2022年

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a newly emerged infectious disease caused by the new severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). In less than one year, the virus has spread around the entire world, killing millions of people and disrupting travel and business worldwide. During infection, the virus uses its Spike protein to dock onto the Ace2 protein on the surface of its human host cell. Spike is 1273 amino acids long and only a short fragment of Spike (319-541) is sufficient to bind Ace2. We hypothesized that the remaining protein sequences of Spike might have functions for viral replication beyond the binding of Ace2. We have performed Split-Ubiquitin protein-protein interaction screens to isolate human proteins by their ability to bind to Spike, and we have identified Annexin2A2 and Cytochrome b as novel human protein interaction partners of Spike. Annexin2A2 is involved in both endocytosis and exocytosis, and the protein interaction with Spike might help the virus to enter and exit its host cell. The presence of the mitochondrial Cytochrome b protein inside the cytosol promotes apoptosis, and the protein interaction with Spike could speed up sapoptosis of the infected human cell. The Nub cDNA libraries that we have generated also allowed us to screen for synthetic peptides that interact with Spike. We have isolated two synthetic peptides, FL1a and FL7a, derived from the non-coding parts of human mRNAs by their ability to interact with Spike. We found that both FL1a and FL7a interact with the C-terminal half of the Spike protein. We also found that FL7a is able to block the Spike-Spike self-interaction at the C-terminal half of the Spike protein and we think that this could block the reassembly of the Spike protein in the host cell during viral reassembly. We hope that those synthetic peptides could be used as drugs due to their ability to block protein-protein interactions of Spike with human host proteins that are essential for viral replication.

This work is devoted to solving the problem of orientation in the space of visually impaired people. Working on the project, a new way of transmitting visual information through an acoustic channel was invented. In addition, was developed the device, which uses distance sensors to analyze the situation around a user. Thanks to the invented algorithm of transformation of the information about the position of the obstacle into the sound of a certain tone and intensity, this device allows the user to transmit subject-spatial information in real time. Currently, the device should use a facette locator made of 36 ultrasonic locators grouped in 12 sectors by the azimuth and 3 spatial cones by the angle. Data obtained in such a way is converted into its own note according to the following pattern : the angle of the place corresponds to octave, the azimuth corresponds to the note and the distance corresponds to the volume. The choice of the notes is not unambiguous. However, we used them for the reason that over the centuries, notes have had a felicitous way of layout on the frequency range and on the logarithmic scale. Therefore, the appearance of a new note in the total signal will not be muffled by a combination of other notes. Consequently, a blind person, moving around the room with the help of the tone and volume of the sound signals, will be able to assess the presence and location of all dangerous obstacles. After theoretical substantiation of the hypothesis and analysis of the available information, we started the production of prototypes of the devices that would implement the idea of transmitting information via the acoustic channel.

Commercially available bandages such as hydrocolloid are neither biodegradable nor anti-bacterial. Chitin is known to be the second most naturally available polysaccharide which could be transformed to chitosan which is known to be anti-bacterial (Hasan, 2018) (Chao, 2019) and haemostatic (Okamoto, 2003) (Hu, 2018). Chitosan can be further converted to hydrogel which is bio-degradable and has good water absorbance. Anti-bacterial crab bio-bandages and crab bio-dressings should be bio-degradable as it took 42 days and a month for complete bio-degradation respectively, so they should be better than commercial bandages such as Nexcare Hydrocolloid as the disposal of anti-bacterial crab bio-bandages with bio-dressings would no longer pose burden to landfilling or threat to our environment. Anti-bacterial crab bio-bandages with bio-dressings are anti-bacterial with degree of deacetylation of DD% (measured using FTIR Spectrum II) 82.6% (due to the presence of chitosan) even without the application of other anti-bacterial agents and hence can provide complete protection of wounds from skin and soft tissues infections and haemostatic (due to the presence of chitosan). After testing and certification based on IS997:2004 and BS EN 13726-1, they should meet many requirements specified. Anti-bacterial crab bio-bandages should be eligible for marketing. Some results were as follows: 1.4 Anti-bacterial effect of crab hydrogels and roasted crab hydrogels Pure chitosan, crab chitosan, crab hydrogels and roasted crab hydrogels showed significant anti-bacterial effect. NO oral bacterial colonies were present in drinking water with crab hydrogels. Thus crab hydrogels could serve as effective anti-bacterial wound dressings. 1.6 Basing on IS997:2004 standard, the load per unit of area of anti-bacterial bio-bandages was 342g/m2 which met the minimum requirement of 36g/m2, the anti-bacterial bio-bandages had stronger tension strength (>20N both in dry and wet conditions) than commercial hydrocolloid. (2.7N dry 2.8N wet) which was comparable with that required (50-67N) and pH of about 7 which met the pH range of 4.5-8. 1.7 The FSA Free-Swell Absorbency of synthetic blood of crab hydrogel bio-dressings was 1.86g per 5cm x 5cm dressing which was much higher than that of commercial hydrocolloid (0.299g per 5cm x 5cm dressing) based on BS EN 13726-1.

近年來碳排放的淨零是全人類所想達成的共同目標，因此本研究以電催化劑幫助二氧化碳還原反應進行，降低反應所需電壓，同時提升產一氧化碳的法拉第效率。本研究一共嘗試兩種易於合成的材料作為催化劑前驅物，分別是沸石咪唑骨架和類石墨相氮化碳，搭配三種非貴金屬鐵、鈷、鎳配位合成催化劑。用X光繞射儀、掃描式電子顯微鏡以及能量色散X射線光譜儀鑑定結構後，使用氣相擴散電極搭配三電極系統，進行電解還原二氧化碳的反應，並使用氣象層析儀分析產物及計算其法拉第效率。根據實驗結果，發現以類石墨相氮化碳為前驅物的鎳催化劑有最佳的一氧化碳法拉第效率，在電壓約-0.5V時接近99%，超越以往文獻所即的效率，且具有高專一性及能源轉換率，成本低，可商業化量產。若配合使用非化石的綠色能源來電催化還原二氧化碳，必能達成碳零排放的目標。

Max Gold's project, titled “Solving Mathematical and Chemical Equations using Python”, is a website comprising of 4 main programmes: one to find the smallest possible combination of two chemical compounds or elements; a self-made parsing function to convert a chemical equation into a matrix, then using Gaussian-Jordan elimination to find coefficients for an equation; a programme to parse a mathematical expression and use that parsed expression in algebraic division of an algebraic dividend of nth degree polynomial by a divisor of 1st degree polynomial; finally, a programme to solve binomial equations for the power s∈Q. This website was originally made so that Max Gold could improve his programming skills for GCSE computer science but expanded to incorporate his passion for chemistry and maths and thus allow others to use these programmes to help them with their problems as well. A problem with many conventional calculator websites is their lack of specificity – they tend to be able to compute some functions but not all. These programmes are tailored to GCSE and A level maths and chemistry, meaning this website provides an outlet to compute specific topics of problems.

We study the creation of physical adversarial examples, which are robust to real-world transformations, using a limited number of queries to the target black-box neural networks. We observe that robust models tend to be especially susceptible to foreground manipulations, which motivates our novel Foreground attack. We demonstrate that gradient priors are a useful signal for black-box attacks and therefore introduce an improved version of the popular SimBA. We also propose an algorithm for transferable attacks that selects the most similar surrogates to the target model. Our black-box attacks outperform state-of-the-art approaches they are based on and support our belief that the concept of model similarity could be leveraged to build strong attacks in a limited-information setting.

The Briggs Rauscher reaction (BR reaction) is one of the famous oscillating reactions; the aqueous mixture of KIO3, H2SO4, H2O2, C3H4O4, MnSO4, and starch exhibit color change between yellow and blue-purple repeatedly. The blue-purple color formation is due to the iodine test reaction caused by inclusions of polyiodides such as I3- and I5- in the helical structure of starch. Therefore, starch has been regarded as only an indicator in the BR reaction. But our seniors have found that the oscillation did not last without starch. They hypothesized that starch’s linear helical framework is necessary to elongate the lifetime of the oscillating reaction. If this hypothesis is correct, similar BR-type oscillations must be observed when other polymers with helical structures are used instead of starch. We found the literature which reports that polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) forms a helical structure and indicates the iodine test reaction. In our research, we studied the BR reactions using PVA, with different saponification degrees and viscosities. First, we studied the correlation between the structural features of PVA and the iodine color reaction by spectroscopic approach, exhibiting that PVA with low saponification form helical structures and show the iodine color reactions, which gives red color solutions. Second, we found that additions of the helical-structured PVA to the reaction solution instead of starch induces the BR-type oscillating reactions, while PVA without helical structure induces only a few numbers of oscillations. This is the world-first example of the oscillating reaction using PVA. The oscillation that lasted for 6 minutes with 23 oscillations was almost the same as that of the general BR reaction using starch. We concluded that the polymers with helical structures are intrinsic to elongate the lifetime of the BR reaction. Furthermore, we found that the addition of K3[Fe(CN)6], which has a high redox activity, in the reaction solution with PVA drastically elongated the lifetime (50 min) and increased the numbers of the oscillations (nearly 100 times). This result suggests that the oxidation-reduction reactions by the ferricyanide ion promotes the redox process of iodine and iodide ions.

角膜塑型術的原理是於夜晚睡覺時，採用多弧的逆幾何設計來壓迫角膜，使角膜表皮細胞重新排列以達到矯正的效果。然而在夜晚配戴期間淚液分泌物會吸附於角膜塑型片表面，造成角膜擦傷、感染。本研究探討多醣類對角膜塑型片表面淚液分泌物之吸附的影響。從實驗結果中可以看到淚液分泌物會隨天數而堆積於鏡片上且表面粗糙度有大幅上升趨勢，在進行了市售主流系統產品之測試後發現其清潔效果並不顯著，而我們藉由蛋白質、脂質濃度分析、掃瞄式電子顯微鏡觀察及表面水接觸角觀察可以得出加入多醣類(AA/CRG各4.5mg/ml)的複方清潔可以最有效的提升清潔效果。未來我們期望可以將多糖類複方清潔液帶入安全性評估及成本分析並成功商品化。

在第 屆科展作品（中華民國第 屆中小學科學展覽會換心手術）有給定了一個新的名詞(頂心三角形)：平面上給定△ABC及一點D，分別以A、B、C三頂點為圓心，¯DA、¯DB、¯DC為半徑畫圓，三圓交於三點E、F、G，再以三交點E、F、G為頂點作△EFG，則新△EFG稱為△ABC在D點的頂心三角形，本篇作品主要探討原三角形與其頂心三角形邊長與面積比例關係，並試著利用這些關係求出頂心線以及其他相關性質。 在我們的作品中，我們求出頂心三角形的三邊長為2¯AD sin⁡∠ CAB、2¯BD sin⁡∠ ABC、2¯CD sin⁡∠ BCA，也就是說在原三角形為任意三角形，可以得出頂心三角形的邊長與原三角形之間的邊長關係，我們再進一步利用邊長關係求出頂心三角形對原三角形的面積以及面積比例。我們還發現，當D點在原三角形的外接圓上時，頂心三角形會退化為一直線，稱為頂心線，而此頂心線會通過原三角形的垂心是本篇作品最重要的發現。

Harmful microorganisms in food can cause deterioration of human health, poisoning and in some cases even death. Especially fresh meat and chicken products create a suitable environment for the growth of microorganisms in terms of the nutrients it contains, water activity and pH level. For this reason, detection of microorganisms in meat products is an important issue in terms of food safety and human health. In this project, it is aimed to detect live microorganisms in meat products, especially chicken meat, in a simple, non-destructive, non-contact and fast way using laser speckle method. Laser speckle images of healthy and stale chicken meat were taken, contrast parameter and correlation analysis of the obtained patterns were made. It was observed that the contrast parameter for staled chicken meat increased by approximately 3 times compared to fresh chicken. This increase provides an understanding of the difference between contaminated chicken and fresh chicken. Speckle density changes over time in relation to the movements of living microorganisms. Thus, the correlation in laser speckle density patterns taken from contaminated tissues is disrupted. In the measurements taken with photodiode, by analyzing the change of light intensity of the speckle patterns on fresh and contaminated tissues over time, the detection of microorganisms was made easier and more precisely without the need for image processing. The proposed measurement system is a new method that detects meat contamination with laser speckle imaging. It can be developed and made portable and can be used easily in homes. Since it is a simple, non-destructive and fast method, it can be used to determine the shelf life of meat in food distribution places and markets. In addition, it has the potential to be calibrated and used for other food products other than meat products. The system developed with this study is cheap and easy to use, and the laser speckle imaging method is used in a different field other than biomedical, contributing to the literature.