Portfolio Entry 5

If brain scanning technology is not strictly supervised, the general public's privacy will be threatened and jeopardized. This is because such technology like functional magnetic resonance imaging(fMRI)can read our mind and even access our memory eventually. As a researcher, I will not use such technology for personal purpose and not in any case without the consent from the authorized party. In Singapore, the use of brain scanning technology are closely watched by Bioethic Advisory Committee which examines ethical, legal and social issues, arising from research on human biology and behaviour and its applications. Furthermore, the data collected from brain scanning of the individuals are highly confidential. I will not reveal them to any third party for commercial purpose.If necessary, those data are to be deleted immediately after the experiments.There are definitely people who wants to make money by selling those private and confidential personal data. This mean is indeed unethical because each individual somehow has some bad memory or secrets that they will never want anyone to know. Thus, as a researcher, I shall protect the test target's memory being accessed by me or anyone else if there is no consent from him or her. Besides being responsible for the technology controlled by me, I shall influence other researchers to be responsible for what they are doing. To prevent others from abusing the technology is also important. As an individual, I cannot do much about this. However, this kind of professional responsibility can be developed during their tertiary education and professional trainings. Thus, I believe NUS should also instill professional responsibility and social responsibility into their students. Then they will exploit any technology they control unethically and they will even prevent others from misusing the technology in their workforce. Therefore, to inculcate the university students with a sense of professional responsibility could prevent unethical abuse of any technology thoroughly.

Portfolio 4: What difficulties do you have writing in your engineering classes? How do you resolve the difficulties? How will you continue to improve?

As a year-1 engineering student, the few writing tasks I have are the lab reports and a General Elective Module project report. These writings are significantly different from the writing I have done in my secondary school and junior college. My difficulty is I do not know how to organize this kind of writing.

The GEM module I take is GEK1514, "microelectronics revolution - from sand to integrated circuits". Last week, I did a project report with my friend on the topic “The emergence of ICs and the impacts on entertainment and the ways we communicate". We had an adequate number of points but we found it is hard to put them into the report. This is because some of the points did not agree with others. In the end, we decide to put our r thesis statements in the paragraph first. Then I sort the points to supporting details and counter-arguments. After that, it is slightly easier for us to write. However, we do not really find this is a good organisation because we do not have an overall approach to the topic. It is like sometimes we find ICs make our ways of communication better while sometimes not. Thus, in the end, it is hard for us to give a conclusion. In the introduction, we did not have a clear stand as well. Therefore, my problem with my current university writing is whether I need a clear stand. By the way, thanks for EG1471, now I can do APA style citation and it really helps me a lot in the report because we need to do reference for the report.

To overcome my problems I need to discuss with my lectures about the objectives o f the reports. Moreover, I can read science journals to learn how they approach the reports generally. I believe my EG1471 lectures also have a lot of ideas in organizing a report. Thus, I can consult them next time.

Summary 2(Sequester That Carbon Dioxide)

Scientists have discovered a new usage for the underground reservoir. That is to store the greenhouse gas. A team from University of Texas has already store carbon dioxide underground into the reservoir. To store carbon dioxide underground is also known as carbon sequestration. It has become the spot light of various industries and governments all over the world. Greenhouse gas is believed to be the main cause of global warming. It will lead to higher sea level, unpredictable weather and disastrous storms. Texas is one of the largest greenhouse emitter; however, it also has the best technology to sequester the carbon dioxide. The coast regions of Gulf of Mexico is estimated to be able to contain 300 billion tons of carbon dioxide. However, there are also a lot of obstacles in terms of money and technology for the carbon sequestration to become a feasible business . Carbon dioxide was actually able to be pumped into underground since 1970 to increase the output of oil. However, now carbon dioxide needs to go deeper into the ground and pipeline network has to be built.

"Sequester That Carbon Dioxide" www.wired.com 27 Nov. 2004. Retrieved 3 Oct. 2008 from
http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2004/11/65852

Summary 1（Storing CO2 a ways off)

US had put a lot of effort in carbon sequestration technology, yet they still need more time and money. They are already able to store carbon dioxide; however, the methods to collect the gas before it is released to the air are still not mature. Some workable methods are not economically feasible, however. Half of US's power comes from coal-fired power plants. To collect and store carbon dioxide from those plants can reduce the greenhouse gas significantly. It is also the US government's main approach to tackle global warming. Another problem is where to store the greenhouse gas. The feasibility of storing carbon dioxide underground is questioned. There might be some unforeseen problems after carbon dioxide is pumped underground. Sufficient preparation and research need to be done before making the first move.

Gale. (2008). Official: Storing CO2 a ways off. Retrieved October 08, 2008, from Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center, http://find.galegroup.com/ovrc/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T004&prodld=OVRC&docld=CJ165700547&source=gale&srcprod=OVRC&userGroupName=nusself&version=1.0

Article

Usually the grammatical errors I made in my writings are about the "a", "an" and "the". It was confusing to me when or when not to use them. Therefore, I did some study on article and summarized some notes.

First, I would like to talk about the definition of article. It is a word that combines with a noun to indicate the type of reference being made by the noun.

There are generally 2 types of articles.

definite article: The

The definite article is used before singular and plural nouns when the noun is particular or specific. The signals that the noun is definite, that it refers to a particular member of a group.

Indefinite Articles: a and an

A and an signal that the noun modified is indefinite, referring to any member of a group. These indefinite articles are used with singular nouns when the noun is general; the corresponding indefinite quantity word some is used for plural general nouns.

For me, the indefinite articles I can use correctly. However, sometimes I am confused about the usage of the.

Thus, I list down when and when not to use the:

not used with noncountable nouns referring to something in a general sense:

[no article] Coffee is a popular drink.
[no article] Japanese was his native language.
[no article] Intelligence is difficult to quantify.

is used when a noun refers to something unique:

the White House
the theory of relativity
the 1999 federal budget

Do not use the before:

• names of countries (Italy, Mexico, Bolivia) except the Netherlands and the US
• names of cities, towns, or states (Seoul, Manitoba, Miami)
• names of streets (Washington Blvd., Main St.)
• names of lakes and bays (Lake Titicaca, Lake Erie) except with a group of lakes like the Great Lakes
• names of mountains (Mount Everest, Mount Fuji) except with ranges of mountains like the Andes or the Rockies or unusual names like the Matterhorn
• names of continents (Asia, Europe)
• names of islands (Easter Island, Maui, Key West) except with island chains like the Aleutians, the Hebrides, or the Canary Islands

Do use the before:

• names of rivers, oceans and seas (the Nile, the Pacific)
• points on the globe (the Equator, the North Pole)
• geographical areas (the Middle East, the West)
• deserts, forests, gulfs, and peninsulas (the Sahara, the Persian Gulf, the Black Forest, the Iberian Peninsula)

The following is an exercise that i have done.

1. I want __an__ apple from that basket.

2. __The__ church on the corner is progressive.

3. Miss Lin speaks ____ Chinese.

4. I borrowed __a__ pencil from your pile of pencils and pens.

5. One of the students said, "__The__ professor is late today."

6 Eli likes to play ____ volleyball.

7. I bought __an__ umbrella to go out in the rain.

8. My daughter is learning to play __the__ violin at her school.

9. Please give me __the__ cake that is on the counter.

10. I lived on ____ Main Street when I first came to town.

11. Albany is the capital of ____ New York State.

12. My husband's family speaks ____ Polish.

13. __An__ apple a day keeps the doctor away.

14. __The__ ink in my pen is red.

15. Our neighbors have __a__ cat and __a__ dog.

A fad, fashion, or activity of your generation that drives an older generation crazy

Our parents had not played cyber-games in their adolescent years. Thus, most of them could not understand why we teenagers are crazy in it. However, they are indeed driven crazy by it. This is possibly because we spend excessive time on cyber-gaming until we do not have time for study, exercise or even sleep. Parents always want the best of us. They simply have a few expectations for every child: study hard, live healthy and respect the parents. However, many of us cannot meet the basic expectations from our parents due to the addiction in cyber-gaming. Nowadays many teenagers tend to lock their themselves in their own rooms to play computers day and night. They do not want to study and exercise. Sometimes they even forget to eat. Their second life in the online community seem more important than their real life. Parents are very upset because their expectations could not be met. Furthermore, many parents even feel they could not communicate with their children since they could not have a common understanding at all. As a result, cyber-gaming leads to deterioration of family relationship, unhealthy lifestyle and lower literacy.

Task 1

In article 1, the author mentions the challenge of reducing vulnerability to assaults on cyberspace. One of the grand challenges of engineering is to make our world a safer place. Due to the proliferation of the Internet, our “world” is not only limited to the earth. Virtual communities are also part of our “world”. Thus, to ensure the safety in the virtual world is equally important and computer engineers have the responsibility to do so.

Owning to anonymity in the virtual world, criminals can mask their identities and jeopardize others’ privacy or even money. Personal information could be stolen by the hackers for monetary purpose and just for curiosity. Online banking accounts might be stolen as well. To many people who are new to the virtual world, they do not feel safe there. This is because at any point of time, their computer system may collapse due to virus or their internet bank password may be stolen. In a sense, due to the unforeseen dangers online, many people have the resistance to accept online services. It actually slows down civilization because digitalization would eventually make our life more convenient.

Furthermore, children are vulnerable in the virtual world since they are exposed to too many dangers online. There are scores of paedophile, sexual predators online. They have masked their identities to deceive the impressionable and innocent young people. The internet is a very good platform for the young people to enrich their knowledge since they could find anything they want to learn online. Nowadays, education has become digitalized as well. Many schools has uploaded useful learning resources online and even streaming videos of some lessons. However, due to all those dangers online, the internet is not yet an ideal learning platform. If a computer is infected with virus, at any time gambling sites or even pornographic may pop out.

In conclusion, it is urgent to make the virtual world a safer and more conducive place.