Year: 2021

MALLIE, a complete English–learning game chatbot, the latest innovation from Chulalongkorn University‘s Faculty of Education received Gold Award from the “2020 Kaohsiung International Invention and Design EXPO, Taiwan.

MALLIE chatbot – the New Normal of Learning English with Challenging Chatbot Games – is designed with the key concept of “Practice makes perfect!” in mind for learners whose English is a second language to be able to cross the language barrier confidently.

MAILLE is an innovative English-learning program that allows learners to practice listening, speaking, as well as grammar, and vocabulary through a chatbot anytime they want.  Students can use an avatar when they practice their English.

“This is quite effective in helping to reduce students’ embarrassment when they have to pronounce English words,” Assoc. Prof. Dr. Jittavee Khlaisang and Asst. Prof. Dr. Pornpimol Sukavatee, from the Department of Educational Technology and Communications, and the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) Program, Faculty of Education, explained the innovation which recently received the Gold Award from the “2020 Kaohsiung International Invention and Design EXPO in Taiwan.

MALLIE uses Chatbot program with Challenges to chat, monitor, nurture, and support learners in developing their English communication skills through six learning levels: M – Meet and Greet, A – All sets, L – (i) Love Grammar, L – Let’s review, I – I am avatar, and E – Enjoy it.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Jittavee further elaborated on how to use the app, “when students register, the MALLIE character is automatically added as their friend on Facebook and Messenger applications to chat and interact with them. At the first level, MALLIE will send learners 10 words a day with an exercise, which the students will have to learn and complete within one day.  Each level has three lessons, each with vocabulary and exercises for 5 days, similar to the levels in games. The English content is high-school level English to fit the target of first-year students.”

“After learning the vocabulary and grammar, students will be given a link to log into the iReview website and receive an assignment to make a video clip, using Mini Studio Box tool for a product review in English as the final project.  Students can choose to use an avatar in producing the product review as well.“

The MALLIE’s layout and functionality have been meticulously designed based on app usage behaviour data collected from over 500 college students nationwide, with the input of many digital technology experts after which it was tested on over 100 first-year students of the Faculty of Education before the ultimate mobile application for English learning was launched.  MALLIE also collects learners’ progress data to help analyze and evaluate each learner as well.

“Students with MALLIE as their English language companion have significantly improved language grades and English communication skills, and when asked, university students would be also more likely to acquire and use this innovation to promote their English skills,” said Associate Professor Dr Jittavee.

This innovation project received research funding from Thailand Science Research and Innovation (TSRI).  In the next phase, the project aims to broaden the scope of contents to meet the needs of more professional fields.

“In the next phase, MALLIE plans to add niche services, such as a collection of vocational terminologies like medical, nursing, and accounting terminologies, to help students learn specialized English with greater ease and efficiency.  At the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, this kind of innovation could be an option for teachers to develop and apply to language learning all over the world,” Associate Professor Dr Jintawee concluded.

Malaysian Academy of SME & Entrepreneurship Development (MASMED) in UiTM Shah Alam has organized a program regarding the business plan which aims to provide a platform for students who want to improve or add value to business activities involved in their studies. The approach of this program is more to provide advice, mentorship, guidance, and performance monitoring from the participants.

Abdul Hafy Shah bin Abd Halim Shah, a student from the Department of Printing Technology, Faculty of Art & Design, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) has been awarded “The Best Innovative Student” and has won a business grant after being a final participant for the Graduate Accelerator Entrepreneurship (Grace) Lab. Hafy came out with the idea of a business plan for Robotic Consultation through his own company name as AHS Ideas Resources (AHS IDEAS).

His involvement in offering robotic training services has given him credit for making him the final participant for the program, with the classes and training provided by the organizer, allows him to prepare excellent modules and business plans. He has presented his business plan to the industry and brought positive results.

The impact brought by the program enables UiTM to produce a group of students who are able to become successful entrepreneurs and make it part of UiTM’s aspirations. He has brought the name of the faculty in being among the participants born from an artistic background to a successful entrepreneur.

The Russian Science Foundation (RSF) has awarded sponsorship under the grant competition to two projects of Tomsk Polytechnic University scientists. With the support of the foundation, the scientists will develop artificial blood vessels by a new method and synthesize new compounds of chlorine, bromine and iodine. The equipment of Centres for Collective Use in St. Petersburg will be used for experimental and practical parts of the research.

The projects received grants in the RSF competition: Research Based on the Existing World-Class Research Infrastructure. The competition is particularly intended to support conducting research in large-scale facilities of the scientific infrastructure of Russia, including the research centres of a home university and other organizations.

The foundation supported the project of the TPU research team under the supervision of Mekhman Yusubov, Professor and TPU Vice-Rector for Research. It is large-scale fundamental research aimed to obtain new compounds of iodine, chlorine and bromine. In the long run, the research findings will help to create new environmentally-friendly catalysts, promising materials and radiopharmaceuticals for positron emission tomography (a method of internal body examination).

The experiments will be conducted using the equipment of the Research Park at St. Petersburg University (SPbU).

“The research requires world-class facilities and all the necessary equipment is available at the SPbU Research Park. This project is another milestone in the cooperation of SPbU and TPU chemists. It should be reminded that, currently, we are collaborating to create a network laboratory of X-ray crystallography to study non-covalent interactions in molecules. It is a new research area for Tomsk,” Mekhman Yusubov notes.

With the sponsorship of the foundation, the research team under the supervision of Evgeniy Bolbasov, a research fellow of the TPU Laboratory for Plasma Hybrid Systems, will develop a technology to obtain artificial vessels from biodegradable polymers using a multi-jet electrospinning method.

Basically, the electrospinning method implies drawing superfine threads of polymer solutions under an electric field. The multi-jet electrospinning allows for inputting different polymers through independent channels and creating a composition of several polymers, which can not be achieved by other methods. This method has never been used before to create artificial vessels. We have to develop the technology and conduct the research on the developed materials. We expect that the multi-jet electrospinning will allow creating blood vessels mimicking the structure of natural vessels as accurately as possible, which is crucially important in the development of this kind of implants,” Evgeniy Bolbasov says.

Biological preclinical studies of the developed vessels will be conducted at the Preclinical and Translational Research Centre of the Almazov National Medical Research Centre of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation in St. Petersburg.

The Almazov National Medical Research Centre is a Russian leading centre, suitable to conduct a full range of biological tests, from the study of how artificial materials interact with cells to full-scale studies in experimental animals. It is obvious, that just a few technical universities have the similar infrastructure, which allows conducting such research work at a high level. However, the research is essential for further development of new medical materials,” the scientist says.

As noted by the TPU Scientific and Technological Programs Office, both projects received funding worth 6 million rubles per year until 2024 with an opportunity for extension.

Fashion is a vibrant player in popular culture. With many things tied up in it – cultural and socioeconomic identities, for example – fashion is as important to a country’s social well-being as it is to the economy. Tapping into the creative passions of its students, sharpening their communication and organization skills along the way, is Management and Science University (MSU) via the MSU Global Leadership Programme (GLP) to UEDA College of Fashion in Osaka, Japan.

The annual UEDA GAKUEN Fashion Show has seen participation by MSU’s School of Hospitality and Creative Arts (SHCA) since 2018. This year’s UEDA GAKUEN Collection Showcase by MSU saw second-year students Siti Nur Azreen Mohd Nazri, Sofea Izlyn Shahaniza, Ameera Syazlyn Mohamad Zaki, and Nur Shahzanna Shahrun – all from the Bachelor in Fashion Design with Marketing (Hons) programme – joined by final-year students Zahirah Zulkhairi and Izyan Naqiah Abdullah Md Shahrin from the Diploma in Fashion Design programme, on the virtual 146^th UEDA GAKUEN runway.

Inspiration for the 2021 fashion collection came from none other than Malaysia’s own heritage treasures, with food and animation taking centre-stage. Extending the show’s theme into a concurrent virtual exhibition were final-year students Fitri Malinda Mohamad Shahrul and Wan Nur Izzah Aiman Wan Efendi from the Diploma in Fashion Design programme; as well as An-Nur Hazeeqah Mahfuzah Husain and Siti Fatimah Ahmad Zulkifle, both second-year students on the Bachelor in Fashion Design with Marketing (Hons) programme.

The compelling learning experience, with its on-the-job artistic training in the world of couture and honing of skills transferable to industries beyond fashion, was provided by the Fashion Design Realization course common to the 3.5-year Bachelor in Fashion Design with Marketing (Hons) and the 2.5-year Diploma in Fashion Design programmes at Management and Science University (MSU).

The MSU Global Leadership Programme (GLP) is one of three open to all students of the  University; the other two being the MSU Global Mobility Programme (GMP) and the MSU Global Internship Programme (GIP).

Russian city of St. Petersburg is at the frontlines of this ongoing war with Covid-19. To combat this situation effectively, the Russian government allocated significant funds for the research. Now, scientists from Peter the Great St.Petersburg Polytechnic University (SPbPU) have modified the existing SIR (Susceptible – Infected – Recovered) class pandemic prediction model.

The existing SIR class of models is widely known. There are many modifications to the SIR model. One of them is SEIR (Susceptible – Exposed – Infected – Recovered)

The SEIR model was taken as a basis and then expanded to include another group- individuals in isolation or quarantine. That was the modification.

This modification of the SEIR model allows the number of susceptible individuals available for infection during modelling to be adjusted according to isolation scenarios (i.e., measures designed to prevent susceptible people from becoming infected).

This means the model becomes more accurate, as the reduction of individuals in contact during the pandemic is objectively present in society. Moreover, the modification creates the possibility for scenario modelling.

Scenario modelling involves assessing the epidemiological consequences of various strategies for countering the spread of an infectious disease in a given region.

This model has been tested on data from St.Petersburg. A set of six experiments was sufficient to assess the impact of quarantine measures. The initial data for each experiment include isolated industries that indicate the timing of the introduction and lifting of isolation measures.

The results of this first group demonstrate that the dynamics of the virus’ spread have a nonlinear dependence on the number of workers employed in the isolated sectors of the economy. For example, the isolation of three economic sectors, which make up approximately 42% of the total number of workers, reduces the peak number of infected people by 6.2 times and the total number of patients by 4.83 times.

Isolation of six sectors of the economy, accounting for 80% of the total number of workers, reduces the peak number of infected people by 75 times and the total number of recovered individuals by 56 times”.

The results of the second group show that the introduction of measures to isolate the economy and public life in the early stages of virus’ spread can reduce the incidence of the disease and bring an earlier end to the pandemic. Conversely, the late introduction of isolation measures affects the dynamics of the disease’s spread to a lesser extent.

These results support assessments made by leading epidemiologists. These results indicate that the optimal disease-countering strategy is total isolation as early as possible.

This modified version of the SEIR model can be used to develop strategies for countering the spread of infectious diseases. It also enables researchers to assess the possible mortality in each case as a proportion of the total infected and recovered population.

The article develops a methodological apparatus of a SIR-class model for practical use in decision-making by regional leaders.

A courtesy call comprising the Director of Endowment Unit, Dr Aruan Effendy Mohd Ghazali and Ts. Elmi Alif Azmi, Head of Administration, Data, Strategy and Quality to Yayasan Kebajikan Aras (Aras Welfare Foundation-AWF) at Menara KL Eco City in Kuala Lumpur on 19 February 2021 was an actual follow up to the MoU that had been signed earlier between UiTM and AWF. The two organisations had agreed on a joint effort in providing quality education to excellent and determined UiTM students to continue their studies and maintain outstanding academic performance.

During the visit, the Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) delegation received an amount of RM125,000.00 from Aras Welfare Foundation’s (AWF) Financial Advisor, Dr Juliawati Janius. It was the first in a series of disbursement amounting to a total of RM5 million donation pledged to UiTM Endowment Fund.

In a concluding statement of the visit, Dr Aruan Effendy Mohd Ghazali reiterated, “We would like to extend our sincere thanks and appreciation to Aras Charity Foundation for the donation. The money we receive will fortify the plans and initiatives developed by UiTM Endowment Fund towards enhancing the quality of education, students and graduates of tomorrow who will soon serve the nation”.

The collaboration between Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) and Aras Charity Foundation (AWF) was formalised on 28th December 2020 at UiTM Hotel Shah Alam. Representing UiTM was Emeritus Professor Datuk Ir. Dr. Mohd Azraai Kassim, Vice-Chancellor of UiTM while Mr Afique Rahman Azizul Rahman, Director signed on behalf of Aras Charity Foundation with the Director of Endowment Unit and AWF Financial Advisor acting as witnesses.

The MoU’s intent was to strengthen the financial support through the AWF-UiTM Endowment Fund; specifically dedicated to education scholarship which covers tuition fee as well as cost of living allowance awarded to successful recipients pursuing bachelor’s degree programmes and identified as coming from low-income or poor families.

With this collaboration and support given by Aras Welfare Foundation, it is hoped that UiTM Endowment Fund will continue to uphold the national higher education aspirations through continuous engagements with the community as well as industry in its plans and initiatives.

The 18th annual Urban Research Plaza Forum will be held on 8-9 March 2021. Hosted by Chulalongkorn University‘s Faculty of Fine & Applied Arts (FAA), the Forum is a collaboration between FAA and Osaka City University.

Professor Dr Shin Nakagawa and FAA Dean, Professor Dr Bussakorn Binson are the co-directors of the Urban Research Plaza. This year’s forum is being held under the twin themes of “Saving Our Urban Habitat – Creating A Sustainable Future” and “Arts and Cultural Activities with COVID-19”.

Research papers presented at the forum include a wide range of topics focused on creating sustainability in an urban context and art and cultural activities during the Covid-19 pandemic crisis. The forum is open to the public via a conference link and visitors need to register to attend online.

Modern electronics is approaching the limit of its capabilities, which are determined by the fundamental laws of physics. Therefore, the use of classical materials, for example, silicon, is no longer able to meet the requirements for energy efficiency of the devices. Currently, it is necessary to start searching for new materials, new principles of electronic devices’ functioning.

To solve this problem, researchers of Peter the Great St.Petersburg Polytechnic University (SPbPU) are developing thin films, the elements for biomolecular electronics. Scientists believe that biological macromolecules such as nucleic acids, proteins, amino acids can become a promising material for modern electronics. It obtains several unique properties, for example, the self-organization ability, which is why the molecules can be assembled into certain structures, for example, into biomolecular films.

“Our scientific group is investigating various properties of thin films based on the albumin protein. In the course of experiments, we dilute the protein in various concentrations and use the method of isothermal dehydration (water evaporation at a certain temperature and pressure) to form the biomolecular films. Depending on the composition of the initial samples and drying parameters, we obtain different structures inside the films, ” notes Maxim Baranov, an assistant at the Higher School of Applied Physics and Space Technologies SPbPU.

Using an optical microscope, the scientists fixed the structures inside the dried albumin proteins, and also developed software in Python, which can isolate and analyze images of biomolecular films with a help of the special mathematical apparatus. Molecular modeling for solving this problem is carried out at the facilities of the Supercomputer Center “Polytechnic”. The research results were published in the first quartile journal Symmetry by MDPI.

Maxim Baranov adds, “Semiconductor integrated circuits, which are currently used in electronic devices, have a stationary configuration. In turn, the functioning of proteins is based on dynamics, i.e. a biological system can transform in the process of interaction with other objects. Therefore, the molecules can perfectly repeat the required structure, for example as in integrated circuits. However, we expect a lower number of defects in the biomolecular thin films.”

“We can’t say that the biomolecular platform will completely replace the classic semiconductor devices. Rather, we are talking about its symbiosis. Our scientific group believes that thin films will be introduced not in the mass market of electronics, but rather in single applications.

According to scientists, various types of proteins can be used for further research, including plant proteins. Perhaps in the future, it will simplify the creation of biomolecular thin films. Currently, it is necessary to create a certain set of mathematical parameters for a more accurate description of the thin films and their properties. A large number of experiments will be carried out before a prototype of the element is created, which could be implemented into the future device.

Students from the Bachelor of Arts Program in Service Innovation (BSI) College of Innovation, Thammasat University, have developed an application for businesses to help them get through COVID-19.

The aim is to help businesses by developing an AI application to cope with the reduction of sales and traffic to their stores. Businesses can create an omni-channel and seamless distribution channel that is convenient, clean, and safe to target groups and also sell their products and services as usual. Assistant Professor Dr Arsa Tangjitsomkit has supervised  project.

The application is ready and available for download to be used with companies and organizations such as Baan Kanyapat Foundation, Guss Damn Good, SOS-SENSE OF STYLE, Baimiang Retail Co.Ltd., Rod Dee Ded, Home Service by GK Home, and Krua Pruk Sa by Khun Jeaw.