Center for Effective Philanthropy

When two sheets of graphene are stacked at a small twist angle, the resulting flat superlattice minibands are expected to strongly enhance electron-electron interactions. Here, we present evidence that near three-quarters ([Formula: see text]) filling of the conduction miniband, these enhanced interactions drive the twisted bilayer graphene into a ferromagnetic state. In a narrow density range around an apparent insulating state at [Formula: see text], we observe emergent ferromagnetic hysteresis, with a giant anomalous Hall (AH) effect as large as 10.4 kilohms and indications of chiral edge states. Notably, the magnetization of the sample can be reversed by applying a small direct current. Although the AH resistance is not quantized, and dissipation is present, our measurements suggest that the system may be an incipient Chern insulator.

This archive contains the data and Python code generating figures for the article "Emergent ferromagnetism near three-quarters filling in twisted bilayer graphene" by Aaron L. Sharpe, Eli J. Fox, Arthur W. Barnard, Joe Finney, Kenji Watanabe, Takashi Taniguchi, M. A. Kastner, and David Goldhaber-Gordon and available at https://arxiv.org/abs/1901.03520. This archive contains the following: 1) TBG_ferromagnetism_figures.ipynb, a Jupyter notebook loading data and generating figures. The notebook has been tested with Python version 3.6.7 and Jupyter notebook server version 5.5.0. 2) HTML_notebook directory that contains 'TBG_ferromagnetism_figures.html' an HTML file generated from the Jupyter notebook, and PNG files loaded by the HTML file, 3) scripts directory that contains additional files used by the Jupyter notebook, and 4) data directory, containing all data used to generate figures for the manuscript, stored as JSON objects. Refer to the notebook for figure captions describing the data.

Hybrid organizations pursuing a social mission while relying on a commercial business model have paved the way for a new approach to achieving societal impact. Although they bear strong promise, social enterprises are also fragile organizations that must walk a fine line between achieving a social mission and living up to the requirements of the market. This article moves beyond generic recommendations about managing hybrids in order to highlight a typology of social business hybrids and discuss how each of the four proposed types of hybrid organizations can be managed in order to avoid the danger of mission drift and better achieve financial sustainability.

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of race, gender, and marital status on giving and volunteering behavior. A second purpose is to examine these effects across different survey methodologies. Using data from Indiana households, a multimethod, multigroup research design was used to compare giving and volunteering across eight different survey methodologies. Results indicate important differences in philanthropic behaviors by gender, race, marital status, and survey methodology—even when controlling for differences in income, age, and educational attainment. These results highlight the importance of looking specifically at human and social capital variables, and survey methodology, when making assumptions about and interpreting the measurement of philanthropic behavior.

This article describes several field and laboratory experiments that investigate an identity congruency effect on donations. Experiment 1 is a field experiment showing that consumers give more money to a public radio station if they are told that a previous donor who shares their identity also made a large contribution. This effect is more likely to occur when consumers have high collective-identity esteem (measured in Experiment 2a) and when attention is focused on others (manipulated in Experiment 2b). The authors measure these two moderators simultaneously and observe and replicate a three-way interaction. Again, the identity congruency effect is the strongest when consumers have high collective-identity esteem and when attention is focused on others (Experiment 3a and Experiment 3b). These results provide a novel understanding of the causes of the identity congruency effect on donations. The authors conclude with a discussion of the theoretical and substantive implications of these findings.

OBJECTIVE: to describe the main strategies to control Aedes aegypti, with emphasis on promising technological innovations for use in Brazil. METHODS: this study is a non-systematic review of the literature. Results: several technologies have been developed as alternatives in the control of Ae. aegypti, using different mechanisms of action, such as selective monitoring of the infestation, social interventions, dispersing insecticides, new biological control agents and molecular techniques for population control of mosquitoes, also considering the combination between them. Evolving technologies require evaluation of the effectiveness, feasibility and costs of implementation strategies as complementary to the actions already recommended by the National Program for Dengue Control. CONCLUSION: the integration of different compatible and effective vector control strategies, considering the available technologies and regional characteristics, appears to be a viable method to try to reduce the infestation of mosquitoes and the incidence of arbovirus transmitted by them.

Computational methods are increasingly used to streamline and enhance the lead discovery and optimization process. However, accurate prediction of absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion (ADME) and adverse drug reactions (ADR) is often difficult, due to the complexity of underlying physiological mechanisms. Modeling approaches have been hampered by the lack of large, robust and standardized training datasets. In an extensive effort to build such a dataset, the BioPrint database was constructed by systematic profiling of nearly all drugs available on the market, as well as numerous reference compounds. The database is composed of several large datasets: compound structures and molecular descriptors, in vitro ADME and pharmacology profiles, and complementary clinical data including therapeutic use information, pharmacokinetics profiles and ADR profiles. These data have allowed the development of computational tools designed to integrate a program of computational chemistry into library design and lead development. Models based on chemical structure are strengthened by in vitro results that can be used as additional compound descriptors to predict complex in vivo endpoints. The BioPrint pharmacoinformatics platform represents a systematic effort to accelerate the process of drug discovery, improve quantitative structure-activity relationships and develop in vitro/in vivo associations. In this review, we will discuss the importance of training set size and diversity in model development, the implementation of linear and neighborhood modeling approaches, and the use of in silico methods to predict potential clinical liabilities.

This paper examines the mechanisms for giving by investigating the psychological and values differences between men and women's motivations for giving. We explored two of the eight mechanisms for giving developed by Bekkers and Wiepking as a framework for why people give—principle of care and empathic concern. Are there differences in these motives for giving by gender, and can these differences in values and the psychological benefits that people receive when making donations explain gender differences in charitable giving? Are women more likely to give and give more than men because of their higher levels of empathic concern and principle of care? We used two US national data sets to test our hypotheses. Our results for both data sets indicate significant differences in motives by gender, as well as differences in the probability of giving and amount given by gender, even after controlling for empathic concern and principle of care measures. Our findings are discussed in terms of the importance of viewing charitable giving through a gender lens as well as practical implications for practitioners. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Plant defensins are cationic peptides that are ubiquitous within the plant kingdom and belong to a large superfamily of antimicrobial peptides found in several organisms collectively called defensins. The primary structure of these peptides includes 45 to 54 amino acid residues with considerable sequence variation. At the level of three-dimensional structure, they are small and globular, composed of three anti-parallel β-sheets and one α-helix, which is highly conserved among these peptides. The three-dimensional structure is stabilized by four disulfide bridges formed by eight strictly conserved Cys residues. Two of these bridges compose the Cys-stabilized α-helix β-strand motif, which is found in other peptides with biological activities. Plant defensins present numerous biological activities, such as inhibiting protein synthesis, ion channel function and α-amylase and trypsin activity; impairing microbial, root hair and parasitic plant growth; mediating abiotic stress and Zn tolerance; altering ascorbic acid redox state; stimulating sweet taste sensation; serving as epigenetic factors; affecting self-incompatibility; and promoting male reproductive development. Some of these biological activities, such as microbial growth inhibition and sweet taste induction, coupled with a scaffold that provides these peptides with incredible physicochemical resistance to harsh environments and the potential for simple amino acid substitution, raise the opportunity to improve the function of defensins or introduce new activities, endowing these peptides with great biotechnological and medical significance. This review will cover the biological activities and roles of plant defensins and will focus on their application in the field of biotechnology.

Monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1, CCL2) is an important determinant of macrophage infiltration in tumors, ovarian carcinoma in particular. MCP-1 binds the chemokine receptor CCR2. Recent results indicate that proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory signals regulate chemokine receptor expression in monocytes. The present study was designed to investigate the expression of CCR2 in tumor-associated macrophages (TAM) from ovarian cancer patients. TAM isolated from ascitic or solid ovarian carcinoma displayed defective CCR2 mRNA (Northern blot and PCR) and surface expression and did not migrate in response to MCP-1. The defect was selective for CCR2 in that CCR1 and CCR5 were expressed normally in TAM. CCR2 gene expression and chemotactic response to MCP-1 were decreased to a lesser extent in blood monocytes from cancer patients. CCR2 mRNA levels and the chemotactic response to MCP-1 were drastically reduced in fresh monocytes cultured in the presence of tumor ascites from cancer patients. Ab against TNF-alpha restored the CCR2 mRNA level in monocytes cultured in the presence of ascitic fluid. The finding of defective CCR2 expression in TAM, largely dependent on local TNF production, is consistent with previous in vitro data on down-regulation of chemokine receptors by proinflammatory molecules. Receptor inhibition may serve as a mechanism to arrest and retain recruited macrophages and to prevent chemokine scavenging by mononuclear phagocytes at sites of inflammation and tumor growth. In the presence of advanced tumors or chronic inflammation, systemic down-regulation of receptor expression by proinflammatory molecules leaking in the systemic circulation may account for defective chemotaxis and a defective capacity to mount inflammatory responses associated with advanced neoplasia.

The Millennium Development Goals on health have expanded access to basic health interventions to millions of people in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). However, access alone will not be sufficient to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) if health systems cannot provide high quality care—ie, care that improves health outcomes and provides value to people. Emerging data show that many LMIC health systems struggle to consistently provide good quality of care.1Kruk ME Larson E Twum-Danso NA. Time for a quality revolution in global health.Lancet Glob Health. 2016; 4: e594-e596Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (70) Google Scholar, 2Das J Hammer J Leonard K. The quality of medical advice in low-income countries.J Econ Perspect. 2008; 22: 93-114Crossref PubMed Scopus (205) Google Scholar Yet change is possible. Primary health-care facilities, which tend to reach the poorest segment of populations, are an important plank in the drive towards achieving the SDGs. In Nigeria, supporting primary health-care centres in rural areas with quality assessment, an action plan, and technical assistance in management resulted in significant improvements in adoption of quality practices.3World BankEvidence and prospects for a healthy Nigeria: lessons from five impact evaluations in health. World Bank, Washington, DC2016Google Scholar Health system quality in lower-income countries has been under-defined and under-researched. There is no agreed upon single definition of a high-quality health system or its aims and there is no consensus on metrics. Instead, many countries face a proliferation of definitions and measures across disease areas. The emphasis in quality measurement has been on inputs: equipment, medicines, staff. Yet, this does not paint the full picture of quality—a well-equipped facility may still provide poor care. And patients' experience of care and patient-reported outcomes, which influence people's decisions to use or avoid services and provide valuable insights on performance, are rarely measured. There is little information on national and regional levels of quality and its distribution, weak evidence on the factors that drive quality variations, and low effectiveness of current quality improvement approaches. Finally, there is an urgent need to expand the solution space for quality improvement: to move beyond in-service training and other clinic-focused approaches to consider structural solutions, such as service regionalisation, updating medical and nursing education, technological innovation, and strengthening professional and community oversight of care. To galvanise research and action on quality of care in LMIC health systems, The Lancet Global Health has commissioned a major report: The Lancet Global Health Commission on High-Quality Health Systems in the SDG Era (HQSS Commission). This will be a piece of science-led, multidisciplinary, actionable work with wide-reaching goals and measurable indicators, and will embody the journal's commitment to “the best science for better lives”. The HQSS Commission will be chaired by Margaret Kruk and Muhammad Pate and brings together 30 academics, policymakers, and health system experts from 18 countries. Guided by the values of originality, rigour, relevance, and respect for local context and actors, the Commission will review current knowledge, undertake new empirical work, and propose policy recommendations for measuring and improving quality in pursuit of the SDGs. It will produce a single conceptual framework of high-quality health systems to increase the salience of the concept to policymakers, providers, and people. It will build on and inform the work of other ongoing efforts including Countdown to 2030; the Health Data Collaborative; the Quality, Equity, and Dignity Network; and the Primary Health Care Performance Initiative. The Commission's specific aims are to (1) define health system quality, (2) describe quality of care and its distribution across tracer SDG conditions, (3) propose practical measures of quality, and (4) identify structural approaches to improve quality. The work will be underpinned by an exploration of the ethical dimensions of quality, including the right to quality health-care and equity. The analysis will be done by four Commission working groups, shown in the panel. The HQSS Commission will hold its first meeting on March 13–15, 2017, in Boston, USA, convening the commissioners and an Advisory Council of experts and global partners.PanelHQSS Commission working group tasksDefinition and description working group•Propose a definition and conceptual framework of health system quality•Describe current quality of care for sentinel SDG conditions across countries•Analyse drivers of variation in quality•Estimate the global burden of low quality on health, financial protection, utilisation, and other outcomesMeasurement working group•Assess utility of current quality measures•Propose new measures for undermeasured constructs—eg, technical quality, patient experience, and patient-reported outcomes•Explore innovative and efficient tools for measuring health system quality•Identify quality measurement research agendaImprovement working group•Review evidence and evidence gaps for current quality improvement approaches•Identify structural (macro-level) approaches for improving quality•Identify typology of local contexts for improvement approaches•Model scenarios for quality improvement and their impact on health, utilisation, and equityEthics and equity working group•Explore the ethics of the right to quality health care in the context of limited resources•Review minimum standards for quality of care in countries•Measure the equity distribution of high-quality and low-quality care Definition and description working group •Propose a definition and conceptual framework of health system quality•Describe current quality of care for sentinel SDG conditions across countries•Analyse drivers of variation in quality•Estimate the global burden of low quality on health, financial protection, utilisation, and other outcomes Measurement working group •Assess utility of current quality measures•Propose new measures for undermeasured constructs—eg, technical quality, patient experience, and patient-reported outcomes•Explore innovative and efficient tools for measuring health system quality•Identify quality measurement research agenda Improvement working group •Review evidence and evidence gaps for current quality improvement approaches•Identify structural (macro-level) approaches for improving quality•Identify typology of local contexts for improvement approaches•Model scenarios for quality improvement and their impact on health, utilisation, and equity Ethics and equity working group •Explore the ethics of the right to quality health care in the context of limited resources•Review minimum standards for quality of care in countries•Measure the equity distribution of high-quality and low-quality care To extend and enrich the work of the Commission and to reality test Commission innovations, National Commissions will be formed in several countries. National Commissions will clarify definition and measurement of quality for the local context and assess opportunities for broad health-system quality improvement. National Commissions will be led by Ministries of Health and will bring together policymakers with development partners, academia, patient advocates, and other stakeholders. They will buttress analytical capacity for quality measurement and analysis within countries. The HQSS Commission will publish its report in The Lancet Global Health in late 2018. The report will be complemented by related papers in leading global health journals. The public can engage with the work of the Commission by visiting its website, which will feature summaries of meetings, progress updates, and research highlights, and by following the Commission on Twitter (@HQSSCommission). As countries embark on achieving diverse and ambitious health goals, it is time to think anew about the means at our disposal to improve people's health. High-quality health systems are indispensable to this agenda. We thank the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for providing funding for the HQSS Commission. The content is the sole responsibility of the authors and does not represent the official views of the Foundation. We declare no competing interests. Unreliable estimation of prevalence of fetal alcohol syndromeSvetlana Popova and colleagues (March, 2017)1 sought to estimate the global, regional, and national prevalence of alcohol use during pregnancy and fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). The authors reviewed international literature from 1984 for country-specific quantitative studies and for countries with one or no studies they predicted gestational alcohol use prevalence by fractional response regression modelling and prevalence of FAS by an estimated quotient for the average number of women consuming alcohol during pregnancy per one case of FAS. Full-Text PDF Open AccessUnreliable estimation of prevalence of fetal alcohol syndrome – Authors' replyWe thank Katrine Strandberg-Larsen and colleagues from Denmark and Simona Pichini and colleagues from Italy for their comments on our paper.1 Both comments underline the immense interest in the related public health problems of alcohol use during pregnancy and fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). Full-Text PDF Open AccessThe Lancet Global Health Commission on High Quality Health Systems—where's the complexity?The Lancet Global Health Commission on High Quality Health Systems in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Era (HQSS Commission).1 The launch draws attention to the fact that high quality health care, rather than just access to health care, will be necessary to meet the health-related SDGs. The Commission aims to address the lack of an “agreed upon single definition” of high quality health systems and produce “science-led, multidisciplinary, actionable work with […] measurable indicators”. But phrases like single definition and measurable indicators in the context of an exercise seeking to strengthen quality in highly variable health systems in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) should raise red flags. Full-Text PDF Open AccessThe Lancet Global Health Commission on High Quality Health Systems—where's the complexity? – Authors' replyStephanie Topp points to the limitations of quality measurement in The Lancet Global Health Commission on High Quality Health Systems (HQSS Commission; May, 2017)1 that might not fit the real-world contexts of low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). She also takes issue with a narrow set of generic indicators and targets for quality that might be meaningless or even provide “perverse incentives to game the system”. We agree these are important concerns and aim to tackle them in the work of the Commission. Full-Text PDF Open AccessUnreliable estimation of prevalence of fetal alcohol syndromeSvetlana Popova and colleagues (March, 2017)1 estimated that about one quarter of pregnant women in Europe drink alcohol. The authors state that this estimate is 2·6 times higher than the global prevalence and estimate that Europe has the world's highest fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) prevalence of 37·4 per 10 000 people. If true, these numbers are alarming and require urgent action; however, we are not convinced that they are valid for contemporary Europe. Full-Text PDF Open Access

AIM: To evaluate the effects of non-surgical periodontal treatment on left ventricular mass (LVM), arterial stiffness, systolic and diastolic blood pressure and plasma levels of inflammatory markers (C-reactive protein (CRP), fibrinogen and interleukin-6) in refractory hypertension patients. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This interventional prospective cohort pilot study included 26 patients (53.6 ± 8.0 years old) diagnosed with refractory hypertension and generalized chronic periodontitis. Subjects received non-surgical periodontal treatment according to their needs. Plasma levels of systemic inflammation (CRP; fibrinogen and interleukin-6) and established cardiovascular risk factors [systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP and DBP), left ventricular mass (LVM) and arterial stiffness] were assessed at three time points (baseline, 3 months after baseline and 6 months after periodontal therapy). RESULTS: Periodontal therapy significantly reduced all cardiovascular risk markers evaluated. Median values of SBP and DBP were reduced by 12.5 mmHg and 10.0 mmHg, respectively, whereas left ventricular mass (LVM) reduced by 12.9 g and pulse wave velocity reduced by 0.9 m/s (p < 0.01). Levels of CRP, IL-6 and fibrinogen lowered by 0.5 mg/dl, 1.4 pg/dl and 37.5 mg/dl (p < 0.01), respectively, 6 months after periodontal therapy. CONCLUSIONS: Periodontal therapy significantly reduced levels of CRP, IL-6, fibrinogen, blood pressure, LVM and arterial stiffness, lowering cardiovascular risk in refractory hypertensive patients.

Oil, Gas, and Mining: A Sourcebook for Understanding the Extractive Industries provides developing countries with a technical understanding and practical options around oil, gas, and mining sector development issues.<br/><br/>A central premise of the Sourcebook is that good technical knowledge can better inform political, economic, and social choices with respect to sector development and the related risks and opportunities. The guidance provided by the Sourcebook assumes a broad set of overarching principles, all centered on good governance and directed at achieving positive and broadly based sustainable development outcomes.<br/><br/>This Sourcebook is rich in presenting options to challenges, on the understanding that contexts and needs vary, and that there is much to be gained from appreciating the lessons learned from a broad set of experiences.

Abstract Editorial notes in leading management journals have urged scholars to address Grand Challenges (GC) as an opportunity for producing knowledge that matters for society. This review explores whether current conceptualizations of GC support a productive path for management and organizational scholarship by guiding empirical inquiry, facilitating cumulative theory development, and informing practice. We systematically examine scholarly articles, calls for papers, and editorial notes published in management journals for consistency in how researchers use and define the concept of GC and the scope of associated phenomena and attributes. We find three prominent conceptual architectures in use: discursive, family resemblance, and phenomenon driven. The variety and incoherence of current uses of the GC concept and the lack of efforts to improve its analytical competence lead us to suggest its retirement. Instead, we propose building on the enthusiasm around GC research and using GC as a term to define research principles that collectively help align research efforts and improve theoretical development and practice. The principles we propose capture a genuine origin story for management research on GC.

How do populations of highly mobile species inhabiting open environments become reproductively isolated and evolve into new species? We test the hypothesis that elevated ocean-surface temperatures can facilitate allopatry among pelagic populations and thus promote speciation. Oceanographic modelling has shown that increasing surface temperatures cause localization and reduction of upwelling, leading to fragmentation of feeding areas critical to pelagic species. We test our hypothesis by genetic analyses of populations of two closely related baleen whales, the Antarctic minke whale (Balaenoptera bonaerensis) and common minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) whose current distributions and migration patterns extent are largely determined by areas of consistent upwelling with high primary production. Phylogeographic and population genetic analyses of mitochondrial DNA control-region nucleotide sequences collected from 467 whales sampled in four different ocean basins were employed to infer the evolutionary relationship among populations of B. acutorostrata by rooting an intraspecific phylogeny with a population of B. bonaerensis. Our findings suggest that the two species diverged in the Southern Hemisphere less than 5 million years ago (Ma). This estimate places the speciation event during a period of extended global warming in the Pliocene. We propose that elevated ocean temperatures in the period facilitated allopatric speciation by disrupting the continuous belt of upwelling maintained by the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. Our analyses revealed that the current populations of B. acutorostrata likely diverged after the Pliocene some 1.5 Ma when global temperatures had decreased and presumably coinciding with the re-establishment of the polar-equatorial temperature gradient that ultimately drives upwelling. In most population samples, we detected genetic signatures of exponential population expansions, consistent with the notion of increasing carrying capacity after the Pliocene. Our hypothesis that prolonged periods of global warming facilitate speciation in pelagic marine species that depend on upwelling should be tested by comparative analyses in other pelagic species.

Many social entrepreneurs struggle to take successful, innovative programs that address social problems on a local or limited basis and scale them up to expand their impact in a more widespread, deepe

BACKGROUND: Vitamin A and its metabolites have been shown to be teratogenic in animals and humans producing defects of neural crest derived structures that include abnormalities of the craniofacial skeleton, heart, and thymus. Our prior studies with retinoic acid have established that gestational day (gd) 9 is a sensitive embryonic age in the mouse for inducing craniofacial and thymic defects. METHODS: We exposed pregnant mice to variable doses of vitamin A (retinyl acetate) on gd 9 and embryos were evaluated for changes in developing pharyngeal arch and pouch morphology, neural crest cell migration and marker gene expression. Additionally, we investigated whether a single organ system was more sensitive to low doses of vitamin A and could potentially be used as an indicator of vitamin A exposure during early gestation. RESULTS: High (100 mg/kg) and moderate (50 and 25 mg/kg) doses of vitamin A resulted in significant craniofacial, cardiac outflow tract and thymic abnormalities. Low doses of vitamin A (10 mg/kg) produced craniofacial and thymic abnormalities that were mild and of low penetrance. Exposed embryos showed morphologic changes in the 2nd and 3rd pharyngeal arches and pouches, changes in neural crest migration, abnormalities in cranial ganglia, and altered expression of Hoxa3. CONCLUSIONS: These animal studies, along with recent epidemiologic reports on human teratogenicity with vitamin A, raise concerns about the potential for induction of defects (perhaps subtle) in offspring of women ingesting even moderate to low amounts of supplemental vitamin A during the early gestational period.

A non-noble bimetallic catalyst Cu–Fe (1 : 2) was magnetically recoverable, highly selective and efficient for 5-(hydroxymethyl) furfural (5-HMF) hydrogenation to 2,5-dimethyl furan (DMF).

In this work, a low-cost and available material for use as a permeable reactive barrier (PRB) to prevent vanadium in groundwater from leaking into river water was developed.

Thin film technology is pervasive for many fields with high impact in our daily lives, which makes processing materials such as thin films a very important subject in materials science and technology. However, several paramount materials cannot be prepared as thin films through the well-known and consolidated deposition routes, which strongly limits their applicability. This is particularly noticeable for multi-component and complex nanocomposites, which present unique properties due to the synergic effect between the components, but have several limitations to be obtained as thin films, mainly if homogeneity and transparence are required. This review highlights the main advances of a novel approach to both process and synthesize different classes of materials as thin films, based on liquid/liquid interfaces. The so-called liquid/liquid interfacial route (LLIR) allows the deposition of thin films of single- or multi-component materials, easily transferable over any kind of substrate (plastics and flexible substrates included) with precise control of the thickness, homogeneity and transparence. More interesting, it allows the in situ synthesis of multi-component materials directly as thin films stabilized at the liquid/liquid interface, in which problems related to both the synthesis and processing are solved together in a single step. This review presents the basis of the LLIR and several examples of thin films obtained from different classes of materials, such as carbon nanostructures, metal and oxide nanoparticles, two-dimensional materials, organic and organometallic frameworks, and polymer-based nanocomposites, among others. Moreover, specific applications of those films in different technological fields are shown, taking advantage of the specific properties emerging from the unique preparation route.