"THE FUTURE IS FOR THOSE WHO DARE" (LEE, 2005)

The summary of the article” THE FUTURE IS FOR THOSE WHO DARE”-Minister Mentor shares his thoughts on how Singapore can succeed.

“Yes, we face tremendous competition…But as they (China and India) rise, so will we….It will be a booster for us. We have to position ourselves and seize the opportunities before other seize them…The future is what you make out of it,” Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew told NUS students on 31st January 2005 at Kent Ridge Ministerial Forum.
Being invited to give his speech on the topic “In a fast changing world, what of our past experience is relevant?”, MM Lee stimulated the young generations by the thoughtful investigation about the challenges and opportunities of Singapore nowadays. Firstly, according to MM Lee, the Singaporean’s unity, the resourcefulness and the clean and effective administration are the most important factor contributing to the considerable development of the country. He, afterward, mentioned the breakthroughs of technology in all aspect of life as well as the threat from terrorism and other “big forces” that were reshaping the world. However, finally, MM Lee confirmed the great potentials of Singapore today and strongly believed in a much better future for the country in both economic and political perspectives.
After that, it was time for students to raise their opinion as well as to listen to the analyses from MM Lee about their concerns. The question-and-answer session dealt with various problems approached by students with many points of view. All of them were answered carefully and thoughtfully by MM Lee. Some of the most outstanding questions are the cost of plurality, the Singapore’s ownership, and the political competitiveness. Also, MM Lee held the current leaders in high regards because of their quick and effective responses to many serious issues at that time (Halliday, 2005).


References
Halliday, J. L. (2005, February). The future is for those who dare. Knowledge Enterprise, p. 4.

ZERO WASTE vs. LAND FILLING
Forty million tones is the amount of household rubbish in 2020 (Collins, 2003). Two hundred billion VND is the amount of money that Ho Chi Minh City’s residence for rubbish land-filling and incineration. It is really about time for a new method to reduce the huge amount of rubbish each year, to save our money, and to save our environment. That novel method is zero waste. Although both zero waste and land filling have their own advantages and disadvantages, the former method is our best choice for the clean and stable future.
In perspective of short term vision, land filling seems to exceed zero waste in term of economy and policy. On the one hand, land filling’s techniques have been developed for quite a long time, so it does not cost a huge amount of money to establish the project. Actually, most countries in the world use this method in dealing with their rubbish problem including our country, Viet Nam. On the other hand, zero waste requires not only huge investments in term of finance and techniques researches, but also a close cooperation among public, companies and governments. First, the public’s awareness is the most important factor. Second, most importantly, companies actually have to change totally their production method. For example, a company producing fruit juice stored in portable boxes has to think about new designs of their products. The fruit juice box is made from metals, papers and polymers. How can firms design the products which are easy to be taken apart or do not need taking apart to be renewed? And finally, the government has to pass the law to encourage the residences to use these products as well as to make sure all the system runs fluently. For all of these reasons, it is easy to think that land filling has many more advantages than zero waste. However, this statement is only right in short-term point of view. Furthermore, despite of the mentioned above difficulties, many countries have succeeded in the zero waste projects, for example: Canberra with 59% its rubbish recycled, Edmonton and Canada with 70% (Collins, 2003). That is why we should take into account the effectiveness of these two methods in long-term when deciding what the most suitable method is for our future.
In the perspective of long-term vision, it is zero waste which is the best choice for economic, political, and environmental concern. First, we are running out of our natural resources. Therefore, zero waste gives us a valuable opportunity to prevent the shortage of these land capital in the future because most of the resources used can be reused or recycled. This method also creates new jobs, which brings economic profit to residences. Furthermore, the success in some countries in signing up to the zero waste policies, for example, Canberra, Toronto, California, and New Zealand, is the proof for its political feasibility (Collins, 2003). The zero waste projects are chances for governments, industry and public to come together and head towards a sustained development of the economy. Finally, applying zero waste, we can avoid all additional environmental problems from other rubbish dealing methods, for example, leakages and bad smells from land filling, or the pollutants and smoke from the incineration. Thus, the zero waste project is really suitable method, especially for Vietnam because of our high residence density, and our willingness to protect our beautiful nature.
In conclusion, although the landfilling has some advantages, zero waste is absolutely the best choice we can make. This is the way to save our valuable natural resources, to create new jobs, to protect the environment. It is true to say that heading to a sustained development in the economy means applying zero waste method.
References:
Collins, J. (2003, Oct 3rd). Radical plans for waste could herald a big clean-up. The Guardian Weekly. p.25.

Brain mapping is there for the benefit of human,

Despite of the novel idea about brain mapping, there is a controversial debate about whether its purpose is for human welfare. And if I were a researcher, I would prepare myself to the challenges in applying and developing this project.
First of all, some people think that it is unfair to judge people basing on what has not happened. I totally agree with it. Actually, our behavior is the result of both the gene structure and its interaction with the environment. So is our thinking. It is the result of our personality and the impact other people make on us. Therefore, everything can be changed basing on the surrounding environment we are living. However, it is not true to say that brain mapping is meaningless. In fact, brain mapping gives us a chance to get a draft idea about people, so that we will be well-prepared. Imagine how good it is if we were employers and we knew the strengths and weaknesses of our employees even when we have not hired them. We could give them opportunity to improve their talents as well as prevent things that disturb them. Therefore, getting a draft idea about the character and the thought of people is really helpful.
Second, people may think that it is unsafe to let others know their thought. I also agree with it. That is why we should never talk to others whatever we are thinking about before considering it properly. However, it is the use of this technology that is the problem. And it all comes from human. Every technology is for the human welfare, but the way people use it makes it evil or not. The invention of nuclear power is a good example. Back to our problem, brain mapping is an amazing project opening a new era of understanding people, especially in investigating crimes and terrorism. If we use this novel technique correctly, it will have a great contribution to human benefit.
In conclusion, brain mapping gives us a chance to know people better and therefore to help each other. Of course, we have to be careful in applying this project to make sure that its purpose is human welfare.

ZERO WASTE vs LANDFILLING

Forty million tones is the amount of household rubbish in 2020 (Collins, 2003). Two hundred billion VND is the amount of money that Ho Chi Minh City’s residence for rubbish land-filling and incineration. It is really about time for a new method to reduce the huge amount of rubbish each year, to save our money, and to save our environment. That novel method is zero waste. Although both zero waste and land filling have their own advantages and disadvantages, the former method is our best choice for the clean and stable future.
In perspective of short term vision, land filling seems to exceed zero waste in term of economy and policy. On the one hand, land filling’s techniques have been developed for quite a long time, so it does not cost a huge amount of money to establish the project. Actually, most countries in the world use this method in dealing with their rubbish problem including our country, Viet Nam. On the other hand, zero waste requires not only huge investments in term of finance and techniques researches, but also a close cooperation among public, companies and governments. First, the public’s awareness is the most important factor. Second, most importantly, companies actually have to change totally their production method. For example, a company producing fruit juice stored in portable boxes has to think about new designs of their products. The fruit juice box is made from metals, papers and polymers. How can firms design the products which are easy to be taken apart or do not need taking apart to be renewed? And finally, the government has to pass the law to encourage the residences to use these products as well as to make sure all the system runs fluently. For all of these reasons, it is easy to think that land filling has many more advantages than zero waste. However, this statement is only right in short-term point of view. Furthermore, despite of the mentioned above difficulties, many countries have succeeded in the zero waste projects, for example: Canberra with 59% its rubbish recycled, Edmonton and Canada with 70% (Collins, 2003). That is why we should take into account the effectiveness of these two methods in long-term when deciding what the most suitable method is for our future.
In the perspective of long-term vision, it is zero waste which is the best choice for economic, political, and environmental concern. First, we are running out of our natural resources. Therefore, zero waste gives us a valuable opportunity to prevent the shortage of these land capital in the future because most of the resources used can be reused or recycled. This method also creates new jobs, which brings economic profit to residences. Furthermore, the success in some countries in signing up to the zero waste policies, for example, Canberra, Toronto, California, and New Zealand, is the proof for its political feasibility (Collins, 2003). The zero waste projects are chances for governments, industry and public to come together and head towards a sustained development of the economy. Finally, applying zero waste, we can avoid all additional environmental problems from other rubbish dealing methods, for example, leakages and bad smells from land filling, or the pollutants and smoke from the incineration. Thus, the zero waste project is really suitable method, especially for Vietnam because of our high residence density, and our willingness to protect our beautiful nature.
In conclusion, although the landfilling has some advantages, zero waste is absolutely the best choice we can make. This is the way to save our valuable natural resources, to create new jobs, to protect the environment. It is true to say that heading to a sustained development in the economy means applying zero waste method.
References:
Collins, J. (2003, Oct 3rd). Radical plans for waste could herald a big clean-up. The Guardian Weekly. p.25.

The language is my partner on the way gaining knowledge.

The language, actually, should not be consider our obstacles in the way of gaining knowledge. In fact, it is there to serve us. However, this special "tool" sometimes does cause some problem in my Engineering courses. The vocabulary, the grammar and the way to present my thinking are my most important problems.

Although at this stage of study, I have not been required to do so much writing on Engineering subjects, I have encountered the language barriers when reading textbooks and understanding what my lecturers, my tutors delivered. Actually all the knowledge in Engineering courses are presented clearly and directly, so I always appreciate the efforts of textbooks' authors, my lectures, my tutors in trying their best to make everything understandable.

Nevertheless, the most obvious problem is that my vocabulary is not strong enough to quickly get the idea presented, which results in the slowdown in my reading, and listening speed. To overcome this problem, especially in MLE1101 course (Materials), I have learned that it is integral for me to prepare the coming lecture in advance by reading lecture notes, skimming the textbook, looking up the dictionary and asking the questions. Although these methods do not totally solve my problem in understanding materials, it actually helps me overcome the language barriers. Now, if I still could not get the idea, it is the knowledge issues not the language one. Of course, it takes times to remember new academic concepts even in my mother tongue. In addition, I still notice the weakness in my vocabulary, so I try to learn about five new words each day. I look forward to a day when vocabulary is no longer my fear.

Besides, the grammar structures and the way to express ideas effectively are other problem. When doing my lab report, I recognized that it was difficult to make the reader understand my idea easily. I have not had the proficiency in using English, so keeping translating what I want to say from Vietnamese into English leads to my unsatisfactory productivity in writing report. I will never forget that I have spent the whole day in the laboratory doing experiment and report which should take only 3 hours to be completed. Therefore, I believe that it is necessary for me to read sample reports as well as other materials and pay attention on how the ideas are presented. I will be familiarize myself with the logical thinking and writing.

In conclusion, the strong vocabulary, the accurate grammatical points, and the effectiveness in expressing ideas are three main targets I have to aim at. It is important for me to remember that language is the indispensable key to many doors in the way of gaining knowledge. And it should be my friend not my enemy.

SUMMARIZATION: "ENGINEERING - STILL THE "HOT" SECTOR?" (WONG, 2007)

The answer to this question about the potential of future Engineering careers is definitely yes. Engineering provides various and numerous professions in many sectors of the thriving industry to young graduates who possess both hard and soft skills helping them deal with their career challenges.

First of all, the unbelieveable development of industry and the expanding globalization offer Engineering students many places in today's ecomomy. The only hindrance is student's choices. It is the choices of students about their favourite professional fields, their interest of careers and their daring to challenge themselves with overseas projects that make remarkable differences.

Second, the young greaduates should know what qualities are required and what their career's challenges are in order to be well-prepared. The two most important qualities are the leadership skills and the awareness about environmental issues. The abilities to handle money and to cooperate with many types of people are also really significant. In brief, the employers not only look forward to the approriate academic knowledge but also hope to see good soft skills.

Finally, and most importantly, it is necessary that young graduates learn how to succeed in their interviews. The interviewers judge their candidates though their apperance basing on these quatlities: honesty, confidence but modesty, a clear career and life plan, and sufficient communication skills. Students should try hard in their university life so that they can appear with the best academic results as well as various experiences in extracurricular activities.

All in all, since the industry is expanding, more and more potential doors of future professions are opening to all young Engineering graduates who are well prepared and dare to seize these opportunities (Wong, 2007).

References:
Wong E.R. (2007, November). Engineering-still the "hot" sector? GradAsia Engineering 2008, p.4.

Useful Synonyms

When I do my assignment at CELC today, I find out these useful synonyms on chapter 14 of the book " Focus on Vocabulary" (Schmitt, 2005). I would like to share them with you.

• unavoidable= inescapable= inevitable
• end=conclude=terminate
• next= side by side with= adjacent
• yearly= twelve-month=annual
• result= conclusion= outcome=consequence
• gain=advantage=benefit
• almost=nearly= virtually
• yet= even so= nevertheless= nonetheless
• happen= take place= occur
• length=period=duration
• specialist=professional=expert

Hope that you can add more to this list. We all learn from each other.

Reference:
Schmitt D. and Schmitt N. (2005). Focus on Vocabulary: Mastering the Academic Word List. Pearson Education. NY 10606.

A half of my first semester is nearly completed.

It is wonderful to say that in this beginning of this academic year, I am luckily involved in the E02 group of EG1471. I have learnt a lot of things from my classmates and especially my tutor, Ms Fong.

I consider my improvement in academic writing style, for example, the citation, the format of academic essays... is the most important achivement I have until now. And, thank you Ms Fong who has helped my classmates and me understand the various grammar points, vocabulary as well as their pronunciation.

However, I find that there are a lot of things I have to do in order to meet this module's requirements. First, I have not try my best to increase my vocabulary (actually, I admit that I am a little bit lazy). Without strong vocabulary, I can not feel comfortable to express my idea and to maintain the academic style at the same time, which is the main cause of my first terrible assignment. Second, I am still not able to summarize and paraphrase an arcticle or a piece of academic writing properly. Of course, the shortage of vocabulary is a main reason; however, it is the lack of ability to express one idea in various way that makes me fail. Last but not least, it is necessary for me to practice speaking standard English. Although I always use English in studying but it is not a really good one. I had better focus on this weakness before graduating and finding a job.

To overcome these above weaknesses, I should spend more time on practicing English. First, it is important to improve my vocabulary espeacially the academic vocabulary relating to Engineering and Technology topic. Also, I should use the time wisely. Having a note book of vocabulary with me when moving around the school may be a good idea. Second, the more reading I do, the more ways of expressing idea I can have. Moreover, killing two birds by one stone, I can also broaden my knowledge through those books, and acrticles. Finally, it is important to speak properly not fast. Thus, slowing down my speaking speed and focusing on the grammar as well as my pronunciation may be one of the solutions.

There are many things I have to do so that sometimes, I wish one day had 48 hours. However, thinking again, I also want to complete this semester quickly and effectively since I miss my family so much.(oh, I have gone out of the topic).

Recess week has begun and I have another chance to redouble my efforts in the second half of this semester, so I had better focus on it instead of thinking about the scarity of time and my limited ability.

Finally, I would like to say thank you to Ms Fong, and my dear classmates. You have created a comfortable study environment. Although I have not remembered all of your name (especially the guy's names), I will always remember that we are in the same English class.

If you have any idea about ways of studying Englich, please tell me. I look forward to your comments. See you soon,

A sympathy analysis of resistance to new technology

There are various reasons for the resistance to new technology.
First, it is obvious that people are usually not eager to change what they have been familiar with. It is what we call " mind inertia" which mainly originates from people's fear of wasting time and money to discover new things. Second, and more important, the change itself sometimes make a lot of people worse-off, which is a certain reason for the resistance of technology. Dating back to the British Industrial Revolution in the late eighteenth century, despite of the unbelievable thriving in industrial technology, the workers' living standard continued descending dramatically. Machines have taken places of human. Poor workers are fired, and blamed technology for their misery so that they broke any machines they could. As a result, this era of briliant development in technology, to the workers, becomes the most sorrowful one. However, we should sympathize with these poor people since " much fundemental change is painful and that which destroys old ways of life is more painful still" (Randall, 1995). Last but not least, misusing of new technology and its extremely severe consequences are the most likely causes of the global resistance to it. We and our following generations will never forget the two painful landmarks in the history of mankind: Hiroshima and Chenobyl. The wrong application of nuclear power, in specific, and of new techonology, in general, is so costly that it totally changes many people's the point of view toward this issue:' Is new technology what we really need for a better world?'. All in all, the resistance of technology can originate from many reasons and has different levels ranging from the most normal individual reasons to the most complicated one. Whenever the new technology can do harm directly or indirectly to humans, the resistance is still there. Thus, basing on this understanding, as future engineers, we must aim to the human welfare in all new technology we are trying to apply into real life.

Reference:
Randall, A.(1995). In Bauer, M.(Ed). Resistance to new technology: nuclear power, information technology and biotechnology. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.

e-porfolio2: Common grammar mistakes

The tense is one of the most important grammar point in English. In fact, we have to say that without tenses, English is meaningless. Among 12 tenses in this global language, I sometimes confuse between the Present Perfect Tense and the Present Perfect Continuous one. They are similar in some way but also slightly different and easy to be misused.
The following information is retrieved from the book "Advanced Grammar in Use" (Martin, 2003)


Present Perfect Continuous vs Present Perfect:

In general, both of the two tenses mentioned above indicate " something that started in the past and which affects the situation that exists now." (Martin, 2003). They are also used to describe the repeat of events or activities. However there is some slightly differences in their meaning.

On one hand, "the Present Perfect Tense focuses on the effect of an activity or an event, or the fact that something has been achieved." (Martin, 2003). We also use this tense to emphasize the number of times that an activity takes place, and the result of a change.

On the other hand, the Present Perfect Continuous pays attention on "activities or events which may or may not be finished" (Martin, 2003). It is common to use this tense to emphasize activities which we have continued doing during a period of time. We also use the Present Perfect Continuous to describe the continuity of the change.

In brief, the Present Perfect focus on the achivement of an activity while the Present Perfect Continuous pay attention on an activity's continuity. And right choices of tenses can add significant meaning in our sentences.

Exercises: (Martin,2003)

1) Use these words to fill in the blank and pay attention to the usage of the Present Perfect and the Present Perfect Continuous tenses:

claim, disappear, give, move, stop

1. An important file ... from my office.

2. Dr Fletcher... the same lecture to students for the last ten years.

3. With thier win yesterday, Italy... into second place in the table.

4. For years he... that he is related to the royal family.

5. Good, the noise... , so I can start concentrating on my work again.



2) Connect the two clauses to complete these sentenses. Focus on the relationship between their meaning and the tense used in each clause:
a. I have swum...
I have been swimming...

...and I feel exhausted
...thirty lengths of the good.



b. I have visited Vienna....
I have been visited Vienna...

...three or four times before

...since 1990 and I have always felt very safe here.


References:
Martin. H (2003). Advanced Grammar in Use. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. (Ms Fong, I am so sorry that I do not know how to creat an indent in this blog for the reference. I will ask my classmate for it. Thanks)

My impetus

Prof Seeram Ramakrishna once wrote:"...the traditional scope of engineers has been broadened considerably..."("The expanding world of engineers"). This statement is considered as the most important compass to the next generation of Engineers stepping into their profession. Engineers nowadays no longer limit themselves to some life's requisite such as building, or designing machinery. They can take part in solving most new challenges. The idea of the great potential of future Engineering is greatly important because it changes the view of society, so motivates the engineer to redouble their efforts to achive success.

Since society's view does have a great influence on each person's decision, this new idea helps us overcome a lot of prejudice about Engineering profession. The word " an Engineer" often remind people of a man working extremely hard with machine, buildings. Unlike a businessman who can have a lot of choices in the economy, engineers can only choose buildings, bridges, cars, ships, and airplanes. He also hardly has a spare time to relax because there are always things to learn, to complete, and it is boring to work with machine day after day. Last but not least, Enigineers' average salary was usually not deserve their labour.

These prejudice now can be overcome by this new idea about a broadened scope of engineering nowadays. We now recognize the variety of options that an Engineer can choose as their profession. Their knowlege can be applied to solve most of the obstacles that human beings are facing today. Engineering does not mean the job when people have to work with machine, and draft everyday. Engineers now can analyse financial problem, play an important roles in health care service, in protecting environment. As the first article-"Introduction to the Grand Challenges for Engineering" has mentioned, Engineering covers "four broad realms of human concern(...) [which are] substainability, health, vulnerability, and the joy of living". Society now has a right point of view about the mission of the next Engineering generations'mission.

Next, let us have a closer look about how this new idea has an influence on each person's especially each Engineer's thinking so that we can understand its importance more clearly. First, being recognized by society gives Engineers motive to redouble their efforts because people tend to accomplish what they are expected to do. Second, from the statement, person can deduce that being an Engineer does not limit his ability, but actually provides him with a valuable opportunity to be as good as he is able to.

Morever, the connecting with other people in other career makes the life as an Engineer be fullfilled with interesting experience. Finally, this statement also gives each person some idea about what he needs to do especially when he is an Engineering students. In order to success, he not only has to really good at his specialization, but also has to sharpen his social skills and develop his awareness of the world in future. More choices mean more challenges, and more responsibilities required. This new idea does open a new horizon to each of Engineer.

In conclusion, the idea of the broadened scope of Engineering makes an extremely difference in the society's way of thinking and becomes a motive for the future's Engineers. Accompanied by the idea about the various challenges human beings are facing today, this new idea really shows the way to achieve human welfare in future. Engineering should not be limited in some aspects of life because its potential is unlimited.

The first lesson

Dear Ms Fong and my new classmates,

I would like to say thank you so much to Ms Fong since you have made our class interesting and enjoyable. Having attended the Open lecture on Friday, I was really worried when you lost your voice in the middle of the lecture period. However, you still tried hard to finish the presentation. You must be a very good lecturer and it is really lucky for me to be involved in your class.

This is my first time attending a tutorial. However, thank to Ms Fong and you, my classmates, I felt really comfortable. I hope we will have a lot of beautiful memory about each other.

Best wishes,