e12epsilon (Sy En, Gao Rui, Le Minh Duc, Zongyang, Joanna)

In a world of increasing economic, social and cultural interaction, issues of communication and linguistics are inevitably becoming increasingly vital. Now, it seems, everyone is desperate to learn English, possibly the first global language in a globalized world. As an engineering student, I have no doubt that English language competence will facilitate me a lot in both my studies and career.

It is common knowledge that mastering English will greatly help engineering student’s studies better. today, most of the scientific papers or journals all over the world are written in English. Moreover, most universities now choose English as the instruction language, i.e all lectures, tutorials and labs are conducted in English. Hence, achieving a good command of English is essential, especially for engineering students who have to write academic report quite often. Furthermore, almost every communications in project meetings is through English. Not to mention that thinking in English would also help a lot in my academic life because in a context of English education system, those who have a better English competence will dominate.

English language competence can also affect engineering students in their prospective careers. It is predicted that engineers with better language skills are easier to be promoted since they are better in using English in context of globalised world.  Furthermore, proficiency in English is increasingly important, given that English is the domineering language of most of global companies. Also, doing team work to organize projects or attending meetings also need a good command of English.

In conclusion, to an engineering student, English language competence is a significant aspect of an engineering student’s academic life and prospective career.

Filed under: portfolio4  | | No Comments »

Today, our world is increasingly unable to meet the demand for energy due to rapid development. In such context, fossil fuel, which has been widely used in many areas all over the world, is also predicted to deplete in the near future. While some people still favor fossil fuel as the conventional resource of energy, it should be admitted that many alternative fuels have advantages over fossil fuel.

First, fossil fuels, including petroleum, coal and natural gas are all non-renewable energy source while alternative fuels are renewable. Especially when our world face the energy crisis, sustainability can be considered the key factor in choosing the fuel. The more fossil fuel is used, the less the supply for it is. Therefore, using fossil fuel will gradually affect the overall profit in the long term.

Secondly, the use of fossil fuels such as oil, gas, and coal increases the amount of carbon dioxide in the earth’s atmosphere, which many scientists believe is a major cause of global warming. Besides, some poisonous gases or particles are emitted, polluting the environment. By contrast, many alternative fuels are clean and environment-friendly. For example, hydrogen produces only water and the water can be recycled to generate hydrogen again. In general, alternative fuels are more eco-friendly than fossil fuels.

In conclusion, it is high time the world must overcome its addiction to fossil fuels. Although fossil fuel is still the major energy source now, given that four-fifths of the world’s energy currently comes from fossil-based fuels, the switch to renewable sources of energy would be much simpler if the rich, industrialized nations were not resisting the change.

Filed under: portfolio3  | | No Comments »

Rogers, in his article “The birth of the laptop computer at Toshiba”, describes how the first laptop computer is invented by Mizoguchi. His action of disobeying order to concentrate on creating the laptop is really impressive because it shows one key characteristic of a typical engineer: crazy and persistent.

Rogers begin his article by giving a brief background of why the laptop computer is highly demanded. Due to increasingly rapid development of our society, the need of having a portable personal computer is understandable; therefore, Mizoguchi ’s idea of laptop should be encouraged. However, his idea was not approved by his superiors because his company just suffered a huge loss and not dare to take risk anymore.  In such context, many people will feel discouraged, but Mizoguchi is different. He continued his work by going “underground” with a group of ten engineers that helped him design the laptop. Finally, his tenacity paid off when his invention is totally a huge success, and he was promoted to the Toshiba board of directors. Clearly, his courage of ignoring opposition from his boss illustrates his unique characteristic. Assuming that if Mizoguchi gave up, such a leading innovation would not have been created. Even if his effort in creating the laptop turned out into failure, he is still considered a hero for his dare of realizing his dream, no matter how it could be. He is an exemplar for the fact that passion has equal role compared to talent in making a good engineer.   In turn, passion and talent are also two essential factors for being a great engineer.

After all, Mizoguchi deserved what he gained because he has belief of his dream and dare to realize it. As such, when he succeeded in inventing the laptop, he was highly appreciated by everyone.

Filed under: portfolio2  | | No Comments »

Different countries treat differently on cheating activities in exams. In western country, student who is found cheating in the exam will be punished much more seriously than failing the exam. While in eastern countries, he may get no mark for this subject or even warned for one time. Students living in these two backgrounds surely have different altitude on cheating activities in exams.

  The altitude is determined by the culture in individual country. In eastern countries, China used long to be the leader, China’s altitude determined the altitude of most of eastern countries. At that period of time, farming was regarded as the foundation of a country. Scientists and workers owned lower positions than farmers. There was also no patent policy at that time because China was powered by the emperor who had absolute power in the whole country. Gentries are the governors in the society. Scientists and workers cannot protect their own technologies. For such a long time, even nowadays, many Chinese do not emphasize on their patents. In Europe, there were many countries, fighting all the time. So, they recognized the importance of technology. They gave scientists and worker power and freedom to innovate. As we all know, gunpowder was invented by China, but it was widely used in Europe because the emperor in China didn’t allow this kind of dangerous invention to be developed to threaten his governance. While in Europe, they could use gunpowder to defeat their enemies.

   The habits lasted for about two thousand years, becoming the custom. This is the real reason why plagiarism, collusion, and similar practices are shaped/influenced by a student‘s educational background and culture beliefs, and organizational ethnics nowadays.

Filed under: portfolio4  | | No Comments »

Language has become more important over the years. People use languages to communicate and pass on their ideas to another person. The importance of English language has grown over the years and people now are inclined to speak better English. However, in the area of hard science, English does play an important role but it is not an important aspect.

The English language is now a common language used as a form of communication between countries. In special meetings like ASEAN SUMMIT, where people from different countries to discuss about pressing issues, English language is chosen as the common language despite the different tongues spoken in different counties. In the area of hard science, reports and research are usually presented in English. It is difficult to find a presentation between countries which is conducted in their mother tongue. In students’ lives, English is a medium of communication between people. This allows one another to understand easily and accurately so as to prevent miscommunication.

However, there are some instances when English is not important in students’ lives. In Singapore, the primary language is English. Thus, students are forced to learn English from young. However, in countries like Germany, schools teach students in German and taking up English language is optional. Research papers are done in their mother tongue and English was not the emphasis. In regional meetings, there are presence of  translators to help translate the speech so that both parties can understand each other and miscommunications are avoided. In the working society, people do not need to worry about not able to translate their ideas because people around them speak the same language. In research jobs, knowledge is more important instead of the language the report is presented. This is because in reports, very few words are used. Instead, diagrams and formulas are often used in place of words.

English language is important in some countries like Singapore but not so important in other countries. In areas like hard science, few words are used to represent ideas and communication is done via the way one is comfortable with. There is no restriction to one needing to use which language to communicate. Therefore, the English language is important in Singapore but may not be as important as in other countries.

Filed under: portfolio4  | | 3 Comments »

In the current generation that electricity is in high demand, there is a need for more to be supplied. Currently what is available is only power stations use fuel to generate electricity. With constant innovations, Generation IV reactors have become more favourable to generate electricity. Such generators run on cleaner resources and also use substances that were previously known as waste products to provide electricity. Not only so, the by-products produced by the reactors are also useful. One example is the (very high temperature reactor) VHTR which produces electricity via the burning of uranium oxide. It generates not only electricity but also hydrogen gas which can be used for other industrial purposes.

However, in one of the articles researched, it points out that the government is not putting its aim on the recycling and filtering off the harmful substances from leftovers fuels burnt in the reactor. Firms discouraged the action of reprocessing because they are afraid that these filtered products, which are potential materials for making weapons, may be stolen. In the article, it was claimed that if these are recycled, there could be more than 95% of the burnt fuels reused and recycled. The government has been actively promoting campaigns that will help to save the earth and the environment. Yet, it is neglecting one of the more major group which could play a role to help save the environment.

The government can promote recycling activities for the firms by providing more security to safeguard the recycled products. This promotes the firms to recycle the burnt products. Not only does this help to cut down the amount of waste, it also helps to save cost. It is easier for the government to come out with measures that could save the earth, and are within man’s control, rather than letting themselves waste resources when solutions could be implemented.

Filed under: portfolio3  | | 2 Comments »

I partly agree with this statement, in the  sense that cultural background has great influence on one’s definition and tolerance  of plagiarism, and other similar cheating activities in academia. A person from a country with long history of excellent culture surely knows inheritance and continuity are crucial to culture, and therefore has more tolerance of other’s borrowing his ideas, sometimes even without acknowledgement of him. It happens that someone, in order to let his opinions last long, fake his work as the work of some more famous guy.

however, that is before the western definition of plagiarism became popular in this country. Once she adopted the western science and technology, she had to adopt the westerners’ definition of plagiarism as well, as the two thing come from the same philosophy of doing research.  In another word, the definition and understanding of plagiarism comes naturally from the process of research and communication of research results.

Therefore, people may need not to worry too much about some academic misconduct of a person just entering the gate of science. As his time and experience of doing research increases, and his understanding of the spirit of science deepens, he will be aware that what is right and what is wrong in his academic activities.

that is my response to the topic. Comments are welcomed!

Filed under: portfolio4  | | 3 Comments »

Although the topic requires the writers to support it, during my research, I found some articles opposing widely use of nuclear power. Since I haven’t included these points in my Writing Assignment 2 essay, I want to state here.

First, when a country is dedicated to research on nuclear power, it is difficult to control it to limit the use only to daily application, not military.  This country is very likely to develop nuclear weapons, mostly secretly, as in case of North Korea, and some other countries.

The non-proliferation of nuclear weapons is a tough issue concerning the whole world. While we pursue the nuclear power for energy, we should be alert for secret development of nuclear weapons, which could destroy the world.

Second,  as the working temperature and pressure increases, the demand for the outer material also increases, which is now beyond current technology. While engineers try new materials, it should be pay special attention that the the system could break down due to the defect of the new materials being used.

therefore, engineers should make sure that the material is qualified and capable of working under that extreme condition, before they put them into real situation trial.

to sum up, there are still some safety concerns over nuclear power technology and its future. What I hope is that in not far future, say 2030, the real Generation 4 nuclear plant could be seen by the world.

Filed under: portfolio3  | | 3 Comments »

Albert Einstein’s mathematical equation about the nature of energy, E = MC2 is the original theory of nuclear power. However, we first use this kind of power to build the atomic bomb. It ‘s a pity that we human beings use technology to kill more people rather than use it to profit ourselves.

What have we got during these years in the research of nuclear power? Surely, nuclear power works as a substitute of fossil energy which has helped a lot easing the lack of fossil energy effectively.  From a recent research, there are more than four hundred nuclear power plants in the world which produces about 17% of total electricity. Nevertheless, we also got great damage in the using of nuclear power.  Chernobyl nuclear power plant used to be the proud of Soviet Union. The accident happened in 1986 was really a disaster. The whole area became a Nekropolis. It caused numerous losses not only in the loss of money but also in people’s spirits.

A fact that nuclear power is hard to be in peaceful use makes it easier to be made into a weapon. The first atom bomb was used in May, 1945; the first nuclear power plant was built in June, 1954.

Until now, there are also many conflicts about nuclear power in the world. The nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula is still being fiercely discussed. Nuclear power is so powerful. If we lose the control of nuclear power, the whole earth will be ruined. United States itself now owns more than 1700 Tactical nuclear warheads and 7200 Strategic nuclear warheads.

The peaceful use of nuclear power is and will be a tough question for many years.

Filed under: portfolio3  | | 2 Comments »

It also becomes difficult to develop an innovation. The development of laptop also bears a lot before its appearance.

The first laptop in the world was manufactured by Toshiba, a Japanese electronics company. Laptop led a campaign immediately, which also profited Toshiba a lot. However, Tetsuya Mizoguchi, the pioneer of laptop didn’t get any assists at first.

In 1983, while Mizoguchi was travelling to the United States, he envisioned a portable personal computer. At that time, computer was expensive which was impossible for individual worker to buy, and workers also had small space while they were working. The existence of laptops became a necessary.

Convincing the corporate leaders at Toshiba, but the company didn’t think it as a good idea. He didn’t get any help from his company. He went “underground” with his project. He diverted funds and shifted ten engineers from military project to design laptop. Finally, in 1985, Mizoguchi triumphantly developed his first laptop.

Mizoguchi paid a lot in his research; his spirits led him to success which also brings Toshiba a great chance to dominate market. He used to be a technical engineer in his company. However, he gave up a lot, devoted all he had in his research. If he failed, he would lose all he had. He was a genius and genius is also crazy. He was “A brilliant engineer, he was full of new ideas, not afraid of upsetting others, a hard driver of his team, and he never missed an opportunity, At the time, he appeared to be highly admired, but not loved, by his subordinates”(Abetti, 1997).

Filed under: portfolio2  | | 3 Comments »