Compartmentalized Jet Polymerization as a High-Resolution Process to Continuously Produce Anisometric Microgel Rods with Adjustable Size and Stiffness

In the past decade, anisometric rod-shaped microgels have attracted growing interest in the materials-design and tissue-engineering communities. Rod-shaped microgels exhibit outstanding potential as versatile building blocks for 3D hydrogels, where they introduce macroscopic anisometry, porosity, or functionality for structural guidance in biomaterials. Various fabrication methods have been established to produce such shape-controlled elements. However, continuous high-throughput production of rod-shaped microgels with simultaneous control over stiffness, size, and aspect ratio still presents a major challenge. A novel microfluidic setup is presented for the continuous production of rod-shaped microgels from microfluidic plug flow and jets. This system overcomes the current limitations of established production methods for rod-shaped microgels. Here, an on-chip gelation setup enables fabrication of soft microgel rods with high aspect ratios, tunable stiffness, and diameters significantly smaller than the channel diameter. This is realized by exposing jets of a microgel precursor to a high intensity light source, operated at specific pulse sequences and frequencies to induce ultra-fast photopolymerization, while a change in flow rates or pulse duration enables variation of the aspect ratio. The microgels can assemble into 3D structures and function as support for cell culture and tissue engineering. © 2019 DWI – Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials. Published by WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinhei

A review of seagrass detection, mapping and monitoring applications using acoustic systems

Seagrass meadows are key elements of marine ecosystems as they affect the physical, chemical and biological environment and provide habitats for fish and invertebrates. Human activities have caused a deterioration in seagrass which has led to unstable benthic habitats; therefore, to prevent major decline, seagrass distribution must be mapped and monitored. Acoustic systems allow researchers, scientists and decision makers to collect high-resolution datasets such as bathymetry, backscatter and sub-bottom profiles. These systems are able to characterise the properties of the seafloor including plants, sediments and habitats. In this review, we examine seagrass mapping, monitoring and detection applications using acoustic systems in the literature. Although there are various methodologies for data collection, processing, classification and validation, these are limited to certain seagrass species or study areas. Further worldwide research is required to achieve consistent seagrass detection systems with data acquisition, pre-processing, classification and post-processing