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[Medicine] Taiwan Offers New Model to Predict Hepatitis C Cancer Risk (Chinese Version)

CNA – Focus Taiwan (2012/02/19) & The China Post (2012/02/20) A Taiwan-led research team has successfully devised a new prediction model to calculate the likelihood of hepatitis C patients developing liver cancer, the team leader Chien-jen CHEN, Vice President of Academia Sinica, said February 19.

The model incorporates indicators such as age, the liver function indexes ALT and AST, hepatitis C virus RNA in serum, cirrhosis and the genotype of the virus, said CHEN at a session of the Conference of the Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver held in Taipei.

CHEN said the serum data was particularly important in predicting the chances of developing liver cancer.

The model, which can predict a result with 80 percent accuracy, assigns a score on 0-25 scale to analyze each case. The higher the score, the higher the risk of getting liver cancer, CHEN said.

CHEN's team also launched a model in 2010 to calculate the chances of the hepatitis B virus developing into liver cancer.

In the future, the prediction models will be available on the Internet and in apps on smartphones to allow individuals to determine their own risk factor, CHEN said.


Further Information:
CNA – Focus Taiwan 2012/02/19
The China Post 2012/02/20

[BioTech Industry] Local Vaccine Manufacturer to Be Listed on Stock Market (Chinese Version)

CNA – Focus Taiwan (2012/02/06) Adimmune Corp., a local vaccine manufacturer in Central Taiwan, could be listed on the stock market in March at the earliest, a company official said February 6.

Adimmune Chairman Chi-shean CHAN made the remarks after the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corp. (TWSE) approved its application.

The company also announced several steps forward in its business, including the completion of clinical testing of influenza vaccine in Europe with Netherlands-based Crucell, with which Adimmune has an alliance.

The H5N1 vaccine, which completed animal testing late last year, is scheduled to go into human testing in the second quarter this year at the earliest.

In addition, the company's cell culture plant in the Central Taiwan Science Park (CTSP) is expected to complete construction in 2014 and to start production in 2015.


Further Information:
CNA – Focus Taiwan 2012/02/06

[International Cooperation] NCKU to Set Up Taiwan –Russian Research Center on Wave Dynamics (Chinese Version)

NCKU Realtime News (2012/02/08) To strengthen the academic research relationship between Taiwan and Russia, Tainan Hydraulics Laboratory (THL) and Research Center of Ocean Environment and Technology (RCOET), National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), plan to establish a transnational research center, “International Wave Dynamics Research Center, IWDRC, NCKU” for top wave dynamics fundamental research and application, the university announced recently.

The research group of IWDRC will include the THL and RCOET, NCKU from Taiwan side and the Moscow M.V. Lomonosov State University (MSU), Wave Research Center, A.M. Prokhorov General Physics Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences (WRC, GPIRAS) and P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences (IORAS) from the Russia side.

According to the project investigator of the center, Yang-Yih CHEN, a world-renowned scholar in the research of Non-linear Wave Dynamics and Director of THL, NCKU, the IWDRC will comprise three groups, namely, Theoretical Laboratory of Non-linear Wave Processes, Experimental Laboratory of Non-linear Wave Processes, Laboratory of Laser and Acoustic Remote Sensing of the Ocean.

THL will contribute to homeland security maintenance of Taiwan's domestic water conservancy and coastal and marine physics, chemistry, environmental background investigation, and to large-scale transnational study as well, according to Prof. Ray-Yeng YANG, the leader of international cooperation and research and development group of IWDRC, NCKU.


Further Information:
NCKU Realtime News 2012/02/08

[NeuroScience] Taiwan's New Finding Might Bring Hope for Brain Diseases (Chinese Version)

CNA – Focus Taiwan (2012/02/13) A research team in Taiwan has identified the brain cells responsible for the formation of long-term memory in fruit flies, which could pave the way for curing human brain diseases and enhancing memory, a member of the team said February 13.

After seven years of research, the team found that the formation of long-term memory requires the synthesis of new proteins in only a few cells in the brain of fruit flies, said the team leader, National Tsing Hua University Professor Ann-shyn CHIANG.

The team discovered that the long-term memory of fruit flies was impaired after inhibiting protein synthesis in two cells called the "dorsal-anterior-lateral (DAL) neurons," CHIANG said at a press conference.

Scientists had believed that memory, including long-term memory, was stored in the "mushroom bodies" of the brain but the team found that the long-term memory of fruit flies remained normal when protein synthesis was inhibited in the "mushroom bodies," CHIANG said.

The team discovered that several proteins in DAL neurons are necessary for the formation of long-term memory in fruit flies, CHIANG said.

"This discovery could help humans understand how protein and neurons form memory, and could be conducive to developing ways of curing human brain diseases and enhancing human memory," the professor said.

"It may even be applied to the development of intelligent computers," he added.

The team's findings have been published in the Feb. 10 edition of Science in the U.S.


Further Information:
CNA – Focus Taiwan 2012/02/13

[Medicine] 2012 Conference of the Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver (APASL) Takes Place in Taipei (Chinese Version)

CNA & National Education Radio (2012/02/16) At the 2012 Conference of the Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver (APASL) taking place this year in Taipei International Convention Center (TICC), Taipei from February 16 to February 19, over 3700 medical doctors and researchers from 56 countries gathered with 150 invited lectures and 1018 submitted papers. Taiwan's last hosting of the event was in 2002. Remarkably, the conference opened a special lecture series, “Juei-low Sung Lecture Series,” to honor the father of Taiwan's liver research Professor Juei-low SUNG's contribution to the liver study at a global level.

The conference theme this year was “Advancing Hepatology in New Era: Milestones and Perspectives,” during which new treatment guidelines for hepatitis B, hepatitis C and liver cancer, as well as those for non-alcoholic liver disease, such as fatty liver disease (FLD), were released.

As a conference participant, Academia Sinica's Academician Yun-Fan LIAW indicated, according to these new guidelines, the diagnostic benchmark of liver diseases has been readjusted; for instance, liver puncture is no longer suggested to be a necessary diagnostic measure, beside of which virus quantity, virus genes, and some other checks are also suggested to be part of the diagnostic basis.

Spokesman of the conference, who is also Superintendent of Kaohsiung Municipal Ta-Tung Hospital, Ming-lung YU said, during the conference, a set of personalized treatment guidelines determined with the study of hepatitis C genes and some proof supporting a micromolecular new drug against hepatitis B were announced to the public.

The first lecture of the honorary lecture series “Juei-low Sung Lecture Series” will take place this year as well. Juei-low SUNG, the 95-year-old professor at National Taiwan University, also very well known as the father of Taiwan's liver diseases study, brought Taiwan into the international society of liver study by finding the proof of hepatitis B virus to be the main cause of cirrhosis liver cancer in Taiwan, which led to the conclusion that the inoculation of hepatitis B vaccine prevents liver cancer.


Reference:
CNA 2012/02/16 (Chinese)
National Education Radio 2012/02/16 (Chinese)

[Sci-tech Policy] NSC Establishes Sci-tech Development Council (Chinese Version)

National Education Radio (2012/02/14) National Science Council (NSC) establishes Sci-tech Development Council in order to collect advices that support NSC's execution and promotion of the development of natural science, sustainability technology, engineering technology, life sciences, humanity and social sciences, science education, international cooperation and applied technology.

The formation of the advisory council will be profession-oriented. The council will offer suggestions with regard to NSC's subordinate charge-domains, helping with NSC's execution and sci-tech and academic promotion.

The concrete tasks assigned to the advisory council is to give professional advices that support the national policy-making with regard to sci-tech development, national sci-tech programs and other related sci-tech issues. NSC Minister will be the chairperson of the advisory council, and the council chairperson will invite the President of Academia Sinica or other recognized honorable sci-tech figure to take the seat of Head Councilor. The council will be made up of 19 councilors, including Chairperson and Head Councilor. NSC will invite local or foreign honorable sci-tech and academic figures to take the seats of the councilors. When necessary, Chairperson of the council will call for real assembly.


Reference:
National Education Radio 2012/02/14 (Chinese)

[Information] Ministry of Education Promotes Development of TANet IPv6 (Chinese Version)

Ministry of Education E-paper (2012/02/09) In order to respond to the academic IP shortage, Ministry of Education has already made and promoted a plan developing a next generation internet, allowing a seamless integration to IPv6 service for the present IPv4 users.

2011 is a critical year regarding the shortage of the distribution of IP's under Internet Protocol version 4, IPv4, the announcement of which was released on January 31 by IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority), an organization to assign IP's appointed by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers).

Facing the shortage of IPv4 addresses, Taiwan Academic Network, TANet, must take certain measures to satisfy the demand from the teaching and research in the future. Among the proposed measures, the best solution is to enable the users in the network to adopt IPv6 connections, namely to create an environment as well as to provide with updated equipment that are both friendly to the IPv6 connections, a standard that has already been set by the international organization. The present achievement of promotion is: the complete rate of the “dual protocols” (both IPv4 and IPv6) in the schools under junior high in fourteen counties or cities have reached 100%, while those in the other counties or cities have all also reached above 90%. Besides, the complete rate of the construction of IPv6-supporting DNS and WWW websites of the county or city education centers is 100%.

The service of TANet's backbone network has continued for more than twenty years. In the future, the service will continue and be upgraded to a 10 Gigabit Ethernet backbone network environment. Meanwhile, facing the forthcoming of IPv6 era, the IPv4 based IP routing environment will be replaced gradually by a dual stack of IPv4/IPv6 protocol environment, and TANet needs to accumulate relevant construction and maintenance experience so that the promotion of IPv6 to the schools could be smoothly carried out when necessary.


Related Historical Message:
[Information] IPv4 IP Addresses about to Be Used Up, Taiwan Educational Network Enters Ipv4/IPv6 Dual-Stack Era 2010/05/10


Further Information:
Ministry of Education E-paper 2012/02/09 (Chinese)

[Sci-tech Policy] Taiwan to Advance Schedule Opening Up 4G: NCC (Chinese Version)

China Times E-paper & udn.com (2012/02/10) Facing the emerging overcrowded telecommunications on broadband internet and mobile internet, Chairperson of National Communications Council (NCC) Herng SU told the press on February 9 that Taiwan must speed up the schedule opening up the fourth generation (4G) mobile internet for one to two years than the original plan. Vice Chairperson Cheng-Tsang CHEN explained, the 4G certificate will be issued one to two years earlier than the original plan, and three 15-year certificates will be issued in plan. Besides, the certificates NCC planned to issue this year included the ones for business area change of cable TV, with which the present cable TV companies will be allowed to broaden their business area to a nationwide level, while the fresh companies can also apply the nationwide certificate. NCC will begin the issue in the second half year.

According to the original plan by the Department of Posts & Telecommunications, Ministry of Transportation and Communications and NCC, the 4G certificate was planned to be issued in 2015 and become commercialized in 2017. However, seeing that the 4G business had already begun in the E.U. and the U.S., and that Korea and Japan also had begun the promotion, the top three telecommunication companies in Taiwan urged the government to advance the plan.

SU said, NCC also planned to speed up the schedule of 4G promotion as well; however, there are certain conditions for issuing the certificates: first, the frequency spectrum space needs to be obtained; second, the official 4G specifications need to be determined yet by the international telecommunication organizations; third, the government's regulations and related measures need to be set up yet. Although NCC does not have a concrete time table, said SU, the development must be speeding up for sure.

CHEN, also the NCC Spokeperson, said, three 4G certificates to be issued is reasonable for the present market environment, that it can create healthy competition in the market while the market share will be reasonable for the limited competitors. Besides, NCC will hope the authorized 4G companies can serve with the most advanced techniques, add to which NCC is also aware of the rarity of the frequency channels; hence, the certificate will be issued via open bidding.


Reference:
China Times E-paper 2012/02/10 (Chinese)
Udn.com 2012/02/10 (Chinese)

[Sci-tech Education] Girls' Senior High School Students Excelled at Taiwan International Science Fair (Chinese Version)

National Taiwan Science Education Center Newsletter & CNA (2012/02/10) 242 contestants from 17 countries took part in the award ceremony of 2012 Taiwan International Science Fair (TISF) at National Taiwan Science Education Center on February 10. Three Students from Taipei First Girls' High School and National Taichung Girls' Senior High School won Youth Science Award and received the award from President Ying-jeou MA.

Taiwan International Science Fair is an annual science exhibition and contest for students between the third grade at junior high school and the third grade at senior high school from all over the world. According to National Taiwan Science Education Center, this year, the fair has collected 135 pieces of works and 244 students from 17 countries. 41 professors from universities and research institutes formed a review board, and, via a two-stage review process on February 8 and 9, selected 84 winners in the fields of “mathematics,” “physics and space science,” “chemistry,” “geoscience,” “animal sciences,” “botany,” “microbiology,” “biochemistry,” “medicine and health,” “engineering,” “computer science,” and “environment science.” The winners from Taiwan included 9 first prizes, 11 second prizes, 11 third prizes and 25 fourth prizes; the winners from abroad included 2 first prizes, 6 second prizes, 8 third prizes and 12 fourth prizes. The students, schools and instructors of the winning works will receive certificates, trophies and prizes. Besides, 21 representative works for Taiwan to participate in the international science contests in the U.S., Russia, Canada, Hong Kong and Singapore were selected among the local winning works as well.

Three works were selected as the Youth Science Award winners this year, and two of them were works by girls' high school students from Taiwan. One is by Pinhan WANG (王品涵) and Chiarong HSU (許嘉容) at Taipei Girls' High School, a study on the impact of the different genetic expressions of LWD1/2 on different tissues on Arabidopsis's biological clock. The other is by Haochen WANG (王顥蓁) and Yunchu CHEN (陳韻竹) at National Taichung Girls' Senior High School, a study on the sudden stratospheric warming phenomenon in the northern hemisphere by means of FORMOSAT-3's air temperature data.

WANG and HSU's work on the impact of the different genetic expressions of LWD1/2 on different tissues on Arabidopsis's biological clock investigated the variation of the genetic expression of LWD1/2 respectively on the tissues of Arabidopsis's vascular bundles and leaves and the variation's impact on Arabidopsis's biological clock. According to National Taiwan Science Education Center Newsletter, the work is interesting and is believed to possess a potential of wide range innovative and valuable applications in agriculture.

WANG & CHEN's study on the sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) phenomenon in the northern hemisphere by means of FORMOSAT-3's air temperature data indicated that the phenomenon becomes conspicuous between the late winter and early spring; the phenomenon is not obvious in the lower air but obvious in the higher air above 30 km; the reaction to SSW is less rapid in lower latitude area, while in the area northern than 40 degrees north, the reaction is in direct proportion to the latitude.

According to the fair council, the contestant works this year showed that the global issues and realtime news were more noted, while the statistical analysis was more widely used. Besides, the application of the molecular methods in the field of biology also became more matured. In average, according to the chair of the council Rongyao LIN (林榮耀), we saw many excellences such as transcendent performance, creativity and applicability in most of the works this year, and the contestants all had done a great job.


Reference:
International Taiwan Science Education Center Newsletter 2012/02/10 (Chinese)
CNA 2012/02/10 (Chinese)

[Sci-tech Policy] NARL Proposes Five Annual Focuses in 2012 (Chinese Version)

CNA (2012/02/05) Following the national policy for sci-tech development, President of National Applied Research Laboratories (NARL) Wen-Hwa CHEN told the press that this year the affiliated institutes and laboratories will focus on five topics about people's liveliness and wellbeing or economic development, especially highlighting the elevation of disaster prevention and damage reduction technology and the support for industrial development. The five annual goals are: to develop disaster prevention technology, to develop self-reliant space technology, to support national marine survey, to construct cloud computing platform and to promote 12-8 nano technology.

Regarding the disaster prevention technology, CHEN pointed out that in response to the growing frequency of the visiting compound disasters around the world during the past few years, NARL will cope with the Executive Yuan's plan of disaster prevention technology and application and intensify the integration of its affiliated resources, enhancing the research and development capacity against compound disasters and reducing the possible damage and lost.

As for the self-reliant space technology, CHEN said that National Space Organization (NSPO), Instrument Technology Research Center and National Chip Implementation Center will continue the development of FORMOSAT -5 as the implementation of the policy

Besides, Taiwan Ocean Research Institute planned to build a 2700-ton research vessel OR-5 (Ocean Research), which will be the biggest advancing marine research vessel in Taiwan. The vessel's operation will begin in this July.

According to CHEN, OR-5 will provide services such as early observation of marine disasters, marine ecology protection, nature resources survey and homeland security, etc.

National Center for High-Performance Computing will follow the Executive Yuan's Development Plan for Cloud Computing Industry, investing in the development of the environment and technology of cluster software and trying to build a large cluster clouding system.

CHEN said, in the following months, National Nano Device Laboratories will form an 12-8 nano devices r&d affiliation with the industries, promoting the 12-8 nano technology and getting ready the patent array as well as the obtainment of core technologies. With the affiliation, the elevation of the r&d capacity of Taiwan's semi-conductor industries was expected.


Related Historical Messages:
[Aerospace] Formosat-5 Equipped with Domestically-Made Remote Sensing Instrument, Making a Milestone for Taiwan's Autonomy of Aerospace Technology 2010/02/03
[Space Technology] NSC Approves NSPO's Accomplishment 2011/11/18
[Marine Technology] “Ocean Researcher V” to Enhance the Level of Taiwan's Ocean Research 2011/06/12
[Cloud Computing] ITRI Sets up Cloud Computing Research Center 2009/09/20


Reference:
CNA 2012/02/05 (Chinese)

[Environment Policy] EPA Proposes Using Trash in Reclamation Projects (Chinese Version)

Taipei Times (2012/01/10) The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) proposed a new land reclamation project on January 9 that would make use of solid waste and garbage as part of an effort to help solve the nation’s waste disposal problems.

The land reclamation plan would increase the country’s coastline and ease pressure on waste disposal processes and the nation’s old landfills, which are inadequate and nearly filled to capacity, causing rampant illegal dumping, Environmental Protection Administration Minister Stephen SHEN (沈世宏) said during a meeting.

According to the agency, Taiwan generates between 3.8 million and 7 million cubic meters of waste that needs to be disposed of each year. It added that this would become an issue when the few remaining dump sites are full, which could happen in just a few years. The agency said its proposal, which is to be trialed at seaports first, was intended to draw on the experiences of Japan and Singapore in using waste to reclaim land.

Aside from the technical details about how land would be reclaimed, the agency said that such a project would require the approval of the Executive Yuan before it could be carried out.


Reference:
Taipei Times 2012/01/10

[Intensive Agriculture] Floral Cultivation Zones Help Taiwan's Exports Hit a Record High (Chinese Version)

Taipei Times (2012/01/11) The nation’s floral exports hit a record NT$5.18 billion (US$173 million) last year thanks to the establishment of floral cultivation zones, the Agriculture and Food Agency said yesterday. The agency said the figure represents 18 percent growth from 2010.

The 19 floral cultivation zones for phalaenopsis, dancing-doll orchids and eustoma, chrysanthemum and flamingo flowers, set up in Taichung and six other cities and counties last year, exported 40.82 million stems worth NT$650 million.

“This shows that the establishment of floral cultivation zones has produced cluster effects, resulting in the upgrading of both quality and quantity,” the agency said in a statement.

To promote floral exports, the agency started to set up floral demonstration zones in major floral production areas in 2007 and expanded them into floral cultivation zones in 2009.

Meanwhile, Kuo-ming CHEN (陳國明), the head of a flower production and marketing group in Huwei Township (虎尾), Yunlin County, spoke of his experience growing eustoma. He said the species has shown steady growth in exports.

“Taiwan exported 1.26 million stems of eustoma five years ago, a number that increased to 6.4 million stems last year,” CHEN said. HE predicted that this year’s exports could reach between 8 million and 9 million stems, with Japan the largest market.

The agency said it would continue to introduce sophisticated and environmentally friendly automated production equipment to upgrade the zones’ efficiency and step up its collection of information on international floral markets.

The agency said it would stabilize the major export markets of Japan, the US, the Netherlands and South Korea, while tapping into new emerging markets, such as Australia, China and Russia.


Reference:
Taipei Times 2012/01/11

[Industrial] Taiwan Telecom Tech Expo to Attract Industry Giants (Chinese Version)

The China Post (2012/01/27) HTC Corp., Acer Inc. and Asustek Computer Inc. will take part in a telecom show in Taipei for the first time to display cutting-edge smartphones and notebook computers.

The Taipei Telecom Applications Show, which has been on hiatus for five years, will be held February 10-13 in Taipei with nearly 100 local exhibitors occupying 300 booths, said the Taipei Computer Association (TCA), which is organizing the event.

Exhibitors at the four-day fair will include mobile providers Chunghwa Telecom Co., Taiwan Mobile Co., Far EasTone Telecommunications Co. and Vibo Telecom Inc., as well as WiMAX wireless broadband operators Vee Time Corp. and Global Mobile Corp., the TCA said.

HTC will also join the line-up to showcase smartphones running on Google Inc.'s Android software and Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Mango Phone system, while Acer and Asustek are expected to promote their new “ultrabooks,” a thin and light laptop category.

Given that improvements in wireless broadband and value-added services have become key factors driving end-user equipment sales, this year's show will switch the focus to software and mobile applications, the TCA said.

A music competition in which participants must use tablet computers or other mobile devices to play and compose music instead of using real instruments will also be held during the show, according to the TCA.


Reference:
The China Post 2012/01/27

[Digital Reading] 'Green Reading' at Heart of 2012 Taipei Book Fair (Chinese Version)

CNA - Focus Taiwan (2012/01/27) The 2012 Taipei International Book Exhibition, one of Asia's major book fairs, will feature the evolution of reading styles and "green lives" as major topics during the February 1-6 show, with an array of workshops and seminars, according to the organizers.

The "green lives" section of the exhibition, at the Taipei World Trade Center, will showcase trends in digital reading through the use of technology such as e-readers and cloud-computing devices that allow "green" storage of knowledge and literature, said the Taipei Book Foundation.

Gunter PAULI, founder of the Zero Emissions Research and Initiatives (ZERI) Foundation, will give an address at the fair to promote new concepts in sustainable development of society and natural ecology.

This year's fair will also bring together authors from countries around the world who will present their concerns and practices about "green life," the foundation said.

The six-day event will include a variety of seminars on topics such as international publishing, digital reading and the development of digital content applications to improve exchanges in the global publishing sector.

This year's fair has seen over 400 registrations by publishers from 60 countries around the world. It attracted a record number of 590,000 visitors last year.


Reference:
CNA - Focus Taiwan 2012/01/27

[Disaster Prevention] NARL Develops Onsite Earthquake Warning System (Chinese Version)

CNA (2012/01/26) To cope with the high frequency of earthquakes in Taiwan, National Applied Research Laboratories (NARL) develops an onsite earthquake early warning system, which could issue prompt alerts via broadcast or subtitle machines to the public when an earthquake is sensed.

NARL points out, the data since 1736 indicates that one catastrophic earthquake may occur to Taiwan, the island in the circum-Pacific seismic belt, every 15 to 20 years.

As efficient earthquake forecast is still missing, the early warning is best, as widely considered, to rely on the transmission feature of seismic waves, namely, to capture P waves, which go faster yet with lower destructive power than the following stronger S waves, and earn the critical few seconds for people to protect themselves before strong tremors arrive.

According to NARL, the time earned could be between a few seconds and several tens of seconds regarding the distance of the epicenter.

NARL points out, Japan has developed and used some similar warning systems for years and they showed excellent performance in 311 Earthquake in Japan.

NARL says, the development of the present onsite earthquake early warning system is a cooperation achievement between its National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering and National Science and Technology Center for Disaster Reduction, together with Central Weather Bureau's collected data and data from the present onsite earthquake monitoring equipment.

Research Fellow at National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering Pei-yang LIN says, the construction of the system costs about three hundred thousand to five hundred thousand NT dollars. Most of the completed constructions are equipped at schools. When an earthquake comes, the alert would be issued via broadcast and subtitle machines so that the students and teachers would gain a few valuable seconds for necessary measures.

LIN says, there are already nine sites equipped with the system, including elementary schools, junior high schools, university, train station and security company in Taipei, Yilan, Hualien and Chiayi. The next site will be located either in Yilan or Chiayi.


Further Information:
CNA 2012/01/26 (Chinese)