An incident which has impacted me

I remembered last year during the end of October 2014, it was the toughest period of my life.

At that point, my dad was having fever for quite a few days. He has seen the doctor at a clinic but his condition did not get any better. When I was having my lunch break at work, I received a call from my mum and she told me that my dad is feeling very giddy and weak. Without hesitation, I went home and brought my dad to Changi General Hospital. He was put on drip at the Accident and Emergency department (A&E) but his condition did not get any better. The hospital admitted him to keep him under observations. 

The next day, I received a call from my aunt telling me that my maternal grandma has been rushed to the hospital. While she was kept under observations at the A&E, the doctor came to inform us about her condition. I was shaken by the news. She was being diagnosed with colon cancer and has to undergo surgery as soon as possible. For the following days, I was going back and forth to take care of my grandma and my dad at the different wards. 

My dad's condition did not get any better still. After a few days, my dad's primary doctor came to speak to us. They have run several tests on him and were only able to diagnose that he is suspected of viral infection in his lungs. They were unsure about the type of virus infection. I have never seen my dad being so ill and breathless. The doctor then informed us that they are going to transfer my dad to the high dependency unit (which is similar to the Intensive Care Unit). I was taken aback. After he was transferred over, his condition took a turn to worse. His fever has not subsided ever since he was admitted to the hospital. He was having difficulty breathing on his own. The doctor was afraid that it might put his life in danger and they decided to put him on the ventilation-assisted machine. My whole family cried during that moment when the doctor inserted the tube into his throat. It was the first time I cried in front of my family. The next few days were crucial. His condition was unstable as his heart rate and blood pressure were getting lower than average. I could not sleep that few days and I stayed overnight outside the high dependency ward. As and when, I will enter the ward and see him from outside of his room. I thought I will lose my dad forever. 

After a few days, his condition got better. He was taken off the machine. My dad's fever subsided and was transferred back to the normal ward. When he was finally discharged from the hospital, he was still feeling weak. As much as there were worries of the household matters, I told my parents that their health is more important than anything else to me. After this incident, I realised that nothing else matters more than your own health.

My family.

Last edited on 4 December 2015, Friday at 11.24pm.

Technical Project Proposal Report: Personal Statement

As an undergraduate in sustainable infrastructure engineering for building services, I  understand  the importance of sustainability. I strongly feel that despite Singapore being a very small country, we can also do our part in reducing greenhouse gases emissions. I believe this will bring the nation to  a  new level in terms of integration of technology and sustainability.

Edited on 3 December 2015, Thursday at 4.29pm

Technical Project Proposal Report: Executive Summary

Singapore   depends   heavily on the  imports  of  fossil  fuels as its  main  source  of  energy  when  it comes to generating electricity. To  reduce Singapore’s dependency on fossil fuels, this  project  team is interested in exploring the possibilities of creating a renewable energy source.

This project team is proposing to construct an underground pumped storage hydroelectric plant. This proposal will utilise the gravitational energy of flowing water from an existing reservoir to the underground reservoir to generate hydroelectricity. The underground reservoir can also serve as secondary water storage during heavy rainfall season in Singapore. Research has shown that fossil fuels will deplete by the year 2059.

Finally, this report will conclude the benefits of underground pumped storage hydroelectricity. The details of this proposal will be discussed in the report. 

Edited on 3 December 2015, Thursday at 4.29pm

Technical Project Proposal Report: Letter of Transmittal

21 October 2015

Mr. Patrick Foo

Energy Market Authority

Energy Technological Department

991G Alexandra Road, #01-29

Singapore 119975

Dear Mr. Patrick Foo

RE: Proposal for generating electricity from hydropower applications in Singapore

This is to acknowledge your letter of authorisation dated 30 September 2015. We are submitting the attached proposal, which would give an in-depth outtake on renewable energy in Singapore specifically, pumped storage hydroelectric plant.

Singapore is solely dependent on fossil fuels for its production of electricity. As of 2015, 95.5% of the natural gas from Singapore’s fuel mix is used to generate electricity. Singapore relies heavily on foreign exports and is vulnerable to the whims of foreign suppliers. To elude this problem, Singapore has to be able to depend solely on itself for its own energy needs.

Our proposal will briefly describe about water, which is one of Singapore’s key resources and the nation’s dependency on fossil fuels for the generation of electricity. The Energy Market Authority of Singapore (EMA) Energy Research and Development Department has set-up an Energy Storage Programme (ESP), which would support the development and integration of large scale, cost-effective systems in Singapore. The proposal will then explain about harnessing hydropower using existing water catchment area with an underground excavated water reservoir to construct a pumped storage hydroelectric plant.

Our team is grateful for your time spent on reviewing our proposal. We hope the suggestions provided would pave way for a new era in Singapore’s energy production.

Sincerely,

Soh Hwee Leng Kerrie

Member of M.H.K

On behalf of Team “M.H.K”

Edited on 3 December 2015, Thursday at 4.29pm

Reader Response Essay Draft 4

In the article "Developing Sustainable Infrastructure in New Cities", Cho (2014) claims that the enhancement in performance and volatility of infrastructure needs to accommodate the 21st century's fast urban growth. She mentions that there are economic, social and environmental challenges for consideration in addition to the conservation of energy resources. The effects of these challenges have to be examined as they can bring about positive or negative results for the community. She argues that overcoming the challenges is crucial in creating a sustainable and efficient infrastructure. The writer then cites the application of Envision Sustainability Rating System in her Impact King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) Fellowship Project in Saudi Arabia.

I do agree with the author that more attention should be paid to overcome the various challenges to create a sustainable infrastructure. In addition, Cho’s article emphasise the application of the Envision Rating System in her KAEC fellowship project in Saudi Arabia. However, the writer did not analyse the impacts that sustainable infrastructure can have on every individuals of the community in KAEC.

Cho's article did not analyse the technology advancement that came along with the sustainable infrastructure development in KAEC. Some examples could be the development of mobile applications and usage of social networking sites within the community. Khanna (2015) writes, for example, about the various technological innovations that came about due to the increasing population in the Asian cities like Singapore and Indonesia. One of these is a mobile application for a tailored private bus service route that incorporates the demand of the different citizens' needs in Singapore. He also cites another example as using the social networking site, Twitter, for residents in Jakarta, Indonesia, to report real-time alerts on potential natural disasters. These shows sustainable infrastructure in KAEC can influence the technology advancement within the community which the writer did not mentioned in her article.

Moreover, Cho did not mention that sustainable infrastructure has to be managed along with the basic needs of people. In the article “SDG Goal 9—A Sustainable Future of Infrastructure”, Faremo (2015) says that basic needs of people have to be addressed with sustainable infrastructure. Faremo gives an illustration about a building that cannot function by itself without the various essential systems. Thus, key services such as healthcare and basic necessities in our everyday life have to be something that can be sustained in the long term, which creates a well-balanced society. In Cho’s article, she did not provide considerations to the needs of the people in KAEC.

Besides that, Cho did not analyse the increased cost of living due to sustainable infrastructure in KAEC. The writer of the article "Restore and Improve Urban Infrastructure" highlights the fourteen challenging factors for engineering in terms of infrastructure. As sustainable infrastructure improves the citizens' quality of life, the problem is to provide an affordable place for them to stay with the increasing demand for sustainable infrastructure. The implementation of sustainable infrastructure requires a large amount of financial grant and support from the local government for improvements on existing infrastructures. Cho did not discuss on the increased cost of living within the community in KAEC.

In conclusion, while Cho's article presents the challenges and the general advantages of sustainable infrastructure in KAEC, her argument is incomplete due to the inadequate analysis on the impacts within KAEC. It is important to look at both positive and negative impacts that sustainable infrastructure would have on the cities and the citizens. However, overcoming the challenges that were mentioned in Cho's article is crucial to strive towards the overall goal of creating a sustainable and efficient infrastructure in the community of KAEC.

(603 words)

Edited on 2 December 2015, Wednesday at 11.33am

References

Cho, H. (2014, December 17). Developing Sustainable Infrastructure in New

Cities. New Cities Foundation. Retrieved from: http://www.newcitiesfoundation.org/evaluating-sustainable-infrastructure-development-new-cities/

Faremo. G. (2015, August 4). SDG Goal 9—A Sustainable Future of Infrastructure. United Nations Development Programme. Retrieved from http://www.my.undp.org/content/malaysia/en/home/presscenter/articles/2015/08/04/sdg-goal-9-a-sustainable-future-of-infrastructure.html

Khanna, P. (2015, June 11). Explosive growth in Asian cities: Bright ideas to 'seize the urban moment'. The Straits Times. Retrieved from: http://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/explosive-growth-in-asian-cities-bright-ideas-to-seize-the-urban-moment

The National Academy of Engineering. (2015). Restore and Improve Urban Infrastructure.   Retrieved from http://www.engineeringchallenges.org/9136.aspx 

The Role of Peer and Tutor Feedback

On 7 September 2015, I attended the first lesson of this module (Effective Communications). It was also the first tutorial class I had with my classmates. The atmosphere was still awkward in the beginning as I was from a different orientation ('day zero') group. Everything were still new for me as it has been two years since I last studied.

As we proceed with the module's tutorials, various writing and oral skills were taught through numerous activities through group discussions. These groups are frequently swapped as this create opportunities for us to work with different people. Many ideas were conveyed not just through verbal explanations but also with interesting videos. There will always be a ‘debrief’ after each activity where Brad will get us to provide ideas of what we learnt. He will then add on what were the things that are done right. From drafting a summary of an article to reader response essays, feedback was always given either through peers or Brad so that we can improve on our assignment. This allow us to have a different perspective in our writings as a writer will have a different opinion from a reader. It also instil a self-reminder as we will constant question ourselves if the sentence is conveying a clear message to the readers. The module then ended with a technical proposal report and the oral presentation where feedback was also given by peers and Brad. It is not easy to be providing feedback or receiving feedback. It takes a lot of courage to receive and accept feedback from peers to learn and improve from it. It is even harder to provide feedback to peers as it may be sensitive to some people.

I strongly believes that these writing and oral skills build out fundamental language skills which will be useful in our future modules. University curriculum is not just about gaining knowledge. Most of the modules will require project work and presentation through either oral or written report. It is about gaining experiences through oral presentations and report writing to build up our self-confidence and language skills. I was glad that I was given the opportunity to showcase my group’s project presentation.

This module definitely was beneficial to build my foundational language skills before embarking on more projects in the future modules.

Edited on 2 December 2015, Wednesday at 11.03am

Personal Reflection on Group Presentation

Overall, I felt that I did well for presentation.

I did well in being able to deliver our group's message through story-telling. Story-telling will enable the audiences to relate to our contents or points in our proposal. We have also gave an overview of our content for presentation so that audiences can expect the flow of information. The slides was also added with slight animations that allow the audiences to see and understand the technical process of our proposed solution. I have also apply the usage of hand gestures to reiterate some of the important points.

I did not do well in terms of maintaining and spreading the zone of my eye contact with all of the audiences. Another position in the classroom could have allowed me to have a view of the all the audiences instead of only capturing majority of them. My hand gestures were slightly overused as audiences may felt that I was too serious in presenting certain points. My body language was also slightly stiff.

In summary, improvements can be made in terms of my body language and to use sufficient hand gestures during the presentation.