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KAIST and Hancom Sign for Development of Mobile Healthcare
KAIST signed a memorandum of understanding with Hancom, Inc., an office suite developer in Korea, to foster mobile healthcare software programs. President Steve Kang and Chairman Sang-Chul Kim of Hancom held a signing ceremony on March 13, 2015 at the KAIST campus.
Based on the agreement, KAIST and Hancom will exchange research personnel to build Dr. M, a smart healthcare platform developed by the university, collaborate in research and development, and cooperate in the transfer of research developments from the university to the software industry including Hancom.
KAIST and Hancom also signed a memorandum of understanding on the development of software in April 2014. The Hancom-KAIST Research Center opened on campus last October.
2015.03.20 View 8468 -
'Dr. M,' Mobile Healthcare Showroom Opened at KI
Portable and wearable computers have made the way we manage our health easier and potentially more effective. Researchers from six departments and one graduate school at KAIST collaborated and conducted a one-year project called the “Mobile Healthcare Innovation” to develop a mobile healthcare system. Their research results are on exhibit on campus at the “Dr. M Showroom” which was open on March 13, 2015.
Located on the second floor of the College of Information and Electrical Engineering building, the showroom displays the entirety of mobile healthcare system developed during 2014, from the collection of biological data through smart sensors to analyzing big data to provide customized healthcare models for patients.
Standing in for a mobile doctor, Dr. M is a networked medical service system provided through the Internet of Things (IoC), wearable electronics, smart home, and smart car. Under this care, people can monitor their health on a daily basis at any-time and place, helping them to lower the risk of serious health problems. Patients who have chronic diseases such as diabetes or cardiovascular illness can inform doctors of their health status in real time. Moreover, people living in remote regions can receive quality medical services without traveling long distances.
At the showroom, about 40 convergence technologies are displayed, including biological sensors, low-power communication devices, IoC technology, big data, disease analysis, and prediction technology, presenting how these technologies are connected and worked systematically. For example, all the data earned from biological sensors are analyzed to produce relevant user information. Once abnormalities are discovered, the results would be sent immediately to medical staff for treatment.
As part of Dr. M, KAIST has been implementing the establishment of a “Mobile Healthcare Campus,” distributing small, wearable wristbands to 100 students. The wristbands read students’ biological signals and send them to researchers for monitoring. In addition, KAIST plans to collaborate with local hospitals, nursing care centers, communications, and mobile healthcare service providers for the commercialization of Dr. M system.
Professor Hoi-Jun Yoo of the Electrical Engineering Department, who has led the Mobile Healthcare Innovation project said, “One of the great advantages Dr. M can offer is the capability to customize healthcare service based on individuals and ages. For individuals in their twenties, for example, healthcare services such as skincare and diet programs will be more relevant whereas blood pressure monitoring for patients in their fifties and early diagnosis for the recurrence of diseases for those in their seventies. If we define human history in terms of major technology advancements, the first big one was computation, communication for the second, and I think ubiquitous healthcare will be the third one. We will continue to develop Dr. M in collaboration with medical and research organizations.”
A total of 32 professors from the Departments of Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Industrial and Systems Engineering, Industrial Design, Web Science, Knowledge Service Engineering, and the Information Security Graduate School participated in the Mobile Healthcare Innovation project.
2015.03.17 View 9962 -
Emeritus Professors' Social Service for Embracing Multicultural Families
Korea has become a melting pot over recent years, with many families embracing diverse nationalities, cultures, and ethnicities. A group of KAIST emeritus professors volunteered to help these multicultural families, which are often formed through international marriages, better cope with life in Korea by creating a continuing education program called “Multicultural Mother School.”
The school admitted a total of ten non-Korean mothers for its first class and held an entrance ceremony for the students on March 14, 2015, at the IFC Hope Church in Daejeon. Classes began since March 16, 2015, offering the first lecture to students remotely via the Internet.
Professor Emeritus Byung-Kyu Choi, who organized the volunteering program and is the director of the Multicultural Mother School, said, “About 5% of newborns in Korea currently come from multicultural families. It is important that we should support them to assimilate well into the Korean society. Since 60% of multicultural children have yet to enter the public school system, particularly at the elementary schools level, offering their mothers opportunities to learn more about Korea will serve a greater good.”
2015.03.14 View 5767 -
KAIST Introduces New UI for K-Glass 2
A newly developed user interface, the “i-Mouse,” in the K-Glass 2 tracks the user’s gaze and connects the device to the Internet through blinking eyes such as winks. This low-power interface provides smart glasses with an excellent user experience, with a long-lasting battery and augmented reality.
Smart glasses are wearable computers that will likely lead to the growth of the Internet of Things. Currently available smart glasses, however, reveal a set of problems for commercialization, such as short battery life and low energy efficiency. In addition, glasses that use voice commands have raised the issue of privacy concerns.
A research team led by Professor Hoi-Jun Yoo of the Electrical Engineering Department at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) has recently developed an upgraded model of the K-Glass (http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-02/tkai-kdl021714.php) called “K-Glass 2.”
K-Glass 2 detects users’ eye movements to point the cursor to recognize computer icons or objects in the Internet, and uses winks for commands. The researchers call this interface the “i-Mouse,” which removes the need to use hands or voice to control a mouse or touchpad. Like its predecessor, K-Glass 2 also employs augmented reality, displaying in real time the relevant, complementary information in the form of text, 3D graphics, images, and audio over the target objects selected by users.
The research results were presented, and K-Glass 2’s successful operation was demonstrated on-site to the 2015 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) held on February 23-25, 2015 in San Francisco. The title of the paper was “A 2.71nJ/Pixel 3D-Stacked Gaze-Activated Object Recognition System for Low-power Mobile HMD Applications” (http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/Xplore/home.jsp).
The i-Mouse is a new user interface for smart glasses in which the gaze-image sensor (GIS) and object recognition processor (ORP) are stacked vertically to form a small chip. When three infrared LEDs (light-emitting diodes) built into the K-Glass 2 are projected into the user’s eyes, GIS recognizes their focal point and estimates the possible locations of the gaze as the user glances over the display screen. Then the electro-oculography sensor embedded on the nose pads reads the user’s eyelid movements, for example, winks, to click the selection. It is worth noting that the ORP is wired to perform only within the selected region of interest (ROI) by users. This results in a significant saving of battery life. Compared to the previous ORP chips, this chip uses 3.4 times less power, consuming on average 75 milliwatts (mW), thereby helping K-Glass 2 to run for almost 24 hours on a single charge.
Professor Yoo said, “The smart glass industry will surely grow as we see the Internet of Things becomes commonplace in the future. In order to expedite the commercial use of smart glasses, improving the user interface (UI) and the user experience (UX) are just as important as the development of compact-size, low-power wearable platforms with high energy efficiency. We have demonstrated such advancement through our K-Glass 2. Using the i-Mouse, K-Glass 2 can provide complicated augmented reality with low power through eye clicking.”
Professor Yoo and his doctoral student, Injoon Hong, conducted this research under the sponsorship of the Brain-mimicking Artificial Intelligence Many-core Processor project by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning in the Republic of Korea.
Youtube Link:
https://www.youtube.com/watchv=JaYtYK9E7p0&list=PLXmuftxI6pTW2jdIf69teY7QDXdI3Ougr
Picture 1: K-Glass 2
K-Glass 2 can detect eye movements and click computer icons via users’ winking.
Picture 2: Object Recognition Processor Chip
This picture shows a gaze-activated object-recognition system.
Picture 3: Augmented Reality Integrated into K-Glass 2
Users receive additional visual information overlaid on the objects they select.
2015.03.13 View 15473 -
The Real Time Observation of the Birth of a Molecule
From right to left: Dr. Kyung-Hwan Kim, Professor Hyotcherl Lhee, and Jong-Gu Kim, a Ph.D. candidate
Professor Hyotcherl Lhee of the Department of Chemistry at KAIST and Japanese research teams jointly published their research results showing that they have succeeded in the direct observation of how atoms form a molecule in the online issue of Nature on February 19, 2015.
The researchers used water in which gold atoms ([Au(CN) 2- ]) are dissolved and fired X-ray pulses over the specimen in femtosecond timescales to study chemical reactions taking place among the gold atoms. They were able to examine in real time the instant process of how gold atoms bond together to become a molecule, to a trimer or tetramer state.
This direct viewing of the formation of a gold trimer complex ([Au(CN) 2- ] 3 ) will provide an opportunity to understand complex chemical and biological systems.
For details, please see the following press release that was distributed by the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization, KEK, in Japan:
Direct Observation of Bond Formations
February 18, 2015
A collaboration between researchers from KEK, the Institute for Basic Science (IBS), the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), RIKEN, and the Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (JASRI) used the SACLA X-ray free electron laser (XFEL) facility for a real time visualization of the birth of a molecular that occurs via photoinduced formation of a chemical bonds. This achievement was published in the online version of the scientific journal “Nature” (published on 19 February 2015).
Direct “observation” of the bond making, through a chemical reaction, has been longstanding dream for chemists. However, the distance between atoms is very small, at about 100 picometer, and the bonding is completed very quickly, taking less than one picosecond (ps). Hence, previously, one could only imagine the bond formation between atoms while looking at the chemical reaction progressing in the test-tube.
In this study, the research group focused on the process of photoinduced bond formation between gold (Au) ions dissolved in water. In the ground state (S 0 state in Fig. 1) Au ions that are weakly bound to each other by an electron affinity and aligned in a bent geometry. Upon a photoexcitation, the S 0 state rapidly converts into an excited (S 1 state in Fig. 1) state where Au-Au covalent bonds are formed among Au ions aligned in a linear geometry. Subsequently, the S 1 state transforms to a triplet state (T 1 state in Fig. 1) in 1.6 ps while accompanying further contraction of Au-Au bonds by 0.1 Å. Later, the T 1 state of the trimer converts to a tetramer (tetramer state in Fig. 1) on nanosecond time scale. Finally, the Au ions returned to their original loosely interacting bent structure.
In this research, the direct observation of a very fast chemical reaction, induced by the photo-excitation, was succeeded (Fig. 2, 3). Therefore, this method is expected to be a fundamental technology for understanding the light energy conversion reaction. The research group is actively working to apply this method to the development of viable renewable energy resources, such as a photocatalysts for artificial photosynthesis using sunlight.
This research was supported by the X-ray Free Electron Laser Priority Strategy Program of the MEXT, PRESTO of the JST, and the the Innovative Areas "Artificial Photosynthesis (AnApple)" grant from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS).
Publication: Nature , 518 (19 February 2015)
Title: Direct observation of bond formation in solution with femtosecond X-ray scattering
Authors: K. H. Kim 1 , J. G. Kim 1 , S. Nozawa 1 , T. Sato 1 , K. Y. Oang, T. W. Kim, H. Ki, J. Jo, S. Park, C. Song, T. Sato, K. Ogawa, T. Togashi, K. Tono, M. Yabashi, T. Ishikawa, J. Kim, R. Ryoo, J. Kim, H. Ihee, S. Adachi. ※ 1: These authors contributed equally to the work.
DOI: 10.1038/nature14163
Figure 1. Structure of a gold cyano trimer complex (Au(CN) 2 - ) 3 .
Figure 2. Observed changes in the molecular structure of the gold complex
Figure 3. Schematic view of the research of photo-chemical reactions by the molecular movie
2015.02.27 View 11279 -
KAIST Develops Subminiature, Power-Efficient Air Pollution Sensing Probe
Professor Inkyu Park and his research team from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at KAIST have developed a subminiature, power-efficient air-pollution sensing probe that can be applied to mobile devices. Their research findings were published online in the January 30th issue of Scientific Reports.
As air pollution has increased, people have taken greater interest in health care. The developed technology could allow people to measure independently the air pollution level of their surrounding environments.
Previous instruments used to measure air pollution levels were bulky and consumed a lot of power. They also often produced inaccurate results when measuring air pollution in which different toxic gases were mixed. These problems could not be resolved with existing semiconductor manufacturing process.
Using local temperature field control technology, Professor Park’s team succeeded in integrating multiple heterogeneous nanomaterials and fitting them onto a small, low-power electronic chip. This microheating sensor can heat microscale regions through local hydrothermal synthesis. Because it requires a miniscale amount of nanomaterials to manufacture, the sensor is most suitable for mobile devices.
Professor Park said, “Our research will contribute to the development of convergence technology in such field as air pollution sensing probes, biosensors, electronic devices, and displays.”
The team's research was supported by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, Republic of Korea.
Figure 1 – The Concept of Multiple Nanomaterial Device and Numerical Simulation Results of Precursor Solutions
Figure 2 - Multiple Nanomaterial Manufactured in a Microscale Region
2015.02.27 View 9567 -
Dr. Dong-Hee Chung Honored with OYRA by Korean Physicists in America
Dr. Dong-Hee Chung, a KAIST alumnus (class of 2002) who is currently a professor of the Physics Department at the Pennsylvania State University (Penn State), received the 2015 Outstanding Young Researcher Award (OYRA) by the Association of Korean Physicists in America (AKPA).
The award ceremony was held on March 3, 2015 at AKPA’s annual conference. According to AKPA, Dr. Chung was recognized for his research achievements in the fields of the early universe, dark energy, and galaxy formation.
Dr. Chung finished both his undergraduate and graduate degrees at KAIST and received his doctorate in 2004 from the University of Texas at Austin. He was appointed a professor at Penn State in 2014.
2015.02.27 View 6613 -
KAIST's Thermoelectric Generator on Glass Fabric Receives the Grand Prize at the Netexplo Forum 2015
The forum announced top ten IT innovations expected to change the world and selected the grand prize on February 4, 2014.
Established in 2007 by Martine Bidegain and Thierry Happe in partnership with the French Senate and the French Ministry for the Digital Economy, the Netexplo Observatory is an independent global organization that studies the impact of digital technology and innovation on society and business.
Every year, the Netexplo Observatory hosts an international conference, the Netexplo Forum, in Paris, France, which surveys digital innovation worldwide. The 8th forum was held in partnership with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on February 4-5, 2015, at the UNESCO House in Paris.
Prior to the conference, the Netexplo Forum 2015 named the top ten most promising digital technologies that will greatly impact the world.
Among them was Professor Byung Jin Cho’s research on a wearable thermoelectric generator (http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-04/tkai-tgo041014.php). The generator was selected as the most innovative technology this year.
Professor Cho of KAIST’s Electrical Engineering Department developed a glass fabric-based thermoelectric generator that is extremely light and flexible and that produces electricity from the heat of the human body. This technology can be applied widely to wearable computers and mobile devices.
The full list of innovations follows below:
Wearable Thermo-Element, South Korea: The human body becomes a source of energy for mobile devices.
W.Afate 3D-printer, Togo: An environmentally friendly fablab that makes a low-cost 3D-printer from recycling electronic components.
Slack, USA: By combining email, Skype, and file-sharing and social networks, internal communication becomes much easier and simpler.
PhotoMath, Croatia: A free app that enables smartphone users to solve mathematical problems simply by scanning the mathematical texts.
Kappo, Chile: Connected cyclists produce and transmit useful data for urban planning to make the city more bike-friendly.
Branching Minds, USA: An improved learning process for students in difficulty through a personalized approach.
Baidu Kuai Sou, China: Smart chopsticks that can check food hazards.
SCio, Israel: A pocket molecular sensor with various applications and data
Rainforest Connection, USA: Fighting deforestation with recycled smartphones
Sense Ebola Followup, Nigeria: A mobile tool to help contain Ebola
For more details on the wearable thermos-element which received the 2015 Netexplo Award, please go to https://www.netexplo.org/en/intelligence/innovation/wearable-thermo-element.
Pictures 1 and 2: A high-performance wearable thermoelectric generator that is extremely flexible and light.
Picture 3: Senator Catherine Morin-Desailly (left) of the French Parliament presents the 2015 Netexplo Award to Professor Byung Jin Cho (right) on February 4, 2015 at the UNESCO House in Paris.
Credit of Loran Dhérines
Picture 4: Professor Byung Jin Cho (left) poses with Dr. Joël de Rosnay (right).
Credit of Loran Dhérines
2015.02.06 View 12846 -
Press Release on Piezoelectric Nanogenerators of ZnO with Aluminium Nitride Stacked Layers by the American Institute of Physics
The
American Institute of Physics (AIP) released a news article entitled “Zinc
Oxide Materials Tapped for Tiny Energy Harvesting Devices” on January 13, 2015.
The
article described the research led by Professor Giwan Yoon of the
Electrical Engineering Department at KAIST. It was published in the January
12, 2015 issue of Applied Physics Letters.
AIP publishes the journal. For the news release, please visit the
link below:
The American
Institute of Physics, January 13, 2015
“Zinc
Oxide Materials Tapped for Tiny Energy Harvesting Devices”
New research helps
pave the way toward highly energy-efficient zinc oxide-based micro energy
harvesting devices with applications in portable communications, healthcare and
environmental monitoring, and more
http://www.aip.org/publishing/journal-highlights/zinc-oxide-materials-tapped-tiny-energy-harvesting-devices
2015.02.04 View 31613 -
News Article: Flexible, High-performance Nonvolatile Memory Developed with SONOS Technology
Professor Yang-Kyu Choi of KAIST’s Department of Electrical Engineering and his team presented a research paper entitled “Flexible High-performance Nonvolatile Memory by Transferring GAA Silicon Nanowire SONOS onto a Plastic Substrate” at the conference of the International Electron Devices Meeting that took place on December 15-17, 2014 in San Francisco.
The Electronic Engineering Journal (http://www.eejournal.com/) recently posted an article on the paper:
Electronic Engineering Journal, February 2, 2015
“A Flat-Earth Memory”
Another Way to Make the Brittle Flexible
http://www.techfocusmedia.net/archives/articles/20150202-flexiblegaa/?printView=true
2015.02.03 View 7095 -
"Software Welcomes Girls" Camp at KAIST
KAIST’s Department of Computer Science organized a software (SW) training camp from January 25-29, 2015 in the Creative Learning Building on campus to promote talented women for the field of information technology (IT).
Hosted by the National Information Society Agency in Korea and the Korea Foundation for the Advancement of Science and Creativity, the training camp was comprised of a junior program to educate primary and secondary school students along with teachers and parents, while university students, software developers, and female professionals who had interrupted their careers participated in a senior camp.
In the junior camp, participants learned how to employ Scratch and App Inventor as well as microprocessors by using Arduino and Raspberry Pi. During the camp, students including those from multicultural families attended lectures from professors and software designers and received a career consulting session from them. The conference organizers will provide long-term mentoring for the primary and secondary school students by graduate student participants and other volunteer experts.
The senior camp consisted of a program entitled “More Women, Better SW!” and a special lecture on “Women in SOS (Software Optimization Services)” took place at Google Korea. University students, teachers, and SW developers had an opportunity to design applications intended to improve daily living. At the “Women in SOS” program, Professor Alice Oh of KAIST and other industry experts gave talks about successful women IT personnel and digital literacy.
One of the organizers, Professor Yoon-Joon Lee from the Computer Science Department said, “Software-centered societies in the future will demand delicate intuition and cooperative leadership, which are characteristics of women.” He added that “I hope more women become interested in this field through this event.”
2015.02.02 View 7076 -
Danish Minister for Higher Education and Science Visits KAIST
Sofie Carsten Nielsen, the Minister for Higher Education and Science of Denmark, accompanied by her delegation, visited KAIST on January 21, 2015 to study outstanding cases of creative economy and to discuss methods of cooperation.
Her delegation included other distinguished members including Thomas Lehmann, the Danish ambassador to Korea, Peter Olesen, Chairman of Innovation Foundation Denmark Governing Board, and Martin Bendsøe, Senior Vice President and Dean of Technical University of Denmark.
After attending the "Electronic Communication Double Degree Agreement" signing ceremony between KAIST’s Department of Electrical Engineering and the Technical University of Denmark, Minister Nielsen visited KAIST’s Institute of Entrepreneurship to observe bilateral industry-university collaborations between KAIST and Denmark and discussed future development plans.
Also, the Grundfos Student Innovation Camp, sponsored by Grundfos, the world's largest pump manufacturer based in Denmark, took place at KAIST from October 26-31, 2014 where Grundfos professionals as well as students from Seoul National University, KAIST, and Technical University of Denmark (DTU) exchanged ideas and opinions on energy efficiency.
KAIST is currently conducting 19 collaborative projects including seven joint researches and seven joint degrees with DTU.
Minister Sofie Carsten Nielsen stands fifth from the left in the front row in the first picture below.
2015.01.27 View 8480