NUS High Science Congress

Keynote Address by Professor Soo Khee Chee on cancer research

I felt that this keynote address was especially relevant to everyone of us as there are 10,000 new cases of cancer being diagnosed annually in Singapore, with 5000 deaths due to cancer. This meant that 30% of all death cases in Singapore are because of cancer, making it a great concern to many and driving scientists and researchers to begin researching on this issue. Professor Soo, who is a director of the National Cancer Centre Singapore, has led teams of researchers to conduct clinical trials for new cancer treatments as well as in the field of biophotonics and its role as a new imaging modality for the early detection of cancer. Upon sharing with us on his research results regarding head and neck cancer, I have learnt that there are two major factors that can affect the survival rate of a cancer patient. Firstly, it is the patient’s cancer stage and secondly, it is the extra-capsular speed in nodal metastases. Apart from that, for treatment wise, having chemotherapy after surgery is more successful than combined therapy and radiotherapy in terms of increasing a cancer patient’s survival rate. This enabled the researchers to have a clearer insight on how the cancer can be more effectively eliminated and the glimpse of hope that other types of cancer can be eliminated more effectively using this method.

Oral Presentation by NUS High Students

Effect of Stress in Subsequent Performance in Observers during High Fidelity Simulator-based Training

This group aimed to find the effect of stress on performances. To do this, they came up with two groups; one in which people became observers for two sessions and surgeons in the third session, and the other in which people became surgeons for all three sessions. They achieved their results by measuring the heart rate and salivary cortisol of the observers and the surgeon during an operation at four different time intervals throughout the three sessions. Finally, the results showed that the people who were observers for two sessions and surgeons for the last session experienced a lower stress level as compared to the people who were surgeons for all three sessions. However, their performance as observers for the first two sessions and surgeons in the last session was worse than the performance of the people who were surgeons for all three sessions. The team then concluded that performance was not improved by repetitive exposure but by repetitive actual simulation experience. From this presentation, I have learnt that in order to perform well, not only should I observe as to how something is being done, but I should also practice as a combination of observing and practicing will help me to better improve my performance rather than to solely observe.

Impact of Transverse Modes Interaction in Fiber Amplifiers

This group aimed to find a way to improve the transmission distance in fibre optic networks by using multimode fibers that have higher signal power handling. However, this method would cause higher power handling at the expense of decreased beam quality. Therefore, the group designed a model to investigate the changes in transverse mode power of a laser signal in fiber laser amplifier to minimize the presence of multiple transverse modes within the amplifier by studying the effect of factors such as input pump power, input signal power, doping concentration and fiber length. At the end, their results showed that the beam quality degradation from using multimode fibers can be compensated for by the use of appropriately designed fiber amplifiers. From this presentation, I have learnt that in research projects, I have to consider the many other factors that might possibly affect the results of the experiment so as to achieve a much more accurate and reliable results.

Research Posters

Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Reasoning

This poster shows the effects of sleep deprivation on reasoning. I was interested in this research project as many I felt that it is particularly relevant to me since I have sleep deprivation. The poster explains how sleep deprivation can affect one's performance. It was hypothesized that sleep deprivation increases cognitive reasoning, resulting in lower test scores, slower response time and higher ratings for incorrectly answered questions. At the end of the experiment, the results showed that one's performance level is not significantly affected by twenty-four hours of sleep deprivation. Thus, this could mean that performance levels might be affected when the duration of sleep deprivation is longer due to the accumulation of fatigue.

Oxygen Snorting

This poster shows a design designed by the NUS High students to tackle the problem of submarines having to constantly resurface to replenish their oxygen tanks by storing oxygen in their oxygen tanks. Looking at four processes which produces oxygen gas: Cryogenic Separation, Vacuum Pressure Swing Adsorption (VPSA), Electrolysis and Photosynthesis and analysing the pros and cons of each process, the Vacuum Pressure Swing Adsorption was considered the best method. After which, the NUS High students designed a model in which the oxygen snorting snorkel has an air blower attached to increase flow rate. The following unit compresses, cools, and filters the incoming air. Two or more sets of zeolite plates are used to absorb and desorb nitrogen from the incoming air to remove it in cycles. When nitrogen is desorbed, it is vented through an exhaust pipe while a buffer vessel stores purified oxygen for use in purging. A compression unit compresses the oxygen to an appropriate pressure and then store in storage vessels and piped into the engine as needed.

To Investigate the Adsorption of Cobalt and Lead Ions Using Waste Eggshell

This poster shows the Adsorption of Cobalt and Lead Ions Using Waste Eggshell. It was aimed to determine if waste eggshell is effective in removing cobalt and lead ions by growing seeds of Vigna radita (mung beans) and Glycine max (soy beans) in treated and untreated solutions of cobalt (II) nitrate and lead (II) nitrate. At the end, the results showed that there was a marked improvement in growth of the seedlings grown in the treated solutions and compared to those grown in the untreated solutions, this shows that the waste eggshell has successfully removed the heavy metal ions. Thus, it was concluded that waste eggshell has the potential to be a cheap and effective solution to heavy metal pollution. This can be applied to landfills, incinerators and other waste disposal sites as a significant amount of waste eggshells can be used for bioremediation.