One of the reasons why Chris managed to get back on his life is because he never gave up. In my opinion, this virtue of perseverance is one some people lack in their character. These people tend to give up easily whenever they meet an obstacle. As such they tend to frown on difficulties in life instead of embracing them as challenges. In good times, these people would have no problem. However when times become bad, these people may have some difficulties adapting to the new environment.
Friday, 30 October 2009
Movie Review
i had watched the movie titled, The Pursuit of Happyness. It is based on a true story in which a salesman named, Chris Gardner who invests the family savings in some medical product and end up financially broke. As such, his relationship with his wife, Linda, deteriorated. Eventually his wife leaves him and moves to New York where she has received a job in a pizza parlor. She wishes to take their son Christopher with her, but Chris refuses because they both know that Linda will be unable to take care of him. Without money or a wife, but totally committed to his son Christopher, Chris sees the chance to fight for a stockbroker internship position at Dean Witter, offering a more promising career at the end of a six month unpaid training period. There are nineteen other candidates for the one position. Meanwhile, he encounters many challenges and difficulties, including a period of homelessness and troubles with the IRS.
Wednesday, 28 October 2009
e-Portfolio 3: Movie Review
I've read somewhere that the topic for this week portfolio can be either stuff review or WA comment. I decided to take this space to write about a movie that I watched at the first time I came to SELF.
The movie title, which we all have heard about, is "The Ice Age". Some of my friends advised me not to go to learning centers (like SELF) to watch movies. I agree that reading articles and textbooks is good, but they should also ask themselves why there are such these movies at SELF. Besides the listening skill, movies could teach viewers some meaningful lessons.
"The Ice Age" tells a story about a young male mammoth and his friend, a sloth, who accidentally involved in a wicked plan of a tiger group. With his natural love, the sloth decided to keep the human baby after witnessing her mother's death. On the way returning the baby to her father, the two friends met a tiger who first worked for the tiger group but later helped the two. After all, they realised that the conflict between animals and humans is just a misapprehension, and that they were all in a common sense: happiness of being sympathetic... Going through the story, there's a lot of laughs, but lessons lie behind. Personally, I realised that not a first glance but long time contact will identify the person we are going along with. Perhaps we'll be able to recognize the real value of a person (a friend) in such a strange situation.
I planned to write more about the movie, but I'd better let interested people watch it by themselves. Sit back and enjoy during your free time!
The movie title, which we all have heard about, is "The Ice Age". Some of my friends advised me not to go to learning centers (like SELF) to watch movies. I agree that reading articles and textbooks is good, but they should also ask themselves why there are such these movies at SELF. Besides the listening skill, movies could teach viewers some meaningful lessons.
"The Ice Age" tells a story about a young male mammoth and his friend, a sloth, who accidentally involved in a wicked plan of a tiger group. With his natural love, the sloth decided to keep the human baby after witnessing her mother's death. On the way returning the baby to her father, the two friends met a tiger who first worked for the tiger group but later helped the two. After all, they realised that the conflict between animals and humans is just a misapprehension, and that they were all in a common sense: happiness of being sympathetic... Going through the story, there's a lot of laughs, but lessons lie behind. Personally, I realised that not a first glance but long time contact will identify the person we are going along with. Perhaps we'll be able to recognize the real value of a person (a friend) in such a strange situation.
I planned to write more about the movie, but I'd better let interested people watch it by themselves. Sit back and enjoy during your free time!
Thursday, 8 October 2009
WA 2: Understanding the questions
What concerns people most in choosing their own question may be their doubt about sufficient understanding about it. With the following quick share, hopefully, choosing one out of the three questions will be quite easier.
Question 1 is the shortest:
Choose a major engineering accident (“Psychology and design processes” lists some at the beginning of section two). Present an argument on whether the use of psychology as described in “Psychology and design processes” during the design process would have prevented the accident.
The article mentions many things, but they are not quite useful for this question. Instead of understanding the content of that very long article, it is useful to have a glance at its first and last sentences of each paragraph. It indicates that engineering accidents are also due to the lack of social interaction. From that point, it is obvious that psychology can help with preventing accidents. "What is the relation between psychology" and "How can it help lessen the risk?" are the two questions need to be answered.
Question 2 takes some first lines to approach the topic:
As noted in “Nuclear power’s new dawn,” the public is very concerned about the safe operation of nuclear reactors. Public opposition was given as one reason why few nuclear reactors have been built in the past few decades in many countries. With this concern in mind, choose one of the generation IV reactor concepts listed on page 239 of “Nuclear power’s new dawn” and present an argument to support further research and development funding for it. Remember to consider influential factors such as security, cost or performance when you summarize and rebut opposing views. You will need to include very recently published sources in your references.
Two important terms which need to keep in mind are "reactor concepts" and "support". The question asks for a decision and then a reason for making it. One who chooses this question can first make a comparison between those concepts regarding of safety (or security), cost, performance and public reaction factors. The opposed arguments should be stated first before rebutting with supportive views. The topic of this question is rather easy to catch up, but persuasive thesis and efficient facts should be carried out.
Question 3 needs more surveying work:
Choose a concept or prototype currently in research and development and not widely available in the market. Present an argument on how the design can be improved to enhance safety. Remember to consider influential factors such as cost or performance when you summarize and rebut opposing views. You will need to include very recently published sources in your references.
Looking for a prospective device or technology that hasn't been popular is the first step. More brainstorming is needed in this question. After getting the concept (or prototype), one can think about a suggestion for the design in order to make it safer. Interaction between that concept and humans is a good starting-point. In line with every supportive argumentis an opposing view. Paragraph can be organized in block pattern to discuss about safety and infuential factors.
Each question of the WA2 has its own topic but relates to each other in the way of writing an argumentative essay. Before the moment of decision, reading the questions again and again to understand them is much essential.
Question 1 is the shortest:
Choose a major engineering accident (“Psychology and design processes” lists some at the beginning of section two). Present an argument on whether the use of psychology as described in “Psychology and design processes” during the design process would have prevented the accident.
The article mentions many things, but they are not quite useful for this question. Instead of understanding the content of that very long article, it is useful to have a glance at its first and last sentences of each paragraph. It indicates that engineering accidents are also due to the lack of social interaction. From that point, it is obvious that psychology can help with preventing accidents. "What is the relation between psychology" and "How can it help lessen the risk?" are the two questions need to be answered.
Question 2 takes some first lines to approach the topic:
As noted in “Nuclear power’s new dawn,” the public is very concerned about the safe operation of nuclear reactors. Public opposition was given as one reason why few nuclear reactors have been built in the past few decades in many countries. With this concern in mind, choose one of the generation IV reactor concepts listed on page 239 of “Nuclear power’s new dawn” and present an argument to support further research and development funding for it. Remember to consider influential factors such as security, cost or performance when you summarize and rebut opposing views. You will need to include very recently published sources in your references.
Two important terms which need to keep in mind are "reactor concepts" and "support". The question asks for a decision and then a reason for making it. One who chooses this question can first make a comparison between those concepts regarding of safety (or security), cost, performance and public reaction factors. The opposed arguments should be stated first before rebutting with supportive views. The topic of this question is rather easy to catch up, but persuasive thesis and efficient facts should be carried out.
Question 3 needs more surveying work:
Choose a concept or prototype currently in research and development and not widely available in the market. Present an argument on how the design can be improved to enhance safety. Remember to consider influential factors such as cost or performance when you summarize and rebut opposing views. You will need to include very recently published sources in your references.
Looking for a prospective device or technology that hasn't been popular is the first step. More brainstorming is needed in this question. After getting the concept (or prototype), one can think about a suggestion for the design in order to make it safer. Interaction between that concept and humans is a good starting-point. In line with every supportive argumentis an opposing view. Paragraph can be organized in block pattern to discuss about safety and infuential factors.
Each question of the WA2 has its own topic but relates to each other in the way of writing an argumentative essay. Before the moment of decision, reading the questions again and again to understand them is much essential.
WA1
It is true that we need to be more creative especially in today's modern context where we face complex issues like climate change. Usually such problems require great ingenuity and often need the integration of different disciplines. For example, tackling the problem of climate change requires engineers to design new technology to deal with greenhouse gases, environmentalists and politicians to campaign for clean technology, cooperation of venture capitalist and business counterpart to capitalize on green technology and the general public to be more efficient in the usage energy. This underlines the fact that problems cannot be viewed from one perceptive alone.
Hence engineers need to inculcate the virtue of anticipating possible problems before embarking on a project. In fact being ignorant of other problems may actually spell disaster for an engineering project. For instance, one of the main reasons why the causalities of Titanic is high was due to the fact that there were insufficient life boats around. Without sufficient preparation, any project is likely to fail. After all, people who fail to plan, plan to fail.
Wednesday, 7 October 2009
WA 1 reflection
The topic for WA1 was the two problems faced by the engineers in our home country. While I was doing research, i found out that there are actually many obstacles that greatly hinder the engineering design and processes. In China, for example, besides the rigid education system and the lack of a centralised authority, there are also problems like corruption and lack of suitable equipment and materials. Thus, there are actually many more challenges in the process of engineering design.
I also realised that in different countries, there are different major problems. one of the common problems is the education system which does not promote creativity, whether in China or Singapore. I think this is because the education systems in the eastern countries are different from that in the western countries. we can see that in the 20th century, the world's technological advancements were dominated by the European and the American countries. and thus the education system in a country plays a significant role in mouldling the future generations.
another common problem is the lack of fund. in many countries, it is very difficult to raise enough fund to start a project. most of the time, a project may easily take up to millions of dollars. thus, sometimes, a project may be either aborted or stopped half way due to the lack of fund.
all in all, engineering design processes in different countries may face various problems which cannot be easily solved.
I also realised that in different countries, there are different major problems. one of the common problems is the education system which does not promote creativity, whether in China or Singapore. I think this is because the education systems in the eastern countries are different from that in the western countries. we can see that in the 20th century, the world's technological advancements were dominated by the European and the American countries. and thus the education system in a country plays a significant role in mouldling the future generations.
another common problem is the lack of fund. in many countries, it is very difficult to raise enough fund to start a project. most of the time, a project may easily take up to millions of dollars. thus, sometimes, a project may be either aborted or stopped half way due to the lack of fund.
all in all, engineering design processes in different countries may face various problems which cannot be easily solved.
Monday, 5 October 2009
Syeed Khandani's Engineering Design Process, Revisited
In the article Engineering Design Process, Khandani states that the five major processes are: "defining the problem", "gathering information", "generating multiple solutions", "analyze and select a solution", and finally "analyzing and implementing the solution". He asserts that every process for innovation bank on these five factors.
In the first writing assignment, we have looked at how some problems in our home country may significantly hamper Engineering Design Process for innovations. We focused primarily on these five processes, and listed how domestic limitations may affect each of these stages from being fully realized (i.e. put into action).
But before we go on, we need to holistically consider whether true engineering can actually be reduced into such an idealistic statement.
We know that true engineering is practised. While the above five statements may conceptualize the major hurdles to overcome during the process, these statements do not fully reflect the full process of engineering design. In reality, most engineers are actually plauged by another series of much pettier problems during the design process. Examples of which include deadlines, funding, collaboration (failure), profits and personal interest. These problems are usually social, economic and psychological in nature, yet they too do greatly contribute to the engineering design process.
In the guest presentation given 28th August 2009, one of the presenters stated that engineering is not 'all between man and machine'. Rather, our present engineering success was built out of a tension of 'contingency and compromise' from the past. Compromise not only between man and truth (technological knowledge advancement), but also between man and himself (psychology), man and society, man and ethics, and ultimately man and his ideals.
There is a saying that "should man truly wish to improve his current deposition (either technologically via engineering or spiritually via metaphysical enlightenment), the three primary areas to work on shoild be in the domains of Truth, Goodness and Beauty.". Indeed, while we strive twards a greater knowledge of the objective truth and towards the beauty of the improved life, we cannot compromise Goodness (ethics, especially in the field of bioengineering) for aesthetics. Neither can we disregard our needs for survival (wages), nor the true aims of engineering for our fellow men.
Engineering, as I believe, is more than just another set of skills to master or understand. And while the above five processes do justify the main concerns of engineering, we still have to bear in mind that such concerns are not exhaustive. To the technicalities of engineering must be added the philosophy, and the implications of engineering. Then can we holistically realize engineering as it truly is.
In the first writing assignment, we have looked at how some problems in our home country may significantly hamper Engineering Design Process for innovations. We focused primarily on these five processes, and listed how domestic limitations may affect each of these stages from being fully realized (i.e. put into action).
But before we go on, we need to holistically consider whether true engineering can actually be reduced into such an idealistic statement.
We know that true engineering is practised. While the above five statements may conceptualize the major hurdles to overcome during the process, these statements do not fully reflect the full process of engineering design. In reality, most engineers are actually plauged by another series of much pettier problems during the design process. Examples of which include deadlines, funding, collaboration (failure), profits and personal interest. These problems are usually social, economic and psychological in nature, yet they too do greatly contribute to the engineering design process.
In the guest presentation given 28th August 2009, one of the presenters stated that engineering is not 'all between man and machine'. Rather, our present engineering success was built out of a tension of 'contingency and compromise' from the past. Compromise not only between man and truth (technological knowledge advancement), but also between man and himself (psychology), man and society, man and ethics, and ultimately man and his ideals.
There is a saying that "should man truly wish to improve his current deposition (either technologically via engineering or spiritually via metaphysical enlightenment), the three primary areas to work on shoild be in the domains of Truth, Goodness and Beauty.". Indeed, while we strive twards a greater knowledge of the objective truth and towards the beauty of the improved life, we cannot compromise Goodness (ethics, especially in the field of bioengineering) for aesthetics. Neither can we disregard our needs for survival (wages), nor the true aims of engineering for our fellow men.
Engineering, as I believe, is more than just another set of skills to master or understand. And while the above five processes do justify the main concerns of engineering, we still have to bear in mind that such concerns are not exhaustive. To the technicalities of engineering must be added the philosophy, and the implications of engineering. Then can we holistically realize engineering as it truly is.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)