Controlled actuation of liquid marbles on a dielectric

Motivated by the great potential of droplet microreactors for chemical and biological applications, a general and robust method utilizing an electric field is developed for sustained, directional and two-dimensional manipulation of nonwetting droplets (termed “liquid marbles”). With the understanding of the mechanism of actuation, this method allows individual liquid marbles to be actuated and coalesced on demand by fine-tuning the driving voltage. Moreover, in our system, cross-contamination between marbles during manipulation is avoided as confirmed by the absence of any trace DNA after amplification using a loop-mediated isothermal amplification reaction

Electrocoalescence of liquid marbles driven by embedded electrodes for triggering bioreactions

Liquid marbles need to be controlled precisely to benefit applications, for instance, as microreactors on digital microfluidic platforms for chemical and biological assays. In this work, a strategy is introduced to coalesce liquid marbles via electrostatics, where two liquid marbles in contact can coalesce when a sufficiently high voltage is applied to embedded electrodes. With the understanding of the mechanism of coalescence through relating the electric stress and the restoring capillary pressure at the contact interface, this method coalesces liquid marbles efficiently. When compared with the existing electrocoalescence method, our approach does not require immersion of electrodes to trigger coalescence. We demonstrate this to exchange the medium for the culture of cell spheroids and to measure the cell metabolic activity through a CCK-8 assay. The manipulation of liquid marbles driven by electrostatics creates new opportunities to conduct chemical reactions and biomedical assays in these novel microreactors

Affective Affordance of Message Balloon Animations: An Early Exploration of AniBalloons

We introduce the preliminary exploration of AniBalloons, a novel form of chat balloon animations aimed at enriching nonverbal affective expression in text-based communications. AniBalloons were designed using extracted motion patterns from affective animations and mapped to six commonly communicated emotions. An evaluation study with 40 participants assessed their effectiveness in conveying intended emotions and their perceived emotional properties. The results showed that 80% of the animations effectively conveyed the intended emotions. AniBalloons covered a broad range of emotional parameters, comparable to frequently used emojis, offering potential for a wide array of affective expressions in daily communication. The findings suggest AniBalloons' promise for enhancing emotional expressiveness in text-based communication and provide early insights for future affective design.Comment: Accepted by CSCW 2023 poste

Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus seropositivity is associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus: A case–control study in Xinjiang, China

Objective: To assess the potential relationship between Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) infection and type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM-2) in Xinjiang, China. Methods: A case–control study of consecutively included DM-2 patients and normal controls was conducted among the Uygur and Han populations in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China. Blood samples were collected and KSHV seroprevalence, antibody titers, and viral load were investigated. Logistic regression analysis and multiple linear regression analysis were applied to explore determinants of the main outcome measures. Results: A total of 324 patients with DM-2 and 376 normal controls were included. The seroprevalence of KSHV was 49.1% (95% confidence interval (CI) 43.6–54.5%) for diabetic patients and 23.7% (95% CI 19.4– 28.0%) for the control group. After adjusting for variables of ethnicity, sex, body mass index, occupation, educational level, marital status, age, and smoking and alcohol consumption habits, the association between DM-2 and KSHV infection still existed (odds ratio (OR) 2.94, 95% CI 2.05–4.22), and the risk of KSHV infection increased with glucose concentration (OR 1.35, 95% CI 1.21–1.51). KSHV was more likely to express both the latent and lytic antigens in diabetic patients (latent: OR 3.27, 95% CI 2.25–4.75; lytic: OR 3.99, 95% CI 2.68–5.93). Antibody titers and viral load increased in patients with higher blood glucose levels (p \u3c 0.001). Conclusions: Patients with DM-2 have an elevated risk of KSHV infection. Both antibody titers and viral load increased with blood glucose levels

Potential biomarkers for the early detection of bone metastases

The clinical manifestations of bone metastases are diversified while many sites remain asymptomatic at early stage. As the early diagnosis method is not perfect and the early symptoms of tumor bone metastasis are not typical, bone metastasis is not easy to be detected. Therefore, the search for bone metastasis-related markers is effective for timely detection of tumor bone metastases and the development of drugs to inhibit bone metastases. As a result, bone metastases can only be diagnosed when symptoms are found, increasing the risk of developing skeletal-related event (SREs), which significantly impairs the patient’s quality of life. Therefore, the early diagnosis of bone metastases is of great importance for the treatment and prognosis of cancer patients. Changes of bone metabolism indexes appear earlier in bone metastases, but the traditional biochemical indexes of bone metabolism lack of specificity and could be interfered by many factors, which limits their application in the study of bone metastases. Some new biomarkers of bone metastases have good diagnostic value, such as proteins, ncRNAs, circulating tumor cells (CTCs). Therefore, this study mainly reviewed the initial diagnostic biomarkers of bone metastases which were expected to provide references for the early detection of bone metastases

Applications of Nanomaterials in Electrogenerated Chemiluminescence Biosensors

Electrogenerated chemiluminescence (also called electrochemiluminescence and abbreviated ECL) involves the generation of species at electrode surfaces that then undergo electron-transfer reactions to form excited states that emit light. ECL biosensor, combining advantages offered by the selectivity of the biological recognition elements and the sensitivity of ECL technique, is a powerful device for ultrasensitive biomolecule detection and quantification. Nanomaterials are of considerable interest in the biosensor field owing to their unique physical and chemical properties, which have led to novel biosensors that have exhibited high sensitivity and stability. Nanomaterials including nanoparticles and nanotubes, prepared from metals, semiconductor, carbon or polymeric species, have been widely investigated for their ability to enhance the efficiencies of ECL biosensors, such as taking as modification electrode materials, or as carrier of ECL labels and ECL-emitting species. Particularly useful application of nanomaterials in ECL biosensors with emphasis on the years 2004-2008 is reviewed. Remarks on application of nanomaterials in ECL biosensors are also surveyed

China Art Tours: Travel Agency Dedicated to Art and Cultural Tours in China for Professionals

China Art Tours is a travel agency dedicated to arranging and delivering art and cultural tours for art professionals, academics, and collectors. In the overall travel industry landscape, China Art Tours is categorized under luxury tours, academic tours, and virtual tours. The business strives to be the forerunner in leading virtual experiences to Western audiences during this unique context of a pandemic and envisions becoming a platform for relationship building between the Chinese and Western art market. Traveling has become essential in art education and art collecting. There is a growing interest in Chinese modern and contemporary art but a lack of options for art and cultural tours to China for professionals.(1) Also, the growing number of businesses implementing exit strategies in the global tourism industry offers an opportunity to redefine travel and adjust to the “new normal”. The opportunity also raises an immediate demand for virtual experiences, paving a way to reach audiences awaiting In-Person Tours. (1) Bilici, Andra, and Roanna Cada. “Increased Interest in Collecting Asian Art.” Collectors Corner, February 14, 2020. https://www.art-mine.com/collectorscorner/increased-interest-in-collecting-asian-art/

中国零售：实体电商的竞争竞合 = Competition and cooperation between China’s E-commerce and merchandise retailing

《中国零售：实体电商的竞争竞合》(Competition and Cooperation between China’s Ecommerce and Merchandise Retailing) is a Chinese Language feature which explores the growth of e-commerce in China and its impact on retail industry. The feature also aims to capture the dynamic transition from competition between e-commerce and in-store merchandise retailing to collaboration and integration of the two. In the last decade, China has risen up to the largest e-commerce entity in the world1 with 4.3 billion consumers shopping online. The popularity of e-commerce is firstly attributed to convenience of shopping at home and lower-priced products as compared to that of physical stores. Over the years, development of third party payment system and efficient customer services helped instill trust on e-commerce platforms such as Taobao, Tmall, JD.com, as well as transaction activities. The trend of online shopping has expanded from cities to rural areas, while spreading from youth to all different age groups.Bachelor of Communication Studie

Hydrodynamics research of a two-body articulated wave energy device

The paper proposed a calculation method for a two-body articulated wave energy device with a complex geometric shape. The hydrodynamic performance of the Eagle wave energy device as an example was studied. The hydrodynamic calculation was carried out by the boundary element method based on the simple Green's function to solve the wave excitation force and hydrodynamic coefficients. Based on the above, the motion equation was obtained. Using the motion equation, the hydrodynamic response and capture width ratio of the device at different wave frequencies were calculated. In summary, this computational result can be used to evaluate and optimize the performance of the articulated wave energy device