Portfolio Task 5

Describe the positive and negative effects of brain mapping could have on society. Imagine you are a researcher (of any topic, brain mapping or otherwise). How would you predict and minimize potential unethical abuses of your work?

Brain mapping has both a positive and negative effects on society. Brain mapping could lead to better understanding of mental conditions such as autism as well as mental disorders such as paranoid schizophrenia. Thus, brain mapping has a positive effect on the mental health of people. The application of brain mapping in the area of criminal investigation could also be a positive effect. Using brain mapping technology could aid the police in distinguishing whether a suspect is innocent or guilty. In addition, they can use this technology to apprehend criminals faster as details of the crime scene can be obtained easily from the suspect. Ethical issues are one of the negative effects of brain mapping. The error rate of brain mapping technology is very high. This is because brain mapping technologies is currently in the development stage. Thus, important people in society such as judges might make unjustified decisions if they solely rely on brain mapping technologies. Another ethical issue is the employment of employees through the mandatory use of brain mapping. If used, brain mapping could create a misconception among employers. They could become more dependent on brain mapping technology to employ people. The last ethical issue is the abusing of brain mapping technology for criminal purposes. Criminals might try to gain unauthorised access to other people’s data and commit criminal acts such as illegally withdrawing money from the bank accounts of other people.

There are a few ways to predict and minimize potential unethical abuses of my work if I were a researcher on brain mapping. First, I would ensure that the data of my clients are encrypted and password protected in the server database. This is to prevent other people from gaining unauthorised access to these data. Next, to prevent hackers from hacking into the database, I would hire information technology experts (IT) to ensure that our server has the most up to date antivirus software as well as a sophisticated security system. Finally, the research facility I am working in must have strict security measures in place such as armed security guards. This is to prevent any unauthorised entry into the research facility.

Portfolio Task 4: Difficulties I have Writing in my Engineering Classes

The problems I have during the writing process occur during the planning stage. This problem is related to the content of my essay. In the planning stage, I tend to have problems generating ideas. I spend quite a considerable amount of time trying to list down the points that is relevant to the essay question. Even after I have listed down all the points, I need to spend some time linking and organising the points together to ensure that I do not stray away from the essay question. This pre-writing process worries me because in the examinations, I cannot afford to waste too much time in planning my essay. In order to overcome these problems, I will probably need to underline relevant keywords in the essay question. The underlining of the keywords allows me to understand better and keep in mind of what the essay question is asking. This would also allow me to generate ideas related to the topic of the essay question without being out of point. Perhaps during the planning process, I should change the method in which I plan my essay. The most preferred method for me is listing. However, I discovered that listing has a major disadvantage. It is not an effective method in helping me visualising the order or sequence of my essay. Listing is merely just writing down whatever ideas that I can think of at that point of time. As a result, after I have sufficient points for my essay, these points listed are all disorganised and extra time is needed to sort out the points in a logical sequence. Therefore, I should switch to mind mapping instead as it is a much more organised way of planning essays. Mind mapping is a more efficient method in helping me plan my essay in the shortest time possible.

Portfolio Task 3: Summary

Providing Clean Access To Clean Water

Many parts of the world today experience the lack of potable water. The numerous deaths in the world are partly caused by the shortage of clean water. People that are living in countries with inadequate access to water as well as lacking proper poor hygiene suffer from poor health. Water is located everywhere, but the distribution of water worldwide is not the same for every country. Political, economic and environmental issues prevent countries from accessing clean water. Personal water consumption accounts for a small percentage of total water use while the rest of it is used for agricultural and industry. Engineers play an important role in developing more sophisticated methods to meet the demands of adequate water supply. The method of channelling water to places lack of water does not fully solve the water problem. Desalination involves extracting salt from seawater. Desalination technology is used in many countries. Desalination plants are costly and consumes huge amount of energy. New technologies that are cheaper and less energy-consuming might be needed to solve the world’s water problems. Developing policies to reduce water usage is a different approach to the water problem. Water demand is reduced through the use of improved technologies to maximize the efficiency of using water. Water loss in urban areas is a major problem. A preferred method to improve water availability and safety is the use of small decentralized distillation units. Providing inexpensive water supply to rural and poor regions is one of the main concerns. The approaches mentioned will aid in the problem of unfair distribution of water resources. The income gap between the rich and poor causes an uneven distribution of water resources. Technological solutions must be put in place within systems to recognise and address these inequities.

Reference

National Academy of Engineering. ( n.d.). Providing clean access to water. Retrieved October 2, 2008, from

http://www.engineeringchallenges.org/cms/8996/9142.aspx

Writing Assignment 1: Reasons Why People Resist Technology

One of the reasons people resist new technology is the negative mindset of the general public, particularly caused by ignorance. An example of the application of new technology is the information technology (IT) sector. Within this sector, technology is advancing so rapidly that people who are not IT-savvy are generally not able to keep up with the latest technology. IT consumers have the freedom to choose whether they want to keep up with the latest technology. Unlike IT professionals, it is not necessary for consumers to be equipped with an extensive knowledge of the most recent technology. Indeed, there are simply too many types of new technologies in the IT industry to grasp. As a result, the lack of interest hinders consumers from keeping up with new technology. It is because of the difficulty and lack of interest in keeping up with new technology that consumers become ignorant about new technology. How interested the consumers are in new technology also depends on their educational background and knowledge of IT. Those who are not well versed in or have not studied IT before tend to become ignorant of the latest in technological development, as they regard IT as something alien to them. There are also consumers who firmly believe that they do not need new technology in their daily lives. They believe that using older technology is enough to meet their needs. For example, last year, Microsoft introduced their new operating system, Windows Vista. However, Windows XP users remain ignorant of Windows Vista’s features and therefore resist Windows Vista. They believe that they are more comfortable with using Windows XP instead of Windows Vista. The features of Vista might be too complicated or impractical for consumers. This example shows how people feel more comfortable and familiar with older technology. In conclusion, the negative mindset of people makes them resist new technology.

Portfolio Task 2: Identify 1 of your common grammar mistakes and explain how the grammatical structure should be used

One of the most common grammar mistakes I commit is the use of prepositions. Prepositions are used in sentences to describe relationship between other words. The general categories of words commonly used together with prepositions are time, location, objects and events. It is difficult to use the correct preposition all the time as most of the prepositions can be used with specific words or sentences. For example, the word “proud” can only be used with the preposition “of”. However, words such as “hope” can be used with more than one preposition such as “for” and “in”. If the incorrect preposition is used, the meaning of the word or sentence might change and this might cause the readers to misinterpret what you are trying to portray. It also makes you’re the ideas in the sentences appear illogical. I tend to get mixed up with what preposition to use in a particular sentence. The incorrect preposition used may sometimes appear correct to me as I am accustomed to my way of using it. This is usually when I want to relate people with location, objects and events or objects with location. In the writing assignment, the usage of the preposition “on” is wrong in the following sentence: “develop a keen interest on IT”. Instead, the corrected sentence should be “keen interest in IT”. I also tend to use preposition unnecessary. This is because I have the bad habit of using unnecessary preposition in my daily speech. Hence, it influences the way I write my essay. One common example would be “I am meeting up with her later”. Instead, it should just be “I am meeting her later”. From preposition exercise I had attempted, I found out that if I did not fully understand what the sentence meant, I would use the wrong preposition. This is especially true for long sentences that use multiple prepositions such as questions 1 and 3 in the preposition exercise. The exercise I have done below helps me to correct as well as to reinforce my understanding of using prepositions correctly.

The preposition exercise I did below was retrieved from the following internet address:

http://www.lrc.centennialcollege.ca/tutorserv/English/Worksheets/Preposition%20Exercise2.htm

Preposition Exercise

1. In order to get school, I have to drive the shopping mall that is located the corner Dundas and McQuay.

2. I was leaning the car when it started to move.

3. The train is leaving Toronto 6:30 and is going east Oshawa.

4. My car is parked a motorcycle and a van.

5. The banana is the fruit bowl that is the counter.

6. I found my earring the dirty clothes laying the washer.

7. The drinking glasses are stored the plates in the cupboard.

8. The dog jumped the car when he realized his owner was leaving.

9. The hospital is the corner from the high school.

10. The child hid the couch a game of hide-and-seek.

11. The child sat Santa Clause knee.

Answer Key

1. to, past, at, of
2. against/on
3. from, at, past/through, toward
4. between
5. inside, on
6. among/beside/near/in, by/on
7. above/below
8. into
9. around
10. behind/beside, during
11. on

Portfolio Task 1

Engineers of today play a very important role in modern civilization. The problems faced by today’s world require the expertise and knowledge of engineers. As a result, engineers are challenged to overcome these problems. The problem that challenges engineers the most would be the long term sustainability of energy.

Energy is what drives the world. As we all know, oil, which is derived from fossil fuel, is a non-renewable energy source. Oil is the primary source of energy in the entire world. As people become more affluent and countries becoming more developed and industrialised, the demand for oil has increased greatly over the past few years.

Recently, countries all over the world are plagued with the problem of rising oil cost. The rising demand for oil has caused oil suppliers all over the world to increase the price of crude oil. Consumers have to find various means of coping with this phenomenon, such as using alternative fuel. There are those that vent their dissatisfaction with rising oil cost on by rioting on the streets. From the current global situation, one can see that the sustainability of affordable energy as an essential factor in promoting peace and stability among people in a country as well as desirable economic growth.

The increased usage of oil has led to increased levels of pollution. Air quality tests conducted by environmental firms indicate that the amount of carbon dioxide and other harmful gases emitted to the atmosphere have increased over the years. This in turn contributed to global warming. The effects of global warming have a negative impact on the health of many people around the world.

In conclusion, engineers will continue to play an important role in the aspect of sustainability of energy. With projected increase in oil consumption many years ahead, one cannot predict when fossil fuels will eventually run out. No one will also be able to tell what impact of the current oil crisis will have on the global economy. Thus, this will be the challenge of the 21^st century where engineers step in and contribute new ideas and clean technology to solve the current environmental and economic problems to ease the heavy reliance on fossil fuels. Instead, the focus should be on the reliance of alternative fuel sources to overcome the long term issue on the sustainability of energy.