1.
Instead of assigning different roles of perspective and look at the issues from different point of view, they split up the question into little parts and have each speaker talk about the definition and their perspective.
correction:
Instead of assigning different roles of perspective and looking at the issues from different point of view, they split up the question into little parts and have each speaker talk about the definition and their perspective.
explanation:
parallel structures.
The verb behind "and" should have same form as the one in front.
2.
In the other hand, X opposed that hybrid car is a expensive, inconvenient and unmodified car.
correction:
On the other hand, X opposed that hybrid car is an expensive, inconvenient and unmodified car.
explanation:
article/preposition
There is a singular generic noun with an adjective starting with a vowel behind the article.
Therefore, "an " should be used instead of "a", unless the adjective starts with a consonant.
3.
Besides, GM foods can increase crop productivity due to its resistance in pest and viruses.
correction:
Besides, GM foods can increase crop productivity due to their resistance in pest and viruses.
explanation;
pronoun reference.
"their" should be used since here it refers to the "foods" which is a plural noun.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Sunday, March 8, 2009
e-portfolio 5
I decide to write my e-portfolio 5 based on Arisga's group roundtable discussion.
This group did the topic of genetically modified food(GM food). It usually refers to foods like crop plants and fruits which are modified by using latest genetic technology. They are different from their congener ones in terms of taste, figure, nutrition contained and other characteristics. One of the main rationales behind GM food is to increase production. Besides, the modifications make plants less vulnerable to tough environment such as drought. Common opinion is that problem of starvation in certain third world countries can then be mitigated by this technology.
Evi then mentioned that GM food is not proved to be safe to humans. Therefore, it is not a proper way of feeding people from third world countries with GM food.
However, another group member, Payoga( if I am not wrong) believed that safety of GM food is not the main problem for those hungry people. They will die due to lack of food. In contrast, GM food can make them survive. It is worthy to take the risk since life is more precious. On the other hand, people form developing countries like America and European nations need to concern about this safety problem since they are the majority in potential GM food consuming group. They most probably can afford and want to buy the GM food.
Another argument against GM food which was risen by Yam( perhaps) is that the genetically modification done on the food may in the long turn may cause certain harmful or unexpected mutation. Furthermore, plants like superweed which has specific resistance to insects are likely to result in environment unbalance. Food chain may be damaged due to the decrease number of these insects.
Moreover, points such as incomplete regulation of GM food labeling and potential rivalry between the new coming GM plants and traditional agricultural crops were also mentioned during the discussion.
At last, they believed that GM food indeed is worth waiting even though at this moment there are several problems present.
This group did the topic of genetically modified food(GM food). It usually refers to foods like crop plants and fruits which are modified by using latest genetic technology. They are different from their congener ones in terms of taste, figure, nutrition contained and other characteristics. One of the main rationales behind GM food is to increase production. Besides, the modifications make plants less vulnerable to tough environment such as drought. Common opinion is that problem of starvation in certain third world countries can then be mitigated by this technology.
Evi then mentioned that GM food is not proved to be safe to humans. Therefore, it is not a proper way of feeding people from third world countries with GM food.
However, another group member, Payoga( if I am not wrong) believed that safety of GM food is not the main problem for those hungry people. They will die due to lack of food. In contrast, GM food can make them survive. It is worthy to take the risk since life is more precious. On the other hand, people form developing countries like America and European nations need to concern about this safety problem since they are the majority in potential GM food consuming group. They most probably can afford and want to buy the GM food.
Another argument against GM food which was risen by Yam( perhaps) is that the genetically modification done on the food may in the long turn may cause certain harmful or unexpected mutation. Furthermore, plants like superweed which has specific resistance to insects are likely to result in environment unbalance. Food chain may be damaged due to the decrease number of these insects.
Moreover, points such as incomplete regulation of GM food labeling and potential rivalry between the new coming GM plants and traditional agricultural crops were also mentioned during the discussion.
At last, they believed that GM food indeed is worth waiting even though at this moment there are several problems present.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Roundtable discussion preparation
In order to prepare for our roundtable discussion next week, I read two articles from TIME (OCTOBER 29, 2007). One is Tulsi Tanti by Aryn Baker and another one is Shi Zhengrong byMartin Green.
In the first article, the author tells the Tulsi Tanti's successful story about wind power. He at first ran a textile company. However, due to the rising cost of electricity, his company started to suffer from a lost. Finally, he decided to generate electricity his own by using wind turbines, devices which are able to convert wind power into electricity. Wind power actually saved his first factory. After that, Tanti sold off all his textile manufacturing and start a new business on wind-turbine generators. Wind power has made him a billionaire and now he want to save the world by promoting this environment-friendly energy.
The second article is roughly another version of the story mentioned above. However, this time the leading actor, Mr. Zhang benefited from sunshine instead of wind. He started as a scholar who did solar-cell research. Then he launched his own solar-cell company. In the end he has become one of the Australia's richest citizens.
Our coming roundtable discussion is basically about alternative energy. Therefore, these two articles are indeed relevant and useful for us. Wind power and solar energy are two kinds of alternative energy which are very commonly mentioned. In today's world, policy makers tend to put environment problems aside because of economic pressure. In other words, most of environment-friendly methods are non-profitable if not, hardly profitable. Therefore, they do not deserve a large amount of investments in most of policy makers' opinions. However, Zhang and Tanti's successful stories are very convincing examples to show that making use of alternative energy is manageable, and profitable.
Furthermore, Zhang and Tanti are both so called environment heroes. They did remarkable contribution in saving our earth by promoting green energy. However, they actually are private entrepreneurs. Besides, they both started as small companies and achieved significant success in the end. Their stories show that promoting clean energy is not only government's concern. Individuals do have the ability of contributing to it and doing it well.Therefore, people should not only rely on the government to save the environment but start to make actions themselves instead.
Vacabulary
fledgling ---young, new, or inexperienced.
preach ---to give earnest advice.
lush ---characterized by luxuriant vegetation.
forsake ---to give up; abandon.
unrelenting ---maintaining speed, effort, vigor, intensity, rate of advance.
trailblaze ---to be a pioneer in.
In the first article, the author tells the Tulsi Tanti's successful story about wind power. He at first ran a textile company. However, due to the rising cost of electricity, his company started to suffer from a lost. Finally, he decided to generate electricity his own by using wind turbines, devices which are able to convert wind power into electricity. Wind power actually saved his first factory. After that, Tanti sold off all his textile manufacturing and start a new business on wind-turbine generators. Wind power has made him a billionaire and now he want to save the world by promoting this environment-friendly energy.
The second article is roughly another version of the story mentioned above. However, this time the leading actor, Mr. Zhang benefited from sunshine instead of wind. He started as a scholar who did solar-cell research. Then he launched his own solar-cell company. In the end he has become one of the Australia's richest citizens.
Our coming roundtable discussion is basically about alternative energy. Therefore, these two articles are indeed relevant and useful for us. Wind power and solar energy are two kinds of alternative energy which are very commonly mentioned. In today's world, policy makers tend to put environment problems aside because of economic pressure. In other words, most of environment-friendly methods are non-profitable if not, hardly profitable. Therefore, they do not deserve a large amount of investments in most of policy makers' opinions. However, Zhang and Tanti's successful stories are very convincing examples to show that making use of alternative energy is manageable, and profitable.
Furthermore, Zhang and Tanti are both so called environment heroes. They did remarkable contribution in saving our earth by promoting green energy. However, they actually are private entrepreneurs. Besides, they both started as small companies and achieved significant success in the end. Their stories show that promoting clean energy is not only government's concern. Individuals do have the ability of contributing to it and doing it well.Therefore, people should not only rely on the government to save the environment but start to make actions themselves instead.
Vacabulary
fledgling ---young, new, or inexperienced.
preach ---to give earnest advice.
lush ---characterized by luxuriant vegetation.
forsake ---to give up; abandon.
unrelenting ---maintaining speed, effort, vigor, intensity, rate of advance.
trailblaze ---to be a pioneer in.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
some words about the lecture on 30 Jan
On 30 January,three professors, Mr Palmer, Mr Benjamin and Mr Bala each gave a presentation related with global warming, a hot topic which had been discussed over the years. The first speaker,Mr Palmer had briefly introduced greenhouse gases,global warming and the link between each other before rising up a very interesting idea---capture and storage of carbon dioxide. This idea sounds attractive because that instead of nagging about how to cut down the emission of carbon dioxide,cutting edge technology now is used to store carbon dioxide deep in the earth or seas.However, even though this method is technological feasible, it is difficult to be adopted at this stage due to factors like its low economic return. Moreover,due to this current economic crisis,policy makers most likely would choose to put environment problem aside.
The second speaker,Mr Benjamin, indeed looked deeper into the problem which had been risen up by Mr Palmer at his later part of presentation.In other words, he explained more why accepting or adopting a new technology or product is a complicated social problem rather than simply a technological one.He used two main detailed examples to elaborate his idea,namely, electric motor car and wind turbine. There were political reasons, for instance,popularization of a new technology may go against certain interests of a nation. In cultural and behavioural aspects, adoption of a new product may force people to change their habits. Besides, intensive competitions and unsuccessful marketing plans, such as unattractive advertisements or insufficient information, may cause a new product failing to be introduced to market. Therefore,rejection of new items is because of the whole social system.
The last presentation, which to me was not as beneficial and interesting as the previous two, was given by Mr Bala. It addressed the issue of global warming more directly. His speech covered the causes, consequences and several possible solution to global warming. However,most of his points had been mentioned again and again in newspaper, articles and educational films in recent years.As a result,it became a little boring towards the end of this presentation. This is not helped by the fact that he was the last speaker and audiences were beginning to get tired, and hungry as well.
At last,the two hours are generally meaningful to me. However, it can be better by rearranging the order of the three presentations. Mr Bala's one, which introduced global warming comprehensively,should be put at the beginning. "Carbon dioxide capture and storage" then comes in to bring the audiences a relatively new and interesting solution towards the problem.
In the end, Mr Benjamin could use his " social science system approach" to tell us why all the new ideas, which sounded manageable, are only technological feasible.
The second speaker,Mr Benjamin, indeed looked deeper into the problem which had been risen up by Mr Palmer at his later part of presentation.In other words, he explained more why accepting or adopting a new technology or product is a complicated social problem rather than simply a technological one.He used two main detailed examples to elaborate his idea,namely, electric motor car and wind turbine. There were political reasons, for instance,popularization of a new technology may go against certain interests of a nation. In cultural and behavioural aspects, adoption of a new product may force people to change their habits. Besides, intensive competitions and unsuccessful marketing plans, such as unattractive advertisements or insufficient information, may cause a new product failing to be introduced to market. Therefore,rejection of new items is because of the whole social system.
The last presentation, which to me was not as beneficial and interesting as the previous two, was given by Mr Bala. It addressed the issue of global warming more directly. His speech covered the causes, consequences and several possible solution to global warming. However,most of his points had been mentioned again and again in newspaper, articles and educational films in recent years.As a result,it became a little boring towards the end of this presentation. This is not helped by the fact that he was the last speaker and audiences were beginning to get tired, and hungry as well.
At last,the two hours are generally meaningful to me. However, it can be better by rearranging the order of the three presentations. Mr Bala's one, which introduced global warming comprehensively,should be put at the beginning. "Carbon dioxide capture and storage" then comes in to bring the audiences a relatively new and interesting solution towards the problem.
In the end, Mr Benjamin could use his " social science system approach" to tell us why all the new ideas, which sounded manageable, are only technological feasible.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
an inconvenient truth review
Global warming has been a hot topic in recent years. It did keeps changing the climate and our living environment over the years. Singapore, due to her low-lying islands, global warming is an more important issue for it. The rise in sea level reduces the coastal land size and floods the densely built-up financial hub. Opening of the Arctic sea route,owing to the melting ice caps,would hence directly affect Singapore strategic location as a regional trans-shipment center.Therefore,it is necessary for the government to come out with certain policies to deal with the problem.
Private vehicle owners are taxed heavily by the government. Vehicles which consume fossil fuel emit carbon dioxide, which is one of the greenhouse gases causing global warming. By implementing the heavy tax, Singapore citizens are discouraged to purchase or use their private cars. Instead, they may consider public transportation,such as public bus or train, as an better choice.In this way,there would be less vehicles on service with the same amount of people traveled.Less carbon dioxide will be emitted.
Furthermore,this is help by existing well-established transportation network on the island.Indeed,almost every corner in Singapore can be easily assessed simply by bus and train.
Indeed, Singapore is putting efforts consistently in its public transport system. For example, a new series of MRT stations will start to function in one or two years time. Moreover, more and more bus stops are equipped with screens telling passenger about bus arriving time. Nowadays , public transport is increasingly welcome by people as it is becoming more and more efficient.
On the other hand, one bus or train is able to serve much more passenger compared to a personal car. Hence, there can be less vehicles on roads at the same time. Congestion would be cut down, as well as the waiting time on roads and carbon dioxide emission. Therefore, the government are controlling the emission of carbon dioxide by controlling the usage of private vehicles.
Private vehicle owners are taxed heavily by the government. Vehicles which consume fossil fuel emit carbon dioxide, which is one of the greenhouse gases causing global warming. By implementing the heavy tax, Singapore citizens are discouraged to purchase or use their private cars. Instead, they may consider public transportation,such as public bus or train, as an better choice.In this way,there would be less vehicles on service with the same amount of people traveled.Less carbon dioxide will be emitted.
Furthermore,this is help by existing well-established transportation network on the island.Indeed,almost every corner in Singapore can be easily assessed simply by bus and train.
Indeed, Singapore is putting efforts consistently in its public transport system. For example, a new series of MRT stations will start to function in one or two years time. Moreover, more and more bus stops are equipped with screens telling passenger about bus arriving time. Nowadays , public transport is increasingly welcome by people as it is becoming more and more efficient.
On the other hand, one bus or train is able to serve much more passenger compared to a personal car. Hence, there can be less vehicles on roads at the same time. Congestion would be cut down, as well as the waiting time on roads and carbon dioxide emission. Therefore, the government are controlling the emission of carbon dioxide by controlling the usage of private vehicles.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
post 1
Before reading Prof. Ramakrishna's article, I used to think that engineers are groups of people whom specialize in manufacturing and designing electric and mechanical goods. However, Prof. Ramakrishana's article indeed inspires me of many things which an engineer is able to do. In this passage, I am going to emphasize on how engineer analyze complex information and finally, coming up with an appropriate approach.
Engineering tertiary education today largely focus on problem-solving area.In university, besides simply showing the understanding of academic knowledge during examinations, engineering students now are required to extract out the useful information from a long test question, analyze them, and in the end, obtain the correct answer by applying the corresponding knowledge. For instance, as a first year engineering student who currently is studying in NUS, I do expect to see a page-long passage as my weekly programing laboratory question instead of a straight forward question with several lines of rules and request. According to our lecturer, the department of engineering from NUS are more willingly to see problem-solving questions. In brief, the schools are actually put more emphasis on teaching their engineering students how to hand information and design solution. Therefore,it is no doubt that engineers are able to do well since they were trained to do so at early stages.
Moreover, not only mastering those academic knowledge, engineers are also required or encouraged to learn other skills such as programming and marketing during their university period. Therefore, when facing problem with complex information, engineers can collect and sort the data with the help of computer. On the other hand, the statistic knowledge, which most probably they had learn during the university studies, can help them to arrange and analyze the information. Since the analyzing job is done by engineers themselves in a professional view, the result would be more familiar to handle, and more easy to use. Then the only work left over would be applying the specific knowledge and come up with a systematic approach. Then the problem finally comes to a stage which most of engineers are expert at.
Engineering tertiary education today largely focus on problem-solving area.In university, besides simply showing the understanding of academic knowledge during examinations, engineering students now are required to extract out the useful information from a long test question, analyze them, and in the end, obtain the correct answer by applying the corresponding knowledge. For instance, as a first year engineering student who currently is studying in NUS, I do expect to see a page-long passage as my weekly programing laboratory question instead of a straight forward question with several lines of rules and request. According to our lecturer, the department of engineering from NUS are more willingly to see problem-solving questions. In brief, the schools are actually put more emphasis on teaching their engineering students how to hand information and design solution. Therefore,it is no doubt that engineers are able to do well since they were trained to do so at early stages.
Moreover, not only mastering those academic knowledge, engineers are also required or encouraged to learn other skills such as programming and marketing during their university period. Therefore, when facing problem with complex information, engineers can collect and sort the data with the help of computer. On the other hand, the statistic knowledge, which most probably they had learn during the university studies, can help them to arrange and analyze the information. Since the analyzing job is done by engineers themselves in a professional view, the result would be more familiar to handle, and more easy to use. Then the only work left over would be applying the specific knowledge and come up with a systematic approach. Then the problem finally comes to a stage which most of engineers are expert at.
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