Ministry Of Science And Technology Research Articles

Advances on the investigation of landslides by space-borne synthetic aperture radar interferometry

ABSTRACT Landslides are destructive geohazards to people and infrastructure, resulting in hundreds of deaths and billions of dollars of damage every year. Therefore, mapping the rate of deformation of such geohazards and understanding their mechanics is of paramount importance to mitigate the resulting impacts and properly manage the associated risks. In this paper, the main outcomes relevant to the joint European Space Agency (ESA) and the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) Dragon-5 initiative cooperation project ID 59,339 “Earth observation for seismic hazard assessment and landslide early warning system” are reported. The primary goals of the project are to further develop advanced SAR/InSAR and optical techniques to investigate seismic hazards and risks, detect potential landslides in wide regions, and demonstrate EO-based landslide early warning system over selected landslides. This work only focuses on the landslide hazard content of the project, and thus, in order to achieve these objectives, the following tasks were developed up to now: a) a procedure for phase unwrapping errors and tropospheric delay correction; b) an improvement of a cross-platform SAR offset tracking method for the retrieval of long-term ground displacements; c) the application of polarimetric SAR interferometry (PolInSAR) to increase the number and quality of monitoring points in landslide-prone areas; d) the semiautomatic mapping and preliminary classification of active displacement areas on wide regions; e) the modeling and identification of landslides in order to identify triggering factors or predict future displacements; and f) the application of an InSAR-based landslide early warning system on a selected site. The achieved results, which mainly focus on specific sensitive regions, provide essential assets for planning present and future scientific activities devoted to identifying, mapping, characterizing, monitoring and predicting landslides, as well as for the implementation of early warning systems.

A dataset of carbon and water fluxes in farmland ecosystems at Gucheng Station (2020–2022)

Hebei Gucheng Agricultural Meteorology National Observation and Research Station (Gucheng Station) is one of the national field scientific observation and research stations approved by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST). Located in the irrigated high-yield agricultural area in the northern part of the North China Plain, it is a typical North China winter wheat-summer maize rotation system. Based on the eddy covariance technique, the observation of cropland ecosystem carbon and water fluxes has been carried out at Gucheng Station for a long time. Following the ChinaFLUX data processing protocols, we collected the carbon and water fluxes and auxiliary meteorological environment observations of the winter wheat and summer maize rotation ecosystem at Gucheng Station from 2020 to 2022, and produced a standardized dataset after data quality control and processing. This dataset has important scientific significance and practical application value in the assessment of farmland ecosystem carbon budget, water resources utilization, and the mitigation of the impact of adverse meteorological conditions on farmland ecosystems and agricultural production.

Building the world's largest Chemical Looping Combustion (CLC) unit

The world's largest Chemical Looping Combustion (CLC) demonstration unit is being built close to the city of Chengdu in China. The design and construction of the unit, as well as the coming testing, is done within the CHEERS project, which is a collaborative project between Europe and China. The funding (∼25M€) comes from several of the project partners, in addition to EU's Horizon2020 and China's Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST). TotalEnergies has been responsible for the Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) study. The investment decision from December 2021 marks the transition from the R&D studies and design phases to Engineering, Procurement, Construction (EPC) and testing phase. The EPC phase has been led by Dongfang Boiler Co.,Ltd, and the demonstration unit is located at their technology development site in Deyang City, outside Chengdu in China. It is designed for a thermal input of 2–4 MW and includes two different reactor configurations. The first configuration is optimized for conversion of pet-coke, while the second one is tuned towards conversion of lignite. The oxygen carrier (OC) that will be used for the demonstration unit (ilmenite) will be presented, together with an overview of the various OC materials that were tested at various scales (up to 150 kWth) during the first part of the project. In addition, results from testing of a cold mock-up of the unit is presented. Finally, an overview of plans for the rest of the project is given, together with some thoughts related to intercontinental collaboration in highly collaborative projects, such as CHEERS.

A comparative study of the conference papers of mainland China's double first‐class universities

AbstractThis paper analyses the conference papers published by double first‐class universities from mainland China between 2006 and 2019. The main findings are as follows: first, the number of conference papers from different double first‐class universities varied greatly, with the annual numbers of papers in the China Proceedings of Conferences Full‐text Database (CPCD) and in the Conference Proceedings Citation Index (CPCI) fluctuating during this period. Second, most of the top 10 disciplines of the papers in the CPCD and CPCI were in the natural sciences, with only two in the social sciences. The CPCD papers and CPCI papers had some overlap in their disciplinary distributions. Third, the CPCD and CPCI papers differed little in total number, with the number of CPCI papers being slightly higher than the number of CPCD papers. With the introduction of new regulations from the Ministry of Science and Technology (MST), there will likely be an increase in the number of Chinese‐language conference papers in the future.

A cellular platform for the evaluation of the effect of O-glycan modification on B cell receptor signaling

Abstract The importance of N-glycosylation, a ubiquitous post-translational modification (PTM) of cell-surface and secreted proteins in vertebrates, in the regulation of B cell receptor (BCR) signaling has been well documented. On the other hand, the importance of O-glycosylation, another type of ubiquitous PTM, in B cell function is getting recognized only recently. A simplified system to study the effects of O-glycan modifications in BCR signaling would facilitate the efforts to understand the mechanism of B cell regulation by O-glycans. To this end, we reconstituted BCR components and CD45 with orthogonal self-labeling protein tags in the mouse myeloma J558L cell line, which is deficient in the components of BCR and several co-receptors. The enzymes that modify O-glycans were further introduced, and the cells were subjected to imaging-based quantitative analysis of the distance between BCR and CD45, as well as the evaluation of BCR signaling by Western blotting. Gene expression profiles among the cells were also compared by RNA sequencing. Our study revealed that core 2 branching of O-glycans has minimal effect on the distance between BCR and CD45, whereas the addition of an α2–8-linked sialic acid by ST8Sia-VI reduces the distance between them, facilitating the downstream BCR signaling. Our system may be adapted for the functional evaluation of other PTMs in BCR signaling. Supported by a grant from the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST)/National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) of Taiwan (MOST 109-2311-B-001-009-MY3)

Outcomes associated with acute kidney disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Acute kidney disease (AKD) defines the period after kidney damage and it is a critical period of both repair and fibrotic pathways. However, the outcomes of patients with AKD have not been well-defined. In this meta-analysis, PubMed, Embase, Cochrane and China National Knowledge Infrastructure were searched on July 31,2022. We excluded studies including patients undergoing kidney replacement therapy at enrollment. The data was used to conduct a random-effects model for pool outcomes between patients with AKD and non-AKD (NKD). This study is registered with PROSPERO, CRD42021271773. The search generated 739 studies of which 21 studies were included involving 1,114,012 patients. The incidence rate of community-acquired AKD was 4.60%, 2.11% in hospital-acquired AKD without a prior AKI episode, and 26.11% in hospital-acquired AKD with a prior AKI episode. The all-cause mortality rate was higher in the AKD group (26.54%) than in the NKD group (7.78%) (odds ratio [OR]: 3.62, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.64 to 4.95, p<0.001, I2=99.11%). The rate of progression to end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) was higher in the AKD group (1.3%) than in the NKD group (0.14%) (OR: 6.58, p<0.001, I2=94.95%). The incident rate of CKD and progressive CKD was higher in the AKD group (37.2%) than in the NKD group (7.45%) (OR:4.22, p<0.001, I2=96.67%). Compared to the NKD group, patients with AKD without prior AKI had a higher mortality rate (OR: 3.00, p<0.001, I2=99.31%) and new-onset ESKD (OR:4.96, 95% CI, p=0.002, I2=97.37%). AKD is common in community and hospitalized patients who suffer from AKI and also occurs in patients without prior AKI. The patients with AKD, also in those without prior AKI had a higher risk of mortality, and new-onset ESKD than the NKD group. This study was supported by Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) of the Republic of China (Taiwan) [grant number, MOST 107-2314-B-002-026-MY3, 108-2314-B-002-058, 110-2314-B-002-241, 110-2314-B-002-239], National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) [grant number, NSTC 109-2314-B-002-174-MY3, 110-2314-B-002-124-MY3, 111-2314-B-002-046, 111-2314-B-002-058], National Health Research Institutes [PH-102-SP-09], National Taiwan University Hospital [109-S4634, PC-1246, PC-1309, VN109-09, UN109-041, UN110-030, 111-FTN0011] Grant MOHW110-TDU-B-212-124005, Mrs. Hsiu-Chin Lee Kidney Research Fund and Chi-mei medical center CMFHR11136. JAN is supported, in part, by grants from the National Institute of Health, NIDDK (R01 DK128208 and P30 DK079337) and NHLBI (R01 HL148448-01).

Establishment, development and prospect of the Department of Interdisciplinary Sciences of National Natural Science Foundation of China

<p indent="0mm">Along with the development of natural science at current stage, interdisciplinary scientific research is an inevitable trend and destiny in pursuit of innovations in science or technologies. Much more evidence (global positioning system, internet, national security, integrated circuit, and robot technology, etc.) has proven that interdisciplinary cooperation is necessary and significant in solving important and complicated scientific problems. Thus, the United State of America (USA) built the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in 1958. European Union (EU) started the interdisciplinary scientific research plan of Horizon 2020 and built the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) in 2008. As well, the developed countries (Germany, United Kingdom, and Nordic countries) established interdisciplinary scientific research agencies sequentially and promoted a series of interdisciplinary scientific research projects. In China, the concept of interdisciplinary scientific research was put forward by Dr. Xuesen Qian at National Interdisciplinary Conference in 1985. In 1997, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) initiated the Major Research Plan, which aims at solving the key fundamental problems in national strategy and exploring the scientific frontier in understanding the natural world with the assistance of interdisciplinary cooperation. Besides, the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) of China also started the National Key Research and Development Program (SKRD Program) in 2015 to break through the bottleneck of science and technology. Although the concept of developing interdisciplinary science is widely accepted all over the world, interdisciplinary research is still in the initial stage. Due to the division of different disciplines formatted in past decades, the barrier and prejudices between disciplines are inveteracy, which imposes the impediment on interdisciplinary cooperation. Further, the complexity of interdisciplinary scientific research reduces the willingness of scientists, especially young scientists, to work on interdisciplinary science. Even worse, the funding mechanism that conforms to the characteristics of interdisciplinary scientific research has not been formed and is still under exploration. How identifying the characteristics of interdisciplinary research and guiding/fostering its development with funding methodology are challenging. Established in October 2020, the Department of Interdisciplinary Sciences (DIS) at NSFC has clear mission and responsibility of promoting interdisciplinary scientific research in China. Since its establishment, DIS has experienced a process of pioneering explorations in a series of aspects to create the culture for accelerating interdisciplinary cooperation, such as initiating “top-down” design of projects, summarization of scientific issues, selection of outstanding projects, and training of potential talent, etc. To encourage more scientists to get involved in interdisciplinary scientific research, this article mainly introduces the operation mechanism of DIS including its duty, organizational structure, work culture, project settings, development goals, etc. Moreover, to better elaborate the difference between DIS and other departments in NSFC, the novel attempts in funding project management are also carefully summarized, such as the innovations in the proposed project application, proposal evaluations, and project management in the past two years. At last, this article provides the outlook on developing interdisciplinary scientific research, the difficulties encountered in the operation that are difficult to solve under the existing funding mechanism, and the challenges in promoting the development of interdisciplinary science in future. We hope this article can pave the way for developing interdisciplinary science and encouraging interdisciplinary talents in China.

Investigation of experimental observables in search of the chiral magnetic effect in heavy-ion collisions in the STAR experiment * *Supported by the US Department of Energy (DE-AC02-98CH10886, DE-FG02-89ER40531, DE-FG02-92ER40713, DE-FG02-88ER40424, DE-SC0012910, DE-SC0013391, DE-SC0020651), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (12025501, 11905059, 12075085), the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Science with (XDB34030200), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (CCNU19ZN019), the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) (2016YFE0104800) and the China Scholarship Council (CSC), Join Large-Scale Scientific Facility Funds of NSFC and CAS (U2032110), the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Nuclear Physics, within the framework of the Beam Energy Scan Theory (BEST) Topical Collaboration, the U.S. National Science Foundation (PHY-1913729), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Fonds de recherche du Québec - Nature et technologies (FRQNT) through the Programmede Bourses d'Excellencepour Étudiants Étrangers (PBEEE)

The chiral magnetic effect (CME) is a novel transport phenomenon, arising from the interplay between quantum anomalies and strong magnetic fields in chiral systems. In high-energy nuclear collisions, the CME may survive the expansion of the quark-gluon plasma fireball and be detected in experiments. Over the past two decades, experimental searches for the CME have attracted extensive interest at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The main goal of this study is to investigate three pertinent experimental approaches: the correlator, the R correlator, and the signed balance functions. We exploit simple Monte Carlo simulations and a realistic event generator (EBE-AVFD) to verify the equivalence of the core components among these methods and to ascertain their sensitivities to the CME signal and the background contributions for the isobar collisions at the RHIC.

Cisd2 plays an essential role in corneal epithelial regeneration.

BackgroundAge-related changes affecting the ocular surface cause vision loss in the elderly. Cisd2 deficiency drives premature aging in mice as well as resulting in various ocular surface abnormalities. Here we investigate the role of CISD2 in corneal health and disease.MethodsWe studied the molecular mechanism underlying the ocular phenotypes brought about by Cisd2 deficiency using both Cisd2 knockout (KO) mice and a human corneal epithelial cell (HCEC) cell line carrying a CRISPR-mediated CISD2KO background. We also develop a potential therapeutic strategy that targets the Ca2+ signaling pathway, which has been found to be dysregulated in the corneal epithelium of subjects with ocular surface disease in order to extend the mechanistic findings into a translational application.FindingsFirstly, in patients with corneal epithelial disease, CISD2 is down-regulated in their corneal epithelial cells. Secondly, using mouse cornea, Cisd2 deficiency causes a cycle of chronic injury and persistent repair resulting in exhaustion of the limbal progenitor cells. Thirdly, in human corneal epithelial cells, CISD2 deficiency disrupts intracellular Ca2+ homeostasis, impairing mitochondrial function, thereby retarding corneal repair. Fourthly, cyclosporine A and EDTA facilitate corneal epithelial wound healing in Cisd2 knockout mice. Finally, cyclosporine A treatment restores corneal epithelial erosion in patients with dry eye disease, which affects the ocular surface.InterpretationThese findings reveal that Cisd2 plays an essential role in the cornea and that Ca2+ signaling pathways are potential targets for developing therapeutics of corneal epithelial diseases.FundingThis study was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) and Chang Gung Medical Research Foundation, Taiwan.

MicroRNA let-7a, -7e and -133a attenuate hypoxia-induced atrial fibrosis via targeting collagen expression and the JNK pathway in HL1 cardiomyocytes

Abstract Background Atrial fibrillation (AF) is becoming an enormous public health challenge, and it is associated with major cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. There is a need for a better understanding of the causes and consequences of the hypoxia-related development of AF and atrial remodeling. Fibrosis is a hallmark of atrial structural remodeling. Micro-ribonucleic acids (miRNAs) have been reported to have an impact on the pathogenesis of cardiac diseases. Evidence that specific miRNAs can influence AF related to atrial structural remodeling and fibrosis via the modulation of collagens under myocardial hypoxic conditions is lacking. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of miRNAs in the modulation of fibrotic molecular mechanisms in response to hypoxic conditions, which may mediate atrial fibrosis. Methods Hypoxia was induced by cobalt chloride and hypoxia chamber respectively. MiRNA arrays were used to identify the specific miRNAs associated with the modulation of fibrotic genes. Luciferase assay, real-time polymerase chain reaction, immunofluorescence and Western blotting were used to investigate the effects of miRNAs on the expressions of the fibrotic markers collagen I and III (COL1A, COL3A) and phosphorylation levels of the stress kinase c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) pathway in cultured HL-1 atrial cardiomyocytes cell line. Results COL1A and COL3A were found to be the direct regulatory targets of miR-let-7a, miR-let-7e and miR-133a in hypoxic atrial cardiac cells in vitro. The expressions of COL1A and COL3A were influenced by treatment with miRNA mimic and antagomir. The delivery of miR-133a, miR-let-7a or miR-let-7e inhibited hypoxia-induced collagen expression. The JNK pathway was critical in the pathogenesis of atrial fibrosis. Inhibition of JNK phosphorylation (JNK inhibitor SP600125) could be able to increase expression of miRNAs and repressed the fibrotic markers COL1A and COL3A which in turn might reduce the arrhythmogenic atrial remodeling. This study highlights the important role of miRNA in hypoxia-related atrial remodeling as well as atrial fibrosis. Conclusion MiRNA let-7a, miR-let-7e and miR-133a play important roles in hypoxia-related atrial fibrosis by inhibiting collagen expression and post-transcriptional repression by the JNK pathway. These novel findings may lead to the development of new therapeutic strategies. Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding sources: Public grant(s) – National budget only. Main funding source(s): This work was supported by the grants from the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), Taiwan, ROC Regulation of cardiac fibrosisRegulation of collagen types by miRNAs

Integrated Analysis of the Combined Risk of Ground Subsidence, Sea Level Rise, and Natural Hazards in Coastal and Delta River Regions

Non-climate-related anthropogenic processes and frequently encountered natural hazards exacerbate the risk in coastal zones and megacities and amplify local vulnerability. Coastal risk is amplified by the combination of sea level rise (SLR) resulting from climate change, associated tidal evolution, and the local sinking of land resulting from anthropogenic and natural hazards. In this framework, the authors of this investigation have actively contributed to the joint European Space Agency (ESA) and the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) Dragon IV initiative through a project (ID. 32294) that was explicitly designed to address the issue of monitoring coastal and delta river regions through Earth Observation (EO) technologies. The project’s primary goals were to provide a complete characterization of the changes in target scenes over time and provide estimates of future regional sea level changes to derive submerged coastal areas and wave fields. Suggestions are also provided for implementing coastal protection measures in order to adapt and mitigate the multifactor coastal vulnerability. In order to achieve these tasks, well-established remote sensing technologies based on the joint exploitation of multi-spectral information gathered at different spectral wavelengths, the exploitation of advanced Differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (DInSAR) techniques for the retrieval of ground deformations, the realization of geophysical analyses, and the use of satellite altimeters and tide gauge data have effectively been employed. The achieved results, which mainly focus on selected sensitive regions including the city of Shanghai, the Pearl River Delta in China, and the coastal city of Saint Petersburg in Europe, provide essential assets for planning present and future scientific activities devoted to monitoring such fragile environments. These analyses are crucial for assessing the factors that will amplify the vulnerability of low-elevation coastal zones.

Institutional Framework for the Management of Human Genetic Resources in China.

China has made efforts toward the preservation and utilization of human genetic resources (HGRs). In recent years, in the face of various issues that have become increasingly prominent in HGR research, China has continuously strengthened legislation and ethics, and has initially established a relatively complete legal system and ethical guidelines. In the design of regulatory responsibilities, a multisectoral linkage of the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), the National Health Commission (NHC), the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA), and the National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) has been formed. In the supervision system, it includes a three-tier structure of Laws/Acts-Regulations-Guidance. In terms of management content, it mainly draws on the basic principles of international conventions such as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), and implements examination and approval filing management and ethical supervision of HGR research in China.

Monitoring Greenhouse Gases from Space

The increase in atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations of CO2 and CH4, due to human activities, is the main driver of the observed increase in surface temperature by more than 1 °C since the pre-industrial era. At the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Paris, most nations agreed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to limit the increase in global surface temperature to 1.5 °C. Satellite remote sensing of CO2 and CH4 is now well established thanks to missions such as NASA’s OCO-2 and the Japanese GOSAT missions, which have allowed us to build a long-term record of atmospheric GHG concentrations from space. They also give us a first glimpse into CO2 and CH4 enhancements related to anthropogenic emission, which helps to pave the way towards the future missions aimed at a Monitoring &amp; Verification Support (MVS) capacity for the global stock take of the Paris agreement. China plays an important role for the global carbon budget as the largest source of anthropogenic carbon emissions but also as a region of increased carbon sequestration as a result of several reforestation projects. Over the last 10 years, a series of projects on mitigation of carbon emission has been started in China, including the development of the first Chinese greenhouse gas monitoring satellite mission, TanSat, which was successfully launched on 22 December 2016. Here, we summarise the results of a collaborative project between European and Chinese teams under the framework of the Dragon-4 programme of ESA and the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) to characterize and evaluate the datasets from the TanSat mission by retrieval intercomparisons and ground-based validation and to apply model comparisons and surface flux inversion methods to TanSat and other CO2 missions, with a focus on China.

Building a Display Field Leader: SKL's Journey

IN THE 1990s, HONG KONG UNIVERSITY FOR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY'S (HKUST's) mission was to create a leading display research team. Today, the State Key Laboratory for Advanced Displays and Optoelectronics Technologies (SKL) at HKUST is a world-class institution in the display field. SKL is home to two luminaries: highly respected founder and Executive Director Hoi-Sing Kwok and Director Ching W. Tang, also known as one of the “Fathers of OLED.”** While working at Eastman Kodak in Rochester, NY, chemists Steven Van Slyke and Ching Wan Tang pioneered the first practical OLED application. Since its founding, SKL has garnered numerous prestigious awards and groomed students into successful alumni in both academia and industry. Back in 1992, Kwok, then a professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo, returned to Hong Kong. He seized an opportunity to join the fledgling HKUST because he had the “chance to build a world-class university from fresh.” To address the increasing interest in display research and Hong Kong's growing role, Kwok helped found the Centre for Display Research (CDR) in 1995. “In 1995, 20% of the displays in the world were made in Hong Kong in terms of area of ITO [indium tin oxide] glass,” recalls Kwok. CDR flourished, and in 2013, it was designated a Partner State Key Laboratory by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) of the Chinese Central Government. It was operated jointly by HKUST and Sun Yat-Sen University (China). Recognizing the lab's achievements and potential, MOST and Hong Kong's Innovation & Technology Bureau redesignated the Partner State Key Laboratory to the State Key Laboratory of Advanced Displays and Optoelectronics Technologies (SKL) in September 2018. SKL serves as a conduit in providing engineering research and consulting support to industry. Earning this distinction requires high-quality research teams and facilities with strong research and development programs. The recipe for SKL's success begins with its objectives: to be a leading display research center in China, to develop advanced displays and opto-electronic technologies through industrial and market collaborations, and to serve as an international platform for exchanging display research. The key ingredients for fulfilling these objectives are its noted leadership and faculty, modern facilities, funding, and partnerships with industry. The leadership team consists of Executive Director Kwok; Dr. William M.W. Mong, professor of nanotechnology and chair professor of electronic and computer engineering (ECE); Director Tang, the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) Bank of East Asia and professor and chair professor of ECE; and Vice-Director Man Wong, professor of ECE. Currently, the display group has 22 faculty members, 15 postdoctoral researchers, 11 research assistants, 25 Ph.D. students, 2 masters of philosophy students, and approximately 8–10 undergraduate final-year project students. Along with governmental support and funding, the lab has forged ties with companies such as Huawei, Samsung, and Apple. SKL, which is under the ECE department, focuses on five main research areas: thin-film transistors (TFTs); OLEDs; LCDs; video information processing and circuit design; and flexible, high-resolution silicon LED and nano-optoelectronics. Under this framework, research teams work in LCD and related display (Kwok); OLED development (Tang); quantum dots/quantum rods and LCD (Professor Abhishek Srivastava); TFTs (Wong); perovskite LEDs (Professor Zhiyong Fan); and LEDs and their applications (Professors Kei May Lau and Patrick Yue). The SKL faculty has earned numerous awards (Fig. 1)—of note are two Jan Rajchman Prizes, three Slottow–Owaki Prizes, the Kyoto Prize, and a JJ Thomson Medal (Lau was the first female recipient). Additionally, they have a National Academy of Inventors Fellow (Kwok), an inductee into the National Inventors Hall of Fame (Tang), and three SID Fellows. The lab has been quite productive, with more than 2,000 publications, 100 US patents, and 60 Chinese patents to date. The research team led by Professor Hoi-Sing Kwok (front right) and Assistant Professor Abhishek Srivastava (front left) that won the SID Best Prototype in Innovation Zone award (2018) for their development of an active-matrix field-sequential color-display panel, with a fast response time under low voltage, based on a ferroelectric LCD. Research is supported by facilities at HKUST and two of SKL's own labs. CDR not only provides a hands-on LCD manufacturing experience for students, but also supports the local industry. The Organic Electronics Laboratory houses advanced equipment, including a cluster tool for OLED degradation studies and deposition process development, to investigate OLED materials and devices and develop new technologies. Armed with distinguished faculty, researchers, and state-of-the art facilities, SKL provides a rich training ground for students. Their vision is simple: to educate students who will continue to conduct research in the display field and, in turn, will nurture more young talent. Teaching students, shares Lau, involves adapting her approach according to each student's aptitude and personality.1 The results have been impressive, with SKL alumni finding successful careers in academia and industry. Some have joined large display companies such as Huawei and Chi Mei Optoelectronics (Taiwan). Most have continued in academia, such as Professor Xiaowei Sun, chair professor and founding head of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUST, China). Sun, a SID Fellow, was the first Ph.D. student to graduate from CDR. He chose to study at CDR because it concentrated on LCD technology, which fit his background. Other alumni have started their own companies. Dr. Huajun Peng, founder and CEO of GOOVIS, was drawn to SKL because “Prof. Kwok is a world-famous expert in optics, display, and thin-film technology.” Peng's experience had a “great impact. The six years training in CDR/SKL helped build a solid base for my following career. I learned a lot, including theory, technical skill, hands-on experience, and logical training. I also built good relationships with professionals.” “HKUST/SKL is one of the ‘Holy Lands’ in the display area, especially in active matrix displays,” adds Dr. George Zhaojun Liu, associate professor of electrical and electronic engineering at SUST and the SID Peter Brody Prize winner in 2020. With SKL alumni Dr. Chengfeng Qiu and Sun, Liu co-founded Shenzhen SiTan Technology Limited, a leading microLED company in China. “It is my great honor to be a part of [SKL]. The active-matrix display-related knowledge I learned from SKL is the most important basic knowledge for [my] following microLED-related work.” Although they have graduated, alumni still maintain ties with SKL. Since graduating 15 years ago, Peng stays in close contact. He feels that SKL has “engaged in collaborations with industry and academics in Mainland China and has now become a leading display research center in China.” Clearly, SKL's accolades and awards in recent years are a robust indicator of how far they have come as pioneers in the field of active matrix displays (Fig. 2). Yet Kwok's team hopes to use this momentum to dig even further into active-matrix ferroelectric LCDs. They see potential in this technology to increase energy efficiency by 2–5 times and enhance image resolution by three times—and at a lower cost. “You can see we have [built a world-class university] together,” says Kwok. “I am glad to be a part of this achievement.” Technological advances developed at the State Key Laboratory for Advanced Displays and Optoelectronic Technologies (SKL): (left) conventional liquid crystal display (LCD) versus (right) a ferroelectric liquid crystal display (FLCD). The FLCD outperforms in both image resolution and color saturation.

Collaborations towards scientific breakthroughs

Dar-Bin Shieh is Deputy Minister of The Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), Taiwan, which supports and promotes innovations in science and technology. Before assuming his current position, Shieh previously occupied roles including; distinguished professor in the College of Medicine at National Cheng Kung University (NCKU); attending physician at NCKU Medical Center; Director of University Development at NCKU; and Founding Chair of the International Institute of Macromolecular Analysis and Nanomedicine Innovations (iMANI). Shieh and the MOST believe that science and technology should be developed for people, responding to society's needs, with a view to promoting the local economy and improving quality of life. The MOST is working towards a long-term national science and technology development roadmap that can assist with national development. The MOST is a proponent of the importance and value of international collaboration and has restructured its funding system to further encourage these collaborations. It also encourages cross-disciplinary collaboration, with a view to sparking innovation. Talent cultivation and recruitment are key challenges in scientific advancement and the MOST has initiated two talent recruitment programmes, including the Einstein and the Columbus programmes, to help encourage, foster and develop scientific talent in Taiwan.

Preliminary Study of Frequency-Variable Vibration Packing Fabrication for Atomized Metallic Particulate Fuel Using Surrogate Spherical Powder

1. This work was carried out under the National Nuclear R&D Program of the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) in the Republic of Korea.

Safety and Immunogenicity of Nanocovax, a SARS-CoV-2 Recombinant Spike Protein Vaccine

Background: Nanocovax is a recombinant severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 subunit vaccine composed of full-length prefusion stabilized recombinant SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoproteins (S-2P) and aluminum hydroxide adjuvant.Methods: We conducted a dose-escalation, open label trial (phase 1) and a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial (phase 2) to evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of the Nanocovax vaccine (in 25 microgram (mcg), 50 mcg, and 75 mcg doses, aluminum hydroxide adjuvanted). In phase 1, 60 participants received two intramuscular injection of the vaccine following dose-escalation procedure. The primary outcomes were reactogenicity and laboratory tests to evaluate the vaccine safety. In phase 2 which involved in 560 healthy adults, the primary outcomes are vaccine safety, and anti-S IgG antibody response. Secondary outcomes were surrogate virus neutralization, wild-type SARS-CoV-2 neutralization, and T-cell responses by intracellular staining (ICS) for interferon gamma (IFNg). Anti-S IgG and neutralizing antibody levels were compared with convalescent serum samples from symptomatic Covid-19 patients.Findings: For phase 1 study, no serious adverse events (SAE) were observed for all 60 participants. Most adverse events (AE) were grade 1 and disappeared shortly after injection. For phase 2 study, after randomization, 480 participants were assigned to receive the vaccine with adjuvant, and 80 participants were assigned to receive placebo. Reactogenicity was absent or mild in the majority of participants and of short duration (mean ≤3 days). Unsolicited adverse events were mild in most participants. There were no serious adverse events related to Nanocovax. Regarding the immunogenicity, Nanocovax induced robust anti-S antibody responses. In general, there humoral responses were similar among vaccine groups up to day 90. Anti S-IgG levels and neutralizing antibody titers at the peak response on day 42 were all higher than those of convalescent sera.Interpretation: Up to day 90, Nanocovax was found to be safe, well tolerated, and induced robust immune responses. 25 mcg was selected for a phase 3 trial to evaluate the vaccine efficacy.Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT04683484. NCT04683484, registration date in clinicaltrial.gov is Dec24, 2020, We has started our Phase 1 clinical trial in Vietnam on Dec 17, 2020,Funding: Research funded by Nanogen Pharmaceutical Biotechnology JSC., and the Ministry of Science and Technology of VietnamDeclaration of Interest: The following authors Thuy Phuong Nguyen, Hiep Khong, Tri Minh Le, Tuyen Thi Ngoc Trang, Thanh Thi Dinh, Thuong Van Vo, Thao Thi Thu Vu, Quynh Bao Phuong Nguyen, Vuong Tan Phan, Vinh The Tran, Mai Thi Nhu Tran, Truc Thi Thanh Nguyen, Phat Tan Ha, Hieu Trong Huynh, Khanh Duy Nguyen, Chung Chinh Doan, Thuan Trong Ung, Si Minh Do are employees of Nanogen Pharmaceutical Biotechnology JSC. All other authors declare no competing interests.Ethical Approval: The trials were designed and funded by Nanogen Pharmaceutical Biotechnology JSC and the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) of Vietnam. The trial protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee/Protocol Review Board of the Ministry of Health (Vietnam)

Very early detection of low dose anti-cancer therapy-related cardiotoxicity in lymphoma patients

Abstract Background and purpose Left ventricular (LV) global peak systolic longitudinal strain (GLS) by speckle-tracking echocardiography is a sensitive modality for the detection of subclinical LV systolic dysfunction and a powerful prognostic predictor. However, the clinical implication of LV GLS in lymphoma patients receiving anti-cancer therapy remains unknown. Methods We prospectively enrolled 74 patients (57.9±17.0 years old, 57% male) with lymphoma who underwent echocardiography prior to chemotherapy, post 3rd and 6th cycle and 1 year after chemotherapy. Cancer therapy-related cardiac dysfunction (CTRCD) is defined as the reduction of absolute GLS value from baseline of ≥15%. All the eligible patients underwent a cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET) upon completion of 3 cycles of anti-cancer therapy. The primary outcome was defined as a composite of all-cause mortality and heart failure events. Results Among 36 (49%) patients with CTRCD, LV GLS was significantly decreased after the 3rd cycle of chemotherapy (20.1±2.6% vs. 17.5±2.3%, p&amp;lt;0.001). In the multivariable analysis, male sex and anemia (hemoglobin &amp;lt;11 g/dL) were found to be independent risk factors of CTRCD. Objectively, patients with CTRCD had lower minute oxygen consumption/kg (VO2/kg) and lower VO2/kg value at anaerobic threshold in the CPET. The incidence of the primary composite outcome was higher in the CTRCD group than in the non-CTRCD group (hazard ratio 3.21; 95% CI, 1.04–9.97; p=0.03). Conclusion LV GLS is capable of detecting early cardiac dysfunction in lymphoma patients receiving anti-cancer therapy. Patients with CTRCD not only had a reduced exercise capacity but also a higher risk of all-cause mortality and heart failure events. Change of LVEF and GLS after cancer Tx Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding source: Public grant(s) – National budget only. Main funding source(s): The Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), Taiwan

Genetic Risk of Clozapine Induced Leukopenia and Neutropenia: A Genome-Wide Association Study

Background: Antipsychotics can improve psychotic symptoms, but treatment responses vary widely. Clozapine is considered to be the most effective antipsychotic medication for schizophrenia. However, it is also associated with several adverse effects such as metabolic syndrome and leukopenia. The mechanism of clozapine induced leukopenia (CIL) has not yet been fully elucidated. Genetic factors are likely to play an important role in the molecular basis, but most investigations have focused on individuals of European ancestry. In this manuscript, we report the first genome-wide association study (GWAS) of CIL and clozapine induced neutropenia (CIN) in a Chinese population. Methods: We performed a GWAS in up to 1,879 patients (225 CIL cases with WBC < 4,000 mm−3, including 43 CIN cases with ANC < 1500 mm−3, and 1654 controls) of Chinese descent. Data from common and rare single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were tested for association. We also performed a trans-ancestry meta-analysis with GWAS results of European individuals from the Clozapine Induced Agranulocytosis Consortium (CIAC). Findings: We identified several novel loci reaching the threshold of genome-wide significance level (P < 5 × 10−8). Three novel loci were associated with CIL while six were associated with CIN. We identified two T cell related genes in this study (TRAC and TRAT1). We also observed that one locus with evidence close to genome-wide significance (P = 5·08 × 10−8) was near the HLA-B gene in the major histocompatibility complex region in the trans-ancestry meta-analysis. Interpretation: Our results provide novel understanding of potential genetic and immune mechanisms for CIL and CIN. Funding Statement: This work was supported by the National Key RD Shanghai Youth Top-notch Talent Support Program to J.C., Shanghai Mental Health Center (2016-fx-02), Shanghai Municipal Commission of Science and Technology (17JC1402900, 17490712200, 18DZ2260200), Shanghai Municipal Health Commission (ZK2015B01, 201540114), Scientific Research and Development Fund of Shanghai Jiao Tong University (19X150010012), Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Major Project (2018SHZDZX05), Innovative Research Team of High-Level Local Universities in Shanghai and Shanghai Clinical Research Center for Mental Health (19MC1911100). R.S. is part-funded by: i) the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King’s College London; ii) a Medical Research Council (MRC) Mental Health Data Pathfinder Award to King’s College London; iii) an NIHR Senior Investigator Award; iv) the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Applied Research Collaboration South London (NIHR ARC South London) at King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. Declaration of Interests: We declare that we have no conflicts of interest. Ethics Approval Statement: In accordance with the principles in Declaration of Helsinki, the study was approved by the Ethics Committee at the Bio-X Institutes of Shanghai Jiao Tong University and the written informed consent was obtained from each participant. It is confirmed that the research complied with the Guidance of the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) for the Review and Approval of Human Genetic Resources.

Investigation of the Efficiency of Mask Wearing, Contact Tracing, and Case Isolation During the COVID-19 Outbreak

Background: Case isolation and contact tracing are two essential parts of control measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Recent studies have shown that asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic transmissions play an important role in the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, which makes outbreak control only through contact tracing and case isolation very difficult. Additional interventions, such as mask wearing, are required. There are various approaches to mask usage during the epidemic and, correspondingly, their effects on disease transmission may differ. We modelled the effects of different interventions on the disease spread and showed that high mask wearing coverage can lead to a better control of the outbreak, even in the absence of a lockdown.  Methods: A stochastic model of COVID-19 propagation was implemented in order to estimate the effectiveness of mask wearing in addition to case isolation and contact tracing. It is assumed that after isolation, an infected person cannot transmit the virus anymore. We varied the percentage of mask efficiency and the percentage of people wearing masks and investigated three different approaches towards mask usage: the mask prevents spreading of the infection, and an infected person only starts wearing it after the onset of symptoms; the mask prevents spreading and all people wear masks; all people wear masks, and the mask prevents spreading and protects healthy persons from getting infection. We estimated the effect of mask wearing together with other interventions on the basic reproduction number (R0) and calculated the effective reproduction number  after implementation of interventions. We also simulated the possibility of controlling the outbreak. An outbreak was defined as being controlled if it did not exceed a total of 5000 cases over three months and no new cases were found in the following fourth month.  Findings: For the 20 initial symptomatic cases, with 40% pre-symptomatic transmission and a R0  = 2·5 , the outbreak could not be controlled even with 100% contact tracing. Wearing of masks only after symptom onset added only a very small improvement on the pandemic situation and cannot be used to control the outbreak. When all people wear masks and it is assumed that a mask prevents spreading and protects healthy individuals, then there is almost 70% probability of outbreak control even without contact tracing. The probability of control increases with an increase in the number of traced contacts. As a result, with 60% efficiency of contact tracing, the outbreak can be controlled with almost 100% probability. When initial number of asymptomatic cases is equal to the number of symptomatic cases, then an almost completely controlled outbreak is achieved when 70% of all people wear masks and 60% of infected individuals (with symptoms) are traced. Similar results can be achieved for larger number of total initial cases.  Interpretation: With a large proportion of infectiousness before the onset of symptoms (40%) and the presence of asymptomatic cases, three investigated interventions (isolation of cases, contact tracing, and mask wearing by all people) are sufficient to control the disease spread within three months. A high probability of mask wearing by both infected and healthy people, even in presence of asymptomatic individuals, significantly increased the probability of controlling the outbreak even with only modest effectiveness of contact tracing. This shows that a second wave of COVID-19 could be avoided by tracing contacts and through the use of masks. Funding Statement: This work was supported in part by NHRI (National Health Research Institutes, Taiwan, project number BN-106-PP-08) and MOST (Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan, project number MOST 106 2115 M 400 001). Declaration of Interests: The authors declare no comparing interests.