Name: Benz Kew
Class: S2-02
(i) Plenary Sessions [Day 1]
(A) My key learning points from each session...
1. Importance of Water - Dirty and Clean
-> There is a tremendous amount of water pollution in our world, thus water quality gets compromised.
-> Issues of water quality in Singapore 50 years ago had poor sanitation, which is a major issue till now for developing countries.
-> Contaminated water has bacteria and germs (e.g. E.coli, Cholera, Typhoid fever, Dysentery and other waterborne and skin diseases)
-> Not all microbes are bad. To tackle these harmful bacteria, some good microbes are used to treat waste water.
-> Waterborne diseases causes high chronic illness risks.
-> Since 1700BC, many had a raised awareness of pollution and proper sanitation.
-> Sewage management started many centuries ago, and still developing today.
-> Key reasons which hinder proper sanitation: Key enablers, Irony, Need and Protection.
-> There is a tendency for humans to be careless as economies develop.
-> Expanding environmental industry, meeting urgent needs for clean water and proper sanitation gives innovation and entrepreneurial opportunities for students.
-> There is a need to reduce carbon footprint, to have good clean water, the energy process will have a higher consumption.
-> In Singapore, having clean water has now transformed into water sufficiency and to beautify the environment.
-> Augmenting limited resources by the use of technology, resulting in lots of engineering work being put in.
-> Key understanding: Making a difference not only by ourselves, but others too.
-> Q&A Note: Diseases passed down usually comes with animal contact/excrement.
2. Revolution of Microelectronics Technology
-> In Singapore - Higher Value Added Products through transformation turns to Research and Development.
-> Asia is a local point of electronic companies.
-> Handheld gadgets and devices uses microchip.
-> Early computes were big and heavy, now with the invention and implementation of Integrated circuits (IC), computers now are much lighter, thinner and more powerful.
-> William Shockley, John Bartin and Walter H. invented transistors.
-> First IC had 1 transistor, 3 capacitors and several resistors.
-> Electronics is pervasive.
-> Key disciplines of electronics: Bio, Radio, Auto, Info, Nano, Water = Hydro = H2O, Audio, Video, Energy = m.c^2 = m.c two (Notice they have all 'o's for the last letter and form the word "BRAINWAVE").
-> Electronics now is converging with biology, which is called bio-nano electronics.
-> Examples: Programmable blood to manage the level of glucose in a human body; Epiretinal implant device help blind people to see clearly.
-> Then: Endoscope. ------ Now: Camera Pill to be swallowed.
-> Electronics encompasses virtually everything (can be applied to the real world context)
-> The Singapore government spends $16.1 billion on research, innovation and enterprise.
3. Biomedical Engineering & Technology
-> Nano, defence and bio technology is emphasized in Singapore.
-> Use of nano-technology to obtain clean water and make contact lenses have a tint.
-> Quantum Dots + Carbon nano tubes + Nano particles
-> Natural nano-ceramics (Biomineralized Fluoropatite) found in shark teeth.
-> Different impurities give us different colours.
-> Stealth aircraft have nano-materials coating.
-> Ultra-fine grain used in nano ceramics.
-> Growth of Nano technology (Either cut it into smaller pieces or from nowhere grow it) uses the Bottom-up and Top-down approach.
-> Electrostatic and electrosteric
-> Transmission electron microscope to see very small (0.1nm) particles)
-> Surface area analyzer. (Smaller size for a fixed volume = Larger surface area)
-> White light / UV illumination
-> Target delivery (Nano-materials) Superparamagnetic Iron Oxide
-> Hydroxyapatite to treat cancer patients.
-> Solar cells (Zinc oxide converts light energy to electrical energy).
-> Biotechnology comes not only replacing, but also compatibility.
-> Biodegradable stents to save a patient from heart attack.
4. IT for Animation by Prof. Seah Hock Soon
-> Animation: Creativity + Story Telling (One way to create is using stop motion)
-> 2D Animation Production Pipeline
-> 3D Animation consists of geometric modeling, special effects (Use of calculus + Laws of physics), Motion capture (Image processing + Computer vision)
CAREER:
-> Everybody can be an inventor.
-> Identify and analyze the problem.
-> Provide efficient suggestions.
-> Take the first step, start something big.
-> Keep it simple and perfect it later.
5. Disappearing glaciers, rising sea levels, and why gravity is even more important than you think
-> Geo-desists measure the shape and size of the Earth, its gravity field, and how these things change over time.
-> Sea-level rise will not be the same everywhere.
-> Process is called "self-attraction and loading".
-> Gravitational attraction (Glaciers crust is depressed and Water is attracted to glacier in its initial state).
-> The glaciers crust rebounds and water flows away from the glacier in its melting state.
-> In 2002, the launch of satellite GRACE (The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) detects the gravitational fields and how it changes over time).
(B) Deepest impression...
The plenary session that leaves the deepest impression on me is the 1st talk by Prof. Ng Wun Jern, Executive Director, Nanyang Environment & Water Research Institute. He is very fun and enthusiastic who kept us entertained and at the same time, learn about his career. One joke that I heard was "If you want your career to go to waste (Waste water), then this is a right choice for you." He emphasizes that if you are passionate about what you want then go for it, which I truly believe in too. He even tests us whether we paid attention to his talks by deliberately putting a spelling mistake. Mr Andy Sim was also impressed with this professor, as he never saw a professor so active and engaging before.
(ii) My Personal Reflection [Day 2 & 3]
1. I choose this project because it was the second best choice that I chose and it was interesting to me. The first choice was Digital Painting, but I was too late to register because I fell ill on that day and was not notified about the form till I realised at night. The slots were full and I had to choose a second option. I chose this project because 1/4 of the projects were about electronics and I was not really passionate about this subject, and the other projects had been almost fully booked.
2. My role in the group is a member. On day 2, I contributed in the graphics design and appearance of the game while Christopher did the coding. We have a small group size, thus it is easy to communicate and interact with one another efficiently. We can give our thoughts and suggestions fast and finalize one easily. Overall, communication and collaboration are the competencies needed to work as a team.
3. Challenges I/my group encounter when working on this project in the last 2 days were not about to come to a right decision and time constraints. Christopher had big plans about the game and had the mindset of winning it, and wanted to do many coding to improve the gameplay, but it ended up that he "lost" his effort because it was more focused on the graphics and originality of the game and the script crashes and become buggy when the game is being run. We overcome these challenges by telling him that who knows, we may need it in the future-or maybe information that others do not have. We (Rayner and I) told him to be positive and accept the loss, as there are many factors to consider (e.g Time) if you want to do such a huge project.
4. Through this project, I discover that teamwork is important to support one another, we learnt the fundamental and basic programming, take this workshop as the first step to your programming career. There are also various code languages, and this is the first time I came across with Lite C (Usually C++, C# or C).
5. As an individual, I have benefited from this programme (Applied Project Challenge) by learning drug discovery and how enzymes work in our body to have the actual size of the molecules and break them down. This can be applied to the game, where one block in tetris fits nicely into the other block and thus disappear (break down into smaller substances). Idea generation could be applied to science before we start to create a game, and most importantly, an educational game. It is a very hands-on experience for me and my friends.
6. My Aspirations: To have an interest to design, marine life and programming (Ranked according to Importance)
P.S: We each earned a 4GB thumbdrive by NTU School of Computer Engineering! :D
