1！目的1i;
Personal Views of the New Era
Ming Chong shared technical and aesthetic tips with members of the UST Photographic Society.
“
He taught us how to catch people’s emotions;’said Pang Ho Yin of the workshop. "You have to be ready at every moment. People won't wait;you have to catch their face or smile in a moment:'Here are a few of the captured moments.
叭T~lea
ing Hong Kong's handover for the international media, UST students and staff were snapping private views of events for their personal albums.The students' photos are the results of an assignment given at a campus photo workshop organized by PAO to encourage student photographers. Professional photographer and photojournalist Tse
M
icnael Cneng truizo) A view ofWanchai from Hong Kong注。ldestform of public transport the tram.Tony took a series of Hong Kong street scenes from the tram for his photo workshop assignment.
A dedicated Social Club organizeιMichael shot four rolls of film at the July 1 Campus Fun Day; children were his main targets.’,I wanted their families to have a souvenir of the event," he said. More than 200 attended the afternoon of games and food organized by the Socialζlub and the University Women’s c;;roup.
Tony Yung Tak Wai (ACCT, 3)
Happy events shol』 Id be noisy ones, according to Chinese tradition. By that measure, the Shaanxi Loess Farmers' Drum and Gong T「ou·pemade a joyous racket when they entertained a standing-room-only crowd at the S. H. Ho Sports Hall on July 4回
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July 1 fireworks display was
taken.from the window bf Henry
’
s home. The Genesis photographer had a bird’s eye view of the biggest public event to mark Hong Kong’s return to China.Home Affairs.. . .. .. ... ... ... 6 rhu 「 3U Jnu nH OL 、 d rL 5 u nHr m 弓α rzL 、， ι 、， ι 、‘ J
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Questions? Answers! ...φ... ’，... .. 5 Only 60 minutes from the Lo Wu border station,
the village ofTong Tau Hau seems worlds apart from urban Hong Kong. UST posfgraduate Pang Ho Yin accompanied _a friend visiting relatives in the Guangdong farming village. Ho Yin piqued the curiosity of the village children who followed him wherever he took pictures.’,They had never seen a camera before," Ho Yin 日 id.
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Public Estates
Become
·
Class Labs
R凹ding …paper was 川
key lesson for students in Dr
Yu-Hung Hong這 course on Hong
Kong
’
s land and environmen~al policy. Notbelieving everything you read was the
second.
“
I challenged my students to examine arguments;' said Dr Hong, an assistantprofessor in the Division of Social Science.
"Are there data to back up the statements?”
This lesson sparked an innovative final
project for which public housing estates
became laboratories for learning: In the d巴bateon the government法 twice
failed scheme to sell public rental flats to tenants, newspapers have aired government explanations, the views of 翱詔c_.：為
individual tenants and the results 區
of different surveys of tenants' opinions.
A close look at' the surveys
’
, however, reveals certain biases and
raises doubts about their reliabil-1ty. To date, opinion surveys have been conducted by political
parties. Their methods have
included handing out
question-na1Ies at mass meetings; or to
passersby near the estate.
tenants across the seven estates said their
primary motivation was a concern that
government wo叫dincrease th_eir rents in the future, reflecting doubts about the
govern-ment's motives in launching the scheme.
Other reasons for buying include, in order of importance: location;lower selling
prices of public units than private flats;and
a sense of belonging to the community. Survey results contrast with the
govern-ment's own explanations for the failure of the
PRFS scheme when it was launched in 1991
and 1992. Each time, the government
withdrew the scheme, saying tenants did not support it because prices were too high and the resale restrictions were too tight.
﹒ 扭扭
“
The problem with thesemethods is you don
’
t know ifopinions are representative;' Dr
Hong said.
“
People who wouldattend a meeting might have a pre-fixed opinion. Most tend to be
angry.
A group of students decided to
A Stanley Chan Wing Ho, E;ric Cheung Wang Fu呵， Leung
Kin San·g, Eunice Chu Yeuk Ying, Barry Lo Wing Kin;Jeff
Wong Ki Heng, Eddy Lai Vat Ku and Chark Cheung Kwan Fai surveyed the King Lam Estate in Tseung Kwan O for
their final project in their land and environmental
policies course. find out for themselves what public housing
tenants thought of the Public Rental Flat Selling sch巴me,OT PRFS.
Wi出 DrHong's guidance, the 62 under graduates designed a questionnaire, randomly chose 5% of the households at seven public estates and then knocked on doors to ask tenants for their views.
The ·survey of 1,350 tenants was conducted during the spring break. It was
harder work than an}rone had anticipated.
"About 40% of the targeted tenants refused to participate," Dr Hong said,
“
making it difficult for. the students to get representative opinions.”
Perseverance paid off with surpr心ing
results.
Students found that a m句orityof tenants
can a在ordto buy their flats and would if the government gave them low-interest,
long-term loans.
When asked why they would buy a fl哎，
2
“Pur℃hasing property as an investment
is the least important factor among all
considerations;' said Dr Hong, who com
piled the students' findings into a report sent
to the Housing Branch,“.'Our hunch is people
want a stable level of rent. People on fixed
incomes cannot save for the future when
their housing costs 50% ormore of their monthly salary, which is the case for most people in Hong Kong."
Both the process and .the end results of
the students' work were of value.
The government welcomed the rigorous 、
research methods which resulted in more i·epresentative, reliable and useful data.
The students appreciated the learning process. Godfrey Li Yiu Man (IEEM) put it succinctly:“I have learned to research, to put
together a questionnaire and interview
people and. present the findings. I couldn
’
thave learned that from just textbooks and
lecture notes.
”
CAUGHT
、3翅3
IN THE WEB
Almostev凹yday, more bookstores and publish
ers appenr 。” the\'V\鉤， andthe co附enie11ceand
cost savings 日，ei11credible. Edivard Spodick,
Systems Librarian at the University Libra 吵， has
browsed the cybershelves for this issue.
Online bookstores come in different
forms. Some are publishers selling their own titles, while some .are run by e泊sting
bookstores as an alternative sales outlet. The largest tend to be exclusively
Web-based with little in-house inventory,
instead relying on publisher and distribu-tor stocks.
Amazon Books (htψ：／／amazon.com/)
is the most sophisticated on line bookstore
in the world, with over 2.5 million titles.
Books are reviewed online or you can
browse suggestions from the New York
Times Book Review or Oprah's Book Club. The site has an advanced search
facil-ity. Amazon also offers an online alerting
service, so you can get regular emails announcing new books in your areas of
interest. Prices are often heavily
dis-counted, especially compared to Hong Kong prices.
For Chinese language materials visit
CBC ［全球華人閱禎網絡l at http://www.
chinesebooks.net/. The site carries over 100,000 titles from publishers)n Taiwan,
Hong Kong and the Chinese Mainland;
including some local university presses.
For books in German, Spanish and
Dutch· try Bookserve (http':l/www.
bookserve.com). Although access is slow,
their selection is quite good.
Ordering by credit card is pretty safe,
but if you feel uneasy you can usually send
a fax or money order instead.
Books shipped by air cost as much as
buying locally. Shipping by surface will take four to eight weeks at low cost. Order
fiveormor巴， so 出eshipping cost per bC?ok will be less and make sure that all the books are shipped together.
Use the Library’s bookstore links page
(ht中：／／libra,y.ust.hk/res/bkstores.html) as a starting point for further exploration. Share yo仰后1voritesites. Email ti叫·1to genesis
and we'll try 日 ndinclude them in upcomii1g
issues.
Research Funding:
A Four-year
W1nn1ng
Streak
Fα 曲efour 叫枷創， UST Hong Kong tertiar}F institutions in peer-reviewed, competitive research funding awarded by the government's Research
Grants Council (RGC).
In the 1997-98 results announced by the RGCin
}
une, UST again tops the list in number of projects funded, amount of total funding and success rate.Out of 252 proposals submitted, 147 projects received grants totaling $83.7
million, a 23% increase over the $68.2
million re荒eivedlast year. The success rate Total Funding HK$M 100 80 60 40 20 。 1994 1995 1996
was 58%-an improvement over last
year治 54%.
HKU was second in numbers of projects funded and to叫 funding,followed, in order, by CU and City U.
Of the 338 proposals HKU submitted,
142 received grants totaling $83.6 million.
HKU's total number of submissions was up
about 40% over last year.
Prof Ping Keung Ko, RGC Chairman and UST's Dean ofEngineering, believes this trend w山 continue.
“
By all likelihood, b}z next year we willprobably not be number one in all measures;’he
said, adding that as
HKU's· faculty is twice the size of ours, this is to be expected.
Prof Ko does
anticipate, however, that UST will continue to lead in the overall quality of projects as
represented by the
success rate.
1而Thile HKU was
second in total numbers of projects funded and
total dollars earmarked,
its success rate of 42%
was behind the 44% of
1997 I CU. City U's success rate
was 37%.
Young Artists At Work
“
I'm really glad I came to this class;’said seven-year-old UshashiDasgup惚， oneof the campus children enrolled in 出issummer's
Parent and Child Art Workshop.
The classes were organized by the Center for the Arts
and led by artist Choi Yan-chi.
“
I begin by giving them alittle technique then encourage them to try it for
them-selves;' Choi said, surrounded by glue, paint and happy
children.
“
I involve the parents in my classes so they can understand the thinking behind the exerci況， thentry it out at home.
”
Choi encourages the children to observe and draw
what they see and then to experiment and express
themselves. All around, attention was carefully paid to details and colors, with six-year old Emily Choi
intently studying her clothing before completing ·a
colorful self-portrait.
The finished work: Emily by Emily. ’,
GENES 眩， 6August 1 997
New Programs Show
Engineering's
Strengths
T h e School of Engineering has
expanded its list of degree programs to clari句 whatit has to 。在er
potential students-and Hong Kong.
The eight new programs (see box) identify existing special~ areas in each
main subject一information
engineer-ing in computer Sf::ience, for instance.
“
'.An e咿1eerings1兩ect 叫1be very’
broad-electrical and electronic engineering could focus on power
plants or microchips;’explained Prof Ping Keung Ko, Dean of Engineering.
“
It was unclear to students exactly what we were offering.The new programs also help departments with strengtl1s relevant to Hong Kong get the message across to
industry, Prof Ko said.
“
No one else is offering programslil<e transport logistics or polymer
engineering;' Prof Ko said.
“
The new titles will make our streng出sapparent to Hong Kong companies.'’
The School is promoting 出enew
programs through mass sessions,
brochures, school talks and summer camps.
-
• BEng in Computer Science and Computer Engineering特• BEng in Computer Science (Information Engineering）著
• BEng in Electronic Engineering (Information and Communica-tion Engineering ）勢
• BEng in Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management (Transportation Logistics Management)*
• BEng in Mechanical Engineering (Building Services)
• BEng in Chemical and Polymer Engineering
• BEng in Chemical and Environmental .Engineering
• BEng in Civil and Environmental Engineering
The new degree programs will be
available through JU PAS for entry in 1998-99. (*These programs are also
options for students entering in 1997-98.)
STUDENT FOCUS
Campers Taste University Life
T
he average age on campus dropped in July with 520 local school. students attending summer camps in engineering, biology, chem
istry an.d physics.
Form 5 and 6 science students sampled university life as well as
stud-ies. Activities ranged froni tree walks for biologists to astronomy nights
for would-be physicists.
Swnmer camps began
at UST in 1995. This year
saw the first camps in biology and chemistry.
For its first camp,
Biology selected 50 Form
5 students. The campers
worked in the labs for a
week with a special
reward in mind. The top five students were offered
internships with the department's researchers
this month.
"Of that original camp, 30 % are now UST students;' said
Dr Helen Shen, associate dean of engineering. "Our camp
introduces UST--:--and engineering- to some of the brightest
students in Hong Kong.
"Medicine and business are a big attraction for these
students;' Dr Shen said. "As few high school teachers have
engineering backgrounds, we may be their only information
source on engineering:'
This year, the School also involved the campers' parents,
treating them to talks, lunch and a tour of facilities. "The
feedback was good;' Dr Shen said. "Parents welcomed the
event-and our vision for their children as competent,
competitive graduates:'
Physics welcomed 166
Form 6 campers during
three separate camps. The
department estimated that between half and a third of
current students were
camp alumni.
• A bamboo oil rig takes the strain during testing for the engineering design challenge.
"Of
that
originar
camp,
"This is the first time that secondary students
have participated in cutting-edge i'esearch at
university level;' said Dr Albert Yu of Biology,
organizer of the intern program.
"It's a myth that secondary students can't do research. They just need the right opportunity, facilities1and inspiration."
30% are now
UST
students.
Our camp
introduces UST
-For the Chemistry Department, its first camp
was an important part of recruitment. "It's a way of
getting in touch with students before they apply;'
said Dr Wa-Hirng Leung, camp director. "It also
promotes chemistry as a career in Hong Kong:'
and engineering
-
to some
of the
brightest
students
• Getting to grips with ergonomics in the Industrial Engineering and Engineering
Management labs.
in Hong Kong."
"The students don't get a chance at highschool to do the experiments we offer during
the camp. They enjoy the challenge;' said Dr
Tam Wing Yim, camp di.rector.
Dr Leung and his colleagues put together an
academic program oflab sessions, quizzes and careers talks for 130 Form
6 campers, while the Chemistry Students Society helped out with a social
program that explored the elements in a different way, with camp fires in
the Atrium and water wars outside the halls.
Engineering and Physics were the pioneer camps in 1995. Three years
on, they are still committed to the format, with Engineering organizing
the largest camp of the summer-175 Form 6 students in all.
4
This year, Physics split the camp.into three sessions, allowing smaller
groups and better use of resources. "Running· one camp is a waste of
resources;' said Dr 'ram. "We can cover more schools with this format."
Expect a Physics camp next year too. "If there is support we'll carry
on;' said Dr Tam. "Maybe there could be a camp for the whole of the School of Science."
~ Dr Yueying Ren takes biol~gy out of the labs for campers with a tree walk around
the campus.
How many bamboo Jiii>
skewers does it take to make an oil rig? The engineering campers tackle the design challenge.
GENESIS, 6 August 1997
We understand! David Chung (Physics) gets a round of applause from physics campers after explaining a low energy electron microscope.
Crime Solving in the Biology Lab
From O.J. to the X Files, DNA fingerprinting has changed the face
of forensic investigation .. Biology's summer campers got the
chance to try it out first hand.
With test kits donated by US company BioRad, the students
helped to identify the perpetrator by processing DNA from a
mythical crime scene and comparing it with six 'suspect' samples.
• Campers prepare the DNA samples for fingerprinting.
"Fingerprinting is a hot topic in genetic diagnosis and forensfc studies;' said Dr King Chow of Biology. "Students read about it in the papers and now they've had a chance to do it themselves:'
The workshop exposed students to the technique and its
applications. Dr Chow pointed out that many students in the A
Level biology stream were aiming for medical school and other
life science professions.
"We need to convince them that biology covers topics wider
than they can imagine, and to choose after examining the subject
and their own interests more closely;' said Dr Chow. "These
experiments show them what biology can offer."
GENESIS, 6 August 1997
,
Engineering a Future Career
·
Cathy Chiu Wing Chong, a Form 6 student from Carmel Park View
Secondary School, wants to be a civil engineer. "It would be great
to construct buildings and railways;' she said.
Cathy was.one of 75 female campers invited to the School of
Engineering's women-only banquet. During the evening, they met
role models-women engineers, faculty and current students-who demonstrated that engineering was a smart choice for women.
"If you want to attract the-best people to the profession, you ·
can't ignore 50% of
the population;' said
Ir Christine Wong,
Chair of the Hong
Kong Institution of
Engineers Young
Members
Commit-tee, and the evening's keynote speaker.
"Women may think harder before
choosing
engineer-ing, but those who
are committed have a
successful and
enjoyable career."
Dr Helen Shen agrees. "Our women
engineering students
do very well bu~ only
make up 11 % of our
students. We want to
increase that
percent-age and the banquet.
is the first step:'
• Not just for the boys: girls made up nearly one third of this year's camp.
Q
The opening of Wendy's and the Congee counter in the LG5 Food Court is good news; we now have more choices. But they're not environmentally friendly ones. The Congee counter uses disposable plastic utensils instead of durable ones. Is this a tempo-rary arrangement only?A
Stanley Sit (CSO): "The operator of the LG5 Congee Counter has· already orde(ed durable bowls, plates, spoons, etc., for dine-ih use. The use of disposable ware is just a temporary arrangement and the dis
-posable containers they are using are safe and can be recyled. The other two
food counters ·to be opened this summer will also use durable tableware:'
E-111ail your questions to genesis or fax the111 to 2358-0537.
. . 團屢遭駐軍各
..
夏日災樂正好．．．．．．
丘吉個人到泳池都有不同的目的 ，有些希望 ι勻A 強身健體、有些希望曬待于身古銅膚 色、有些希望可以降溫、有些希望鬆馳神 經 每年從 4 月到 ll 月 ，符合比賽標準的科 大泳池便會開放，滿足大學各成員的期望。 泳池的一天 泳池每天 7 時半便會開放。早上池水特別 清涼，一些學生及教職員都會選擇在上課或上Campus Calendar
Until 15 OctoberChina in Maps: 16th-19th Century
From the Special Collection of the UST
Librarγ
14-31 August
Festival of Cultures
Contemporarγart and culture from Hong Kong, presented by Galerie der
Kuntsler, Munich, Germany 25 August
Aerobics Restarts
Classes in University Center, six days a week, various times For details, check with Amy Rock,
27 August
.
Payday31 August Pop叫arScience Lecture Dr Oscar Au (ELEC) on Digital
Versatile Discs
Lecture Hall, Hong Kong Science Museum,3 pm
1 September
1997 98 Academic Year commences 4 September
Armadillo String Quartet
Multi purpose Hall, University Center, 8pm
For details of other UST events, remember to check the electronic
noticeboard and WWW pages.
Announcement
.
Liza Mung Siu Fan (IEEM) announcesthe birth ofVeronica·Lar;i Ching Tung on 23 April 1997回
• Petra Yung Yuk Lan (Research Centre) announces the birth of Yeung Sin Ching on 8 May 1997.
6
班前先到泳池去泡一泡，好讓自己在新一天有 一個精神奕奕的問始。 午膳時3 校闊內的餐廳都擠滿著等候填飽 “五臟廟”的人。不過從高處俯敝泳池 3 仍然可 看見一點點人兒在碧波中穿梭，原來 也有不少人會選擇這段時間到泳池耍 樂。今個暑假在科大當兼職救生員的 電子工程學系一年級學生阿剛說 “雖然今年夏天經常下雨 3但每天午 膳時段仍有10至 20 人來游泳。” 週日的黃昏可算是泳池的繁忙時 悶 。不少人都在 一天辛勞工作後 選擇到泳池來 ， 很多還會帶同小 朋友一起來。 太陽下 山 後，泳池也不會 漆黑一片，因為 場內裝有泛光燈 設施 ，而泳池每 天的開放時間是 直至晚上 9 時半。 這個時間最適合 那些怕被陽光曬 祟，但又喜歡游泳的人，他們大可以放心盡情 暢泳，並好好享受一下“月光浴，’。 救生員的苦與樂 雖然混池是從早上 7 時半開放至晚上 9 時 半 ，但選擇 2 至 31待到泳池的人， 必定會撲過 空，因為每天泳池都會在這個時間暫停詞放。 不過這個時段仍然可以見到有人在池內載浮載 沉 3 原來這些人便是救生員 3 他們會利用這段 泳池暫停開放的時間清潔池底。「 som誼瑋
＠肘甜TI
:
Coupo
·
n
Special 零
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…,
T:
~I:'
$5 c f with coup十n︱
此優惠券等值五元
3
可作現
金之用
︱
－囡囡噩噩l!mlll
除了清潔池底外，一身古銅膚色的救生員 還需要做很多工作 ，他們甚至給各種工作不同 的︱暱稱，例如“巡池” （沿著泳池邊走，監察泳 客的情況）和“十字吏” （在救護室當值） 。 泳池也可作為獨木舟、潛水‘拯溺訓缺等活 動的場地。<Ill
救生員在“更台”上監察泳池的情況，以確保 泳客的安全。 去年，每天平均約有 300 人到泳池游． 泳。而暑假就特別人多，為了確保泳客的 安全，泳池會在暑假期間聘請一些兼職救 生員 ，而當中也有一些是本校的學生。今 年泳池共聘請了六位科大學生當兼職救生 員 i 儘管是兼職 3 他們也必須符合正式救 生員既需的資格 3 考獲拯j弱銅章或以上。 阿別說， “我喜歡當救生員這份暑期工， 不過最侈的就是經常被蚊信襲， 因為整天都是 穿著背心和短褲。” 最後，科大泳池邊有另一個吸引泳客的地 方。體育導師梁歡蕙說 “科大泳池在過末會 有較多泳客 ，但,(J'J 比公共泳池人少，加上科大 泳池環境優美，背山商海，在這裡游泳 ，真的 可以放開懷抱，盡情享受。” 如果你還未到過泳池 3 也許你應超炎炎夏 日遲未到尾聲，到泳池盡情享受一番。...
耳E畫IIEIUI國匪，
...
Managing Editor Paulette Flahavin
Editors Debby Choi Sally Greig Lisa Li Bosco Wong
Design 品 Production Timothy Ngan
Photography Henry Choi (COMP, 2)
Genesis is published by the Office of Public Affai『sand
printed by ETC on 『ecycledpaper.
。 1997by The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. All rights 悶兒rved.
The next issue of Genesis will be published on 3 September 1997. ·
〔ont『ibutionsa『ewelcome. Deadline fo『 submissionis
two weeks befo『Epublication date.
Send to email address genesis.
