final project

Higher college of technology

English Communications IV

ENGL-N264

CEL

Abdulla Yousef ALHammadi

H00214238

Hedley Butterfield

5/6/2012

The artificial brain

One of the most striking changes in electrical engineering over the last five years is the scientist’s step to the creation of an artificial brain (Dyro 2004). This idea is considered one of the most amazing undertakings by scientists in the field of electrical engineering. Recent breakthroughs have been announced at the University of Southern California. According to an electrical engineer, Professor Alice Parker, study of the use of carbon nanotubes strikes more light in the creation of an artificial brain. The advancement has been achieved based on a fact that nanotechnology can act like a neuron in one way or the other (Parker 2010).

A carbon nanotube has been used to make a transistor circuit. These transistors behave like the synapse of a neuron. This happens between the pre synaptic neuron and the post synaptic neuron. A transistor is made in resemblance to a neuron. When an action potential is applied to it, it makes a post synaptic potential that resembles the behavior of the synapse in the brain as it spikes. However, this achievement has been advanced on a small-scale brain and its core activity (Christoph 2010). This discovery and advancement is amazing since it has not been done in the world before.

Scientifically speaking, just one neuron has about ten thousand synapses. They all serve as inputs to the neurons. As a result the entire brain is made up of myriad neurons. Parker and his team were able to replicate the functioning of a small section of the brain by using a few cases of synaptic neurons. It is very important since this development showed that biomimetic circuits can be made from carbon nanotube transistors, something which has not been used before (American Institute of Electrical Engineers 2011). According to Parker, the critical part of a working artificial brain is demonstrated by its ability to learn and be intelligent.

Although it is not acceptable to develop an artificial brain, as the Christians argue, many notable uses can be derived from this technology. One is that of the manipulation of robots, tasks, which could be done by man. In manufacturing industry, the entertainment scene and the engineering sector, robots today perform incredible tasks. With the increasing crime in the world, especially cybercrime, robots installed with an artificial brain could help to identify criminals. The artificial brain is becoming a common phenomenon everyday and with more and more research, the world is waiting for the next step!

Neuro Vigil

Another development in the field of electrical engineering involves the discovery of a neuro vigil in a home-based autism study. This resulted in a device called iBrain. This device has the capacity to detect whatever has been happening in an individual’s brain. I consider this achievement amazing since I believe that nothing can actually match the working of my brain.

Neuro Vigil is destined to operate in converting brain waves into visible electrical representations of brain activity. Special computer programs are used to sense sleep data in biomarker machines that are associated with autism. Thus, this will be used to treat autistic cases as demonstrated by children in unfamiliar environments. In collaboration with other researchers of behavior science, Neuro Vigil is one of the amazing technologies that have massive electrical applications (Cameron 2009). It is used in various hospitals to test sleep discomforts among neurological patients. Besides this, other advancements have been made in different universities as Yale school of medicine. This project made use of magnetic resonance imaging in identification of sleep patterns. It coincided with the previous discoveries on Neuro Vigil.

The Neuro Vigil, also known as the ibrain, is thought to be a very useful technology that will see the many problems that man is facing, reduce. One notable use of this technology will be in the hospital, where patients, with brain problems will be treated. The ability of the device, which is mounted on the brain of an individual, to infer data though a USB, makes it possible for researchers to further use the data for further studies. The information obtained can be stored in a computer, where it can be used for comparison purposes.

In conclusion, electrical engineering has been of subtle importance in the world of technology. Over the past five years alone, varied achievements have been made in these fields of scientific study. Among these are the artificial brain and Neuro Vigil discoveries.

Bibliography:

American Institute of Electrical Engineers. Electrical engineering, Volume 76, Part 2,      Carlifonia: University of California, 2011, print

Cameron, Ewen and Greenblatt, Milton. Recent advances in neuro-physiological             research, Indiana: Indiana University, 2009, print  

Christoph, Ramacher. On the Construction of Artificial Brains, New York: Springer,          2010, print

Dyro, Joseph. Clinical Engineering Handbook: Academic Press series in biomedical       engineering, Chicago: Academic Press, 2004  

Parker, John. The Electrical engineer, Volume 5, Havard: Biggs & Co., 2010, print

portfolio task 6

It is clear to me that the idea of a single global currency is an excellent ideal to work towards. There can be no doubt that trade and travel would be vastly easier. On the other hand I believe that it would cause problems today.

Having a single currency would eliminate problems during paying. Paying by credit system, chip and pin card, or any thing else would be easier because at that time there will be no commission or changes in exchanging money. During traveling travelers will not face any difficulty in searching for an exchange office to pay for their goods. The currency is the same and he will be relaxed. Moreover there will be no risk in failing. All of the countries will have the same currency that will not cause any problem at anytime. No sudden events or disasters will fail the currency in a sector or the whole country.  

In conclusion I see a global currency as a future ideal but it will not happen in my lifetime. It would make trade and travel much easier but the problems it would cause nowadays would be insurmountable.

portfolio task 5

The line graph shows the number of people who visited Australia. The table below shows the number of visitors in millions who came to Australia from different countries in 1975 and 2005.

                The line graph shows the number of overseas visitors travelling to Australia in millions of people. The overall trend is that Australia has steadily become more popular. For example, the number of visitors dramatically increased from 1975 to 2005; that increase was from 10 million to 32 million respectively.

                The table shows information about the countries that the residents went to Australia from. From the table the largest number of visitors was from Japan which was 3.2 million and 12 million in 1975 and 2005 respectively. The second largest number of visitors was from South Korea, which was 2.9 million and 9.1 million in 1975 and 2005 respectively. The smallest number of visitors was from UAS, which was 0.4 million and 1.1 million in 1975 and 2005 respectively.

                In conclusion Australia is a popular country and many visitors like to go there.

portfolio task 4

These days people are having a hard time reaching consensus on whether children should be taught to have a sense of cooperation or a notion of competition. Children have to compete with each other and also, they have to cooperate with each other. I will discuss both sides in this essay.

Cooperation is the most important thing that children should be taught. Children should be taught to cooperate because by this way they will learn how to listen to other opinions and respect them. Working with a group needs opinions and every member says his opinion and others should listen and respect. If children are used to working in a group and have a team it will be easy for them to hear opinions and think of them and respect each other’s views even if they do not agree with them. Moreover children will know how to deal with others and have self esteem. It will be useful to know people and know how to deal with others.

On the other hand, it is equally important to raise the competition between children because that encourages the child to do the best and do better than another child. The competition between children is useful and helps to improve the children’s skills.

I believe that both cooperation and competition are important for the children. Also both are equally important. We should teach the children how to be cooperative and competitive.

portfolio task 3

Diet is one thing that helps us maintain or improve our general health. It is important for lower health risks, such as obesity, heart disease, and cancer.

The key to a health balanced diet is not to omit any foods or food groups but to balance what you eat by consuming a variety of food from each group in one right proportion. The first food group is fruit and vegetables. You should eat fruit and vegetables every day because this food group gives you vitamins. Another group of food contains things such as bread, rice, and potatoes; this group gives you more protein.

I agree that a balanced diet is important to have good health, but also exercise is important to have good health. You have to walk every day and go running. Also you have to play sport such as football, basketball and other sport because by sport you can lesser your weigh and you will have good health. If you are overweight you will have bad health and you will have many diseases. For example in the UAE there are many people who are overweight and for this they did not have good health.

In conclusion a balanced diet is not the only way to have good health but also exercise gives you good health.

portfolio task 2

The two bar charts show reasons that motivate students of different ages to study and also, the support they receive from employers by age group in terms of time off and help with fees.

The first bar chart shows that younger students study to improve their career. For example students under 26, 26-29, and 30-39 had 80%, 70%, and 55% respectively. The exception in the first bar chart the group aged over 49 because they study for interest and that accounted for 70%, while the students under 26, 26-29, and 30-39 accounted for 10%, 15%, and 25% respectively.

The second bar chart shows the employers’ support for the younger students are more than for older students. For example under 26, and 26-29 had more support, that accounted for 65% and 52% respectively. While the students over 49 had less support; that was 45%.

To sum up, generally speaking the overall picture indicates that the younger students study to improve their career and they had more support from employers.

task 1

This table shows information about a small restaurant in a downtown American business district. The information is about the sales on weekdays and weekends. The table focuses on lunch and dinner only.

Looking at the table, the sales at the restaurant for lunch did not have a big difference on weekdays. For example, the sales on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday accounted for $2,400, $2,450,$2,595, $3,750, and $2500 respectively. At the weekend the sales decreased to $1,950. In the table the sales for dinner had some difference on weekdays. For example, the sales on Monday, Tuesday, and Friday accounted for $3,623, $3,850, and $4,350 respectively. While at the weekend the sales decreased to $2,900.

To sum up, generally speaking the overall picture indicates that the sales at the weekend were less than the sales on the weekdays for both lunch and dinner.