Research Express@NCKU Volume 8 Issue 4 - April 10, 2009 [ http://research.ncku.edu.tw/re/news/e/20090410/1.html ] NCKU Has Produced the Prototype of an Affordable Non-Invasive Breast Cancer Early Detection Device News An affordable breast cancer detection device using NIR has produced its prototype and finished human body simulation test. Coordinated by Prof. Yonhua Tzeng,Vice President for Research and Development, this smart device is developed by the NCKU research team including Prof. Britton Chance and Prof. Shoko Nioka both of Institute of Innovation and Advanced Studies (IIAS), Prof. Julia Chung of Department of Electrical Engineering, Prof. Dar-Bin Shieh of Institute of Oral Medicine, Prof. Jeng-Ruey Horng (Southern Taiwan University), Dean Chyi-Her Lin of College of Medicine, Prof. Chao-Ching Huang of Institute of Molecular Medicine, and Dr. Lily Cheng of Department of Radiology. The leader Prof. Chance said that NCKU is the most efficient institution which can transform his lifetime scientific achievements into a medical device which can benefit all humans. The NIR breast cancer early detection and warning device employs 650-1050 nm light sources which can pass human tissues and detect potential cancerous cells. Due to variation in oxygen consumption rate, cancerous cells display abnormal scattering phenomenon. Exploiting this feature, the miniature version of hospital exam device can detect cancer cells by using a NIR light source LED consisting 7 different wavelength lights, light detectors sensing the light reflected from human tissues, an amplifier to amplify weak human body signals, a sample and hold part to keep the signals for processing, a low pass filter to reduce noise, an ADC DSP chip to process the data, a LCD panel to display the results and a SD card to store the results for further use. This device is non-invasive, affordable and handy. Women can use it for check-up at home even with their clothes on! The prototype will be tested in hospitals, medical colleges and universities around the world. After these clinical trials it can be commercialized to benefit all people. This technology can be made more flexible to be applied to brain cancer detection, glucose detection, etc. If its sensitivity and signal analysis functions can be strengthened, deeper abnormalities can also be detected with such device. With extensive work a prototype is finished during Dr. Chance's 3 weeks long stay at NCKU from March 20 to April 10. 1 of 2
Helen Chang The Banyan Editorial Office Photography by Ting-Wei Chen NCKU News Center 2 of 2
Research Express@NCKU Volume 8 Issue 4 - April 10, 2009 [ http://research.ncku.edu.tw/re/news/e/20090410/2.html ] Prof. Jow-Lay Huang Elected as Fellow of the American Ceramic Society News Distinguished Professor Jow-Lay Huang of Department of Materials Science and Engineering is awarded as fellow of the American Ceramic Society after being elected as a member of the Asia Pacific Academy of Materials (APAM). Prof. Huang is the 3 rd Taiwanese fellow of the ACerS during the past 100 years. The American Ceramic Society (ACerS) is a non-profit professional organization for the ceramics community, with a focus on scientific research, emerging technologies, and current applications in which ceramic materials are a key element. It is located in Westerville, Ohio. It currently comprises more than 7,500 members from 80 countries, with membership including engineers, scientists, researchers, manufacturers, plant personnel, educators, students, and marketing and sales representatives. As one of the most prominent professional organizations in the international materials science circle, most of the fellows are senior professionals in the US ceramic field. Each year, it only elects a few internationally renowned ceramic experts as fellows. Prof. Huang obtained his Ph.D. from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Utah, USA, in 1983, and worked in the industry in the US before he came back to Taiwan to further his career in the academia. Prof. Huang s specialized areas are ceramics and coating technology, including structural ceramics, ferroelectric and dielectric ceramics, mechanical properties of ceramics, thin film coating, microstructural analysis, nano materials, optical materials, materials design and processing, composites (CMC, MMC), semiconducting materials, and functional ceramics, etc. For a previous report on Prof. Huang, please link to the following webpage: http://proj.ncku.edu.tw/research/news/e/20090313/2.html. Helen Chang The Banyan Editorial Office 1 of 1
Research Express@NCKU Volume 8 Issue 4 - April 10, 2009 [ http://research.ncku.edu.tw/re/news/e/20090410/3.html ] NCKU Assoc. Prof. Cheng-Chien Liu Analyzed Musudan-ri Missile Test Site with Formosat-2 Imagery News N orth Korea launched one ballistic missile and has aroused worldwide attention. Taiwan's National Space Organization (NSPO) employed Formosat-2 to take images of the Korean Peninsula since March 28th and obtained 4 clear images until April 5th, among which the most representative one was taken 1 hour before the launch on the morning of April 5th. This image was further processed by the automatic image processing system developed by Assoc. Prof. Cheng-Chien Liu of the Department of Earth Sciences at NCKU to produce a 2m pan-sharpened image. Compared to the image taken by Digital Globe's QuickBird on April 3rd 2003, Assoc. Prof. Liu analyzed the newly constructed facilities at the Musudan-ri missile site over the past 6 years. He also integrated the simulated trajectory based on MIT's ballistic missile model with the platform of Google Earth to present a series of images on Musudan-ri missile test site facilities and 3D simulation images of the trajectories. These results enable us to gain a better understanding of the launch's threat to USA and Japan. Photo 1: The newly constructed facilities on the Musudan-ri missile site can be seen (marked in red) Photo 2: Overlaying Formosat-2 image on the Google Earth platform, Assoc. Prof. Liu presents 3D by comparing April 5th 2009 Formosat-2 image and image of Musudan-ri missile site's surrounding terrain. April 3rd 2003 QuickBird image. 1 of 3
Photo 3: Illustration of the simulated trajectory based on MIT's ballistic missile model. Photo 4: A 3D simulation of the trajectory of the launched missile the red line represents the missile's orbit, and the blue line represents civil airline's flight route. Photo 5: The launched missile will fly towards East Sea then over Japan. After dropping the 1 st fuel tank into the East Sea (white region 1), the rocket keeps on flying over Japan and drops into north Pacific Ocean 3000 kilometres away (white region 2). Photo 6: If the orbit is extended, it could reach Hawaii region. 2 of 3
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