1039/C6LC01073C.

7.     Lei, Ka-Meng, Pui-In Mak, Man-Kay Law, and Rui P. Martins. 2015. “A Palm-size [small Mu ]NMR Relaxometer Using a Digital Microfluidic Device and a Semiconductor Transceiver for Chemical/biological Diagnosis.” Analyst 140 (15): 5129–37. doi:10.1039/C5AN00500K.

8.     Lei, Ka-Meng, Pui-In Mak, Man-Kay Law, and Rui P. Martins. 2014. “NMR-DMF: a Modular Nuclear Magnetic Resonance-digital Microfluidics System for Biological Assays.” Analyst 139 (23): 6204–13. doi:10.1039/C4AN01285B.

Article After Peer Review
Mass Spectrometry

The coupling of digital microfluidics (DMF) and Mass Spectrometry can largely be categorized into indirect off-line analysis, direct off-line analysis, and in-line analysis and the main advantages of this coupling are decreased solvent and reagent use, as well as decreased analysis times.

Indirect off-line analysis is the usage of DMF devices to combine reactants and isolate products, which are then removed and manually transferred to a mass spectrometer. This approach takes advantage of DMF for the sample preparation step but also introduces opportunities for contamination as manual intervention is required to transfer the sample. In one example of this technique, a Grieco three-component condensation was carried out on chip and was taken off the chip by micropipette for quenching and further analysis.

Direct off-line analysis is the usage of DMF devices that have been fabricated and incorporated partially or totally into a mass spectrometer. This process is still considered off-line, however as some post-reaction procedures may be carried out manually (but on chip), without the use of the digital capabilities of the device. Such devices are most often used in conjugation with MALDI-MS. In MALDI-based direct off-line devices, the droplet must be dried and recrystallized along with matrix – operations that often times require vacuum chambers. The chip with crystallized analyte is then placed in to the MALDI-MS for analysis. One issue raised with MALDI-MS coupling to DMF is that the matrix necessary for MALDI-MS can be highly acidic, which may interfere with the on-chip reactions

Inline analysis is the usage of devices that feed directly into mass spectrometers, thereby eliminating any manual manipulation. Inline analysis may require specially fabricated devices and connecting hardware between the device and the mass spectrometer. Inline analysis is often coupled with electrospray ionization. In one example, a DMF chip was fabricated with a hole that led to a microchannel This microchannel was, in turn, connected to an electrospray ionizer that emitted directly into a mass spectrometer. Another possible inline coupling is DMF and Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) atomization. This technique utilizes the propagation of waves on flat piezoelectric surfaces to move and ionize droplets. Some couplings utilize an external high-voltage pulse source at the physical inlet to the mass spectrometer but the true role of such additions is uncertain.

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy can be used in conjunction with digital microfluidics (DMF) through the use of NMR microcoils, which are electromagnetic conducting coils that are less than 1 mm in size. Due to their size, these microcoils have several limitations, directly influencing the sensitivity of the machinery they operate within.

Microchannel/microcoil interfaces, previous to digital microfluidics, had several drawbacks such as  in that many created large amounts of solvent waste and were easily contaminated. In this way, the use of digital microfluidics and its capability to manipulate singlet droplets is promising.

The interface between digital microfluidics and NMR relaxometry has led to the creation of systems such as those used to detect and quantify the concentrations of specific molecules on microscales with some such systems using two step processes in which DMF devices guide droplets to the NMR detection site. Introductory systems of high-field NMR and 2D NMR in conjunction with microfluidics have also been developed. These systems use single plate DMF devices with NMR microcoils in place of the second plate.