Session 7

Session 7

Today’s lesson mainly focuses on the bio business in terms of food and other products. Agricultural revolution is also covered during class. The GM food discussion brought about good discussions during the class. I guess this topic is something everyone interested and it is present in everyday life.

Agriculture revolution brought about by Norman Borlaug significantly improves the agriculture methods and yield of production. As a result, we are now able to produce more crops on the same piece of land. Not only the yield of production is improved, the crops are now more drought resistant or pest resistant depending on the situation of the land and thus protect the interests of the farmers and provide a steady food supply worldwide.

The genetically modified food even till today still many people doubt its safety to health. It is not proven that the GM food is definitely not harmful to the body but personally I am willing to give it a try because at least it is proven that within 10-20 years it is very safe. Moreover, some GM food are much more nutritious and delicious so I am willing to consume it and promote its popularity. I have eaten this genetically modified watermelon, which the peel is only one fifth the thickness of a normal watermelon. Moreover, it is seedless and very sweet. If this genetically modified watermelon become popular,  I believe that the demand of it will be large and few people will actually think about if it is safe to eat.

The issue I want to discuss about is that even though current technology allows us to grow or produce many kinds of resources, I think we should not rely too much on technology but to reexamine our needs and greed. It is true that in the near future we may be able to grow almost everything we need but in order to solve the root problems that happen to our mother earth, we need to reduce our greed for material wealth.  As Mabatma Gandhi has said,” there is enough on this planet for everyone’s need but not for everyone’s greed.” No matter how much we can produce, if our greed keeps expanding, the earth will never be able to recover from the damage we have incurred on it. Hence in my opinion, while we are developing new technologies to allow us to use the resources more efficiently, we must start to educate our next generation the good practices such as taking public transport, recycle reuse and reduce etc.

Overall I give this lesson 9/10 as the topic is interesting and the discussion is in depth.

Session 6

TWC Session 6

Today’s lesson is one of the most interesting sessions I had so far. Today’s topic is on bio-business and bioscience development. Many controversial discussions were conducted during class and I had a meaningful and engaging time.

Prof started off the lesson with a quote from Albert Einstein,” There are only two ways to live your life.  One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” I think this quote is extremely important to us as young adults.  We should adopt a willing-to-learn attitude and hold our curiosity towards things around us. The society will only improve if people are able to spot the flaws in current technology and constantly make improvement on it. Hence a right attitude and right posture of heart is very important for the overall development of mankind.

One interesting point that caught my attention was the discussion about the superbug brought up by Kelly during presentation. I would like to emphasize one key point that doctor ought to give his patient the most effective and affordable medicine even though there is a risk of producing “superbug”. I think there is an ethical issue here, as the doctor should provide the best for the patients since the patients place their trust fully onto you. However, we cannot ignore the problem of “superbug” which will post a severe threat every society in the world. Hence I think in order to solve the problem without compromising on the ethical part is through education and raise awareness about the issue. There is a significant amount of people in the public do not or not sure about the cause of the “superbug” and more importantly they do not understand the importance of its prevention. Hence government has to raise the awareness through publicity just like how they educate people about smoking. Besides, the doctor should also explain to the patient the importance of taking full cycle of their medicine and the severe consequences that may be resulted if they do not obey. I think through these methods, the problem of “superbug” should be able to ease to a certain extend.

Another issue I would like to discuss about is the designer baby. I think there are sufficient discussions during the class and I think most people agree that it is ok to genetically modify the baby if he is suffering from some natural defect. I think a set of regulation should be in placed in order to stop these arguments from going on and on. The regulation should include that under what situation it is ok to modify the baby and what kind of modification is prohibited. The rules should be agreed by majority of the countries around the world and with these common understanding, abuses of such technology and other ethical problems will disappear.  

I shall rate today’s class 9 out of 10 due to the overwhelming response and really interesting discussion topics. Looking forward to more exciting lessons in the following week.

TWC Group Project Outline

Group Member

- Bai Zhipeng Darius (Coordinator)

- Andrew Krygsman

- Paula Tay Shen Yueh

- Joseph Jin Mingyi

TWC Project Outline

Executive Summary

·      Definition of Nanotechnology

·      Brief description of the project

Rationale for choosing nanotechnology in medication

·      Disruptive Innovation

·      Brought revolutionary change to healthcare industry

·      Enormous benefits

1.     Improve the method of delivery of medicine

2.     Enhance medical treatment of terminal diseases such as cancer

3.     Discovery of new medicine

History of Nanotechnology

·      Discovery of Nanotechnology

·      Application to medical field

·      Compare the methods of treatment and their ineffectiveness before nanotechnology was discovered

Present

·      Progress of nanotechnology in medical field today

·      Impacts of nanotechnology to the society

·      Limitations faced by scientist

Future Advancement

·      Potential improvement

1.     Scar-less stitching

2.     Cure for Cancer

3.     More Cost-efficient

4.     Improve availability

Discussion Issues

·      Does nanotechnology favor the rich only? Will the poor get equal access to nanotechnology?

·      How would the use of nanotechnology in medicine be regulated?

·      Is the material non-toxic and eco-friendly?

Conclusion
Compare and contrast the benefits and drawbacks of nanotechnology
Useful or harmful????

Session 5

Session 5

Today’s lesson we discussed the changes and impacts brought about by the development of information technology. This topic is very relevant to us because we are living in a connected world where everyone is being connected in some ways or another. I think most of us will be unable to survive without Internet or handphone for just a single day.

One key take away from this lesson is the difference between web 2.0 and 3.0. This is the first time I hear about the differences and I think this improvement though not revolutionary, has great improvement to the Internet development. The integration from web 2.0 to 3.0 is the semantic web links information together in a way that is both useful and automatic rather than manual and disjointed. In other words, the website is able to provide more intelligent search results based on our request as all the information and data are jointed through the semantic web. This improvement not only improves working efficiency but also enhance accuracy during research. Moreover web 3.0 allows user engagement, which is a very useful tool in today’s web page. Web users able to freely express and share their thoughts and ideas to one another through this useful function and thus further enhance the channel of communication.

During the presentation, one of the speakers brought up the issue of Ford cars can be used as a source of Internet. I think this idea of combining cars and Internet into one is a very good idea. However regarding the usefulness in terms of enhancing safety and implementation in Singapore, I hold a different opinion from most of the classmates. I think that safety will not be greatly enhanced due to this technology because firstly when accident happens, the driver will not have enough time to react to the computer. As for the congestion issue, currently in Singapore every expressway there are electronic signboards that update drivers regarding the road condition and radio stations constantly broadcasting road conditions as well. Hence with these infrastructures in place now, is it worth investing a huge amount of money into this industry??? One very important factors to be considered is that if Singapore government decide to implement it, then it should enforce every car to install it because if only some cars installed the system then the system will not serve its purpose. Hence in order for the system to work, every car on the road must install the system. As a result, car price is going to rise and demand for cars may fall as a result. Another issue to consider is the privacy issue which has brought up by one of the classmates during lesson. With this system in place, many privacy and security issue will arise. For example, terrorists will be able to track the travelling route of the president as well as the surrounding environment, security force etc. that will increase the chance of terrorism. Hence, in my opinion even if this technology made available in the near future, due to all these considerations it will be very unlikely to be implemented in large scale in Singapore.

Overall I give this lesson 8/10 because I think the topics that we discussed today are pretty interesting and the individual presentations have shown improvement compared to the past.

Individual Topical Report Outline

The invention of water purification

Executive summary

In this report, I am going to introduce to you the historical background of water purification and also the modern methods of purification. More importantly, we need to know the importance of water purification in our modern society and its application. I will also discuss the current obstacles that hinder the progress of water purification, business opportunities from water related industries and its future development.

Rationale for choosing this topic

- Clean water is a necessity for living but the supply of clean water is extremely scarce.

- Water related disease (Cholera, Diarrheal) cause 1.8 million deaths each and every year.

- In the developing world, the cumulative effect of water-related disease stifles economic growth and stresses healthcare systems that are already overloaded.

- The access to clean water is becoming one of the largest issues due to its severity.

- The best solution to solve the issue is through water purification methods to obtain clean water. A single Reverse Osmosis Water Purification Units can sustain a roughly 1,000 to 6,000 people.

The invention and improvement of various water purification methods going to be the solution for all these problems.

Background Introduction

Today, people are becoming more aware of the importance to drinking water, with that awareness comes the concern about the quality of water they are drinking, water that looks drinkable can contain harmful substances that may cause illness if ingested. Communities get their water from rivers and lakes (surface water), from springs and wells (groundwater) or from both surface and ground, these sources of fresh water makes up less than 1% of the total water resources on earth. About 97% of the water on earth is found in the oceans. Most of the rest is frozen in the polar ice caps and in glaciers.

According to a 2007 World Health Organization report, 1.1 billion people lack access to an improved drinking water supply, 88% of the 4 billion annual cases of diarrheal disease are attributed to unsafe water and inadequate sanitation and hygiene, and 1.8 million people die from diarrheal diseases each year. 

Cited from http://len7288.hubpages.com/hub/Methods-of-Water-Treatment

                   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_purification

                                                                                      

Historical Background

Water purification first invented by the Greek at around 2000 BC. People back then knew that heating water might purify it, and they were also educated in sand and gravel filtration, boiling, and straining.

In 1627 the water treatment history continued as Sir Francis Bacon started experimenting with seawater desalination.

In the 1700s the first water filters for domestic application were applied.

1804 the first actual municipal water treatment plant designed by Robert Thom, was built in Scotland.

In 1902 calcium hypo chlorite and ferric chloride were mixed in a drinking water supply in Belgium, resulting in both coagulation and disinfection.

In 1903 water softening was invented as a technique for water desalination

In 1949 Reverse Osmosis was invented

Social Impact

20^th Century

South Korea made huge investments in water and sanitation during the1960s, when its per capita income was the same as Ghana's, and during that decade, under-five mortality more than halved, while the number of medical staff stayed virtually the same. (WaterAid)

In the UK the expansion of water and sanitation infrastructure in the 1880s contributed to a 15-year increase in life expectancy in the following four decades. (HDR, 2006)

http://www.wateraid.org/uk/what_we_do/statistics/default.asp

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm4829a1.htm#fig1

Current Situation

A global crisis

884 million people in the world do not have access to safe water. This is roughly one in eight of the world's population. (WHO/UNICEF)

2.6 billion people in the world do not have access to adequate sanitation; this is almost two fifths of the world's population. (WHO/UNICEF)

1.4 million children die every year from diarrhoea caused by unclean water and poor sanitation - 4,000 child deaths a day or one child every 20 seconds. This equates to 160 infant school classrooms lost every single day to an entirely preventable public health crisis. (WHO/WaterAid)

Reducing Water-Related Disease Impact of Improved Water Infrastructure, Selected Studies
Place	Type of Facilities or Improvement	Type of Study	Diseases	Difference in Incidence After Improvement
Uttar Pradesh, India	Piped water	Before and after	Dysentery	76% reduction
Kwara State, Nigeria	Boreholes, hand pumps, and health education	Before and after	Dracunculosis	81% reduction
Cebu, Philippines	Private, sanitary latrines	Before and after	Diarrheal diseases	42% reduction
Lusaka, Zambia	Extension of piped water supply	Before and after	Typhoid	37% reduction

http://www.k4health.org/pr/m14/m14table.shtml

http://www.k4health.org/pr/m14/m14figs.shtml#top

Future Goals

http://www.k4health.org/pr/m14/m14figs.shtml#top

Methods of Water Treatment:

·      Desalination

·      Reverse Osmosis

·      Filtration

·      Disinfection

·      Coagulation

Detailed explanation of Water Treatment for better understanding

Economic Impact

http://www.weforum.org/issues/water

Business Opportunities from Water purification

·      Clean water is also an industry with huge potential. Companies such as Pure Water are the leading firms in the industry.

·      Household water-purification system

·      Industrial waste water treatment

·      According to a recent report by Lux Research, water use is projected to grow globally to 40 percent by 2030, and water-related revenues are projected to grow from around $500 billion in 2007 to nearly $1 trillion by 2030.

Political Impact

Case Study: Solving the Water Shortage Is the
Key to Mideast Peace

http://www.schillerinstitute.org/economy/phys_econ/phys_EIR-20_5-19-01.html

Obstacles Facing Now

- Cost of setting up and also the cost of purified water are too high

- Efficiency of the method

- Availability of the equipment

Other Applications of the technology

- Drinking water

- Food Industry

- Other industries (Car washing)

Future Improvement

- Increase in research to improve the efficiency as well as lower the costs

- Through sustainable water treatment development

- Examples of some emerging technologies