Tag: Chulalongkorn University

Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Engineering and the Faculty of Arts have jointly developed the “Thai Speech Emotion Recognition Data Sets and Models”, now available for free downloads,  to help enhance sales operations and service systems to better respond to customers’ needs.

Thai Speech Emotion Recognition Model, a cutting-edge AI by Chula faculty members, currently available to the public to download, is interdisciplinary research between Dr Ekapol Chuangsuwanich, a computer engineering scholar from the Faculty of Engineering,  along with Asst. Prof. Dangkamol Na-pombejra and Patsupang Kongbumrung, two dramatic arts experts from the Faculty of Arts.

“Speech Emotion Recognition AI involves so many applications, e.g., a call centre system can assess the mood of customers who call for service if they are angry or irritable and record their feelings from the tone of voice throughout the conversation as statistics of dissatisfied customers.  An AI that can express more natural emotions while communicating with users can also be created to replace the monotonous, robotic voice that we are familiar with,” Dr. Ekapol explained the goals of the project that is a collaboration with Vidyasirimedhi Institute of Science and Technology (VISTEC) and funded by Digital Economy Promotion Agency (depa), and Advanced Info Service, Public Co., Ltd. (AIS).

A library of emotionally diverse voices from performers

Before models of emotional classifications can be established, an audio library is first required. This is where dramatic arts comes in to help create a Thai Speech Emotion Data Set.

Two hundred performers, both male and female performed speech patterns of five emotions: anger, sadness, frustration, happiness, and standard tones. Each performer recorded the speeches in all five emotions, both in a monologue and interactively as a dialogue.

“Usable voices have to be those that express the real emotions that occur in our daily lives, and not overacting ones.  Therefore, a team of directors had to be present to help guide the actors to deliver realistic voices according to the moods,” said Asst. Prof. Dangkamol.

“Moreover, when it’s time to change the sound to convey another emotion, though some actors may still linger on the same mood, the team of directors would coach them to induce new emotions until the actors convey them in the most realistic manner.”

After completing the recording, sound patterns of all five types of emotions were created from the audio data sets and later developed into emotion-classifying models, which according to Dr. Ekapol, the computer engineering scholar, are up to 60-70% accurate.

“We perceive a speaker’s mood by observing the composition of the speech: tone, volume, cadence, whimpers, laughter.  AI works almost similar to the way we sense emotions,” Dr. Ekapol explained.

“AI is tasked with classifying the input speech and matching it with corresponding types of emotions by comparing the input against baseline voices.  Once the AI learns from the input, it will be able to detect the patterns, like the mournful voice would be slightly softer than normal; the happy sound would be mixed with laughter; while the angry voice would be louder than usual.”

Dr. Ekapol pointed out the opportunities to use the Speech Emotion Recognition Models in many types of work according to the users’ imagination as to what they want out of the mood analysis.

“Usage is not limited to only computer workers.  You need to look at what users want to use the emotional assessment for.  For example, it can be used in call centers to assess upset customers, and analyze the subjects about which customers are most upset, and what they talk about.  It can also be developed into avatars or AI robots with facial expressions and moving lips and can respond to users.”

Lecturer Dr. Ekapol also added that speech-based emotion-classifying AI is also useful in various hotline operations, especially the mental health hotlines.

“In the future, we plan to develop it to be applicable in mental health hotlines with depression patients so that the robots can respond emotionally to humans.”

Future models to increase diversity in both sounds and moods

Certainly, the five emotions in the database are not large and varied enough to gauge all of the human feelings. Each gender and age group also expresses the same emotion in a different way which poses a new challenge for the researchers.  They are poised to work on improving the effectiveness of the system and accuracy of emotion detection as well as expanding the models to cover people of all ages.

“We have plans to improve the current models’ efficiency and expand the coverage to more sections of people.  Because most recording actors were students and working-age people, the model may not perform well when pitched against the voices of children and the elderly.  Also, since the recordings were done in the studio, the models may not work as well if the input voices have too much ambient noise,”  Dr. EkaPol said.

Three student teams from the Department of Food Technology, Faculty of Science, won prizes from the national and international food innovation concept contests.

Competing against students from 54 universities, flying in from 13 countries, several of Chulalongkorn University’s finest were awarded a prize in the ASEAN Innovation Challenge – ProVeg International 2021, the international plant-based food innovation concept contest held during January – June 2021.

Chula’s team of graduate students, Mr. Nuti Hutasingh (Ph.D. student), Miss Varanya Techasukthavorn (Ph.D. student), and Mr. Natchanon Srangsomjit (M.S. student), won the first prize for their product, “Marble Booster: 100% plant-based ready-to-eat meal of marbled meat slices fortified with natural immune boosters from curcumin and black pepper”.  The team was coached by CPF (Thailand) PCL.

Moreover, a team of 3rd-year undergraduate students, coached by Nestlé, including Miss Tornton Chainithikan, Miss Paweekorn Wongrattanapiboon, Miss Pattamaporn Kuprasert and Miss Pichamon Pecharanond, won special prize for their creation, “Zainty: non-dairy avocado and coconut milk-based ice cream in parfait style”.

At the national level, another team of students from Chula ranked 5th in the FoSTAT Food Innovation Concept Contest 2021, held during January – June 2021.  Under the theme “Smart Food for the New Normal”, a group of Chula 3rd year undergraduate students, Mr. Saksorn Techasutjalidsuntorn, Miss Tornton Chainithikan, Miss Paweekorn Wongrattanapiboon, Miss Pattamaporn Kuprasert, Miss Pichamon Pecharanond and Miss Issariya Thunyateerepong, came in 5th place among all the participating teams from Bangkok.

The team’s proposal for the contest was “Tep Tep: tempeh pudding with coconut crumble”.  All three student teams were supervised by Assoc. Prof. Kanitha Tananuwong and Asst. Prof. Varapha Kongpensook.

Researchers from Chulalongkorn University celebrate the success of Active Targeting, a revolutionary innovation in the medical industry using bio–robots to deliver targeted cordyceps extract to halt cancer with reduced side effects.

Dr. Teerapong Yata, Lecturer of the Biochemistry Unit, Department of Physiology, Faculty of Veterinary Science, and Dr.  Waranyu Pooncharoen, Department of Pharmacognosy and Pharmaceutical Botany, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chulalongkorn University have collaborated with the National Nanotechnology Center (NANOTEC) to conduct a research to address this question through a delivery system aided by bio-robots to carry the “Cordycepin” to targeted cancer cells more precisely.

Dr. Teerapong explained that taking cordyceps or cordyceps extracts, as they are sold and consumed today, may have benefits in terms of general health maintenance, but almost no effect in terms of inhibiting cancer cells.

“We have to extract the substance. “Cordycepin” and see how it can be brought to the cancerous tissue in the body, as the intestine can absorb very little of it.  Therefore, NANOTEC has developed bio-robots called the “Nanoparticle Delivery System” to distribute the extract to the targeted location where we want the extract to be active.”

The nanotechnology delivery system is one answer to the cancer treatment problem. By bringing the active substance to its target and helping the body absorb Cordycepin better, the delivery system also reduces the chance of drug residue and toxicity in the body.

“There is no definite conclusion which substance in cordyceps causes side effects or is toxic to the body, such as stomach, liver, kidneys, so if we have a conductor to encapsulate only important substances and target the delivery to destroy only the cancer cells, it will help reduce the side effects, especially the toxic effects on the liver.”

Dr. Teerapong explained further that the “controlled release” of the nanoparticles can reduce potential toxicity affecting the liver or kidney.

The research on “bio-robots” does not stop here. According to Dr. Teerapong, “currently, the process of “active targeting” is being studied.  It is the use of targeted molecules to deliver important substances to the desired organs as precisely as possible. This is because this innovative robot of the future is not created to cure cancer alone, but can also serve to encapsulate substance and deliver it to the area that needs treatment.”

Recently, researchers have started to use bio-robots to transport important substances, both medicines, and vaccines.  Different types of substances need different designs which should be done under the guidance of the doctors.  Moreover, at present, bio-robots are being used to treat animals as well, Dr. Teerapong concluded.

An Engineering professor, Chulalongkorn University has successfully converted carbon dioxide to methanol via a thermochemical method that consumes less energy and provides more yield, providing an alternative solution to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and stimulate the circular economy.

“Most of today’s methanol is synthesized from natural gas, which normally releases carbon dioxide during the production process. We, therefore, studied the production of methanol directly from carbon dioxide, which means that this helps to reduce carbon dioxide and also brings the gas back to some use and increases its economic value as well,” Asst. Dr. Pattaraporn says.

Dr Pattaraporn revealed the concept of a sub-research project under the Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Conversion to Higher-Valued Products with support from the “Research Cess Fund” (RCF) from the Malaysia-Thai Joint Authority (MTJA) for the research team from the Faculty of Engineering, Faculty of Science, the Metal and Materials Research Institute Chulalongkorn University, and other institutions to study different technologies and methods to recover carbon dioxide.

“In general, methanol is synthesized from natural gas by thermochemical method, which produces one ton of methanol and emits about 0.5-1.5 tons of carbon dioxide.” Asst. Prof. Dr. Pattaraporn explained.

“Therefore, we studied how methanol is produced directly from carbon dioxide, which is a promising alternative to the environment and also enhances its economic value.”

Asst. Prof. Dr. Pattaraporn elaborated that methanol can be expanded into a wide range of environmentally friendly green chemical products, such as Dimethyl Ether (DME), used as heating fuel, and Dimethyl Carbonate (DMC), which is used in many industries such as the paint industry, and adhesive industry.  Dimethyl carbonate is used as a binder and is classified as a type of plastic material. It is also mainly used as an electrolyte in lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles, which are becoming increasingly in demand.

“Nowadays, the production of dimethyl carbonate mainly uses phosgene, a highly toxic chemical that can cause death or serious health problems even with low concentrations. Therefore, dimethyl carbonate production from methanol and urea, or even from carbon dioxide directly is an interesting production pathway.”

Asst. Prof. Dr. Pattaraporn elaborated more on the fact that the carbon dioxide management approach that amine solutions are generally used to capture carbon dioxide and then separate it by heat until pure carbon dioxide is obtained. After that, the captured carbon dioxide can be further managed in two ways.

For this research, Asst. Dr. Pattaraporn chose the process of thermochemical conversion to convert carbon dioxide in which she used a reactor to generate heat and pressure, then induce a chemical reaction by adding hydrogen to carbon dioxide (CO2 hydrogenation) until it becomes methanol.

However, the thermochemical method demands intensive energy for the reaction and the methanol yield is low. Asst. Prof. Dr. Pattaraporn then finds a way to eliminate this drawback with the use of some alcohol as a catalytic solvent with copper-zinc oxide base catalyst (Cu/ZnO) to increase the methanol yield, and reduce energy consumption in the carbon dioxide conversion process.

Despite the research success, there are still many obstacles, such as the relatively high cost of CO2 capture, energy used in the CO2 conversion process, production costs and sources of hydrogen, market size constraints, and lack of investment incentives. So, if it receives support from the government in terms of policy, cost incentives, taxes, etc, this technology will become more competitive in the future.

“We have a plan to work with the industry sector to push forward the research to provide Thailand with new environmentally friendly products, create economic value for waste, and stimulate a circular economy. This is an important issue to which people today need to pay attention. We must try to save the environmental capital as best as possible to pass it on to the next generation so as to assure them of a better life.” Asst. Prof. Dr. Pattaraporn concluded.

 

The results for this year’s QS World University Rankings 2022 have Chulalongkorn University holding the prestigious ranking as one of the one hundred best universities in the world in terms of Academic Reputation. This is the second straight year that Chula has occupied number 96 and once again it is placed as the best university in Thailand.

The university also takes pride in being recognized as the top university in Thailand for the 13th consecutive year (since 2009) and for placing among the 215 best universities in the world.

This year’s rankings show that Chula still retains its prime position as first in Thailand for academic reputation which serves as the indicator with the highest-ranking value. It is a reflection of the level of confidence that Chulalongkorn University enjoys from the perspective of more than 100,000 representative academics, entrepreneurs and academic institutions around the world.

Apart from that, Chula ranks 101st in the world in terms of Employer Reputation, an improvement from last year where it was at 125 in this category. The same goes for the Faculty-Student ratio and International Student ratio where Chula also sees an improvement from last year as well.

The latest rankings are a reflection of the success in the developments implemented by the University known as “Innovations for Society” which have brought about significant recognition in both academic and industrial circles at the international level.

The King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital of the Thai Red Cross Society has founded a “Gender Health Clinic” in collaboration with faculty members from the Gender Medicine and Menopause, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University to provide a comprehensive health clinic to underline the importance of transgender in Thai society today.

In addition, this Gender Health Clinic is also a specialized learning center for doctors, medical students, and interested medical personnel. It is also an international research centre on transgender health in conjunction with the Center of Excellence in Transgender Health (CETH).

“The establishment of a Gender Health Clinic is meant to provide medical services specifically for transgender patients who previously could find no specialized clinics in this field. Patients use hormones, self-inject hormones, or take birth control pills haphazardly or wrongly do what their friends do.  Some people go to underground clinics and are not treated by specialists which is even more dangerous,” Associate Professor Krasian Panyakhamlert, M.D., Head of Gender Medicine and Menopause, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of  Medicine, Chulalongkorn University and founder of Gender Health Clinic elaborated.

Dr. Thanapob Bampenkiatkul, MD. Special Lecturer in Gender Medicine and Menopause,  Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, and a specialist at the Gender Health Clinic explained,” Consultation depends on the way an individual patient wants to change his/her body to feel good. We provide information on the safest and most appropriate ways to become the person he/she wants to be.”

Regarding Hormone replacement therapy for a sex change, a popular method used by transgender people to transform their physique into their desired gender, Amarin Suwan, M.D., a lecturer of Gender Medicine and Menopause, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, and a specialist at the Gender Health Clinic, opined, “Every person’s body is different and requires different drugs/doses to suit the body. Some people are better suited for pills taken orally, while others are better with topical drugs, or they may get the same drug but at different dosages, which the doctor will recommend the best.”

Most importantly, hormone replacement therapy is not for everyone.  People with breast cancer, myocardial infarction, coronary artery disease (CAD), coagulopathy, polycythemia vera, or patients with abnormal liver or lipid profiles, etc. are barred from hormone therapy.

Dr. Thanapob said, “Transgenders have diverse needs.  For instance, most trans men want their ovaries and uterus gone because they don’t belong to their body, while some people don’t mind them as much.  Some may want to get pregnant or have vaginal sex, so they don’t have a hysterectomy, while only 3-4 per cent of all-trans men worldwide undergo penile reconstruction surgery. So, to each his own.”

The Gender Health Clinic offers gender reassignment surgery services for both transgender men and women, by working with a transgender surgery clinic.  The types of surgical procedures include breast reduction and breast enlargement,  hysterectomy, removal of ovaries, and fallopian tubes, penile and vaginal reconstruction, as well as castration, and other surgeries including hips augmentation, Adam’s apple sharpening, jaw sharpening, face shape change.

Adolescents under 18 years of age are treated on a case-by-case basis. The clinic has specialized endocrinologists and child and adolescent psychiatrists from the Integrative Adolescent Health Clinic. All of this is for service recipients to have a better quality of life and mental health.

Among other services, the Gender Health Clinic also offers counselling services for gender-related health problems, such as menopause, vaginal dryness, endocrinological disorders related to sex hormones, and the consequential unsatisfying sex, such as lack of sex drive, pain from sexual intercourse, etc.

Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts (FAA) recently rebranded Art4C, its gallery and creative learning space, under the slogan: “Art for Life, Sustainability”. The three-story facility, located on the university’s Bangkok campus, was the venue for a live-streamed discussion, a seminar on marine pollution and fashion show on July 3, 2021, held under the title “RE-SCAPE: Bite Scape, Art Scape, Act Scape”.

The rebranding and launch of several related exhibitions were also held as part of the faculty’s active involvement in the Bangkok Design Week 2021.

The introductory discussion featured FAA Dean Professor Bussakorn Binson and Chupong Wangwattananan and was moderated by ART4C Director Haisang Javanalikhikara, the latter of whom introduced ART4C’s new collaborative partner Mr Wangwattananan, who is the owner of the Dragon Ink company. He has set up a new coffee shop on the ground floor of ART4C, Bite Scape, which is proving very popular with the university’s students.

This talk was followed by a seminar on plastic marine pollution (in 2019 Thailand was the 7th largest marine polluter in the world), which specifically discussed issues related to the exhibition, Plastic Sea, an interactive installation created by activist artist Witaya Junma and curated by Haisang Javanalikhikara. Junma utilised a ‘vortex machine’ to visually present plastic waste data in Thailand’s coastal waters from the Department of Marine Resources. The presenters were the artist Witaya Junma, Pornsri Suthanaruk (Deputy General Director of Department of Marine and Coastal Resources) and environmental activist Chanat Wutwikaikan; the seminar was moderated by Chanat Wutwikaikan of Kong Green Green.

ART4C Director Haisang noted a theme underlying all of these ambitious creative projects: “Artists and activists participated in these events to empower us to see that the environmental issues we face are so severe. They want to engage people in dealing with these issues so that we can all help heal the ecosystem. There isn’t any particular way to do this, so we must be creative and supportive.”

The third session brought together three well-known Thai environmental artists – Teeprang, Wishulada and Nee Fabritt – to discuss how to be creative through sustainable art practices. Teeprang recently held an exhibition, Liberated, at ART4C. Wishulada, a FAA alumni, is known for her use of recycled materials in her artworks. She created clothes and accessories using her distinctive style.

The sessions ended with a fashion presentation that featured a fashion show using recycled Thai fabrics, Recycle Rising by Lalalove and new fashion photography, Anusorn Mah Hua Nau (Memorial Outcast) by Akin Kanjanapokin (Teeprang). From 4 July to 11 July ART4C held related shows on each of its three floors: on the first floor Anusorn Mah Hua Nau by Teeprang, Ecological Expansion by Fabritt and MeClass, and Recycle Rising by Lalalove; on the second floor, Plastic Sea by Witaya Junma and Every Year is the Golden Year by Nin Narin (a collaboration between Narin and Lalalove); and on the third floor, Incarnate, by Wishulada.

Incarnate was inspired by Wishulada’s visit to Khao Yai National Park and her realisation that animals and nature are being destroyed by human behaviour. As with the Plastic Sea exhibition, Wishulada’s aim was to engage with her audience to make them aware of these critical environmental and ecological issues so that they can understand the need for change.

All the exhibitions at ART4C employed sustainable practices in the preparation and display of the artworks in order to reduce their carbon footprints. Due to the current pandemic situation, viewing was by appointment only.

The Metallurgy and Materials Science Research Institute, Chulalongkorn University will soon launch a cutting-edge, health innovation – a wristwatch that can check blood sugar levels from sweat in real-time.  It’s accurate, not painful, less expensive, and can replace imported equipment.  It is expected to be available on the market soon.

The research team introduced the ultimate wristwatch that can measure blood glucose and lactate levels from sweat, received a Good Invention Award for Science and Pharmacy, 2021, and a collaboration with the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA).

According to Dr. Natnadda Rodthongkam, Deputy Director of the Metallurgy and Materials Science Research Institute, “Medical reports indicate that the level of glucose in sweat is directly related to blood sugar.  So, we used this finding to innovate a device that helps tell the patient’s glucose level in real-time. This is very important to the daily life of diabetic patients who must regularly monitor and control their blood sugar levels.”

“Moreover, it helps reduce the burden of healthcare workers.  Patients do not have to waste money and time travelling to the hospital and risk complications.”

Diabetes is a common disease among the elderly.  According to the Diabetes Association of Thailand’s report, in 2020, up to 5 million Thai people suffer from diabetes.  More importantly, diabetic patients also experience muscle weakness caused by the disorder of the immune and nervous systems.

Currently, the methods used to determine blood sugar levels are by drawing blood from the fingertips according to the fasting plasma glucose standards for diabetics, together with a lactate test to measure the concentration of lactate. Patients with muscle weakness need to fast for at least one hour before they can draw blood.

“Knowing real-time blood sugar and lactate levels will help patients take care of themselves, adjust their behaviour, or seek immediate medical attention before it becomes dangerous. We, therefore, devised a method that is faster, more accurate, and doesn’t need fasting or drawing blood, ”said Prof. Dr Natnadda.

This Chula-NSTDA joint project has researched and developed a special yarn material that is biochemically modified to absorb sweat and is sensitive to glucose and lactate enzymes in a single device.  Diabetics can monitor their blood glucose and lactate level anytime while wearing this smartwatch.

“This special yarn transmits the obtained data to a test sheet inserted inside the smartwatch case… to compare the measurement against a standard Calibration Curve.  If the blood glucose is low, the colour will be light, if high, the colour will be dark, while the lactate value will appear even darker in colour, “Prof. Dr Natnadda explained.

Currently, the research team is testing the effectiveness of the watch on diabetics and weak muscles, with cooperation from physicians specializing in diabetes treatment and the Comprehensive Geriatric Clinic, King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital. After successful testing to ensure its performance, this device will be further developed to be used by real diabetic patients soon.   The team also anticipates that this smartwatch will be popular among patients, and can help reduce the cost of importing high-priced medical devices from abroad.