Monday, March 30, 2009

Post #7

What difficulties do you have writing in your university classes? How do you resolve these difficulties? How will you continue to improve? Use approximately 300 words.

1.I have encountered problem while brainstorming of ideas that are nedded in the writing. This may be due to the lack of reading of articles. This problem can be resolved by using the search engine to search for articles related to the writing. Hence, ideas can be generated after reading through these articles. Alternatively, I used the mind-mapping method to see how each small ideas can be linked/related to each other.

2.Another difficulty that I have encountered while writing is grammar. The questions that I will ponder are:
1.Which tenses should I use?
2.Which pronounce should I use?
I resolved this problem by checking through the writing to see if there is any grammar error that need to be corrected.

3.The third problem that I have encountered while writing is phrasing. Because of the limited vocabulary that I have, it is very difficult to think of the appropriate words to use and also how can I phrase it in a way that I want it to turn out to be. Furthermore, the problem turns even worst when I am thinking in chinese and need to translate it into english. Normally, I will resolve this problem by writing the translated phrase down and think it over again and again, to see if there is any improvement that can be make.

4.The last difficulty that I faced with while writing is the essay that I had written is not up to the word limits. I will resolve this problem by reading through the essay again and again, to check if there is any things that I can add into the essay.

I will continue to improve my writing by doing the pre-writing and proofreading.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Post #6

3 grammars mistakes:

1.Articles
Incorrect version
“For example, in the manufacturing of fishball, if the company spends a huge sum in purchasing these machines to replace manual production of fishballs, and if it turns out that the consumers do not like these machine-made fishballs, they have to switch to buying fishballs manufactured by another company.”

The mistake make in this paragraph is article. The word “company” is specific and countable, therefore should use ‘a’ instead of ‘the’. Another word “consumers” should not have inserted ‘the’ in front of it. Because “consumers” in this paragraph is plural countable noun, which is nonspecified.

Correct version
“For example, in the manufacturing of fishball, if a company spends a huge sum in purchasing these machines to replace manual production of fishballs, and if it turns out that consumers do not like these machine-made fishballs, they have to switch to buying fishballs manufactured by another company.”

2.Moda1
Incorrect version
“Lastly, some critics argue that since these technologies can help to analyze a person thoughts, and hence if everybody can use these technologies, it can helps reduce any incidents or mishaps from happening.”

The mistake make in this paragraph is modal. Modals do not take on –s as they do not indicate number of person. The word “helps” should not have –s.

Correct version
“Lastly, some critics argue that since these technologies can help to analyze a person thoughts, and hence if everybody can use these technologies, it can help reduce any incidents or mishaps from happening.”

3.Pronounce Reference
Incorrect version
“If there are more of these technologies, which can replace human labor, it will mean that more people are going to lose their job.”

The mistake make in this paragraph is pronounce reference. The word “job” should has –s, because it refers to “their”. A plural pronounce refers to plural word or phrase.

Correct version
“If there are more of these technologies, which can replace human labor, it will mean that more people are going to lose their jobs.”

Monday, March 16, 2009

Post 5

During the roundtable discussion, my group discussed on whether the institutions or governments should regulate the use of these technologies, which can be used to analyze the brain thoughts. Followings are the points discussed:

Should regulate
The first speaker, Jia Ru discussed that more researches should be done before these technologies can be used. Furthermore, she had also mentioned that if the governments or institutions did not regulate the use of these technologies, the problem of abusing may aroused.

The second speaker, Shuaixiang further elaborate on why more researches should be done.

The third speaker, Jian Feng mentioned that the use of these technologies invade others’ privacy. However, the opponent, Alicia counter-argued that permission has to be seek before these technologies can be used on the person, and that the user of these technologies should not see the patient’s face. The user and the patient need to be separated in order to keep the patient’s information confidential.

Should not regulate
The first speaker, Angela talks on the advantages of using these technologies. One of the advantages of using these technologies are it can help to detect diseases without having to suffer any pains. Furthermore, these technologies can be used for psychology and she had cited an example. In the recent NTU’S case, where a fourth year student stabbed his professor and committed suicide after that. Hence, if these technologies can be used, it can prevent such incident from occurring. However, the opponent, Jian Feng counter-argued that it is actually invading other’s privacy. What would happen if these technologies captured the thoughts of a person while he/she is thinking of his/her bank account number? Therefore, the use of these technologies is like “hacking” a person’s thought.

The second speaker, Alicia discussed that the use of these technologies can be used to control the robots and hence it can help both the able and disable in the or daily work.

Finally, the modulator, Nurul’ain concluded that the governments or institutions should regulate the use of these technologies.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Post 4

Article 1
Ethics and mapping the brain

In this article, it touches on the disadvantages of using technologies to find out what a person is thinking and also the issues that may arise when these technologies are used. One of the disadvantages is the example given; the case of Nancy, a hypothetical airline pilot who was fired after her brain images show that she might develop schizophrenia. One of the issues discussed is access. When the image of everybody’s head is stored in a file, who will have the rights to access these information?

APA Citation
This article is extracted from the Washington Times, titled “Ethics and mapping the brain” and is written L. Marano, published on 3rd June 2003.

Usefulness
This article is very useful since it has stated the disadvantages and ethics issue that might arise when using these technologies.

5 relevant vocabulary words/phrases and their definition
1.pedophilia - sexual desire in an adult for a child.
2.Hypothetical – logical
3.Genomics - the study of genomes
4.Predisposition - tendency to a condition or quality, usually based on the combined effects of genetic and environmental factors.
5.Juggernaut - any large, overpowering, destructive force or object, as war, a giant battleship, or a powerful football team

Article 2
A computer that can ‘Read’ Your Mind

In this article, it discuss on how the researchers continue to develop more advanced computational modeling to analyze the brain’s patterns. An example is the use of functional Magnetic Resonance Imagining (fMRI). fMRI is used to detect the brain’s activity. Based on these data, the researchers developed a computational modeling which allowed the computer to analyze what the subject was thinking. A more advanced computational modeling was developed recently, to analyze the brain activation patters. This way of analyzing a person’s thought is quite accurate. Hence it can be used in the study of autism, disorders of thought.

APA Citation
This article is published by the National Science Foundation on 30th May 2008 and it was retrieved on 6th August 2008 from the website stated.

Usefulness
This article is not very useful since it only talks about the advantages of using biomedical equipment to analyze the brain patterns, it did not discuss on the disadvantages of using the technology..

5 relevant vocabulary words/phrases and their definition
1.Folklore - the traditional beliefs, legends, customs, etc., of a people; lore of a people
2.Computational Modeling - a computer program, or network of computers, that attempts to simulate an abstract model of a particular system.
3.Frontal - of, pertaining to, or situated near the forehead or the frontal bone
4.Schizophrenia - a severe mental disorder characterized by some, but not necessarily all, of the following features: emotional blunting, intellectual deterioration, social isolation, disorganized speech and behavior, delusions, and hallucinations.
5.Semantic dementias - a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by loss of semantic memory in both the verbal and non-verbal domains.