HKUST Genesis = 同創, Volume 2, Number 2

WELCOMING

THE

YEAR OF

THE

RAM WITH A

FOCUS

ON CHINESE ASTROLOGY

February 15 heralded a new lunar year, which Chinese astrological calculations designate as the Year of the Ram

( $)

and of Metal ( {E )-·in other words, this is the Year of the Metal Ram. Furthermore, 21 February, the seventh day of the New Year, is another traditional festival known as People's Day or Everyone's Birthday. In observance of these two portentous events, Genesis presents the following chart, prepared by the Personnel Office based on the birthdays of all staff as of 31 January 1991, showing the distribution of staff born under the different animals of the Chinese horoscope.

CATEGORY OF STAFF Acad0mic Acndemic-Equivalent Administrative Executive, Clerical, Secretarial & TEchnical Grade Ancillary (~~) Yang Signs: (~i) Yin Signs: Academic 81% 19%

ANIMALS OF THE CHINESE HOROSCOPE

Academic-Equivalent Executive, Clerical, Secretarial Ancillary Total Administrative & Technical Grade

54% 50% 80% 50.5%

46% 50% 20% 49.4%

HK UST itself is an Earth Dragon-"born" at its date of incorporation, 10 April 1988. Theoretically, the Ea1ih element bestows characteristics of prudence, practicality, sensibility, and stability. The Dragon embodies mystery; it has an assertive, impulsive nature, willing to take risks and thriving in the limelight. Astrologically, such a configuration should get along exceptionally well with a Fire Monkey (e.g., Baptist College) and a Water Rat (e.g., HK Polytechnic).

As for the coming year, all Dragons are warned of potential financial difficulties, possible illness, and fading romance,

and are generally advised to proceed c2.utious!y-until 1993 when the sign of the Water Rooster should bless perseverance with prosperity in all endeavours.

'Information as to astrological signs has been derived and compiled from The Chinese Astrology Workbook by 0. Walters and Chinese

February 1991

Frieda Chan Hui Po-ming, As

-sistant Secretary, School of Engi-neering. Born 12 December in HK; married with one 15-month old son. Graduated from CUHK with a degree in Business Admini-stration. Before joining HKUST, Mrs Chan worked for two other tertiary institutions, the HK Poly-technic and City PolyPoly-technic. In both cases she held an adminis-trative position in the academic secretary's office. At

HKUST she assists the Dean of the School of Engineer

-ing, dealing with administrative matters. Recent inter-views have brought her into contact with university appli-cants for the first time in her working career, and she finds the range in their attitudes toward life and university education quite interesting.

In her spare time Ms Chan enjoys classical music, travel and sports. She played on the women's volleyball team at CUHK, and hopes for a similar chance at HKUST. Winnie Cheng, Computer Offi-cer, CST. Born 15 December in HK; single. Graduated from the HK Polytechnicwithtwodiplomas: The first, earned after full-time study was a Higher Diploma in Mathematics, Statistics, and Com-puter. The second, earned after part-time study while she worked, was a professional diploma in

In-formation Technology. Ms Cheng

has worked for two private firms, developing computer

software. Her latest job was as Analysis Programmer for

the MTR Corporation. At HK UST, Ms Cheng will be

devel-oping software in response to requests from administra

-tive and academic departments.

· In her spare time Ms Cheng is currently pursuing an

evening course for beauticians. She enjoys social dance

and a good game of squash or badminton.

Cindy Lee Lin-yuk, Assistant

Fi-nance Manager, FiFi-nance Office.

Born 30 September in HK; mar-ried with one 4-year old son. Graduated with a Higher Diploma

in Accountancy from the HK Poly

-technic. Ms Lee has worked for a

colourful range of firms, including the HK Standard, Price Water-house auditing firm, and the local

agents marketing Hallmark greet

-ing cards. At Hf<UST, she is responsible for two areas: payroll (so she says she knows many names but few faces); and payment (so she is signing checks to pay for all University purchases under $500,000).

Ms Lee's favourite pastime is shopping.

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Lee Siu-ming, Student Affairs Of-ficer, Student Affairs Office. Born 9 October in HK; married with two children, aged 15 and 17. Gradu-ated with a BSSc in Sociology from CUHK, and with a Master's in Education from HKU. Mr Lee spent 12 years teaching in schools be-fore "shifting backstage," as he describes it. He worked four years as a Teaching Consultant in the

Faculty of Education and three years as a Senior Civic Education Co-ordinator.for the Vocational Training Coun

-cil before joining HKUST. Here Mr Lee will be developing extra-curricular educational programmes and managing need-based financial assistance. He welcomes the chal-lenges of his new job as an excellent chance to enlarge his own horizons-as he helps students do the same.

Mr Lee is a keen Chinese chess player, and actively

promotes the game in the community. He is Chairman of

the Post-Secondary Chinese Chess Association, which has sent a team to the national secondary school compe-tition in China.

Adeline Man Ho-ying, Assistant Secretary, School of Science. Born 18 December in HK; single.

Graduated with a BS in Business Administration from California State U. at Los Angeles; later earned a certificate in Personnel Management from HK Polytech-nic. Since graduation, Ms Man has worked for the HK Polytech-nic and for Cable & Wireless (now

HK Telecom), both times in areas of management. In her current position, directly responsible to the Dean, she handles overall administration of the School of Science.

Ms Man explains her decision to join HKUSTwith the phrase,"

+~:nt*

Ef~ffiA"("lt takes 10 years to grow a tree, 100 years to cultivate a person"). By helping to educate young people she feels happy contributing to the great but long process of developing HK's most important resource, its people.

· Ms Man spends her spare time with her family or in church activities, particularly in counselling young people.

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S

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by Danny Yung

Home Affairs

* Denny Leung (CST) brought Joy (Lam) into his life in a marriage ceremony on 19 January.

* Ken Tam (ETC) is the proud father of a new baby boy, born 6 February.

Advertisement

~~ . .• .:.:.l.:.:.:..: ... a:t<

Lau Man-chung (GAC) is moving, and offers the following items for sale:

* Mitsubishi 18" colour television; 5 years old; in good condition but with neither remote control nor multi-system capabilities. $500.

* Philipps 2-1/2 BTU air conditioner; 2 years old; also in good condition. $2000.

If you are interested contact him directly or on Ext. 1511.

3

Let's Pretend

February 1991

Peter Dobson

One of the hottest topics in information technology is Artificial Intelligence, or Al. Using high speed comput-ers, lots of fast storage, and mathematical advances such as 'fuzzy logic', a machine can pretend it is intelli-gent. 'But how do we define intelligence?' I hear you cry.

The brilliant British mathematician and cryptanalyst Alan Turing devised the famous Turing Test to answer this question: put a human observer in a room with two communications devices, one hooked up to a human •

subject and the other to a machine. The observer can '

ask questions and get answers from either. If the ob-server cannot determine which device is connected to .

the machine, the machine is intelligent.

There are differing opinions as to whether or not any system so far devised could pass the Turing Test, but it 1 ,

is pretty clear that any machine which would stand a chance would be a rather high tech device. This is clearly not the kind of 'appropriate technology' that we hear being advocated for the less developed regions of the world. Fortunately, theoretical science has come up ,

with the answer: Artificial Stupidity, or AS. This is a technique by which human beings are trained to behave as stupidly as machines.

A standard Al construct is the 'rule-based expert system.' This is a machine programmed to simulate the behaviour of an expert in some field by applying a set of rules to analyse and advise on specific situations. In AS, we have the 'rule-bound moron system.' This is a person trained to rigidly enforce a set of arbitrary rules without any exercise of intelligent judgement. In less technical times, rule-bound moron systems were known as 'bureaucrats.' Artificial Stupidity also has a number of applications to everyday life. For example, if we treat every issue as though it had only one correct solution (ours), and never make any compromises, we are be-having in an artificially stupid way. (Unless bebe-having this way comes naturally, of course, in which case there is nothing artificial about it.)

But suppose the machine in the Turing Test is programmed for Artificial Intelligence, while the human subject is practicing Artificial Stupidity. If the observer can't tell one from the other, is it because the artificially intelligent machine has failed the test, or the artificially stupid human has passed it?

February 1991

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A

BIT

OF THIS,

A BIT OF THAT

By Eddie Kwok

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e e e e e e O e 9 e e e O , • D C O 9 C O 8 • 0 0 0 e e O O 9

Invariance in a Changing World

Last month's "A Bit of This, A Bit of That" generated some heated discussions and arguments among computer hackers at HKUST. Some rushed to order supercomputers, others started constructing sophisticated simulation models.

But wait! Please take a look at the "production rules" again:

1. If two soldiers from the same nation are selected as heroes and sent home, then an additional soldier from Nation A is sent to the battlefield.

2. If the two soldiers selected are from different nations, then an additional soldier from Nation B is sent to the battlefield.

Consider the number of soldiers from Nation B after each cycle. It either decreases by two or remain:, unchanged: If it is

even before the heroes are selected then it remains even after the selection; if it is odd beforehand then it remains odd afterwards. In other words, the parity of this number does no! change after e~ch

cycle. This obseNation leads to the formulation of the following theorem, the proof of which is obvious:

Theorem

If the initial number oi soldiers from Nation B is odd, Nation B will win the "war", otherwise Nation A will win.

Corollary

Nation B can choose to win or lose. This holds if and only if Nation B knows about the theorem from which this corollary is derived.

The theorem is ;:i significant result showing that there is

indeed order in chaos. It tells us how to determine the winner

without using supercomputers, simulation models, and artificial

in-telligence techniques. Isn't it remarkable that such a complicated

"war" should be governed by such a simple law? That is the beauty of mathematics, or is it of peace?

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Welcome Aboard to New Staff!

Office of Pro-V-C for Research & Development: Prof. Thomas E . Stelson, Pro-Vice-Chancellor. Office of Pro-V-C for Administra-tion & Business: Mrs Selby B. Scalberg, Assistant Secretary .

Department of Biochemistry: Miss Lau Shuk-kau, Vivien,

Execu-I tive Officer (EO) II; Mr Wu Ru-dan, Research Assistant. Depart-ment of Biology: Mr To Mo-tsun, Senior Technician. Department

of Chemistry: Prof. Hiroyuki Hiraoka, Professor. Department of Mathematics: Dr Allanus Hak-Man Tsoi, Lecturer. School of Engineering: Mr Ku Kai-leung, EO I. Department of Computer Science: Prof. F.H. Lochovsky, Professor; Dr Amelia F. Lochovsky, Senior Lecturer. Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineer-ing: Prof. Peter W. Cheung, Prof~ssor a0d Head; Miss Ngai Siu-ping, Personal Secretary 11; Ms L1 Hang-lin, Clerk II. _Department of Mechanical Engineering: Dr Kot See Chun, Senior Lecturer.

School of Business & Management: Dr Ernest J. Scalberg, Pro-Dean. Department of Finance & Economics: Miss Chang

Wai-ching, Eva, EO II. Language Cent:e: Mr _Keith Tong Sai-tao,. Senior Instructor. Centre of Computing .Services & Telecommuni-cations: Miss Cheng Siu-ling, Winnie, Computer Officer; Mr Wu Chung-narn, Joe, Assistant Computer Officer; Mr Leung Hung-keung, Denny, Computer Technician I; Miss Wong Mun-yi, Clerk II. Laboratory: Mr WeslEJy R. Nieveen, Project Manager; Mr

Chong Ming-wah, John, Cle.rk I. .Library: Mr Ch_u Sio~:ying, Patrick Sub-Librarian; Mrs Nina Hsiang C. L0e, Assistant utirar-ian J· Miss Tung Sai-yi, EO II; Mr Chan Yat-wah, Library Assistant II. E~tates Management Office: MrWitold A. Nowak-Solinski, De-velopment Manager. Mr Wong Chuk-fai, Mic_hael, Technici~n.

FinRnce Office: Mr L.o Yun-sc1ng, Sarn, Assistant /,ccount,ng

Officer; Miss Chan Po-lin, Pauline, Clerk !!; Mis:, So Wai-king,

Karen Clerk II. Personnel Office: Ms Lee Yuk-sim, Jessica., Perso~al Secretary II. Student Affairs Office: Mr Lee Siu-ming,

Student Affairs Officer. Planning & Co-ordination Office: Miss

Chow Miu-ling, Jalby, Clerk II. Resignations

Department of Mechanical Engineeri~g: Ms Lui O'.~·ping, Grace,

Personal Secretary II. Personnel Office: Ms ho S1u-18n, Fanny, Clerk I.

Completion of Contract

General Administration & Committees Office: Mr Tsui Karn-ho, Chauffeur II.

WINNERS OF THE JANUARY GENESIS BACKGROUND QUIZ

The first question asked the identity of four members of stat( viewed from the back. From the six correct entries submitted, a lucky draw determined Stella Chan (PVC-AB) as the winner and recipient of a free HKUST .sweatshirt. In the photograph at the right the Vice-Chancellor announces the winner to contestants

(left to right) winner Stella, Joey Siu Sau-yee (GAC), Mandy Chan (RC), Lau

Man-chung (GAC), and Benjamin Chan (CCST). The sixth contestant Raymond Dungey (RC) was not able to be present.

The correct answers were: ·i. Jay-Chung Chen (RC); 2. Magdalena Yen (V-C's Office); 3. George Scott (GAC); and 4. William K.P. Wong (GA.C).

The bonus question asked, "Why do these people have their backs to the

camera?" The most creative response came from the Vice-Chancellor, who also

received an HKUST sweatshirt. In reply to the question, Who are these people?, the Vice-Chancellor wrote:

"Just one person-Danny Yung washing his hair," with the following ph~to

captions: 1. Danny Yung letting his hair down, to get ready. 2. Danny ~un_g with a bit of shampoo. 3. Danny Yung fully soaped. 4. Danny Yung after rinsing off

all his loose hair.

His reply to, "Why does [Danny Yung] have his back to the camera?" was, "It's too easy, even with slippery hands, to take a picture of his own front."