- By Alfred Siew (Digital Life)
The cashier at McDonald's thought I was pulling a fast one when I told him I wanted to pay for my order with my cellphone last Wednesday.
He was still looking surprised after I tapped my ez-link phone onto the reader on the table and carried my food off.
The phone was a no-brand model that StarHub and EZ-Link contracted a local firm to make, and my quick test of the technology turned out to be mostly smooth.
In fact, when I turned up at the ticket counter at Sengkang MRT station to top up my phone, the staff knew - as they should - about the mobile payment trial that EZ-Link and StarHub were conducting.
Though the reader at the station had some problems detecting the phone at first and I had to restart it twice, I eventually managed to top it up with $20.
One tap and the gate opened each time - even when the phone was connected to a call.
The biggest glitch I faced during the test was with the ez-link virtual purse software on the phone.
Although it showed useful information like my last top-up amount and transaction history, it took a few good seconds to start up each time.
To be fair, this was only a test phone, but the big test is whether people will find it useful to pay with a phone. To me, it certainly felt unusual at first. But after tapping on a fare gate a few times, it became quite natural.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Multi-agency group to drive energy efficiency
By Arti Mulchand & Liaw Wy-Cin
EFFORTS by various sectors to improve energy efficiency in Singapore have been brought under a single umbrella body.
Set up in May, the Energy Efficiency Programme Office (E2PO) brings together multiple agencies from the major sectors of energy use, announced the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Yaacob Ibrahim on Tuesday.
The five sectors are power generation, industry, transport, buildings and households.
The first three are the largest consumers of fuel in Singapore, and electricity is primarily used by industry, buildings and homes.
'The E2PO will draw on the combined knowledge and strength of these agencies to draw up a long term plan that integrates whole-of-government efforts,' said Dr Yaacob, speaking at the Bayer Young Environmental Envoy and Eco-Minds Award Ceremony at Fullerton Hotel.
The plan will have four key thrusts. It will promote the adoption of energy efficient technologies and measures, build the capability to drive and sustain energy efficiency, raise awareness among businesses and households to stimulate energy efficient behaviour, and support research and development.
A fund will be set up to support these programmes, said the Minister.
The taskforce will be led by the National Environment Agency, and taps on over 40 other agencies, including the Building and Construction Authority, the Economic Development Board (EDB) and the Land Transport Authority.
The team will meet monthly, and is currently formulating the 'long term plan', called Energy Efficient Singapore.
Within the next six months, they will draw up 'indicators' to measure current energy efficiency in the various sectors, said NEA chief Lee Yuen Hee. Actual targets will follow.
While various agencies had their own programmes and policies, there was a need for a more 'coordinated, focused' effort, said NEA chief Lee Yuen Hee.
For example, when building a new industrial facility, incorporating energy efficiency measures at the design stage is often the most cost effective thing to do, so the EDB can work with BCA, he explained.
Other measures being look at in the other sectors include increasing the use of public transport. On this front, LTA aims to raise the proportion of users during the morning peak hour from 63 per cent to 70 per cent in the next 10 to 15 years.
LTA is also exploring how it can get cabbies to stop cruising around empty, so fuel is not wasted.
Motorists will also be able to make greener choices: NEA is studying the feasibility of making fuel economy labelling for cars mandatory. Such labelling is already compulsory for air-conditioners and refrigerators, and may be extended to other products.
NEA is also considering setting 'energy efficiency standards' to remove inefficient appliances from the market.
Dr Yaacob said that energy efficiency would help Singapore meet its energy needs, while satisfying both environmental and economic goals.
It would reduce carbon emissions, improve cost competitiveness of businesses, and improve energy security as reliance on fossil fuels goes down.
And tackling climate change need not be at the expense of economic growth, and should be seen as a 'pro-growth strategy', said the Minister. 'Ignoring it will ultimately undermine economic growth,' he added.
EFFORTS by various sectors to improve energy efficiency in Singapore have been brought under a single umbrella body.
Set up in May, the Energy Efficiency Programme Office (E2PO) brings together multiple agencies from the major sectors of energy use, announced the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Yaacob Ibrahim on Tuesday.
The five sectors are power generation, industry, transport, buildings and households.
The first three are the largest consumers of fuel in Singapore, and electricity is primarily used by industry, buildings and homes.
'The E2PO will draw on the combined knowledge and strength of these agencies to draw up a long term plan that integrates whole-of-government efforts,' said Dr Yaacob, speaking at the Bayer Young Environmental Envoy and Eco-Minds Award Ceremony at Fullerton Hotel.
The plan will have four key thrusts. It will promote the adoption of energy efficient technologies and measures, build the capability to drive and sustain energy efficiency, raise awareness among businesses and households to stimulate energy efficient behaviour, and support research and development.
A fund will be set up to support these programmes, said the Minister.
The taskforce will be led by the National Environment Agency, and taps on over 40 other agencies, including the Building and Construction Authority, the Economic Development Board (EDB) and the Land Transport Authority.
The team will meet monthly, and is currently formulating the 'long term plan', called Energy Efficient Singapore.
Within the next six months, they will draw up 'indicators' to measure current energy efficiency in the various sectors, said NEA chief Lee Yuen Hee. Actual targets will follow.
While various agencies had their own programmes and policies, there was a need for a more 'coordinated, focused' effort, said NEA chief Lee Yuen Hee.
For example, when building a new industrial facility, incorporating energy efficiency measures at the design stage is often the most cost effective thing to do, so the EDB can work with BCA, he explained.
Other measures being look at in the other sectors include increasing the use of public transport. On this front, LTA aims to raise the proportion of users during the morning peak hour from 63 per cent to 70 per cent in the next 10 to 15 years.
LTA is also exploring how it can get cabbies to stop cruising around empty, so fuel is not wasted.
Motorists will also be able to make greener choices: NEA is studying the feasibility of making fuel economy labelling for cars mandatory. Such labelling is already compulsory for air-conditioners and refrigerators, and may be extended to other products.
NEA is also considering setting 'energy efficiency standards' to remove inefficient appliances from the market.
Dr Yaacob said that energy efficiency would help Singapore meet its energy needs, while satisfying both environmental and economic goals.
It would reduce carbon emissions, improve cost competitiveness of businesses, and improve energy security as reliance on fossil fuels goes down.
And tackling climate change need not be at the expense of economic growth, and should be seen as a 'pro-growth strategy', said the Minister. 'Ignoring it will ultimately undermine economic growth,' he added.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Oct 29, 2007 Body found in river
The body of a woman, believed to be in her 70s, was pulled out of Sungei Serangoon yesterday.
She was found floating in the river along Hougang Avenue 7 near Block 344. Police received a call at about 2.40pm.
The body was retrieved about 10 minutes later.
Anyone with information should call the police hotline on 1800-255-0000.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Brain study - Sleepy, grumpy and ... primitive?
Oct 25, 2007 (Taken from Straits Times Interactive)
Brain study - Sleepy, grumpy and ... primitive?
WASHINGTON - A FEW nights without sleep can not only make people tired and emotional, but may actually put the brain into a primitive 'fight or flight' state, researchers said on Wednesday.
Brain images of otherwise healthy men and women showed two full days without sleep seemed to rewire their brains, re-directing activity from the calming and rational prefrontal cortex to the 'fear centre' - the amygdala.
'It's almost as though, without sleep, the brain had reverted back to more primitive patterns of activity, in that it was unable to put emotional experiences into context and produce controlled, appropriate responses,' said Dr Matthew Walker of the University of California Berkeley, who led the study.
That a lack of sleep can make people grumpy is hardly news.
'We all know implicitly the link between bad sleep the night before and bad mood the next day. We are just adding the brain basis to what we knew,' Dr Walker said in a telephone interview.
Dr Walker and colleagues at Harvard Medical School used functional magnetic resonance imaging, which can scan brain activity in real time, to see what was going on in the brains of their 26 young adult volunteers.
Half were kept awake for a day, a night and another full day. The other half slept as normal.
Writing in the journal Current Biology, Dr Walker's team said they noticed profound changes in the brain activity of those volunteers who stayed up.
'We found a strong overreaction from the emotional centres of the brain,' Dr Walker said. 'It was almost as if the brain had been rewired, and connected to the fright, flight or fight area in the brain stem.'
Swinging like a pendulum
And lab workers noticed a difference in the behaviour of the sleep-deprived volunteers.
'They seemed to swing like a pendulum between the broad spectrum of emotions,' Dr Walker said. 'They would go from being remarkably upset at one time to where they found the same thing funny. They were almost giddy - punch drunk.'
Next Dr Walker wants to test people who are chronically sleep-deprived, perhaps by letting them have just 5 hours of sleep over several days. The average adult needs 7 to 9 hours of sleep a night.
He said the findings may shed light on psychiatric diseases. 'This is the first set of experiments that demonstrate that even healthy people's brains mimic certain pathological psychiatric patterns when deprived of sleep.'
'Before, it was difficult to separate out the effect of sleep versus the disease itself. Now we're closer to being able to look into whether the person has a psychiatric disease or a sleep disorder.'
A second study in the same journal suggests daylight-savings time regimes may cause similar effects. -- REUTERS
Brain study - Sleepy, grumpy and ... primitive?
WASHINGTON - A FEW nights without sleep can not only make people tired and emotional, but may actually put the brain into a primitive 'fight or flight' state, researchers said on Wednesday.
Brain images of otherwise healthy men and women showed two full days without sleep seemed to rewire their brains, re-directing activity from the calming and rational prefrontal cortex to the 'fear centre' - the amygdala.
'It's almost as though, without sleep, the brain had reverted back to more primitive patterns of activity, in that it was unable to put emotional experiences into context and produce controlled, appropriate responses,' said Dr Matthew Walker of the University of California Berkeley, who led the study.
That a lack of sleep can make people grumpy is hardly news.
'We all know implicitly the link between bad sleep the night before and bad mood the next day. We are just adding the brain basis to what we knew,' Dr Walker said in a telephone interview.
Dr Walker and colleagues at Harvard Medical School used functional magnetic resonance imaging, which can scan brain activity in real time, to see what was going on in the brains of their 26 young adult volunteers.
Half were kept awake for a day, a night and another full day. The other half slept as normal.
Writing in the journal Current Biology, Dr Walker's team said they noticed profound changes in the brain activity of those volunteers who stayed up.
'We found a strong overreaction from the emotional centres of the brain,' Dr Walker said. 'It was almost as if the brain had been rewired, and connected to the fright, flight or fight area in the brain stem.'
Swinging like a pendulum
And lab workers noticed a difference in the behaviour of the sleep-deprived volunteers.
'They seemed to swing like a pendulum between the broad spectrum of emotions,' Dr Walker said. 'They would go from being remarkably upset at one time to where they found the same thing funny. They were almost giddy - punch drunk.'
Next Dr Walker wants to test people who are chronically sleep-deprived, perhaps by letting them have just 5 hours of sleep over several days. The average adult needs 7 to 9 hours of sleep a night.
He said the findings may shed light on psychiatric diseases. 'This is the first set of experiments that demonstrate that even healthy people's brains mimic certain pathological psychiatric patterns when deprived of sleep.'
'Before, it was difficult to separate out the effect of sleep versus the disease itself. Now we're closer to being able to look into whether the person has a psychiatric disease or a sleep disorder.'
A second study in the same journal suggests daylight-savings time regimes may cause similar effects. -- REUTERS
Monday, October 22, 2007
.jpg)
Maggots can heal!
Oct 22, 2007 (Taken from Straitstimes Interactive)
Maggots may be used to heal festering wounds
NTU lab testing larvae that can hasten healing, kill 'super bug'
By Tania Tan
IN THE heart of Nanyang Technological University (NTU) is a research lab raising maggots that may soon be used to treat festering wounds in patients here.
These microsurgeons, which 'treat as they eat', do their job by gobbling up dead tissue and producing infection-fighting secretions, said Associate Professor Daniel Lim, director of NTU's Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Engineering Cluster.
'It's double the benefit for wound healing,' he added.
The idea is not new.
Maggot medicine was tried and tested way back in the 1800s and is now used in hospitals in Britain, Germany and the United States.
Researchers in the lab here - a collaboration between NTU and home-grown life sciences company Origin Scientia - are looking into using the larvae of a local species of fly, Lucilia cuprina, also known as green bottle.
The six-month-old lab already has a stock of 4,000 flies, which are fed a mixture of milk powder and sugar, with a side of Vitamin B-12 enriched syrup.
After the flies mate and lay their eggs, the eggs are harvested and sterilised to ensure the hatched maggots are bacteria-free.
The larvae measure barely 2mm, but are equipped with a huge appetite for dead tissue, such as those in the wounds of diabetics, which do not heal readily, or burns victims.
Sandwiched between two pieces of gauze or other type of dressing, the maggots are left up to 48hours in a wound, after which they are treated as bio-hazard waste and discarded, said Prof Lim.
If the idea of maggots eating away at your flesh turns you queasy, consider the alternative: Left untreated, necrotic or dead tissue is an ideal breeding ground for bacteria or infection that can lead to gangrene, limb amputation and - in severe cases - death.
Prof Lim said no tests have been done on patients here yet, though clinical trials are expected to start as soon as next year.
Already, doctors at Tan Tock Seng Hospital's burns unit are watching the lab's progress with interest.
The deputy head and consultant at the hospital's department of orthopaedic surgery, Dr Ooi Lai Hock, said some patients would 'definitely welcome' the alternative therapy.
Prof Lim said that while adult flies are associated with dirt and disease, maggots produce anal and oral secretions that have been shown in studies to be capable of fighting off the bacterium called Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA).
Known as the 'super bug', MRSA has evolved to become resistant to many antibiotics.
As recently as last week, a teenager in the United States died from an MRSA infection.
Beyond treating wounds, the lab hopes to one day harness the maggots' bacteria-killing abilities for use in products such as creams and serums.
Prof Lim said: 'It's a very long-term goal, but the research journey starts now.'
Maggots may be used to heal festering wounds
NTU lab testing larvae that can hasten healing, kill 'super bug'
By Tania Tan
IN THE heart of Nanyang Technological University (NTU) is a research lab raising maggots that may soon be used to treat festering wounds in patients here.
These microsurgeons, which 'treat as they eat', do their job by gobbling up dead tissue and producing infection-fighting secretions, said Associate Professor Daniel Lim, director of NTU's Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Engineering Cluster.
'It's double the benefit for wound healing,' he added.
The idea is not new.
Maggot medicine was tried and tested way back in the 1800s and is now used in hospitals in Britain, Germany and the United States.
Researchers in the lab here - a collaboration between NTU and home-grown life sciences company Origin Scientia - are looking into using the larvae of a local species of fly, Lucilia cuprina, also known as green bottle.
The six-month-old lab already has a stock of 4,000 flies, which are fed a mixture of milk powder and sugar, with a side of Vitamin B-12 enriched syrup.
After the flies mate and lay their eggs, the eggs are harvested and sterilised to ensure the hatched maggots are bacteria-free.
The larvae measure barely 2mm, but are equipped with a huge appetite for dead tissue, such as those in the wounds of diabetics, which do not heal readily, or burns victims.
Sandwiched between two pieces of gauze or other type of dressing, the maggots are left up to 48hours in a wound, after which they are treated as bio-hazard waste and discarded, said Prof Lim.
If the idea of maggots eating away at your flesh turns you queasy, consider the alternative: Left untreated, necrotic or dead tissue is an ideal breeding ground for bacteria or infection that can lead to gangrene, limb amputation and - in severe cases - death.
Prof Lim said no tests have been done on patients here yet, though clinical trials are expected to start as soon as next year.
Already, doctors at Tan Tock Seng Hospital's burns unit are watching the lab's progress with interest.
The deputy head and consultant at the hospital's department of orthopaedic surgery, Dr Ooi Lai Hock, said some patients would 'definitely welcome' the alternative therapy.
Prof Lim said that while adult flies are associated with dirt and disease, maggots produce anal and oral secretions that have been shown in studies to be capable of fighting off the bacterium called Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA).
Known as the 'super bug', MRSA has evolved to become resistant to many antibiotics.
As recently as last week, a teenager in the United States died from an MRSA infection.
Beyond treating wounds, the lab hopes to one day harness the maggots' bacteria-killing abilities for use in products such as creams and serums.
Prof Lim said: 'It's a very long-term goal, but the research journey starts now.'
School uniforms given runway twist
Monday, October 15, 2007
Do you know the meaning?
I saw this notice pasted on the shutter last month. I wanted to send it to STOMP, but I was procrastinating. Anyway, guess what is wrong with it?
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Reach for the M!
I titled this photograph as "Reach for the M!" Well, the "M" here does not refer to the brand name "M". The M here stands for "MAXIMUM". I hope everyone will reach for their MAXIMUM potential.
Good luck to you!
Hello everybody! I hope everyone is fine in school and at home too! Haha. Anyway, today is the last day of PSLE for the P6 pupils. For those who did not take higher mother tongue, today is an extra holiday for you! I hope all of you will do well in your PSLE. While waiting for your results, you will have to get ready for your graduation party and your whimsical moment.
For the rest of you, do work hard for the coming examinations. :D
For the rest of you, do work hard for the coming examinations. :D
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
