Tag: Chulalongkorn University

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the online food-ordering business has grown exponentially in parallel with the amount of plastic waste generated that has seen a 60% increase.  The Environmental Research Institute, Chulalongkorn University (ERIC) points out that it is high time for all sectors to help reduce waste through the 3 Re Principles.

When the coronavirus outbreaks began in early 2020, followed by lockdown measures, and social distancing practice mandates to help mitigate the spread, conservation behaviour has been put on hold for the time being.  In its place came online ordering along with billions of containers and plastic bags a year. Even for restaurant dine-in, cutlery and plates are also wrapped with plastic for each guest.

A report by ERIC shows that the amount of plastic waste between January and April 2020 increased from the same period in 2019 by 62 percent, the majority of which is non-recyclable single-use plastic bags, styrofoam boxes, plastic bottles and cups.

ERIC also predicts that the amount of plastic waste from online food delivery businesses will increase to over 2,325–6,395 billion pieces per year in the next 4 years (2025).

“3 Re” steps to reduce waste from online food ordering

While clicking to order food online, clients tend to only think of menus and food prices.  The more they order, the more discounts they earn from competing for food delivery platforms. Little do they know that they are increasing the amount of plastic waste.  So, all that many people can do is to separate the trash before discarding it. Some people may do a bit more by cleaning and drying the containers before putting them in the bin.

The roles of food delivery platforms

The food delivery business has been growing steadily in recent years. Today, competitive pricing and speed strategies may no longer be the only measures of success when consumers are selective of their service providers who care about the environment. This is a new challenge for forward-thinking entrepreneurs, who should turn their attention to reducing plastic waste that is flooding the world, and take the lead and differentiate themselves while boosting their earnings from the “green” image.

ERIC adapted the familiar 3 Re principles to the current situation.

Reduce – Consumption

This can be done immediately by the platform operators by adding a default “no plastic cutlery” function.  Customers can turn it off if they want to receive the plastic cutlery. Currently, this practice has started around the world, and some operators use this as an incentive by giving discounts to customers who do not take plastic utensils. Most customers choose discounts, but the platform operators have to make sure the stores follow the guidelines.

Replace – with Alternative Packaging

This approach may be able to help control a certain amount of waste as it relies heavily on the source – the restaurant.  Yet, if successful, this will significantly reduce the amount of plastic waste without consumers having to worry.  Better yet, faster success can be achieved with cooperation from the government in controlling alternative packaging cost, which is currently higher than plastic packaging.

Reuse – Reusable Packaging

This approach is not yet popular in Thailand, but some small entrepreneurs have already begun experimenting with this measure, such as using a deposit-return system by designating container return points in business and residential buildings or making return appointments through an application. This approach is likely to have the most significant impact if consumers perceive the program’s importance and cooperate.

Must the government mandate and enforce the measures?

Plastic Ban Policy in the People’s Republic of China is a case study that suggests that if the government is strict, enforcement measures will work.  Examples include a ban on single-use plastic bags in supermarkets, a ban on non-biodegradable packaging for online food delivery business in major cities like Beijing, before expanding to other cities across the country, as well as bans by several EU countries on the manufacturing and usage of 8 types of single-use plastic: cutlery, chopsticks, plates, straw, cotton swabs, stirrers, balloon sticks, foam boxes and other products that contain OXO (non-biodegradable plastic).

Both case studies reflect the importance of the government’s stance and role in the eradication of plastic waste that can be impactful and extensive.  The Thai government, meanwhile, continues to choose a “voluntary cooperation” approach rather than enforcement.  Such policy requires the participation of all parties, especially the business sector.  If this approach proves effective, then a strict measure is not necessary.

Many can now understand the guidelines for online food ordering that will incur the least amount of trash.  Although we cannot eliminate 100 percent of the plastic waste from this activity, we can still be a part of the solution to the overflowing plastic trash in our big cities. If we are all aware of the problem and play a part in solving it, soon we can expect to see a sustainable decline in plastic waste figures.

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.