Nine years ago, the Great East 日本 Earthquake caused the spread of a large amount of radioactive materials. Even now, the amount of contaminated water is increasing at a rate of 180 tons per day, and it is said that the storage tanks for the contaminated water will run out of space in the next two years (Fig. 1). If the contaminated water is discharged into the ocean, it will cause reputational damage to the fishing industry, and the environmental pollution. We are conducting to research to prevent it from happening. In the wake of the nuclear accident, the senior started water quality surveys at Chaya Marsh near the school. During the survey, they found (Chara braunii, Fig. 2), (Nitella axilliformis, Fig. 3), Closterium moniliferum (Fig. 4), and (Nostoc commune, Fig. 5).

我們利用遞迴式求n個不同球放入k個相同箱子的方法數，得到形如巴斯卡三角的數值表，並發現在遞迴關係裡求得的數與落階乘多項式的係數恰好相同。 接著我們將形如巴斯卡三角的數值表轉換成矩陣表示，求出其反方陣，此反方陣竟然是Stirling numbers of the first kind；再將反方陣中的元素取絕對值得Stirling numbers of the second kind；Stirling numbers of the second kind表中的第n列第x行的元素，竟是將n個人分成x圈的方法數。 接著我們找出: Stirling numbers of the first kind與調和級數的關係式、Stirling numbers of the second kind與Pmn的關係式、Stirling numbers of the second kind與Cmn的關係式及Stirling numbers of the second kind與Hmn的關係式，並利用數學歸納法與gamma函數證明上述關係式；並尋找到響鈴數字與n個不同球放入k個相同箱子的方法數的連結。

Unaffordable healthcare and excessive plastic waste are both alarming issues that are plaguing modern society. Recent studies conducted by the World Health Organisation (WHO) report that about 15% of the world's population suffer from a form of disability, of which 50% of the demographic cannot afford adequate health care. Furthermore, 8 million metric tons of plastic annually enter our oceans (apart from the 150 metric tons that currently circulate our oceans!). In conjunction to the global plastic pollution crisis, unnecessary invasive surgery is currently being done on amputees. Many of these desperate patients are forced to pay exorbitant prices in order to live a normal life with bionic prosthetics. The solution… Project Limbs - an EEG, 3D printed prosthetic printed from recycled plastic. Signal processors will be implemented to build an affordable and easy-to-use ‘mind controlled prosthetic hand’, that requires no invasive surgery.

This underwater remote operating vehicle (ROV) is designed with and without tethered operation. The operator can control the ROV from the real time first-person view in graphical user interface combined with sonar and object detection function when the tether is attached to perform search and rescue. The control tether with fiber optic lighting cable establishes a guided link medium between the possible search victim location and the rescue team. When the tether is detached, rapid deployment by a predefined set of instruction to achieve further operation range. The intelligent technologies of signal processing were used for object recognition, collision detection and sonar scanning data to enhance underwater operation. Autonomous driving is based on software development with limited capability to run in unrestricted open areas. We have achieved the design intent and confirmed the performance data in the laboratory boundary conditions.

The entry of nutrients into the environment can cause the creation of eutrophication of aquatic ecosystems. One of the methods of removing nutrients from effluents is the use of algae. Algal purification is a new and inexpensive technology for this purpose. The present study investigated the rate of cell growth and nutrient removal of urban wastewater in Bandar Abbas in winter 2020 by the Chlorella vulgaris microalgae in the phycolab of Fisheries Research. Treatments with different dilutions (0%, 25%, 50% and 75%) were prepared; in addition, specific growth rate, cell density and removal efficiency of phosphate, nitrate, nitrite were examined during a 14 day period with initial constant density (1×10⁶ cells / ml ) of microalgae. The results indicated that 0% and 75% dilution had the highest and lowest cell densities (8.675×10⁶ and 56.633×10⁶), respectively; moreover, they had the specific growth rate (0.166 and 0.311). Furthermore, there was a significant difference between them (P≥ 0.05). The highest nitrate and nitrite removal efficiencies were -40.75 and -79.84 in effluent dilution of 50%; in addition, the lowest were 1.26 and -40.26 in dilution of 75% and 25% respectively. Phosphate had the highest removal efficiency at 0% dilution with a mean of -79.65 that showed a significant difference with the lowest at 25% dilution (P≥ 0.05). Therefore, high or low levels of nutrients can affect the removal efficiency and growth rate of microalgae.

The quick increasing energy consumption arouses the interest in the development of power storages. Electrochemical supercapacitor is one of clean and sustainable candidates of energy storage system, and porous carbons are the most potential candidate as electrode materials for electrochemical supercapacitor because of their large surface areas, high chemical and physical stability, good conductivity, as well as low cost. In this work, we synthesized the mesoporous carbons by using ZnO nanoparticles as sacrificing template via nano-casting synthetic process and natural porous carbon materials. The synthesized porous carbon has a mesoporous structure. Because the surface area and pore size of the synthesized mesoporous carbon are larger than that of the coconuts fiber-derived carbon, the CV plots show that the synthesized mesoporous carbon has a good rectangular shape and a much better performance than that of the coconuts fiber-derived carbon. We also develop an easy way to discriminate how well a supercapacitor works. We applied these porous carbon-based electrodes on both handmade as well as the commercial capacitors and measured their electrical performances. The handmade EDLC is less efficient than the commercial capacitor.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease in which current diagnostic tools are invasive and lack the ability to diagnose early-onset dementia. Current antibody-based diagnostic tests for neurodegenerative diseases require invasive measures such as a lumbar puncture, and lack specificity to biomarkers that are found in both healthy individuals and patients with AD. In this project, a design for a carbon dot(CD)-bound bispecific antibody is developed for the minimally- invasive diagnosis of AD. The molecular probe can be easily synthesized with a specificity to amyloid- beta (Aβ) oligomers as it distribution and abundance in the brain suggest they are better predictors of disease progression and are present in the early-onset of the dementia. The bispecific antibody conjugated to the CD displays a low affinity to transferrin receptors (TfRs) which allows the probe to cross the blood-brain barrier via receptor mediated transcytosis leading to a minimally invasive diagnosis. A synthesis technique was developed to conjugate the bispecific antibody to the CD. As a proof of concept, this technique was used to couple bovine serum albumin (BSA) to CDs. The structural and optical properties of the CDs were observed. By synthesizing a novel carbon dot conjugated specific antibody that emits light at a specific wavelength in the near-infra red region, the molecular probe displays optical properties suitable for the minimally-invasive diagnosis using fNIR- spectroscopy.

Heavy metals contaminate many bodies of water, posing a health risk to not only organisms that live and use the water in these areas, but also to the humans that live nearby. Chlorella vulgaris, a microalga, is one organism whose chlorophyll a fluorescence can indicate the presence of these substances, detecting any changes in concentrations using fluorescence microscopy and other fluorescence devices. The study explores the sensitivity of C. vulgaris to the heavy metal zinc where the algae was exposed to five concentrations of zinc: 0 ppm, 5 ppm, 10 ppm, 50 ppm, and 100 ppm. The fluorescence of the samples was observed with a fluorescence microscope on days 0, 4, 7, and 12, where the algal samples were adapted to the dark for 5 minutes, then exposed to light for 90 seconds. The values of the minimal and maximal fluorescence of the samples in the dark were noted. There is a significant difference in the values of the minimal fluorescence, maximal fluorescence, and maximum quantum yield, a value derived from the minimal and maximal fluorescence, at the highest concentration, 100 ppm, from the other treatments for the entirety of the experiment. The significantly low values at 100 ppm and the calculated EC50 of 75.70 ppm indicate that C. vulgaris is indeed a viable indicator for zinc detection at this and higher concentrations of zinc.

This study considered the tensile and flexural characterization of new lighter and cheaper hybrid composite materials to replace the existing insert panel for the currently available bulletproof vest. The materials chosen included a natural fibre, i.e., kenaf fibre, chemically treated with sodium hydroxide solution, and, as a means of recycling, used x-ray films with a surface treatment. Using the traditional hand lay-up method, the materials were fabricated into seven layers of different configurations, which were then subjected to tensile and flexural tests. The findings showed that one of the configurations that consisted of both treated materials had a tensile strength of 396.9M Pa, which is quite strong, and a flexural modulus of 6.24G Pa, which makes it flexible enough to be made into wearable equipment. This configuration was then chosen to be the base design for the specimen subjected to impact test. The interfacial bond between the two distinct materials proved to be a major issue, even with the help of fibre treatment. Therefore, some improvements need to be made for the material to be comparable to existing materials performance-wise hence making this configuration suitable for ballistic application.

Revealing fascinating and educating concepts in a field of astronomy usually requires expensive equipment. Therefore, most schools have very little practical equipment to teach astronomy. I wanted to investigate the Sun’s track using a simple apparatus that can be afforded by many schools instead of using an expensive one.

紅瓶豬籠草的捕蟲構造是由膨大後的葉柄固定在莖上，再由葉柄下凸的維管束及扁平處的維管束內縮向前端延伸發育成籠蔓，緊接著籠蔓的前端再膨大並經由細胞凋亡特化出類圓筒型、封閉的「空心葉」，最後特化出無柄腺鑲嵌在內層細胞上負責分泌、消化、吸收。無柄腺旁的原生質絲直徑較一般植物大5-10倍，幫助吸收。由於籠蓋不能閉合，下雨天時籠內物質容易傾倒，豬籠草演化出「來者不拒」的捕食策略。除了紅色食用色素和無機物以外，不管是含氮物、水溶性、酯溶性小分子皆吸收，甚至連蔗糖及大分子的澱粉、蛋白質，都以耗能的胞吞作用吸收，這與捕蠅草只吸收小分子的含氮物質及酯溶性的物質不同。而懸吊捕蟲籠的籠蔓，可以比自身重35倍的超強支撐力，維持捕蟲籠開口向上不傾倒溢出，保持較高的自然盛載量，提升捕食競爭力。

Based on NEA Waste Statistics and Overall Recycling Rate for 2017, 809,800 tonnes of food waste and 815,200 tonnes of plastic waste was generated. Both food waste and plastic waste account for more than 10% of the total waste generated in Singapore in 2017 respectively. However only 16% of the food waste and 6% of plastic waste was recycled, the rest of it was disposed at the incineration plants and then the landfill. Such action will eventually lead to 2 major environmental issues that Singapore will face in near future: 1)Semakau landfill is our only landfill left and it is expected to run out of space in near future 2)The burning of food waste results in the release of methane (CH4), a greenhouse gas that has over 25 times the impact in trapping excess heat in the atmosphere as compared to Carbon Dioxide (CO2). This will increase carbon footprint and contribute to greenhouse effect and global warming in due course. According to the Sustainable Singapore Blueprint 2015, Singapore is working towards becoming a Zero Waste Nation by reducing our consumption, reusing and recycling all materials. A national recycling rate target of 70% has been set for 2030 with an aim to increase domestic recycling rate from 20% in 2013 to 30% by 2030 and non-domestic recycling rate from 77% in 2013 to 81% by 2030. As part of our total commitment towards waste management and sustainability effort, the purpose of doing this research project is to investigate whether food waste can be recycled and made into biodegradable plastics. First of all, chitosan will be derived from shrimp shells and be dissolved in acetic acid and lactic acid produced by probiotic fermentation of fruit and/ or vegetable waste for synthesis of biodegradable plastics.