Effects of antifouling technology application on Marine ecological environment

Resolving the contradiction between Marine economic development and Marine ecological environment protection has become an unavoidable and sharp problem. The uncontrolled use of Marine antifouling technology will bring uncontrollable and even irreversible damage to the Marine biosphere, which will lead to ecological disaster and threaten the survival of human beings. Therefore, it is an urgent task to find antifouling technology with lower environmental toxicity under the premise of considering economy. More attention should be paid to the long-term impact of mature and new technologies on the Marine ecological environment. This paper introduces the development status of antifouling technology, its influence on Marine ecological environment and puts forward the design strategy of comprehensive biological fouling prevention and control technology.

The impact of AI-enabled service attributes on service hospitableness: the role of employee physical and psychological workload

Purpose Hospitableness lies in the center of hospitality services. With the infusion of artificial intelligence (AI) technology in the hospitality industry, managers are concerned about how AI influences service hospitableness. Previous research has examined the consequences of AI technology based on customers’ assessment while ignoring the key players in service hospitableness – frontline employees (FLEs). This study aims to reveal how AI technology empowers FLEs physically, mentally and emotionally, facilitating hospitableness provision. Design/methodology/approach As the starting point, the instrument for AI-enabled service attributes was designed based on previous literature, hotel FLE interviews, expert panel and a pilot survey, and then validated using survey data. After that, a paired supervisor-employee sample was recruited in 15 hotels, and 342 valid questionnaires covering the constructs were obtained. Findings Factor analyses and measurement model evaluation suggest that the four factors, including anthropomorphic, entertainment, functional and information attributes, explain the construct of AI-enabled service attributes well, with high reliability and validity. Additionally, anthropomorphic, functional and information attributes of AI technology have been found to enable FLEs physically, mentally and emotionally, which further lead to increased service hospitableness. The entertainment attributes do not significantly reduce physical and mental fatigue but lead to positive emotions of FLEs significantly. Additionally, psychological job demand moderates the effects of AI-enabled service attributes on physical fatigue. Practical implications Practical implications can be made for AI technology application and hospitableness provision, in terms of AI technology analysis, job design and employee workload management. Originality/value This research contributes to understanding AI-enabled service attributes and their consequences, extends the conservation of resources theory to AI application context and promotes the research on service hospitableness.

Technological achievement in the food industry in Malaysia

Issues pertaining to food sustainability have long been debated in developing countries. Food sustainability practices benefit the environment, societies and economies, yet in Malaysia food production and management are still lagging in sustainability practices. The food industry needs to explore new methods in food production because of population increase, peoples’ lifestyle, demand for healthy foods, and environmental concerns. For this reason, this review paper discussed technological achievements in the food industry to help food producers improve production. It is crucial for Malaysia to ensure sustainability in food production technology in the 12th Economic Planning Unit (EPU) projection for 2021-2025. The EPU aims to restructure and empower the existing industry. This paper discussed the food technology sub-sector focusing on agriculture and livestock in Malaysia. This focus hopes to boost existing government strategies and improve food producers’ business performance following the EPU. Here, this paper highlights the government’s involvement in technology application to help farmers’ access affordable technology via research assistance from the government.

Overview of 3D-Printed Silica Glass

Not satisfied with the current stage of the extensive research on 3D printing technology for polymers and metals, researchers are searching for more innovative 3D printing technologies for glass fabrication in what has become the latest trend of interest. The traditional glass manufacturing process requires complex high-temperature melting and casting processes, which presents a great challenge to the fabrication of arbitrarily complex glass devices. The emergence of 3D printing technology provides a good solution. This paper reviews the recent advances in glass 3D printing, describes the history and development of related technologies, and lists popular applications of 3D printing for glass preparation. This review compares the advantages and disadvantages of various processing methods, summarizes the problems encountered in the process of technology application, and proposes the corresponding solutions to select the most appropriate preparation method in practical applications. The application of additive manufacturing in glass fabrication is in its infancy but has great potential. Based on this view, the methods for glass preparation with 3D printing technology are expected to achieve both high-speed and high-precision fabrication.

Application of Virtual/Augmented Reality in Surgical Procedures

This chapter seeks to explore from the reflexivity approach the current state of virtual and augmented technologies in various surgical procedures, analyzing the most relevant technological progress as well as the latest practical applications that have been developed. Bibliographic, documentary, and descriptive were the methodologies of research; the information was collected from various scientific articles from indexed journals and websites, using keywords such as “virtual reality,” “augmented reality,” and “surgical procedure” in search engines. Furthermore, technological progress in various branches that include surgery is explored in this chapter, which is focused on the research and technology application of virtual and augmented reality as well as the challenges.

Fintech and Blockchain

The rapidly growing field of Blockchain and Decentralised Finance (DeFi) has the potential to transform many aspects of the financial world. It offers an abundance of opportunities to reduce costs, increase transparency and reduce the need for middlemen in financial services. While this promise of automation and decentralization is attractive, it is important to consider the potential for inadvertent or deliberate automation of unethical conduct at scale. Ethical questions involve the consideration of conflicting moral choices and dilemmas. Blockchain creates ethical dilemmas for developers, investors, consumers, and regulators at the technology, application, and societal levels. This chapter provides a perspective on the emerging field of DeFi and Blockchain in financial services, a reflection on the ethical questions that arise, how they are being addressed, the key issues, and further research needed in this growing field of Blockchain ethics. The objective of the chapter is for students, developers, CEO's and governments to appreciate the moral and ethical issues being uncovered in the course of the development and deployment of Blockchain technology. Blockchain, as with all technology, is a tool and is as beneficial and useful as the care that is taken to make it. There remains a need to ensure that Blockchains are built and deployed with due concern for ethics.