What's that sound?

I did a laboratory-based research project last year under a supervisor who was from China. During laboratory meetings or presentations, I noticed that he would occasionally tilt his head back slightly and make a loud and sharp sound which resembles a "hiss".

Initially, I felt that the sound was rather disruptive as it disturbed my train of thoughts or distracted me from listening to the speaker. However, the other people present in the meetings or presentations did not seem perturbed. A few of them were also Chinese nationals, while others were from other countries. I assumed that either this behaviour was acceptable in China, or it was some behaviour that they had grown used to and could tolerate or ignore. So I attempted to dismiss his behaviour and similarly show indifference.

Gradually, I noticed that this behaviour occurred whenever my supervisor was thinking hard about things. So I thought it could be a habit of his when he was in deep concentration or contemplation and left it at that.

However, after I had explored a website in the skill builder on interpreting nonverbal communication, I realized that this gesture (tilting the head backward and audibly sucking air through the teeth) was an acceptable norm to Chinese nationals and actually signals “no” or that “something is very difficult” instead of overtly saying “no”. Upon reflection, I realized that this is quite true; my supervisor had a tendency to avoid saying “no” directly. Instead, he may say “it may be difficult...” or “let me think about it...”. Unfortunately, in most cases I had not picked up this implicit message of “no”.

There is certainly more for me to explore regarding nonverbal intercultural communication.

Recycling: to bin or not to bin?

-------------------------------------------
Question 1:
Do the phrases “Saving Gaia” and “Fight Climate Change” sound...

a) Very familiar (e.g. Don’t remind me; I want to forget them.)
b) Somewhat familiar (e.g. I know I heard them before.)
c) Vaguely familiar (e.g. Have I heard these phrases before?)
d) Totally alien (e.g. Huh? What’s that?)
-------------------------------------------

How much do we really care about conserving our environment?

Is it just “No Action, Talk Only”?

Who really “walks the talk”?

In Semester 2 of AY2007/08, NUSSU SAVE and NUS CSC launched a few projects under the overall motto: “NUS Fights Climate Change”. Under ZerOwaste, an initiative which focuses on paper recycling, paper recycling bins were placed at examination locations (e.g. MPSH) and all student Halls and Residences from 28 April 2008 to 9 May 2008. However, there appears to be no detailed recent updates nor evaluation regarding this initiative.

Therefore, an investigation seems timely in order to:

1. Determine the impact of recycling initiatives in NUS.
2. Gather feedback about the current level of recycling.
3. Estimate the level of environmental awareness (regarding recycling) in the NUS population.

The information obtained can be used by all parties concerned, such as the NUS administration, NUSSU SAVE and NUS CSC, in formulating more effective environmentally-friendly policies and projects. Furthermore, if current measures related to recycling are found to be unsuccessful in fulfiling their objectives, these measures can be modified or phased out.

This project serves as a preliminary study regarding the current state of recycling in NUS; hence only members of the NUS Faculty of Science (FOS) will be sampled. Currently, there seems to be a shortage of paper recycling bins in FOS as compared with other areas in NUS. The objective of this pilot study is to analyze if more paper recycling bins placed at suitable locations within FOS will encourage more members of the Faculty to recycle paper.

In this study, an attitudinal survey will be conducted to examine the current level of awareness of recycling points in NUS, identify optimal locations for paper recycling bins in FOS and assess the willingness of the members of FOS to make paper recycling a part of their lives. The results of this survey will complement existing statistics pertaining to recycling in NUS and contribute towards future studies of the general research question: How feasible is the use of recycling bins in NUS in light of the present level of environmental awareness in members of NUS?

For your information:
SAVE: Students Against Violation of the Earth
(no recently-updated website available)
CSC: Campus Sustainability Committee