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 * E-Learning Activity**

Using avatars as teachers would undoubtly be more convient, easier and efficient. Based on the transcript, these 3D avatars are used to represent oneself in another area. This would be very convient to the teachers as, if they are too tired after a hard day of work and would like to take a break, the teachers could send their 3D avatars and teach the students instead. This way would reduce the need for teachers to travel from one classroom to another, allowing the teacher to rest, making it more convient. Nowadays, most students usually keeping up with technology, like spending their time playing i-phone applications or logining into facebook. Being a student myself, I too keep up with teconology and it would be very exciting and interesting to see our teacher as a 3D avatar. This would undoubtly attract all the students attentition and thus allowing the ' teacher ' to teach easier. Leading to maximum participation of the students during lessons, making teaching more convient, easier and efficient.


 * Assignment 3**

I agree that gender inequality is very much prevalent in the 21st century especially in the Middle East and North Africa, despite their political systems. In countries such as Iran, Egypt, Israel, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, family matters are governed by religion-based personal status codes. Most of these laws treat women as legal minors which are inferior to their male family members. Family decision is thought to be the exclusive of men who enjoy by default the legal status of “head of household” .Three extreme examples and will be discussed in the following paragraphs.

1. In 2001 a militant group called Lashkar-e-Jabar demanded that Muslim women in Kashmir wear burqas, a head to toe garment that cover their clothes. Or else, they risk being attacked. Some men threw acid in the faces of two women for not covering up in public in a busy street one day. The group also demanded that Hindu and Sikh women dress differently so as to identify themselves and Hindu women should have a bindi (the traditional colored dot) on their foreheads while Sikh women should cover their heads with saffron-colored cloth. Clothing is the most basic things in life. These women cannot even control of what they want to wear. How would you like it if people threaten to throw acid in your face if you did not wear what they wanted you to? This shows that women are bullied constantly in these countries and region.

2. In many countries, while husbands can divorce their spouses easily, wives’ access to divorce is extremely limited, and they often confront near insuperable legal and financial obstacles. In Lebanon, battered women cannot file for divorce on the basis of abuse without the testimony of an eyewitness. Medical certificates from doctors proving physical abuse are not enough. Although women in Egypt can now legally initiate a divorce without cause, they must agree to renounce all rights to the couple’s finances, and also, they must also repay their dowries. In other words, they have to buy their freedom. In Israel, a man must grant his wife a get, also known as a Jewish divorce writ. The divorce writ can only be given by a man to his wife and never the other way around. Women that are constantly being abused cannot even divorce their husband. Imagine yourself in that situation but you cannot do anything about it. This shows the unfairness of women compared to men.

3. Women’s unequal legal rights thus increase their vulnerability to violence. In many countries in these region, no specific laws or provisions exist to penalize domestic violence, even though domestic violence is a widespread problem. Domestic violence is generally considered to be a private matter outside the state’s jurisdiction. Battered women are told to go home if they attempt to file a complaint with the police. Shelters that exist to protect women who fear for their lives are hard to find, in other words there are very few shelters. Spousal rape has not yet been criminalized; husbands have an absolute right to their wives’ bodies at all times. Penal codes in several countries in the region authorize the police and judges to drop charges against a rapist if he agrees to marry his victim. After marriage, the rapist can choose to divorce his victim and continue with the process of rape, marriage and divorce. Thus, women are at a very big disadvantage here. Bahraini women who have been courageous enough to expose and challenge these violations in 2003 were sued for slander by eleven family court judges. These examples are enough to prove that gender inequality do exist even in the 21st century. Even women doing the right thing are being sued. What does this tell you? Men are constantly bullying women in these region and women do not even have any right to talk back to them.

After revision: 19/30


 * Assignment 4**

1. It may be argued that being able to tell lies occasionally is important to maintain a healthy relationship. However, a relationship should be built on trust and if you lie, you partner may begin to lose trust in you if they found out that you have lied. An example is that you claim to go to this place but in the end, you partner saw you in another place, he may begin to suspect you are hiding something from him. Even “White lies” may harm a relationship. If you two-timed you boyfriend and lied to him so you would not break up, you boyfriend may eventually find out that you had two-timed him and will break up with you. They may even think you did that on purpose just to spite him. Lying itself is already not healthy and lying in a relationship will make you want to lie even more when you are not caught. As time goes by, your partner will find out you lied and lose complete trust in you.

2. It may be argued that it is better to be a student in our parents’ time as students nowadays have to face too much stress. However, in the past, some of our parents did not even have the basic needs for schooling such as pencils, pen and books. Also, nowadays, we have the internet to aid with our learning. In the past, there were few good schools and many people did not have a chance to enter college or university. Nowadays, teaching is very advanced along with the internet as the internet can save us from having sore hands from writing down notes. We can just type in notes and print them out. Also, teachers do not have to strain their eyes just to read pupils handwriting as the typewritten notes are neat. In the past, there are few good trained teachers which means students in the past get to learn little. Now, we have qualified and good teachers to teach us so we can learn more. Students in the past have to constantly put up with a lot of stress as they have very little study notes and a lot to do on their own for the examinations. So they have to work extremely hard to get good results, adding to the stress they already have. Also, there is the Chinese electronic dictionary to aid us in our Chinese composition examination. In the past, students that could not remember how to write hard words are forced to hand in an average composition.

3. It may be argued that organ trading should be allowed in Singapore as nothing can be more important than saving a life. However, organ trading is not good for health because if it is allowed, many poor people would trade it for money. As an organ cost a lot of money, only rich people can afford these transplants as the poor do not have enough money for the transplant. Also transplanting and organ involves a huge risk that can cause both the donor and the patient to die. Most people would not sell their organs to the hospital; they would rather sell it to the black market for a higher price. Also, the crime rate in Singapore may increase if organ trading is allowed and as it costs a lot; they can earn money just by selling these organs. Therefore, I disagree that organ training should be allowed in Singapore. In India and China, normally licensed doctors are not the ones who do the transplant. It is those unlicensed doctors that do it. Sometimes, both the patients and donor are unlucky and they catch a disease and die from it. If Singapore were to allow organ transplant, surely these fatalities will happen.

After Revision: 20/30

It has been said that allowing casinos in Singapore was a correct decision and I agree with that. Casinos not only provide entertainment places for people but also lead to economic growth and the improvement of social welfare at large. There are several benefits from the casino industry. The three of them which are the most significant are tax revenues, employment and income. Each of the benefits will be discussed in the following paragraphs.
 * Assignment 5 question 3**

Casino industry in an important economic engine to society for a number of reasons. Casino industry is a kind of labour intensive industry which requires a large number of employees. Besides the greater impact on reducing the number of unemployment rate, it also creates jobs directly and indirectly. According to the research of (Anderson 1996), it revealed that for every 1 million in revenue, the casino gaming industry creates 13 direct jobs. What is more ; this number only reflect the direct employment within the casino ; industry that include individuals who work in the casino buy excluded the jobs created by other related industries, such as hotels, video services, computer software, or even soft drinks industry.

Although the casino industry creates many jobs directly, local people are not the principal beneficiaries. The upper management positions that are paid the most are typically filled by foreigners while the lower-paying jobs are filled with majority of local residents. This arrangement is created because some or most of the earnings of the foreign top managers will inevitably be spent in the local area. The consumption of the employees within the local society will improve the production eventually boost the multiplier effect of the casino. An example is the foreigners do not usually have their own house, so they would have to stay in the casino's hotel which he/she would need to pay for it. The money will go back to the casino once more. Also, the managers would have lunch at the casino's restaurant, so by spending money in the restaurant, they are giving back their income to the casino.

Tax, which is the most important revenue, collected by a society within casino is another area where local residents benefits. The greater amount of money spent specifically within the casino industry, the more money the state will be able to collect via sales tax. Also according to research, the property tax in casino areas in normally much higher than the tax in other commercial and residential areas. It helps states to impose more taxes as well. The money collected within a casino can be spent on several areas it meet the social welfare. Government can also use the money to fund the production of the public goods or for the charity. Normally in restaurant, one can drink can cost around $4. But in casino restaurant, price can rise up to $8 or even $10. Lodging in casino's hotel is usually much more expensive, sometimes even two times as expensive as normal hotels.

Some may argue that opening casinos in Singapore may cause people to have gambling addiction. However, this is not true as Singapore's government allows family members to apply for exclusion orders to prevent the addict from entering the casino, however rich they may be. Singaporean gamblers would have to pay entrance levy which strongly discourages addicted gamblers to enter the casino.

Some may argue that the social problems caused are more important than the revenue generated by casinos. A more important consideration means is to help the unfortunate in the society. The taxes that are paid will go to the less fortunate eventually. With more revenue, the government will be able to spend more to help the lower income group lead a better life.

As a newly emerging industry, the casino market has been developed to a huge profitable area in some of the areas in the world, such as Las Vegas and Macau. There are clearly sizeable economic benefits to be gained from the development of a world-class casino. As an economic hub in Southeast Asia, Singapore holds advantages over other countries because of its stable environment and open policy adopted by the government. In conclusion, I believe that Singapore's choice to allow casino was ultimately a correct decision.

After Revision: 20/30