174 research outputs found
Rationality, identity and choice: An ethical criticism of Dr Han Suyin’s autobiography / Florence Kuek Chee Wee
No full textWhen China was completely closed to the Western world between during the Cold War, namely, 1947 to 1991, China-born Eurasian author and physician Dr Han Suyin, who became British citizen and Swiss resident, was among the few who were allowed to visit China. Though controversial, her autobiographical accounts regarding 20th century China was quite notable. Her reconstructed modern Chinese history pointed to the birthing of a ―phoenix‖ namely, China, hinting on a new ethical order in East-West relations. Captured in her six-volume autobiography, namely The Crippled Tree series, the East-West conflicts also surfaced in the microcosm of Han Suyin‘s family history as well as her own identity search. Autobiographies are traditionally understood as means of self-redemption or self-validation of the respective autobiographers. In the case of Dr Han Suyin, it was an epistemological means to her self-knowledge and self-assertion. Having rejected her maiden name Rosalie, Han Suyin learned later that she was to embrace her dual-ethnicity after all. The adoption of the Chinese pseudonym ―Han Suyin‖ was one of her efforts to reconstruct her new identity. By revisiting the ethical issues in her family saga as well as the experience of the mixed-race individuals, Han Suyin went through the plethora of taboo, trauma, confusion, multiple ethical choices, plenty of dilemmas and a lifetime of soul-searching for a place where she could be home. The entire process of rejecting ―Rosalie,‖ accepting ―Rosalie‖ and thriving beyond ―Rosalie‖ was, nonetheless, the best reflection of her mode of survival in a series of debatable ethical choices. Moreover, her choices were in stark difference when compared with the choices made by her siblings and her Eurasian peers. This thesis chiefly employs Ethical Literary Criticism (ELC) in examining the various ethical dimensions in Han Suyin‘s autobiographical series
Automate web archive quality check.
No full textThis project is an exploratory study into the automation of web archive quality checking process. The objectives for this endeavor are to establish a standard checking process and to produce a piece of automation tool to check against the completeness, correctness, and accuracy of harvested material so as to accelerate the checking process and reduce the dependency on human beings.Master of Science (Information Studies
Commercialization potential of dye-sensitized mesoscopic solar cells
No full textThesis (M. Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering, 2008.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.Cataloged from student submitted PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 67-73).The price of oil has continued to rise, from a high of US140 in the recent weeks (of July). Coupled with increasing insidious greenhouse gas emissions, the need to harness abundant and renewable energy sources is never more urgent than now. The sun is the champion of all energy sources and photovoltaic cell production is currently the world's fastest growing energy market. Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) are photoelectrochemical cells which mimic the natural photosynthesis process to generate solar electricity. Typically, a monolayer of dye sensitizer molecules is anchored onto a semiconductor mesoporous film such as TiO₂ to generate charges on exposure to illumination. The nanocrystalline particulate threedimensional network provides high surface area coverage for the photogeneration process and percolation of charges. In the thesis, we will review the current research efforts to optimize the DSC performance and develop probable applications to complement existing solid-state photovoltaic technologies. We believe the large and rapidly expanding solar market offers a prime commercial opportunity to deliver a DSC product for mass adoption by consumers. DSC is kept at a low production cost because it bypasses conventional vacuum-based semiconductor processing technologies, instead relying on solution and chemical processing routes. However, our cost modeling analysis show the TCO glass substrate and ruthenium dyes could constitute more than 90% of the overall materials cost.(cont.) Thus, we recommend new technological approaches must be taken to keep the substrate pricing low and continuously improve the energy conversion efficiencies to further lower the production cost.by Kwan Wee Tan.M.Eng
Comparison of IPOs in SES main board and SESDAQ
No full textIn recent months, there has been an increasing interest in the capital markets. We have
seen new share issues being heavily oversubscribed and the secondary market is also doing
very well for both the SES Main Board and SESDAQ.
At present, the SESDAQ is almost seven years old and can be considered rather matured.
A study was done by Francis Koh, Loke Miew Cheng, Phoon Kok Fai and Joseph Lim on
the Second Board in 1989 when it was in an early stage of development. The study was
limited by the amount of data available for evaluation since SESDAQ was less than two
years old then. We would hope to provide an extension to the earlier analysis.
Furthermore, the perception regarding SESDAQ stocks as compared to those of the Main
Board is still inferior. By assessing the risk and return characteristics of the two boards,
we would like to provide an understanding on this issue through empirical evidence.
From our results, SESDAQ IPOs have generally underperformed Main Board new issues
in terms of share premium. Nevertheless, IPOs in both SESDAQ and Main board is found
to be underpriced.BUSINES
Face detection and tracking using hybrid margin-based ROI techniques
No full textThis study is to solve the problem of low accuracy and slow processing speed for real-time face detection and tracking systems. A margin-based region of interest approach with fixed and dynamic margin concepts is proposed to speed up the processing time. In addition, a hybrid system is developed to boost the accuracy and overcome the deficiency of the main detection algorithm. This approach consists of two routines, i.e., main and escape routines. Three algorithms are used independently as the main routine to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed hybrid approach. These algorithms are Haar cascade, Joint cascade, and multitask convolutional neural networks. The escape routine based on template matching algorithm is designed to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed hybrid approach and improve detection accuracy. Two RGB video datasets with diversity and variations in face poses, video backgrounds, illuminations, video resolutions, expressions, over exposed faces, and occlusions of people within various unseen environments have been used for experiments and evaluation. The experiment results confirm that the hybrid approach is capable of detecting and tracking faces in non-frontal orientation with better accuracy and faster processing speed, i.e., four times faster than the conventional full frame scanning techniques
Consumers ' choice of credit/charge card
No full textThe purpose of this research is to uncover the factors that affect consumers' choice of
credit or charge card. Recent developments have indicated that the intensity of
competition in the card market has increased.
Therefore, part of the objectives of the current study would be to identify those
benefits that cardholders consider as important and which would likely affect their
evaluation of the cards to apply for. Other areas of study were on developing
demographic profiles of the responding cardholders based on the nature of card held,
on whether these demographic variables have significant effects on their card choice
and on how often credit settlement was used for a variety of activities like the
purchase of food items, non-food items and travel and entertainment etc.
The results from the analysis indicated that certain benefits like a flexible repayment
plan and waiver of membership fee offered by the issuers were considered important
while other benefits such a.S discount on car rentals and fast cash service drew mixed
reactions. The usage frequency for most of the respondents were considered low
(about 1 to 4 times per week). However, most cardholders used the card very
frequently to settle payments for dining and travelling purposes. The demographic
profiles for Visa and MasterCard cardholders were almost identical while American
Express cardholders were a distinct group on their own.
The report ends with some recommendations on the areas for future research and
how this research study can be further improved in terms of measurement scales and
underlying constructs.BUSINES
Modeling and swimming performance investigation of a biologically inspired caudal fin propulsion system
No full textEfficient swimming and maneuvering through water have posed a great challenge to current Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV), as the navigating through water is difficult due the properties of the medium and the external disturbances surrounding it. Studies have shown that the AUV, which uses propeller, often results in poor swimming efficiency and large turning radius. Investigation into unsteady fish-like locomotion has shown a highly efficient method of propulsion. Although many fish-like vehicles had been designed and developed around the world, most of them had their focus on designing a life-like fish robot for efficiency and maneuverability rather than exploiting the fish locomotion to address on the critical design and control issues. Limited experiment works had been carried out to demonstrate how this fish-like propulsion method could potentially benefit the relevant fields. A fish-like underwater vehicle (NAF-I) has been developed in this work, in order to carry out in-depth experiments. The aim of this research is to establish a semi-empirical model based on parametric studies, so that a swimming speed prediction equation can be generated for future navigation control.MASTER OF ENGINEERING (MAE
NIE Family Day 2014 (3 Oct 2014)
No full textThe Staff Welfare Recreation Fund Committee (SWRFC) Organizing Committee of Family Day. Back row, from left: Lee Li Lian Val (NSSE), Nenny Noorman (LIBRIS), Kristina Burgetova (PS), Ho Yen Yen Rebecca (NSSE), Low Li Jia (OAAS), Soo Li Mei Johannah (NSSE), Lim-Ang Ah Buan (NSSE) and Stevenson-Yong Mary Magdalene (NSSE). Front row, from left: Lionel Lim Chee Sin (NSSE), Foo Meng Wei (GPL), Chua Wee Ann (OTE) and Lum Hon Peng (CSC)
Modeling and simulation of selective laser melting process
No full textSelective Laser Melting (SLM) in 3D manufacturing is increasing in popularity due to the fact that it is full of potential. This technology is widely used in many industries, as there is a high possibility of creating large variety of materials, resulting in a broad range of physical and mechanical properties. As such, in this report, the author will focus on SLM process in 3D printing. The author will create a model using large-scale atomic/molecular massively parallel simulator (LAMMPS) molecular dynamics simulator so as to perform simulations of the SLM process during 3D printing. After which, the author will use the output from the LAMMPS and serve it as an input to OVITO so as to visualize and to understand how the heat from the laser is transferred across the granular powder during additive manufacturing. In addition, the author will insert another layer of granular powder and applied heat so as to simulate the actual SLM process. The results obtained from this simulation will allow the industry to have a rough idea on the thermodynamics and molecular dynamics of SLM process on granular powder. In the future, this will provide the manufacturers with a platform to conduct simulation before the real manufacturing process is conducted. This will help to increase the success rate and reduce the cost of manufacturing failure. In addition, this will also speed up the production rate of complex materials.Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical Engineering
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