溫度與光週期對淡黃蝶的影響
為了了解淡黃蝶Catopsilia pomona無紋型crocale-like及銀紋型pomona-like中間受到環境因子的差異。先比對兩型的粒線體DNA,之後模擬夏季和冬季自然環境進行實驗。得知兩型為同種。另一方面進行溫度和光週期的實驗,顯示淡黃蝶幼蟲和成蟲雌雄個體各部位會受到此兩環境因子的影響。In order to realize if Catopsilia Pomona and Catosilia crocale are the same species, we analyzed and compared the DNA sequences of Mitochondria, and the result revealed they are indeed the same species. Then we observed the developmental process of the butterfly, and inspected the effects of different factors: photoperiod and temperature were shown to affect the phenotype of the butterfly; lower temperature and shorter day resulted in phenotypic shift from crocale-like to pomona-like, and vice versa. Also, the conflicting factors produced intermediated form. (e.g. lower temperature with longer day) Not only changed the phenotypes of adult with photoperiod and temperature, those of larvae also did. However, the mechanism how photoperiod and temperature affect the phenotype of the butterfly is unknown.
敬"屑"不敏 --- 皮屑芽孢菌生長之探討
由於本身有頭皮屑的煩惱,在使用各種洗髮精之後,一方面覺得大部分的洗髮精效果不是很好,另一方面也擔心抗屑洗髮精的成分對人體有害。所以有了研究頭皮屑的念頭,希望能找出減少頭皮屑的方法。\r 在與幾位皮膚科專門醫師討論後,醫師們都不建議在直接人體上進行減少頭皮屑的實驗。於是我們將研究的重點放在〝皮屑芽孢菌生長之探討〞,希望對皮屑芽孢菌有更深入的瞭解。除了洗髮精之外,我們也將研究各種廣為流傳的民間偏方是否能有效抑制皮屑芽孢菌生長。在這些民間偏方的蒐集可兩大類:一類是在日常生活中可以很容易取得的物質,如鹽、醋、大蒜、生薑、洋蔥等;另一類則是台灣特有的物質,如無患子、茶籽粉、竹醋液等。\r 我們希望透過研究方法能瞭解\r (一) 溫度、濕度、酸鹼度、油脂對皮屑芽孢菌生長的影響\r (二) 哪些物質可以抑制皮屑芽孢菌的生長\r (三) 不同稀釋濃度的物質抑制皮屑芽孢菌的生長的效果\r 為了避免繁複的數量計算(如菌數計算),我們採用較多的對照比較(如抑制圈大小)。同時,我們設計了一個簡易的觀察與測量方法(稀釋法與抑菌指數),來比較各種民間偏方\r 的抑菌效果。\r 研究與實驗分為四大項進行:\r (一) 基本生長環境之探討:溫度、濕度、酸鹼度、油脂對皮屑芽孢菌生長的影響\r (二) 民間偏方抑制效果之探討:鹽、醋、大蒜、生薑、洋蔥是否能抑制抑制皮屑芽孢菌的生長\r (三) 民間偏方抑制效果之比較(抑制圈):比較各種物質的抑制圈大小\r (四) 民間偏方抑制效果之比較(稀釋法):利用抑菌指數來比較各種物質的抑菌能力\r 經過研究,我們所蒐集到的民間偏方都有某種程度的抑菌效果,大致可以分為強效(蒜液、竹醋液、茶樹精油)、有效(食鹽水、食用醋、洋蔥液、檜木芬多精、茶籽粉)及普通(薑汁、無患子)三種效果。\r \r Since I have the serious dandruff problem, I try to seek, except the shampoo, the natural materials to decrease the dandruff. After consulting with some dermatologists, they suggest I can focus my research on the “Malassezia Furfur”, which is the major bacteria causing the dandruff.\r This project is designed for finding the materials which have the most powerful inhibition capability for the “Malassezia Furfur”. I collect some folk prescriptions from the internet that salt, vinegar, garlic and onion can decrease the dandruff. The problem is “Do they have good inhibition capability for the Malassezia Furfur too?”\r The goals of the research are as followed.\r (1) The exploration of the basic environmental factors for the growth of Malassezia Furfur, such as temperature, humidity, acidity & alkalinity.\r (2) What kinds of material have the good inhibition capability?\r (3) The comparison of inhibition capability of the different material with different consistency.\r We especially design a method called “Dilution metering and index” to compare the inhibition capability of the different material. By using very simple observation, this method will transfer the simple “Qualitative Analysis” to the result of complicated “Quantitative Analysis”. The “Dilution metering and index” is the major achievement of this project, and it is also the good way for the projects which are not equipped with the precision instrument for bacteria inhibition capability measurement.
免疫治療的新展望:從一個疾病的動物模式,探討樹突狀細胞的培養與分析
胰島素依賴型糖尿病(insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus; IDDM)是一種胰島素無法正常分泌的自體免疫疾病;而NOD老鼠(non-obese diabetic mouse,NOD)的病徵與其非常相似。藉由觀察NOD老鼠發病前後外顯行為及疑導組織切片的差異,我們認為胰島素依賴型糖尿病的致病機轉是因為T細胞工及胰島組織中製造胰島素的β細胞,使胰島素分泌不足而引起糖尿病;而樹突狀細胞(dendritic cell,DC)是調控淋巴細胞反映的重要調節細胞,未來可望利用樹突狀細胞進行胰島素依賴型糖尿病的免疫調控治療。本實驗即是利用IL-4、GM-CSF使NOD老鼠的骨隨幹細胞分化樹突狀細胞,並藉由控制NOD老鼠的年紀與的數突狀細胞培養天數,希望取得較多的數突狀細胞,以利未來免疫治療之用。Insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) is a spontaneously occurring autoimmune disease in which cellular immune components mediate destruction of the insulin-producing βcells of the pancreas. It begins with an asymptomatic stage during theβcells are gradually destroyed. These patients have to depend on injecting insulin to lower their blood glucose, facing the dander of being infected. So we want to research into the cause of IDDM by model animal- NOD mouse (non-obese diabetic mouse). We observe the differences of exterior behavior and sections of pancreas organization between NOD mice and normal ones. It has been shown that the immunophological mechanism of IDDM is T cells destroy βcells of genetically predisposed individuals and result in insufficiency of insulin-producing. Dendritic cells(DC), having great Ag-presenting ability, are related to IDDM. We cultivate bone marrow stem cells of 5-week-old,8-week-old, and 21-week-old NOD mice treated with IL-4,GM-CSF and make them differentiate into dendritic cells. The result shows that using 8-week-old NOD mice to cultivate will get the largest amount of dendritic cells. We also compare the percentage of differentiated DCs for 6 days’ culture with 9 days’,and we find that 9 days’is better. Dendritic cells are the effect Antigen-presenting cells which can be used for immunotherapy of IDDM , though , its complicated mechanism still needs further researching and developing. We hope in the future IDDM patients could get rid of the suffering of injecting insulin in their whole life.
豆類澱粉?抑制劑之研究與應用
豆類澱粉?抑制劑具害蟲防治與血糖調節之功效。本研究從台灣五種豆類中進行澱粉?抑制劑活性初篩,篩選出四季豆對麗蠅的澱粉?有明顯的抑制效果,粗萃後分離純化出單一蛋白質,經胺基酸定序結果得到兩個多?片段-VGLDFVLV 與TETSFNIDG , 與已發表文獻比對推測為腰豆澱粉?抑制劑—αAI-1。經測試發現此抑制劑在85℃時仍具備抑制果蠅澱粉?之活性,為一熱安定性蛋白質,其抑制作用受pH 值影響很大,在偏酸性環境下的效果最好,且其抑制作用具特異性,可明顯抑制果蠅、入侵紅火蟻、白蟻、蟑螂及麵包蟲等昆蟲的澱粉?活性。在調節血糖方面,本研究利用豬胰臟澱粉?進行抑制活性測試,篩選出四季豆、花豆與黑豆對豬胰臟澱粉?有明顯的抑制效果,進一步利用Wistar 品系大鼠,進行豆類澱粉?抑制劑降血糖功效之活體試驗,將四季豆、花豆和黑豆粗萃經濃縮乾燥後餵食大鼠,發現花豆、黑豆在第一小時具有顯著抑制血糖增加效果;四季豆、黑豆在第三小時血糖回升,花豆仍可維持較低血糖濃度。此初步結果顯示,花豆粗萃物可能具備減緩消化吸收作用,具應用潛能,其確切分子作用機制值得深入探究。Amylase inhibitors can be applied in pest control and glucose adjustments. The study screens Phaseolus vulgaris from five Taiwan’s beans that has the most significant inhibition towards Chrysomia megacephala. The protein was isolated and sequenced two fragments, -VGLDFVLV and TETSFNIDG, highly homologous to that of αAI-1 from Phaseolus vulgaris. The pure protein still inhibits the amylase from Drosophila melanogaster at 85℃, suggesting it is thermal-stable. Its activity was specific and was affected by pH, reaching the peak in weak acidic condition. It obviously inhibits amylases from D. melanogaster, Solenopsis invicta, Odontotermes formosanus, Periplaneta Americana Linnaeus, and Alphitobius sp. In addiction, the study points out Phaseolus vulgaris, Phaseolus coccineus L. and Glycine max, which have significant inhibition toward pancreatic amylase. The amylase inhibitors’ functions of decreasing in blood glucose were detected by animal experiments on Wistar rats. The rats fed with the extracts of Phaseolus coccineus L. and Glycine max showed the inhibition of glucose increasing at the first hour, while blood glucose concentration after rats fed with Phaseolus vulgaris and Glycine max increase at the third hour, and blood glucose after rats fed with Phaseolus coccineus L. maintains low. Its premier result indicates that the extract from Phaseolus coccineus L. might postpones digestion and has potential to be applied. According to these results, amylase inhibitors are worthy to further analysis.
直接乙醇燃料電池之觸媒層研究
直接乙醇燃料電池以酒精與氧氣透過氧化還原反應產生電能,但化學反應緩慢,需利用觸媒以增加其速率。本實驗目的在於盡可能找出一個表現最佳的觸媒。本實驗利用活性碳粉作為觸媒(鉑、錫)的載體,以酸性(HNO3)與鹼性(NaOH)環境分別處理碳粉,再以含浸法與多元醇含浸法將觸媒還原。我們得到以HNO3 處理的碳粉無法保有原碳粉的型態,較利用NaOH 處理為差。在觸媒製備方面,多元醇含浸法還原效果比含浸法可得到較小的觸媒尺寸,在本實驗中,溶液中鉑與加入的碳粉重量比為3:7 時,可得到最大的反應面積。此外,當鉑與錫原子數比為4:1 時,可得到最大的乙醇氧化電流。Direct ethanol fuel cell is a kind of power source which generates electrical power by a redox reaction involving ethanol fuel and oxygen. However, this reaction takes place slowly; therefore, catalyst is needed to improve its activity. The goal of this project is to get an optimize catalysts ratio to obtain the best catalyst activity. Activated carbon is used as the support of catalyst (platinum and tin) particles in this project, which is pre-treated in acid (HNO3) and alkaline (NaOH) solutions respectively. Then, the precursor is reduced by impregnation and EG-impregnation. We learned that activated carbon pre-treated with NaOH activates better than which pre-treated with HNO3 because the latter bear less resemblance than the former. As for the catalyst, the results of EG-impregnation show smaller size of catalyst particles than those of impregnation. In this project, when the ratio of the weight of platinum and activated carbon added into the solution is 3:7, we can get the largest surface area. In addition, when the ratio of the amount of platinum and tin atoms is 4:1, we can get the largest current of ethanol oxidation.
倒車攝影機影像之變形校正
與傳統的鏡頭比較起來,廣角鏡頭可取得較大範圍的影像,所以廣泛地運用在很多地方,例如倒車攝影機、內視鏡、防盜警眼等,但是其影像會有很大的變形失真,容易造成人類眼睛的錯覺與誤判。本篇研究以倒車攝影機為例,使用了多項式函數來校正其影像的變形與失真,從程式實作的校正結果看來,我們的方法之效果還不錯,相信同樣的模式可用來校正其他使用廣角鏡頭的儀器設備之變形影像。 Compared with the traditional lens, wide-angle lens can make images of larger range, so they are widely used in a lot of places, such as move backward cine-cameras, laparoscopes, and burglarproof eyes. The drawback is that the images distort a lot and may cause the illusion to human eyes and lead to erroneous judgments. This reserch takes the backward cine-camera as example and utilizes multinomial function to correct the deformation and distortion of the image. The results show that the method we use are quite effective and the model can be applied to other equipment with wide-angle lens.
空心球的奧秘
上體育課的時候看到同學投空心球(籃球在沒有碰著籃框的情況下進入籃中),覺得好厲害。因此,我們利用相關的數學知識與運動原理來討論籃球投出後的運行軌跡,以及影響其命中率的相關因素。我們得知籃球的運行軌跡是一條拋物線,並求出其二次方程式;並利用標準籃球直徑與籃框直徑找出籃球進入籃框的最小入射角。若要提高命中率,必須考慮籃球投出時的投射角、初速度、籃球投出時的高度以及籃球與籃框水平距離之間的相關影響。此外,我們藉由電腦軟體列出相關數據提供作為實際投籃時的參考,並藉此進一步分析上述因素如何影響籃球運行軌跡以及如何提高投籃的命中率。Those who always shoot nothing but the net in basketball games were always heroes to me. I have being thinking for a long time how to become a person of that kind. For this, we investigated the trajectory of shooting a basketball and the factors to increasing the field goal percentages through our knowledge on mathematics and physics. We have obtained that the trajectory is in fact a parabola and, we further, found its quadratic equation. We also derived the minimal incident angle from the diameters of the standard basketball and hoop as well as the quadratic equation we have found. To raise the field goal percentages, some important factors must be taken into consideration, such as the vertical and horizontal distance between the basketball and the hoop, the incident angle and the initial velocity of shooting. Finally, we provide some concerning data for reference, and analyzed how the important factors we have mentioned above have affected our basketball trajectory and how, of the most importance, to increase the field goal percentages
研究傳統降火氣食品是否具有抗發炎效果
在炎炎夏日總希望來點可以「降火氣」的食品,依據古籍記載某些中藥材具有降火氣的效應,而中醫所謂的降火氣與西醫的抗發炎反應密切相關。本實驗利用巨噬細胞株受到LPS (Lipopolysaccharide,革蘭氏陰性菌細胞壁表面所含有的脂多醣體)刺激後,會分泌發炎介質的現象,再分別加入各項傳統認為可降火氣(以菊花、薏仁、仙草作為樣品)或上火氣(選用龍眼作為樣品)的中藥食材,來評估中藥材對巨噬細胞分泌發炎介質能力的影響。經由實驗,我們發現市售的『降火氣』中藥食材,在適當的濃度下,確實具有降低IL-6、TNF-α 分泌量的能力,但濃度過高時卻會造成細胞凋亡。另外,傳統以水熬煮的方式比冷凍乾燥取得的樣品有更好的降低IL-6、TNF-α 分泌量的能力。 我們期望以此一系列的實驗,來建立篩選『降火氣』食材的抗發炎效用的研究模式,並在後續實驗中可用以篩選出更多具抗發炎效應的中藥材。In summer, people always consider eating some special things to refresh themselves. According to ancient books, there are some Chinese herbal medicines that were recorded to have the function of cooling us down, which is related to anti-inflammation in the Western. Macrophage cell lines can be stimulated by LPS (Lipopolysaccharide) and secrete proinflammatory mediators. Thus, it is often used to evaluate the anti-inflammatory effects of different herbs. In our experiment, we also use macrophage cell lines to test different anti-inflammatory effects between chrysanthemum, Job’s tears and grass jelly. In addition, some Chinese herbs such as longan that can parch us are also tested in our experiment. In our results, we found these herbs that are available indeed have ability to anti-inflame in appropriate consistency; however, high dose does harm to cells. In addition, the samples that are poached in ancient ways have better ability to show the low dose of IL-6 and TNF-α. Finally, we would set up a model to test the anti-inflammatory ability of different herbs that were said to be able to cool us down, and then we could test more herbs in the future.