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Month: October 2021

President University professor wins best paper in ISEI Congress

Posted on by President University

Associate Professor Dr Dra. Genoveva, M.M., Head of Management Study Program, President University (PresUniv), was successfully selected as the Best Paper in the Call for Papers of the ISEI Congress XXI & National Seminar 2021.

This congress raised the theme of Peran ISEI dalam Penguatan Sinergi untuk Mengakselerasi Pemulihan Ekonomi Nasional di Era Digital.

Genoveva picked the topic of Empowering MSMEs and Cooperatives with the article’s title The Sustainability of Women’S Smes During the COVID-19 Pandemic. This article was then presented online at the ISEI Call for Paper, Tuesday. In her article, Genoveva discusses women entrepreneurs who are experiencing much pressure due to the pandemic.

She said she chose the title of this article because when giving webinars to MSMEs, which were attended mainly by women, they complained a lot about work-life balance problems.

“This is because as women while doing business, they are also taking care of the children and the house. So, the variables I chose were related to the problems faced today and from my previous research in 2018-2020, which was also about women entrepreneurs,” she explained.

Through this article, Genoveva hopes that her research can be implemented by providing more training and workshops, especially related to digital business, to improve MSME skills, especially women.

Genoveva said she was proud that her article was selected as one of the Best Paper. As an appreciation, Genoveva received an incentive of IDR 5,000,000. This article will also be published in a journal managed by ISEI, namely the Indonesian Economic Journal (JEI).

SOPet, an Online Veterinarian Service by Chula students

Posted on by Chulalongkorn University

SOPet, an online veterinary clinic and popular startup that gives instant advice on pet issues, is the brainchild of Chulalongkorn University‘s sophomore students in the Bachelor of Arts and Science in Integrated Innovation (BAScii) degree, under CU Innovation Hub – a highlight of the strength of the social enterprise, fast, reliable, and affordable.  Based on the life experience of pet owners who need urgent advice and assistance in times of crisis but are unable to rush to the clinic or veterinary hospital in time, SOPet was created.

“BAScii is an international program with an emphasis on integrated innovation and business operations under the support of CU Innovation Hub. The program offers a course called Project Seed which students are required to take, and we must form our own start-up company as a project,” said Chwin Wiriyasophon, one of the founders of SOPet, talking about the inception of the project. Their key advisors are Dr. Ronakorn Waiyawut, program instructor, and Dr. Teerakorn Ananthothai – Chief Innovation Officer and Co-Founder of Globish Startup Company.

“An idea for SOPet came from a friend, also the co-founder, who had experienced a problem when he couldn’t take his pet to the vet because his house was flooded. Plus, we’re all pet lovers, so we came up with the idea of an online veterinary business,” said Chwin, Managing Director of SOPet, while introducing 5 co-founders and 3 other team members: Napat Xiangliu, Wachirawit Siridechanon, Chananya Asawawararit, Chosiya Losuwankul, Phakamon Inthanilom, Emiri Hiraoka, Pusadee Prasertwit and Korpong Ruengwattanakul.

“We share business operations responsibilities without them affecting our studies.  Though this project is already a part of our courses, we try to find some extra time to take care of the business every day.  We outsource the admin work as well.”

Chwin explained that the current SOPet service model is still at the stage of an MVP (Minimal Viable Product) that offers services through a Facebook page.

“We are testing the market first, and soon, we will be introducing the website. Customers can send messages via Facebook chat. We have an assigned person to recommend how to choose the type of services and coordinate with veterinarians whose expertise matches the needs of customers. We have a network of over 20 veterinarians (selected from more than 80 applicants) who can offer consultation within 5-10 minutes

Chwin said that after about a year of service, the feedback has been highly satisfactory.  Based on service evaluation scores in a survey of more than 1,400 pet owners, over 98%  rated SOPet as “very good”.

SOPet focuses on giving advice through online channels via chat, voice call and video call.

For the future plan of this social enterprise, SOPet’s founding team hopes to develop an online medical service system (Telemedicine) that is top-of-mind of customers across the country. They may sign memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with agencies such as the Faculty of Veterinarian Sciences to develop a shared-service platform in the future.

“We have to thank every important party that has made this startup a reality — our friends from BAScii who have been by my side, ready to adapt and fight together all along; our teachers and mentors who spared their time to give us advice and believed in us since day one. Also, thanks to all the faculty members, staff members, BAScii executives, and all our friends at CU Innovation Hub for their support,” said Chwin.

The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts confers Honorary Doctorates and Honorary Fellowships

Posted on by Communications Office

The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (the Academy) has conferred Honorary Awards on eleven outstanding individuals in recognition of their remarkable achievements and contributions to the performing arts and cultural industry and also the development of the Academy.

The ceremony held on October 22, 2021 at the Academy Lyric Theatre was officiated by the Academy Council Chairman Professor Stephen Chow Chun-kay, GBS SBS BBS JP. Academy Director Professor Gillian Choa expressed her sincere gratitude for the Honorary Awardees’ exemplary and valuable support to the Academy.

Recipients of Honorary doctorates are: Mr Choo Heng-cheong, Mr Charles Chow Chan-lum MH, Ms Helen Lai MH, Mr Warren Mok BBS MH, and Mr Jaap van Zweden SBS

Recipients of the Honorary Fellowship are Mr Chan Kinsun, Ms Candy Chea Shuk-mui MH, Professor Aquiles Delle Vigne, Mr Hong Ka-chun, Professor Liu Xinglin, and Professor Alan Rosenthal.

AMRITA University faculty is evaluator for Toycathon 2021

Posted on by AmritaQS

Dr. Prashant R. Nair, Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science & Engineering, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore campus has been recognized for his contribution as an evaluator for  Toycathon 2021.

Toycathon is a national hackathon keynoted and inspired by the direction and vision of the honourable Prime Minister of India, Mr Narendra Modi for an Atmanirbhar Bharat i.e. self-reliant India.

Toycathon 2021 is an inter-ministerial initiative organized by the Ministry of Education’s Innovation Cell with support from AICTE and various ministries with the objective to leverage student innovation to make self-reliant India’s toy market, which stands at 1.5 Billion USD and is primarily dominated by imported toys.

In the past, Dr. Prashant has served as a mentor and evaluator for various national hackathons such as Smart India Hackathon hardware and software editions.

Researchers from St Petersburg University develop a sorbent to remove antibiotics from wastewater

Posted on by Alina Perevizintsova

Chemists from St Petersburg University have developed an original procedure of matter synthesis and fabricated eco-friendly sorbents. The latter will allow monitoring and removing antibiotics from wastewater.

The sorbent fabricated by the researchers from St Petersburg University may help to provide a fast and cost-effective wastewater treatment method. It will help reduce human impact on the environment and prevent the emergence of new hazardous bacteria.

The researchers from St Petersburg University have chosen biocompatible and biodegradable hydroxyapatite as a basis for an eco-friendly sorbent and developed a method that significantly reduces the time for the hydroxyapatite nanoparticle synthesis.

They have modified nanoparticles by capping their surface with non-toxic molecules of modifiers and made it possible to fabricate materials that demonstrate high values of sorption for antibiotics. The surface capped with the modifiers presents better efficiency in absorbing antibiotics than the surface of a non-capped sorbent. The same efficiency was observed during a controllable elution step. Such effect was achieved by a change of the medium to regenerate the sorbent.

“Our sorbent ensures the efficient removal of tetracycline from wastewater. Moreover, it can be used to increase the concentration of antibiotics and consequently the sensitivity during their quantitative determination while monitoring target substances in the wastewater,” said Christina Vakh, the author of the analytical part of the research, Associate Professor in the Department of Analytical Chemistry at St Petersburg University (a member of the research group led by Andrey Bulatov, Professor of the Russian Academy of Sciences)

Despite the advances in contemporary science, the causes and ways of numerous phenomena and processes that are likely to be used in high-tech devices are not yet fully understood. Therefore, scientists often use a direct-search method, in order to find the most suitable options. The researchers from St Petersburg University have presented a different strategy to fabricate suitable sorbents, meaning the shift to the focused investigation of their structure and surface composition and ensuring time-efficient development of novel sorbents.

Regarding the molecules of the target analytes, the researchers carry out computer modelling to choose suitable capping. This capping depends on information about the surface composition and crystal structure of the sorbent. After that, the scientists perform experiments with from one to three different sorbent samples. The outcome results in reducing both research costs, speed and the waste generated during the work with chemical reagents.

“We may say that we have created a guide for chefs in chemistry. Before putting a new dish on the menu, chefs should cook and taste many versions. Our method makes it possible to determine how delicious the food is without cooking, reject unsuitable recipes, and present the most ‘appetising’ ones for tasting,” said Mikhail Voznesenskiy, the author of the computational part of the research, Associate Professor in the Department of Physical Chemistry at the Institute of Chemistry at St Petersburg University

Olga Osmolovskaya is an Associate Professor in the Department of General and Inorganic Chemistry, the leader of the group for the synthesis and investigation of nanoparticles and nanostructured materials. According to her, both the application of experimental data to computer modelling and the described strategy of sorbent fabrication do increase the accuracy of the expected outcome.

The method of synthesis of nanoparticles and their surface modification, which the researchers from St Petersburg University have developed, allows for time-efficient and cost-efficient sorbent fabrication. Moreover, such a method may be implemented in fabricating sorbents for other organic compounds.

This interdisciplinary research was completed at the intersection of computational chemistry, inorganic materials science, and nanochemistry. It was carried out at St Petersburg University using the state-of-the-art equipment of the St Petersburg University Research Park and supported by the grant ‘ Novel miniaturised and environmentally friendly methods for chemical analysis of biological fluids and foods’ from the Russian Science Foundation.

Chula sophomore wins first place in French Speech Competition

Posted on by Chulalongkorn University

Nawin Pornkulwat, a second-year student from the Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University has won first place in the French Speech Competition-French Language Excellence Program (higher education level).

Organized by the Department of French, Faculty of Arts, Silpakorn University, the designated topic was “Comment pourrait-on faire face au cyberharcèlement?” (How can we deal with cyberbullying?), which focused on raising awareness on cyberbullying and the effects on those involved.

Nawin explained that, for the competition, participants were asked to make a speech in French and record a video clip (no longer than 3 minutes) about cyberbullying. He added that with limited time to prepare, he began looking for information to better understand the process of cyberbullying. Then, he wrote a rough script and storyboard to be able to spontaneously add ideas.

The content presentation was divided into three issues: victims, perpetrators, and solutions, to raise awareness of violence and how to work together to prevent cyberbullying.  A deep understanding of the topic and confidence in communicating with the audience are two core techniques that Nawin believes contributed much to his success in this competition.

Having been interested in learning French since high school, Nawin has found French melodious and reflective of the cultural values ​​of France, despite being a difficult language to learn. Due to the structural complexity of the language, it is entirely different from Thai, especially in listening, because it must be understood immediately. He added that his strength is in writing because he can think, plan, check and correct the sentence structure, although it was still challenging.

Nawin dreams of becoming a French language teacher or having a French-related profession in the future because he would like to make the most of his language proficiency.  Currently, he works part-time as a French-language tutor for youngsters.

“Lastly, I want to tell all youngsters interested in learning French that they must spend time practicing speaking, reading, and writing regularly. This will help improve by leaps and bounds. Studying at the Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University, students are encouraged to fully learn and develop, with the help of teachers who provide knowledge and advice on learning. This makes learning French not so difficult anymore,” concluded Nawin.

Chitkara College of Pharmacy shines in IIRF Rankings 2021

Posted on by Dr K K Mishra

Chitkara College of Pharmacy, Chitkara University, Punjab was ranked 19th in the IIRF Rankings 2021 of the best pharmaceutical colleges in India by Education Post.

The pharmaceutical sector has experienced a leap in recent times, especially since the pandemic hit and the need to come up with radical drugs to fight new diseases grew. For students who are interested in pharmaceutical studies, several famous institutes offer sophisticated curriculum and facilities for research.

It is vital for Pharmaceutical Colleges to have top-class laboratories for testing, experienced faculty members who have worked in the field or provide guidance to pharmaceutical companies, and allow access to international journals.

Ranking pharmaceutical colleges in India is mainly based on these factors. Indian Institutional Ranking Framework 2021 ranks more than 1,000 institutions 300+ universities, 350 Engineering College, 150+ B-Schools, 50 Legal Universities, 50 Design Schools, 50 Architectural Colleges and 100+ Bachelor Colleges for BBA & BCA) throughout the country.

IIRF is published by the Education Post since 2012, a monthly magazine about higher education. The Federation for World Academics (FWA) guides industrial methodology and feedback and plays the role of a mentor for the IIRF Center for institutional research (ICIR) in India.

IIRF rating is based on concrete analysis by experts and rankings as the most diverse and authentic rankings in India received by the corporate world. Ranking based on 7 Performance Indicators, deliberately focused on Indian socio-economical and Industrial Economics varies through all Placement performance, teaching and learning, research, industrial income and integration, placement and support strategies, external perceptions, professors, industry experts and collaborations and alumni network. The IIRF ranking analysis has a different perspective of ranking and provides clusters or preferential rating that tends to the authenticity of the assessment.

The IIRF framework outlines a methodology to rank institutions across the country. It draws seven parameters broadly cover Academic Excellence, Research, Placement Performance, Corporate Interface, Placement Strategies and Support, Teaching Learning Resources & Pedagogy and Future Orientation.

University of Petra wins the first prize at the Fifth-Year International Competition for the Reconstruction of Destroyed Palestinian Villages

Posted on by Dr. Ahmed El Qasem

The University of Petra (UOP, Amman, Jordan) won the first prize in “The Fifth-Year International Competition for the Reconstruction of Destroyed Palestinian Villages”.

The competition was organized by Palestine Land Society in the United Kingdom, which is an independent non-profit scholarly society dedicated to research and information-gathering on Palestine, the land, and its people.

The society is concerned with: Palestine’s history, geography, culture, and society; Reviewing legal, economic, socio-political, and other related issues; Disseminating information by publishing books, maps, and academic papers on the subject; and Participating in all fora of events, conferences, and meetings that are concerned with the subject.

The Faculty of Architecture and Design – Department of Architecture won the 1st prize among 22 projects submitted by 66 students from several universities around the world.

The winning graduation project was entitled “The Gate of Return” for the reconstruction of Lubiya village – Tiberias by Lujain Zayed, under the supervision of Dr Amer Al-Jokhadar, and the teaching assistant Arch. Neamat Al-Dissi.

The design aims to preserve the area’s historical, architectural, and ecological characteristics while also telling the village’s story and promoting the community’s sustainable development, through the incorporation of diverse activities, services, and employment opportunities.

This award is a significant outcome due to commitment to excellence in education, social responsibility, research and innovation. Quality education, social responsibility and innovation have always been fundamental goals at UOP. To this effect, the University has worked out a robust strategic plan for the administration process of academic programs, scientific research and innovation; especially those projects that serve the community at large.

As far as innovation is concerned, the University has established centres that aim at encouraging and motivating innovation and technology transfer projects that support students as well as staff, e.g. Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center, and Business Incubator (SIQ).

LETI scientists create a model describing internal processes in the artificial muscles of microbots

Posted on by Saint Petersburg Electrotechnical University

A team of scientists from Saint Petersburg Electrotechnical University “LETI” developed a computer model to study the internal processes in the electrical components of microbots and to predict their reactions to different conditions. The work was supported by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation, and an article about it was published in the Micromachines journal.

To work with nano- and microsized details or in hard-to-reach places, modern-day scientists use microbots. For example, in medicine, they are used for target drug delivery or non-invasive surgeries.

“Most polymers are flexible, lightweight, and easy to manufacture and process. In addition to these properties, an ionic polymer-metallic composite material (IPMC) is also able to actively deform in response to several volts of voltage applied to electrodes. Because of that, it can be used as a material for soft robotized drives, artificial muscles, and dynamic sensors for bionic engineering,” said Ivan Khmelnitskiy, Assistant Professor at the Department of Micro- and Nanoelectronics of LETI.

An ionic polymer-metallic actuator (activation device) is a mechanism that consists of a polymer membrane covered with a conductive layer of metal on both sides and electrodes with 1V to 5V voltage attached to it. Before use, the polymer is saturated with water. The liquid starts moving under the influence of the electric field, increasing the pressure on one electrode and reducing it on the other. This pressure difference causes IPMC to curve.

Composite materials of this kind can be used to manufacture various microbots. Therefore, it is extremely important to understand the processes that happen inside them under the influence of applied voltage to accurately predict the reaction of the membrane. To do so, scientists use complex mathematical models that calculate the internal processes based on the initial observational data. However, most mathematical models require a lot of computational resources and are quite expensive. Therefore, scientists are looking for optimization methods that would simplify the research and development of microdevices.

A team of researchers from LETI created a computer model that requires minimal resources to program an algorithm and create a simulator to monitor all necessary processes. The model consists of adjoint differential equations that describe the transportation of charged particles (ions) and water molecules in an ion-exchange membrane, as well as the electrostatic field inside it and the mechanical deformation of the mechanism. To calculate these values, the scientists added geometric characteristics (length, width, layer thickness, etc) and physical properties (diffusion coefficient, ion concentration in the polymer, layer density, etc) to the model.

“Using the novel computational modeling software, we calculated and studied the spatial distribution of ions and water molecules in an IPMC polymer membrane. The optimized model suggested by our team provides for the monitoring of ion transportation dynamics in the composite material depending on membrane parameters and control voltage,” says Eugeny Ryndin, Professor of the Department of Micro- and Nanoelectronics of LETI

“Our work supports calculations with complex modern-day mathematical models and provides for international-level results, but requires quite simple equipment: a personal computer with free software. We hope that the simulation methodology described by our team would spur further developments in this field,” commented Anton Broyko, Assistant Professor at the Department of Micro- and Nanoelectronics of LETI.

EdUHK research promoting sustainable tourism development in Sichuan Nature Reserve and Hong Kong

Posted on by eduhk

The UNESCO-listed Wolong National Nature Reserve, a prime habitat for the endangered panda, was badly damaged by the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. To rebuild the reserve into an ecologically sustainable area, Dr Lewis Cheung Ting-on, Associate Professor at the Department of Social Sciences, The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK), and his research team devised two unique accreditation systems for the ecotourism industry, one for tourism businesses and one for ecotour guides, as part of the regulations for the tourism development in the ecologically sensitive reserve.

The guidelines included holistic recommendations for ecotourism planning, activities, infrastructure and marketing. In 2016, the local administration in Wolong implemented the recommendations in full. This was the first regional ecotourism certification programme in a protected area in China and it has had a positive influence on the ecotourism development in other protected areas in the mainland and in Taiwan.

The aims of the project, involving researchers from EdUHK, The University of Hong Kong, and The Chinese University of Hong Kong, were to (a) investigate the ecotourism resources of the reserve, (b) formulate ecotourism development guidelines for the reserve, (c) provide training and organise public forums for residents and government officials, and (d) design two ecotourism accreditation systems, one for tourism businesses and one for eco-tour guides.

The project has had a multi-faceted impact on the reserve, replacing the previously unhealthy approach to development with eco-friendly practices, thus improving ecotourism development in the reserve and other parts of China regarding local policy and professional practices, raising awareness of the value of ecotourism and the importance of maintaining a healthy environment;  boosting the local economy by identifying new sustainable tourism services and products, and providing increased income for small businesses and jobs for local residents;  reducing business costs through reduced energy use and water consumption and less waste, and enhancing ecological conservation in the area and preventing the degradation of the precious panda habitat.

Once the new policy was implemented, the number of tourists visiting the reserve surged from less than 1,000 a year before 2014 to over 350,000 annually by 2017.

Ecotourism development requires the understanding, input and support of the local community, so Dr Cheung’s team organised two public forums in the reserve to get residents’ views on the ecotourism development guidelines and to introduce the development plans and certification systems to businesses and guides.

They also organised a two-day training workshop on the guidelines and the accreditation systems for residents, business owners and government officials. These efforts resulted in greater awareness of the importance of saving water and electrical power, reducing the use of disposable items, and waste segregation.

A public forum on the same topic was organised at EdUHK, which helped raise the public’s understanding in Hong Kong of the reserve’s reconstruction and how the HKSAR Government’s donation was used. Dr Cheung’s work has also changed public perceptions through extensive media coverage, reaching audiences of millions in the mainland and Hong Kong.