NTU prof's chip "can charge phone in 10mins"

NTU prof's chip "can charge phone in 10mins"

A chip the size of a fingernail and developed in Singapore could offer an answer to a common gripe of smartphone users - having to wait hours to get a full charge.

Nanyang Technological University professor Rachid Yazami claims that the smart chip he invented can cut recharge times to 10 minutes or even less, and can also reduce the risk of battery fires.

The technology, he said, has already garnered keen interest from some of the biggest names in the industry. KVI, a company he set up to market the chip, has already been in talks with Sony, Sanyo and Samsung. He also intends to approach electric-car maker Tesla.

"My vision for the future is that every battery will have this chip," said Dr Yazami, whose current team of two took more than five years to develop the chip.

Currently, electricity is trickled into lithium batteries during charging to avoid overheating.

The new chip, however, can optimise the charging process, allowing batteries to power up at full speed.

It is able to do this because it contains a unique algorithm to precisely measure the amount of charge left in a battery depending on its temperature and voltage. A similar chip is contained in the charger.

Together, they ensure that the lithium battery, used in many modern gadgets including laptops and tablets, is charged optimally.

"Current chargers do not take into account the health of a battery when charging it," Dr Yazami said. "They send the same amount of charge regardless of the battery's condition. With this chip, the charge can be regulated to avoid damaging the battery."

The same technology allows the smart chip to determine if a battery is safe to use, which current technology does not do.

This means that the smart chip can potentially prevent devices from catching fire due to an overheated battery, Dr Yazami said.

"Although the risk of a battery failing and catching fire is very low, with billions of lithium-ion batteries produced yearly, even a one-in-a-million chance would mean more than a thousand failures."

The chip is expected to be made available to chip makers and battery manufacturers by the end of 2016.

~News courtesy of My Paper~

Offering more online courses next year

After successful run of its online courses, NTU will offer more next year

Banking on its successful run in offering Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), Nanyang Technological University (NTU) will be offering at least three new online courses next year.

One is a complexity science module that looks at interdisciplinary societal issues, and could be taught by several lecturers. Another new module offered is on environmental sustainability, and the third is on Confucian philosophy, which will start in the first half of next year.

Professor Kam Chan Hin, NTU senior associate provost in undergraduate education, shared these details on Monday (Nov 16) on the sidelines of an education conference.

These courses, Prof Kam said, were chosen based on a mix of factors such as proposals made by faculty members.

Since NTU started its MOOCs in partnership with United States-based education provider Coursera about two years ago, the completion rate stands at around seven to eight per cent - higher than the 5 per cent average completion rate of Coursera modules.

“It attests to the quality of the course; people do it, they find it enjoyable to learn about it, it motivates them to finish,” said Prof Kam.

More than 200,000 people have participated in the current three NTU MOOCs - in symmetry, forensic science and e-commerce. Non-NTU participants make up around 95 per cent of the enrolment, of which 4 per cent or 8,100 pay to receive a certificate of completion.

The university will continue to keep courses dynamic and engaging for participants, such as by incorporating videos in lectures. For example, the Confucian philosophy module has videos filmed at the birth site of Confucius in China.

According to NTU, most of the overseas participants hail from the US and India. The e-commerce course saw around 40 per cent of sign-ups come from Asia, 28 per cent from Europe, 19 per cent from North America, 7 per cent from South America and 5 per cent from Africa.

Moving forward, NTU is keen on analysing data gleaned from Coursera to enhance the delivery of its courses.

“When you have a massive scale of students … it becomes a very powerful experiment where you can see how to change your pedagogy or what affects your learner, you can do this when you have lots of data," added Prof Kam.

The other local university offering Coursera courses is the National University of Singapore (NUS).

NUS has offered six courses to the public, which have attracted about 180,000 students from around 200 countries.

It will be starting another four-part course series on workplace communication next year.

~News courtesy of Channel News Asia~

Dead bacteria to kill colorectal cancer cells

NTU team uses dead bacteria to kill colorectal cancer cells

Scientists from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) have used dead bacteria commonly found in soil to kill colorectal cancer cells.

In a news release issued on Monday (Nov 9), NTU said that a team led by Professor Teoh Swee Hin harnessed the Clostridium sporogenes (C. sporogenes) bacteria in its dead form, and its secretions, to effectively destroy colon tumour cells.

The team conducted the experiments in artificially-created environments resembling the inside of a human body, rather than on a flat surface in a petri-dish, NTU said.

In a 72-hour experiment, the inactive bacteria were able to reduce the growth of colon tumour cells by 74 per cent.

The team tested the secretions harvested from a live bacteria culture and these secretions reduced the growth of colon tumour cells by as much as 83 per cent.

NTU said that traditional cancer treatments like chemotherapy and radiotherapy do not work well in the colon due to reduced blood flow and lack of oxygen and nutrient flow. It said that these therapies use oxygen molecules to damage the DNA of cancer cells and rely on blood flow to transport therapeutic drugs to the tumour.

"In contrast, the NTU team showed that dead C. sporogenes bacteria can kill tumour cells in an oxygen-starved tumour microenvironment," said NTU.

"We found that even when the C. sporogenes bacteria is dead, its natural toxicity continues to kill cancer cells, unlike the conventional chemotherapy drugs which need oxygen to work,” explained Prof Teoh.

Prof Teoh said that other research groups have experimented with live bacteria to destroy cancer cells, but this treatment posed a risk of infection as live bacteria will grow and proliferate.

“In the NTU study, as the bacteria were already killed by heat, there was no risk of the bacteria multiplying and causing more harm than the desired dose meant to kill colorectal cancer cells.”

Professor James Best, Dean of NTU’s Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, said: “This is a significant discovery that potentially opens a new avenue to tackle this very common cancer, which is difficult to treat after it has spread. While it is early days, this exciting research finding provides hope of a new treatment option for millions of people affected by bowel cancer each year.”

This study was published in the journal Scientific Reports in October.

According to the Health Promotion Board, colorectal cancer is the number one cancer in Singapore and the foremost cancer among males here.

~News courtesy of Channel News Asia~

Happy Deepavali

Southeast Asia's first maritime energy test bed

NTU launches Southeast Asia's first maritime energy test bed

Nanyang Technological University (NTU) on Monday (Nov 2) launched Southeast Asia’s first-of-its-kind advanced maritime energy test facility.

The S$8 million research facility aims to be a platform for scientists and engineers to develop innovative eco-friendly maritime technologies, such as scrubbers and alternative energy sources. Scrubbers are devices that curb harmful ship emissions.

Such clean energy solutions are aimed at delivering cost savings and competitive advantages, as well as enhance the reputation of maritime companies for championing sustainable technologies.

For example, shipping may be recognised as the most fuel efficient mode of freight transportation, but it is also known to use fuel which emits harmful atmospheric pollutants. The facility, called the Maritime Energy Test Bed, will conduct research and development in areas such as alternative sources of energy, fuel additives to increase energy efficiency and technologies for cleaner emissions.

To achieve this, the 1,500 square metre facility comes equipped with a 1.5 megawatt diesel ship engine, which can run on most of the conventional liquid fuel types for energy research. It will also be installed with advanced sensors and monitoring devices to facilitate research in energy storage, noise pollution and waste heat recovery.

“The fruition of the Maritime Energy Test Bed represents a successful collaboration between the research sector and the industry, and is a timely development as the maritime sector looks to green and sustainable technologies to save on costs, mitigate the effects of climate change and address growing environmental regulations,” said Mr Andrew Tan, Chief Executive of the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA).

The facility will also be an educational platform for polytechnic students, undergraduates and PhD candidates to learn and get hands-on experience. Engineers can also train there to learn skills for the green maritime industry.

The Singapore Maritime Institute (SMI) will contribute S$4.7 million over the next 10 years to fund the facility, while NTU will provide S$3.4 million with support from other maritime leaders such as ClassNK.

“As Singapore is primarily a global trade hub, education and training are important aspects of the new Maritime Energy Test Bed at NTU,” said NTU Chief of Staff and Vice President for Research, Professor Lam Khin Yong. “With highly skilled manpower, Singapore will be able to attract overseas investments to the nation’s maritime industry.”

~News courtesy of Channel News Asia~

南大内设东南亚首间海事能源试验中心

南大校园内 设东南亚首间海事能源试验中心



海事能源试验中心内的船只柴油引擎，经过改装后可用来测试不同燃油的性能。（何家俊摄）

南洋理工大学与新加坡海事研究机构投入800万元，联合成立东南亚第1间海事能源试验中心。

规模如一座小型货仓的试验中心建筑设在南大校园南洋弯（Nanyang Crescent），占地1500平方米，专门研究船只的节能减排方法，让海事业更加环保。

海事能源试验中心（Maritime Energy Test Bed）设备齐全，最引人瞩目的是一台1.5兆瓦的柴油引擎，体积约半辆巴士般大，经过改装后可用来测试不同燃油的性能。

这类引擎一般用于驱动小船，在大船则充作发电机供电，市场要价约100万元。

负责海事能源试验中心的南大能源研究院联合院长曾少华说：“以往关于船运的环保能源研究只能在使用小型仪器进行，无法使用真正的引擎，试验所得的数据未必适合实际情况。有了这台引擎，我们就能进行逼真的试验。若证实效果不错，就能在船上作进一步的测试。”

曾少华指出，集装箱船用的是浓稠乌黑的残渣燃料油，用来驱动引擎时会释放出大量的黑烟，严重污染空气。可是这类燃油非常便宜，船务公司为了减低成本而持续使用。

他说，试验中心的目标，就是要进一步研发出实用且低成本的节能减排方法。

~我报~