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Despite a rising interest in artificial intelligence (AI) technology, research in services marketing has not evaluated its role in helping firms learn about customers' needs and increasing the adaptability of service employees. Therefore, the authors develop a conceptual framework and investigate whether and to what extent providing AI assistance to service employees improves service outcomes. The randomized controlled trial in the context of tutoring services shows that helping service employees (tutors) adapt to students' learning needs by providing AI-generated diagnoses significantly improves service outcomes measured by academic performance. However, the authors find that some tutors may not utilize AI assistance (i.e., AI aversion), and factors associated with unforeseen barriers to usage (i.e., technology overload) can moderate its impact on outcomes. Interestingly, tutors who significantly contribute to the firm's revenue relied heavily on AI assistance but unexpectedly benefited little from AI in improving service outcomes. Given the wide applicability of AI assistance in a variety of services marketing contexts, the authors suggest that firms should consider the potential difficulties employees face in using the technology rather than encourage them to use it as it is. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Owing to increasing air pollution due to industrial development, fine dust has been associated with threatening public health. In particular, ultrafine urban particulate matter (uf-UP, PM 0.1) can easily enter our bodies, causing inflammation-related diseases. Therefore, in the present study, we evaluated the effects of hydrothermal extracts of Sargassum horneri and its bioactive compound, loliolide, on uf-UP-induced inflammation as a potential treatment strategy for retinal disorders. Human retinal pigment epithelial cells (ARPE-19) stimulated with TNF-α or uf-UPs were treated with S. horneri extract and loliolide. S. horneri extracts exhibited anti-inflammatory effects on uf-UP-induced inflammation without cell toxicity through downregulating the mRNA expression of MCP-1, IL-8, IL-6, and TNF-α. UPLC-QTOF/MS analysis confirmed that the hydrothermal extract of S. horneri contained loliolide, which has anti-inflammatory effects. Loliolide effectively reduced the mRNA expression and production of proinflammatory chemokines (IL-8) and cytokines (IL-1β and IL-6) by downregulating the MAPK/NF-ĸB signaling pathway on TNF-α-stimulated inflammatory ARPE-19 cells. These effects were further confirmed in inflammatory ARPE-19 cells after stimulation with uf-UPs. Collectively, these results suggested the application of S. horneri as a functional ingredient for treating ocular disorders caused by particular matters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Designing an appropriate oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalyst for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting is an urgent issue for providing high-efficiency solar to hydrogen energy production. Transition metals have been central to OER catalyst research due to their plentifulness and specific electronic structure, but overcoming their water oxidation limits, including high overpotential and sluggish kinetics, remains challenging. The effective usage of noble metals for the OER, such as an intentional introduction of low-concentration noble metals into earth-abundant materials, can complement the limited reserve of noble metals and largely enhance the entire efficiency of solar water oxidation. Herein, we developed an OER photoelectrode of Au-incorporated NiFe layered double hydroxide (LDH) placed on a strong light absorber n-type silicon (Au-NiFe LDH/n-Si). With a minimal Au content of 2.7% in the catalyst structure, synergistic effects between noble metal Au and transition metal-based NiFe LDH notably accelerated the OER kinetics while stabilizing the Si-based photoanode structure in corrosive alkaline electrolyte. Optimally fabricated Au-NiFe LDH through a facile two-step electrodeposition process on n-Si exhibited a high saturated photocurrent density of ∼37 mA cm−2, and the saturated photocurrent density could be reached at an early underpotential point of 1.2 V vs. RHE. Moreover, it operated for ∼50 hours in pH 11.5 electrolyte, showing 5 times higher stability than NiFe LDH/n-Si under the same alkaline conditions. One step further, a 1/48 decrease in recombination kinetics could be achieved through doping Au atoms into NiFe LDH, revealing the efficacious defect site passivation effect with the minimum amount of noble metal usage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of new heterostructures with high photoactivity is a breakthrough for the limitation of solar‐driven water splitting. Here, we first introduce indium oxide (In2O3) nanorods (NRs) as a novel electron transport layer for bismuth vanadate (BiVO4) with a short charge diffusion length. In2O3 NRs reinforce the electron transport and hole blocking of BiVO4, surpassing the state‐of‐the‐art photoelectrochemical performances of BiVO4‐based photoanodes. Also, a tannin–nickel–iron complex (TANF) is used as an oxygen evolution catalyst to speed up the reaction kinetics. The final TANF/BiVO4/In2O3 NR photoanode generates photocurrent densities of 7.1 mA cm−2 in sulfite oxidation and 4.2 mA cm−2 in water oxidation at 1.23 V versus the reversible hydrogen electrode. Furthermore, the "artificial leaf," which is a tandem cell with a perovskite/silicon solar cell, shows a solar‐to‐hydrogen conversion efficiency of 6.2% for unbiased solar water splitting. We reveal significant advances in the photoactivity of TANF/BiVO4/In2O3 NRs from the tailored nanostructure and band structure for charge dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]