Grace的進修雜記:)

Last month I went to OSMI ~ The Museum Admission cost $ 2.00 for Adult.
This is a good place to learn from your own experience. In different sections, children can try several experiments.

My friend had surgery on Wed, and I went to visit her this afternoon. She is doing ok, and she may be able to go home on Monday.
From her room, I can see a helicopter pad.

General Motors is very famous in automotive industries. The article, “Automotive Materials: Technology Trends and Challenges in the 21st Century” presented by Alan I. Taub, mentions the evolution of vehicle development in GM. Two intelligent points, lighter-weight and advanced materials, draw my attention and will be discussed here.
The main purpose to make the lighter-weight car is to increase fuel economy, but how to produce a lighter-weight car would be a challenge. GM tried to find some materials to substitute for steel. After comparing different materials’ characteristics, GM used aluminum, magnesium and high-strength plastics to replace steel in cars. Therefore, understanding those materials’ characteristics is very important.
Next step GM moved forward to use some advanced materials to further reduce weight, which makes them become the largest user of nanomaterial. For example, they have reinforcements at the nanometer scale. It is a good choice to get lower weight and costs but higher strength by wildly using nanocomposites on their vehicles. Besides, it can also be used to create higher quality and more reliable products.

This sushi place is near Powell's Book Store. You can find it by using yelp.
Each plate has different color, the range of price is from $1.00 ~ $3.00.

This is a new building on-campus, and I am so glad to move in this building in summer term.

因為原先的住宿和約到期，若要續住的話夏季和秋季的房間會有變動，為了不要短時間內搬兩次家這次直接搬到環境頗佳的新大樓！

It's final exam week, and I was thinking about my final exam before I quit my job.

重返校園面對即將來臨的期末考卻讓我回想到在曾經在職場經歷的期末考，也許你會問我職場不是就把主管交代的工作順利完成哪來的期末考，可是當你再同一個工作待久了， 隨著工作負荷變重，也是會有些自行發展出讓工作效率提高的小技巧， 所以要離職前交接的那段期間彷彿是在作職場的期末考 ，至於考些啥就聽我娓娓道來吧！

This assignment combines information from two papers, one is Our Biotech Future, which published on The New York Review of Books and the editor is Freeman Dyson, and the other is Biology’s next revolution, which appeared in Nature, and the writers are Nigel Goldendeld and Carl Woese. Both articles focus of biotechnology. Here comes the first question, what is biotechnology? According to Wikipedia, biotechnology is the use of living systems and organisms to develop or make useful products, or “any technological application that uses biological systems, living organisms or derivatives thereof, to make or modify products or processes for specific use.” In short, biotechnology includes biology and technology.
There are some interesting changes in biotech future. In the beginning, it may look like media hype for the new theory or a marvel, but biologist proved that could improve in several fields, which included food crops, plants and animals. In the twenty-first century, the revolution of Biology, not only activities of an extensive pharmaceutical and agribusiness, but also horizontal gene transfer. Maybe it seems like a dream, but it is happening all around the world.
I do like these two papers, and I agree with most of their statements. They had the good sense to make this world become better. For example, green technologies, “ I say only that green technology has enormous promise for preserving the balance of nature on this planet as well as for relieving human misery.” (Freeman Dyson, 9) It is highly important to preserve the environment. If industries and technologies are based on land and sunlight, then they will create positions with countrified inhabitants.

This is an interesting party for everyone to participate.
My friends came very early in the morning to save several seats for us.
(The parafe started around 10:00 am, and we arrived at 9:30am.)

“There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom” is a lecture, which was given on December 29th 1959. The presenter was Richard P. Feynman who was a famous physicist. Feynman’s lecture had several sections, which include the problem of manipulating and controlling things on a small scale, and there may be certain advantages to making elements smaller. It is a great exploration to lead technology to advanced level. Feynman played an important role in nanotechnology. He is a pilot to give the path into new concept. Feynman’s idea seems to achieve the maximum density in a limited space. Before accomplishing the purpose, there are many obstacles to be overcome.
First of all, Feynman mentioned how far miniaturization has progressed today. The example he used in his lecture was to write the entire 24 volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica on the head of a pin. No doubt, minimizing things would have been difficult in the past, but it is not the only challenge. To minimize things was not just making the scale become small. The following step would have been to make sure it could work. Feynman expressed that by using an optical microscope running backwards, it could demagnify the image. However, this proposition presented some intensity problems. For example, using a beam of focus light on a piece of paper, it could burn the paper. The other issue was getting everything else on a small scale without loss of resolution. It seems a very big challenge.
Feynman clarified the topic, as “There is Plenty of Room at the Bottom “not just” There is Room at the Bottom,” which means that the critical point is scale. When the scale of items is getting smaller, the same volume can contain more elements. If the capacity is huge, then there is no reason to waste the bottom space. Since the space is limited, the goal is to achieve the maximum of capacity.

It is yummy to have this eggplant with soysource.
Step one:
Peel the skin of garlic, and cut it into small piece.

After taking several courses with graduate students in different majors, I found that the use of computer software in basic assignments causes hard time for some students. The reason is that they do not understand fundamental theories in mathematics. Most of the engineering graduate students are very good at using commercial software on their assignments and homework, which is fast, efficient and accurate, but it should not be the main way for graduate students in science and engineering to learn mathematics. Why? If they only use software without knowing the calculating procedures they will not have the ability to analyze the process. While science students might be good at essential concept that can be tedious for a difficult process, it still provides the basic theory. Theory is like a seed of knowledge, and learning how to use theory is watering the seed. Although each department has distinct characteristics, it is good to create similar abilities for those graduate students.
In some cases students might not be able to understand the fundamental theories, or obtain proper practice from the assignments of their courses. In order to submit the assignment on time, they rely on computers to help them solve the problems. I believe that some students think learning theories is difficult and boring, but it is a critical path to understanding the basic knowledge and making connection to the real scientific problems. Without a doubt computers will save students a lot of time, and there may be several reasons for engineers to create a program. The most important thing is to comprehend the text or underlying purpose of those software programs.
No matter how difficult students may find homework assignments, working by themselves helps them try to use knowledge they have learned before relying on computers. If students can spend time getting the main idea of fundamental theory prior to using the software, they will improve their reasoning skills. Computer simulations can be used to get results, but do not help the understanding of theory. As a result, only reading the instructions for the software does not help students gain the big picture or the whole concept. Maybe instructors can ask students to answer the assignment without using software. After students really understand the meaning of the program, they will find out that a lot of difficulties have to be overcome during the hands-on section. Otherwise, they might use the software only to check the results, but would not use the software’s full capabilities.

There are 2 subway stores on campus, and I can get free cookies after I take their survey i.e. write some feedback on their website.

If I want to have sub of the day, I will go to subway twice a week.

Few days ago I sent out those cards for happy mother's day.

Since studying abroad, this is second time I can't be with my mother on mother's day. I still want her to know that I miss her love her.

Some graduate students are very good at using software program, but they might not quite understand the fundamental thesis of those programs. In other words, they would rely on computer to help them solve problems. No doubt the computer will save students a lot of time, and there may be several reasons for engineers to create the program, but the most important thing is to comprehend the text or underlining purpose of those software program.
As a graduate student, not only gain more advance education, but also prepare for applying those theses in the near future. If students can spend time getting the main idea of the software, they might have chance to improve the result by setting different initial conduction. As a result, only read the instructions on using the software cannot gain the big picture of the whole concept. After students really understand the meaning of program, they would find out that a lot of difficulties have to be overcome during hands-on section. Otherwise, they might use the software to check their consequence; it would not achieve the maximum of software.
Students would like to apply those theories in the industry, and they have the advantage of good educations. When they follow the concept, they might be able to think about new solution. It is good to use the software program as a tool, and they would not spend time on those routine procedures. As long as they can connect the education to the application, the industry would welcome those intelligent students. For example, MADLAB is a useful product in math works. Both engineering and science students might use it all the time, but only plug those giving data into the program will not help students to understand the meaning of the concept.

The reason to get more education is not only gain more knowledge, but also have more chances to apply what students learn in the future, including modern idea techniques and clearly present the thesis into the industry.
After working as an engineer for several years, I found out sometimes the technical skill what we learned in the school is not the way we used in the working area. Maybe we just learned by experiment, but it might be not enough efficient. I would like to change that kind of situation in the near future.
Students might need more hands-on courses to gain more experiment, not only know the thesis, but also learn from the error. To make a mistake in the company may cost a lot of money. If students can get idea how to avoid the faults, it would help them to handle these difficulties in the industry.