This study examines the rapid convergence of the tourism industry with other sectors, driven by the expanding experience economy. A conceptual model was introduced encompassing industry convergence patterns, paths, and effects to assess this convergence’s effectiveness. Using a survey of 392 tourists in Macau, these findings reveal that the tourism industry convergence path and mode positively influence the convergence effect, thereby shaping tourists’ perceived value. Moreover, this study identifies that convergence mode and effect mediate the relationship between the tourism industry convergence path and perceived value. This study validates the efficacy of industrial convergence paths and models in fostering regional industry convergence within the tourism sector. Additionally, it contributes a theoretical framework for evaluating industry convergence effects at a micro level, enhancing both the theoretical understanding and practical applications of Macao’s tourism industry and industrial convergence theory.

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a major cause of blindness globally. Effective screening programs are essential to mitigate this burden. This review outlines key principles and practices in implementing DR screening programs, emphasizing the roles of technology, patient education, and healthcare system integration. Our analysis highlights key principles for establishing successful screening initiatives, including the importance of regular screenings, optimal intervals, recommended technologies, and necessary infrastructure. We emphasize the roles of healthcare providers, patients, and policymakers in ensuring the effectiveness of these programs. Our recommendations aim to support the creation of robust policies that mitigate the impact of DR, ultimately improving public health outcomes and reducing the incidence of blindness due to diabetic retinopathy.

With the development of globalization and diversification, more and more people attach importance to English, and a great number of primary schools in China begin to attach importance to English teaching. As an international mainstream English teaching method, phonics has gradually been used in primary school education in China. Phonics guides students to match letters or letter combinations in the words with sounds, and read or spell words through these pronunciation rules, so that students can learn the vocabulary in a relaxed and pleasant way. It will also reduce obstacles to reading and writing words, and improve students’ learning efficiency. However, there are still some problems in primary school English teaching in China, such as lack of systematic teaching, neglect of phonetic symbol learning and neglect of word meaning, which need to be further improved so that phonics can better assist primary school English teaching.

Black Death is a virosis caused by the Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus (TSWV), transmitted by thrips, and represents a complex problem since weed hosts for thrips vectors and the virus is accentuated as virus reservoir and vector sustenance. The objective was to generate, from a list of weeds that act as hosts for the four vector thrips species in the horticultural belt of La Plata, a relative risk categorization as an epidemiological component. Between 2000 and 2003, three sites were selected within the horticultural belt of La Plata (Buenos Aires, Argentina) where flowers of 21 weed hosts of Frankliniella occidentalis, Frankliniella schultzei, Frankliniella gemina and Thrips tabaci were sampled monthly (60 in total). For analysis, the sampling results were grouped into three annual seasons, corresponding to the phenology of greenhouse crops in the region. For the four thrips vectors, the abundance of adult thrips and the presence of their larvae were considered using an unsupervised hierarchical cluster analysis and the DGC multivariate mean comparison test to obtain the number of significant groups. From this base grouping, three risk groups (RG) were defined as a source of inoculum for these vectors: high (H), medium (M) and low (L) according to the status of the reproductive host (RH). The groups that emerged were: (H): RH of F occidentalis, (M): RH of F. schultzei and T. tabaci, and (L): RH of F. gemina or non-vector thrips. Periodic survey and early flowering suppression of nine weed species categorized as high risk is proposed. This implies the continuous monitoring of three weed species, to which other companion weeds are added according to the growing season.

Nanoparticle drug delivery systems are engineered technologies that use nanoparticles for the targeted delivery and controlled release of therapeutic agents. Cisplatin-loaded nanoparticle formulations were optimized utilizing response surface methods and the central composite rotating design model. This study employed a central composite rotatable design with a three-factored factorial design with three tiers. Three independent variables namely drug polymer ratio, aqueous organic phase ration, and stabilizer concentration were used to examine the particle size, entrapment efficiency, and drug loading of cisplatin PLGA nanoparticles as responses. The results revealed that this response surface approach might be able to be used to find the best formulation for the cisplatin PLGA nanoparticles. A polymer ratio of 1:8.27, organic phase ratio of 1:6, and stabilizer concentration of 0.15 were found to be optimum for cisplatin PLGA nanoparticles. Nanoparticles made under the optimal conditions found yielded a 112 nm particle size and a 95.4 percent entrapment efficiency, as well as a drug loading of 9 percent. The cisplatin PLGA nanoparticles tailored for scanning electon microscopy displayed a spherical form. A series of in vitro tests showed that the nanoparticle delivered cisplatin progressively over time. According to this work, the Response Surface Methodology (RSM) employing the central composite rotatable design may be successfully used to simulate cisplatin-PLGA nanoparticles.

In this study, optical and microwave satellite observations are integrated to estimate soil moisture at the same spatial resolution as the optical sensors (5km here) and applied for drought analysis in the continental United States. A new refined model is proposed to include auxiliary data like soil texture, topography, surface types, accumulated precipitation, in addition to Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Land Surface Temperature (LST) used in the traditional universal triangle method. It is found the new proposed soil moisture model using accumulated precipitation demonstrated close agreements with the U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM) spatial patterns. Currently, the USDM is providing a weekly map. Recently, “flash” drought concept appears. To obtain drought map on daily basis, LST is derived from microwave observations and downscaled to the same resolution as the thermal infrared LST product and used to fill the gaps due to clouds in optical LST data. With the integrated daily LST available under nearly all weather conditions, daily soil moisture can be estimated at relatively higher spatial resolution than those traditionally derived from passive microwave sensors, thus drought maps based on soil moisture anomalies can be obtained on daily basis and made the flash drought analysis and monitoring become possible.