2020年

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.

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.

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.

隨著大眾對於衛生要求的上升，許多抗菌及消毒成分被廣泛應用於水質處理中，其中次氯酸作為消毒殺菌劑大量使用於泳池及自來水的水質淨化中，然而現行標準方法測定水中有效氯所使用具危害的毒化物且步驟繁雜不利普及民生使用，發展簡便快速且靈敏的偵測方法勢在必行。本研究利用牛血清白蛋白（Bovine serum albumin, BSA）、不同的硫醇分子及金離子合成具螢光特性之硫醇修飾金奈米團簇 （Thiol ligand assists BSA capped gold nanoclusters, BSA/RSH-Au NCs），探討添加不同硫醇分子對所合成之金奈米團簇於不同pH值及常見離子對螢光強度之影響，並利用具有最佳螢光穩定性之2-巰基苯甲酸修飾金奈米團簇（Thiosalicylic acid assists BSA capped gold nanoclusters, BSA/TA-Au NCs），透析後進行次氯酸根檢測，其檢測線性範圍為0.98μM-1000μM，涵蓋法規規定游泳池水及自來水中次氯酸根之容許殘留濃度，最後此方法成功於游泳池水及自來水基質中檢測次氯酸根，分析樣品的回收率介於94.4%-95.6%。此外，在紙上添加金奈米團簇，並加入不同濃度的次氯酸根，觀察其螢光強度的變化，期望此方法未來應用於快篩試紙塗布材料快速檢測水質中次氯酸根濃度。

隨著抗生素的廣泛使用，抗生素殘留的問題日益嚴重。為此，本研究建立了一個稱作細菌陣列固相分析（BacSPA）的方法來檢測和分類樣品中的抗生素。本研究將15個在質體中植入生物冷光的大腸桿菌液，點在與11種不同的抗生素混合的固相培養基上，濃度為1.5 ppm。不同的抗生素會刺激細菌，使其產生特定的生物冷光變化圖形。將圖形以延時攝影紀錄，並以機器學習演算法中的多重決策樹系訓練抗生素分類模型。得到的最佳模型能在三小時內，以90％分類抗生素的類別。再對該方法進一步測試，以區分不同濃度的抗生素。最終模型能將濃度從125 到1000 ppb的八種抗生素進行分類，其準確率大多高於70％。在未來，我們希望能建立更多不同濃度、不同組合的抗生素發光圖形資料庫，以擴大此方法的應用範圍。這無疑為人們檢測與分類食品與環境樣品中的抗生素殘留，提供了一個很好的方法。

為尋找綠色替代能源，科學家早在1970年就發明出微生物燃料電池（microbial fuel cells, MFCs），將微生物當作催化劑應用在燃料電池中(Suzuki,1976)。人體每天都會大量排出含有有機物質的尿液，容易取得且適合用來作為MFC的基質，若同時能在尿斗中找到具有較高產電效率的微生物，即可達到廁所能源自給化的效益。在本實驗中，我們取用尿斗底部尿液做離心，並圖盤培養，挑選出四種微生物與陰溝腸桿菌(Enterobacter cloacae)，將其分別定量並移植至對應體積液態LB，並待其OD值成長至0.5，再透過簡易MFC進行電壓比較。經數據比較，我們發現a菌與b有最高及次高的平均電壓。近幾年微生物燃料電池研究大部分以混菌為主，所以最後篩選出其中這兩種微生物，作為往後自創三槽MFC實驗的菌種。而自創三槽MFC是透過改良傳統反應槽的結構來克服電子傳遞效率的問題，希望能設計出實際應用於廁所中的微生物燃料電池。

本研究以添加界面活性劑、二氧化矽及矽油的電流變液作為研究對象，探討矽油的黏度以及添加界面活性劑對電流變液的影響。並希望引入此現象於以高電壓驅動動態摺紙的DLZ(dielectrorphoetic liquid zipping)結構中，增進其性能。 研究發現不同黏度的矽油會對電流變效果造成影響。以低黏度(10cst)的矽油製成的電流變液，黏度變化於6kV時可達原本黏度的2.4倍，而以高黏度(350cst)的矽油製成的電流變液，黏度變化則可達原本黏度的9.7倍。在實驗時也發現，穿透裝有電流變液比色管的光線在施加電壓後減少，黏度越大，減少的幅度越大，並與界面活性劑的存在有關。因此推論: 黏度大的矽油因分子長度較長，藉由界面活性劑作用，更容易和二氧化矽粒子形成整齊結構，因為單一矽油分子可連接更多二氧化矽顆粒。這讓電流變液的黏度改變；同時整齊的結構會使電流變液的散射能力減弱，使接收到的散射光減少。 未來將以顯微鏡直接觀察電流變液的內部結構，並以水及酒精取代界面活性劑，以了解在矽油分子長度改變以及有無添加界面活性劑下電流變液黏度變化的機制，並應用在DLZ結構中，完善原本在單純液體中只有考慮介電常數的理論，增加黏度與液體內部結構的討論。

臺灣通過《實驗教育三法》後，許多原住民族實驗教育學校如雨後春筍般成立。鑑於世界美國、加拿大、紐西蘭等國，對於原住民族教育政策提倡「文化回應課程與教學」之理念，本研究以「等差數列與級數」為核心概念，設計「鄒族文化內涵數學文本」與「漢民族文化內涵數學文本」，透過眼動儀技術及數學解題，邀請「都市原住民族學生」、「偏鄉原住民族學生」、「都市漢民族學生」、「偏鄉漢民族學生」等四群學生進行受試。實驗中，每一群學生均須完成「鄒族文化內涵數學文本」與「漢民族文化內涵數學文本」閱讀與解題。受試完畢後，本研究再針對學生所撰寫的數學解題文本與眼動儀相關數據，進行「整體之眼動指標」、「歷程分析之眼動指標」以及「數學問題的解題情形」等三類面向之分析。期望本研究所獲得的結果，也能夠回饋給未來原住民族實驗教育政策的制定或後續原住民族的相關研究上。

台灣淡水三角渦蟲 (Girardia tigrina) 主要以水生小動物為食，且會捕食蚊幼蟲，具生物防治潛能 (王與郭，2016)。根據投放前的評估結果，渦蟲對食物無記憶，為機會主義捕食者且會搶食，有利於評估未來投放的數量；野外防治實驗中發現渦蟲可有效抑制模擬水耕地景中蚊幼蟲，且生存水質與蚊幼蟲相似。未來可大範圍投放渦蟲，評估是否能有效抑制蚊幼蟲。本研究另一目標為確認渦蟲消化蚊幼蟲機制。由薄層分析法發現渦蟲黏液需長時間才能水解少量的幾丁質，推測其主要行體外物理消化蚊幼蟲，化學消化則為協助的角色。以石蠟切片發現5 %福馬林加30 %蔗糖之固定液可切出完整的渦蟲咽部組織。未來將持續探討渦蟲消化蚊幼蟲機制，如確認渦蟲捕食蚊幼蟲時咽部肌肉組織變化，以及利用冷凍切片固定渦蟲捕食蚊幼蟲時當下組織，再進行染色觀察。