National University of Singapore

The National University of Singapore (Abbreviation: NUS) is one of the three largest public and autonomous universities in Singapore. Founded in 1905, it is the oldest institute of higher learning (IHL) in Singapore, as well as the largest university in the country in terms of student enrolment and curriculum offered. NUS is a research-intensive, comprehensive university with an entrepreneurial dimension.

NUS is consistently ranked as one of Asia's top universities by both UK ranking systems, the QS World University Rankings and the Times Higher Education World University Rankings. According to the latest 2015 QS World University Rankings, NUS is ranked 12th in the world and retained its position as 1st in Asia. NUS also fared well in the 2015-16 Times Higher Education World University Rankings, coming in 26th in the world and 1st in Asia. Additionally, 2014's U.S. News & World Report Best Global Universities Rankings places NUS at 55th in the world. In 2015, The Economist ranked NUS Business School 2nd in Singapore and 87th globally.

Videoconferencing

Videoconferencing (VC) is the conduct of a videoconference (also known as a video conference or videoteleconference) by a set of telecommunication technologies which allow two or more locations to communicate by simultaneous two-way video and audio transmissions. It has also been called 'visual collaboration' and is a type of groupware.

Videoconferencing differs from videophone calls in that it's designed to serve a conference or multiple locations rather than individuals. It is an intermediate form of videotelephony, first used commercially in Germany during the late-1930s and later in the United States during the early 1970s as part of AT&T's development of Picturephone technology.

With the introduction of relatively low cost, high capacity broadband telecommunication services in the late 1990s, coupled with powerful computing processors and video compression techniques, videoconferencing has made significant inroads in business, education, medicine and media.

History

Videoconferencing uses audio and video telecommunications to bring people at different sites together. This can be as simple as a conversation between people in private offices (point-to-point) or involve several (multipoint) sites in large rooms at multiple locations. Besides the audio and visual transmission of meeting activities, allied videoconferencing technologies can be used to share documents and display information on whiteboards.

Singapore

Singapore (ⁱ/ˈsɪŋɡəpɔːr/), officially the Republic of Singapore, and often referred to as the Lion City, the Garden City, and the Red Dot, is a global city in Southeast Asia and the world's only island city-state. It lies one degree (137 km) north of the equator, at the southernmost tip of continental Asia and peninsular Malaysia, with Indonesia's Riau Islands to the south. Singapore's territory consists of the diamond-shaped main island and 62 islets. Since independence, extensive land reclamation has increased its total size by 23% (130 km²), and its greening policy has covered the densely populated island with tropical flora, parks and gardens.

The islands were settled from the second century AD by a series of local empires. In 1819, Sir Stamford Raffles founded modern Singapore as a trading post of the East India Company; after the company collapsed, the islands were ceded to Britain and became part of its Straits Settlements in 1826. During World War II, Singapore was occupied by Japan. It gained independence from Britain in 1963, by uniting with other former British territories to form Malaysia, but was expelled two years later over ideological differences. After early years of turbulence, and despite lacking natural resources and a hinterland, the nation developed rapidly as an Asian tiger economy, based on external trade and its human capital.

Singapore dollar

The Singapore dollar or dollar (Malay: Ringgit Singapura, sign: $; code: SGD) is the official currency of Singapore. It is normally abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or alternatively S$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies. It is divided into 100 cents.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Monetary Authorty of Brunei Darussalam (Autoriti Monetari Brunei Darussalam) still maintain the historic exchangeability of their two currencies, the Singaporean dollar and the Brunei dollar, respectively. The Singapore dollar is accepted as "customary tender" in Brunei according to the Currency Interchangeability Agreement. Likewise, the Brunei dollar is customarily accepted in Singapore.

History

Between 1845 and 1939, Singapore used the Straits dollar. This was replaced by the Malayan dollar, and, from 1953, the Malaya and British Borneo dollar, which were issued by the Board of Commissioners of Currency, Malaya and British Borneo.

Singapore continued to use the common currency upon joining Malaysia in 1963, but only two years after Singapore's expulsion and independence from Malaysia in 1965, the monetary union between Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei broke down. Singapore established the Board of Commissioners of Currency, Singapore, on 7 April 1967 and issued its first coins and notes. Nevertheless, the Singapore dollar was exchangeable at par with the Malaysian ringgit until 1973, and interchangeability with the Brunei dollar is still maintained.

Singapore (1947 film)

Singapore is a 1947 American romance film directed by John Brahm and starring Fred MacMurray and Ava Gardner. The film was remade as Istanbul (1957) with the location moved to Turkey, and Errol Flynn and Cornell Borchers in the starring roles.

Plot

Pearl smuggler Matt Gordon (Fred MacMurray) finds romance with Linda Grahame (Ava Gardner) just before the start of World War II. He proposes to her, and she accepts. However, when the Japanese attack Singapore, the church where she is waiting to marry him is bombed; Gordon searches frantically in the wreckage, but cannot find her. He is forced to sail away on his schooner.

With the end of the war, Gordon returns after five years and is met by Deputy Commissioner Hewitt (Richard Haydn), who is convinced he has returned for a hidden cache of pearls. So are Gordon's old criminal associates, Mr. Mauribus (Thomas Gomez) and his underling Sascha Barda (George Lloyd). Mauribus offers to buy the pearls, but Gordon denies he has any.