Traffic Congestion

Traffic jams or congestions have been a problem for the past ten or twenty years in most of the major cities of the world. Their negative impact is far beyond being late for a minute or two. These traffic jams mostly happen when a volume of traffic generates a demand for space greater than the available road can take. (Wikipedia). This happens when there is a reduced capacity of a road at a given point or over a certain length of road caused by road constructions, accidents, weather events and many other reasons like increase in population which will create a bigger increase in traffic. (IBM.com).  All the cities that suffer from this problem are trying to address it as soon as possible and in this report we will see why and how they are going to address this issue.  

The negative impact of road jams can vary from one city to another and vary by the severity of the traffic jam. The most basic impact is delays, where motorists get to their destinations late for their employment, meetings or education which will cause loss of business, disciplinary action or other personal losses. (Wikipedia). Another impact is wasting of time; motorists and passengers waste most of their time in traffic jams doing nothing or being angry and this time cannot be taken back and has it effects on the economy, (Wikipedia). A third impact is wastage of fuel which increases air pollution and increases fuel demand which increases fuel prices and other products that use fuel whether for production or transportation. (Wikipedia). We can add to those impacts stressed and frustrated motorists, which will encourage road rage and reduce motorists’ health. (Wikipedia). Also we can add to that, emergencies that will be blocked or delayed like an ambulance, a police car or fire department cars. (Wikipedia).

We have seen all these causes and impacts happen here in Abu Dhabi and we have witnessed some work to solve this problem and I will try to write some of the possible solutions that might help with solving this problem. First, we need to categorize the solutions. We can solve the traffic jam problems by modifying road infrastructure, urban planning and designing, increasing or decreasing of supply and demand or traffic management. (Wikipedia). In the infrastructure category, we can reduce the number of junctions that a motorist has to stop at by adding bridges and tunnels or building a road which has a capacity larger than what is demanded and have an empty space on the sides that can be rebuilt as a part of the road in case of an increased demand in the future. (Wikipedia). In the second category, which is urban designing, we can add more parking spots in any area like Khalidya or the Tourist club area so that the cars wouldn’t have to park in the middle of the road. In the supply and demand category, we can redesign the city to be more walk friendly which will increase the demand for walking and decrease the demand for driving. Now we are going to talk about traffic management, I have seen on T.V how traffic management works and it is very efficient as an immediate solution for the motorist to avoid traffic jams. It needs to be linked to a central information system in the traffic department, which collects instant data from the roads. It will help the department to detect traffic jams before they happen and they can direct drivers through many ways like radio, road signs, or phones. (Wikipedia). There is also tolling and pricing; governments can prevent people from going in a road without a reason just by making them pay a fee for entering the road. (FHWA).

All in all, traffic jams and traffic management is a very huge topic that we can write books about and it is so broad that it includes city designing, engineering and many other major subjects but this is a small report which I hope will be helpful to understand the problem.

"Traffic Congestion." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 25 May 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic_congestion>.

"Focus on Congestion Relief." Home | Federal Highway Administration. Web. 26 May 2011. <http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/congestion/>.

"IBM Traffic Congestion - Ideas - United States." IBM - United States. Web. 26 May 2011. <http://www.ibm.com/smarterplanet/us/en/traffic_congestion/ideas/index.html?ca=v_traffic>.

Reflection 2

After submitting the technology report 2 we had to do an essay about a problem and its solutions and we had to submit the vocabulary quizzes and this reflection.

By now we already know how to research in the internet, books and magazines. Also we know how to write our own report, research and essay and how to add citations and references.

 Mr.Hedley was very helpful during the course and taught us many things. The course itself is a very helpful course and we are going to apply all what we learned in this course in the future in our studies and professional life. 

Food naming initiates worldwide food fight

In 2002 the European Court of Justice ruled for cheese makers in Parma and the area around Parma to use the name Parmigiano Reggiano or its English translation which is parmesan which means “from Parma”. While Pecorino Toscano cheese has to be made in Tuscany, Chablis wine has to be bottled in France and a list of thousands of items which has to be made in its original region to be named after that region. Also if a global proposal was granted, the maker should come up with a new name.

Later on, in September 2003 in the meeting of the 146-nation World Trade Organization, a list of 40 foods and libations named for or associated with European areas was unveiled.  Under the new proposed agreement, geographic origin would crush existing trademarks and many products will have to be renamed. Also the EU will not accept stupid names like “Rioja-style” and “imitation Gorgonzola.

Sarah Thorn says: “Why shouldn’t we have rights to names brought over hundreds of years ago? Some are generic. It’s too late to ask for them back.” World Trade Organization still has to decide on that proposal. But exporters who are selling in Europe should obey the EU rules. And the well known Kraft is already selling its cheese known as parmesan as Pamesello Italiano. And California Quady winery sales of Starboard Wine which has another name back in the US becouse of the European policy change.

(scott, Elder. "Name Calling Sparks Global Food Fight." National Geographic, Issue: July 2004. In print)

Reflection

We have learned many things in this course.  First we learned about citations and referencing and what is the difference between them.  At the beginning of the semester I kept missing classes for different reasons like work permission  to leave early for classes came in week 5 and I was sick during week 4. But I was able to catch up and learn about referencing and citation through the internet and submit most of what I was missing.

Second we made a summary for a magazine article which unfortunately I didn't submit yet and I will try to submit it as soon as possible.   

 After  that we started a comparison between the Bugatti  Veyron and the Porsche 911 turbo. In this comparison we learned how to get information from the web to use it in our research and  learned so many things about the two cars.

Our third research task was to write a report about any technology we chose and write about its history, current uses and its impact. This report was divided into two submissions; in the first one we talk about history and current uses and in the second one we talk about impact and future of the technology.   I chose to write about mobile phones and I learned about the history of mobile phones through my research and I enjoyed reading throughout the research.

This subject is easy and very enjoyable.  I enjoy reading about a subject that I enjoy and write what I learned about it. In addition in this semester I learned about citations and referencing which will be very helpful throughout the bachelors program. 

Mobile phones

Introduction

Mobile phones are being used widely these days. We can see people using mobile phones in any place at any time. While they are walking in the street, driving the car, eating, shopping, in the cinema, in meetings, offices, just woke up or even in the toilet. Mobile phones are being used by all categories of the society regardless of their age, educational level, financial, nationality or health condition. The use of mobile phones grew over the years considerably and technologies in mobile phones have changed drastically over the years. In this report I will discuss the history of mobile phones and the current uses.

History

The history of mobile phones can be traced back to the 1940s where the radio technology was used in taxis, police cars, trucks and other emergency vehicles. How Mobile Phones have changed from The People History Site  ) They used this technology in police cars so that the police stations could communicate with the policemen and give them orders and directions while truckers used them to communicate with each other. Mobile phones history could also be traced back to individuals who had special radios that can be linked to a phone line by an operator to make a phone call. (History of Cell Phones) The radio technology is claimed to be the base technology of our current cell phones and this technology has been under development since the 1940s. The first commercial phone was introduced by Motorola company in 1983 and it took 15 years to develop the phone before introducing it to the market. (History of Cell Phones) This phone was introduced with the automated cellular network which is called the 1G. The 1G was first launched in Japan by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone in 1979, (Mobile phone). The second generation phones were first used in 1991 on the 2G network which was first launched in Finland while the third generation phones were first used in 2001 and once again Japan was the first country to employ the 3G network.

Current uses

Today, mobile phones are very common and they are used on a daily basis to do many different tasks other than making phone calls. For example, today’s mobile phones can be used to surf the internet or receive and send e-mails while you are driving or sitting in a restaurant having dinner. They can be used also as a multifunctional device and perform allot of small tasks like texting, time managing, taking notes, saving contact details and many other things.

Impact

We can divide the impact of mobile phones into positive and negative impacts. For example mobile phones can save our lives in case of an accident in the middle of the highway where we can call the police and ambulance help, or in the middle of the desert if you are going for sand dune bashing and the car gets stuck, you can call for somebody to come and tow the car. Also mobile phones are being used as entertainment devices where you can download or play games. Mobile phones now are a very convenient way to communicate with anyone on the move either by text messaging, calling or even by e-mail and that made it easier to finish work or keep in touch with friends and family anywhere we are. Although there are many advantages that I didn’t mention yet, there are also many disadvantages to the mobile phones technologies like talking in the phone while driving which can cause accidents. Mobile phones are a big distraction especially to students in classes and most of the teachers are having to deal with students who are using their phones in class and that will affect their studies. One of the disadvantages also is that we are expected to be available all the time; everybody expects you to answer the phone any time anywhere without taking in to consideration that you are sleeping or on a vacation or not in the mood for answering the phone and that can affect your relation with the others if they think that you are trying to avoid them.

Future of mobile phones

It is said that mobile phones will be the remote controls of your life in the future. (William Webb 2007). It is going to take the role of our credit cards and going to do all of our payments just by scanning them like London’s Oyster card used for transport. (William Webb 2007). It’s going to be our navigation system where it will know our daily habits and start working before we even wake up and get information about the best route to work considering road works, traffic and accidents. (William Webb 2007). The Mobile phones technology is expected to develop significantly so that the mobile will take the role of many other devices and will do tons of functions that we don’t imagine phones can do.      

Conclusion

Mobile phones have improved in functionality and technology throughout the years and there is a huge capacity for improving even more. We didn't  know that the mobile phones would be the way they are right now and we don’t know what they will be like in the future. All we know is technology will never stop any time soon from developing and discovering new ways to use mobile phones. 

Bibliography

• "History of Cell Phones." TopBits by Tech-FAQ » . N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Apr. 2011. <http://www.tech-faq.com/history-of-cell-phones.html>.
• "How Mobile Phones have changed" from The People History Site . Where People, History and Memories Join Together from The People History Site. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Apr. 2011. <http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/mobilephones.html>.
• "Mobile phone - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Apr. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phone>.
•  Webb, William. "The Future of Mobile Phones: A Remote Control for Your Life - Magazines, Student - The Independent." The Independent | News | UK and Worldwide News | Newspaper. 14 May 2007. Web. 20 Apr. 2011. <http://www.independent.co.uk/student/magazines/the-future-of-mobile-phones-a-remote-control-for-you-life-448816.html>.
  
  

Speed Wings

The sports cars industry is a very huge world where the best companies in the automobile industry compete to produce the ultimate sports car for  the consumers. Sports cars are used on a daily bases throughout the whole world; they are used as an everyday cars, racing cars, city cars as most of them are small and easy to park and also as family cars for couples who don't have children who want to have some fun before getting a child and having to buy a proper family car. Today, we compare two of the top of the line sports cars, the Bugatti Veyron and the Porsche 911 Turbo.

Both cars are similar in many ways and different in so much more other ways. For example, both cars are sports cars, where they share most of the main aspects of sports cars like, light weight, two doors, rear engine, sport seats, rough ride, lots of safety features and lots of power. The two cars have an all wheel system and that is to maintain all the power which will be difficult to manage. They are both made by German automobile manufacturers and both got so much attention by the sports cars audience. 

Although these cars are very similar in many aspects, they are very different in many other ways, like the Bugatti Veyron has 1001 horsepower (Eric Adams, Joe Brown, Dan Lienert 2006) while the Porsche 911 Turbo has only 480 horsepower. The Bugatti Veyron, accelerates from zero to hundred kilometers per hour in 2.5 seconds while the Porsche 911 reaches a hundred kilometers in 3.6 seconds. (Kim Reynolds 2007) Radiators wise, the Porsche has only one radiator while the Bugatti has 10 radiators to cool off the heat that is generated from the original 3000 horsepower and two thirds of them  are lost as heat. (Wikipedia)

All in all, both cars are very successful in the motor world and have broken some records. For example, the Porsche held the lap time record for the Nuremburg race track for some time before another car broke the record. The Bugatti holds the world record for top speed for production cars which is 253mph.

"Bugatti Veyron." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 24 Mar. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugatti_Veyron>.

"Porsche 911." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 24 Mar. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porsche_911_Turbo>.

Reynolds, Kim. "Topless Turbo." Motor Trend Sept. 2007: 158. Web. <http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/convertibles/112_0709_2008_porsche_911_turbo_cabriolet/index.html>.

Adams, Eric, Joe Brown, and Dan Lienert. "Auto Tech." Popular Science Dec. 2006. Print.

Bibliography & Citation

Kharma and Hajjaj (1989) describe characteristics of conditional usage in writing by learners whose first language is Arabic. The Type 1 conditional (If + present + future) was the next most common form they encountered. They state that it generally does not pose a problem for Arab learners (Kharma and Hajjaj, p.138). This correlates with my experience in the UAE where I have found upper elementary and lower intermediate learners quickly demonstrate an ability to conceptualize and use the Type 1 conditional.

Bibliography:

Kharma, N., & Hajjajj, A. (1989). Errors in English Among Arabic Speakers: Analysis and Remedy. Essex: Longman. pp. 137 - 142

(1) Who did the original research? Kharma, N & Hajjajj, A
(2) What was the name of the book? Errors in English Among Arabic Speakers
(3) Who was the publisher? Longman
(4) Where was the book published? Essex
(5) When was the book published? 1989
(6) What format has been used? MLA