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Month: May 2023

Borussia Dortmund and the University of Europe for Applied Sciences launch BVB scholarship

Posted on by Global University Systems

The University of Europe for Applied Sciences (UE) and Borussia Dortmund have jointly launched a scholarship to support young talent in the field of education. This is part of the university
cooperation between the two institutions that has been in place since last year.


BVB full scholarship

A total of five full scholarships per semester will be offered across campuses for all bachelor’s or master’s degree programmes at UE (excluding MBAs, orientation semesters and dual degree programs). In additionto paying the tuition fees, the scholarship holders are assigned a mentor from BVB as a permanent contact person for the duration of their studies, who takes
care of the scholarship holders’ specific professional needs.

Scholarship holders take a look behind the scenes at the professional club

In addition to the BVB Mentoring Program, all scholarship holders have the opportunity to obtain an internship within the BVB Group. There will also be a biannual meeting at the stadium with all
scholarship holders.

Professor Dr Maurits van Rooijen, President of the University of Europe for Applied Sciences, who is very pleased with the new scholarship programme, shared: “Together with BVB, we at UE would like to contribute to more educational equality, because a high-quality education at a private university should not exclude top students on the basis of their background or financial possibilities. That is why we have been offering various scholarships for some time now. The BVB scholarship, with its exclusive proximity to one of the most world-renowned professional clubs, is special for us.”

BVB and UE expand their social commitment to education

BVB, which is committed to numerous social projects, is expanding its social commitment to education and higher education with the BVB scholarship.

“Through the scholarship, we come into direct contact with high-performing and highly motivated young professionals who get to know our company right from the start. For us, too, in addition to educational equity, the aim is to retain talent. The scholarship enables us to support young people who, without financial assistance, might have fewer chances of gaining access to a private university,” explains Carsten Cramer, Managing Director at Borussia Dortmund, the importance of the scholarship programme with the University of Europe for
Applied Sciences.

Admission requirements and application deadline

The application deadline for the BVB scholarship is 31 July for the winter semester. Anyone who successfully enrols in a bachelor’s or master’s degree programme at UE can apply. More information about the application can be found here: BVB Scholarship Information | Application | UE Germany (ue-germany.com).

The university cooperation between UE and BVB has been in place since July 2022 and enables UE students to gain insights into BVB’S work, meet well-known BVB personalities and gain experience at one of the world’s most renowned professional clubs.

The new BVB scholarship now takes the collaboration between the two institutions to a new level.

TUS researchers propose a simple approach to carbon nanotube wiring

Posted on by Tokyo University of Science

The proposed method produces wiring suitable for developing all-carbon devices, including flexible sensors and energy conversion and storage devices

Researchers from Tokyo University of Science in Japan have developed an inexpensive method for fabricating multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) on a plastic film. The proposed method is simple, can be applied under ambient conditions, reuses MWNTs, and produces flexible wires of tunable resistances without requiring additional steps. It eliminates several drawbacks of current fabrication methods, making it useful for large-scale manufacturing of carbon wiring for flexible all-carbon devices.

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are cylindrical tube-like structures made of carbon atoms that display highly desirable physical properties like high strength, low weight, and excellent thermal and electrical conductivities. This makes them ideal materials for various applications, including reinforcement materials, energy storage and conversion devices, and electronics. Despite such immense potential, however, there have been challenges in commercializing CNTs, such as their incorporation on plastic substrates for fabricating flexible CNT-based devices. Traditional fabrication methods require carefully controlled environments such as high temperatures and a clean room. Further, they require repeat transfers to produce CNTs with different resistance values.

More direct methods such as laser-induced forward transfer (LIFT) and thermal fusion (TF) have been developed as alternatives. In the LIFT method, a laser is used to directly transfer CNTs
onto substrates, while in TF, CNTs are mixed with polymers that are then selectively removed by a laser to form CNT wires with varying resistance values. However, both these methods are expensive and have their unique problems. LIFT requires expensive pulsed lasers and preparation of CNTs with specific resistance values, while TF uses large amounts of CNTs that are not
utilized and go to waste.

Aiming to develop a more simple and inexpensive approach, Associate Professor Dr. Takashi Ikuno along with his collaborators, Mr. Hiroaki Komatsu, Mr. Yosuke Sugita and Mr. Takahiro Matsunami at Tokyo University of Science, Japan, recently proposed a novel method that enables fabrication of multi-walled CNT (MWNT) wiring on a plastic film under ambient conditions (room temperature and atmospheric pressure) using a low-cost laser.

The breakthrough, published in the journal Scientific Reports on 08 February 2023, involves coating a polypropylene (PP) film with an MWNT film about 10 μm thick and then exposing it to a mW UV laser. The result is a conductive wiring made of a combination of MWNT and PP.

“This process enables the easy ‘drawing’ of wiring and flexible devices for wearable sensors without the need for complex processes,” highlights Dr. Ikuno.

The researchers attributed the formation of these wires to the difference in the thermal conductivities between the MWNT and the PP film. As the MWNT/PP film is exposed to the laser, the high thermal conductivity of the MWNT layer causes the heat to spread along the length of the wire, resulting in high temperatures at the MWNT–PP interface and lower temperatures elsewhere in the PP film. Directly below the laser, where temperatures are the highest, the PP diffuses into the MWNT film to form a thick PP/MWNT composite, while a thin PP/MWNT layer is formed at the edges of the laser where temperatures are relatively low.

The proposed method also allows the fabrication of carbon wires with different resistance values within the same process (without repeat transfer) by simply changing the irradiation conditions, thereby eliminating the need for additional steps. Exposing the PP/MWNT film to high laser energies, achieved either by low scanning speeds, a high number of laser exposures, or the use of a high-powered laser, produces thicker wires with a higher concentration of MWNTs. Consequently, the lower resistivity of MWNT and the thicker wire lowers the resistance per unit length of the wire (resistance is directly proportional to the ratio between the resistivity and the thickness of the wire).

By precisely controlling the exposure of the MWNT/PP film to laser light, the researchers successfully fabricated MWNT wires with a wide range of resistance values, from 0.789 kΩ/cm to 114 kΩ/cm. Moreover, these wires were highly flexible and maintained their resistance even when bent repeatedly.

Additionally, the method solved one of the pressing issues with current techniques, namely the inability of LIFT and TF techniques to reuse CNTs not utilized in the fabrication process. In the proposed method, MWNTs not incorporated into the PP film during laser irradiation can be recovered and reused, allowing for the creation of new MWNT wires with little to no change in resistance values.

With its simplicity, efficient utilization of CNTs, and the capability to create high-quality wires, the new method has the potential to realize large-scale manufacturing of flexible carbon wiring for flexible sensors and energy conversion and storage devices.

“We expect the process cost to be significantly reduced compared to that for conventional methods. This, in turn, will contribute to the realization of low-cost flexible sensors that are expected to have wide applications in large quantities,” concludes Dr. Ikuno.

***

Reference

Title of original paper: Direct formation of carbon nanotube wiring with controlled electrical resistance on plastic films

Journal: Scientific Reports

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-29578-w

Water test kits: Innovation from Chula for safe and sustainable agriculture

Posted on by Chulalongkorn University

Farmers in Thailand still largely use chemical herbicides, especially paraquat and atrazine, to control weeds on their farms. According to research by the Office of Agricultural Economics, in 2019, Thailand imported almost 10 million kilograms of paraquat and close to 3.5 million kilograms of atrazine. The residues of these herbicides cause harm to the environment, living creatures, and our health.

As head of the research project on pesticide residues in water test kit for sustainable and safe agriculture, Associate Professor Dr. Thanyalak Chaisuwan, Deputy Dean for Research, The Petroleum and Petrochemical College, Chulalongkorn University, has collaborated with Assistant Professor Dr. Luxsana Dubas, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, in developing a test kit to measure pesticide contaminants in water.

The kit employs synthesized porous nano carbon materials together with color analysis techniques to achieve accuracy and reduce problems from herbicide residues. The research is conducted by Ph.D. students of the Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, forming a dual field research to solve the problems of pesticide contamination in water, which is hard to detect.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Thanyalak explained that Thailand is an agricultural country, resulting in heavy use of pesticides and chemicals in the production of agricultural products. In 2021, Thailand ranked 7 in the world for the number of pesticides and chemicals used in agriculture, amounting to 0.65 kilograms of such substances per rai. Research has shown that chemicals like paraquat and atrazine can lead to Parkinson’s disease and cancer if accumulated in the body. This has led to the development of a pesticide contaminant in water test kits, which uses absorbent materials and compares colors that are sensitive to paraquat and atrazine in small amounts.

The materials used are made from synthetic polymer, achieved by burning organic chemistry materials in inert air until they become coal-like. The result is light-weight porous carbon with holes too small for the naked eye and the diameter of which is measured in nanometers. The research yielded satisfactory results. In the future, the research will be furthered by applying the materials to detect other substances.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Thanyalak added that Thailand has over 150 million rai of farmland, with revenue from agriculture accounting for 10% of the country’s GDP. The government’s push to reduce the income gap and low income per capita, as well as their support of Smart Farming, requires technology. The development of a test kit for pesticide contaminants in water will be truly beneficial for sustainable and safe agriculture.

As of now, this test kit is a prototype which can be tested in actual conditions.

For the full release and more images, please visit: https://www.chula.ac.th/en/highlight/106656/

HKBU-led research discovers new therapeutic target for irritable bowel syndrome

Posted on by HKBUCPRO

A research study led by scientists from the School of Chinese Medicine (SCM) at Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) has shown for the first time that the human gut bacterium Ruminococcus gnavus is a major trigger factor of diarrhoea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-D). Based on this discovery, a new therapeutic target for the disease’s treatment was identified. The study also found that low-protein food items such as fresh fruits, vegetables and bread may help reduce the gut motility in IBS-D. The research findings have been published in the internationally renowned scientific journal Cell Host & Microbe.

Curative treatment for IBS-D needed

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common functional bowel disorder characterised by stool irregularities, abdominal discomfort and bloating. It has been estimated that about 7% of adults in Hong Kong are affected by IBS. IBS-D is the most common type of IBS and there is no known cure for the disease. Most clinical treatments for IBS-D focus on relieving symptoms.

Previous research has demonstrated that the increased production of serotonin, a key neurotransmitter involved in the regulation of gut motility, contributes to the gastrointestinal symptoms displayed in IBS-D. It has also been shown that gut microbiota play a role in regulating the levels of serotonin. However, the bacterial species concerned and the molecular mechanism by which the gut microbiota modulate serotonin production remain unclear.

Phenethylamine and tryptamine produced by Ruminococcus gnavus trigger IBS-D

To explore curative treatment options for IBS-D, a research team co-led by Professor Bian Zhaoxiang, Director of the Clinical Division and Tsang Shiu Tim Endowed Professor in Chinese Medicine Clinical Studies; Dr Xavier Wong Hoi-leong, Assistant Professor of the Teaching and Research Division; and Dr Zhai Lixiang, Post-Doctoral Research Fellow of SCM at HKBU, screened
thousands of food components and their breakdown products in the fecal samples of 290 patients with IBS-D. They found that phenethylamine and tryptamine, two aromatic trace amines produced by the microbial digestion of dietary proteins, are highly enriched in IBS-D faeces, and they are associated with the severity of diarrheal symptoms in patients with IBS-D.

Probing further, the researchers found that mice which had been fed with either phenethylamine or tryptamine experienced increased stool frequencies and colonic secretions, which are major symptoms of IBS-D.

On the other hand, the team found that the gut bacterium Ruminococcus gnavus, which is enriched in IBS-D faecal samples, is a primary producer of phenethylamine and tryptamine. Furthermore, mice with this bacterium transplanted into their guts go on to develop IBS-D diarrheal symptoms. These results suggest that phenethylamine and tryptamine produced by Ruminococcus gnavus trigger IBS-D in mammals without the involvement of other risk factors of IBS-D.

Phenethylamine and tryptamine stimulate serotonin production

The research team further conducted a series of experiments to understand the mechanism by which phenethylamine and tryptamine lead to IBS-D. The results showed that phenethylamine and tryptamine directly stimulate the production of serotonin from the enterochromaffin cells in the gut through the activation of a trace amine-associated receptor (TAAR1), thereby stimulating gut motility and secretion disorders in IBS-D.

The team then explored the therapeutic potential of targeting the phenethylamine/tryptamine/TAAR1 pathway for the treatment of IBS-D. It was discovered that inhibition of TAAR1 activation through the use of a specific inhibitor effectively alleviated the diarrheal symptoms in mice which had been transplanted with IBS-D faecal samples.

Prospects for new therapeutic options

“With a full outline of the mechanism of how gut microbiota associate with gut motility disorders, our research results suggest that the phenethylamine/tryptamine-mediated TAAR1 pathway
is a new therapeutic target for IBS-D,” said Dr Zhai Lixiang.

“IBS-D patients experience frequent episodes of diarrhea with accompanying abdominal pain, which reduce the quality of life. The research discoveries offer promising potential for the development of therapies for IBS-D based on the inhibition of the pathway,” said Professor Bian Zhaoxiang.

The research team also found that a diet low in phenylalanine, an amino acid and a dietary precursor of phenethylamine, suppresses gut motility in mice by reducing the microbial production of phenethylamine and tryptamine. Low-protein food items such as fresh fruits, vegetables and bread have relatively low levels of phenylalanine.

“Developing strategies to reduce the microbial transformation of dietary amino acids into phenethylamine and tryptamine, such as dietary intervention with reduced consumption of high-protein food items which usually have high phenylalanine levels, may represent a feasible approach for the management of IBS-D,” said Dr Xavier Wong.