Technical Report, Draft 1

Introduction/ Background

Over a month into pursuing a degree under SIT as full-time students, our team came to realize that homework in the form of assignments, tests and projects can be overwhelming. The only way to stay ahead of the curriculum while juggling co-curriculum activities is to seize time between lectures/ tutorials and after school for revision. Doing so has become increasingly difficult due to the current situation in our campus for several reasons.

First and foremost, most courses follow similar academic timetables which means the tests and exams are approximately in the same period. The clash in academic timetable causes an influx in students needing to revise towards the end of the study terms and the start of tests. This makes finding unoccupied study areas during such periods a tedious one.

Secondly, projects are commonly assigned to students for submission in groups. The need to discuss projects in groups makes it a challenge securing study areas with vacancy to accommodate to large numbers of students.

Thirdly, study areas around school are neither given proper naming conventions nor are their locations introduced to first-year students. This significantly limits the number of possible study areas for them.

Lastly, the various study areas are scattered all around the campus thus making it time consuming for students to walk around in search for a place to study. The waste in unnecessary time spent on walking around could have been better used for self study.

The issue with having trouble locating unoccupied study areas among students in SIT can be further supported by the results of our survey. As such, our team is determined to resolve the problem at hand through the implementation of live web video feed that can be accessed by students to remotely check on the crowd situation at the various study areas. In the process, the various study areas will also be identified and allocated respective names by our team to resolve the mentioned problem.

Problem statement

The open study areas in SIT @ Dover should be easily identifiable and convenient for all students to access. However, with the locations of the various open study areas  scattered all around the university and lack of standard naming conventions, students often have to spend unnecessary time walking around the campus in search for vacant seats. With the arising problems, our team’s proposal to implement a mobile monitoring application to view crowd at study areas around the campus will allow ease in reviewing vacancy of seats at the study areas.

Purpose statement

With the problems faced by the students in mind, the objective of the report is to propose to Student Development Center for approval to name the different study areas in SIT and create a mobile viewing application which will enhance productivity of learning sessions as well as provide convenience to all students in SIT@Dover.

Proposed solution

5.1 Assigning naming conventions to study areas

There are 6 main open study area in SIT@Dover. However, ‘The Learning Gallery’, ‘Student Societies Club & Activities’ and library were the only 3 study areas pre-assigned with names. The proposed naming conventions for the other 3 study areas are as follows: ‘Intelligence Xchange’ (IX), ‘Creative Space’ (CS) and ‘Learning Capsule’ (LC). The study location beside IEat@Dover canteen will be assigned a proposed name, ‘Intelligence Xchange’ (IX). The cozy study area which caters to discussions for small groups, located directly opposite IX, will be named ‘Creative Space’ (CS). The last study area located at the Academic Plaza Building, Level 3, will be named ‘Learning Capsule’ (LC). The proposed solution to name the three study areas will allow students to easily identify all the study areas. The dedicated study areas with new naming conventions will be clearly demarcated on a map. The map printed in the form of posters will be displayed throughout the campus to allow for familiarization among students.

5.2 Mobile viewing application

The mobile viewing application will allow students in SIT to check the availability of study spaces in school before heading over to the study locations. Cameras will be installed within the study area from a bird’s eye view which allows students to view the availability of the study area. The mobile application will consist of 4 pages mainly; login page, reminder page and 2 viewing page.

To access the app, students will have to log in with their SIT user account(STU/170****) and their password. This would prevent interlopers from misusing the application.

Reader Response Final draft - edited 23 October 2017

From the article "Duo turn plastic waste into a concrete idea", Goy (2016) stated that scientists have found an eco-friendly way to recycle plastic waste with the use of carbon nanotubes as an accompaniment to cement, reducing the use of cement. He explained that company BlueRen processes plastic into gases, following which the carbon nanotubes can be formed from these gases. The author mentioned that over the past few years, a very small percentage of plastic waste was recycled.  The usage of carbon nanotubes has a number of benefits because it has good attributes as an additive to cement. The author also reported that technology company BlueRen uses a different material which inflicts less harm on the environment.  Carbon nanotubes technology helps contribute to a greener environment while with sufficient research and prototyping, the technology has a bright future because there are a number of additional benefits to this technology. 

Firstly, Goy (2016) reported that BlueRen's technology processes plastic waste into gases, following which the gases are then further processed through a number of chambers in which the gases would form into carbon nanotubes. The way plastic waste can be used to form carbon nanotubes can significantly increase the percentage of plastic waste being recycled. Companies like BlueRen can utilize their technology in helping to contribute to a greener environment with reduced amount of plastic waste. He also stated that in the past, recycling of plastic waste was proved to be ineffective because the process of forming carbon nanotubes was expensive and the operation released harmful gases into the environment. However, to add on to a healthier and cleaner environment, Goy (2016) claimed that BlueRen uses a different stimulus material, which is a greener choice. These factors help reduce the amount of plastic waste not being recycled as well as utilizing an environmentally friendly method to churn plastic waste into something useful. 

  

Secondly, in his research article, Manzur (2016) pointed that carbon nanotubes are a good additive to cement because of the materials' immensely excellent attributes. He also suggested that carbon nanotubes have high strength and flexibility which helps in integrating them perfectly into solid composite materials such as cement. For example, carbon nanotubes have high aspect ratios as much as 2,500,000 to 1. He claimed that carbon nanotubes' attributes also aid in reducing crack size and ensuring proper distribution of load transfers. Based on his research, Manzur (2016) mentioned that cement with carbon nanotubes expresses a much higher compression and flexion strength with comparison to regular simple cement paste. With the use of carbon nanotubes as an additive, cement usage can be significantly reduced. 

Lastly, in her research article, Lytle (2017) explained that majority of plastic waste is imperishable and takes a long time to degrade, hence becoming debris that lasts for a long time if no proper clearing system is implemented. Majority of the plastic waste are being deposited onto waste dumps, taking up unnecessary space of land. In addition, she also mentioned that most plastic waste floats on water which means they are able to travel further and spread, endangering wildlife animals and destroy natural habitats in the process. With BlueRen's technology to recycle plastic waste into carbon nanotubes, these problems will significantly decrease.  

In conclusion, recycling plastic waste to form carbon nanotubes is a positive and favorable research technology which can contribute to a greener and cleaner environment due to company BlueRen's innovative recycling technology. 

  

References: 

Claire Lytle (2017). When the Mermaids Cry: The Great Plastic Tide. Coastal Care. Retrieved September 24, 2017, from http://plastic-pollution.org/ 

Priscilla Goy (2016). Duo Turn Plastic Waste into A Concrete Idea. The Straits Times. Retrieved September 24, 2017, from http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/duo-turn-plastic-waste-into-a-concrete-idea 

Tanvir Manzur (2016). Potential of Carbon Nanotube Reinforced Cement Composites as Concrete Repair Material. Hindawi. Retrieved September 24, 2017, from  https://www.hindawi.com/journals/jnm/2016/1421959/

Edited 23 October 2017