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Crescent‐shaped hydrogel microparticles are shown to template uniform volume aqueous droplets upon simple mixing with aqueous and oil media for various bioassays. This emerging "lab on a particle" technique requires hydrogel particles with tunable material properties and dimensions. The crescent shape of the particles is attained by aqueous two‐phase separation of polymers followed by photopolymerization of the curable precursor. In this work, the phase separation of poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA, Mw 700) and dextran (Mw 40 000) for tunable manufacturing of crescent‐shaped particles is investigated. The particles' morphology is precisely tuned by following a phase diagram, varying the UV intensity, and adjusting the flow rates of various streams. The fabricated particles with variable dimensions encapsulate uniform aqueous droplets upon mixing with an oil phase. The particles are fluorescently labeled with red and blue emitting dyes at variable concentrations to produce six color‐coded particles. The blue fluorescent dye shows a moderate response to the pH change. The fluorescently labeled particles are able to tolerate an extremely acidic solution (pH 1) but disintegrate within an extremely basic solution (pH 14). The particle‐templated droplets are able to effectively retain the disintegrating particle and the fluorescent signal at pH 14. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Underwater images suffer from low contrast and color distortion. In order to improve the quality of underwater images and reduce storage and computational resources, this paper proposes a lightweight model Rep-UWnet to enhance underwater images. The model consists of a fully connected convolutional network and three densely connected RepConv blocks in series, with the input images connected to the output of each block with a Skip connection. First, the original underwater image is subjected to feature extraction by the SimSPPF module and is processed through feature summation with the original one to be produced as the input image. Then, the first convolutional layer with a kernel size of 3 × 3, generates 64 feature maps, and the multi-scale hybrid convolutional attention module enhances the useful features by reweighting the features of different channels. Second, three RepConv blocks are connected to reduce the number of parameters in extracting features and increase the test speed. Finally, a convolutional layer with 3 kernels generates enhanced underwater images. Our method reduces the number of parameters from 2.7 M to 0.45 M (around 83% reduction) but outperforms state-of-the-art algorithms by extensive experiments. Furthermore, we demonstrate our Rep-UWnet effectively improves high-level vision tasks like edge detection and single image depth estimation. This method not only surpasses the contrast method in objective quality, but also significantly improves the contrast, colorimetry, and clarity of underwater images in subjective quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ecological environment of the Wuling Mountains region has been impacted by climate change and economic development, necessitating immediate reinforcement of ecological protection and restoration measures. The study utilized the normalized vegetation index (NDVI) as a proxy for ecological resilience. NDVI data from 2000 to 2020 were employed to compute the ecological resilience index of the Wuling Mountains area and to examine its spatial and temporal evolution as well as the factors influencing it. The findings indicate that: (1) The ecological resilience index increased in the Wuling Mountains area and Guizhou, Chongqing, and Hunan sub-areas but decreased in the Hubei sub-area. (2) The ecological resilience varies significantly in the Wuling Mountains area and the Guizhou, Hubei, and Hunan sub-regions, whereas it varies less in the Chongqing sub-region. (3) The primary elements influencing the ecological resilience capability of the Wuling Mountains area and its four sub-areas are climate conditions and socio-economic factors, respectively. The study can offer a scientific foundation for ecological conservation and restoration efforts in the Wuling Mountains area, as well as serve as a benchmark for measuring ecological resilience in other environmentally vulnerable regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study takes stock of business and economics research on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and provides a dynamic panorama of the overall knowledge structure of this ever-growing body of work ever since its inception in 1966. Our bibliometric analysis based on the full archive of 1024 studies identifies the main trends of and the major intellectual contributors to the extant knowledge of AI in business and economics research. Specifically, our results show that (1) AI-focused business and economics research wintnessed growth over three stages, particularly with a sharp increase after 2017. (2) While this body of research has gained tremendous momentum across the globe, the United States is by far the center of knowledge generation. (3) Research collaborations are still limited in this area. (4) Research topics flourished, ranging from early decision support systems, neural networks, and scheduling methods to more recent machine learning, automation, and big data. This study also identifies fruitful avenues for further business and economics research with an AI focus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

LiYGeO4 phosphors doped with Dy3+ and Eu3+ ions were synthesized using the solid phase method, and their color characteristics were adjustable. The bandgap value of LiYGeO4 calculated by diffuse reflection data is very close to the theoretical value of 3.669 eV, indicating that LiYGeO4 is an ideal candidate for doped rare earth activated ions. The analysis of the emission spectra and fluorescence attenuation curves of Dy3+ and Eu3+ co-doped LiYGeO4 phosphors revealed a clear energy transfer process: energy transfer from Dy3+ to Eu3+. Analysis of emission spectra and fluorescence attenuation curves revealed a transfer of energy from Dy3+ to Eu3+. This transfer mechanism is attributed to the dipole–dipole interactions. In addition, by constantly adjusting the doping levels of Dy3+ and Eu3+, a warm white phosphor with a color temperature of 3881 K was obtained. Finally, the emission intensity of the LiYGeO4:0.015Dy3+,0.02Eu3+ phosphor at 423 K was 86%, indicating that the phosphor has excellent thermal stability and 40% internal quantum efficiency, which proves the potential application of the LiYGeO4 phosphor in white light-emitting diodes (w-LEDs). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This present study is aimed to investigate the role of microRNA‐365 (miR‐365) in the development of intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD). Nucleus pulposus (NP) cells were transfected by miR‐365 mimic and miR‐365 inhibitor, respectively. Concomitantly, the transfection efficiency and the expression level of miRNA were detected by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT‐PCR). Meanwhile, NP cells apoptosis was measured through propidium iodide (PI)‐AnnexinV‐fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) apoptosis detection kit. Subsequently, immunofluorescence (IF) staining was performed to assess the expression of collagen II, aggrecan and matrix metalloproteinase 13 (MMP‐13). In addition, bioinformatic prediction and Luciferase reporter assay were used to reveal the target gene of miR‐365. Finally, we isolated the primary NP cells from rats and injected NP‐miR‐365 in rat IDD models. The results showed that overexpression of miR‐365 could effectively inhibit NP cells apoptosis and MMP‐13 expression and upregulate the expression of collagen II and aggrecan. Conversely, suppression of miR‐365 enhanced NP cell apoptosis and elevated MMP‐13 expression, but decreased the expression of collagen II and aggrecan. Moreover, the further data demonstrated that miR‐365 mediated NP cell degradation through targeting ephrin‐A3 (EFNA3). In addition, the cells apoptosis and catabolic markers were increased in NP cells when EFNA3 upregulated. More importantly, the vivo data supported that miR‐365‐NP cells injection ameliorated IDD in rats models. miR‐365 could alleviate the development of IDD by regulating NP cell apoptosis and ECM degradation, which is likely mediated by targeting EFNA3. Therefore, miR‐365 may be a promising therapeutic avenue for treatment IDD through EFNA3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In practice, correction fluid to mask text errors has been continuously in demand since papers began to be predominantly used since the late fourth century AD in ancient China. However, research on the trajectory of correction fluid composition has been largely overlooked and has not been revealed currently. In this study, a multianalytical approach was used to investigate a thin whiteout layer, used as correction fluids applied in 1890, on a book page from the famous Imperial Encyclopedia (1726 bronze‐type repaint version). The results showed that the white layer was composed of hydrocerussite ((PbCO3)2·Pb (OH)2) in mixture with plant oil and a tiny portion of calcium carbonate, which had been applied to conceal the originally printed Chinese characters upon which they were rewritten in preparing photographic negatives for reprinting using photolithography. The analysis results also suggest that lead white was likely domestically made using a local lead ore source by the wet synthetic process. Considering the prolonged use of orpiment (As2S3) as a correction fluid ingredient in Chinese tradition, a trajectory to lead white suggests not only advances in pulping and papermaking technology but also a shift in cultural habits and aesthetic psychology in the late Qing Dynasty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

(1) Background: In arid and semi-arid reservoirs, water surface evaporation is the main method of water dissipation in order to inhibit the evaporation of water and enhance economic efficiency. The evaporation inhibition rate of water-piled PV at different times of the year is derived from the anti-evaporation test of water-piled PV, and a new idea is proposed for water conservation in plains reservoirs in arid areas. (2) Methods: The test was conducted by dividing the area into groups A and B, with and without PV panel shading. In situ observation and numerical calculation were used to measure the atmosphere's temperatures, test group, and PV module. The saturated water vapor pressure difference was then calculated according to Dalton's principle to analyze the economic benefits of water saving. (3) Results: Based on the test results, it was found that the shading of PV panels had a cooling effect on the water body, the PV module, and the atmosphere. Group A showed a 44.2% decrease in the saturation water vapor pressure difference compared to Group B. The maximum evaporation suppression rate of 40.2% was observed in July, while the minimum rate of 12.2% was observed in January. The average evaporation suppression rate for the entire year was 29.2%. By utilizing the annual water savings for agricultural irrigation, it is possible to cover 38 hm2 of land and generate a revenue of 39,000 CNY. (4) Conclusions: The photovoltaic water cover can effectively reduce water evaporation and generate economic benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]