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New technologies are emerging at a fast pace without being properly analyzed in terms of their social impact or adequately regulated by societies. One of the biggest potentially disruptive technologies for the future is the metaverse, or the new Internet, which is being developed by leading tech companies. The idea is to create a virtual reality universe that would allow people to meet, socialize, work, play, entertain, and create. Methods coming from future studies are used to analyze expectations and narrative building around the metaverse. Additionally, it is examined how metaverse could shape the future relations of power and levels of media addiction in the society. Hype and disappointment dynamics created after the video presentation of meta's CEO Mark Zuckerberg have been found to affect the present, especially in terms of certainty and designability. This idea is supported by a variety of data, including search engine n-grams, trends in the diffusion of NFT technology, indications of investment interest, stock value statistics, and so on. It has been found that discourse in the mentioned presentation of the metaverse contains elements of optimism, epochalism, and inventibility, which corresponds to the concept of future essentialism. On the other hand, power relations in society, inquired through the prism of classical theorists, indicate that current trends in the concentration of power among Big Tech could expand even more if the metaverse becomes mainstream. Technology deployed by the metaverse may create an attractive environment that would mimic direct reality and further stimulate media addiction in society. It is proposed that future inquiries examine how virtual reality affects the psychology of individuals and groups, their creative capacity, and imagination. Also, virtual identity as a human right and recommender systems as a public good need to be considered in future theoretical and empirical endeavors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on developing machine learning models to detect subtle alterations in hepatocyte chromatin organization due to Iron (II, III) oxide nanoparticle exposure, hypothesizing that exposure will significantly alter chromatin texture. A total of 2000 hepatocyte nuclear regions of interest (ROIs) from mouse liver tissue were analyzed, and for each ROI, 5 different parameters were calculated: Long Run Emphasis, Short Run Emphasis, Run Length Nonuniformity, and 2 wavelet coefficient energies obtained after the discrete wavelet transform. These parameters served as input for supervised machine learning models, specifically random forest and gradient boosting classifiers. The models demonstrated relatively robust performance in distinguishing hepatocyte chromatin structures belonging to the group exposed to IONPs from the controls. The study's findings suggest that iron oxide nanoparticles induce substantial changes in hepatocyte chromatin distribution and underscore the potential of AI techniques in advancing hepatocyte evaluation in physiological and pathological conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study delineated the development of an augmented reality (AR+Core) mobile application to enhance computer hardware education. By offering 3D visualizations of computer internals, the application enables students to immerse in hardware-related learning without the need of actual devices. This virtual approach ensures accessibility from anywhere, making tangible components unnecessary. The Multimedia Development Life Cycle (MDLC) informed the design process, while the Hedonic Motivation System Adoption Model (HMSAM) offered insights into technology adoption. Feedback from 7th-grade participants was overwhelmingly positive, with them acknowledging the app’s utility, engagement value, and user-friendliness. Notably, the app scored 85 of 100 for its perceived ease of use, underlining its efficacy for the target age group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is expected that thin film photovoltaic technologies will play a major role in the world photovoltaic market in the near future. The use of flexible substrates offers new possibilities for the application of solar cells, for example for building integration. In addition, flexible cells are very thin and lightweight, which makes them also more flexible in use than rigid cells. One of the most important advantages of flexible solar cells, is the potential to reduce production costs. Development of photovoltaic thin film modules ensures a satisfying flexibility of the surface, and the possibility to design appropriate shapes. The future for efficient, lightweight, flexible and cost-effective thin film modules looks very promising. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]