2024年

Identifyingthespeciesorsexofabirdbasedonafeatherfoundinnatureisoftenchallenging,evenwith the help of reference books. However, determining the presence of a rare species in a habitat using an indirectpresenceindicator,suchasafeather,canhelpinimplementingspecificmeasuresforpreserving the species. The aim of this study is to investigate whether DNAgenotyping is better than specialized books when identifying bird feathers. Toanswerthisquestion,Icollectedfeathersinthewildand,withthehelpoftwobooks,triedtoidentify theirspeciesandsex.Then,assistedbyDrGwenaëlJacob(UNIFR),Iisolatedtwogenesinnineselected feathers. The investigated genes were the CHD gene for sexing and the COI gene for species identification.Todothis,theDNAwasfirstextractedfromthefeathers,purified,andamplifiedbyPCR. Subsequently,anelectrophoresis wasperformedtosexthe samples andcheckthatthe PCRamplification hadworkedproperly.Finally,thesamplesweresequencedbytheMicrosynthlaboratory(St-Gall),and the obtained sequences were entered into the NCBI database. Acomparisonoftheresultsobtainedwitheachofthetwodifferentmethodsshowsthattheidentification with specialized books was fairly successful. 56% of the species identification made with the books were indeed confirmed by genotyping. DNAanalysis provided a different result only for feather #16. However,33%ofgeneticidentificationfailed,eitherduetogeneticmaterialqualityorlaboratoryerrors. Asitwaspossibletoidentifythesexofonlyonesample(feather#14)withthebooks,itwasnotpossible tomakeatruecomparisonofthetwoapproaches.However,asgeneticsexingworkedwell(onefailure, feather #28), it can be inferred that genetic sexing is more effective than using books. This work demonstrated that DNAis not infallible and that sometimes books are equally effective in identifyingbirdspeciesfromafeather.However,insexingbird,DNAremainsmoreefficient.Thus,one can conclude that DNAgenotyping is not superior but rather complementary to specialized books for identifying bird feathers.

本研究主要目的為改變風力渦輪機的結構，將原始的單層葉片設計改為雙層葉片，當風流過第一層葉片時將產生尾流效應，使葉片後氣流產生偏轉，若將第二層葉片更具此氣流偏轉區域調整，將能有效的提升發電效率。根據實驗結果顯示，葉片後的尾流造成氣流偏轉的角度約為 15 度，因此當渦輪機的兩層葉片位於理論最高的相位夾角時，應再減去 15 度的尾流偏轉角，該夾角才為最大的發電效率配置，基於此結果所設計的渦輪機，儘管與單層葉片渦輪機具有相同的葉片數量，卻能提升發電效率約 40%，同時相關文獻指出，葉片的成本約佔整體發電機總成本之 14%，因此透過使用本研究之作法，預估可降低約 18%的成本，整體而言，本研究之設計不僅能提高風能發電效率，同時將有效的減少成本，未來具高度前瞻性。

A custom Local Positioning System designed for applications in supply chain logistics, inventory tracking, collision avoidance, and precision systems. Responsive UI allows for real-time management and dynamic parameter adjustments.

In the first part of this project, distilled water and 95% ethanol were used to extract ultra-violet(UV)-absorbing and anti-oxidizing compounds from different types of algae including kelp, wakame, sea grape and nori. Activated charcoal was used in attempt to purify the extracts and removed excessive pigments. It was found that the charcoal was more effective in adsorbing pigments from ethanol extract in which up to 80 to 100% pigments could be removed. The UV-absorbing and anti-oxidizing properties of the algae extracts were also studied. All algae extracts showed significant UV-absorbing and anti-oxidizing properties. In particular, extract formed by using 3 g kelp powder in distilled water could significantly reduce 50% UV intensity and react 96.5% DPPH solution which acts as a source of free radicals. In the second part of the project, three applications of algae were explored in details. Firstly, it was found that kelp, wakame and nori extracts by using over 2 g of algae in 30 mL olive oil could absorb UVA and UVB by over 90%, which is comparable to the performance of zinc oxide, a common ingredient in commercial sunscreen products. Costs of preparing the sunscreens were also compared. Except for wakame extract, all other extracts were cheaper than using zinc oxide. Moreover, the kelp extract was found to maintain its UV- absorbing and anti-oxidizing abilities after at least 30 days of storage under room conditions. Lastly, sodium alginate was successfully extracted from kelp with a product yield up to 30%. The alginate solution was then used to form a calcium-alginate protective coating on plastic slides to reduce UV intensity by up to 50%. This aims to apply on nails or fingers during UV nail gel polish to protect against UVR.

Such as the plastic waste and industrial discharge that permeate our oceans, it is the insidious and infamous nature of oil spills that demands our immediate attention. These spills, with their far-reaching ecological ramifications, pose a profound danger to our marine ecosystems, demanding urgent action and a heightened awareness of the true menace that is caused by this oil

隨著全球咖啡市場擴大，永續的咖啡生產成為必須探討的議題。咖啡生產過程中會產生大量富含蛋白質與抑菌成分的副產物和廢棄物，有潛力可做為膠膜和塗層的原料。本研究從生咖啡豆中萃取出粗蛋白質，將其與海藻酸鈉混合烘乾成膠膜，再進行抑菌與水果保鮮和水蒸氣阻隔測試。 由結果得知：咖啡豆蛋白膠膜液對大腸桿菌有抑制生長的效果。沒封膜的蘋果切片失水率 12.72%，有膠膜封口的失水率在 6.84%~8.47%，比沒封膜的失水率降低 46.5%~33.1%，顯示膠膜保水性佳，可提高保鮮效果。微波加熱試驗沒封膜的水蒸氣散失率為 2.45%，膠膜試驗組中最 低為 0.15%，比沒封膜的散失率降低 93%，顯示具有良好的水蒸氣阻隔性。 本研究結果顯示咖啡豆蛋白質膠膜有抑制大腸桿菌生長的效果和良好的氣體阻隔性，可作為可生物降解的食品包裝材料，以替代傳統保鮮膜，有助於減少環境污染。

奈米藥物在臨床治療引入了重大創新。多孔性二氧化矽奈米粒子(mesoporous silica nanoparticle) 具有生物相容性和高孔隙度的特性，被運用在奈米藥物傳遞和標靶治療。奈米粒子經過表面修飾可提高藥物載荷效能以達到有效的治療。 本研究建立一項有效的奈米藥物傳遞載體的開發系統，目標在合成多孔性二氧化矽奈米粒子，使用幾丁聚糖對表面進行修飾，以提升地塞米松藥物載荷和穩定的藥物釋放。應用 X-射線繞射和傅立葉轉換紅外光譜來分析奈米粒子產物和表面官能基。應用分光光譜儀進行測定藥物的載荷和釋放速率。幾丁聚糖修飾包覆的多孔性二氧化矽奈米粒子具有 53.7％的藥物載荷率，比較未修飾的粒子只有 27.9%。藥物釋放實驗，幾丁聚糖包覆的二氧化矽奈米粒子可以延緩藥物釋放，在 5 天釋放 19.7％的地塞米松。本次研究說明幾丁聚糖包覆多孔性二氧化矽奈米粒子是有潛力的奈米藥物載體。

The Boycott Effect is a phenomenon where sedimentation rate can be increased by tilting the container which holds the suspension, making it a way to increase the efficiency of the process without additional energy input. This makes the Boycott Effect valuable in speeding up and optimising a multitude of industrial applications such as wastewater management and food processing, all of which employ sedimentation to separate particulate matter from the fluids in which they are suspended in. Thus, it is imperative to model the Boycott Effect accurately for a wide range of cases, including arbitrary shaped containers and suspensions of various concentrations without the need to run costly, computationally expensive numerical simulations. In this project I investigated the inclined sedimentation of suspensions both theoretically and experimentally. Experimentally, two image tracking programs were created and tested out on my own experimental videos. I demonstrated the use of a novel method for making use of the Beer-Lambert Law to optically keep track of local concentration of suspensions. This method allows more information to be gathered about the sedimentation process in a very low-cost, non-equipment intensive or invasive way. Theoretically, I expanded upon the well-known analytical 2D PNK theory by accounting for concentration-hindering and sediment build-up effects, as well as the geometrical theory for 3D cylindrical geometries. All parts of the theoretical model were verified with experimental data and shown to have good agreement. (233 words)

細胞核是真核細胞內最大且至關重要的細胞結構之一。其具體位置在各種細胞中可能有所不同。為了深入了解細胞核位置對於細胞功能的影響，我們選擇以果蠅幼蟲眼疊為研究對象，探究細胞核在神經系統發育過程中所扮演的角色。神經系統在生物體中扮演著極為關鍵的角色，包括神經元和神經膠細胞。如果失去神經膠細胞，將導致神經退化或死亡。在我們的研究中發現，神經膠細胞核在其發育過程中會發生大規模的內部移動。為了限制神經膠細胞核的移動，我們利用了果蠅作為研究動物，並應用了果蠅常用的 GAL4-UAS系統和GrabFP技術，這使得我們能夠限制神經膠細胞內細胞核的移動。我們的實驗成功證明，限制神經膠細胞核的移動會影響神經細胞的軸突發育，但不會影響神經細胞 R1-R8 聚叢的發育。未來，我們計劃將 GrabFP 技術應用於研究不同胞器在細胞內相對位置對其功能的影響。

In recent years, there has been an extreme rise in population and economic development, which requires a great demand for energy worldwide. Global energy consumption has been increasing nearly every year for over half a century [1]; it is rapidly rising in the form of nonrenewable energy, such as coal, oil, natural gas, and fossil fuel. Fossil fuel overreliance has resulted in a dramatic rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations.