三等獎

肝癌是死亡率極高的癌症。目前並無非侵入性方法判斷標靶藥物治療效果。蕾莎瓦(Sorafenib)是一種使用於肝癌晚期治療的標靶藥物，但有些病患在治療過程中會出現抗藥性，因此可預測蕾莎瓦治療效果的生物標記相當重要。 血液中的生物標記可及時追蹤疾病進展與預後之評估。本實驗利用質譜法鑑定分析在肝癌細胞(HuH7)中加入蕾莎瓦模擬治療後肝癌的分子機轉，並透過生物資訊軟體了解蛋白質在HuH7細胞中所扮演的角色。我們發現Galectin-3 和HMGB1可能參與腫瘤細胞的增生和遷移，以西方墨點法觀察其表現量，發現Galectin-3 和HMGB1在受到藥物處理後，表現量皆有下降的情形。 蕾莎瓦可抑制B-RAF激酶進而阻斷MAPK pathway。MAPK pathway又可分成ERKs、JNKs和p38/SAPKs三類。為確認Galectin-3之訊息傳遞路徑，將蕾莎瓦和ERK抑制劑處理細胞，發現Galectin-3的表現量隨著時間而下降，證實Galectin-3的表現會受到ERK路徑調控。 Galectin-3與 HMGB1是極具潛力的生物標記可應用於蕾莎瓦的治療，希望這些生物標記可以應用在臨床上。

本作品為環球數學城市競賽的考題之推廣（ International Mathematics Tournament of the Towns, Senior A-Level Paper, Fall 2009, No. 7 ），然而此題目本身比較接近Scientific American （ Feb 1979 ）中 Martin Gardner 的文章 The Rotating Table 所提出的問題。 而此問題的多邊形版已被數學家解決(Ted Lewis & Stephen Willard, 1980, The Rotating Table,Mathematics Magazine, 53,Page 174-175.)。然而此份作品採用簡潔的初等數學歸納法證明了原本的多邊形情形，且專注於探討條件改變為m=n-1時的多邊形情形。 m=n-1時的情形是前人所沒有做出結果的，且m=n-1的情形遠遠比m=n 的情況來得複雜多變，其中估計上下界所使用的許多組合技巧相當特別。然而其中當n為3 和5的倍數時有比較特殊的情況，這一個部分僅能給出目前得出的k值上界。而其他情況則能夠找出所有的k值。

近年來場址效應(Site Effect)的研究主要為探討地質造成之場址效應，不過現代，人類大多在建築物內活動，而建築物之場址效應也應該被受重視，本研究利用模擬波形探討建築物場址效應造成之放大效應，發現放大倍率會隨著不同樓層而跟著放大1到2倍。 中央氣象局致力研究地震預警系統，希望藉由預報來減少地震造成之損失，而其用於預估最大加速度之衰減式(Attenuation Relationship)考慮震源效應(Source Effect)與路徑效應(Path Effect)，而場址效應只利用經驗觀測值與預估值之比值表示。本研究以學校建築物做為研究區域，利用二階段衰減式作為模型提出三階段迴歸衰減式，加以考慮建築物造成之場址效應，在第三階段乘入利用模擬波形所得到之經驗場址效應放大倍率，最後利用線性迴歸修正，期望可有效預估建築物內之最大加速度，未來可用以建立建築物地震預警系統。

Solar energy is a main source of energy that is expected to play a vital role in fulfilling the future global demand of electricity. Design of advanced photovoltaic (PV) system with high electric conversion efficiency is the key for collecting solar energy. A major obstacle hindering useful PV utilization is the deterioration of solar cell efficiency with temperature. The present results of experimentation have shown that there occurs a reduction of approximately 33% in the solar panel efficiency as the operating temperature increases from 45 °C to 68 °C at 1000 W/m2. Therefore, an innovative design of enhanced-performance solar panel using micro flat heat pipe (HP) and thermoelectric generator (TEG) is proposed and experimentally investigated in the presented project. To operate HP and TEG at highest possible efficiency, the condensation section of HP is innovatively cooled by utilize the condensed water inside the evaporator of air conditioner (which is usually between 5-7 °C). Two different types of silicon panel are used in the study: monocrystalline solar panel and polycrystalline solar panel. The results showed that a reduction in average solar panel temperature up to 25% is obtained. In addition, produced power was increased by as much as 50% when solar panel was cooled by the heat pipe. Finally, the feasibility study and cost analysis of the proposed hybrid system are discussed in details and presented.

The last two decades have seen 60% annual growth rate (AGR) in the global IP traffic and it is expected that the AGR will keep the exponential growth in the next five years. Recent advances in digital signal processing enabled the implementation of the dual polarization (DP) optical coherent digital receivers, which substantially improved their performance. The goal of this research is to develop a prototype of a compact superchannel flexible DP M-ary quadrature amplitude modulation (MQAM) optical transmitter and demonstrate its reconfigurability to accommodate baud rates ranging from 8-32 Gbaud∕s to achieve 1 Tb/s and beyond using the same hardware. The research work consists of three phases; Phase I is the study of transmitter electrical and optical parts; Phase II investigates the potential configurations for frequency comb generator circuit; Phase III deals with the superchannel experimental prototype. The results obtained so far are pertaining to phase I and phase II with some preliminary experimental validation pertaining to phase III. The experimental results show that the measured component characteristics are matched with the components specifications data sheets. Additionally, the designed frequency comb generator was able to create up to 9 optical subcarriers with flat gain of 0.5 dB amplitude. Transmission over optical subcarriers has been attempted using standard optical transmitter. These results show promise towards the generation of a variable data rate up to 1Tb∕s. IEEE and ITU-T standardization effort considered these data rates to appear around 2017, and are intended for Next Generation Regional/Long-haul Networks.

This project proposes that smartphones are capable of steering a quadcopter, doubling as a flight controller unit. This means that sensor results from the smartphone’s IMU (inertial measurement unit) are compared with steering commands from the pilot received over Wi-Fi or a RC-transmitter. The idea behind this project was to build a cheap flight control for a quadcopter. Smartphones seemed to be the perfect device because of their dominance in the market. The first step was constructing the quadcopter’s frame. I first designed the frame on AutoCAD and then built a prototype out of aluminium. My search for a possibility to connect the engines or low level peripherals to a smartphone led to the «IOIO-Board». After collecting sufficient information about sensor fusion and control theory I started working on my own controller. Due to the frame’s large size the quadcopter is very stable and best suited for aerial photography. Engine control by smartphone using an «IOIO-Board» is fast enough for flight. A smartphone possesses everything needed to control a quadcopter. The disadvantage of using a smartphone is that the processor has to calculate multiple applications simultaneously. This makes it more difficult to guarantee the correct timing of operations. Nevertheless, external influences such as phone calls do not influence the flight behavior of the quadcopter. As work in progress I have experimented with the implementation of GPS and an onboard camera.

The purpose of this research is to make an ecological insecticide that mixes the extracts of Piper tuberculatum, Annona muricata and Melia azedarach, that together in application cause mortality and repellence of the mosquito Aedes aegypti with the intention to help in the control of the diseases this mosquito is guilty of: dengue, zika and chikungunya, and decrease the risk of infection by a safe and organic way.

This study demonstrates that microbial film power generation is a potentially viable source of alternative energy. This research occurred over a period of two years. In the first year (2016) I tested a new method of generating renewable energy, referred to as microbial film power generation. I showed that electricity could be captured from microbial decomposition using solid graphite plates (29cm x 20cm) placed in lightly decomposed muskeg (collected in northern British Columbia). In the second year (2017) the purpose was to increase the power output of the fuel cell, while also compacting the setup. Certain changes were made to the experimental set up, namely the use of spongy graphite felt in place of solid graphite plates, thus providing a larger surface area for microbial activity to occur. The new fuel cells made produced about twice as much power. Not only was the power output greater, but it was produced from a much smaller area: 7.82 mWh/cm2 on graphite felt, compared to 0.21 mWh/cm2 on graphite plates. In other words, graphite felt produced 37 times more power per unit area than graphite plates. Furthermore, it would appear that by removing the load from the fuel cell for approximately 24 hours, the fuel cell could essentially recharge. This may be due to microbial activity releasing more electrons onto the anode permitting a new cycle to take place. This would suggest that the system could naturally recharge itself.

An increase in blood cholesterol contributes to cardiovascular diseases, the number one cause of death worldwide. Statins are currently the most effective in reducing cholesterol levels and treating patients with high cholesterol. However, these pharmaceutical agents have been shown to cause several side effects, prompting the need for a more natural solution to increasing cholesterol levels. Hence, a study was conducted to investigate the ability of lactic acid bacteria in the removal of cholesterol, explore the mechanism for the removal of cholesterol by lactic acid bacteria, and examine the effectiveness of kidney beans and sunflower seeds in inhibiting HMG-CoA reductase in the cholesterol biosynthesis pathway. Results showed that Lactobacillus plantarum was the most effective in reducing cholesterol levels and that the mechanism for cholesterol removal included both the binding to cell wall and active uptake into cells. Sunflower seeds and kidney beans were also shown to be effective in inhibiting HMG-CoA reductase, with sunflower seeds having 100% inhibition of the enzyme, similar to pravastatin, a commercial cholesterol reducing drug, and kidney beans having comparable percentage inhibition of the enzyme compared to pravastatin.

CNC machines use vector graphics or vector image programs that take time and effort on hobbyists. Therefore, it is important to provide accurate techniques for converting ordinary images available on the Internet or can be designed with easy programs. In order to have precise drill paths read by CNC machines directly and produce a product that does not contain rattles at the edges. This depends on the accuracy of processing the extracted paths. The development of algorithms has been completed Transforms Pixel image into Paths with XYZ extension, which is used to drill material and cut it through CNC machines. And the algorithms are based on transfer images with low quality. And Its Advantage that it can create high Paths with as few points as possible. The program can convert the pixel image into paths, and then converted into g-code, and use it in CNC machines directly.