Critical thinking reflection

 

When I first received the notification email of the module intake for this trimester, I was wondering why do we need to take a module namely “Critical thinking and communication”? Isn’t it every day that every person is already in thinking and in communication? It’s such a natural born matter even a baby who doenst know how to speak but still they can communicate with others via their body language or voice expression. Then what is the goal for us to study in this module? What is the intake about? How does it relate to engineering courses? I am curious about it, and it thus creates some interest in me to find out more.

 

The more I go in depth about this module, the more I agree that, yes, we need to learn about communication and think critically. Effective communication either via writing or speaking will reflect your personality. Good use the communication tools can help to achieve your goal via critical thinking. Your thinking which makes you different from anybody else in the world. I am so glad that eventually all these communications and thinking tools can be learned, trained, and improved. This is why we are taking the module. I strongly believe that the learning outcome will not just apply in the engineering course. But it does apply in our daily life as well.

 

In real life, we can see different cases happening around. Most of time, people can speak doesn’t mean that he/she can speak well. As the words they speak can deliver rightfully to others who are listening are always unknown. Same goes for writing. The module teaches us to think in depth, dive into every topic discussed, and make the content more interesting and valuable. The module also teaches us techniques about how to communicate effectively via oral and writing. The key word is always ‘effectively’!

 

Besides the module concept of learning, we had also given the task in team work to write a technical report. This is a nightmare for me as I know that writing is always my weakness. Not to say we must write in proper language, with proper citation and references quote. Technical report presentation must be a very formal way of writing.

 

After studying in this module, I started to tell myself that writing can never be my weak point forever. This is how we learn to think critically. Assumptions that underlie our thoughts and actions can be changed to more inclusive and integrated.

 

I am so glad can learn together with all my teammates. They all have different strengths. Each of us contributed our efforts to make up the delivery of our technical report. Besides technical knowledge is earned, I had also earned inner growing from team works process in school. It works slightly different from school and work.

 

In school teamwork is more theoretical. Everything is presented via writing or oral presentation only. But when comes to work, it is more on actual result, whether it is practically workable. At work, profitable is also the key issue to consider with. This is the huge difference between academic and workplace. But I do believe that whatever we learned from academic somehow will apply sooner in work place one day and maybe that is the factor to determine whether the project can success or not.

 

Lastly but not least, critical thinking and communication module is a great module to learn with.

Tech Report - Letter of Transmittal

 

2 April, 2023

Subject: Transmittal of Proposal Report

  To : BCA Construction Productivity & Quality Group

  Dear Ms. Adeline Loo (Director),

 

In response to a letter of authorization dated 1 March, 2023, the team submits herewith a design proposal report entitled “Emboldening Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DfMA) in Construction: A Productivity Boost from Small to Big” along with this letter.

 

Our study proposes a new solution system of DfMA technology in terms of lightweight prefabricated/ prefitted non-load bearing walls to be available in local prefabrication plants that is designed to address the constraints of small-scale construction projects. In the way to boost their construction efficiency, reduce overall costs engaged, and increase their profitability.

 

We would like to thank you for reading through the proposal. We hope that this proposal will provide you with sufficient details on the potential improvements to make DfMA technology widely used in construction even in small scale projects. Questions relating to any aspects of the proposal should be directed at us. Your consideration of our proposal is greatly appreciated.

 

 

Yours sincerely,

DfMA Studies Team

Summary Reader Response Draft 3 – Final Copy - Plastic-eating Enzyme Could Eliminate Billions of Tons of Landfill Waste

 A group of engineers and scientists at The University of Texas at Austin discovered a modified enzyme called FAST-PETase and tested it over 51 different types of plastic containers (UT NEWS, 2022). It allows plastics recycling process at the molecular level by breaking down the consumed plastic molecule into small parts to reform then reuse again in just short hours to days. (Nature, 2022).

The project mainly focuses on polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a significant polymer found in most consumer packaging (Nature, 2022) which makes up 12% of all global waste and doesn’t degrade over centuries.  Through the research and machine learning model, the demonstration results reveal a huge improvement after 15 years of research on enzymes for plastic recycling. FAST-PETase ables to degrade the consumed plastics at low ambient temperature which exciting the research teams aiming for cleaning up landfills and greening high waste-producing industries at soon and near future. The article reports also said that compared to traditional ways to cut down on plastics waste such as burning, landfill, or alternative industrial processes which are generally not environmentally friendly yet at a high cost, the biological solutions proven take less energy, more affordable and efficient at large industrial scale use.

However, my opinion is that the best cure to treat plastic pollution is always from reducing the use of plastic globally. This can be achieved through raising awareness of plastic pollution to all the people. As well as to improve the government policies globally.

According to the trade association Plastics Europe, worldwide plastic production grew from some 1.5 million metric tons (about 1.7 million short tons) per year in 1950 to an estimated 275 million metric tons (about 303 million short tons) by 2010 and 359 million metric tons (nearly 396 million short tons) by 2018. (Moore, Charles, 2023). It is expected to double in capacity by 2040. (UN NEWS, 2022)

These figures raised the global worries if our future generations will be doomed by plastic waste one day. Not to say the impacts of plastic pollution on the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature loss and pollution are a catastrophe in the making, the UN agency said, with exposure to plastics harming human health, and potentially affecting fertility, hormonal, metabolic and neurological activity, while open burning of plastics contributes to air pollution. (UN NEWS, 2022).

The increasing numbers in plastic waste globally is too fast speedy than its treatment and solution can be provided. Such as the discovery of the FAST-PETase plastic eating enzyme which taken about 15 years’ time in research history. But the plastic wastage increased to about 90 million short tons in just 8 years’ time (from 2010 to 2018). The fact tells us that we can’t only rely on plastic enzymes to tackle plastic pollution. Thus, reducing plastic use becomes crucial and important to address the plastic pollution matter.

“Plastic pollution has grown into an epidemic. With today’s resolution we are officially on track for a cure.” Said by Espen Barth Eide, the President of the Assembly, and Norway’s Minister for Climate and the Environment. (UN NEWS, 2022)

Awareness of the serious consequences of plastic pollution is increasing globally, and new solutions, including the increasing use of biodegradable plastics and a “zero waste” philosophy, are being embraced by governments and the public. (Laura Parker, 2022) This is already a global problem; thus, we need a global solution to solve it. One nation’s regulations do not prevent another nation’s waste from reaching its shores.

It also resulted a legal binding instrument started in year 2022 and expected to end by year 2024 established internationally, which would reflect diverse alternatives to address the full lifecycle of plastics, the design of reusable and recyclable products and materials, and the need for enhanced international collaboration to facilitate access to technology, to allow the revolutionary plan to be realized. (UN NEWS, 2022) According to UN Environment Programme (UNEP), this legal binding which worked by an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) formed from various nation aim to share knowledge and best practices in different parts of the world.

 

In conclusion, with the efforts supported by countries and governments globally in which government policies being enhanced and in force, plastic pollution awareness believed will increase tremendously among families and individuals around the world. By increasing public awareness on plastic pollution, we should be able to reduce the production or generation of plastic wastage. On the other hand, scientists and researchers are continuing to discover more powerful plastic enzymes or other more efficient plastic treatment solutions to treat plastic wastage. We should believe that one day later plastic use will not become a global threat to our beloved Earth and peoples anymore.

It is very clear that plastic solution can never be a few years pause but may take decades into a perfect solution to prevent our Earth ecosystem collapse. It is everyone’s responsible to contribute the efforts to protect our Earth.

 

Total : 820 words

 

 

References :

 

UT NEWS. (2022, Apr 27). Plastic eating enzyme could eliminate billions of tons of landfill.

https://news.utexas.edu/2022/04/27/plastic-eating-enzyme-could-eliminate-billions-of-tons-of-landfill-waste/#:~:text=Apr%2027%2C%202022-,Plastic%2Deating%20Enzyme%20Could%20Eliminate%20Billions%20of%20Tons%20of%20Landfill,matter%20of%20hours%20to%20days

 

Lu, H., Diaz, D.J., Czarnecki, N.J. et al. Machine learning-aided engineering of hydrolases for

PET depolymerization. Nature 604, 662–667 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-04599-z

 

UN NEWS. (2022, March 2). Nations sign up to end global scourge of plastic pollution.

https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/03/1113142

 

Laura Parker. (2022, March 3). The world’s nation agree to fix the plastic waste crisis.

National Geographic. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/world-nations-agree-to-fix-the-plastic-waste-crisis

 

Moore, Charles. (2023, Jan 5). Plastic pollution. Encyclopedia Britannica.

https://www.britannica.com/science/plastic-pollution.

 

Summary Reader Response Draft 1 - Plastic-eating Enzyme Could Eliminate Billions of Tons of Landfill Waste

 

A group of engineers and scientists at The University of Texas at Austin discovered a modified enzyme called FAST-PETase and tested it over 51 different types of plastic containers (UT NEWS, 2022). It allows plastics recycling process at the molecular level by breaking down the consumed plastic molecule into small parts to reform then reuse again in just short hours to days. (Nature, 2022).

The project mainly focuses on polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a significant polymer found in most consumer packaging (Nature, 2022) which makes up 12% of all global waste and doesn’t degrade over centuries.  Through the research and machine learning model, the demonstration results reveal a huge improvement after 15 years of research on enzymes for plastic recycling. FAST-PETase ables to degrade the consumed plastics at low ambient temperature which exciting the research teams aiming for cleaning up landfills and greening high waste-producing industries at soon and near future.

Compared to traditional ways to cut down on plastics waste such as burning, landfill, or alternative industrial processes which are generally not environmentally friendly yet at a high cost, the biological solutions proven take less energy, more affordable and efficient at large industrial scale use. However, my opinion is, the best cure to treat plastic pollution is always from prevention and less use in plastic but not only through the huge efforts to eliminate the used plastic waste.

According to the trade association Plastics Europe, worldwide plastic production grew from some 1.5 million metric tons (about 1.7 million short tons) per year in 1950 to an estimated 275 million metric tons (about 303 million short tons) by 2010 and 359 million metric tons (nearly 396 million short tons) by 2018; between 4.8 million and 12.7 million metric tons (5.3 million and 14 million short tons) are discarded into the oceans annually by countries with ocean coastlines. (Moore, Charles, 2023). Not counting the amount which is left on the land yet.

These figures raised the global worries if our future generations will be doomed by plastic waste one day. Not to say the impacts of plastic pollution on the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature loss and pollution are a catastrophe in the making, the UN agency said, with exposure to plastics harming human health, and potentially affecting fertility, hormonal, metabolic and neurological activity, while open burning of plastics contributes to air pollution. (UN NEWS 2022). The increasing numbers in plastic waste globally is far speedy than its treatment and solution, such as the discovery of the FAST-PETase plastic eating enzyme which taken about 15 years’ time in research history.

“Plastic pollution has grown into an epidemic. With today’s resolution we are officially on track for a cure.” Said by Espen Barth Eide, the President of the Assembly, and Norway’s Minister for Climate and the Environment. (UN NEWS, 2022)

Awareness of the serious consequences of plastic pollution is increasing globally, and new solutions, including the increasing use of biodegradable plastics and a “zero waste” philosophy, are being embraced by governments and the public. (Laura Parker, 2022) This is already a global problem; thus, we need a global solution to solve it. One nation’s regulations do not prevent another nation’s waste from reaching its shores.

It resulted a legal binding instrument started in year 2022 and expected to end by year 2024 established internationally, which would reflect diverse alternatives to address the full lifecycle of plastics, the design of reusable and recyclable products and materials, and the need for enhanced international collaboration to facilitate access to technology, to allow the revolutionary plan to be realized. (UN NEWS, 2022) According to UN Environment Programme (UNEP), this legal binding which worked by an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) formed from various nation aim to share knowledge and best practices in different parts of the world.

In conclusion, with the efforts supported by countries and governments globally, plastic pollution awareness believed will increase tremendously among families and individuals around the world. On one hand, we should be able to reduce the production or generation of plastic wastage. On the other hand, scientists and researchers are continuing to discover powerful plastic enzymes or other more efficient plastic treatment solutions. We should believe that one day later plastic use will not become a global threat to our beloved Earth and peoples anymore.

It is very clear that plastic solution can never be a few years pause but may take decades into a perfect solution to prevent our Earth ecosystem collapse.

References :

UT NEWS. (2022, Apr 27). Plastic eating enzyme could eliminate billions of tons of landfill.  https://news.utexas.edu/2022/04/27/plastic-eating-enzyme-could-eliminate-billions-of-tons-of-landfill-waste/#:~:text=Apr%2027%2C%202022-,Plastic%2Deating%20Enzyme%20Could%20Eliminate%20Billions%20of%20Tons%20of%20Landfill,matter%20of%20hours%20to%20days  

Lu, H., Diaz, D.J., Czarnecki, N.J. et al. Machine learning-aided engineering of hydrolases for PET depolymerization. Nature 604, 662–667 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-04599-z

UN NEWS. (2022, March 2). Nations sign up to end global scourge of plastic pollution. https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/03/1113142

Laura Parker. (2022, March 3). The world’s nation agree to fix the plastic waste crisis. National Geographic. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/world-nations-agree-to-fix-the-plastic-waste-crisis

Moore, Charles. (2023, Jan 5). Plastic pollution. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/science/plastic-pollution. 

Summary Draft 2 (REVISED) - Introduction + Thesis P1 on Topic : Plastic-eating Enzyme Could Eliminate Billions of Tons of Landfill Waste

 

A group of engineers and scientists at The University of Texas at Austin discovered a modified enzyme called FAST-PETase and tested it over 51 different types of plastic containers (UT NEWS, 2022). It allows plastics recycling process at the molecular level by breaking down the consumed plastic molecule into small parts to reform then reuse again in just short hours to days. (Nature, 2022).

The project mainly focuses on polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a significant polymer found in most consumer packaging (Nature, 2022) which makes up 12% of all global waste and doesn’t degrade over centuries.  Through the research and machine learning model, the demonstration results reveal a huge improvement after 15 years of research on enzymes for plastic recycling. FAST-PETase ables to degrade the consumed plastics at low ambient temperature which exciting the research teams aiming for cleaning up landfills and greening high waste-producing industries at soon and near future.

Compared to traditional ways to cut down on plastics waste such as burning, landfill, or alternative industrial processes which are generally not environmentally friendly yet at a high cost, the biological solutions proven take less energy, more affordable and efficient at large industrial scale use. However, my opinion is, the best cure to treat plastic pollution is always from prevention and less use in plastic but not only through the huge efforts to eliminate the used plastic waste.

Summary Draft 1 - Introduction on Topic : Plastic-eating Enzyme Could Eliminate Billions of Tons of Landfill Waste

 

A group of engineers and scientists at The University of Texas at Austin discovered a modified enzyme called FAST-PETase and tested it over 51 different types of plastic containers. It allows plastics recycling process at the molecular level by breaking down the consumed plastic molecule into small parts to reform then reuse again in just short hours to days. (Nature, Apr 2022).

The project mainly focuses on polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a significant polymer found in most consumer packaging which makes up 12% of all global waste and doesn’t degrade over centuries. Through the research and machine learning model, the demonstration results reveal a huge improvement after 15 years of research on enzymes for plastic recycling. FAST-PETase ables to degrade the consumed plastics at low ambient temperature which exciting the research teams aiming for cleaning up landfills and greening high waste-producing industries at soon and near future.

Compared to traditional ways to cut down on plastics waste such as burning, landfill, or alternative industrial processes which are generally not environmentally friendly yet at a high cost, the biological solutions proven take less energy, more affordable and efficient at large industrial scale use.

Week 2 - Self Formal Introductory Letter

 Dear Professor Blackstone,

My name is Lim Wan Chung. I am writing this letter to introduce myself. Unlikely most of my course mate whose beginning their interest in engineering field since their school days or some even was already embarked by their growing background since childhood days. I only getting slow and more interest into engineering field after I start to work. The interest and love into Civil Engineering was accumulated only along the days.

I loves Mathematics since I am still a child. The first reason lead me choosing the Civil Engineering course in my Diploma study which completed in Malaysia just simply because I found that only Civil Engineering course structures having the most subjects involving in Mathematics and calculation. 

I had been worked in Singapore for years after graduated from my Diploma In Civil Engineering as a draftman, project coordinator, assistant engineer, site supervisor etc. During my working days, I had continued my studying and managed to complete the Mass Communication in Advanced Diploma with MDIS, also getting my Degree Cert in Construction Project Management with Heriot-Watt University.

The career path being changed after the graduation mentioned above. I had started to work on freelance and project basis with few associate consultant and construction firm as their Project Manager/ Consultant. The further studying while still working making me the clearer picture on who am I, and what do I wish to achieve further in my career life.  I hope I can see the more 'impossible' building will being built in their possible ways with the more advances in engineering/technology field around the world. 

Personality, I am a sporty man. I had been exploring all kind of sports eg. hiking, running, cycling, diving etc. I love hiking the most and used to hike at least once in a year before Covid time. To make up my hiking trip, i had trained my fitness and stamina with routine and regular jogging, as well as monthly off road cycling. It accompanied with few completion in Half and Full Marathon through out the years.  I felt proud with the achievement in hiking to Everest Base Camp, Mount Kota Kinabalu, Indonesia's Mount Rinjani,  and quite a few lots mountains in Malaysia too. During hiking time, every single walk and step make up the final achievement to reach up the hill top. I found it's quite similar in building's history. Peoples start to build a single storey's building more than a decade's back. But today the highest building in the world named as Burj Khalifa which located at Dubai is built at about 828m high consist of 162 floors. 

Perhaps the most advantage for me to enroll with this course is my related working background and experience in the industry. However, I do wish that this will not become a kerb stopping me from keep learning and improving myself. I really feel enjoying coming back to school again and studying together with all the lovely and kindness peers and professors. There are so much fun things to learn and re-learn again!

With not having English as my mother tongue language,  I am having difficulties to express my writing in a formal and influent English. Though how I wish if all things can be expressed in point format may make my study life much more easier. Especially I find out there are a lot of reading, thinking, expression required in this module. It's a challenge to me but I hope to encounter this shortage during my further studying days.

Lastly but not least, I am glad to have this module in this trimester. 

Thank you for being our module Professor. 

Yours Sincerely, 

Wan Chung