Newsletter No. 56

CUHK NEWSLETTER Demonstrations of Cataract Surgery Techniques The new technique of phacoemulsification Cataract is a major cause of blindness in the territory and two new techniques were introduced to Hong Kong a few years ago to treat patients: phacoemulsification and scleral fixation of the intraocular lens. The former uses an ultrasonic machine to melt the nucleus of the patient's lens before removing it from the eyeball. The latter enables the implantation of the intraocular lens by sewing it directly to the sclera (the white of the eye) with a special needle and suture. To promote these two techniques and to provide an opportunity for eye specialists to exchange information on cataract surgeries in Asia, the Department of Opthalmology and Visual Sciences hosted the Third Far East Cataract Surgery Symposium at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre from 4th to 7th June. The symposium was attended by more than 200 experts f r om 20 countries, who watched demonstrations of cataract surgery televised live to them at the symposium venue. They also practised the new techniques on pigs' eyes in a hands-on wet lab session. Autonomy in Language Learning Over 200 scholars from different parts of the world attended an international conference on autonomy in language learning from 23rd to 25th June. The function was held on the campuses of The Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Sixty-six papers were presented during the three-day conference. Discussion topics were all related to learner autonomy 一 from multimedia to learner culture, and from directed self-access learning at university to autonomous learning in the secondary school classroom and beyond. Six experts in the field gave plenary lectures. They were Edith Esch from Cambridge University, David Little from Trinity College in Dublin, Philip Riley of the University of Nancy, Barbara Sinclair of the University of Nottingham, Ken Willing f r om Macquarie University, and David Nunan from the University of Hong Kong. Themes of their presentations covered the promotion of autonomous learning through materials design and the use of information systems and technologies, selection criteria for appropriate methods, quantifying self-access, and appraising the autonomous learner as researcher, discourse analyst and experimenter. Chinese Behaviour Under Examination An international conference on Chinese psychology was organized by the Department of Psychology on campus from 31st May to 2nd June. Thirty-two leading scholars from seven countries attended the conference, which was probably the largest and most comprehensive of its kind. A total of 27 papers were presented, covering a wide range of topics such as neurolinguistics, visual perception, personality, achievement mo t i va t i on, learning processes, socialization, consumer psychology, and psychopathology. These papers contained the most up-to-date i n f o rma t i on and theories about Chinese behaviour, and wou ld certainly help set directions for future research in the subject. A number of major findings were also reported, and they were expected to lead to significant advances in theories about human behaviour in general and the behaviour of the Chinese in particular. The papers will be included in the Handbook of Chinese Psychology, to be published by the Ox f o rd University Press in 1995. NO.56JULY 1994 4