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This chapter begins by discussing two broad criticisms of engineering ethics education (EEE) assessment and then suggests ways to improve it. The criticisms focus on whether (1) measures used in EEE effectively assess behavior change and (2) they should be used across different national and cultural groups. To address these criticisms, the authors argue that educators and researchers should draw on insights and methods from moral and cultural psychology, using more globally representative participant samples. Measures of EEE assessment have been developed primarily by scholars working in the United States, with participants from US universities. However, it is unclear whether moral reasoning, sensitivity, attitudes, or values result in more ethical behaviors – presumably, the goal of EEE – or if these measures assess what they should. It also remains unclear whether these measures are reliable across global populations. Engineering is a global profession, but measures of EEE have been developed by researchers in and with sample groups primarily drawn from the United States. The United States is culturally WEIRD (Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic), and relative to global populations, individuals from WEIRD cultures are outliers on various psychological and social measures. This chapter provides food for thought about behavior and culture related to ethics. 

Abstract Incorporation of colloidal quantum emitters into silicon-based photonic devices would enable major advances in quantum optics. However, deterministic placement of individual sub-10 nm colloidal particles onto micron-sized photonic structures with nanometer-scale precision remains an outstanding challenge. Here, we introduce Cavity-Shape Modulated Origami Placement (CSMOP) that leverages the structural programmability of DNA origami to precisely deposit colloidal nanomaterials within lithographically-defined resist cavities. CSMOP enables clean and accurate patterning of origami templates onto photonic chips with high yields. Soft-silicification-passivation stabilizes deposited origamis, while preserving their binding sites to attach and align colloidal quantum rods (QRs) to control their nanoscale positions and emission polarization. We demonstrate QR integration with photonic device structures including waveguides, micro-ring resonators, and bullseye photonic cavities. CSMOP therefore offers a general platform for the integration of colloidal quantum materials into photonic circuits, with broad potential to empower quantum science and technology. 

Taking incompatible multiple drugs together may cause adverse interactions and side effects on the body. Accurate prediction of drug-drug interaction (DDI) events is essential for avoiding this issue. Recently, various artificial intelligence-based approaches have been proposed for predicting DDI events. However, DDI events are associated with complex relationships and mechanisms among drugs, targets, enzymes, transporters, molecular structures, etc. Existing approaches either partially or loosely consider these relationships and mechanisms by a non-end-to-end learning framework, resulting in sub-optimal feature extractions and fusions for prediction. Different from them, this paper proposes a Multimodal Knowledge Graph Fused End-to-end Neural Network (MKGFENN) that consists of two main parts: multimodal knowledge graph (MKG) and fused end-to-end neural network (FENN). First, MKG is constructed by comprehensively exploiting DDI events-associated relationships and mechanisms from four knowledge graphs of drugs-chemical entities, drug-substructures, drugs-drugs, and molecular structures. Correspondingly, a four channels graph neural network is designed to extract high-order and semantic features from MKG. Second, FENN designs a multi-layer perceptron to fuse the extracted features by end-to-end learning. With such designs, the feature extractions and fusions of DDI events are guaranteed to be comprehensive and optimal for prediction. Through extensive experiments on real drug datasets, we demonstrate that MKG-FENN exhibits high accuracy and significantly outperforms state-of-the-art models in predicting DDI events. The source code and supplementary file of this article are available on: https://github.com/wudi1989/MKG-FENN. 

In this Account, we describe our recent work in developing polymer brush coatings for nanoparticles, which we use to modulate particle behavior on demand, select specific nanoscopic architectures to form, and bolster traditional bulk polymers to form stronger materials by design. Distinguished by the polymer type and capabilities, three classes of nanoparticles are discussed here: nanocomposite tectons (NCTs), which use synthetic polymers end-functionalized with supramolecular recognition groups capable of directing their assembly; programmable atom equivalents (PAEs) containing brushes of synthetic DNA that employ Watson–Crick base pairing to encode particle binding interactions; and cross-linkable nanoparticles (XNPs) that can both stabilize nanoparticles in solution and polymer matrices and subsequently form multivalent cross-links to strengthen polymer composites. We describe the formation of these brushes through “grafting-from” and “grafting-to” strategies and illustrate aspects that are important for future advancement. We also examine the new capabilities brushes provide, looking closely at dynamic polymer processes that provide control over the assembly state of particles. Finally, we provide a brief overview of the technological applications of nanoparticles with polymer brushes, focusing on the integration of nanoparticles into traditional materials and the processing of nanoparticles into bulk solids. 

Scalable fabrication of two-dimensional (2D) arrays of quantum dots (QDs) and quantum rods (QRs) with nanoscale precision is required for numerous device applications. However, self-assembly–based fabrication of such arrays using DNA origami typically suffers from low yield due to inefficient QD and QR DNA functionalization. In addition, it is challenging to organize solution-assembled DNA origami arrays on 2D device substrates while maintaining their structural fidelity. Here, we reduced manufacturing time from a few days to a few minutes by preparing high-density DNA-conjugated QDs/QRs from organic solution using a dehydration and rehydration process. We used a surface-assisted large-scale assembly (SALSA) method to construct 2D origami lattices directly on solid substrates to template QD and QR 2D arrays with orientational control, with overall loading yields exceeding 90%. Our fabrication approach enables the scalable, high fidelity manufacturing of 2D addressable QDs and QRs with nanoscale orientational and spacing control for functional 2D photonic devices. 

Abstract Aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) responds to endogenous and exogenous ligands as a cytosolic receptor, transcription factor, and E3 ubiquitin ligase. Several studies support an anti-inflammatory effect of AhR activation. However, exposure to the AhR agonist 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) during early stages of development results in an autoimmune phenotype and exacerbates lupus. The effects of TCDD on lupus in adults with pre-existing autoimmunity have not been described. We present novel evidence that AhR stimulation by TCDD alters T cell responses but fails to impact lupus-like disease using an adult mouse model. Interestingly, AhR antagonist CH223191 also changed T cell balance in our model. We next developed a conceptual framework for identifying cellular and molecular factors that contribute to physiological outcomes in lupus and created models that describe cytokine dynamics that were fed into a system of differential equations to predict the kinetics of T follicular helper (Tfh) and regulatory T (Treg) cell populations. The model predicted that Tfh cells expanded to larger values following TCDD exposure compared with vehicle and CH223191. Following the initial elevation, both Tfh and Treg cell populations continuously decayed over time. A function based on the ratio of predicted Treg/Tfh cells showed that Treg cells exceed Tfh cells in all groups, with TCDD and CH223191 showing lower Treg/Tfh cell ratios than the vehicle and that the ratio is relatively constant over time. We conclude that AhR ligands did not induce an anti-inflammatory response to attenuate autoimmunity in adult lupus mice. This study challenges the dogma that TCDD supports an immunosuppressive phenotype. 

Abstract Functionalization of quantum dots (QDs) and quantum rods (QRs) with ligands is essential for their further practical application across various domains. Dehydration‐assisted functionalization (DAF) is a versatile method applicable to a wide range of hydrophilic ligands with an affinity to the surface of QDs and QRs. This approach facilitates rapid one‐pot ligand exchange and dense modification by efficiently transferring these ligands onto the surface of QDs and QRs. This study demonstrates the efficacy of DAF in preparing chiral QRs, engineering the surface charge of QDs, utilizing QR aggregates, and conjugating dense DNA onto cadmium‐free InP/ZnS QDs. DAF therefore offers a versatile solution for hydrophilic ligand functionalization of QDs and QRs applicable to diverse applications.