Jonathan is Blogging for School

Difficulties Faced in University Writing

2009-04-18T19:31:00.000+08:00

The second semester of my year in university is coming to an end. This semester, taking EG1471 has been a rewarding one for me. In the past and even last semester, I was not even aware of the many different styles of writing. I remembered my secondary school teachers mostly concentrated on comprehensions, grammars, some basic vocabularies and writing mostly story-kinds of essays. Proceeding on to the polytechnic, we were not required to take an English module and that affected my English as most of the lecture notes were very simplified forms of English and most of my friends were communicating in Chinese. Initially, I was quite disappointed that I had to take this English module. However, I feel that the many things I have learned so far would greatly benefit me in the future. Here, I would like to discuss the difficulties I faced when I have to write essays or reports in university.

My weakness so far is writing an essay without proper planning. I used to immediately start writing once I am given a title or some information. I would then write down anything or idea if I have in mind and keep doing so until I have no more idea or information left. Information would not be linked correctly and I would have plenty of parallel structure errors. I have thus learned that this is a wrong way to start and I have to plan first such as brainstorming for ideas, arranging them and do a simple outline to state my main points and continuing with the essay after that.

I also commonly make certain mistakes such as repetitious words and subject-verb agreement. All these makes my essay or report dull and not of acceptable university standard writing. After advices from my English teacher who taught us that certain repetitious words could be changed using the thesaurus and attending her lesson on subject-verb agreement where she also showed us examples and gave us practice, I noticed that I now have a better understanding on how all these will improve my written English.

Overall, university writing is vastly different from what I have learned in the past. I am thankful that I had to take this module and that it benefited me greatly. I know that in order to continue improving my English, I not only have to speak good proper English, I have to also constantly expose myself to reading newspapers, articles and books so as to have a better grasp of the language and thus be able to write better.

Identification of Common Grammatical Mistakes

2009-03-30T00:22:00.003+08:00

The three different types common grammar mistakes I would frequently make would primarily be that of sentence fragments, pronoun reference and subject verb agreement. For this entry, I’ll explain how the grammatical structure should be used correctly and show some examples of the mistakes and correct version.

Sentence fragments are basically incomplete sentences. To have a complete sentence, it needs a subject in each independent and dependent clause. We would be able to correct the sentences by either removing or adding punctuations to link the sentence correctly. Some sentences are also written as main clauses but lack a subject or main verb. Some examples are:

1a) He fell down. As he was running down the stairs. [Wrong]

(b) He fell down as he was running down the stairs. [Correct]

2a) His room in a mess. [Wrong]

(b) His room was in a mess. [Correct]

Pronoun reference usually refers to a noun phrase or another pronoun(called the antecedent) and should come before the pronoun. When there is more than one pronoun in the sentence, we have to ensure the pronoun refers to only one of them. The pronoun should refer to a specific antecedent rather than an implicit antecedent. The reader will have to guess or read through a few times before he/she can identify if the sentence’s meaning. Some examples are:

1a) Bring the speaker to the shop to fix it.

(b) Bring the speaker to the shop to fix the speaker.

2a) Although the ice cream container was empty, we were tired of eating it.

(b) Although the ice cream container was empty, we were tired of eating the ice cream.

For subject verb agreement as the name implies, we have to match the subject and verb correctly. For a singular subject, we have to match it with a singular verb form and for a plural subject, we have to have plural verb form with it. Some sentences might be unclear and the trick is to locate the subject closest to the verb and choose the correct word for it. Examples or subject verb agreements are:

1a) The books lying on his desk is messy. [Wrong]

(b) The books lying on his desk are messy. [Correct]

2a) Each of the boys are taking his lunch now. [Wrong]

(b) Each of the children is taking his lunch now. [Correct]

These are the common grammatical mistakes I commonly face. I shall be more careful in future whenever I write any sentences and from the English lessons attended so far, I would be able to spot more of such common errors made from the various grammar lessons taught in the past weeks.

RoundTable Discussion Summary

2009-03-15T19:40:00.001+08:00

The first group mentioned biofuels as an alternative source for petroleum is by far not a new subject. Many countries such as USA and China have tried for biofuels and although the technology sounds promising, there are many disadvantages regarding the technology. The group discussed the pros and cons and some advantages biofuels have is that it can replace the need for petroleum and reduce air pollution. It also creates job for people as there have to be more farming sites catered for cultivation of the crops. However, the cons is that such technology still requires a very large area of land for cultivation and biofuels absorb more energy than they produce. The large amount of fertilizer, pesticides can pollute soils and might create algae bloom that can suffocate fishes in rivers. Many also feel that the large amount of crops grown for biofuels should instead feed the hungry in many third world countries.

The second group mentioned Green chemistry, such as converting waste products into less harmful substances and recycling them into useful things again is what the group discussed. They mentioned the idea of melting and converting used plastic bottles into a strong carbon microsphere that is even harder than diamond and such technology could replace the high cost of using expensive diamond for cutting purposes. There would also not be any harmful by products produced which helps save the environment from future harm. Recently, there have been many events happening around the Earth that have been triggered due to global warming. Green chemistry although expensive, should be researched even more so that more can be done to reduce pollution and waste products.

The last group mentioned low-pressure carbon filter process technology. The main idea is that this technology extracts most of the useful carbon dioxide produced by factories or heavy industries and recycles them for use in enhancing oil and methane recovery. Although such technology is good for the environment as it greatly reduces carbon dioxide emissions, we have to question the safety of building such plants and would the large amount of carbon dioxide emitted by factories everyday be 100% used up by enhancing oil and methane as not many countries around the world has oil refining facilities. Thus, not all countries would be able to implement such technology and it will defeat the purpose of building so many of such plants. Other questions we can ask it how they are going to link the pipes connecting the waste carbon dioxide to the plant and useful carbon dioxide to the refining factories. Long pipes might leak and the cost of implementation might not be feasible.

Microchips for Humans

2009-03-01T23:37:00.003+08:00

In the article “Humans will be implanted with microchips”, the author quoted from a prominent academic as saying that all Australians could be implanted with microchips for tracking and identification in future. We know that microchips are commonly implanted into animals which can reveal their identification details such as their owner, age and any medical conditions. A US company VeriChip is already using such microchips on humans for medical purposes which focus on high-risk patients.

The article tells us that such microchips that are implanted in humans could allow that person to be located in an emergency or identification of corpses after a large scale disaster or terrorist attack where the corpse of the person might be unidentifiable. Microchip implants might also eliminate the need for passports and identification cards.

Some argue against the implantations of microchips as they feel it is equivalent to the loss of human rights as your personal privacy and data can be accessed easily.

In the second article “Microchip for people may cause cancer”, we see the manufacturer assuring FDA about the safety of their microchips and the benefits it would provide. However, we see that the manufacturer didn’t mention about the research findings that micro chipping in laboratory rats and mice causes malignant tumours in them.

To date, about 2000 RFID devices have been implanted in humans worldwide according to VeriChip Corp. and the company states that they were not aware of any studies that have resulted in malignant tumours in laboratory rats and mice. There was also no mention of the findings on animal tumours by the American Medical Association which only touted on the benefits of implantable RFID devices. There were studies in different countries which showed cancerous cells that developed as a result of implanting microchips in laboratory rats and mice such as France and Germany although it affected only a very small percentage of the rodents.

This percentage, even how insignificant is already a cause for alarm for most people and even cancer specialists are wary of implanting microchips in humans until such technology is proven to be very safe. Others are less concerned and felt rats and mice are different from humans and they were felt the experiments were not conducted in a large enough scale or didn’t comprise other animals. A veterinarian at Ohio State University, Dr. Cheryl London even noted that ten of thousands of dogs have been chipped and there haven’t been any reported outbreaks of such cancer or tumours in the place where the dogs have been chipped.

As the microchip is implanted in patients, hospital staffs are able to go to the internet and access a patient’s medical profile which is maintained in a database by VeriChip Corp. However, the risk patients must take includes microchips migrating around the body, difficulty of extraction, risk of interference with defibrillators and incompatibility with MRI scans.

From the above two articles, we see the several advantages microchips have and what are the disadvantages and cause of concern with implanting microchips in humans. Implanting such chips might really one day eliminate the hassle of carrying identification cards, passports and medical reports and the convenience and possibilities of such technology is encouraging as it also saves plenty of time. However, the ethical problems such as loss of human rights and privacy and most importantly the safety of such technology must first be overcome before such technology will be accepted by everyone.

References

McGrath. J, How Pet Microchipping Works. February 28, 2009, http://animals.howstuffworks.com/pets/pet-travel/pet-microchip.htm

MSNBC, The Associated Press, Microchips for people may cause cancer. February 28, 2009, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20643620/

Transponder - A radio or radar transmitter-receiver activated for transmission by reception of a predetermined signal.

Encapsulated - To encase in or as if in a capsule.

Literature - the writings dealing with a particular subject

Subcutaneous - situated or lying under the skin, as tissue.

Malignant - very dangerous or harmful in influence or effect.

Summarizing of Lecturers Speech

2009-01-30T23:13:00.002+08:00

The 3 different lecturers went through topics pertaining to the problems and issues on global warming. Each lecturer stated their points in putting across the message of global warming. Be it informing us of the harmful effects of global warming or explaining to us what factors are restricting countries in a fight against global warming. The lecturers went through their points in detail.

The first lecturer touched on the topics on the effects of carbon dioxide emission and how it can contribute to global warming. Carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring balanced in the air we breathe. It is a fixed amount of 0.033%. However, as we progressed and countries continue to develop, the amount of waste and carbon dioxide released by factories, cars, air cons adds up and in recent years, carbon dioxide composition in the air has been increasing steadily.

Carbon dioxide traps heat in the atmosphere and heats up the temperature of the earth. When the temperature of the earth increases, melting of the ice caps will occur and eventually, floods will occur in many parts of the world. The total change in climate will not only create floods, but also droughts. Temperature rise and drops in many parts of the world will also occur and affect the overall cycle of the earth. Examples such as extinction of animals, famine and diseases will spread everywhere at that time.

The lecturer pointed out how we can fight or play our part in reducing such emissions such as taking public transport, using energy saving devices, not using air cons, not buying bottled waters and even not consuming food that has been transported thousands of kilometres. This might not be the solution to the problems but it can reduce such harmful emissions in the long run if everyone were to play a part and follow as such. The lecturer also stated that in many countries, global warming might not be the top priority as many countries still face the poverty cycle and many issues such as diseases, shortage of food and education are of greater importance.

The interesting part the lecturer pointed out is how to get rid of such gases. One way is by diffusing the gases into the ocean and the other is by storing them in large sausage-shaped membranes through pipes down to the bottom of the ocean. Although both ideas are not be feasible as releasing large amounts of carbon dioxide will make the ocean more acidic and destroy marine life and the other can only contain 2.2 days worth of CO₂ per membrane. However, it is interesting as we can see the efforts being put in to tackle the problem of the harmful gases.

The second lecturer showed us the use of STS to address energy(and technological) problems. He also touched on public apathy and misunderstandings, consumption, psychological resistance and environmental concerns. He pointed out how technological breakthroughs in recent times have affected the world and how it could have impacted the environment negatively.

He covered the technical challenges, economic challenges, political challenges and social/cultural challenges and concluded by showing us how STS methods can provide a useful lens to evaluate new technologies.

For the final part of the lecture, the last lecturer gave us an opening speech on greenhouse gases and what greenhouse gases comprised of. He mentioned the effects of greenhouse gases and how the global temperature has risen because of these gases. He showed us models, data’s, predictions and what human activities that caused global warming.

Several consequences of global warming have also been pointed out. The primary effects are droughts and floods, extinctions and intense storms and hurricanes. Certain areas will benefit from the warmer climate while others will suffer from melting ice. The rising of sea levels, extreme weather conditions, shifts in wildlife habitats and agricultural areas are several of them. The lecturer then touched on how we all can play a part in the fight against global warming and what governments can do to reduce emissions in their country. Several examples like taxing greenhouse gas emissions, subsidizing energy efficient and renewable use are things government in every country can look into. We can also play a part in rescuing the earth by walking, cycling, using fuel-efficient cars, utilizing energy efficient equipments, reducing garbage, saving water and buying products that are recyclable/biodegradable and environmentally friendly.

Global warming is a worldwide issue. Everyone has a role to play in contributing to the survival of the earth and protecting it from harm. If we do not take the necessary measures to save the earth from such ongoing destruction, our future generations might one day not have the chance to enjoy seeing the beautiful sight of our the world we all live in.

An Incovenient Truth

2009-01-23T00:08:00.003+08:00

In the documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" presented by former United States Vice President Al Gore, we learned about the the causes of global warming and its effects on earth. Al Gore touched upon several issues that many of us might not have heard before and showed us statistics and proofs to illustrate his points. His main focus was to raise awareness among the public and especially governments around the world to let them know that climate change is due to mankind and that every nation is contributing to global warming. He wants them to realize the consequences of global warming and what future lies ahead for mankind if they do not take the necessary steps to educate their people on global warming.

We know that through education and public awareness, people will realize the effects of global warming and take the necessary means to reduce it. However, we know that in most developing or undeveloped country, there's little opportunity to inform the public on global warming or to raise awareness among them. The majority of these people might have received lesser education and do not know what the effects of global warming and its impact in the future. Developing countries are one of the largest contributors to global warming. In a bid to quicken the growth of its nation, more factories and buildings will be set up, more water and oil or coal would be used to fuel its power plants and more waste will thus be produced. The government in these countries will need to play a major role in educating the public about the effects of global warming and how their rapid development will have an impact on climate change. On a whole, which includes developed countries. Governments must set some policies and guidelines to reduce the problem of global warming.

Governments must come up with policies and guidelines companies or organizations must follow and make sure they abide by these guidelines set. By limiting the waste products companies or factories produce or imposing heavy penalties if they fail to comply, the government could already help play a major role in reducing the problem of global warming in its own country. Since the government can reach out to the public in their country, they should take an active role in educating the public and raising their awareness about global warming. Talks should be held in schools, workplaces and seminars should be held frequently to expose the public about global warming. Posters or articles showing the effects of global warming could also be put up in shopping centers, hospitals, offices and schools or even bus stops so that the message gets spread faster.

There are environmental and special interest groups all round the world trying to contribute and solve the problem of global warming. Some might be small while others might comprise of several world leaders. However, they all play a similar role and that is to get the public aware of global warming, its causes and effects and how everyone has a role to play in combating global warming. The Kyoto Protocol is one such international environmental treaty where countries all round the world try to abide and commit themselves in reducing the main four greenhouse gases that contributes to global warming. We know that the international community is trying its best to educate the world about global warming and many environmental groups are also trying to raise awareness about climate change. By constantly thinking of innovative ways to educate the public and getting them to be more interested and involved in thinking of ways to combat global warming, we can thus progress while saving the earth at the same time.

There are ongoing research and studies on environmental friendly technologies and many have proved a success. We now have solar powered cars, trains, boats, windmills and they all help in solving the problem of pollution and greenhouse gases. Although more can be done, the progress and commitment shown in these research are proof that raising the public awareness on global warming has paid off. If we continue thinking of ways to combat global warming and progress with caution, our future children may still then be able to live in this wonderful world we call Earth.

The Expanding World of Engineers

2009-01-19T12:26:00.000+08:00

Engineering, a field which always gives the perception of a job where you will always return home dirty at the end of a day's work. Many people have that misconception and it continues through up till today. The overall understanding of an engineer is that they build bridges, dams, buildings, cars, refine petroleum and work under the sun the entire day with their clothes soaked up in sweat. However, as humans progressed, the increased in demand for better, more competitive goods and a desire to live a more comfortable life makes the role of an engineer more important than before.

Gone are the times when engineers main priorities are just building or creating something for the sake of needing it. The modern day engineer are now faced with a greater challenge, to be able to analyze, think systematically and to understand market trends to prepare them for a challenging role ahead. As we progressed on, engineers are required to use their analytical skills to not only create new products but also how to improve their existing products to suit consumer demands. The increasing expectations and demand for health care services, electronics, transportation and accommodation are some of the many high demands faced by modern day engineers. Not only do they need to face the demand for such items, but they also need to deal with time. Time is crucial for engineers because it determines how much share of the market they will be able to control when they launch their product. Thus, engineers are required to be able to plan properly to have control of time.

Most developing and developed nations still continue to train thousands of engineers each year because they realize the importance of the role engineers play. Engineers are now required in almost every field or every organization. Some are hired to produce new products for the mass market, design and manage an organization's system, rectify any faults, working for the government to improve the lives of the people, to design military equipments or even serve as consultants. In recent times, companies, banks and non-engineering firms like those in design and media and hiring more and more engineers. The reason being engineers are seen as people who are versatile and are able to analyze and solve problems quickly and also to come up with innovative solutions.

In an engineering education, students are being taught the necessary skills not only in their field of study but also how to design, solve and improve things. The engineering education students go through usually requires them to question themselves and not only think of new ideas but also to let them grasp the importance of time management. Many projects or labs are also conducted to give them a feel when they go out to society and work. By nurturing and training them this way, these future engineers will already have a head start when they begin their career paths and continue to contribute in whichever field they specialize in.

People usually say "experience comes with age". For an engineer, working experience over the years would have helped equip him or her with the necessary skills to handle complex problems and to find various ways to approach that problem. Such skills are so valuable that these people are sought after by multi-nationals, large corporations, governments and even the service sector.

The ever changing role engineers play now not only changes the perspective of engineers but also equip them with the knowledge to handle future challenges.