Darius

Plenary Sessions [Day 1]

(A) My key learning points from each session...

1. Importance of water - Dirty and Clean
During that session, I learnt that we must not take the water we have for granted, and many other people form other countries do not have what we have, so we must cherish it. I also learnt about the microbes present in the water, how different kinds and different amounts can make big differences, Through the session, I also got to know some numbers , although not all were very good.

2. Revolution of Microelectronics Technology
I have understood, through the session, that Asia is becoming the focal point for electronic companies, and the supply chains and gradually moving to the region. I also learnt about Integrated Chips (IC), which is the brain of electronic things. I also learnt about B.R.A.I.N.W.A.V.E, the different ways we can use IC to make life better.

3. Biomedical Engineering and Technology
This session was quite long, as most of it were examples, but there were quite a few main points I could take away from the plenary session, like how nano-technology can be used to help humans, and how mother nature had already used nano-technology in some of the things she created.

4. IT for Animation
Through the session, I learnt that an animation is made of about 24-25 frames in consecutive motion. It starts with the script, and it goes on to the storyboard, then to the character design, followed by the sound, then the frame drawing, then painting, and finally shooting and production before getting the final print. I also learnt that most movies incorporate maths into the making, like using geometry to find the points, lines, surfaces and solids to help with the production.

5. Disappearing glaciers, rising sea levels, and why gravity is even more important than you think
Right at the start, before anything was presented, I had already learnt something: what a geodesist is. Then, during the session, I had learnt about some of the reasons for the rise in sea level, mainly learning about the attraction pull thing. The main thing we had to take away from the session was that, no matter what statistics tell you about average rise in sea level, there is always a different amount of rise because the further you are from glaciers, the rise would be greater, so the average rise is not a very good statistic to follow.

(B) Deepest Impression...
The plenary session that leaves the deepest impression on me is the last session, about disappearing glaciers, rising sea levels and why gravity is more important than we think. When I saw the topic, I was expecting a boring talk about global warming, glaciers melting, sea levels rising, floods etc. The only thing I looked forward to of the talk is the importance of gravity part, as I wasn’t able to think of any way gravity is that important. Another reason is because I had never expected gravity to be related to the rise of sea level, let alone affect it. That was the main reason that session had the deepest impression.


My Personal Reflections - Day 3

I chose this project partially because the other projects didn't really interest me, or were already full. But it was also partially because I had a small interest in electronics. However, I never regretted choosing to do project 8.

I had helped the group in multiple ways. Firstly, I helped with the experiments and helped provide my findings. Secondly, I helped create the presentation slides for the presentation. That helped my group get the chance to represent project groups 8 & 9 to present about our projects.

We encountered many challenges during the 2 days we spent working on the project. Some of the problems I faced was: I could not understand some of the diagrams/explanations the Professor had given, but I could solve this very easily thanks to the help of the student helpers and the professor. Another problem I faced was that I was tired. I wasn't able to get used to sleeping in a different bed, so I slept very late and had very little rest.Thus during the few hours we spent in the lab doing experiments, I wasn't able to concentrate for very long, which was mainly the reason why I couldn't pay attention and almost fell asleep in class.

Through this project, I have understood how some equipment are used in our daily appliances, like how the potentiometer can actually adjust the brightness of a bulb when used in a circuit etc. This has also opened my eyes to the many kinds of things a circuit can have for the circuit can use to complete it's job.

Personally, I have benefitted from this as when I chose this project, I had this very small interest in electronics, but after we completed the project and the experiments, that little interest has grown and now I hope that I can go on and learn more about electronics as it is actually quite fun and interesting