New designer crystals could create more powerful devices

Source: CSIRO. Dr Styles.

A new process that uses vapour– rather than liquid – to grow designer crystals could lead to faster, more powerful electronic devices. The crystals are the world's most porous materials, and if applied to microelectronic devices, could significantly boost their processing power.

For the first time, researchers have shown how the designer crystals known as metal organic frameworks (MOFs), can be grown using a vapour method that is similar to steam hovering over a pot of hot water. The method, invented by scientists from the University of Leuven in Belgium, the National University of Singapore and CSIRO has been published in the journal Nature Materials.

According to CSIRO researcher Dr Mark Styles, the crystals could previously only be grown and applied using a liquid solvent, making them unsuitable for electronics applications. "Just like your smart phone doesn't like being dropped in water, electronic devices don't like the liquid solvent that's used to grow MOF crystals," Dr Styles said. "It can corrode and damage the delicate circuitry. Our new vapour method for growing and applying MOF crystals overcomes this barrier and has the potential to disrupt the microelectronics industry.

"On the atomic scale, MOF crystals look like bird cages that can be tailor-made to be different shapes and sizes. They have an extremely large surface area, meaning they can be up to 80% empty inside. The net result is a structure where almost every atom is exposed to empty space: one gram of MOF crystals has a surface area of over 5,000 sq m – that's the size of a football field. Crucially, we can use this vast space to trap other molecules, which can change the properties of a material. In the case of electronics, this means we can fit a lot more transistors on a microchip, making it faster and far more powerful."

The international team, which was led by Ivo Stassen and Professor Rob Ameloot from the University of Leuven in Belgium, drew on specialist X-ray analysis techniques from CSIRO and the Australian Synchrotron to understand how the vapour process works, and how it can be used to grow the MOF crystals.

According to Dr Styles, the applications for MOFs can only be limited by your imagination. "Another potential use for this technology would be in portable chemical sensing devices that could be used in hazardous environments such as chemical processing plants and underground mines," he said.

Interested?

Read the Nature paper

posted from Bloggeroid

Singaporeans are familiar with human trafficking but underestimate its extent

The International Organization for Migration’s X Campaign (IOM X), along with its partners USAID, the US Embassy Singapore and Microsoft, have presented the findings from IOM X Connect Singapore – a pilot outreach project aimed at raising public awareness for the issue of human trafficking in Singapore.

As part of the project, university students from the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Singapore Management University (SMU) used the new IOM X Learn, Act and Share App to test 100 Singaporeans’ knowledge on the issue.

Findings revealed that while a majority of Singaporeans (75%) knew the correct definition of human trafficking, only half of them (50%) were able to correctly identify who could be a potential victim of human trafficking. In addition, when asked about the total number of human trafficking victims globally, majority of the respondents underestimated the gravity of the issue, with the average response coming up to only 11 million, which equates to around half (53%) of the actual 20.9 million victims globally.

“While the findings from IOM X Connect Singapore revealed a broad understanding of human trafficking and exploitation in Singapore, the severity of the issue has been largely underestimated. Human trafficking continues to impact countries all over the world including Singapore, and we believe that by driving widespread public awareness and support to counter this, we will be able to help prevent exploitation and better protect the victims at large. We are delighted to see how the use of technology and the IOM X Learn, Act and Share App have helped us to gain quick and accurate insights into the public’s understanding of the issue, and this information will help us to design better activities and messages that are relevant to the rest of the ASEAN community,” said Tara Dermott, Program Leader, IOM X.

The students discussed the findings and their experiences at yesterday’s IOM X Connect Singapore Conference, a dialogue on how technology is impacting the fight against human trafficking. The event also featured an expert panel including U.S. Embassy Singapore’s Deputy Chief of Mission Blair Hall, Microsoft’s Vice President Asia, Public Sector, Stefan Sjöström, actress and advocate Eunice Olsen, U.N. Women Singapore Committee’s Public Awareness & Youth Initiatives Manager Mrinalini Venkatachalam and Jolovan Wham, Executive Director of the Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics (HOME).

“Over the last decade, the global community has made appreciable progress in understanding human trafficking. Social media and technology have played a crucial role in expanding our efforts to raise awareness by enabling us to reach new audiences and to amplify our message,” said Blair Hall, Deputy Chief of Mission, US Embassy Singapore.

Interested?

The IOM Learn, Act and Share App, which was created by IOM X and Microsoft, is now available for download at the Windows Store.

View the associated video

posted from Bloggeroid

Singapore's NUS, NTU make it to QS top 15

The twelfth edition of the QS World University Rankings states that Singapore’s leading universities have made the top 15 for the first time. The National University of Singapore (12th) is the leading Asian institution and Nanyang Technological University (13th) is right behind. Australian National University (19th) also returns to the top 20 while China’s Tsinghua University (25th) is Asia’s third-best university.

Ben Sowter, QS Head of research says: “These latest results reveal more diversity than ever in the distribution of world-class universities at the highest levels. We’re providing prospective students with the richest picture yet.”

A new approach to “citations per faculty”, a measure of research impact, has delivered fairer evaluations for universities with a strong profile in areas with lower research activity, such as arts, humanities and social sciences. Over 70 thousand (76,798) academics and 44,226 employers contributed to the rankings through the QS global surveys. QS also analysed 11.1 million research papers indexed by Elsevier’s Scopus database. Three thousand, five hundred and thirty-nine institutions were considered for inclusion, and 891 ranked.

2015	2014	Top 20	Country
1	1	MIT	US
2	4	HARVARD	US
3=	2=	CAMBRIDGE	UK
3=	7	STANFORD	US
5	8	CALTECH	US
6	5=	OXFORD	UK
7	5=	UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON	UK
8	2=	IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON	UK
9	12	ETH ZURICH	CH
10	11	CHICAGO	US
11	9	PRINCETON	US
12	22	NATIONAL UNIVERSITY SINGAPORE	SG
13	39	NANYANG TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY	SG
14	17=	EPFL	CH
15	10	YALE	US
16	14=	JOHNS HOPKINS	US
17	19	CORNELL	US
18	13	U PENN	US
19=	25=	AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY	AU
19=	16	KING'S COLLEGE LONDON	UK
© QS Quacquarelli Symonds 2004-2015.  *The rankings include universities from 82 countries. Thirty-four countries feature in the Top 200. The US dominates, with 49 institutions, ahead of the UK (30), Netherlands (12), Germany (11), Canada, Australia, and Japan (eight), China (seven), France, Sweden and Hong Kong (five).

More effective asthma treatment with an anti-malarial drug

Asthma may soon be controlled more effectively thanks to a pharmacological discovery by researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS).

The team, led by Associate Professor Fred Wong from the Department of Pharmacology at the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, together with Dr Eugene Ho, a recent PhD graduate from the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health at NUS, have discovered that artesunate, a herbal-based anti-malarial drug, can be used to control asthma with better results than other drugs currently available.

The team revealed that artesunate can produce effects similar to those by dexamethasone, the most potent steroid remedy currently available, but with fewer side effects. As long term usage of steroids have many potential negative side effects, artesunate may be a safer alternative for asthmathic patients. The discovery was published in the journal Metabolomics on 16 July 2014. Artesunate had not been linked with asthma prior to this research.

Moving forward, the team led by Assoc Prof Wong will further explore the therapeutic and pharmacological effects of artesunate for asthma, as well as for other medical conditions. They also intend to work with industry partners to test the effects of artesunate on asthmatic patients.

Dr Ho is also furthering his research as a Research Fellow at the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health at NUS, where he hopes to discover more beneficial effects of artesunate and accelerate the adoption of this drug for clinical tests.

Artesunate is made from artemisinin (青蒿素) which is from the plant Artemisia annua, or sweet wormwood. On August 12, Sanofi and Path announced that it is now shipping synthetic artemisinin-derived drugs for malaria at a large scale, paving the way for a form of artesunate that may be available in bigger quantities and more cheaply than previously possible.

Singapore, Korea top Asian university rankings this year

The National University of Singapore (NUS) has been named Asia’s top institution for the first time in the QS University Rankings: Asia 2014 published today at www.topuniversities.com. The rankings reflect a swing in the balance of power as Singapore and Korea overtake Japan and Hong Kong.  

Source: QS website.

NUS’ success is mirrored by Nanyang Technological University (NTU), which is 7th, its highest-ever position. Korea’s KAIST climbs from sixth to second place, while Seoul National University (no. 4) and Postech (no. 9) are also in the top 10. 

Thirteen of the Chinese top 20 institutions have improved their position this year on the back of increased research citations. Peking University slips three places to 7th, while Tsinghua University remains 14th. 

Government funding for research and development has increased by an average of 23% per year on average for the past decade, with a further 8.9% increase to a record US$43.6 billion announced in Premier Li Keqiang’s first budget in March this year.

“Government investment in scientific research is starting to pay dividends, with the majority of Chinese institutions increasing both the volume and impact of their research in recent years,” says QS Head of research Ben Sowter. “However, in terms of citations Peking and Tsinghua are still playing catch-up with institutions such as National University of Singapore and University of Hong Kong.”

India’s ranked institutions rise to 17 from 11 last year but seven of its top eight institutions dropped in rank. IIT Delhi is the top performer at 38th.

Last year’s number one institution, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, drops to 5th while the 2011 table-topper Hong Kong University drops one place to third, making this the first time in the rankings’ history that a Hong Kong university has not topped the table.

This edition of the rankings is the first to be influenced by the restructuring of undergraduate programmes from three to four years which has had a varied effect on the faculty student ratios of Hong Kong’s universities as they have all been required to enrol a double cohort of students from Fall 2012. Further adjustments are expected over the next two years as the Hong Kong system adapts to this reform.

 “Japan’s University of Tokyo falls to 10th, its lowest ever position. Though the drops for Japanese universities this year are small, they continue a trend that is observable over the past three or four years,” says Sowter. “The after-effects of the financial crisis have made it harder for Japan to keep up with the improvements made by Singapore, Korea, Hong Kong and China.”

The sector has faced a series of funding cuts since 2007, most recently in the form of an across-the-board reduction of public sector salaries in February 2012, at a time when several other countries in the region have made major investments.

“Both NUS and KAIST have benefitted from major government investment in research; while operating in English has helped them attain new levels of global engagement,” said Sowter.

NUS and NTU are currently benefitting from a S$16.1 billion government scheme to improve their performance in science, technology and innovation, while Korea now spends 3.6% of its GDP on research and development, among the highest in the OECD.

Other top performers by country:

Taiwan: National Taiwan University, 21st
Malaysia: Universiti Malaya, 31st
Thailand: Mahidol University, 40th
Philippines: University of the Philippines, 63rd
Indonesia: University of Indonesia, 71st

QS University Rankings: Asia 2014 - Top 10
2014	2013	Institutions	Country/ Territory
RANK	RANK
1	2	NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE (NUS)	SG
2	6	KAIST - KOREA ADVANCED INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY	KR
3	2	UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG (HKU)	HK
4	4	SEOUL NATIONAL UNIVERSITY (SNU)	KR
5	1	THE HONG KONG UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE  AND  TECHNOLOGY (HKUST)	HK
6	7	THE CHINESE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG (CUHK)	HK
7	10	NANYANG TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY (NTU)	SG
8	5	PEKING UNIVERSITY	CN
9	7	POHANG UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY    (POSTECH)	KR
10	9	THE UNIVERSITY OF TOKYO	JP
© QS Quacquarelli Symonds 2004-2014 www.TopUniversities.com
To view the complete ranking - Top 300 Asian universities - visit www.TopUniversities.com. Read more about the methodology here.