My improvement in writing skills

Writing is the way by which a person can express his thoughts to others. At university the language plays an important role in every student’s life, and every student is expected to have good writing skills to be on par with the university’s standard. A good command over English writing skills are important for making thesis and other report writings.

The main writing difficulty that I have faced in the university is in the organisation of a report or an essay. This has been a major issue for me since secondary school. It was noticed that most of the essays I wrote in the past had a poor introduction, an inappropriate body and conclusion. Even in the writing assignment 1, my conclusion was not at all related with the main topics. However, learning the EG1471 module has helped me in getting accustomed to writing and has learnt new concepts like idea generation, outlining and writing different drafts before I write and publish the main essay. This different process involved in writing essay has also helped in noticing the common errors that I make while writing essay.

Another major issue is the grammar mistakes that I make in the essays. Although the common grammar errors are easy to understand and avoid, there are some grey areas in the English language where I continuously made mistakes upon. These errors in writing made the readers unclear of the idea that I have tried to express. But being a part of the university and the good practice in writing assignments as well as other blogs has helped to gain a good control over the use of words and to rectify the common errors that I used to make. Many grammar exercises were done in classes and out of them. This regular practice has helped to understand the common errors that I make in English and helped to be aware of the mistakes while I write essays.

While taking the English module, I have read many articles by renowned authors and understood how information regarding engineering practices was presented in their works. My writing skills were improved and I have become confident in the work I do while writing in English. Moreover, I will continue to work on sharpening my use of English language, since it is the only language that is regarded as a global language.

My common grammatical errors

Mark Twain once said, “Ignorant people think it is the noise which fighting cats make that is so aggravating, but it isn’t so; it is the sickening grammar that they use.” Grammar is the foundation of all English writing and communication. I have noticed that there are three different kinds of grammar mistakes that I make. They are the usage of modals, pronoun reference and articles.

Modals

One of the errors that I tend to make is in modals. They are used commonly to express ability, degrees of possibilities, advisability, or necessity or lack of necessity. They are mostly accompanied by other verbs. The most common error that I make is the improper usage of verb form after the modals. It is required that a modal should be followed by the base form of the verb.

Incorrect: John could heard the bell

Correct: John could hear the bell

The second error that I usually make is the improper usage of infinitive along with the modals.

Incorrect: You must not to use that pencil

Correct: You must not use that pencil

Articles

Articles are used only with certain categories of proper nouns. They consist of the nonspecific articles (a/an) and specific article (the). Among these articles the one which I misuse the most is the usage of ‘the’. ‘The’ is used when something is specified properly. The example below gives a better explanation of the errors that I tend to make in articles.

Incorrect: People who own the laptops say that they can save a lot of time.

Correct: People own laptops say that they can save a lot of time.

Prepositions

The final and the most common error that I make is the usage of prepositions. Prepositions are used to link the nouns, pronouns and phrases to other parts in a sentence. They indicate temporal, spatial or logical relationship of its object to the rest of the sentence. Prepositional phrases are built with a preposition followed by a pronoun or noun. The usage of different prepositions are ambiguous and the common examples of prepositional errors are the following.

Incorrect: The dog is hiding in the porch because it knows it will be punished.

Correct: The dog is hiding under the porch because it knows it will be punished.

On the 9^th of March three groups conducted a roundtable discussion about three different issues. The issues were mainly social oriented and each group was comprised on one supporting side and another side who are against it.

Group 1

The first group’s roundtable discussion was about whether Singapore should adopt the Green Chemistry by promoting the collaborative effort by industry, academia and government. They argued about the possibility of Singapore, being a country using biodegradable plastics instead of the normal ones.

The supporting side pointed out that the biodegradable plastic can be made from biomass. They pointed out that the biodegradable plastics enable the recycling process as well as its safe to the environment. The opposing side argued that such a replacement from normal plastics to biodegradable ones will be expensive.

Biodegradable plastics are the new way of controlling green house gas emissions. It is quite noticeable that the normal plastics cannot be recycled whereas the biodegradable ones can easily be recycled. With sufficient support from the government, it will be possible to implement the use of biodegradable plastics without making extra expenditure.

Group 2

The second groups focussed about the pros and cons of genetic engineering. The main point was to debate about whether the government and institutions should regulate the use of this technology.

The supporting side argued that the parents should have the right to decide how their children have to be. The points the groups discussed on are deciding the gender of the baby and the nature of skills they want to implement in their children. They also argued that by implementing this, common diseases that develop in children can be controlled.

The opposing side argued that deciding the gender of the baby can cause sex imbalance in the world population. They also pointed out that by doing this the complete control of a child skills will be upon the wish of their parents. A child will not be able to acquire a skill by himself/herself. The rebutted the argument of disease control in children, by pointing that the genetic engineering can cause other diseases which will be quite hard to wipe out.

I believe that genetic engineering is such an innovative technology and it should be used in a controlled manner. Some benefits of the genetic engineering like the parents deciding the skills that a child wants can be utilized. But deciding the gender using the genetic engineering should be controlled since it can lead to a high level of sex imbalance.

Group 3

The 4^th and the final group focused on the climate change mitigation technologies. They argued about whether the carbon capture and storage technology should be implemented or not.

The supporting side argued that carbon capture and storage is an effective and efficient way to control the greenhouse gas emission. They pointed out that the carbon dioxide can be stored at the sea bed and the sausage in which the carbon dioxide is leak proof. The opposing side argued that the carbon capture and storage technology is expensive to implement. They also told that most of the developing countries are not emitting carbon dioxide and they will not benefit from implementing this system. The space required for the storage will increase day by day and this will make this technology not feasible.

I believe that the carbon storage technology is something which needs the last attention upon. The down sides of implementing this technology are quite high. The earth quakes usually happen at sea bed since it being the nearest surface to the earth’s core, and the countries which badly need this technology are earth quake prone regions. This can act as a barrier in implementing this technology. 

Biodiesel, Necessary or Unnecessary.

                Today Biodiesel has become one of the hot topics in the field of fuel for transportation. It is noticeable that a large number of countries are stepping forward to implement the biodiesel manufacturing. Due to the rise of the petroleum diesel prices the demand for the biodiesel is increasing. The article that is to be discussed on is by the Energy Information Administration of the United States.

                The Energy Information Administration claims about a number of benefits about the implementation of the Biodiesel. In the United States the major source for the biodiesel production are the soya bean oil and yellow grease. There are two kinds of way in which the biodiesel can be used. The first one is blending with normal petroleum diesel and the other one is using the bio diesel as a primary fuel.

                The biodiesel has a higher cetane number compared to petroleum diesel. This helps it autoignite faster when compared to the normal diesel. The cetane number of biodiesel has an average of 50.9 whereas the cetane number of normal diesel is somewhere in between 30 and 45. Another great property of biodiesel is the lack of sulphur. This property gives biodiesel a better lubricate than the petroleum diesel. Biodiesel also have some performance disadvantages. The performance of biodiesel in cold weather conditions is much worse than the normal petroleum diesel. The cloud point and the pour point of the biodiesel are higher when compared to the petroleum diesel.

                Another main disadvantage is that the biodiesel tends to reduce the fuel economy. Energy efficiency and the volumetric efficiency of biodiesel is low when compared to the petroleum diesel. The energy content per gallon of biodiesel is 11% lower than that of petroleum diesel and using the biodiesel is expected to reduce the volumetric efficiency by 2.2%. About 11% of the weight of the biodiesel is oxygen. The presence of oxygen causes the nitrogen oxide emissions which will affect the ozone layer at a higher level when compared to the carbon monoxide by the petroleum diesel.

                Biodiesel can be produced by various processes. Among all the main way for the production of the bio fuel is from the soya bean oil. From the data acquired from the past few years the price of the soya bean is increasing every year. This exponential increase in the price soya bean has caused an increase in the price of the biodiesel. This price hike made biodiesel expensive to use than the normal petroleum diesel. However, in the United States the government has given incentives to support the expansion of biodiesel production.

                Biodiesel made from the yellow grease is more cost – competitive with the petroleum diesel than is the biodiesel from the soya bean oil. But the available supply of the yellow grease will limit its use for biodiesel production by 100 million gallons per year or less. Unless the soya bean oil prices decline dramatically, it does not appear that biodiesel can be produced in large quantities at a cost that is competitive with petroleum diesel.

Evaluation

                Although many advantages of biodiesel is mentioned in the article above, the disadvantages it shows is equally high too. The first one is the lack of performance is the cold weather conditions. The U.S and China are cold countries and since the majority of the vehicle users in the world comes from here. This makes it difficult to implement the use of biodiesel in these two countries.

                The article also mention that the biodiesel also tend to decrease the fuel economy. Since the energy efficiency and the volumetric efficiency of biodiesel is low when compared to the petroleum diesel, the users are reluctant to change the fuel from petroleum diesel to the biodiesel. Another major issue is the pollution of the atmosphere. While the operation, vehicles using biodiesel causes nitrogen oxide emissions which is much more dangerous than the carbon monoxide.

                All these disadvantages are equally high than that of the normal diesel. This makes it necessary to think twice about implementing the biodiesel to replace the petroleum diesel.

Reference:

Energy Information Administration (US).  “Biodiesel Performance, Costs and Use.” Retrieved on March 10, 2009 from http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/analysispaper/biodiesel/

Vocabulary Reference

Cetane number: A measure of the ignition quality of a diesel engine fuel by comparison with various mixtures in which the alpha form of methylnaphthalene is given a standard value of 0 and cetane is given a standard value of 100.

Could Point: The temperature at which a sample of the fuel starts to appear cloudy

Pour Point: The temperature below which the fuel will not flow.

Energy Efficiency: The percentage of the fuel’s thermal energy that is delivered as engine output.

Volumetric Efficiency: Mile travelled per gallon of fuel. 

Expert Views on Climate Change

The effects and problems due to the global warming are on a rise in the present years. The change in climate pattern is not something which everyone can ignore. On the 30^th of January three distinguished speakers gave a lecture on the issue of global warming and the ways to find a solution. Although they all had a different way of approach towards the issue, the ultimate result was to take control over the climate change issue.

The first lecture was given by Dr. Andrew Palmer. The topic was “Carbon Dioxide storage technology and politics”. He explained different ways to fight against the climate change. They are fuel efficiency, mitigation, adaptation and storage of carbon dioxide. The main point that he talked about was the carbon dioxide storage. As a result of the experiments carried out by expert scientists, it was found that the carbon dioxide can be stored at depleted oil or gas fields. Another main storage location is the ocean bed. The idea is to put liquid carbon dioxide in a membrane and store this at a height of more than 2750m below the sea level. However the psychological factor of storing a bag of carbon dioxide at the ocean bed is uncomfortable for the some people in this world. Another method he suggested is the release of sulphate particles into the atmosphere, thereby reducing the radiation of the sun to the earth. This in turn reduces the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Although it is an efficient idea, the cost of implementation is quite high and only a few countries can afford to do this. I found these ideas quite amusing as these are the feasible options that can be achieved by the involvement and participation of all the developed as well as developing countries.

The second lecture was given by Dr. Benjamin K. Sovacool. The topic of the lecture was “Using STS to address Energy Problems”. He introduced two case studies. The first one and the second were Renewable Power and Electrical Vehicles respectively. Another view he pointed out is the traditional analysis of technology. The technologies can succeed technically, but sometime they fail socially. The technical feasibility can also be about social interests and values. The society has always been reluctant to accept a change in their lifestyle and routine. In the matter of both the case studies, the development is affected mostly by the social issue and it has very little to do with the technical issues. Other issues that are considered as barriers include the political, regulatory, cultural and behavioural obstacles. It is appreciable that the STS method provides a useful lens to evaluate new technologies. This method looks at the social consideration, and defines the technology differently.

The third lecture was given by Associate Professor Rajasekhar Bala. He addressed mostly about the effects of global warming and ways the government is trying to solve this issue. The temperature records for the past few decades were explained. He introduced the evidences to support global warming. They are 2007 IPCC report, rise in the average global surface temperature, the fact that 13 warmest years in the record occurred since 1990, changes in glaciers, rainfall pattern and recent hurricanes. It was pointed out that some area will benefit from a warmer earth whereas most of the other areas will have to suffer from melting ice and rising sea levels. The rate of climate change could be slowed down by increasing the energy efficiency, relying more on renewable energy and reducing the greenhouse gases. Singapore’s National Environmental Authority is going to build a ‘Singapore Green Plant’ in 2012. This is a major step taken by the government of Singapore. The government roles in acting against the climate change were discussed. They are to regulate the carbon dioxide as a pollutant, carbon taxes, subsidize energy efficient technologies and technology transfers.

From these lectures it was prominently clear that the time has come where we should act accordingly to fight against the climate change. “The good news is we have everything we need now to respond to the challenge of global warming. We have all the technologies we need, more are being developed.  But we should not wait, we cannot wait, we must not wait." These are the wise words of the ex-vice president of the United States of America. 

Mother Nature in Trouble

“Today we're seeing that climate change is about more than a few unseasonably mild winters or hot summers. It's about the chain of natural catastrophes and devastating weather patterns that global warming is beginning to set off around the world, the frequency and intensity of which are breaking records thousands of years old.” These are the words of the newly elected US president Barack Obama. Although the world has developed to a higher extent, the catastrophic disasters happening due to the global warming.

The world is facing a serious problem, which can be declared as a first priority issue. The effects of global warming are serious. This global warming is caused by the heating up of earth’s atmosphere. The primary cause is the accumulation of Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Today the level of Carbon dioxide is far away from the levels it has been over the 65000 years. Along the past three decades the level was increasing exponentially. The government of most of the countries have started to fight against the climate change issue.

Although Singapore was not much affected by any of these natural disasters, our neighbouring countries were suffered due to these calamities. The Tsunami which struck Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and India claimed millions of lives. Japan and China are often affected by the natural disasters. All these have direct or indirect link with the global warming.

Singapore government is one of the major players in the world to fight against global warming . They have signed the Kyoto protocol to reduce the amount of carbon emissions. The government has released funds for the National Environmental Agency (NEA) and the Ministry of Environment and Water Resources for the study of localized climate change in Singapore. The National Environment agency has came up with biodegradable items to replace most of the plastic items. The introduction of NEWater was an innovative step taken by Singapore. The government has approved to set-up another NEWater processing plant in the coming few years. The taxes of environmental friendly vehicles were reduced so as to encourage people to be concerned about the global warming issue. The Public Utility Board has taken its own initiative is raising awareness about the necessity of using energy efficient electrical items. They have placed advertisements at most of the public places and public transports that shows the efficiency and saving that one can have by being energy savvy. Another major step taken by the government is increasing the taxes of private transport and encouraging people to use the public transport.

The global warming is a serious issue. Our generation has already started to see the effects of this killer. As a matter of fact our generation is the one that can lead to a change for this problem. The main thing that can be done is to reduce the emission of carbon dioxide. This can be done by recycling paper, using a cloth bag instead of plastic bags, using a solar water heater and using public transport. The solution is in our hands. 

Engineers Today

"Scientist investigates that which already is; Engineers create that which has never been". This was quoted by famous scientist Albert Einstein. The engineers have a dominant role is the development of technology. It is quite noticeable that during the past decade the technology has developed over a wide range for user products. The big sized CRT displays were replaced by High Definition displays. The mobile phone size was reduced to almost half the size of the hand. These advancements wouldn't have been possible without the Engineers. 

 

In the past engineers who graduated were sought after by technology firms and construction firms. Today this trend has changed to a situation where engineers are wanted by a wide variety of fields including the Banking, Commerce, Finance and Logistic institutions. This is due to the skills they have in systematic thinking and logical reasoning. These qualities enable them to excel in almost any fields they are in.

 

The art of systematic thinking and logical reasoning was attained by the new development in the educational system. The universities are not only focussing on the core modules required for engineering. They have started to train engineers with some extra out of core modules which can help them to acquire skills in many other fields.

 

The way an engineer deals with the problems are different from the way a non-engineer thinks. They analyze the complex problems in a logical manner and come to a solution in an orderly way. During this process of solving a problem they also redefine the problem and make the solution perfect and advanced. This way of approaching a complex problem is due to the versatility of engineering education.

 

As a matter of fact the demand for engineers is never going to cease. With the days passing by fast the engineers are being involved in many conventional non-engineering fields. Our educational system is ready produce engineering graduates for tomorrow’s challenges.