Personal statement

Gordon Ho

Gordon is an undergraduate in Singapore Institute Of Technology (SIT) and had four years of civil engineering experience. He previously interned at Samwoh Corporation Pte Ltd for four months, researching about recycled concrete aggregates. With his experience, he has the essential knowledge pertaining to concrete for the current project that the group is working on.

Executive summary

Executive Summary

This proposal describes a research project carried out by the team in response to a call for an engineering problem-solution proposals. In this proposal, the project team outlines the challenges faced when the SIT@Dover population walks along the sheltered walkways around campus when it rains heavily. As conventional concrete is currently implemented along those walkways, it results in ponding and the chances of a slip and fall incident. This is due to the nature of regular concrete as it is known to be impermeable. Students and faculties will tend to find it inconvenient to walk across and as a result, they will try to find an alternative way out of the school, or even stay back for a few hours just so that the ponding along the walkway will hopefully decrease.

The aim of this report is to propose to SIT's division of estate the implementation of pervious concrete along the mentioned walkway. By incorporating this idea, the SIT division of estates will reduce stormwater seepage through the pervious concrete. Additionally, the chances of a slip and fall incident can be greatly abbreviated. The proposal will include benefits and limitations of this suggested modification. The objective of this proposed solution is to achieve a greater sense of safety and convenience for the SIT population.

Transmittal Letter

Transmittal Letter

March 8, 2018

From: Colin Tan

To: SIT Division of Estate

Cc: Brad Blackstone

Re: Proposal For Implementing Pervious Concrete Along Sheltered Walkways in SIT@Dover

Dear Sir/Madam,

Enclosed for your kind consideration is the following proposal for the improvement of the walkways in SIT@Dover. This report has been prepared with the intention of enhancing the safety of the community as requested. Slip and fall in SIT@Dover campus are prone to happen due to the slippery walkways. To address this issue, the team has proposed a reasonable solution for this problem to ensure safety of the campus population.

Attached is our proposal to achieve the aforementioned goal. This report contains the current situation and its probable causes, our investigation of the situation through surveys and observations, and also our proposed solution to address the situation with technical details and comparisons.

We would like to express our gratitude to you for taking the time to read this proposal. Your consideration of our suggestions in enhancing the safety of the community in the school is greatly appreciated.

Best regards,

Colin Tan

On behalf of SIT FC

Civil Engineering Programme

Singapore Institute of Technology

Reader's Response Final Draft

In the article ‘Duo turn plastic waste into a concrete idea,’ Goy (2016) states that BlueRen scientists and co-founders, Wong Chui Ling and Aravind Muthiah, have discovered an environmentally friendly method to convert plastic waste into carbon nanotubes by using different minerals as a catalyst during recycling. This is important as in 2014 alone, 869 000 tonnes of plastic waste was produced in Singapore but only 9% of it was recycled. This figure has been unchanged since 2001 according to Goy, and BlueRen’s approach has resulted in a 10% yield. Apart from that, these nanotubes are lightweight yet durable so nanotubes could be used as an additive in concrete making. Nanotubes helps to strengthen the concrete thus reducing the use of cement by 30%. The article quotes Aravind, who believes that this is what makes BlueRen unique as the“technology is about upcycling and converts plastic waste into high-value products."

I agree with Goy's point of view on the advantage of converting plastic waste into a high-value product to reduce the use of concrete. However, I think that the article is lacking in term of the negative health issues of using carbon nanotube and plastic recycling.

According to Doreen (2011), carbon nanotubes are stronger than steel, harder than diamond, as light as plastic. However, there are a lot of effects of the nanotubes on the environment that are unknown to the Earth. Firstly, it has shown that nanotubes are toxic to the human cell. Nanotubes can kill the cells easily. Also, carbon nanotubes have a similar effect as asbestos. Asbestos has been banned in 55 countries worldwide due to its harmful properties on humans. Before the ban, asbestos had been used to strengthen concrete and to insulate buildings. Thus, it would be dangerous for carbon nanotube to replace 30% of cement when the effect on humans is that severe. Kobayashi, Izumi, and Morimoto (2017) state that carbon nanotubes are causing an adverse health effect. It is especially true for human exposure through inhalation and dermal contact during manufacturing and handling process. The exposure to carbon nanotubes will "induce inflammation, fibrosis, lung cancer following long-term inhalation." Kobayashi, Izumi, and Morimoto also observed that long and thin carbon nanotubes resemble and function like asbestos fiber. Asbestos fibers are so harmful because they are so tiny that they can penetrate deep into the lungs yet taking way to long for the body's immune system to destroy it. The carbon nanotubes will line the victim's lungs causing fatal cancer which can take 30 to 40 years to surface after exposure. Therefore, it would be akin to killing the operators that are handling the carbon nanotube when mixing it with the cement.

According to Soffar (2016), plastic recycling can create environmental problems if it is not done right. When plastic is being recycled, heat is required to melt it down. The process of burning the plastic produces carbon emissions. One of the phenomena that contribute to the global warming in the planet is carbon emission This is because global warming will cause poor air quality due to the volatile organic compounds tainting it.. Also, volatile organic compounds are being discharged during plastic recycling. Volatile organic compounds are harmful to nearby animals and plants. Volatile organic compounds also presents health risks to people that use the recycled plastic as the plastic resin is made from petroleum. Therefore, leaching into food that is packaged in the containers.

In conclusion, before it is too late to flag out potential dangers of the nanotube, there is a pressing necessity to examine how carbon nanotubes are being used and see if there is any chance that people are being exposed to the dangerous material to reduce the amount of health hazard that it poses to the humans’ health.

Reference

Dooren, J. V. (2012, September 5). Carbon nanotubes have unexpected negative impact on environment. Bits of Science. Retrieved February 04, 2018, from http://www.bitsofscience.org/carbon-nanotube-environment-toxicity-4038/

Greenermeier. L. (2008, May 20). Study says carbon nanotubes as dangerous as asbestos . Scientific American. Retrieved February 04, 2018 from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/carbon-nanotube-danger/

Kobayashi. N., Izumi. H., & Morimoto. Y, (2017, August 8). Review of toxicity studies of carbon nanotubes. Retrieved February 04, 2018 from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28794394

Luanpitpong. S., Wang. L., & Rojanasakul. Y. (2016, January 12). The effects of carbon nanotubes on lung and dermal cellular behaviours. Retrieved February 04, 2018 fromhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4710349/

Soffar. H. (2016, July 27). Plastic recycling advantages and disadvantages. Online Sciences. Retrieved February 04, 2018 from https://www.online-sciences.com/industries/plastic-recycling-advantages-and-disadvantages/

Critical Reflections

After going through effective communication, I have learned to overcome my weakness of writing my thoughts on paper. I was able to properly finish writing letters and reports by the end of the module. Also, this module had helped me improve my writing skill greatly and I was also able to present rather confidently. However, I feel that I can still work on my presentation skill as it was not up to the standard that I feel that I should be exhibiting. The reliance of memorizing the script that I had crafted is the reason why my presentation did not go as well as I wanted it to go. The most important aspect about presentation is to be very knowledgeable about what you and your group mate is presenting.

I will focus on my presentation experience to be critically reflected. I feel that I was not very prepared for the presentation. I learned that by having a nicely crafted script for my presentation is not going to help me out. It was the very reason why I did not do well. So, I will unlearn the fact that memorizing a script is the correct technique for presenting. I have relearned that the most important thing in a presentation is that you should know what you are going to present. That is the only way to present as you would not be afraid of forgetting your script and breaking the flow of your presentation. This had helped me to become a better presenter.


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