Year: 2021

In December 2020, the Faculty of Computer and Mathematical Sciences (FSKM), Universiti Teknologi MARA, (UiTM), Malaysia, successfully hosted an international workshop – the third ASEAN Workshop on Information Science and Technology (AWIST2020). AWIST 2020, a collaboration between four institutions, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST), and Universitas Komputer Indonesia (UNIKOM), was done via webex.

The workshop was hosted by UiTM and broadcasted live from the Global Learning Space, FSKM, UiTM Shah Alam via CISCO Webex. The workshop session was officiated by the Vice Chancellor of UiTM, Emeritus Professor Datuk Ir. Dr. Mohd Azraai Kassim.

The workshop started with 2 days of knowledge sharing with a keynote speaker from Oracle Malaysia, 4 invited speakers, one each from the four collaborating institutions. There were four sessions which showcased 27 presentations on latest research findings related to artificial intelligence, entertainment science and technology, intelligent robotics, software engineering, knowledge management, image processing, and internet of things. AWIST2020 attracted participants from various countries including Malaysia, Japan, Indonesia, Hungary and China.

On the 3^rd day, a roundtable discussion was held to look into potential collaboration activities which included joint grant applications (e.g. Sumitomo, The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Toshiba International Foundation Grants, Microsoft, AI for Accessibility Grants Application, ASEAN IVO, and Malaysia-Spain Innovating Programme (MySIP); AWIST Webinar that covers variety of topics related to research, special lecture and student (e.g. graduate on time, viva, scientific writing); and also sharing of expertise information from the participating institutions.

This collaboration hopes to continue in AWIST2021 and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) Malaysia will be the host in conjunction with the 5^th International Multi-Conference on Artificial Intelligence Technology (MCAIT2021) in August 2021.

International partnerships between universities are beneficial to not only academics, researchers, and students but also to the world as a whole as global partnerships foster relationships between institutions and industry.

AWIST has provided a platform for collaboration that has proven to continue and flourish. The success of AWIST2020 has rooted from its good teamwork and commitment from its members despite the differences in languages and culture.

Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Research and Innovation (MHESI) together with the National Research Council of Thailand (NRCT) and Thammasat University have developed an innovation using AI to detect, analyze and report face mask usage in each area and provide real-time results. The real-time scanner is to provide support for the COVID-19 protection at the Center for Covid-19 Situation Administration.

The innovation is developed by Professor Dr Thanarak Teeramankong and Dr.Kobkrit Viriyayudhakorn, Professor at Sirindhorn International Institute of Technology (SIIT), Thammasat University. The innovation applies images and video processing technology that can detect the number of people wearing masks and check how many of them are not wearing masks or whether they are wearing the masks properly.

The results enable the center to evaluate if each area is to be considered a “risk area’ or whether it is necessary to educate the people on how to properly wear the mask.

Professor Dr Thanarak says that this innovation can provide a real-time result in terms of seconds using a color-coded method. For example, green indicates people who wear a mask properly. Yellow indicates people who are not wearing a mask properly. Red indicates people who are not wearing a mask. However, although the innovation is ready to use, there are still some problems and limitations in most areas outside of Bangkok.

“If we can access all data, we will know the numbers of people wearing masks and social distancing in each area. In the future, we are determined to install this program in crowded areas such as in mass rapid transit. We also hope to display this data along with a daily press release from the COVID-19 panel.”, said Prof.Dr.Thanarak.

Prof.MD.Sirilerk Songsivilai, the Deputy of MHESI, states that data from AI analysis is critical for the nation and beneficial for personnel management. In the future, it is certain that if the program can report real-time results of mask-wearing and risk areas, it will help us to manage the epidemic situation more effectively.

“Apart from monitoring mask-wearing, this innovation also can detect movement and social distancing rate of the citizens. Moreover, the temperature monitoring system is also highly developed and can provide real-time results on the number of people having high temperatures in that area. Therefore, the two innovations will help us cope with the pandemic efficiently.”, said Prof.MD.Sirilerk.

Dr.Wipharat De-Ong, Deputy Director of National Research Council of Thailand (NRCT), says that this innovation is the result of NRCT following MHESI policy that encourages the use of innovation to solve the new wave of COVID-19. Afterwards, the Office of the Permanent Secretary will contact Bangkok Metropolis to use daily data from CCTV and implement AI to do behavior evaluation in crowded areas before using it in other provinces nationwide. The deputy ensures that there will be no invasion of privacy from this operation.

On 10 January, Mr.Taweesilp Witsanuyotin, a spokesperson for the Center for Covid-19 Situation Administration, thanked the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Research and Innovation (MHESI) for the cooperation with the Center for Covid-19 Situation Administration.

Associate Professor Gasinee Witoonchart, Rector of Thammasat University, says, “Innovation that TU’s professors developed is called Image Processing technology. It is a new technology that has been used for about 2 years. TU implemented this technology during COVID-19 situation as it can provide more accurate results. The university believes that this innovation will be a crucial tool for the government and citizens to deal with the pandemic effectively.

“Thammasat is aware of its role as the university for people. In every national crisis, we will take part in preventing and solving the situation. As a leading educational institution, the university has the necessary resources in terms of professors, funding, knowledge, and research works. Therefore, we do not hesitate to use it to help people. Moreover, this recent innovation is one of our proud works that Thammasat has done for the country and we will continue doing this in the long run.”, said Associate Professor Gasinee.

University students from all over the world gathered online to learn the language and culture of Korea during the winter vacation.

The Office of International Affairs, Kyungpook National University, hosted the “KNU Global Online Winter School” from January 25 to February 5 for overseas students during the winter vacation.

The online winter school, attended by 919 college students from 61 universities in 23 countries, including the United States, held basic Korean language classes and classes on Korean cultures such as K-Pop, Hanbok, Gugak, Taekwondo, and K-Food.

After every day’s class, the foreign students had time to interact with students at Kyungpook National University through group meetings. In addition, the class recordings were posted on YouTube so that students who could not participate in the class in real-time due to jet lag could take the class without any burden.

Kyungpook National University has operated a global summer school every year involving university students from overseas countries but has been conducting online programs since last summer vacation due to the spread of COVID-19.

The foreign students who participated said, “I had to get up early because of the time difference, but it was a worthwhile experience.” and “It was the best online program.” Once COVID-19 is resolved, I want to participate in the summer school held on the campus of Kyungpook National University. He also expressed his feelings, saying, “I want to go to Daegu as an exchange student at Kyungpook National University.”

President Won Hwa Hong said, “Under the influence of Korean Wave, overseas teenagers’ interest in Korea is higher than ever, but as COVID-19 restricts direct experience opportunities, we plan to continue to provide learning opportunities for Korean culture and language online.”

“We will make efforts to promote Kyungpook National University so that it can be connected to visiting and studying in Korea in the future.“

The current use of metal catalysts to develop polymers leads to suboptimal quality polymers that contain metallic impurities and involves a reaction process that is not environment friendly. Recent research by scientists from Nagoya Institute of Technology, Japan, has been in this vein, adding a new twist to a polymerization technique that has been around and successful since the 1980s: living cationic polymerization, where the polymer chain growth does not have the ability to terminate until the monomer is consumed.

The scientists have, for the first time, demonstrated metal free organocatalysis for this reaction at room temperature for vinyl and styrene polymers, two of the most common polymers used in plastics. Their method is not only more efficient than current metal-based methods, but also environment friendly. Their findings are published in the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Polymer Chemistry.

In their study, they first tested the applicability of non-ionic and multidentate (or several electron-pair accepting) halogen bonding organocatalysts, specifically two iodine-carrying polyfluoro-substituted oligoarenes, to the living cationic polymerization of isobutyl vinyl ether.

Mentioning one of their reasons for choosing this, Dr. Koji Takagi, lead scientist in the study, explains in an aside: “The non-ionic characteristic is advantageous because the catalyst is soluble in less polar solvents like toluene which is more suitable for such polymerization of vinyl monomers.”

They found that with the tridentate variant, the reaction smoothly progressed even at room temperature, producing good yield—though less than the theoretical limit—in a reasonable amount of time, without the catalyst decomposing or appearing as an impurity in the product.

As Dr. Takagi explains, this could be a good advantage over existing metallic catalysts used in industry: “While metal-based catalysts have significantly contributed to the materials sciences over the past century, the contamination of remaining metallic impurities often brings about a decrease in the produced materials’ lifetime and performance. We believe that the present finding will lead to the production of highly pure and reliable polymeric materials.”

In saying this, he is, of course, referring to the other major finding in the study as well. The second part of their study involved evaluating the applicability of ionic iodoimidazolium catalysts with various counter anions (the negative ions accompanying the positively charged group) to the polymerization of p-methoxystyrene (pMOS) and unsubstituted styrene, the latter of which is more difficult to polymerize than the former.

pMOS easily polymerized at room temperature within two hours and with no catalyst decomposition of a bidentate 2-iodoimidazolium salt that had a triflate counter anion. Unsubstituted styrene gave maximum polymer yield via a reaction at –10°C for 24 hours with an anion-stabilizing and bulky counter ion-containing catalyst.

Speaking of the products yielded, Dr. Takagi says: “Although the obtained polymers are not intended for any specific purpose, our methodology is expected to be applied to the synthesis of conductive polymers and degradable polymers, which should not include metallic impurities if they’re to be constructed for practical use.”

Indeed, the findings are invaluable for moving forward with the more efficient production of polymeric materials for a variety of applications. However, the successful use of organocatalysts at room temperature also offers several other advantages. For one, organocatalysts lack sensitivity to moisture and oxygen, taking care of the sometimes serious problem that the relatively hygroscopic nature of ionic catalysts poses to such controlled polymerization reactions.

Further, they are readily available and therefore, low cost. They are also not toxic to the environment. And when reactions are conducted at room temperature, the energy requirements are low.

This study is, thus, paving the way for low-cost electronics in the future that are made of environment-friendly materials in sustainable ways.

Twenty-two scholars of The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK) were named on Stanford University’s list of the top two percent most-cited scientists in various disciplines, including President Professor Stephen Cheung Yan-leung, Chair Professor of Public Policy; Professor Jim Chi-yung, Research Chair Professor of Geography & Environmental Science; and Professor Wong Ming-hung, Advisor (Environmental Science).

The list, prepared by a research team at Stanford University, included 100,000 top scientists based on their career-long citation impact (until the end of 2019) and single-year citation category (2019). Scientists are classified into 22 scientific fields and 176 sub-fields.

Professor Jim was ranked 16th out of around 8,000 scientists in the field of urban and regional planning, and Professor Wong was ranked sixth among 60,000 scholars in the field of environmental science, based on their career-long citation impact (until the end of 2019).

Congratulating his fellow colleagues, Professor Cheung said, “Their achievements in knowledge creation and application are well recognized. The University is committed to creating a conducive environment for colleagues to make a greater impact for the school sector and the community.”

Heritage Institute of Technology established by Kalyan Bharti Trust won the First Prize for Best Newsletter in English at All India Public Relations Society of India National Award Ceremony 2020 held virtually for the first time.

The virtual award ceremony was organized on 21st February 2021 which was addressed by Honorable Union Minister of Education, Ministry of HRD, Govt. of India, Mr Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ as the Chief Guest in the presence of Mrs Baby Rani Maurya, Honorable Governor of Uttarakhand, Mr. Philippe Borremans, President, International Public Relations Association and Dr. Ajit Pathak, National President, Public Relations Society of India.

The Award was received by Mr Pradip Agarwal, Chief Executive Officer, Heritage Group of Institutions,  from Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’, Hon’ble Union Minister of Education, Ministry of HRD, Govt. of India virtually.

Tomsk Polytechnic University(TPU) researchers jointly with their colleagues from foreign universities have developed a method that allows for a laser-driven integration of metals into polymers to form electrically conductive composites.

The research findings are presented in Ultra-Robust Flexible Electronics by Laser-Driven Polymer-Nanomaterials Integration article Ultra-Robust Flexible Electronics by Laser-Driven Polymer-Nanomaterials Integration, published in Advanced Functional Materials academic journal (Q1, IF 16,836).

“Currently developing breakthrough technologies such as the Internet of Things, flexible electronics, brain-computer interfaces will have a great impact on society in the next few years. The development of these technologies requires crucially new materials that exhibit superior mechanical, chemical and electric stability, comparatively low cost to produce on a large scale, as well as biocompatibility for certain applications,” Raul David Rodriguez Contreras, Professor of the TPU Research School of Chemistry and Applied Biomedical Sciences, says.

“In this context, polymers and a globally widespread polyethylene terephthalate (PET), in particular, are of special interest. However, conventional methods of polymers modification to add the required functionality, as a rule, change the conductivity of the entire polymer volume, which significantly limits their application for complex topologies of 3-manifolds,” Raul David Rodriguez Contreras explains.

“Mechanical stability tests (abrasion, impact and stripping tests) proved that composites based on aluminum nanoparticles surpass other materials. Moreover, the material structure itself turned out to be very interesting. During laser processing, aluminium carbide is formed on sample surfaces. Furthermore, polymers induce the formation of graphene-like carbon structures. We did not expect this effect. Besides, by adjusting laser power, we can control material conductivity. In practice, using a laser, it is possible to “draw” almost any conductive structure on polymer surface and make it locally conductive,” Evgeniya Sheremet, Professor of the TPU Research School of High-Energy Physics, explains.

According to scientists, the laser integration of metals into polymers was used in flexible electronics for the first time. There are methods based on “metal explosion” by laser and its application into polymers at a high speed, but they are more complicated in terms of technological implementation. The method of the TPU researchers implies two basic technological steps: application of nanoparticles on polymer surface and laser processing. In addition, the method is applicable to a wide variety of materials.

“What can it be used for? First, it can be used for flexible electronics. One of the problems in this field is the low mechanical stability of products. There are many approaches to improve it. However, normally, the obtained materials would not have passed our tests. There is also photocatalysis, flexible sensors for robotics, light-emitting diodes and biomedical products among the potential fields of application,” the article’s authors explain.

Further on, the research team is planning to test the new method on other materials such as silver, copper, carbon tubes and to use various polymers. The scientists from TPU, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research Dresden, and the University of Amsterdam took part in the research work. The project is supported by the TPU Competitiveness Enhancement Program VIU-ISHFVP-198/2020.

Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Pharmaceutical Science has developed its very own “Mangrove–Tree (Samae–Talay) extract treatment for hair loss and baldness problem” which received the Innovation Award 2021 in Chemical Science and Pharmacy (Very Good Level) from the National Research Council of Thailand (NRCT), and is expected to hit the market this year.

For a great number of people “hair loss and baldness” are causes for anxiety and crisis of confidence. Research shows that 65% of the cases are genetic, and this deepens people’s despair even further.  Chula’s Pharmaceutical Science Research Team has just come up with a solution that can cure androgenic alopecia or pattern baldness. Product tests on more than 50 men and women have proven to be effective.

Professor Wanchai De-Eknamkul, Ph.D., Department of Pharmacognosy and Pharmaceutical Botany, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Science, Chulalongkorn University, and research team advisor described the testing process and the results of the research and said “We took pictures of the volunteers’ heads from every angle and looked at the balding patches through a microscope to study the nature of the hair loss. The volunteers were then given treatment and asked to come back in one month.  Photos were taken again. This process was repeated for 4 months.”

“We found that in just the first month of using the mangrove extract, the balding patches were covered with new hair.  Hair loss during shampooing decreased. Hair was stronger and remained attached to the scalp longer.  More importantly, no allergies to the extract were detected.”

Prof. Wanchai continued to say that this research is an extension of a doctoral dissertation project that studied hair loss. The research team extended the scope of this research to cover finding the extracts or pure natural substances that would be effective in treating hair loss.

“We screened more than 50 herbal extracts and more than 20 pure substances and found that the Mangrove Tree (Samae Talay) extract contains the active ingredient avicequinone C, which inhibits the activity of the enzyme that produces hair-loss- causing hormones.  Also, the extract helps to build proteins that promote hair growth, thus providing a complete solution to hair loss problems.”

Prof. Dr. Wanchai said that most cosmetic and cosmeceutical products that claim to cure hair loss contain chemically synthesized drugs, which may cause harmful side effects, especially allergic reactions, and dermatitis.  Worse yet, most of them have not been scientifically proven or researched to determine their healing mechanisms.

Faculty of Law, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTMLaw) and Faculty of Law, Padjajdaran University (UNPAD) have recently collaborated for delivering the Global Immersion Program (GIP). The online event garnered substantial participation from Malaysia and Indonesia. This event was conducted to pursue knowledge sharing between the two law schools regarding legal discourse specifically, on the Agrarian and Environmental Law.

The event was officiated by the Vice Dean of Faculty of Law, UNPAD, Dr. Gusman Siswandi. At the same time, the opening remark was delivered by the Dean of UiTMLaw, Associate Professor Dr. Hartini Saripan.

The event, scheduled as a one-day seminar, packed several sessions discussing many environmental law issues. The first session was conducted via forum titled “Security of Tenure in Land Ownership: A Review on Malaysia and Indonesian Land Law” delivered by Dr Nia Kurniati from UNPAD and Dr. Noraziah Abu Bakar representing UiTMLaw.

The second session was convened by Dr. Beatriz Garcia De Oliveira from Western Sydney University, Australia, on International Environmental Law. Finally, the session ended with a talk delivered by UiTMLaw Deputy Dean of Student Affairs, Dr. Siti Hafsyah Idris and Yulinda Adharani from UNPAD, on the title of “Sustainable Agriculture and Protection of the Environment”.

This event has gradually nurtured the collaboration synergy between the Faculty of Law, UNPAD, and UiTMLaw in many ways, and both organizations look forward to organizing more events and conferences in the future.  Moving forward, UiTMLaw is optimistic that this step taken towards bridging international collaboration would bring more fruitful outcomes in promoting legal discourse.

UiTMLaw continues to strive for international visibility as an institution that produces high-quality law graduates. In line with its 2021 theme of “Global Prominence”, UiTMLaw has engaged with many international universities by signing several Memorandums of Understanding with their respective law schools such as the Faculty of Law, Airlangga University and Faculty of Law, Padjajdaran University (UNPAD).

Apart from research collaboration and international mooting competition, UiTMLaw is committed to providing a platform for legal knowledge sharing with many international collaborators. The UiTMLaw experts are very keen on sharing their legal insights on current and contemporary legal issues via conferences, seminars, and roundtable discussions.