If you do not wish to print the entire newsletter but only selected articles, then just click on the article in the Table of Contents and print it.

General News

• Anti-Spam Control Scheme Further Enhanced For the Central Mail Servers
• From the Webmaster - Please Support Barrier-Free Web Sites
• From the Help Desk - What is Port Scanning?

• HARNET-CERNET Connection Will Be Upgraded to 155Mbps
• Registration of Departmental Web Proxy Servers

• High Performance Computing System with 128 Dual-Xeon Nodes Installed

• StarOffice 7.0 Office Suite Available for Staff and Students to Use
• Setting Internet Explorer as the Default Web Browser

 

Hotlines and Operations Schedule

 

Computer News No. 106, Nov-Dec 2003

Anti-Spam Control Scheme Further Enhanced For the Central Mail Servers

1. Introduction
2. The new anti-spam control scheme
3. Changes from the current spam handling scheme
4. Setting a filter option in the new anti-spam control scheme

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1. Introduction

The number of spam (unsolicited junk emails)  has grown tremendously all over the world in 2003.  The Computer Centre has introduced an enhanced spam handling scheme for the central mail servers HKUCC and HKUSUA in June 2003.  Upon input from users, the Information Infrastructure Advisory Group, the Information Services Advisory Group and the Senate Computer Committee, a further enhanced anti-spam control scheme, as described below, is being implemented by the Computer Centre.  The new scheme is designed to solve the dilemma that some users would prefer to a more aggressive approach for filtering out more spam while others would have the concern of missing emails that could come from black-listed spam-sites.

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2. The new anti-spam control scheme

The new scheme will allow the users to choose one of the three spam filtering options as depicted in Figure 1 and explained below. As shown in the figure, only the Aggressive Filter would reject emails coming from black-listed email servers, and all messages that are not rejected will be assigned a spam-rating score by a spam-rating software called SpamAssassin. Users are allowed to set a  threshold so that any emails carrying a spam-rating score above the threshold are treated as probable spam and saved in the spam folder.
 
 

(a) No Filtering - By this option, all emails including spam are delivered into the user's  incoming mailbox on the mail server.  (b) Basic Filtering (the default option) - Emails rated with a spam-rating score equal to or higher than the spam-rating threshold chosen by the user are considered probable spam. By this option, the email server filters out the probable spam and save them into the spam folder "spam-of-YYYYMM", where YYYY and MM are the year and month of the date when a spam message is saved.  (c) Aggressive Filtering - In addition to (b),  the spam-site black-lists are first checked and all emails that are sent from the black-listed sites are rejected.

Figure 1: Three  spam filtering option in the new scheme

Note:

1. Users should not choose the Agressive Filtering option if they would have concerns on the possbility that emails would be rejected due to anti-spam filtering.
2. Users can examine the messages saved in the spam folder spam-of-YYYYMM of the current month using webmail (or other email programs based on the IMAP protocol) from time to time to see if any email saved there could be useful.  All spam folders created before the last month will be deleted by the system.

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3. Changes from the current spam handling scheme

 

The current spam handling scheme consists of four options as depicted in Figure 2.  The default option is "Basic Filtering".  (The details of the current spamhandling scheme are described in the article in Computer News issue no. 103.) By comparing Figures 1 and 2, it can be noted that the new scheme is easier to understand. When the new scheme is rolled out (in mid-January 2004), the four options of the current scheme will be mapped to the three options of the new scheme as shown in Table 1 below:

Figure 2: Four spam filtering option in the current scheme

Table 1: Mapping between the spam filtering options of the curent and new anti-spam control scheme

Current spam filtering scheme (Figure 2)	New spam filtering scheme (Figure 1)
Option (1) - no filtering	Option (a) - no filtering
Option (2) - basic filtering (default setting)	Option (b) - basic filtering (default setting)
Option (3) - aggressive filtering with spam retention	Option (b) - basic filtering (default setting)
Option (4) - aggressive filtering and deletion	Option (c) - aggressive filtering

4. Setting a filter option in the new anti-spam control scheme

You can set or change the spam filter option by means of one of the following procedures:

(A) login HKU Portal (https://hkuportal.hku.hk)
=> click the tab MyFavourites
=> click the link Set Spam Filter in the Email Utilities section
=> choose one of the options

(B) visit http://webmail.hku.hk
=> click the link Set Spam Filter at the top of the page
=> login the mail server
=> choose one of the options

Advanced feature of the new scheme:- Users can change the spam-rating threshold so as to change the way how probable spam are decided. The default value of the spam-rating threshold is 5. Users can change the threshold to a value betwene 1 and 9. Choosing a higher threshold would reduce the chance of treating normal messages as probable spam but at the same time increase the chance of treating spam as normal messages.
 

For more information about spam filtering on the central email servers, the user can consult the FAQ page or contact ithelp@hku.hk or the undersigned.
 

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Charles Cheung 
Tel: 2859 2488 
E-mail: cyw@cc.hku.hk

 

Computer News No. 106, Nov-Dec 2003

From the Webmaster - Please Support Barrier-Free Web Sites

The Computer Centre has occassionally received suggestions from users that some departmental notices posted as web pages are not user-friendly to users with visual impairment.  We would like to ask all webmasters of departments to support setting up barrier-free web sites.  We have the pleasure of the University's Equal Opportunity Unit contributing the following advice on how to set up web sites which are accessible to wider audiences.

Mabel Chau
Tel: 2859 8934
E-mail: chaumabc@cc.hku.hk

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Contribution from the University's Equal Opportunity Unit

Can persons with visual impairment surf freely on your website? Thanks to assistive softwares/tools, person with visual impairment can read websites. In fact, even blind people can read websites by using screen readers that convert texts on a website to speeches or Braille.

Making accessible websites can benefit persons with a disability and the website owners. This is because higher accessibility means more potential readers. It also helps to build corporate image and avoid complaints.

Besides, both the Disability Discrimination Ordinance and the University’s equal opportunity policy forbid disability discrimination. And providing an inaccessible website may be a kind of disability discrimination as it deprives persons with a disability of their right to know.

I therefore strongly encourage you to make your website accessible to persons with a disability.

It does not require additional softwares/tools to make websites accessible. Here are seven useful tips:
 

• Add alt-text to graphics
• Avoid using Flash animation as the front page
• Avoid using different languages on the same page
• Prepare notices in HTML or MS Word instead of PDF format
• Use sharp colour contrast
• Use consistent Page Layout
• Avoid using pop up windows


You may test your website’s accessibility by using the Bobby Test at http://www.cast.org/bobby/.

Further information on web accessibility can be found at the website of the Equal Opportunity Unit at http://www.hku.hk/eounit/.  Enquiries are also welcome. (email: eounit@hku.hk; tel. 2241 5115)
 

Equal Opportunity Unit

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Computer News No. 106, Nov-Dec 2003

From the Help Desk -- What is Port Scanning?

1. what is port scanning?
2. what can you do about it?

1. What is Port Scanning?

The Computer Centre regularly receives enquiries at the Help Desk from network users who have realized that they have been sending out a lot of data without their knowing.  Also, some users who have installed a firewall program in their PC's from time to time seek assistance from the Computer Centre in trying to understand the meaning of a recording log of port scans of their PC's.  This article attempts to explain what port scanning is and what we at the Computer Centre and what you can do about it.

Port Scanning is a technique used by hackers on the Internet to discover open network ports in your computer which they can break into.  Network ports are communication channels for services such as email, telnet, file transfer, HTTP, etc.   Since a port is where information goes in and out of a computer, port scanning identifies open doors to a computer, and if a port is open, it could be exploited by the attacker by breaking through the vulnerabilities (bugs) in the computer system.  For example, in sending email,  spammers try to relay their spam through an SMTP server which has an open port for them to come in and send the spam through it.

A systematic port scan would send a message (a packet with a chosen destination port number)  to each port, one at a time, usually in very short intervals.  The kind of response received indicates whether the port is used and can therefore be probed further for weakness. Some malicious programs such as computer viruses and Trojan horses can be introduced into your computer via these open ports, therefore if your PC is sending out large amounts of data, this usually indicates that your system may have a virus or a Trojan horse.

Proxy server are the popular targets being scanned.  Most web servers support the proxy function so that requests of web pages can be directed to a single server which caches recently visited web pages to improve performance.  A lot of these servers are misconfigured to provide proxy service for any request from the Internet, allowing attackers to relay attacks against web sites through a third party. A "denial-of-service" attack can be brought on a proxy server by attackers to prevent legitimate users of a service from using that service.

Technically, there is no way to stop someone from port scanning your computer while you are on the Internet. It is because in accessing any Internet service, your computer would open a port to Internet.  There are, however, some things you can do to stay vigilant:

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2. What can you do about it?

1. Install an anti-virus software on your computers - both at home and in the work place.  The importance of this measure cannot be emphasized more.  And remember to update the virus definitions and scan your PC for virus regularly (if possible, daily).

2. Perform Windows Update - Microsoft will put out patches that will close up these open ports or fix other vulnerabilities when they are found. By performing Windows Update regularly, you can minimise the chances of your open ports being exploited.  (Click the IE browser's menu Tools => Windows Update => Scan for Updates => install all critical updates.)

3. Install a firewall software to monitor for any scanning activities on your PC

4. Watch our network security alerts published at http://www.itservices.hku.hk/alerts/ for the latest security alerts.

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Mabel Chau 
Tel: 2859 8934 
E-mail: chaumabc@cc.hku.hk

Computer News No. 106, Nov-Dec 2003

HARNET-CERNET Connection Will Be Upgraded to 155Mbps

1. Upgrade Development of the HARNET-CERENT Connection
2. HARNET-CERNET Connection Upgrade Signing Ceremony
3. Upgraded Link Expected to be Ready in February 2004

1.  Upgrade Development of the HARNET-CERNET Connection

The connection between HARNET (Hongkong Academic and Research Network) and CERNET (China Education and Research Network) was first established in 1997 as a dedicated and direct link between the two Networks for facilitating communications and collaborations between the academia in Hong Kong and the China Mainland.

In 1997 when the HARNET-CERNET connection was first installed, it was a 64Kbps link. This connection was later upgraded to 2Mbps in 2000 to cope with the increase in traffic volume due to the fast growing collaborations between the academia of the two places.  This 2Mbps HARNET-CERNET link has already become very congested and could not match our users' requirments for quite some time.  With the continual effort of the JUCC (the Joint Universities Computer Centre which manages the development of HARNET) and CERNET, we are most delighted to announce that an agreement has been reached to upgrade the HARNET-CERNET connection from 2Mbps to 155Mbps in early 2004.

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2.   HARNET-CERNET Connection Upgrade Signing Ceremony

A signing ceremony was held in Beijing on November 21, 2003 to confirm this important development of the connection between CERNET and HARNET during the course of the "e-Campus Technology Workshop 2003"which was held in Beijing jointly by JUCC and the Computer & Information Management Centre, Tsinghua University.
 

Professor Jianping Wu, Director of CERNET (left), and  Dr N Ng, Director of Computer Centre in his capacity of Director of JUCC (right), signed the upgrade agreement at the Signing Ceremony held in Beijing.

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3. Upgraded Link Expected be Ready in February 2004

The upgrade will increase the bandwidth of the HARNET-CERNET connection by nearly 80 times. It will certainly enable closer collaborations and partnership in academic, research and scholarly activities between the universities and higher edication institutions in Hong Kong and the Mainland.

The Network Task Force of the JUCC is now working closely with the technical staff of CERNET on the upgrade.  It is our plan to put the upgraded HARNET-CERNET link into production service by February 2004.

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Dr P T Ho 
Tel: 2859 2491 
E-mail: hpt@cc.hku.hk

Computer News No. 106, Nov-Dec 2003

Registration of Departmental Web Proxy Servers

In recent months, the Computer Centre has received a number of complaints about large volume of licensed materials (e.g. e-Journals of the HKU Libraries) being downloaded via proxy servers set up by various departments.  Our investigation revealed that those departmental proxy servers being complained about were either unnecessary or not properly configured, and as a result acted as "open proxy servers" which were exploited by users outside the HKU Campus Network to download the licensed materials. In addition to the issue of excessive downloading of licensed materials just mentioned, "open proxy servers" would also affect our normal network services by allowing external parties to consume our Internet bandwidth, spread computer viruses to our network, and to compromise the security of the HKU network.

In tackling the problem described above, with effect from January 15, 2004 the Computer Centre will  institute a new measure of requiring all departments to register the proxy servers under their proper management.   After this date, proxy servers not registered by departments will not be allowed to provide proxy services across the gateway between the HKU Campus Network and Internet. Departments will soon receive a letter from our Centre on advising the arrangement for registration of their departmental proxy servers.

For any query, please do not hesitate to contact the undersigned.

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Ronald Leung 
Tel: 2859 8593 
E-mail: lhy@cc.hku.hk

Computer News No. 106, Nov-Dec 2003

High Performance Computing System with 128 Dual-Xeon Nodes Installed

1. Introduction
2. System Configuration
3. Running Jobs on hpcpower.hku.hk
4. Account Application Procedure

1. Introduction

The Computer Centre is pleased to announce that a new High-Performance Computing (HPC) system with 128 dual-Xeon nodes has recently been installed for meeting the growing needs of HPC resources to support computation-intensive research projects of the University.

This 128-node dual-XeonHPC system, which  has been given the host-name of "hpcpower.hku.hk", has a theoretical peak  processing speed (Rpeak value) of 1433.6 GFlops, the fastest in Hong Kong. It is about 20 times more powerful than the existing hkuhpcc system in the Computer Centre, and has just been ranked the 240th position on the world-wide Top 500 Supercomputer list released in November 2003.
 

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2. System Configuration

The hpcpower.hku.hk system comprises 128 compute-nodes and one master node, each of which is configured with two 2.8-GHz Intel Xeon processors and 2GB of RAM. A RAID system containing 500GB of user disk space is attached to the master node which supports the dual functions of an interactive processing node and a file-server for the system. All the compute-nodes and the master node are connected by a Gigabit Ethernet for both inter-node communications and external user communications..

Software installed on this system include BLAS mathematical library, Gaussian 03 with LINDA, PGI compiler suites for C, C++, Fortran 77, Fortran 90 and High Performance Fortran, PBS job queue system and the Maui job scheduler.  System software in the hpcpower system is similar to that in the hkuhpcc system, but the user file directories are completely independent of the hkuhpcc system.

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3. Running Jobs on hpcpower.hku.hk

Interactive Telnet Sessions

For  program development tasks, including program editing, compilation, testing and debugging, that need to be done interactively through telnet sessions, users can login to the hpcpower.hku.hk system directly. Since it is expected that running jobs interactively by the users should be mainly for debugging purpose, all telnet sessions are served on the master node only and the maximum CPU time for each interactive background jobs will be limited to 15 minutes.

Batch Job Submission

For longer runs of program jobs that require more than two CPUs and longer processing time, they must be submitted as batch jobs through the PBS job queuing system.

Since the system is set up to support large computation jobs, the following maximum number of CPUs and maximum processing time are allowed for each batch job::

    - Maximum number CPUs  for each program job = 64 (i.e. 32 compute-nodes of 2 CPUs)
    - Maximum processing time for each program job = 10 Hours (wall clock time)

Furthermore, the job scheduling is set in such a fashion that higher priority will be given parallel jobs requiring a larger number of CPUs.

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4. Account Application Procedure

Users who would require the use of the new hpcpower.hku.hk system for their research projects, please apply for an account online by clicking on this link which would lead you through the application procedure.

For any enquiry, please contact the undersigned.

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Woo Chat Ming 
Tel: 2857 8632 
E-mail: cmwoo@cc.hku.hk

Computer News No. 106, Nov-Dec 2003

StarOffice 7.0 Office Suite Will be Available for Free Use

We are pleased to announce that SUN Microsystems, Inc. has offered all the staff and students of the tertiary education institutions in Hong Kong the right to use StarOffice 7.0 Office Suite on computers that they own, operate, or maintain direct control over.  The Computer Centre is now in the process of working out an arrangement with SUN Microsystems for distributing the software, and will inform our users separately as soon as such an arrangement could be fixed.

For those interested to know more about the StarOffice 7.0 Office Suite, please visit Sun Microsystems' web site at http://www.sun.com/edu/staroffice for further information.

Idy Tang 
Tel: 2859 2491 
E-mail: idy@cc.hku.hk

Computer News No. 106, Nov-Dec 2003

Setting Internet Explorer as the Default Web Browser

1. Setting Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) as the default web browser
2. Procedures for setting IE6 as the default browser on a PC connecting to a central LAN file server
3. Procedures for setting IE6 as the default browser on a PC at home
4. Procedure to import your Netscape  bookmarks to the IE6 browser

1. Setting Microsoft Internet Explorer as the default web browser

In the past, Netscape browsers had for some years been the most widely used web browser software in the Internet world. For this reason, Netscape browsers have been kept by many users in the HKU campus as the default web browsers.  In recent years, the Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) browser has gained more popularity and is now the most commonly used web browser on the Internet. More recently, Netscape has also ceased its development of the Netscape browser.  For these reasons, the Computer Centre has to adopt IE instead of Netscape as the primary web browsers to be supported for the University's administrative applications as well as for Centre's web-based services. As a result, users who are using Netscape as the default web browsers would not be able to gain the same benefits like colleagues using IE in using certain new web-based applications, e.g. gaining access to HKU Portal.

To facilitate users to re-configure their PCs to use Internet Explorer version 6 (IE6), i.e. the latest version of IE, so as to gain access to the functions of the newer web-based applications, the Computer Centre has developed two procedures for colleagues in the departments using the central LAN file-servers to (1) set IE6 as the default browser on the Windows envirnoment and (2) auto-start IE6 when the Windows environment of a PC is started, as described below:.

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2. Procedures for setting IE6 as the default browser on a PC connecting to a central LAN file server

(A) For Windows 98 users, after login to a central LAN file-server,

Click the already existing desktop icon "HKUWIN - Central Network Services"
=> click the "Install Software on PC" icon
=> click the 2 following icons for the explicitly implied functions:

1) "set IE6 as default browser"
2) "auto-start IE6 when Windows is started"


(B) For Windows XP users, after login to a central LAN file-server,

1) To set IE6 as default browser:

• Click the Windows Start button and run the following program:

f:\win95app\install\ie\Set-IE-as-Default-Browser.exe
• A message box for the Windows "Registy Editor" will appear with the message

'click "Yes" to add the registry entry information in the Registry'
• Click 'Yes' to close the pop-up windows.


2) To auto-start IE6 when Windows is started:

• Click the Windows Start button and run the following program:

f:\win95app\install\ie\Auto-start-IE.exe
• This program will copy a link to start IE6 into the Windows Startup folder.

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3. Procedures for setting IE6 as the default browser on a PC at home

The above two procedures should only be carried out when the PC is connected to a LAN file servers administered by the Computer Centre.  If you wish to set the IE6 browser as the default browser on your home computer , you can follow the manual procedure described in the webpage:  http://www.itservices.hku.hk/faq/www/Def2IE.html.

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4. Procedure to import your Netscape  bookmarks to the IE6 browser

Users can also import the bookmarks that have been set with a Netscape browser to the IE6 browser installed on the same Windows environment. For the procedure, please refer to the webpage: http://www.itservices.hku.hk/faq/www/imbk2ie.html
 

Ken Ng 
Tel: 2241 5186 
E-mail: ckng@cc.hku.hk

 

Computer News No.106, Nov-Dec 2003

Training News
 

The following are the training courses arranged by the Computer Center till March 2004 to help our staff and students learn how to use the various software and services.  Most courses are open to HKU staff and students free of charge.  Some courses are provided by a course vendor and a fee is charged for these courses (e.g. the Microsoft Office series and other PC software) . Click on the course number to see the description of each course.
 
 

Users can apply on-line for attending these courses through the web by visiting HKU Portal (https://hkuportal.hku.hk) => Services tab => Workshop and Courses (under Computer Centre Services)

Course Schedule
 

Note:

RR = Run Run Shaw Building

OLB=Old Library Building

Courses on Email and HKU Portal Services

C0114003	Introduction to Email and Computer Virus	14 Jan, 2004	9:30am-12:30pm	RR-201
C0216203	Introduction to HKUESD and HKU Portal	2 Mar, 2004	9:30am-12:30pm	RR-201

Courses on Unix System and Applications

C0110603	Introduction to MATLAB	16 Jan, 2004	2:30pm-5:30pm	RR-201
C0210503	Introduction to Mathematica	20 Jan, 2004	9:30am-12:30pm	RR-201
C0311803	Introduction to UNIX	13 Feb, 2004	9:30am-12:30pm	RR-201

Courses on Bioinformatics

C0317303	Introduction to SRS	26 Feb, 2004	2:00pm-5:00pm	OLB-135
C0317403	Introduction to EMBOSS	27 Feb, 2004	2:00pm-5:00pm	OLB-135

Courses on Statistics Software

C0310403	Introduction to SPSS for Windows	11 Feb, 2004	9:30am - 12:30pm	RR-201
C0210203	Introduction to SAS for Unix	16 Feb, 2004	9:30am - 12:30pm	RR-201

Courses on Web Page Browsing and Authoring

C0316103	Using CGI programs in Webpages	8 Jan, 2004	9:30am-12:30pm	RR-201
C0118103	Web Page Editing with FrontPage	2 Feb, 2004	9:30am-12:30pm	RR-201
C0416103	Using CGI programs in Webpages	8 Mar, 2004	9:30am-12:30pm	RR-201
C0218103	Web Page Editing with FrontPage	26 Mar, 2004	9:30am-12:30pm	RR-201

Courses on Parallel Programming

C0316603	Parallel Programming with workshop	29 Jan, 2004	2:30pm-5:30pm	RR-201
C0416603	Parallel Programming with workshop	23 Feb, 2004	2:30pm-5:30pm	RR-201
C0516603	Parallel Programming with workshop	22 Mar, 2004	2:30pm-5:30pm	RR-201

Courses provided by course vendors on PC software

W0183903	Adobe PageMaker 7.0 HK$500	3 - 4 Feb, 2004	9:30am - 4:30pm	RR-101
W0282203	Advanced Excel 2002 (Office XP) HK$500	5 - 6 Feb, 2004	9:30am - 4:30pm	RR-101
W0183103	Advanced Word 2002 (Office XP) HK$500	9 -10 Feb, 2004	9:30am - 4:30pm	RR-101
W0282803	Access 2002 (Office XP) HK$500	18 - 19 Feb, 2004	9:30am - 4:30pm	RR-201
W0383203	Powerpoint 2002 (Office XP)  HK$250	24  Feb, 2004	9:30am - 4:30pm	RR-101
W0183703	Visual Basic for Application - Excel HK$500	4 - 5 Mar, 2004	9:30am - 4:30pm	RR-201
W0282603	Dreamweaver MX  HK$500	10 - 11 Mar, 2004	9:30am - 4:30pm	RR-201
W0282403	Flash MX HK$500	24 - 25 Mar, 2004	9:30am - 4:30pm	RR-201
W0183803	Adobe Illustrator 10.0 HK$500	29 - 30 Mar, 2004	9:30am - 4:30pm	RR-101

 

Users can apply on-line for attending these courses through the web by visiting HKU Portal (https://hkuportal.hku.hk) => Services tab => Workshop and Courses (under Computer Centre Services)

Click here to suggest new courses you would like

Courses on E-mail and HKU Portal Services
 

Introduction to Email and Computer Virus

This is a 2-hour course on using "Email in HKU and how to prevent computer virus". It covers:

Introduction to HKUESD and HKU Portal

This is a 2-hour workshop on how to use electronic signatures in electronic documents. It will cover the following topics:

                1.  Introduction to the PKI and ESD concept
                2.  PKI infrastructure and ESD applications at HKU
                3.  Using digital signature for HKU ESD applications
                4.  Overview on building ESD applications for your department

The HKU Portal provides an intuitive, convenient and customizable web interface to campus wide services and faciliates access to personalized information in a secure environment.

The HKU Portal supports single-sign-on.  You can customize the web interface to choose the web applications for e-learning, e-administration, online library services, and other services that you are interested in. This seminar will introduce the features and services available for you on HKU Portal.

Introduction to Mathematica

Mathematica is a general computer software system and language intended for mathematical and other applications. In this 3-hour seminar, examples of using Mathematica in numerical calculations, graphics, algebra and calculus, solving equations etc, will be shown.

Introduction to Matlab

Matlab is an integrated computing environment for numeric computation and visualization. This 3-hour seminar will give an introduction on using Matlab in numerical analysis, matrix computation and graphics etc.

Introduction to UNIX

This is a 3-hour introductory course for users with little or no Unix experience.  The course will cover the Unix computing environment, the Unix file system, the editor, email, disk quota allocations and commonly used Unix commands.

Introduction to EMBOSS

This is a 3-hour course on the introduction of EMBOSS (European Molecular Biology Open Software Suite) for bioinformatics research. Course outline:

Starting EMBOSS in BIOINFO server

Main programs in EMBOSS

Exercises on: retrieving multiple sequences, comparing sequences, getting opening reading frame, amino acid properties,    hydrophobicity profiles, displaying aligned sequences.

Getting online help from the Internet.

Pre-requisite: BIOINFO system account is required.

Introduction to SRS

This is a 3-hour course on the introduction of the SRS (Sequence Retrieval System) for bioinformatics research.

        Content include:

            Exercise 1- Simple sequence query
            Exercise 2- Advance sequence query
            Exercise 3- Integrate sequence query with BLAST and FASTA
            Exercise 4- Integrate sequence analysis with EMBOSS tools

        Pre-requisite: BIOINFO system account is required.

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Introduction to SPSS for Windows

This is a course on SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Science) for Windows PC. Users will learn how to read the input data as well as to perform some simple statistical analysis. Contents include:
 
1. Getting Started,  SPSS Manager, Creating and Editing Chart
2. Statistical Analysis with Dialog Box Interface
3. Data Files
4. Data Editor
5. Working with Output
6. Working with Command Syntax
7. Data Transformations
8. File Handling and File Transformations
9. Some Statistical Procedures
10. Utilities
11. Production Facility
Introduction to SAS for Unix
 
The SAS package (on HKUSUA) is an integrated system for data analysis. In this 3-hour workshop, users will learn how to create a SAS data set, to retrieve data from the data set and to perform some commonly used statistical procedures. Users are expected to have some knowledge in statistics. Pre-requisite: Attendants must have the HKUSUA computer account.
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Learning with WebCT

This 2-hour workshop will discuss the basic features provided by WebCT from a student's point of view, e.g. browsing course materials, communicating via discussions, attempting on-line quizzes, checking usage records, etc. This workshop aims at familiarizing staff and students to the various functions of WebCT.

The powerpoint presentation can be found at http://www.hku.hk/local/cc/training/webct/introwebct.ppt.
 

Developing Online Courses with WebCT (Basic)
 
This 4-hour workshop will cover how to start using WebCT to develop online courses. It will cover the more commonly used features like discussions, emails, posting notes, etc.  It will also introduce how to explore and make use of functions in general. This workshop aims at helping first time course developers of WebCT to get started with the common tools to develop their online courses.

The powerpoint presentation can be found at http://www.hku.hk/local/cc/training/webct/webctBasic.ppt.

Pre-requisites: Participants are expected to be familiar to using a WebCT course, or have attended 'Workshop 1 : Learning with WebCT'
 

Developing Online Courses with WebCT (Advanced)
 
This 2-hour workshop will cover more advanced features for course developers, e.g. assignments, quizzes and statistics. This workshop aims at helping course developers to make use of the more advanced features with hands-on experience.

The powerpoint presentation can be found at http://www.hku.hk/local/cc/training/webct/webctAdv.ppt.

Pre-requisites: Participants are expected to be familiar to using a WebCT course, or have attended 'Workshop 2 : Developing Online Courses with WebCT (Basic)'

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Web Page Editing with Microsoft FrontPage

This is a 3-hour workshop on webpage editing using Microsoft FrontPage.  In the workshop, students would be doing the following exercises:
    Exercise 1 - Create a document, try colors, fonts, bullets lists etc.
    Exercise 2 - Create targets and hyperlinks
    Exercise 3 - Create a table
    Exercise 4 - Using image files in your document
    Exercise 5 - Uploading your document to the server
Pre-requisite: Attendants must have the HKUSUA computer account.

Using CGI Programs in Webpages

This is a 3-hour course on using cgi programs in webpages.  Contents include:
    Exercise 1 - Running cgi program on the web server
    Exercise 2 - Imbedding cgi programs in a web form
    Exercise 3 - Putting a counter in a homepage
    Exercise 4 - Putting a guestbook in a homepage
Pre-requisite: Basic HTML Editing. Attendants must have the HKUSUA computer account.
 

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Parallel Programming with workshop
 
This course is suitable for researchers and their assistants who need to run programs with very long execution time. By parallelizing and executing the program in a computer cluster environment, the execution time may be reduced significantly, for example, from 2 days to 2 hours. Students must have programming experience in either C or Fortran.

The course is designed for our HKUHPCC environment which consists of 2 PC-clusters of 32 nodes and 7 nodes, where each node is of dual CPU architecture.  For technical details on HKUHPCC cluster, please refer to: http://www.itservices.hku.hk/ccsystem/hkuhpcc.
 

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Advanced Word 2002 (Office XP) ($500)
 
1.  File Protection using Password, and Auto-save
2.  Creating Templates
3.  Creating Styles
4.  Creating Marcos
5.  Uses of Footnotes, Index, and Content
6.  Uses of online form
7.  Using master documents
8.  Sharing data with other Office applications
9.  Insert hyperlinks
PowerPoint 2002 (Office XP) ($250)
 

This is a 1-day course on making a professional presentation slide show using PowerPoint2002.  Contents include:
 

1. Introduction to PowerPoint
2. Creating a presentation using "Auto Content Wizard"
3. Understanding PowerPoint views
4. Adding clip art and pictures
5. Customise slide shows
6. Transition effects and text animation
7. Printing slides and speaker notes
8. Creating special text effects with WordArt
9. Creating organisation charts
10. Inserting Microsoft Word table and Excel spreadsheet

Creating charts

Access 2002 (Office XP) ($500)

Access is a powerful database software allowing users to create database and database applications without any programming work.  This is a 2-day course.

Contents of this course include:

1. The Access 2002 fundamental database components
2. Using a database wizard
3. Creating a database
4. Defining data types and setting field properties
5. Using the primary key
6. Adding and deleting records
7. Finding and replacing records
8. Filtering and sorting records
9. Relational database
10. Making use of queries
11. Using quick form and quick report
12. Creating a customised form
13. Changing design of forms
14. Creating print reports
15. Mailing labels

Advanced Excel 2002 (Office XP) ($500)

The course outline of this 2-day workshop include :

1. Database query and table handling
2. Worksheet and workbook linking
3. Useful built-in and user-defined functions
4. Add-in programs
5. Graph and picture handling and slide
6. Goal seeking and scenario manager
7. View manager and report manager

Record Macro

Visual Basic for Application - Excel  ($500)

This 2-day course is designed for students who want to learn how to use Visual Basic to write Macros in Excel.

Course outline :

1. Difference between Excel Macros and Visual Basic for Application (VBA)
2. Introduction to VBA - Development Environment, Menus & Toolbars
3. Structure of Procedures - Calling and Organizing Procedures
4. Introduction to Objects and collections
5. Controlling Objects
6. Using the Object Brower, Objects, Properties and Methods
7. VBA Codes - Conditions and Looping
8. Debugging & Error Handling - using Debug Window, Break Mode, using Match Expression and built-in-Error value of MS Excel
9. Exchange Data with other applications - using DDE, using OLE Automation with Applications and DLLs
10. Customer Applications - using Dialog Boxes, Dialog Sheets and Menu Editor

Prerequisites: Participants are expected to be familiar with MS Excel.

Adobe PageMaker 7.0 ($500)

This is a 2-day course on using the Adobe PageMaker 7.0, a desktop publishing software.  The final output can be used for mass printing directly.

Course outline:

1. Basic concept on computer desktop publishing
2. Creating accurate layout
3. Importing other documents including texts and graphics
4. Text Objects: text blocks and text frames
5. Using master items for long documents
6. Uses of styles
7. Creating the table of contents

Dreamweaver MX  ($500)

This 2-day course is designed for users who want to learn how to use Macromedia Dreamweaver MX, a powerful & professional visual editor for creating and managing web pages. With Dreamweaver, it's easy to create cross-platform, cross-browser pages.

Course outline :
    1. Dreamweaver Work Space
    2. Site Planning & Site Management
    3. Understanding Hyper Link
    4. Using Images & Animations
    5. Using Cascading Sytle Sheet
    6. Creating Forms & Frames
    7. Creating Interactive Homepage
 

Flash MX  ($500)

This 2-day course is designed for students who want to learn how to use Macromedia Flash MX, to produce special effects and animation, for a multimedia homepage.  It can help users produce home pages with vector and bitmap graphics, motion, MP3 audio, form input and interactivity.

Course outline :
    1. Flash Work Space
    2. Drawing and Editing Graphics
    3. Editing scenes and objects
    4. Using Timeline
    5. Creating animation and using sound files
    6. Using Actions
    7. Publishing and Exporting to movie
    8. Uploading homepage
 

Adobe Illustrator 10.0  ($500)

Adobe Illustrator allows you to create sophisticated and impressive graphics for use on
the web, in conventional print and other media projects with a variety of graphic tools,
functions and layer effects. In this course students will learn the design concepts in
developing artworks and drawing for professional graphic design.

The course outline of this 2-day workshop include:

1. Introducing Illustrator - Illustrator Basics, Creating Shapes, Drawing and Painting,  Selecting and Editing, Working with Color
2. Putting Illustrator to Work - Manipulating Type, Transforming and Distorting Artwork, Using Layers and Masks
3. Mastering Illustrator - Understand Transparency, Using Style and Effects, Working with Pixels
4. Outputting Illustrator - Understanding Printing, Outputting files to other file format or other applications

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Notes for Registration:
 

1.	Users can apply on-line for attending these courses through the web by visiting HKU Portal (https://hkuportal.hku.hk)  => Services tab => Workshop and Courses (under Computer Centre Services)
2.	Successful applicants will be notified by e-mail or telephone at least one week before the commencement of the course.
3.	Some courses (no. prefix) are organised in conjunction with a course vendor.  There is a nominal charge on the courses. For courses requiring a fee, please send payment to the Computer Centre as soon as you have registered on the web, otherwise your registration is considered invalid. Payment can be made in cheque (payable to The University of Hong Kong), or through departmental requisition (for applicants supported by departments). Once accepted, the fee is not refundable.  However, substitution of participant is possible by written notification to the Centre. The Computer Centre reserves the right to cancel the courses if there is insufficient enrollment. Applicants will be notified by email or telephone of the course cancellation and all course fees collected will be refunded in full.
4.	The maximum number of participants for a course: - 25 in Room 135, Old Library Building - 22 in Room 201, Run Run Shaw Building - 20 in Room 101, Run Run Shaw Building

The Computer Centre runs courses in the following areas throughout the year to assist staff and students in using the Centre's facilities:

 

Email and Network Services  Internet Browsing   Web Course Tools  Unix System   Statistical Analysis  Bioinformatics Parallel Programming

Word Processing   Spreadsheet  Powerpoint Presentations  PC Database Systems Web Page Authoring Pagemaker  Photoshop

Click here to suggest new courses you would like

Computer News No.106, Nov-Dec 2003

Hotlines and Dial-up Services
 

      Computer Room Opening Hours - 24 hours

      Opening Hours for Microcomputer Workstation Rooms

 

Location:	Summer Hours: (June-Aug 2004)	Term Hours: (Sep 2003-June 2004)
Run Run Shaw Building -  Rooms 103, 113 (ACEnet)	Monday-Sunday (24 hours)	Monday-Sunday (24 hours)
Run Run Shaw Building -  Rooms 101	Monday-Friday  (8:15 a.m.-5:00 p.m.) Saturday (8:15 a.m.-1:00 p.m.) Sunday & Holidays - Closed	Monday-Sunday (24 hours)
Old Library Building - Room 134, 135 (Nov-Dec 2003)	Monday-Friday  (8:15 a.m.-5:00 p.m.)  Saturday (8:15 a.m.-1:00 p.m.)  Sunday & Holidays - Closed	Monday-Friday (8:15 a.m.-10:00 p.m.)  Saturday (8:15 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.)  Sunday & Holidays - Closed
Run Run Shaw Building - Room 201	Monday-Friday  (8:15 a.m.-5:00 p.m.)  Saturday (8:15 a.m.-1:00 p.m.)  Sunday & Holidays - Closed	Monday-Friday  (8:15 a.m.-6:00 p.m.)  Saturday (8:15 a.m.-1:00 p.m.)  Sunday & Holidays - Closed
Run Run Shaw Building - Room 210 K.K. Leung Building - Room LG-108 (ACEnet) Knowles Building - Room 218	Monday-Friday  (8:15 a.m.-5:00 p.m.)  Saturday (8:15 a.m.-1:00 p.m.)  Sunday & Holidays - Closed	Monday-Friday (8:15 a.m.-10:00 p.m.)  Saturday (8:15 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.)  Sunday & Holidays - Closed

Except RR101, RR103 and RR113, all other laboratories are closed on Sundays, University Holidays and Public Holidays during term time.

 

Holidays	Closed on	Re-open on
Christmas Holiday	Dec 24, 2003 (Wed)  8:15 a.m.	Dec 27, 2003 (Sat) 8:15 a.m.
New Year Holiday	Dec 31, 2003 (Wed) 1:00 p.m.	Jan 2, 2003 (Fri) 8:15 a.m.
Lunar New Year	Jan 21, 2004 (Wed) 1:00 p.m.	Jan 26, 2004 (Mon) 8:15 a.m.
Foundation Day	Mar 16, 2004 (Tue)  8:15 a.m.	Mar 17, 2004 (Wed)  8:15 a.m.