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Brand-new healthy ice-cream = 新式健康雪糕
No full textAn innovative and “Brand-New Healthy Ice-Cream” made from plant proteins instead of the usual milk protein is good news to people with health problems. The extracted plant protein in the new ice-cream exhibits good emulsifying and foaming properties, making it a healthier alternative. Produced by an ice-cream machine, the product is also rich in texture. In addition, healthy plants, such as Chinese Hawthorn Berry (山楂), can be used as ingredients which are healthier than traditional ice- cream and help lower cholesterol levels. People with special dietary needs can now enjoy tasty ice cream without worry
Smart robotic companion for the elderly 2.0 = 長者「智」友2.0
No full textThe first generation of the Smart Robotic Companion debuted in InnoCarnival 2015. After continuous refinement and improvement, the “Smart Robotic Companion for the Elderly 2.0” has been formally launched. Version 2.0 continues to play to its strength as a “health-monitor” for the elderly. Instead of appearing in a robot mode, version 2.0 can be installed on a tablet. The production cost of the upgraded version has been significantly reduced and the product is more affordable than before thus benefitting more aged users
Speaking of design experiences: a phenomenological inquiry into the everyday aesthetic discourse in design representation
No full textThis project exhibits an experimental art installation as part of the deliverables of our interpretive study on design creativity, which aims to understand how designers assign meanings, memories, and personal stories inculcating into their design identity as a ‘life project’. The idea of the art installation is inspired by the phenomenological interviews with a group of international textile designers and fashion artists as well as the observations in several wool felting workshops with a group of Hong Kong-based fashion design students. The art installation visually documents the flow of experience, ideas, and production during the design process. Interactions and dialogues between designers and materials, ideas, lived experience are also presented through documentaries as a part of the art installation. Our research findings and interpretations showcase three aesthetic themes, namely ‘feeling the material, feeling your design’, ‘design as an introspective process’, and ‘design as co-creation of social experiences’. This research contributes to address the link between designers’ aesthetic discourse in everyday life as well as their personal narratives during the design creation process. More importantly, we demonstrate the possibilities of translating interpretative findings to art installation in the field of fashion and textile design
How science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) project-based learning improves student learning
Get PDFThe purpose of this paper is to examine how extra-curricular and academic performance is affected by student participation in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) under project-based learning (PBL) activities. General observation and quantitative analysis was used to evaluate the two aspects. A solar car team project under the philosophy of STEM and PBL is developed and more than two hundred students from electrical and mechanical engineering field participated in the team project and learnt the STEM PBL core value. The team aims to develop a solar-powered vehicle to demonstrate the viability of a renewable energy through the use of green transportation, to promote the awareness of environmental sustainability among the public. It also provides students with an opportunity to put theoretical knowledge into practice, gain hands-on experience, and practice project management skills during development, and thus leading student to understanding science and new technology; and practising engineering skills and mathematics. Till now, six solar vehicles were built with the massive efforts of students. Moreover, design thinking process is adopted to engage and motivate students to learn and develop in the team. The entire process includes the following steps: ‘Empathize’, allowing students to learn about their audience for their designing process; ‘Define’, constructing a point of view that is based on user needs and insights; ‘Ideate’, brainstorming and coming up with creative solutions; ‘Prototype’, building a rePresentation of one or more of student ideas to show to others and ‘test’, returning to original user group and testing their ideas for feedback. The team students showed significantly growth rates on research, planning, project implementation and reporting. The team also assists students’ further STEM studies and STEM career planning, and the nurturing of diversified talents with a range of capabilities at different levels in STEM knowledge development. In addition, the team organizes solar car workshops and demonstrations, and supervises group projects for secondary school students. Result of the study implied that STEM with PBL in school benefitted students in that they achieved a greater extension on extra-curricular and academic aspect, especially gaining more solid knowledge in technology and engineering
Genetic effects of multiple asthma loci identified by genomewide association studies on asthma and spirometric indices
No full textBackground: Genomewide association study (GWAS) published by GABRIEL consortium identified 10 asthma-associated loci. However, their relationship with lung functions is unclear. This study investigated the association between asthma traits and single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of these GWAS loci.
Methods: Rs3894194 and rs9273349 were not genotyped due to unavailable TaqMan assays. Genetic associations of remaining eight SNPs were investigated in 903 school-age asthmatics and 1205 non-allergic controls. Four significant SNPs were then replicated in 479 adult asthmatics and 746 adult controls, and 1341 Chinese preschool children. Meta-analyses were performed by combining data from school-age children and adults. Generalized multifactor dimensionality reduction (GMDR) was used to analyze their interactions for asthma traits.
Results: Childhood asthma was associated with GSDMB_rs2305480 (odds ratio [OR] 0.69, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.57–0.83). IL13_rs1295686 was associated with all asthma (OR 1.64, 95% CI 1.16–2.32) and early-onset asthma (OR 1.92, 95% CI 1.20–3.06) in adults, whereas GSDMB_rs2305480 was only associated with early-onset asthma (OR 0.69, 95% CI 0.49–0.96). According to meta-analyses, the minor allele of rs2305480 was inversely associated with FEV1, FVC, and FEV1/FVC (p \u3c 0.01). GMDR analyses revealed 2-locus models of SLC22A5 with SMAD3 to modulate FEVt/FVC in both preschool children and adults, with IL13 to determine FVC in both school-age children and adults, and with IL2RB to modulate FEV1/FVC in school-age children.
Conclusions: IL13 and GSDMB are replicated as asthma genes. Rs2305480 of GSDMB is also associated with low FEV1, FVC, and FEV1/FVC among asthmatics. Moreover, SLC22A5, IL13, SMAD3, and GSDMB interact to modulate spirometric indices
