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Indonesia's New Scientists Focus on Local Solutions

印尼的新世代科學家積極尋找在地的解決方案

(photo from VOA news)

“This week Indonesian scientists met with American counterparts in Jakarta to trade ideas and seek support for projects such as plastic made from local plants, new fuel cells and heartier varieties of rice. ”

印尼當地的科學家與美國科學家在雅加達會面,除了交換意見,也為各項計畫尋找支持,像是研究使用印尼當地植物來製成塑膠,新型的燃料電池,與更健康的白米品種。


 最新消息

台大外語教學暨資源中心暑期TOEFL & GRE 單字學習活動 7/10-9/10

台大外語教學暨資源中心即將舉辦暑期TOEFL & GRE 單字學習活動,這項個人競賽時間從7/10-9/10,,只要是台大在學生,都可以參加,本競賽取各組前15%參賽者進行頒獎,並頒發獎狀,在大學裡能夠拿到獎狀的機會很少,希望同學能把握,相信這張獎狀對未來申學或是求職勢必能夠加分,詳情請上 外語教學暨資源中心網站 查看。

不論您是否已經安排了國外旅遊還是在世界任何角落,都可以透過有網路連線的電腦,每天跟著進度參加比賽喔!

http://homepage.ntu.edu.tw/~ntuavc/myet_contest_result/99summer/myet_contest_99summer.html


MyET 單字王

外語教學中心最新購買了一套新課程--MyET單字王,要準備GRE和TOEFL的同學,這一套課程能幫助你擴充單字量、提升字彙能力,並且修正發音,是準備留學考試很好的練習工具。欲申請美國、加拿大各大學研究所的同學,快來看看如何使用吧!

英語學習系列

MyET 單字集

單字集說明

歐美留學英語

字首字根必備千字表 【1160字】

http://140.112.185.6/ElizaWeb/ElizaImages/Vocabulary/Yellow_arrow.gif

適合欲申請美國各大學研究所或研究機構的學習者

http://140.112.185.6/ElizaWeb/ElizaImages/Vocabulary/Yellow_arrow.gif

收列大專以上程度的GRE必備常考字彙

http://140.112.185.6/ElizaWeb/ElizaImages/Vocabulary/Yellow_arrow.gif

依據英語前百大字首、字根詳盡分類整理

托福TOEFL ibt 精選字彙 【500字】

http://140.112.185.6/ElizaWeb/ElizaImages/Vocabulary/Yellow_arrow.gif

適合欲至美國、加拿大完成高等教育的非英語國家的學習者

http://140.112.185.6/ElizaWeb/ElizaImages/Vocabulary/Yellow_arrow.gif

收列英文最重要的字首、字根歸納分類

MyET帳號申請和使用說明


自學包裹(Self-Study Package)中高級第56期上線了

許多來自阿富汗的未成年小孩被其父母以偷渡的方式進入澳洲,目的無為了躲避塔利班政權的迫害,或者是希望他們能夠在澳洲找到新生活。

霍華德(John Howard)與陸克文(Kevin Rudd)政府時代,這些小孩安置在所謂的滯留中心(detention centre),在新任總理吉拉德(Julia Gillard)上台後即表態認為將孩子關在滯留中心是不對的,她將協助這弱勢孩子取得居留簽證,以及將他們安置在適合的社區中,但是目前澳洲政府仍面臨許多難題...。來看看最新一期的自學包裹吧!

快來練習自學包裹吧 | 申請帳號和使用說明

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 E-Freeway主題介紹

feature of the week

manythings.org--Interesting Things for ESL Students

本期Feature of the Week要介紹一個雖然畫面看起來很簡單,但是在功能性上很實用的英語自修網站,適合程度屬於較基礎的學生使用,其中除了一般文法、單字外,也非常難得地提供單字方面的文字遊戲,例如文字接龍等等,現在就讓我們一起來瞧瞧看吧!

來看介紹 | 直接進入網站


Members Only資源介紹

Author Plus 研究生專區: 學術字彙

這次介紹的學術字彙分為四大領域,分別是人文學科、社會科學、理工科技以及生物醫學,內含從各大期刊擷取的學術摘要、短文所製作的練習題,提供同學多樣化接觸學術字彙的機會,藉此幫助同學了解文獻資料的內容,增進閱讀的速度,到了寫報告的時候,腦中不再一片空白、不會寫來寫去都是那幾個字喔....論文不再空白!!!


 

這個網站類出30種左右的文法結構和一些特定的句型用法,同學們可以依照自己需求的部份做選擇。每一種文法句型的部份,除了介紹在哪些情況下該結構或句型適用外,還提供了許多的練習。

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 館藏介紹

Cambridge IELTS測驗題庫,每一冊都有四個完整的測驗題,包括答案以及可以影印的答案紙。而且,除了第一冊之外,其他的六冊都是過去考過的題目,因此準確性與真實性可以說是百分之百毫無差池啊!多做考題一直都是準備考試很重要的一環,可以熟悉考試型題,也可以評估需要加強的能力,是最基本的準備步驟喔。


 英語宅急便     

This week Indonesian scientists met with American counterparts in Jakarta to trade ideas and seek support for projects such as plastic made from local plants, new fuel cells and heartier varieties of rice.

Yessi Permana and Marsia Gustiananda research two very different topics - one biodegradable plastic, the other infectious diseases. But both are driven by a desire to see their country prosper from domestically developed technology.

The researchers were participants at the KAVLI Frontiers of Science Symposium outside Jakarta - one of a series of conferences partly sponsored by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences that bring together researchers from around the world to discuss advances and opportunities in their fields.

From bean to plastic

Permana is working to create a more environmentally-friendly plastic from the castor oil bean. His bigger goal is to find more industrial uses for the vast number of tropical plants that thrive in Indonesia.Creating plastic from plants will help the country manage its waste disposal problems.

“My focus is on utilizing Indonesian potential," Yessi said. "The biomass is so abundantly available here.My motivation is doing this so I can say to the foreign companies, you want to come to my country do not export the raw materials, buy the end products.”

Although many companies now create plastic from renewable resources to avoid the use of chemical fuel, Permana says his research is unique because it uses non-edible materials that will not clog landfills.

Reworking the system

Permana worked in Japan after receiving his doctorate from the University of Tokyo, but says he was disappointed when he realized how international manufacturing supply chains frequently work.

The problem, as he saw it, was that raw materials brought from Indonesia were being converted into end products in Japan and then resold to the Indonesian market at a higher price.

The 36-year-old scientist says he decided to leave Japan and return to Indonesia after a realization he made while changing diapers.

“Since I have to change diapers at home, I saw wet tissues needed for baby and baby oil products and I can see the components on it consisted of the hydrogenated castor oil," Permana said."The problem is they bought that not from an Indonesian company, they bought that from a Japanese company as an end product.And we just gave them the bean, the raw material."

Vaccines derived from genetic analysis

Marsia Gustiananda was also inspired by an ordinary event when she was living in the Netherlands and watched her son receive vaccinations that provide crucial protection against life-threatening diseases.

“This is something that really affects us, so it has a very broad social impact if you discover a vaccine that will work and prevent people from getting sick,” Gustiananda said.

Gustiananda is now a researcher at the Eijkman Institute, where she is using a new branch of genetic analysis called immunoinformatics to develop vaccines for influenza using computer models.

Indonesia’s health policies drew criticism from the international community in early 2007 when former Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari stopped sharing bird flu samples with the World Health Organization.She said the move was motivated by fears that pharmaceutical companies in the West would use viruses from Indonesia to make vaccines that were too expensive for developing countries.

Gustiananda, who calls Indonesia a “hypermarket” for infectious diseases, says research on disease should not spark protectionism.

“Influenza is a pathogen that can spread all over the world very quickly, so I think it is very important for many nations to really work together to tackle this problem,” Gustiananda said.

Green technologies

Other Indonesia scientists at the conference are pursuing green technologies by researching renewable energy and exploiting local materials.One project is trying to use zirconia, a tin byproduct, to create solid oxide fuel cells.That technology is currently used to power highly efficient cell phone antennas that can be scaled for use in rural communities.Another project was aimed at creating a new strain of rice that will better adapt to weather pattern transformations brought on by climate change.

Several participants urged the Indonesian government to encourage more such projects through greater funding for scientific research and development.

 

Language Notes

trade (v) 互相交換

variety (n) (植物、語言等的)變種,變體;異體;品種

prosper(v) 繁榮;興旺

advance (n) 進步;進展

印尼與美國的科學家們在雅加達會面,交換意見(trade ideas),並且尋求支持(seek support),希望促成利用印尼在地資源生產高科技產品的多項計劃。Yessi Permana 和Marsia Gustiananda是兩位不同領域的印尼科學家,一位研究可生物分解的塑膠材料(biodegradable plastic),另一位則是研究傳染病(infectious diseases)。但這兩位印尼科學家的研究都同為同一種渴望驅動(both are driven by a desire to . . .),都希望印尼可以靠國內自行研發的(domestically developed)科技有更好的發展(prosper)。與會的人士來自世界各地,討論各專業領域(fields)的進展與機會(advances and opportunities)。

thrive (v) 興旺發達;繁榮

end product (n phr) 製成品

clog (v) 阻塞

landfill (n) 廢物埋填地

component (n) 組成部份;成分

Permana現研究使用蓖麻油豆(castor oil bean)來製造環保的塑膠材質(environmentally-friendly plastic)。他更大的目標是要替印尼數量眾多(the vast number of…)、大量滋長(thrive)的熱帶植物(tropical plants)找出更多工業用途(industrial uses)。另一方面,植物為原料的塑膠產品也可以解決印尼當地的廢物處理問題(waste disposal problems)。Permana表示,印尼的生物質量(biomass)非常豐富,他希望透過他的研究,外國公司不再只是到印尼來出口原料(raw materials),而是直接向印尼購買製好的成品(end products)。

Permana是在日本東京大學拿到博士學位(doctorate)。他在日本替小孩換尿布(change diapers)時發現,許多使用嬰兒油的原料都含有氫化蓖麻油(hydrogenated castor oil)。但問題是,這項原料所需的豆子是自印尼出口,但卻都是經過日本公司製作後再以成品賣出。

vaccination (n) 接種疫苗 * vaccine 疫苗

pharmaceutical (a) 製藥的;配藥的

pathogen (n) 病原體

tackle (v) 應付,處理

Marsia Gustiananda在荷蘭看到她兒子接種疫苗時(receive vaccinations)得到靈感。目前她研究一種使用電腦模型(computer models)來研發感冒疫苗的技術。在2007年的時候,印尼政府停止與世界衛生組織(WHO)分享禽流感的樣本(bird flu samples),此衛生政策受到國際社會撻伐(health policies drew criticism from the international community)。Marsia Gustiananda說明,當時政府的這個政策是起因於恐懼(motivated by fears),害怕西方世界的製藥廠(pharmaceutical companies)會使用印尼所提供的病毒來製造疫苗(vaccines),然後再以高價賣回給開發中國家。Gustiananda 認為,疾病研究不應激起保護主義(should not spark protectionism),流行性感冒是種能快速擴散全球的病原(pathogen),因而需要各國共同合作來解決問題(tackle this problem)。

exploit (v) 開發;開採 *本字另一常用的意思是「剝削,壓榨」

scale (v) 改變…的大小

strain (n) 動、植物的)系,品系,品種

其它參與本次大會的印尼科學家也都積極研究綠能產業(green technologies),以再生能源(renewable energy)和有效利用印尼的在地原料(exploiting local materials)為努力方向。

 

Source: http://www.voanews.com/english/news/asia/Indonesias-New-Scientists-Focus-on-Local-Solutions--125404968.html
 
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