The values and beliefs I hold strongly to in this life journey.
I believe that to accomplish any goal in life, we need perseverance and enthusiasm. Every step that I take, it is not about how fast I get there but it is the journey that I hold high in regard. It encompasses our climb to the top. From my experience in facilitating students in their studies as a private tutor over the past years, I have learnt that visions are powerful mental images of what we want to create in the future. Every dream that we have as an individual translates to the direction that we are heading and though for some it is constantly an uphill battle, yet it is not impossible. The students I taught reflected to me what hardwork and passion is all about. The tension we often feel from comparing our ideal mental image of our desired future and expectation of ourselves is usually what that fuels a vision. Just keep pushing on and just keep trying makes a wholesome ideal in striving for success. These boys whom I taught might not know Mathematics formulas at their fingertips but their perseverance to gain knowledge and keep on trying reveal to me that mistakes and failures are a symbol of life in itself. This is essentially how we learn. It has been an inspirational and enriching experience being taught and teach simultaneously.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Sunday, April 5, 2009
My Grammar Mistakes
EG1471module has been an eye-opener as I had not come across specific English writing rules throughout my primary and secondary school education. I had always known that I had problems in my grammar. Mistakes that I have made throughout this course taught me to continuously check my work and I learnt that English is not as simple as we think.
For instance, one of the common mistakes I often make is the misuse of article. In my previous understanding, all the words in singular form except for specific objects or names should be used with an article “the” before it, for example, the tree, the person, the resource, the sun and so on. My perspective of article is that there are redundant to be discussed as it has always been taught to be ingrained. Neither did I know that “the” and “an” are known as articles! Articles are commonly used with common nouns or noun phrases. It consist of the nonspecific articles which are (a or an); and the specific article (the). It is absent in nonspecific cases and are indicated by empty or zero article.
A mistake:
“The USA is currently undergoing a recession.”
Correction:
“USA is currently undergoing a recession.”
Explanation: Categories of proper nouns which do not require “the” are people’s name, cities, countries, states, days and etc. Proper nouns which requires “the” are buildings, places and etc.
In addition, I am until now unable to identify the correct usage of pronoun and correcting it at first glance. For instance, “The country does allow they to smoke.” The mistake here is “they”.
Correction made:
“Them”
Lastly, Subject verb agreement (SVA) is another mistake that I would like to touch on. SVA is usually divided into basics, singular verbs and agreement.
Mistake:
The company use its resources efficiently.
Correction made:
The company uses its resources efficiently.
For instance, one of the common mistakes I often make is the misuse of article. In my previous understanding, all the words in singular form except for specific objects or names should be used with an article “the” before it, for example, the tree, the person, the resource, the sun and so on. My perspective of article is that there are redundant to be discussed as it has always been taught to be ingrained. Neither did I know that “the” and “an” are known as articles! Articles are commonly used with common nouns or noun phrases. It consist of the nonspecific articles which are (a or an); and the specific article (the). It is absent in nonspecific cases and are indicated by empty or zero article.
A mistake:
“The USA is currently undergoing a recession.”
Correction:
“USA is currently undergoing a recession.”
Explanation: Categories of proper nouns which do not require “the” are people’s name, cities, countries, states, days and etc. Proper nouns which requires “the” are buildings, places and etc.
In addition, I am until now unable to identify the correct usage of pronoun and correcting it at first glance. For instance, “The country does allow they to smoke.” The mistake here is “they”.
Correction made:
“Them”
Lastly, Subject verb agreement (SVA) is another mistake that I would like to touch on. SVA is usually divided into basics, singular verbs and agreement.
Mistake:
The company use its resources efficiently.
Correction made:
The company uses its resources efficiently.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
GM Food: Arisga Group
Last week’s roundtable discussion has been rather inspiring and intriguing. The topics threw forward was a controversial issue commonly debated. Arisga Group was in favour of the GM Food mainly due to the benefits it can bring to Mankind for future purposes. They talked about feeding the poor with GM Food mainly the Africans and comments from the floor supported this view strongly as the general public sees compassion in feeding the poor with GM Food rather than letting them starve even if GM Food dispute is of a huge concern.
Even as world closes their eyes on the welfare of the poor, the production of GM Food could actually bring about benefits due to its advantages. The world population has topped 6 billion people and is predicted to double in the next 50 years. Ensuring an adequate food supply for this booming population is going to be a major challenge in the years to come. GM foods promise to meet this need in a number of ways namely; pest resistance, herbicide tolerance, disease resistance, cold tolerance, drought tolerance and salinity tolerance
As Arisga group mentioned, the main pursuit of GM Food was on the solving of malnutrition which is a common problem in third world countries where impoverished peoples rely on a single crop such as rice for the main staple of their diet. If rice could be genetically engineered to contain an additional amount of vitamins and minerals, nutrient deficiencies could be alleviated. In recent times, researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Institute for Plant Sciences have created a strain of "golden" rice containing an unusually high content of beta-carotene (vitamin A).
Opponents of genetically modified food often refer to it as "Frankenfood. This further depicts GM Food as something bad and risky to be eaten hence inducing fear in public to accept GM Food as a staple. Not all GM Food products are available in supermarkets yet. However, the prevalence of GM foods in grocery stores and supermarkets is increasing and here is where GM Food labelling has been called into question.
This contentious issue relates to the problem that consumer interest groups are demanding mandatory labelling. People have the right to know what they are eating. However Arisga group also pointed out that if the food production industry is required to label GM foods, factories will need to construct two separate processing streams and monitor the production lines accordingly. Farmers must be able to keep GM crops and non-GM crops from mixing during planting, harvesting and shipping. It is hereby true that industry will pass along these additional costs to consumers in the form of higher prices for GM Food products if these were to happen.
However public uproar on GM Food is mainly due to the dire consequences side effects that these food bring in which research in these particular area has not been found proven it is said that most concerns about GM foods fall into three categories: environmental hazards, human health risks, and economic concerns. These categories are; unintended harm to other organisms, reduced effectiveness of pesticides and human health risks include allergenicity.
Economic concerns are also brought into question as bringing GM food products to market is a lengthy and costly process. Indeed agri-biotech companies wish to ensure a profitable return on their investment yet it is hoped that in a humanitarian gesture as a whole, more companies and non-profits organizations will offer their products at reduced cost to impoverished nations such as Africa.
Many people feel that genetic engineering is the next big thing and that we cannot afford to ignore a technology that has such enormous potential benefits. However, we must proceed with caution to avoid causing unintended harm to human health and the environment as a result of our enthusiasm and support for this powerful new technology.
References:
1.Bioengineered Foods transcripts from the public meetings are available to download (http://www.fda.gov/oc/biotech/default.htm)
2.Genetic engineering towards carotene biosynthesis in endosperm (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Institute for Plant Sciences
3.New rices may help address vitamin A- and iron deficiency, major causes of death in the developing world (Rockefeller Foundation)
4.RICE BIOTECHNOLOGY: Rockefeller to End Network After 15 Years of Success (Science, Vol 286, No 5444, pp 1468-1469, Nov 1999)
5.The U.S. statistics http://www.ers.usda.gov/briefing/biotechnology/.
6.http://www.isaaa.org/publications/briefs/Brief_21.htm
7.Biotechnology Industry Organization at http://www.bio.org/food&ag/1999Acreage.
Even as world closes their eyes on the welfare of the poor, the production of GM Food could actually bring about benefits due to its advantages. The world population has topped 6 billion people and is predicted to double in the next 50 years. Ensuring an adequate food supply for this booming population is going to be a major challenge in the years to come. GM foods promise to meet this need in a number of ways namely; pest resistance, herbicide tolerance, disease resistance, cold tolerance, drought tolerance and salinity tolerance
As Arisga group mentioned, the main pursuit of GM Food was on the solving of malnutrition which is a common problem in third world countries where impoverished peoples rely on a single crop such as rice for the main staple of their diet. If rice could be genetically engineered to contain an additional amount of vitamins and minerals, nutrient deficiencies could be alleviated. In recent times, researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Institute for Plant Sciences have created a strain of "golden" rice containing an unusually high content of beta-carotene (vitamin A).
Opponents of genetically modified food often refer to it as "Frankenfood. This further depicts GM Food as something bad and risky to be eaten hence inducing fear in public to accept GM Food as a staple. Not all GM Food products are available in supermarkets yet. However, the prevalence of GM foods in grocery stores and supermarkets is increasing and here is where GM Food labelling has been called into question.
This contentious issue relates to the problem that consumer interest groups are demanding mandatory labelling. People have the right to know what they are eating. However Arisga group also pointed out that if the food production industry is required to label GM foods, factories will need to construct two separate processing streams and monitor the production lines accordingly. Farmers must be able to keep GM crops and non-GM crops from mixing during planting, harvesting and shipping. It is hereby true that industry will pass along these additional costs to consumers in the form of higher prices for GM Food products if these were to happen.
However public uproar on GM Food is mainly due to the dire consequences side effects that these food bring in which research in these particular area has not been found proven it is said that most concerns about GM foods fall into three categories: environmental hazards, human health risks, and economic concerns. These categories are; unintended harm to other organisms, reduced effectiveness of pesticides and human health risks include allergenicity.
Economic concerns are also brought into question as bringing GM food products to market is a lengthy and costly process. Indeed agri-biotech companies wish to ensure a profitable return on their investment yet it is hoped that in a humanitarian gesture as a whole, more companies and non-profits organizations will offer their products at reduced cost to impoverished nations such as Africa.
Many people feel that genetic engineering is the next big thing and that we cannot afford to ignore a technology that has such enormous potential benefits. However, we must proceed with caution to avoid causing unintended harm to human health and the environment as a result of our enthusiasm and support for this powerful new technology.
References:
1.Bioengineered Foods transcripts from the public meetings are available to download (http://www.fda.gov/oc/biotech/default.htm)
2.Genetic engineering towards carotene biosynthesis in endosperm (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Institute for Plant Sciences
3.New rices may help address vitamin A- and iron deficiency, major causes of death in the developing world (Rockefeller Foundation)
4.RICE BIOTECHNOLOGY: Rockefeller to End Network After 15 Years of Success (Science, Vol 286, No 5444, pp 1468-1469, Nov 1999)
5.The U.S. statistics http://www.ers.usda.gov/briefing/biotechnology/.
6.http://www.isaaa.org/publications/briefs/Brief_21.htm
7.Biotechnology Industry Organization at http://www.bio.org/food&ag/1999Acreage.
Friday, February 27, 2009
The eye's mind: brain mapping and psychiatry
As mentioned by the British Journal of Psychiatry (2003), the human brain is a complex entity all by itself. The notion of thinking and brain mapping in itself amazes professors researching in that particular field. The current brain imaging serves as a guide for diagnosis of mental disorders present in patients. Despite the new and improved technical developments in neuroimaging (Andreasen, 1997), scepticism is still prevalent among researchers in that field
mainly due to its association and relation to psychiatry.
As brain imaging has been known to provide evidence and support clinical benefit for patients, it is still judgemental on how far it can bore fruits in the field of brain research and how much data that is collected will still remain relevant in today’s day and age. The research in brain studies have much proven the brain structure and function prominently of high importance in the study of how the brain works and psychiatry. The measurements that are taken into account are comprehensive and encompasses all details relevant to the study of the human brain. It is thus important to find a clear and distinct correlation between the problems arose and biological reasoning.
Although brain mapping is a distinct way to research on the brain holistically, it still merely provides a general picture of the situation that has already been discovered and known. In this instance, Schizophrenia is a disease mostly researched in the brain field. However, disappointingly the data shown has proven the obvious and no new relevant data surfaces. The functional psychosis which is part of a brain study has been found to be not linked with any organic and structural abnormalities of the brain. This discrepancy proves that there might be some jeopardising of data collected and collated thus affecting results.
This boils down to the point that researchers now have moved on and targeted that psychosis as the main cause of a disconnection syndrome adversely affecting the structure of largescale neurocognitive networks in the brain. This has been a versatile evidence in support of brain mapping and psychiatry as a whole.
There has been reports of distributed patterns of grey matter deficit in disorders such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (Castellanos et al, 2001; Overmeyer et al, 2001), autism (Courchesne et al, 2001) and various neurogenetic syndromes, prompt the hypothesis that disconnection syndromes might provide a model for the anatomy of neurodevelopmental disorders in general, not solely schizophrenia (Bullmore et al, 1997). All syndromes mentioned above from (The eye's mind: brain mapping and psychiatry, Journal 2003), serves as a guideline for us to place the basis of our argument on an agreement in which brain regions are critically abnormal in any given syndrome.
The article overview on brain mapping as a whole gives us an idea of the vague data collated in the sampling that was taken, data analysis that has been done and how the study has been designed to be like. The number of patients and the differences in demographic details of each patient may not have been sufficient to provide a clearer view on the situation given perhaps. Overall the brain mapping has been a great way in relating reasons to psychiatry as a whole.
Received for publication March 11, 2002. Revision received July 15, 2002. Accepted for publication August 8, 2002.
mainly due to its association and relation to psychiatry.
As brain imaging has been known to provide evidence and support clinical benefit for patients, it is still judgemental on how far it can bore fruits in the field of brain research and how much data that is collected will still remain relevant in today’s day and age. The research in brain studies have much proven the brain structure and function prominently of high importance in the study of how the brain works and psychiatry. The measurements that are taken into account are comprehensive and encompasses all details relevant to the study of the human brain. It is thus important to find a clear and distinct correlation between the problems arose and biological reasoning.
Although brain mapping is a distinct way to research on the brain holistically, it still merely provides a general picture of the situation that has already been discovered and known. In this instance, Schizophrenia is a disease mostly researched in the brain field. However, disappointingly the data shown has proven the obvious and no new relevant data surfaces. The functional psychosis which is part of a brain study has been found to be not linked with any organic and structural abnormalities of the brain. This discrepancy proves that there might be some jeopardising of data collected and collated thus affecting results.
This boils down to the point that researchers now have moved on and targeted that psychosis as the main cause of a disconnection syndrome adversely affecting the structure of largescale neurocognitive networks in the brain. This has been a versatile evidence in support of brain mapping and psychiatry as a whole.
There has been reports of distributed patterns of grey matter deficit in disorders such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (Castellanos et al, 2001; Overmeyer et al, 2001), autism (Courchesne et al, 2001) and various neurogenetic syndromes, prompt the hypothesis that disconnection syndromes might provide a model for the anatomy of neurodevelopmental disorders in general, not solely schizophrenia (Bullmore et al, 1997). All syndromes mentioned above from (The eye's mind: brain mapping and psychiatry, Journal 2003), serves as a guideline for us to place the basis of our argument on an agreement in which brain regions are critically abnormal in any given syndrome.
The article overview on brain mapping as a whole gives us an idea of the vague data collated in the sampling that was taken, data analysis that has been done and how the study has been designed to be like. The number of patients and the differences in demographic details of each patient may not have been sufficient to provide a clearer view on the situation given perhaps. Overall the brain mapping has been a great way in relating reasons to psychiatry as a whole.
Received for publication March 11, 2002. Revision received July 15, 2002. Accepted for publication August 8, 2002.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
the lecture review
I personally felt that the speech given by Mr Palmer, Mr Benjamin and Mr Bala each was inspiring and gave me a bigger picture of the growing problem in the environment today. Global warming as we all know has been a topic that sits red hot on the pan due to humans doings to the environment.
Mr Palmer who was the first speaker gave a brilliant headstart into the lecture and briefly touched on the topics such as greenhouse gases, global warming and the inter-connectedness and link between one another. He was quick and bright to brought up a very intriguing idea of the capture and storage of carbon dioxide. I felt the this idea is a creative and innovative one that would be feasible if carried out properly.
The idea he mentioned in itself sounded compelling yet an efficient way in encouraging people worldwide to cut down on the carbon dioxide emission using cutting edge technology. Likewise, this technology serves to store carbon dioxide deep in the earth or seas as a storage compartment in the attempt to mitigate the problem at hand.
However, I felt that though this method seems technologically feasible, yet its seems impractical judging from the costs involved and process required for it to achieve its maximum potential to fulfil our very objective of a cleaner environment. Yet his idea was indeed substantiated with industrial evidence that he uses as examples.
He also mentioned that it was reasoned out that due to the current economic crisis that is occurring at our very eyes, policy makers would not be too keen on this method as their main priority would be the economy at hand. Soon after, Mr Benjamin continued the engaging lecture by pointing out that there is more to global warming solutions that what was touched by Mr Palmer. He then began to include examples to further elaborate his idea of the practical approach to renewable energy or power. In addition, he gave his personal opinion of Mr Palmer’s idea and thought what it would be perturbed by the global economic recession.
He then explained further reasons for accepting and adopting new technologies and how it can fuelled by our need to mitigate or solve a problem at hand which need due attention. It is not merely a technological problem as he pointed out, but rather it is a socially implicated problem that boils down to humans themselves whom play a huge part in worsening the problems. The examples he used to substantiate his claims were the electric motor car and wind turbine. These examples were quoted to show evidence of how making a certain new technology popular could go against certain interests of a nation in particular. In addition, cultural and behavioural aspects, the adoption of a new product may eventually force people to change their habits. These would lead to drastic outcomes and consequences and hence the rejection of new technologies would merely mean the failure of the market to progress. Lastly, Mr Bala addressed the issue of global warming as a specific rather than a bigger picture as painted by his fellow two other speakers previously. He encompasses issues that related more to the causes, consequences and several other possible solutions to mitigate and solve global warming at hand. Despite doing an excellent job on the explanation, his points were mainly a regurgitation and reiteration on what is known to everyone. I personally felt that he was repeating whatever that was said and mentioned in the mass media such as the newspaper articles and educational films; The Inconvenient Truth.
The two hours presentation was thorough and comprehensive however there should be more interaction between the speakers and the audience to make the lecture a more engaging and interactive one which would eventually spark interests in the audience to do their greater part in helping to reduce or mitigate global warming.
Mr Palmer who was the first speaker gave a brilliant headstart into the lecture and briefly touched on the topics such as greenhouse gases, global warming and the inter-connectedness and link between one another. He was quick and bright to brought up a very intriguing idea of the capture and storage of carbon dioxide. I felt the this idea is a creative and innovative one that would be feasible if carried out properly.
The idea he mentioned in itself sounded compelling yet an efficient way in encouraging people worldwide to cut down on the carbon dioxide emission using cutting edge technology. Likewise, this technology serves to store carbon dioxide deep in the earth or seas as a storage compartment in the attempt to mitigate the problem at hand.
However, I felt that though this method seems technologically feasible, yet its seems impractical judging from the costs involved and process required for it to achieve its maximum potential to fulfil our very objective of a cleaner environment. Yet his idea was indeed substantiated with industrial evidence that he uses as examples.
He also mentioned that it was reasoned out that due to the current economic crisis that is occurring at our very eyes, policy makers would not be too keen on this method as their main priority would be the economy at hand. Soon after, Mr Benjamin continued the engaging lecture by pointing out that there is more to global warming solutions that what was touched by Mr Palmer. He then began to include examples to further elaborate his idea of the practical approach to renewable energy or power. In addition, he gave his personal opinion of Mr Palmer’s idea and thought what it would be perturbed by the global economic recession.
He then explained further reasons for accepting and adopting new technologies and how it can fuelled by our need to mitigate or solve a problem at hand which need due attention. It is not merely a technological problem as he pointed out, but rather it is a socially implicated problem that boils down to humans themselves whom play a huge part in worsening the problems. The examples he used to substantiate his claims were the electric motor car and wind turbine. These examples were quoted to show evidence of how making a certain new technology popular could go against certain interests of a nation in particular. In addition, cultural and behavioural aspects, the adoption of a new product may eventually force people to change their habits. These would lead to drastic outcomes and consequences and hence the rejection of new technologies would merely mean the failure of the market to progress. Lastly, Mr Bala addressed the issue of global warming as a specific rather than a bigger picture as painted by his fellow two other speakers previously. He encompasses issues that related more to the causes, consequences and several other possible solutions to mitigate and solve global warming at hand. Despite doing an excellent job on the explanation, his points were mainly a regurgitation and reiteration on what is known to everyone. I personally felt that he was repeating whatever that was said and mentioned in the mass media such as the newspaper articles and educational films; The Inconvenient Truth.
The two hours presentation was thorough and comprehensive however there should be more interaction between the speakers and the audience to make the lecture a more engaging and interactive one which would eventually spark interests in the audience to do their greater part in helping to reduce or mitigate global warming.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Goverment policies; are they any help?
It is true that Singapore has been often pictured as a heavily dependent and intensive consumer of energy for our mere population of nearly 5 million. However our government has been perpetually searching for ways and implementing policies to help solve and reduce global warming that is affecting our habitat drastically.
Policies in Singapore include the well-known green policy where Singapore is continually applauded for its green environment with the preservation of trees and reservoirs such as Bukit Timah reserve and Macritchie reservoir and other numerous forests and grasslands. Furthermore, Singapore is famous for its ERP(electronic road pricing) system where it helps prevent congestion and also lower the car ownership with COE. These numerous policies would certainly help conserve the energy besides saving gasoline as less driving means fewer emissions of those harmful carbon dioxide to the environment. In addition, on Earth Day all individuals are encourage to take the public transport and leave their vehicles at home.
As a nation strategy in solving global warming and tackling climate change, other national policies include Singapore’s National Climate Change Strategy, Singapore's Promotion of a Low Carbon Economy, Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) & Opportunities for Singapore Companies Technologies to reduce Green House Gas emissions offered in response to the rising need of a change in how we use our environment. Since, global warming has been accelerated by the industrial revolution and mainly human greed and activity for the past hundreds of years, it is time we did our part for our dear environment. These policies implemented would certainly assist in decreasing the amount of carbon dioxide emitted into the environment and reduce rising temperatures worldwide. The widespread use of fossil fuels would be cut down excessively aiding to the cause. The bleak prediction for the future for our planet will finally take a turn for the better if we could all co-operate and play our part.
At the very least, as an individual we should always follow a mantra; Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. We should always do our part to reduce waste by choosing reusable products instead of disposables. Goverment policies would not work if we as individuals and citizens do not aid in the process.
The Singapore government has implemented the recycling campaign and the green frog mascot would be a household feature. Nowadays, we would see recycling bins at every corner of our neighbourhood which strongly signal the need for us to consistently and constanly conserve our environment.
Sources:
National Environment Agency (NEA)
Singapore Environment Institue
Qoute for reflection:
Are these the shadows of the things that will be,
Or are they shadows of things that may be?
--Ebineezer scrooge in A Christmas Carol by Charles dicken
Policies in Singapore include the well-known green policy where Singapore is continually applauded for its green environment with the preservation of trees and reservoirs such as Bukit Timah reserve and Macritchie reservoir and other numerous forests and grasslands. Furthermore, Singapore is famous for its ERP(electronic road pricing) system where it helps prevent congestion and also lower the car ownership with COE. These numerous policies would certainly help conserve the energy besides saving gasoline as less driving means fewer emissions of those harmful carbon dioxide to the environment. In addition, on Earth Day all individuals are encourage to take the public transport and leave their vehicles at home.
As a nation strategy in solving global warming and tackling climate change, other national policies include Singapore’s National Climate Change Strategy, Singapore's Promotion of a Low Carbon Economy, Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) & Opportunities for Singapore Companies Technologies to reduce Green House Gas emissions offered in response to the rising need of a change in how we use our environment. Since, global warming has been accelerated by the industrial revolution and mainly human greed and activity for the past hundreds of years, it is time we did our part for our dear environment. These policies implemented would certainly assist in decreasing the amount of carbon dioxide emitted into the environment and reduce rising temperatures worldwide. The widespread use of fossil fuels would be cut down excessively aiding to the cause. The bleak prediction for the future for our planet will finally take a turn for the better if we could all co-operate and play our part.
At the very least, as an individual we should always follow a mantra; Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. We should always do our part to reduce waste by choosing reusable products instead of disposables. Goverment policies would not work if we as individuals and citizens do not aid in the process.
The Singapore government has implemented the recycling campaign and the green frog mascot would be a household feature. Nowadays, we would see recycling bins at every corner of our neighbourhood which strongly signal the need for us to consistently and constanly conserve our environment.
Sources:
National Environment Agency (NEA)
Singapore Environment Institue
Qoute for reflection:
Are these the shadows of the things that will be,
Or are they shadows of things that may be?
--Ebineezer scrooge in A Christmas Carol by Charles dicken
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
The expanding world of engineers
An engineer basically design and create products that feeds consumer’s needs and wants. As Professor Ramakrishna mentioned, it is undeniable that ultimately an engineer’s field encompasses every sector there are in today’s world. The true definition of an engineer of the past and the present differ significantly due to the ever changing needs of society today. In designing solutions to myriad of problems, engineers are equipped with analytical skills nurtured in their course of education. Nowadays, engineers learn how to develop a clearly structured and efficiently detailed plan designed to function under a focus-differentiated strategy to fit the needs of the society. It is now wonderful to have plentiful of engineers nurtured, groomed and were put to task to develop each stages of the product clearly and eliminate any weakness right from the start. Hence, making engineers the building blocks of new and improved product development. An engineer’s training paint the picture of a caterpillar evolving into a butterfly as it ignites us to motivate ourselves to change into something better with integrated knowledge and skills which makes an excellent platform. In other words to gain a competitive advantage ideally, the engineering field and training of analytical skills helps to expand not only in the targeted market of product development but also in other market sectors worldwide. From that point and on the possibilities are practically unlimited. Especially in today’s volatile financial markets, engineers would be expected to perform exceptionally in every sector to tide the economy. A good key to note from the article by Tim Brown in Harvard Business Review Design Thinking, the increasing complexity of products would now require products to have functional differentiation and emotional value creation which engineers in this era could work on to achieve a holistic approach to designing solutions.
Harvard Business Review. (2008, June). Design Thinking.
Ramakrishna, S. (2007, August 5). The expanding world of engineers. The Sunday Times, p. 25.
Harvard Business Review. (2008, June). Design Thinking.
Ramakrishna, S. (2007, August 5). The expanding world of engineers. The Sunday Times, p. 25.
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