Month: March 2021

There are about 70 thousand gas stations in Russia alone that use fuel dispensers. Due to the increasing requirements for safety and efficiency, it is necessary to continuously monitor equipment and control various parameters: voltage, current, phase, and transients. Ivan Spitsyn, a 4th-year student of the Faculty of Computer Science and Technology of ETU “LETI”, aims to help avoid accidents and losses at gas stations.

His project for the development of algorithms for processing data on the condition of fuel dispensers won the UMNIK competition within the Digital Economy of the Russian Federation program of the Foundation for Innovation Support. The young researcher will implement the project using this grant under the guidance of Vyacheslav Gulvansky, an engineer of the Department of Automation and Control Processes.

“The project will provide for developing an innovative, efficient, and low-cost solution for engine condition monitoring. Due to the possible embargo as part of economic sanctions, all hardware components will be Russian-made. The software will include algorithms to identify existing defects and reduce hardware costs,” the developer says.

The device will consist of an explosion-proof casing, controller, and microelectronics. It will provide an operator with the necessary information about the condition of the inspected equipment and help to predict possible system failures.

According to Ivan, this development will reduce losses by 75%. If an unexpected engine failure occurs at one of the pumps, the gas station will lose 25% of its daily earnings. It may take about five days to restore it, which will lead to the loss of daily income. The device developed by the young scientist can predict the failure of an engine and reduce the time of the pump repair to one day.

“There are several companies in Russia that develop equipment similar in functionality to our final product. Most of them are very expensive, more suitable for large companies. The main qualities we will strive for in our development are efficiency and low cost, “Vyacheslav Gulvansky, an engineer of the Department of Automation and Control Processes, explains.

The first stage of the project will involve developing a mathematical model of an induction motor and fuel-dispensing load on it, algorithms for equipment condition analysis, modelling engine analysis algorithms, and selecting hardware. The second stage will include assembling a prototype, developing software, designing software for the operator’s station, and testing the system’s operability.

To realize the full potential of solar energy, scientists must find efficient ways of converting light energy into chemical energy. In a recently published study, scientists from Nagoya Institute of Technology in Japan have developed a chemically modified variant of a photosynthetic enzyme sourced from a bacterium. Their modifications enabled the enzyme to more efficiently harvest the energy available in light, which is an important advancement in the development of clean solar energy.

Given the finite nature of fossil fuel reserves and the devastating environmental impacts of relying on fossil fuels, the development of clean energy sources is among the most pressing challenges facing modern industrial civilization. Solar energy is an attractive clean energy option, but the widescale implementation of solar energy technologies will depend on the development of efficient ways of converting light energy into chemical energy.

Like many other research groups, the members of Professor Takehisa Dewa’s research team at Nagoya Institute of Technology in Japan have turned to biological photosynthetic apparatuses, which are, in Prof. Dewa’s words, both “a source of inspiration and a target to test ways of improving the efficiency of artificial systems.”

Specifically, they chose to focus on the purple photosynthetic bacterium Rhodopseudomonas palustris, which uses a biohybrid light-harvesting 1–reaction center core complex (LH1-RC) to both capture light energy and convert it into chemical energy.

In their initial studies of R. palustris, Prof. Dewa’s group quickly noted that the LH1-RC system has certain limitations, such as only being able to harvest light energy efficiently within a relatively narrow wavelength band due to its reliance on (bacterio)chlorophylls, a single light-harvesting organic pigment assembly (B875, named for its absorption maximum).

To overcome this limitation, the researchers, in partnership with collaborators at Osaka University and Ritsumeikan University, experimented with covalently linking the LH1-RC system to a set of fluorophores (Alexa647, Alexa680, Alexa750, and ATTO647N). The results of their experiments appear in a paper published in a recent issue of the Journal of Photochemistry & Photobiology A: Chemistry.

Having synthesized their modified LH1-RC system, Prof. Dewa’s team used a method called “femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy” to confirm the presence of ultrafast “excitation energy” transfer from the fluorophores to the bacteriochlorophyll a pigments in the B875 assembly. They also confirmed the subsequent occurrence of “charge separation” reactions, a key step in energy harvesting.

Unsurprisingly, the rate of excitation energy transfer increased with greater spectral overlap between the emission bands of the fluorophores and the absorption band of B875. Attaching the external light-harvesting fluorophores boosted the enzyme’s maximum yield of charge separation and photocurrent generation activity on an electrode within an artificial lipid bilayer system.

By introducing covalently linked fluorophores into a bacterial photosynthetic enzyme (as shown in Figure 1), Prof. Dewa’s team succeeded in broadening the enzyme’s band of harvestable light wavelengths. This is an important improvement given the extremely low energy density of sunlight.

“This finding could pave the way to developing an efficient artificial photosynthesis system for solar energy conversion,” notes Prof. Dewa. “Research on biohybrids should provide insights into the development of implementable energy conversion systems, thereby giving advanced modern civilization a practical option for accessing an inexhaustible supply of clean solar energy,” he adds.

The energy conversion systems in question may take many forms, including various nanomaterials, such as quantum dots and nanocarbon materials, but a unifying feature will be the need for some way to harness a broad-spectrum light-harvesting apparatus to a photocurrent-generating apparatus, and the biohybrid-type system developed by Prof. Dewa’s team provides a feasible means of addressing this need.

 

Lithium-ion batteries are widely used for household appliances from smartphones to electric vehicles. The charge-discharge cycle in such a battery is provided by the movement of lithium ions between two electrodes — from a negatively charged anode to a positively charged cathode.

The scope of application of lithium-ion batteries is constantly expanding, but at the same time, according to scientists, their capacity is still limited by the properties of graphite — the main anode material. Scientists from NUST MISIS managed to obtain new material for anodes that can provide a significant increase in capacity and extend battery service life.

“Porous nanostructured microspheres with the composition Cu0.4Zn0.6Fe2O4, that we have extracted, used as anode material provide three times higher capacity than the batteries existing on the market. Besides, it allows increasing the number of charge-discharge cycles by 5 times compared to other promising alternatives to graphite. This improvement is achieved due to a synergistic effect with a combination of a special nanostructure and the composition of used elements”, said Evgeny Kolesnikov, an assistant at the Department of Functional Nanosystems and High-Temperature Materials, NUST MISIS said.

The synthesis of the final material happens via a one-step process without intermediate stages due to the use of the spray-pyrolysis method. As the scientists explained, an aqueous solution with ions of special metals is converted into the fog with the help of ultrasound, and then water is evaporated at temperatures up to 1200 ° C with the decomposition of the original metal salts. As the result, micron or submicron spheres with the porosity, that is required to operate in a lithium-ion system, are extracted.

Electrochemical studies of the material synthesized by NUST MISIS specialists were carried out by the scientists from the Seoul National University of Science and Technology (Republic of Korea), the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Norway), and the SRM Institute of Science and Technology (India).

The research team intends to continue researches for new even more efficient compositions of battery electrodes in the future.

Russia with 40 ranked universities is represented in the top-10 countries that have the most number of universities featured in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2021. Russian universities are included in all five faculty rankings and in 39 out of 51 subject rankings.

The best indicator among the participants of Project 5-100 belonged to the National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University, which rose to 23rd position in the subject ranking “Petroleum Engineering”. The National Research University Higher School of Economics was ranked in 20 subject areas at once, becoming the leader in terms of the number of hits in the ranking among the participants of the 5-100 Project. In addition, HSE University ranked first among Project 5-100 Universities in terms of the number of positions in the top-100 subject rankings: 8 positions, including two of them in the top-50.

“We fix the steady growth of Project 5-100 Universities in the major global rankings. This year, 16 Project 5-100 universities have entered the QS by faculty and QS by subject rankings at once, while none of them had been represented there at the start of Project 5-100 in 2013. In 2014 only 4 Project 5-100 universities entered the QS ranking for the first time: MIPT, HSE University, NRNU MEPhI, and NSU. More than 60% (35 out of 55) of the Russian Universities positions in the QS rankings are taken by Project 5-100 participants, and their contribution to the results of Russian Universities in the natural sciences and engineering is about 80%”, said Boris Filippov, Biology Ph.D., the Head of the Project 5-100 Office.

The number of positions presented by the participants of Project 5-100 in the QS subject and faculty ranking has also increased significantly — more than 40 times — from 4 in 2014 to 167 in 2021. The number of positions in the top-100 of faculty and subject rankings increased to 25, six positions are presented in the top-50 range. Ten of the 16 Russian Universities represented in the top-100 of QS rankings are Project 5-100 participants.

The rankings reflect important structural changes that have taken place in Russian Universities. For eight years, Russian Universities have made a qualitative breakthrough and transformed into modern world-class research and educational centres recognized by the world academic community, as well as by applicants and employers from different countries.

All areas of Universities’ work have undergone changes: whether it is personnel policy, research programs, the model of interaction between teachers and students, or the system of academic management and interaction with a wide range of stakeholders. Such transformational processes have allowed students to receive quality education on world-class programs with a choice of professional trajectories.

Scientists and teachers had the opportunity to work in modern laboratories, participate in breakthrough research that is relevant to the Russian and world agenda, and interact with leading world scientists.

Despite the pandemic difficulties in 2020, Project 5-100 Universities delivered a high level of operation and significantly increased their results.

“In February 2021, the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation assessed the results of Project 5-100 and concluded that it corresponded to many trends in foreign academic excellence initiatives. Despite the fact that for the most part foreign analogs are designed for longer periods and involve a much larger amount of funding, the implementation of Project 5-100 has made it possible not only to form a group of Universities – world leaders but also to make a qualitative shift in the development of the entire system of Russian higher education and science, to lay a serious foundation for its further transformation and increase of competitiveness. Thus, now we can confidently say that Project 5-100 has proven its effectiveness as an initiative to increase global competitiveness and build up the research potential of Russian Universities”, – commented Boris Filippov.

Chulalongkorn University‘s Faculty of Law students have won the 3rd runner-up award from the 19th Intercollegiate Negotiation Competition, attended by over 300 contestants from leading universities worldwide.

The Intercollegiate Negotiation Competition has been organized by the Intercollegiate Negotiation Competition Japan for the 19th consecutive year.  In the 2020 online competition, the first joined by Chula, the teams were each designated a company to represent and required to draft various legal documents, such as a memorandum, response memorandum, and explanatory memorandum.  The contestants also had to present a legal pleading during the one-day arbitration round, and negotiate on behalf of the company during another one-day negotiation round.

According to Pattharaporn Phattharapibul, Kritchawit Tatinij, Wasuwat Deepromariyakun, and Praewa Jittimanee, the team of fourth-year students from the Chula Faculty of Law that won Third Place from this world-class legal competition, the competition was interesting as it was a legal competition about international commercial contracts.  Including negotiation and international arbitration, the competition required a blend of alternative dispute resolution methods, similar to real business practices.

The competition judges were a team of experts in the legal field, and the contestants were from top universities in Asia and around the world.

“I am very happy that the students did extremely well in this competition.  As a team that entered this competition for the first time, a third runner-up award to NUS (National University of Singapore), Team Australia (University of Sydney Law School, ANU College of Law, Melbourne Law School and QUT Law), and the University of Tokyo, with 0.5 point away, was impressive.  All students in the team worked extremely hard and helped each other out. Participating in this competition was an opportunity for self-improvement, acquiring knowledge in real-life scenarios, and preparing students to become lawyers in the future,” said Thidarat Silpabhiromsuk, Ph.D., Deputy Dean for Foreign Affairs, Faculty of Law, Chulalongkorn University, the team advisor.

The concept of halal supply chain has increasingly attracted businesses in recent times and thus to understand its practices and certification, the Institute of Halal Management and Science (IHALALMAS), Faculty of Business and Management (FBM), Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Shah Alam, Malaysia took the initiative to organise two webinars late last year.

The first webinar on 16^th July 2020 discussed the challenges faced by the certification and standard body in conducting audits during the pandemic Covid-19. The two panelists were Ustaz Muhammad Hawari Hassan, Senior Assistant Director from the Research Division, Department of Islamic Development of Malaysia (JAKIM) and Ms Fakheezah Borhan, Senior Assistant Director from the Standardisation Division, Department of Standards Malaysia, and the session was moderated by Dr Harlina Suzana Jaafar from IHALALMAS.

The second webinar on 27^th August 2020, moderated by Dr Yuslina Liza Mohd Yusof from IHALALMAS also had a similar theme but discussed on challenges during the pandemic from the industry perspective.  The three panellists Mr Mohamad Asraf Latif from Quanterm Logistics, Mr Mohamad Safuan Zulkifli from Pos Logistics Bhd and Mr Fakaruddin Hj Harun from Lulu Group Retail Sdn Bhd discussed the challenges faced in managing halal related activities in transportation, warehousing and retail in order to be sustainable during the pandemic.

Halal supply chain constitutes the process of producing halal products and not only encompasses the production process, but also involves all activities throughout the supply chain from the source of supply, handling, storage, warehousing, manufacturing, until the transportation activities. Throughout these supply chain activities, various circumstances could expose the halal products into risks of contamination with anything that is forbidden by Islamic law and hazardous elements that would affect the status of a halal product.

With the development of certification schemes of MS2400(1) Transportation, MS2400(2) Warehousing and Related Activities and MS2400(3) Retailing by the Department of Standard Malaysia, industries have begun to realise the importance of halal supply chain in their business.

Chitkara University organised its third Annual Excellence Awards function on 27th Feb 2021. Every year, during the Awards ceremony, faculty members are recognised, incentivised and rewarded for excellence in initiatives related to research, innovation and entrepreneurship.

As many as 178 faculty members received cash incentives for high-quality publications. The University bagged extramural funding worth INR 12 Cr in the Calendar year 2020. All the faculty members responsible for winning these projects were applauded and rewarded.

They received citations for their extraordinary efforts. The University was able to file 292 patents in the said year and as many as 250 faculty members as innovators were rewarded and recognised.

Based on accumulated bonus points on five criteria: quality publications, extramural funding, citations, consultancy projects and patents, the two most coveted awards were also declared: Outstanding and Eminent Researcher. Total cash incentives worth INR 2.5 Cr were distributed amongst faculty members.

Dr. Ashok K Chitkara, Chancellor and Dr. Madhu Chitkara, Pro-Chancellor, congratulated the winners and also those, who got published in quality journals and earned the publication incentives. They also applauded the efforts of the faculty members to put Chitkara University on the National Scene by being recognised in Band A institutions in the rank band of 6-25 by ARIIA Ranking of Government of India.

PTT Public Company Limited has collaborated with the Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, and Thammasat Business School, Thammasat University to set up the “Sugi Business Case Challenge for Sugi Model” project in order to allow university’s students to exercise their creativities and develop the marketing model for the Cobia fish to be one of the key drivers for the new economic aquatic animals in Thailand.

Associate Professor Dr Ruth Banomyong, Dean of Thammasat Business School, Thammasat University, reveals that the faculty’s crucial policy is to build student’s potential and knowledge from practical projects as well as theories in order to gain good development in marketing.

In terms of the “Sugi Business Case Challenge” project, Cobia fish is regarded as a new economic fish because of its properties. Therefore, if there is a proper marketing plan to create brand awareness and goods quality, it will support the economy of Thailand’s fishery industry and make Thai food famous in the future.

Ms Nuchanath Chandrawuttikorn, Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs, Thammasat Business School, Thammasat University, and “Sugi Business Case Challenge” project’s Administrator, says, “This project is the result of the collaboration of three organizations.  PTT Public Company Limited is promoting and coordinating all sectors. The Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives supports the project in terms of fishery knowledge.”

“Thammasat Business School, Thammasat University, as an academic institution, gives support in terms of marketing development as the university believes that Cobia fish is the future of the country’s economy.”

The competition is to search for talented students nationwide to get a chance to work with PTT Public Company Limited. Meanwhile, the competition is also to find a business model for further development for future use. This competition is one of the few platforms that offer a budget for students. The entire process of the competition, including shortlisting the winner, will be finished within March 2021.

When the final winner is selected, they will have a short visit to a fish cage at Phuket in order to see the link between the marketing strategy and the farmer side. All marketing plans will be reviewed and improved by PTT’s booster team before the real operation.

This competition will prepare students to be ready for the new world, where time is a crucial resource. Moreover, the market test period in the competition allows students to think outside the box in terms of business matters.

iFarm, the winner of The Europas Awards 2020 as the Hottest Ag/FoodTech startup, has supported Urban Greenhouse Challenge: Reforest, an international competition held at Tomsk Polytechnic University.

Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) received a grant from the U.S. Department of State’s Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund to run a training program in organic soap-making using locally available materials. With the continued threat of COVID-19 to people’s health and livelihood, MMSU welcomes the grant to complement its program to activate resiliency among Ilokano communities.

With the $10,000 grant, an MMSU team led by US Exchange Program alumni is set to train Ilocos Norte women using simple technology vital in combatting today’s health crisis, and one with promising entrepreneurial benefits.

Led by Dr. Fiorello Abenes, Former US Senior Fulbright fellow, Professor Emeritus at California State Polytechnic University (CalPoly)-Pomona, former MMSU Balik-Scientist, and a consultant to the National Bio-Energy Research and Innovation Center (NBERIC), and Dr. Jan Rich A. Guira, Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant Program (FLTA) and MMSU’s chief for student development, the group is set to train at least 50 women in a training program using the facilities of the National Bioenergy Research and Innovation Center (NBERIC).

“The World Health Organization and the Philippine Department of Health recommend washing hands with soap frequently to prevent the spread of Coronavirus. Soap making is an easy enterprise that families can get into.

“In addition to making enough soap for their own family use, the knowledge and skills gained by participants from this training could very well become a source of additional income for the participants. With the “Starting an Organic Soap” business component, they could start a small business in their communities,” Dr. Abenes said.

Meanwhile, Dr. Guira said that for the training, only readily available materials in Ilokano homes will be utilized. “Except for NaOH (caustic soda or lye), raw materials, such as coconut oil, salt, and fragrant flowers like ylang-ylang and jasmines are readily found in kitchens or backyards.

“This ensures that all participants will be able to apply their learning even when they go back to their families and create low-cost but effective soap that they can use for washing and bathing,” he added.

Dr. Roque Ulep, USAID-STRIDE post-doctoral fellow, chemical engineer and lead trainer, assured that, “we will make sure that the quality of the soaps produced during the training are on a par with commercial soaps, with the same anti-microbial and cleansing effect.”

“We will motivate our trainees to be guerilla scientists in their own communities to produce a rippling effect,” Roque added. Sustainability of the project will be achieved through enabling the participants to cascade their training in their own towns or barangays.

MMSU President Shirley C. Agrupis, Fulbright-Philippine Agriculture Fellowship alumnus, and project administrator, said that “the overall goal of the project is to empower rural women to protect their families and to alleviate poverty in Ilocos Norte.”

Aside from soap production, the project will also encourage entrepreneurship among the trainees, coaching them to establish small-scale soap manufacturing enterprises. To achieve this, the participants will be trained on how to prepare a business plan and will be introduced to microfinance sources from the government and banking industry.

Given the restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, all participants will be provided with personal protective equipment (PPPE), and physical distancing will be strictly implemented. Participants will be subjected to daily temperature checks before they enter the training room and will be required to undergo disinfection procedures. They will also be provided with a 100 ml bottle of 70% alcohol developed at the NBERIC for their use throughout the duration of the training.

Participants who opt to stay in the University during their 4-day training will be accommodated in University housing facilities, especially those who reside from towns far from Batac City.

Aside from Dr. Roque, other trainers include: Engr. Loreli Faye Manzano (NBERIC researcher) for soap-making, and Ms. Lenie Bayangos (MMSU business director) for busines plan preparation. Other members of the training team are:  Engr. Thomas Ubina (NBERIC chief), Mr. Jayson Cariaga and Ms. Maria Concepcion Birginias (NBERIC researchers), Ms. Regine Bernadette Alibuyog (NBERIC Staff), Ms. Magdalena Valencia (Chemistry staff) and Ms. Jenny Padulip, (Administrative Aide).

MMSU Extension Director Aris Reynold V. Cajigal (Fulbright Graduate Student Program), serves as the local government focal point and trainee selection and recruitment lead. Meanwhile, the publication and documentation committee is composed of Prof. Luvee Hazel C. Aquino, acting director for strategic communication (FLTA), and Mr. Ryan Roi Domingo and Mr. John Vincent Toribio, digital media and information services chief, respectively, both of whom are alumni of the Online Professional English Network (OPEN) Program.

The project is one of 38 winners of the Fall 2020 Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund (CDAF) which provides funding for US citizen-alumni led public service projects that address the themes of media literacy education, building community resilience, and fostering alumni network development. Other projects also include supporting early education in Burundi, podcasting for media literacy in Mongolia, and food literacy in Indiana.

Matthew Lussenhop, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State congratulated “our exchange alumni who have received awards from the CDAF to lead public service projects in their communities.”

The CDAF is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and implemented in partnership with the Partners of the Americas. For more information visit https://alumni.state.gov. For questions on ECA exchange programs, contact [email protected].