新聞及香港科大故事

The global race for fifth generation supremacy is under way, with countries competing to be the first to provide 5G mobile broadband services. The ultra-fast network will prompt inventions, of which today we cannot even dream. Countries around the world have devoted much resources to developing, manufacturing and deploying the new equipment necessary for 5G transmissions. China, for instance, has recently become highly influential in the field with its ability to develop infrastructure for 5G systems worldwide. In Asia, Hong Kong has been blamed for being slow to launch the new service in comparison with the mainland, South Korea and Japan. Actually, a delay is not necessarily a bad thing, as it allows Hong Kong to have a longer testing period to ensure a more reliable and decent 5G mobile service. Hong Kong's privately-owned telecom market is very competitive and cautious.

香港科技大學（科大）水底機械人大賽小隊於2019年MATE國際水底機械人大賽勇奪全場總冠軍及工程演說冠軍。這是隊伍繼2017年後，再次於是次比賽中獲得全場總冠軍，亦是目前唯一一支在比賽舉辦18年來獲得這個最高榮譽的亞洲隊伍。

Humans are creatures who often judge whether a dish is attractive or a stranger is friendly simply by their own eyes. But our sense of smell is just as important. We all may have the experience of eating with a stuffy nose and found a dish to be tasteless or using our nose to check whether it has gone bad. Moreover, people tend to keep their distance from a person with an unpleasant odor, while special odors like gas can alert us to dangers of a leak. As the old Chinese adage goes, "My shack is better than an emperor's bed." What makes our own shack better? Our smell, together with the smell of our family members, and pets as well if any, makes it unique and reassuring. To understand how smell impacts people, researchers at the University of British Columbia, Canada, invited 96 couples for a study last year.

Our fishery gave birth to a love of seafood, but it is also contributing to the global fish stocks decline. We degraded it through overfishing, pollution and reclamation before building a fleet to ravage fisheries in other places. Many cities have actually done the same. Ironically, calls to save global fish stocks come from cities that sacrificed their own fisheries. Yet, Hong Kong also shows the way to a solution. It retains a resilient population of people who fish, those with the expertise and toughness to build a sustainable fishery, that is, such as those where catch volume and fishing practices allow for continual regeneration of stock, while enabling fishers to achieve a decent standard of living. People in the industry will overfish and abuse the ecosystem to provide more income if they can't afford a living. But our highly adaptable fishermen can demonstrate a global model for sustainable fishery.

香港科技大學機械人競賽團隊—水底機械人小隊在第14屆MATE國際水底機械人大賽香港區賽成功衛冕，蟬聯九屆冠軍。該支隊伍將代表香港，參加在6月20至22日於美國田納西州金斯波特水上運動中心舉行的國際賽。

香港科技大學環境研究所今日推出嶄新的流動應用程式 PRAISE-HK，旨在減少空氣污染對用戶的個人健康威脅。PRAISE-HK 全名是「個人化實時空氣污染風險信息系統 」(英文：Personalized Real-time Air-quality Informatics System for Exposure – Hong Kong)，將有助香港成為世界級的智慧健康城市。PRAISE-HK 是滙豐150週年慈善計劃自2016年11月起資助，為期五年的項目，流動應用程式和系統分三個階段推進：(1)    第一階段 - 今日發表的應用程式以高解析度（達2米至20米）的街道級別地圖提供室外空氣質素資訊；(2)    第二階段 - 全面整合空氣污染對個人健康威脅的資訊，追踪個人由室內至室外（包括於交通工具內）所接觸空氣污染水平；(3)    第三階段 - 完成互動應用程式及系統，根據個人對空氣污染的反應提供健康預測警報。 什麼是PRAISE-HK？PRAISE-HK是一款智慧城市應用程式，提供最先進的街道級別實時空氣質素和健康風險信息和48小時空氣質素預報。PRAISE-HK 顯示「空氣質素健康指數」（AQHI）以及由四種空氣污染物：二氧化氮（NO2）、臭氧（O3）、懸浮粒子（PM10 和PM2.5)）和二氧化硫（SO2） 所導致入院的個別健康風險增幅總和 (%AR)。用戶可在 PRAISE-HK 應用程式獲取上述的實用資訊，然後採取相應措施，減少短期曝露於空氣污染物的風險，對空氣污染物敏感的人士會大大受益於此程式。PRAISE-HK應用程式是由香港科技大學環境研究所開發的全新系統，項目由跨學科專家領導，其高精準度可歸功於以下重要技術： 

Unmanned aircraft systems started to gain attention in US military operations more than a decade ago, but nowadays, people enjoy flying drones for photography and videography purposes. Drones are also gaining widespread acceptance for goods delivery, surveying and scientific research. I have two recreational drones, so I was eager to examine the three-month drone regulation proposals put out by the Civil Aviation Department in late 2017. There are six recommendations for the UAS regulatory regime: a registration system; risk-based classification of operations; training and assessment requirements; drone maps; insurance requirements; and indoor operations. The recommendations are sound, but a number of salient issues were omitted. The first is the absence of regulations governing drone manufacturers.

非文科本科生經常抱怨被迫修讀跟他們的主修範疇以及職業生涯毫無關係的人文學科。然而，人文學部副教授渡言並不認同這個想法。渡教授認為，科學家以及工程師也應該修讀文科及人文學科，才能了解他們的發明能為社會和人類帶來什麼樣的影響。渡教授希望更多學生能夠透過她的課堂培養同理心、批判性和創意思維。 「人文學科是一種軟實力。它對人類的影響有時甚至比科學發明更深遠。」她以歷史上的著名作家莎士比亞以及魯迅為例子，後者為中國的文壇大師，因為堅信文字的力量遠大於醫學，故決定棄醫從文。 現今的學生都喜歡追求視覺上的刺激，因此他們都無圖像不歡。正如渡教授所言，電影和動畫這個媒介比文學讓人感覺更自由，亦比書本更受歡迎和更容易接近。 因此她認為，「電影和動畫是灌輸學生人道主義價值觀一個很好的媒介。」 渡教授是研究中國動畫的著名學者，她最先發現中國動畫電影在二戰時期的重要性，並且將其建立為一個主流研究範疇。渡教授醉心研究動畫，源於她在美國攻讀博士學位時發現動畫可以成爲一門獨立的研究議題。但同時她亦對其友儕只談論日本動畫的行徑感到好奇，促使她決定深入研究中國動畫這一個前人未曾涉獵的研究領域。 渡教授於2012年完成她的博士論文，發表中國動畫對日本動畫的影響，以及中國動畫在50至70年代毛澤東領導下蜚聲國際。今年，渡教授出版了她的英文著作《Animated Encounters: Transnational Movements of Chinese Animation, 1940s-1970s》。 渡教授還認為，因為人們對科技的看法不斷改變，所以現今不論修讀什麼科目的學生都應該修讀人文學科。日本動畫對科技的描述就是最佳例證—在60年代，科技在動畫裡頭都是好幫手，造福人類。然而，近代動畫卻經常刻劃瘋狂科學家創造能夠摧毀人類文明的怪獸機器，展現出對科技的恐懼。 她表示：「科學發展存在失控的可能性。雖然機械人能為人類帶來便利，但同時也可能帶來破壞。我希望學生以人道關懷和價值為做事原則，這樣才可確保科學和技術用於正途。」