News

RiFood's study reveals Bifidobacteria almost non-existent in cesarean-born Chinese babies

A research by Dr Jiachi CHIOU, Associate Director of RiFood has revealed that Bifidobacteria, a probiotic, was nearly non-existent in the gut of babies born by cesarean section (C-section). Bifidobacteria is viewed as an essential probiotic for proper immune development and good gut health among infants which protects the neonates from various intestinal and immunity disorders. Dr Chiou and her research team examined 70 fecal samples of newborn babies after their first 2 weeks of life for the study. They found that the Bifidobacterium species almost did not exist in samples from C-section babies. In comparison, 37 fecal samples from vaginally birthed, breastfed babies had the necessary probiotic levels. While previous study suggested that Bifidobacteria could be detected from the breastmilk, and hence breastfeeding may help to supplement the beneficial bacteria in the baby’s gut microbiota. Dr. Chiou also said 38% of births in Hong Kong are C-section deliveries, so it is crucial to understand the special nutrition needs of C-section babies. (Oriental Daily News A11, am730 A06, Sky Post P14, Wen Wei Po A10) * This newborn babies study was commissioned by Danone Nutricia. Online coverage : i-Cable - https://polyu.me/379mk6M Oriental Daily News- https://polyu.me/3tVL771 Sing Tao Daily - https://polyu.me/38jWkWP am730 - https://polyu.me/3tSp3u6 Headline Daily - https://polyu.me/3tWpHqA Wen Wei Po - https://polyu.me/3DBeGy8 HK01 - https://polyu.me/376n0JK Bastille Post - https://polyu.me/3iVh09s

Members of PAIR’s constituent research units shine at Geneva Invention Expo

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) has once again excelled in this year’s online special edition of the International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva (Geneva Inventions Expo) - Special Edition 2022 Inventions Geneva Evaluation Days – Virtual Event. The Exhibition is regarded as one of the most important annual global events devoted exclusively to inventions. This year, PolyU has garnered a total of six awards, including one Gold Medal with Congratulations of the Jury, one Gold Medal, three Silver Medals and one Bronze Medal. All of them are research projects of PAIR’s research institutes and research centres. Four of the six participating projects are operated by PolyU supported start-ups which has already commercialised its research outputs. As the only university in Hong Kong taking part in the Nation’s space missions, the team lead by Prof. Yung Kai Leung, the director of Research Centre for Deep Space Explorations (RCDSE) is also actively developing instruments for the national space mission by leveraging its expertise in precision engineering. In addition, PolyU is also striving to leverage its research to improve people’s quality of life. The participating projects this year, which incorporate research in the areas of cooling coatings, eco-friendly building materials, smart fabrics, nutritional supplements and AI music learning platform, are just a few examples of this effort. Please find the six awarded projects in the following table. Please click the link of the website of the Knowledge Transfer and Entrepreneurship Office https://www.polyu.edu.hk/kteo/polyu-innovations/award/geneva2022/ for project details: Project Principal Investigator Awards Research Institute / Research Centre involved Camera Pointing System for China’s Lunar Exploration Missions (Chang'e 3 and 4) Prof. Kai-leung YUNG Sir Sze-yuen Chung Professor in Precision Engineering, Director of Research Centre for Deep Space Explorations, Chair Professor of Precision Engineering and Associate Head, Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering Gold Medal with Congratulations of the Jury Research Centre for Deep Space Explorations UmiCool: an Eco-friendly Smart Sub-ambient Radiative Cooling (SSRC) Coating Prof. Jianguo DAI Professor and Associate Head, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Founder of Pro-Infra Science & Technology Limited (a PolyU Academic-led start-up) Gold Medal Research Institute for Land and Space Carbon-negative Climate-smart Biochar Partition Block Prof. Daniel Chiu-Wa TSANG Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Founder of NeutralCrete Limited (a PolyU Academic-led start-up) Silver Medal Research Institute for Land and Space and Research Centre for Resources Engineering towards Carbon Neutrality Omni-Cool-Dry™: a Desert Beetle Inspired Skin-like Fabric for Dynamic Thermal and Moisture Management Dr Dahua SHOU Assistant Professor, Institute of Textiles and Clothing Silver Medal Research Institute for Intelligent Wearable Systems AkkMore™: a Fungus and Plant Based Supplement Against Obesity or Prediabetes Dr. Gail Jinhui CHANG Research Assistant Professor, Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology, Co-founder of Bo InnoHealth Biotechnology Company Limited (a PolyU GBA Start-up PostDoc and PolyU Academic-led startup) Silver Medal Research Institute for Future Food Algorithmic Music Composition Software for Popularising AI Education Dr Gong CHEN PhD alumni of the Department of Computing, Founder of RhySoul Technology (Shenzhen) Company Limited (a PolyU GBA Start-up PostDoc) Bronze Medal Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence of Things

​RIAM partners with Allite on alloy R&D

PolyU and Allite International Limited established partnership of R&D works in a number of research projects to further explore the application horizon of Allite Super Magnesium (ASM) Alloy. This initiative aims to uncover advanced magnesium-based materials development for net shape manufacturing. This collaborative effort will also deliver differentiating R&D in the e-transportation space such as electric vehicles and e-bikes. Ir Prof. H. C. Man, Director of Research Institute for Advanced Manufacturing and Dean of Faculty of Engineering, said the partnership would leverage the University’s unique strengths in R&D activities, bridging the gap between research and businesses while accelerating PolyU’s innovation efforts with magnesium alloys and processing techniques. Online media coverage: Asiaone A-Performers ETNet (Chinese only) TechNow (Chinese only)  

MHRC highlights mental issues amid pandemic

A recent study conducted by PolyU showed that social psychological and behaviour therapies could remarkably relieve the depression and anxiety symptoms emerged under the pandemic. Prof. Hector Tsang, Associate Director of Mental Health Research Centre, Chair Professor and Head of the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, and Mr Kino Lam, Clinical Associate (Occupational Therapy), wrote in a newspaper column that over concentration on anti-pandemic issues would cause persistent anxiety and might trigger emotion problems. They suggested the Government should partner with relevant academic departments and research centres in tertiary institutions and NGOs to address citizens’ mental health issues during the pandemic, including establishment of online education channels for mental health and organise seminars to address the difficulties encountered by the public regularly.   Please click here to read the full article (Chinese only).

Online Review of "Adoption of Wearable Sensors in Construction Research" Webinar

RI-IWEAR held the "Adoption of Wearable Sensors in Construction Research" webinar successfully on 16 March. Introduced by Ir Prof. Li Heng, Core Member of RI-IWEAR, Dr JoonOh Seo, Associate Professor of Department of Building and Real Estate at PolyU, Dr Yantao Yu, Assistant Professor of Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at HKUST and Dr Xiaowei Luo, Associate Professor of Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering at CityU shared their views on various applications of IWEAR sensors for the construction industry. Please find the webinar recording from : https://youtu.be/fdxiEWSpz08

PRI researchers develop the world’s first optical fibre-based data-driven predictive maintenance system

Tremendous pressure is being imposed on railway operators to enhance service reliability and infrastructure maintenance to reduce disruption arising from train, track and overhead power line failures. This requires condition-monitoring systems that can effectively and continuously monitor mission-critical components to produce big data in respect of railway asset maintenance for the development of advanced fault identification and prediction techniques. The research team led by Prof. Tam Hwa-yaw, Associate Director of the Photonics Research Institute (PRI), developed the world’s first optical fibre-based data-driven predictive maintenance system that enables railway industry to shift from costly and inefficient scheduled maintenance regimes to predictive maintenance. The system identifies defects in rail tracks, overhead power lines, wheel flats, and cracks in bogies and carriages. Five systems were installed in MTR Hong Kong and two in SMRT lines in Singapore in 2014 and 2016, respectively. The system monitors developing faults and had successfully predicted broken power line along the Amsterdam-Schiphol Airport Line in 2015, several weeks in advance. The goal is to herald a safer railway industry with reduced maintenance cost, and high quality of service. Please check the link for his interview with a TV programme :   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POcPJfU8VDc  (Chinese Only)

Webinar on Urban Informatics successfully concluded

The Webinar on Urban Informatics was successfully held online on 7 March 2022, attracting over 175,000 audience from Zoom as well as YouTube and Bilibili live-streaming.  The webinar was jointly organized by the PolyU Academy for Interdisciplinary Research (PAIR), the Otto Poon Charitable Foundation Smart Cities Research Institute (SCRI), and the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics (LSGI) of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University; the International Society for Urban Informatics (ISUI); and the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS).  Introduced by Prof. Shi Wenzhong, Director of SCRI, Prof. Michael Batty of University College London, Emeritus Prof. Michael Goodchild of University of California Santa Barbara, Prof. Mei-Po Kwan of Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prof. Carlo Ratti of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Prof. Eric Miller of University of Toronto shared their views in urban informatics, urban science, urban big data infrastructure, urban systems and applications, urban sensing as well as urban computing followed by a roundtable discussion. Please find the webinar recording from https://bit.ly/3w5drFM.

PAIR member joins the Experts Committee on Breastfeeding of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR)

Prof. Man-sau Wong, Director of Research Centre for Chinese Medicine Innovation (RCMI), Steering Committee Member of Research Institute for Future Food (RiFood), Associate Dean of Faculty of Applied Science and Textiles (Research) at PolyU, has been invited as a Member of the Experts Committee on Breastfeeding of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) Division for People recently. The primary purpose of the Experts Committee is to provide technical advice to the Division for People and, in this case, to the Global Breastfeeding Training initiative to strengthen its operations and increase its impact in the communities it serves.

Mental Health Research Centre develops mobile game for patients with cognitive impairments

Cognitive functions play a causal role in eliciting psychiatric symptoms. Team members of the Mental Health Research Centre has developed a mobile game in response to the living needs of patients with cognitive impairments such as Alzheimer's disease. The application integrates life scenes into mobile game, perform training in familiar virtual environment, and AI automatically adjust difficulty, making the game more challenging. It is effective in maintaining the patient’s brain functions, such as calculation and decision-making ability, and improving their safety awareness, thereby improving their mental health and reducing the chance of depression and anxiety disorders.The project has been granted HK$1.9 million from the Innovation and Technology Fund for Better Living under the Innovation and Technology Bureau earlier to promote R&D and application.   

PAIR’s research institutes and research centres attain excellent results in the Environment and Conservation Fund 2021-22 research funding exercise

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) has achieved excellent results in the Environment and Conservation Fund (ECF) 2021-22 funding exercise for Environmental Research, Technology Demonstration and Conference Projects. The ECF was set up by the Government in 1994 for funding educational and research projects on environmental and conservation matters. Research and Technology Demonstration Projects awarded by the ECF will contribute in a direct and practical way towards environmental improvement and conservation of the local environment, or promote and encourage adoption of green technologies in Hong Kong. Among the 41 awarded research projects from local UGC-funded universities, PolyU received the highest number of projects awarded and topped the amount of funding granted. In all, the University received a total of HK$10 million in funding from the ECF, supporting 13 research projects ranging from the study of how high purity oxygen could enhance sewage treatment, using remote sensing technology and AI for monitoring oil spills in the sea, producing hydrogen while purifying wastewater simultaneously by solar power, to the development of a smart robot that can pick up and sort litter in difficult terrain automatically.  In which, 10 research projects with the total of HK$8.5 million in funding from the ECF were granted to the following PAIR’s constituent research units:   Project Lead Researcher Funding Amount Related RI/RC Engineering a microbial biosensor for monitoring microplastics pollution Dr CHUA Song Lin Assistant Professor, ABCT HK$499,000 RCDSE Green Conversion of Microalgal Biomass into High Value Products Dr YUNG Ka-fu Associate Professor, ABCT HK$498,000 RISE Optimal design of high performance textile-based solar steam generator by tunable capillary evaporation Dr SHOU Dahua Assistant Professor, ITC HK$485,300 RISE Innovative Bifacial Solar Photovoltaic: from theoretical model to its practical application in Hong Kong Ir Prof. LU Lin Vivien Professor, BEEE HK$494,000 RISE and RISUD World Meteorological Organization (WMO) - Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) VOC Expert Workshop Ir Prof. GUO Hai Professor, CEE HK$500,000 RISUD Study of High Purity Oxygen Aeration for Biological Polishing of Chemical Enhanced Primary Treated Sewage Effluent and Cellulase Production from Sludge Dr LEU Shao Yuan Associate Professor, CEE HK$1,999,800 RISUD and RCRE Recycling yard waste into new-generation biochar adsorbents for CO2 and VOCs removal Prof. Dan TSANG Professor, CEE HK$1,179,557 RCRE Climate-Resilient Planning and Design for Coastal Stormwater Drainage Systems Dr WANG Shuo Assistant Professor, LSGI HK$490,600 RILS A multi-source remote sensing based technique for monitoring oil spills Prof. Charles Man-sing WONG Professor, LSGI HK$1,920,520 RILS Intelligent monitoring and diagnosis platform for second-life battery energy storage systems based on artificial intelligence and internet of things technologies Dr WANG Minghao Research Assistant Professor, EE HK$499,000 RISE Total Funding Amount: HK$8,565,777