Personal Reflection 2

           This class is one of the most benifential english classes that I have attended so far. It's because it taught us how to work with the basics of doing a summary, research and wrting a report. What I liked most was the summarys section where I believe it will help me in the future with my lectures. I have definatelly improved in doing research which is the worst part for me when writing a paper, but I have realized that if I have picked the topic in such as essay 1, it would be easy, rather than in essay 2 we had the topic chosen for us. This was my biggest challenge, where I was procrascinating to finish to assignment because I had no intrest in it or because it seemed hard to me. Over all, this was a nice course to be in. The teacher is very understanding and the classmates were very cooperative.

Essay 2

Materials Economy

Introduction

          There is a cycle to almost everything in this world. For example, humans, trees and rain each work within a certain cycle but how about the cycle of materials economy? Most people don’t know who is behind it or who participates in it. It is mostly governments and corporations who are behind this way of living and the public are the ones participating in it. Based on the “Story of Stuff” video, this cycle goes through five main phases: extraction, production, distribution, consumption and disposal. From my point of view, the UAE does participate in this system but is also starting to use a new system that is environment friendly. For instance, building green communities and using renewable sources such as the solar energy.

Extraction

          Extraction can also be expressed as turning the world into garbage. By that we mean using all the natural sources we have such as forests by chopping them off and leading animals to extinction because we are getting rid of their habitat. “Today humanity uses an equivalent of 1.5 planets to provide the resources we use and absorb our waste” (World Footprint, 2012).This being said means we have to find other ways or other resources without harming our existence.

Production

          The main element her eat the production process is toxins. Where almost everything being produced contains toxic chemicals therefore it harms the environment. Not only that but it also affect these workers who work at those production industries by having to deal with toxics every day.  Moreover, these people are forced to work at such places because their homes are being destroyed in order to uses the sources; which leads them to move to bigger cities and find whatever job there is to survive. Why is that? It is because “in this system if you don’t own or buy a lot of stuff, you don’t have value” (Story of Stuff, 2007).

Distribution

          At this process what has been produced is being sold. Basically what it means is that all the toxic materials made are being bought by us. Therefore it is harmful not to people who consume it but to the environment as well. These materials are priced very inexpensively where “we aren’t really paying for the stuff we buy” (Story of Stuff, 2007) but the people whom lost their habitats and are forced to work at minimum wage to live.

Consumption

          Here is where it all happens, the most important role at the materials economy, consumption. People are buying things they don’t need just because everyone else is having it or using it. For example, the fashion industry. Clothes and even shoes there is a season for everything where these shoes are in trend and the next season they are out of trend. Therefore, we are obligated to buy more items just to make ourselves feel better instead of caring about getting happy in life.

Disposal

          After we are done with all the products we bought we have to dispose them by causing more harm to the environment by burning the stuff we got rid of. Here we are creating more toxic pollution and is known for dioxin. “Dioxin is the most toxic man made substance known to science. And inclinators are the number one source of dioxin” (Story of Stuff, 2007). Not just that but not to trash the developed countries with these poisonous chemicals they are sent to undeveloped countries doing them even more harm.

Consumerism in the UAE

          Here in the UAE people consume as much as people do in the US, maybe more. Where at a small place with a large population, pollution is concentrated in one area. That is why Masdar is always looking for renewable sources. Masdar and the international water summit are discussing to find solutions of how to use water as a renewable source in a way not to harm the environment. Their main job is to work “every day to provide water and sanitation services which create healthy living conditions, fuel the economy, protect the environment and enhance living conditions for the citizens of planet earth”. (Celsias, 2012)

Conclusion

          In other words, instead of making our planet and lives miserable, we can find other ways to a better life. For example, we can reduce the extraction of sources, produce more durable products, live in local communities and use minimum toxic materials as possible.

References

International Water Summit Launched in Abu Dhabi | Use Celsias.com - reduce global Celsius. (2012, January 19). Use Celsias.com - reduce global  Celsius. Retrieved May 28, 2012, from http://www.celsias.com/article/international-water-summit-launched-abu-dhabi/

Global Footprint Network. (n.d.). http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/world_footprint/. Retrieved May 28, 2012, from www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/world_footprint/

Leonard, A. (2007, December 4). Story of Stuff.  The Story of Stuff Project.  The Story of Stuff Project. Retrieved May 28, 2012, from http://www.storyofstuff.org/movies-all/story-of-stuff/

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Word Count: 800

Essay 2 Introduction

Materials Economy

          There is a cycle to almost everything in this world. For example, humans, trees and rain each work within a certain cycle but how about the cycle of materials economy? Most people don’t know who is behind it or who participates in it. It is mostly governments and corporations who are behind this way of living and the public are the ones participating in it. Based on the “Story of Stuff” video, this cycle goes through five main phases: extraction, production, distribution, consumption and disposal. From my point of view, the UAE does participate in this system but is also starting to use a new system that is environment friendly, for instance like building green communities and the use of renewable sources such as the solar energy.

Essay 1

Smart ID’s

          There are many smart cards nowadays and they are still increasing mostly due to security purposes. There are many varieties of smart ID’s since they first started to be in use. Some of these cards are used as phone cards, bank cards and even personal identification and all have to work under a certain procedure.

World governments require security procedures at all times, that is probably one of the first leading reasons to use smart ID’s. Having to memorize names, numbers and codes such as employee numbers is difficult and takes a long time to be verified. Therefore, approaching this new technology cuts time and saves money for the government and is at the same time secure. For example, banks were the first to introduce these smart cards to the world under the name of visa card and later master card. These came with magnetic stripes that saved personal data and can only be verified by the card holders. Many companies later came up with better cards which provide more space to hold more information.

At the time being huge developments have taken place into improving these ID’s that have several uses in many different fields. The major beneficial field of this technology is the mobile phone industry, where sim cards were launched that provided files saved into them such as contacts’ names and numbers. Not only were the people interested by the data saved in these cards but also the easy way to access this information has made it increase in a short amount of time. Nowadays almost every employee at a major company owns a smart ID. That is the card that holds one’s name, employee number, employee picture, blood group and some even includes fingerprints to verify card holders. By that companies are ensuring security and evaluating the performance of their employee’s. Yet this might seem very complicated to manage, an organization was founded under the name of The International Organization for Standardization which plays a role in developing standards for all these industries. The (ISO) offers to its customer’s confidentiality and availability where these companies benefit from it by having a competitive atmosphere against those who are not certified by the (ISO) program.

Industries are working on the future development of these smart ID’s by implying all the information they have into making ideas for new ways to use these cards. Even though computers have gone a long way since they first appeared, these companies are even trying to make them smaller by using this technology. What is also interesting is that a form of these smart id’s is the barcode tags; especially the ones on some products at the grocery store.it is thought that for future preferences it will be easier to go shopping for groceries if these barcodes were integrated well with technology. “Imagine going to the grocery store, filling up your cart and walking right out the door. No longer will you have to wait as someone rings up each item in your cart one at a time. Instead, these tags will communicate with an electronic reader that will detect every item in the cart and ring each up almost instantly… Your bank will then be notified and the amount of the bill will be deducted from your account. No lines, no waiting.”( Bonsor,2012)

No matter what type of  ID we are using, phone cards, credit cards, sim cards or personal identification,  they still share the same idea of having technology built into it with a high profile level of security under the name of smart ID's.

Works Cited

Bonsor, K. (n.d.). HowStuffWorks "How RFID Works". HowStuffWorks "Learn how Everything Works!". Retrieved April 17, 2012, from http://www.howstuffworks.com/gadgets/high-tech-gadgets/rfid.htm

Gage, T. (1999). Just the FAQS--smart cards.. Air Force Journal of Logistics, 23(2), 18. Retrieved April 11, 2012, from the Academic Search Premier database.

ISO IEC 27001. (n.d.). QMS, Quality Management Systems, Inc. | management systems audit | assessment | registration.. Retrieved April 17, 2012, from http://www.qms.net/iso-iec-27001

Zsolt, I., & Ãdam, Z. (2011, May 27). Smart Cards“ Present and Future1. www.crysys.hu. Retrieved April 11, 2012, from www.crysys.hu/publications/files/BertaM2000hir.pdf http://www.crysys.hu/publications/files/BertaM2000hir.pdf

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Word Count : 594

Summary 2

A Bright Idea within Reach

The UAE is depending on oil as a source of energy; whereas scientists believe that it should use other resources for energy. The UAE only uses solar power in very limited cases such as parking meters. The public are requesting to use solar sources as an alternative route for energy, but as yet there is no response from the government. Foreigners whose countries use solar power see that it is such a waste not to be taking advantage of the sun in the region. “There are only three to four hours of peak time when solar energy can be collected in Europe whereas there are six to seven hours in the UAE”(John, 2005). Academics in the UAE are looking into different sources to reduce pollution and labor in the future by the use of hybrid and solar systems.

References

John, S. (2005, January 8). gulfnews : Solar power: A bright idea within reach. gulfnews. Retrieved March 20, 2012, from http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/environment/solar-power-a-bright-idea-within-reach-1.273284

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Word Count : 138

Personal Reflection

Having to enter the semester late on its fifth week of classes does not give me a clear reflection of what this specific class is about but on the other hand I can tell you what I believe or hope I will learn from it. After attending a couple classes I've learned how to summarize articles to their minimum words, including just the main idea's, which will help me in the future when doing a research paper. Research paper is on the list of this class and I am hoping this will give me an idea of the basics on how to write a formal research paper flawlessly. I would like to state my opinion on how the rules of this college somehow affected me. For instance, to make a student begin classes late that affects the performance of a student and puts a lot of pressure having to accumulate with a number of subjects and to absorb all the information at once. Hopefully the college works on such matters and tries to minimize these errors.

Summary 1

Houbara Bustards

The numbers of houbara bustards has been decreasing throughout the past decades due to illegal human actions such as hunting. The UAE’s government has opened a houbara reproduction center in Morocco in order to save those birds from extinction. The center works in a very careful plan; from breeding, examining sperm samples, training and the number of birds let go every season. After the eggs are laid, most of the houbara’s are released into the wild. “Chicks due for the release are kept in wire cages ... They are then released in two batches in one of two stretches of land.” Says Vesela. ( Todorova,2011). The programme has been a success according to the scientists who monitor the released houbara’s and their numbers are increasing.

References

Todorova, V. (2011, May 27). UAE-funded centre revives endangered bird population - The National. thenational.ae - The National. Retrieved March 13, 2012, from http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/heritage/uae-funded-centre-revives-endangered-bird-population

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Word Count : 125