DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES – Media OutReach – 21 August 2023 – Bybit, the world’s third most visited crypto exchange, is pleased to announce that it has awarded scholarships to 38 high-achieving students at the American University of Sharjah (AUS) as part of its continued commitment to supporting education and crypto adoption in the UAE. This is the second announcement following Bybit’s partnership with AUS, announced in June this year.
The scholarship aims to support deserving students receive the best education they deserve and encourage their studies and research in the fintech and blockchain fields. After reviewing applications based on the student’s academic standing, grade point average, and need, a total of 38 recipients have been selected for the AUS-Bybit Fund Scholarship, which has a total funding pool of AED 1 million.
The scholarship will cover 25 percent of tuition fees for both the Fall 2023 and Spring 2024 semesters. Recipients include 29 currently enrolled students who will each receive a 25 percent tuition reduction, and 9 new first-time students who will also each receive a 25 percent tuition reduction. The selected students mainly major in computer engineering and computer science.
“As a center of excellence and research and a catalyst for change, AUS is mindful of its important role in producing professionals who possess the skills and technical knowledge that allow them to grow in dynamic markets and evolving industries. We also believe in the importance of working closely with our industry partners to meet their needs and bridge any gaps between academia and businesses. Our partnership with Bybit and the establishment of the AUS-Bybit Fund Scholarship will empower our students in the fintech and blockchain fields in a digital world that is constantly growing,” said Dr. Fadi Aloul, Dean of the College of Engineering at AUS.
“We could not be more thrilled to finalize details of our scholarship fund to support bright minds at AUS,” said Ben Zhou, co-founder and CEO of Bybit. “We are also honored that over the past few months, AUS and Bybit have nurtured a shared vision of empowering the next generation of fintech and blockchain pioneers. The trailblazing spirit of the 38 recipients reminds me of my own beginnings. I hope this fund can fuel their journeys of discovery and unleash a wave of innovation from the UAE that will shape the future of digital assets globally.”
Bybit is also contributing an additional AED 100,000 to sponsor the first AUS-Bybit Inter-College Hackathon themed Artificial Intelligence in Crypto for current university students in the UAE ecosystem. The hackathon will be held at the AUS College of Engineering in November.
Hashtag: #Bybit #TheCryptoArk
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
About Bybit
Bybit is a cryptocurrency exchange established in 2018 that offers a professional platform where crypto traders can find an ultra-fast matching engine, excellent customer service and multilingual community support. Bybit is a proud partner of Formula One’s reigning Constructors’ and Drivers’ champions, the Oracle Red Bull Racing team, esports teams NAVI, Astralis, Alliance, Made in Brazil (MIBR), and Oracle Red Bull Racing Esports.
The Bank of Lao PDR (BOL) has issued a statement to dismiss false claims circulating online that suggest foreign currency bank account holders may no longer be able to make transactions in their respective currencies.
The Ministry of Justice has legal aid services available to protect the legal rights of vulnerable populations throughout Laos. However, most people at risk are not widely aware of these rights and basic legal services due to a lack of accessibility and the availability of right tools.
The 13th multilateral meeting between the Bank of Laos and the National Bank of Cambodia holds on 18 August in Vientiane Capital to discuss cooperation and establish a cross-border payment method. (Photo: Pasaxon)
The 13th multilateral meeting between the Bank of Laos and the National Bank of Cambodia was held in Vientiane Capital last Friday to discuss future cooperation efforts and establish a cross-border QR Code payment system.
HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach – 21 August 2023 – A collaborative research team led by Interim Head of Physics Professor Shuang ZHANG from The University of Hong Kong (HKU), along with National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Imperial College London and University of California, Berkeley, has proposed a new synthetic complex frequency wave (CFW) approach to address optical loss in superimaging demonstration. The research findings were recently published in the prestigious academic journal Science.
Schematic of imaging under real-frequency and synthesised complex frequency excitation in a superlens. The same object, when imaged through a superlens under different real-frequency illumination, results in images with varying degrees of blurriness, and none of the real-frequency images can discern the true appearance of the object. By combining the field amplitudes and phases of multiple single-frequency images, a clear image can finally be obtained. Image credit: HKU
Imaging plays an important role in many fields, including biology, medicine and material science. Optical microscopes use light to obtain imaging of miniscule objects. However, conventional microscopes can only resolve feature sizes in the order of the optical wavelength at best, known as the diffraction limit.
To overcome the diffraction limit, Sir John Pendry from Imperial College London introduced the concept of superlenses, which can be constructed from negative index media or noble metals like silver. Subsequently, Professor Xiang ZHANG, the current President and Vice-Chancellor of HKU, along with his then team at the University of California, Berkeley, experimentally demonstrated superimaging using both a silver thin film and a silver/dielectric multilayer stack. These works have extensively promoted the development and application of superlens technology. Unfortunately, all superlenses suffer from inevitable optical loss, which converts optical energy into heat. This significantly affects the performance of optical devices, such as superimaging lenses, which rely on the faithful delivery of information carried by light waves.
Optical loss has been the main limiting factor that has constrained the development of nanophotonics for the past three decades. Many applications, including sensing, superimaging, and nanophotonic circuits, would greatly benefit if this problem could be solved.
Professor Shuang Zhang, corresponding author of the paper and also Interim Head of HKU Department of Physics, explained the research foci, ‘To solve the optical loss problem in some important applications, we have proposed a practical solution — using a novel synthetic complex wave excitation to obtain virtual gain, and then offset the intrinsic loss of the optical system. As a verification, we applied this approach to the superlens imaging mechanism and theoretically improved imaging resolution significantly.’
‘We further demonstrated our theory by conducting experiments using hyperlenses made of hyperbolic metamaterials in the microwave frequency range and polariton metamaterials in the optical frequency range. As expected, we obtained excellent imaging results consistent with our theoretical predictions,’ added Dr Fuxin GUAN, the paper’s first author and a Postdoctoral Fellow at HKU.
Multi-frequency approach to overcome optical loss
In this study, the researchers introduced a novel multiple-frequency approach to overcome negative impacts of loss on superimaging. Complex frequency waves can be used to provide virtual gain to compensate for the loss in an optical system. What does complex frequency mean? Frequency of a wave refers to how fast it oscillates in time. It is natural to consider frequency a real number. Interestingly, the concept of frequency can be extended into the complex domain, where the imaginary part of the frequency also has a well-defined physical meaning, i.e., how fast a wave amplifies or decays in time. Hence, for a complex frequency wave, both oscillation and amplification of the wave occurs simultaneously. For a complex frequency with negative (positive) imaginary part, the wave decays (amplifies) in time. Of course, an ideal complex wave is not physical because it would diverge when time goes to either positive or negative infinity, depending on the sign of its imaginary part. Hence, any realistic implementation of complex frequency waves needs to be truncated in time to avoid the divergence. The optical measurement directly based on complex frequency waves needs to be performed in the time domain and it would involve complicated time-gated measurements and therefore it has not been experimentally realised thus far.
The team utilised mathematical tool Fourier Transformation to break down a truncated CFW into many components of different real frequencies, greatly facilitating the implementation of CFWs for various applications, such as superimaging. By carrying out optical measurements at multiple real frequencies at a fixed interval, it is possible to construct the optical response of the system at a complex frequency by mathematically combining that of real frequencies.
As a proof of concept, the team started with superimaging at microwave frequencies using a hyperbolic metamaterial. The hyperbolic metamaterial can carry waves with very large wavevectors (or equivalently very small wavelengths), that are capable of transmitting the information of very small feature sizes. However, the larger the wavevector, the more sensitive the waves are to optical loss. Therefore, in the presence of loss, the information of those small feature sizes gets lost during the propagation inside the hyperbolic metamaterial. The researchers showed that, by appropriately combining the blurred images measured at different real frequencies, a clear image at a complex frequency was formed with a deep-subwavelength resolution.
The team further extended the principle to optical frequencies, employing an optical superlens made of a phononic crystal called silicon carbide, which operates at the far-infrared wavelength of around 10 micrometers. In a phononic crystal, the lattice vibration can couple with light to create the superimaging effect. However, the loss is still a limiting factor in the spatial resolution. Although the spatial resolutions of imaging at all the real frequencies were limited by the loss, as shown by the blurred images of the nano-scale holes, ultrahigh-resolution imaging can be obtained with synthesised CFWs that consist of multiple frequency components.
‘The work has provided a solution to overcome optical loss in optical systems, a long-standing problem in nanophotonics. The synthesised complex-frequency method can be readily extended to other applications, including molecular sensing and nanophotonic integrated circuits,’ said Professor Xiang ZHANG, another corresponding author of the paper, the President and Vice-Chancellor of HKU, and also Chair of Physics and Engineering. He hailed this as a remarkable and universally applicable method, ‘This can be leveraged to tackle loss in other wave systems, including sound waves, elastic waves, and quantum waves, elevating imaging quality to a new height.’
This work was supported by the New Cornerstone Science Foundation, the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong.
Over 300 Animals Confiscated in Wildlife Trafficking Crackdown in Dak Cheung District (photo: KPL)
In a two-day operation supported by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Laos last week, authorities in Dak Cheung District, Sekong Province, seized over 300 animals as part of efforts to combat wildlife trafficking and the sale of endangered and protected species.
Cambodia's King Norodom Sihamoni, foreground, greets as he heads back to Royal Palace, in front of the National Assembly in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Monday, 21 August 2023. Cambodian king on Monday presided over the opening of the first session of National Assembly in Phnom Penh. (Photo: AP)
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodia’s king congratulated the country’s new lawmakers on Monday, urging them in his traditional speech to the National Assembly on its first day following elections to promote economic growth and equality.
To Represent Malaysia at the ASEAN Energy Awards 2023
KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA – Media OutReach – 21 August 2023 – Kenanga Investment Bank Berhad is proud to announce that it has been named ‘Winner’ in Energy-Efficient Building in Retrofitted Building, at the prestigious National Energy Awards (NEA). The award recognises initiatives that adopt sustainable energy practices in either new or retrofitted buildings.
Initiated by the Ministry of Natural Resources, Environment, and Climate Change and the Malaysian Green Technology and Climate Change Corporation, the NEA has been held on a yearly basis since 2018. Its purpose is to identify and honour leading Malaysian corporations and institutions that adopt revolutionary sustainability initiatives, aligning seamlessly with the nation’s pursuit of a Just Energy Transition, Net Zero goals, and the advancement of sustainable development.
From a pool of 114 submissions encompassing Malaysian residents, businesses, and organisations, Kenanga Investment Bank has been selected together with 22 other entries from various categories, to proudly go on to represent Malaysia at the forthcoming ASEAN Energy Awards 2023.
Datuk Chay Wai Leong, Group Managing Director of Kenanga Investment Bank Berhad said, “We are proud to be part of the line-up of winners at this coveted event and to have the opportunity to represent the country for such a meaningful and crucial agenda. Central to Kenanga’s decarbonising programme is the deployment of innovative technology, and we are pleased that through piloting an AI-powered predictive cooling control solution, we are able to leapfrog the energy efficiency of our headquarters in Kuala Lumpur. We are guided by the urgent need to step up climate action and will continue to prioritise and promote sustainable practices throughout the organisation.”
The implementation of a cutting-edge Artificial Intelligence (AI) solution within the centralised air conditioning system – the most significant contributor to Kenanga Tower’s energy usage – had yielded approximately 50% reduction in its air conditioning energy consumption.
The successful transformation of its Air Conditioning (‘AC’) system and Air Handling Unit (‘AHU’), was complemented by the installation of energy-efficient lighting solutions throughout its premises, resulting in overall energy reduction of 25% at the end of December 2022, and continues to achieve substantial reduction into this year.
YB Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, the Minister of Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change of Malaysia stated, “Aligning with Malaysia’s commitment to sustainable economic growth, the Ministry of Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change organises NEA annually to raise awareness, acceptance and adoption of sustainable energy practices across all industries. I applaud the strong participation by the entrants this year and believe they are all truly winners for championing sustainable energy practices.”
The collection of the 114 submissions showcased an impressive combined energy reduction of over 1.34 GW, resulting in significant electricity savings. This achievement translates to a substantial reduction of carbon emissions, equivalent to more than 23,000 metric tonnes per annum.
Hashtag: #KenangaInvestmentBank
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
Kenanga Investment Bank Berhad (197301002193 (15678-H))
Established for almost 50 years, Kenanga Investment Bank Berhad (“The Group“) is a financial group in Malaysia with extensive experience in equity broking, investment banking, treasury, Islamic banking, listed derivatives, investment management, wealth management, structured lending and trade financing.
An innovative and established home-grown brand, the Group’s digital ambition includes building a robust digital ecosystem that meets the needs of its clients and businesses. Some of its game-changing products include Malaysia’s fully online digital stockbroking platform Rakuten Trade and a fully A.I. robo-advisor, Kenanga Digital Investing. The Group also launched Malaysia’s first securities broking e-wallet, Kenanga Money, paved the way in AI-led Quan and algorithmic trading, kick-started a revolutionary supply chain financing solution for SMEs and made inroads into the digital assets space through its investment in Tokenize Technology (M) Sdn.Bhd.
The Group has garnered a host of awards and accolades reflecting its strong market position. It was awarded Highest Returns to Shareholder Over Three Years, Highest Growth in Profit After Tax Over Three Years and Highest Return on Equity Over Three Years by The Edge Malaysia Centurion Club in the Financial Services Category, Best Overall Equities Participating Organisation (Champion), Best Retail Equities Participating Organisation (Champion), and Best Online Retail Participating Organisation (Champion), as well as Best Institutional Derivatives Trading Participant (Champion) and Best Overall Derivatives Trading Participant (1st Runner Up) in the Bursa Excellence Awards 2022. The Group was also accorded the title of Best House, South and Southeast Asia Award in the SRP Asia Pacific Awards 2022.
The Group continues to be a regular and repeat recipient of distinguished industry accolades, such as the Lipper, Fundsupermart and Morningstar awards. Rakuten Trade, Malaysia’s first fully digital securities broker in 2017 via a joint venture with Japanese fintech giant Rakuten Securities Inc was also named Malaysia’s Digital Experience of the Year – Brokerage at the Asian Experience Awards 2022. For its continued efforts towards community outreach and employee volunteerism, the Group was awarded the coveted Bank of the Year Award for Environmental, Social & Governance Excellence, as well as Long-Standing Excellence in Sustainability at Sustainability & CSR Malaysia Awards 2022. The Group is also a Participant of the United Nations Global Compact and adheres to its principle-based approach to responsible business.
Today, Kenanga Investment Bank Berhad is an award-winning leading independent investment bank in the country with a continuous commitment towards driving collaboration, innovation, digitalisation and sustainability in the marketplace.