Task 5: Potential Unethical Abuses of Mind Reader

Currently, I am a researcher researching in a device that can read people’s mind. This device will be useful in criminal investigation to tell if the suspect is innocent or guilty and to help in conveying message for people who are fully paralyzed. However, there can be someone who may abuse the uses of this device. Some of the potential unethical abuses can be invading of other people’s privacy and stealing of other people’s ideas. For examples, reporters may use the device to invade into the privacy of celebrities and people in business may use the device to steal the idea of the opponent. With these potential unethical abuses, people may feel insecure and even not wanting to accept this device. Therefore, to secure the people and to minimize the people from abusing the device, some rules and regulations will need to be set. For example, sale of the device may be restricted by setting certain terms and conditions. One of the possible terms can be a requirement of a letter of consent from doctor when the device is to be purchased as a domestic product for fully paralyzed people. With the restriction of sales, device will not be too widely being used and people will be more secured. Also, some laws could be set to punish people who use this device to invade other people’s privacy or to steal other people’s ideas. This can further prevent people from abusing the device as they will be punished if they abuse the device. In conclusion, this device that I am researching can be useful but some people may abuse the use of this device and use it in the wrong purpose. As to prevent people from abusing the device, some rules and regulations will be needed.

Task 4: Difficulties which I have in Writing in My Engineering Classes

In terms of writing, among all the current modules, which I am taking, I find the module CM1502 to be the most difficult as I need to produce a lab report for every experiment done. Every lab report requires five sections: introduction, procedures, calculations of data, discussion and conclusion. I have difficulties in writing all sections except for the section on calculation. The introduction and procedures in the lab report are normally a summary of the information given in the lab manual. Usually, I have difficulty in capturing all the main points in the first reading; thus, I will read the lab manual a few times before writing. This is actually quite time consuming as my reading speed is slow. In order to shorten the length of time in future, I will try to increase my reading speed by reading more English materials. In addition, the other difficulty, which I faced on writing introduction and procedures, is the restructuring of the sentence structure on paraphrasing. Normally, I tend to write clumsy long sentence and sometimes it is hard to understand my work. Thus after writing, I will go through my work again to revise the sentence so as to ensure that a clearer message is being delivered to the reader. I think to further solve this problem, I will have to do more reading. As for discussion and conclusion, I have difficulty in having a good paragraphing if I start writing directly. As to ensure a better paragraphing, habitually, I will first list down all the points, which I am going to write, on a piece of rough paper and have a careful arrangement before I start writing. It is like doing the mind mapping and outlining. In short, the difficulties that I have on writing lab report are capturing of main points on doing summary, writing of good sentence structure and having good paragraphing. In solving these difficulties, normally, I will read the material several times before summarizing, revise my sentences and practice mind mapping and outlining. I will do more reading in future as to further improve my writing.

Task 3: Summary of "Make Solar Energy Economical"

Amount all the sources of energy, sun is the best. Energy provides by the sun is in abundance, free of charge and pollution free; but, some obstacles are faced in using this energy from the sun. These are the main obstacles faced: the amount of useful energy obtainable is much lesser than those provided, the energy conversion method is costly and the energy collected can only be stored in small quantity. Currently, some solutions have been suggested but engineers are still in the process of making the solutions workable. Present solar cells, generally made of silicon, only have an efficiency of energy conversion up to twenty percent and the high manufacturing cost causes the converted electric energy to be costly. As to ensure a more economical usage of solar cell, an improvement in efficiency and reduction in cost of material are required. A new material, nanocrystals, has been found to be able to provide a higher efficiency but it has yet being scaled up. Another factor causing electric energy to be costly is because the material used for the manufacturing of solar cell needs to be very pure as not to obstruct the flow of electric charges. One of the suggestions made is to use thinner material and thus enabling material with lower purity to be used. The other suggestion is to incorporate dye molecules and titanium dioxide molecules in the material for better absorption of sunlight and collection of electric charges. As for the problem of storage, suggestions have been made to study the process of photosynthesis and to combine the technology of fuel cell and solar energy utilizing the energy from solar energy to convert water into hydrogen that is used to power fuel cell. If all the obstacles are solved, it will be possible for the sun to be the main energy provider. (“Make Solar Energy Economical,” n.d.)

References

Make solar energy economical. (n.d.). Retrieved September 28, 2008, from http://www.engineeringchallenges.org/cms/8996/9082.aspx