CLARA CARRERA YACHAY TECH
MY ENGLISH JOURNEY Clara Carrera Yachay Tech University Level 6-009 Teachers: Mark Poese & Josephine Javens February 25, 2017
CONTENT 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Portfolio letter Opinion Essay Response Essay Argumentative Essay Final Research Project Essay Thanks letter
PORTFOLIO LETTER
Clara Carrera Yachay, Ibarra, Imbabura, Ecuador 23th February, 2017
Dear Portfolio Reader, I am going to tell you about my journey learning the wonderful English language. When I graduated from high school, I thought I already knew English, but when I entered college, I realized that reality was different. In the first level of the English program, teachers made me write my first essay. I was very excited, but then I was frustrated because I could not. For me it was tough because I lacked the vocabulary to express myself, I did not know many grammatical rules, and I did not even know how to structure an essay. My first grade was appalling. I was sorrowful because I had put a lot of effort into that essay. Then, with the feedback from my teachers, I got better. My teachers taught me how to use the tenses in a right way, also grammar rules, transition words and so on. Also, they taught me how to structure an essay well. Now when I see my first essay, I realize that I deserved a worse grade, haha. I think the skill that I have developed most is writing. In the English program, they have made me write several types of essays: argumentative, opinion, response and much more. All the essays I've written have been based on articles. An example of this is my opinion essay based on the article "How Morality Changes in a Foreign Language" by Julie Sedivy where I am in disagreement with the author because I think any judgment must be impartial. As I did each of these essays, my ability to read improved. I had to read many articles to argue what I was saying in my essays. At first, I did not understand anything and I did not like reading, but my teachers gave me interesting articles that made me want to read more and more. Now, I realize that when I read the newspaper, some article or news I understand almost everything.
The speaking skill, to me, is the most difficult to improve. My teachers made me did a lot presentations. The speaking is still difficult for me but compared with my first presentation, I think that I have improved a lot. The thing that made me better is the feedback of my teachers; they work too much with me. They helped me to avoid disfluencies, worse content in my presentations and slides. Also, they made me interact with the audience. English is a lingua franca, and there is enormous importance to know how to communicate with people around the world. In my personal case, it is important because I want to be a scientist and almost all of scientific knowledge is in English. Also, English is important to me because since the next semester I will have my classes (organic chemistry, inorganic chemistry, and so on) in English. Therefore, I must dominate the English language. The English program at my University helps me to improve my skills in the English language like listening, speaking, reading and writing. Nowadays I can communicate my ideas, thoughts, and feelings in different ways. Therefore, I want to thank each of my teachers for the time that they have dedicated to me, for their efforts, for their patience and commitment. Thank you for believing in me. I also want to thank the reader for giving your time to read about my journey in developing my English language skills. I want to advise you to move forward with your goals because we can all achieve what we set out to do, just as I set out to learn English because our only limit is ourselves.
Clara Carrera
OPINION ESSAY
Running head: HOW MORALITY CHANGES IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
How Morality Change in a Foreign Language Clara Carrera Yachay Tech University February 1, 2017
Author Note L-009 February 11, 2017
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HOW MORALITY CHANGES IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
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How Morality Changes in a Foreign Language Morality is one of the most controversial topics in the world. There are a large number of countries in the world, and this implies a large number of languages. Now, the question is: is there a general morality for every country, or does it change? And if it changes, is this change related to the different languages of every country? In the article “How morality changes in a foreign language� by Julie Sedivy (2016), she explains that our brains work in different ways regarding morality. The author says that our brain process changes depending on the language that we are talking in. If we are talking in a foreign language, our brain works more consciously and less intuitively than if we are talking in our native language. This behavior is due to how we keep emotional memories of our childhood related to the language that we lived those memories with, our mother tongue. Thus, the author says that our moral judgments are going to be prejudiced by the language that we use, foreign or native language. I disagree with the author because I think that any judgment must be impartial, so I firmly believe that no matter what is our tongue language, we need to think rationally when we are going to judge. First of all, we may become emotional in a native language, but we must be impartial. In the article, when the author says that she feels more assertive in English, more relaxed in French and more sentimental in Czech, it is irrelevant. I believe this because it is true that when we are learning a foreign language we can take some of the thoughts and expressions used by native speakers, but it can't be decisive to the moral judgment issue. Morality is innate; we know when we are doing right or wrong things, no matter what the circumstance is. I say this because we are perfectly aware that
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killing or stealing are not right actions, so at the moment that we change our language we can't change innate things like morality. . Second of all, we need to think rationally when we are going to judge. The reason why we can learn different languages is that they do not change their concept when we translate them. Every word has its concept for some reason, for example the word "jump" makes reference to an experience. In this way, every word is different and can be recognized for the experience that each one carries. Thus, different words in different languages express similar concepts. We can't be confused at the moment to make some moral judgment in any language. We just need to think rationally in a way that can be fair to all. In conclusion, I am not saying that the language that we use is not relevant at the moment that we judge, but I am saying that we can control it. The language is not the problem; the problem is the feelings that are related to them. This issue can be avoided by something inherent in humans, morality. Everyone knows what is wrong and what is right, so this is the part that we have to use to judge. We need to be less intuitive and more conscious, be more rationale. If we act in this manner, in my opinion, we are going to learn to do fair judgments no matter the language that we are using.
HOW MORALITY CHANGES IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
References Sedivy, J. (2016). How Morality Changes in a Foreign Language. Retrieved January 31, 2017, from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ how- morality-changes-in-a foreign-language/
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RESPONSE ESSAY
Running head: HOW ETHICS INFLUENCE AND ARE INFLUENCED BY SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
How Ethics Influence and are Influenced by Science and Engineering Clara Carrera Yachay Tech University
Author Note L-009 February 7th, 2017 How Ethics Influence and are Influenced by Science and Engineering
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HOW ETHICS INFLUENCE AND ARE INFLUENCED BY SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
The set of rules imposed by society is called ethics. Ethics influence the development of different fields like society, economics, science and engineering. Science and engineering are fields where constantly people are looking for new knowledge. These people are called researchers. Researchers make a detailed study of a subject. While researchers are discovering new information or reaching a new understanding, they have to make difficult decisions. These decisions are involved with ethics. Ethics are "norms for conduct that distinguish between acceptable and unacceptable behavior" (David Resnik, 2015). The difficulty is that people have different concepts of what is an acceptable or unacceptable behavior. Even when ethics are norms imposed, people interpret and apply them based on their experiences and values. In the article "The Role Of Ethics In Science And Engineering" by Deborah Johnson (2010), the author explains that moral notions and practices inevitably influence and are influenced by science and engineering. I strongly agree with the author. Therefore, I think that the decisions that researchers have to make are shaped by ethics. Also, ethics are influenced and shaped by science and engineering. First of all, science and engineering are shaped by ethics. Laws and ethics norms are not the same things. All governments have rules or laws about the behavior of people, but ethics are less formal than laws. If someone breaks the rules, he can be punished, but not if he breaks ethics norms. That is to say, an action may be legal but unethical or illegal but ethical (David Resnik, 2015). For example, in Ecuador, someone can be homosexual can be ethical but it is not legal. Around the world governments (not all) have introduced ethical laws to shape the behavior of their citizens. In the field of science and engineering it is not different. Ethics, science and engineering are constantly being negotiated (Johnson, 2010). This negotiation sometimes ends in diverted or stopped of research. It is for different reasons. One of the most powerful
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HOW ETHICS INFLUENCE AND ARE INFLUENCED BY SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
reasons is that society doesn't want to "cross the line." That is, they don't want to go to an unknown land. For example, the cases of embryonic stem cell research and nuclear power, cloning, genetic engineering. Some of them were stopped because society doesn't want to "play God" (Johnson, 2010). In this way, society shapes research in science and engineering by ethics. Second of all, ethics are influenced and shaped by science and engineering. As I said before ethics, science and engineering are constantly being negotiated ( Johnson, 2010). This constant negotiation produces different problems. One of the problems is the lack of fairness to those who conduct science and engineering research.. It is because society doesn't want to go to an unknown land. Sometimes, exploring this unknown land is necessary for the well-being of all. For example, computers, at first, seemed to be a threat to humans, but they are of great help. Computers let us communicate when is difficult and allow us to organize data and work more effectively in most cases. Computers are just one example of the benefits that science and engineering give to us. Thus, it seems that also society is shaped by science and engineering. That is to say, society "cross the line" if it brings benefits to them. The issue here is that society crosses the line without considering if they are damaging things around. They don't take care of the environment, animals and even humans. This is most contradictory behavior; it is unethical. I think that crossing the line is not unethical, but the way that society does it can be. In conclusion, ethics inevitably influence and are influenced by science and engineering. When ethics influences science and engineering, it shapes the pathway that research takes. Also, when ethics are influenced by science and engineering, it shapes the pathway that ethics takes. In both cases, the interactions between ethics, science and
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HOW ETHICS INFLUENCE AND ARE INFLUENCED BY SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
engineering trigger problems. These problems are related to letting research continue or just divert it or stop it. In the case that ethics influence science and engineering, society has some limits. Society allows or not some researches. Society is shaping technological advances according to what they believe is correct. In the case that ethics are influenced by science and engineering. Society changes their limits based on the constant evolution of technologies and its own well-being. Therefore, it is necessary that society implements another way to improve its own behavior. Society must act with ethics. That is, no matter if science and engineering "cross the line," the matter is how and why they do that. Thus, society thinking on what is correct for living-beings, will choose ethical decisions.
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HOW ETHICS INFLUENCE AND ARE INFLUENCED BY SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
References Resnik, D. (2017). What is Ethics in Research & Why is it Important?. Niehs.nih.gov. Retrieved 7 February 2017, from https://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/resources/bioethics/whatis/ The role of ethics in science and engineering. (2010). Trends In Biotechnology. http://dx.doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tibtech.2010.08.003
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ARGUMENTATION ESSAY
Running head: SCIENCE AND BUSINESS SHOULD HAVE A COMMON LANGUAGE
Science and business should have a common language Clara Carrera Yachay Tech University
Author Notes L-009 February 23, 2017
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SCIENCE AND BUSINESS SHOULD HAVE A COMMON LANGUAGE
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Science and Business Should Have a Common Language
Through time, communication has been indispensable the reason the world has evolutionated is because people can communicate they ideas thoughts and so on. Language is indispensable to human beings because it allows them to develop themselves. Language lets them share ideas in the different fields. In my opinion, it is necessary have a common language because it lets people around the world share and help each other. It we don't have a common language, the evolution of human beings would advance slowly or even cannot success. Also, I think that this common language must be English because nowadays it is the language that more people know therefore, in this essay. I am going to discuss the reason why we must use English a lingua franca in two fields that allow human beings to evolve science and business. First of all, English must be the lingua franca because can let human beings develop or evolve. English is the language that is taught around the world. If you go to another country where people don`t know you language, there is a huge possibility that you can communicate through English. In science. it has an immensurable importance that people can communicate with each other. There is a big problem when, scientists can´t share the knowledge, because it means that evolution, for example in technology, can´t continue. The is one of the reasons why since the middle at the last century and until now most scientists share it's advantages in English. In addition, a 2012 study from the scientific research publication research trends found that around 80 percent of papers are written in English. Even when people don't want to have a lingua franca. It is necessary if we cuant to know about our researches. Also, otherpeople won't want english as a lingua franca but English is the most known language around the world. If people want to charge English it can be a waste of time and also money.
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Second of all, English must be a lingua franca because can’t let human beings evolve in business. Nowadays in every job, the bosses are looking for employers who know English. This is because the globalization of the world demands more knowledge, and the first one is the knowledge of languages. In business, people must have a lingua franca because it easier for everyone. It is easier that everybody knows one language than everyone must learn several languages to communicate with others. Business is one of the most important ways that human beings have to evolve. Through business people around the world can Exchange important resources like food, clothes and medicine. In conclusion, it is of huge importance to have a common language, and in my opinion it must be English. It is true that English is not spoken by most people, but is the language that most people know sufficiently to share ideas, knowledge and make business. Also, a lingua franca lets human beings develop through time. In the fields of science and business it is not different. In addition, there are a number of people who don't want a lingua franca and even less that this lingua franca be English. The reality is that English is, nowadays, the lingua franca and people will always need one in order to share ideas and thoughts that will let them be constantly evolving and changing as today human beings do.
SCIENCE AND BUSINESS SHOULD HAVE A COMMON LANGUAGE
References Huttner-Koros, A. (2017). The Hidden Bias of Science’s Universal Language. The Atlantic. Retrieved 17 February 2017, from https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2015/08/english-universallanguage-science-research/400919/
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FINAL RESEARCH PROJECT ESSAY
Running head: ENERGY STORAGE SOLUTIONS BASED ON GRAPHENE
Energy Storage Solutions Based on Graphene Clara Carrera Yachay Tech University
Author Note L-009 February 21st, 2017
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ENERGY STORAGE SOLUTIONS BASED ON GRAPHENE
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Abstract As technology advances, the demand for high-performance energy storage devices has increased considerably. Scientists have made a lot of efforts to develop these kinds of materials to enhance batteries and capacitors that are very large, very heavy, and charge and release their energy relatively slowly. As a solution to these problems scientists have found that the lithium-ion battery and graphene-based supercapacitors have high performance to enhance the currently used devices. That is, devices such as lithium-ion batteries and graphene-based supercapacitors have high charge and discharge rates. The rates are ten times greater energy density and recharge the battery ten times faster. Also, in this paper other benefits of the use of graphene are investigated. Keywords: Graphene, Charge, Discharge, Battery, Capacitors, Energy, Carbon
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Energy Storage Solutions Based on Graphene Introduction Carbon is one of the most important chemical elements in nature. It is found in all living beings and, depending on how its atoms are distributed, can form substances with different characteristics. Graphene is obtained from carbon. Graphene is a thin layer of carbon atoms. Carbon atoms are disposed or strongly bonded together in a hexagonal shape. Graphene is a two-dimensional material that has interesting properties. It is the thinnest compound known, the lightest material known, the strongest compound discovered, the best conductor of heat at room and also the best conductor of electricity known. Other notable properties of graphene are its unique levels of absorption of white light, and its potential suitability for use in spin transport. It demonstrates its applications in the field of electronics, where through its capacity to store the energy it can give batteries a longer duration and a shorter charge time, establish faster connections and even contribute to improving the environment by eliminating pollutants that today have been necessary. In the struggle to develop energy storage solutions, scientists have encountered better graphene-based battery solutions and capacitors. Scientists are looking for these solutions because the situation we are in now is not encouraging. The reason is because while currently devices are able to store a large amount of energy in certain types of batteries, those batteries are very large, very heavy, and charge and release their energy relatively slowly. Capacitors, on the other hand, are able to be charged and release energy very quickly but can hold much less energy than a battery (Fuente, 2017). Graphene application developments for energy storage give a new hope to have high
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charge and discharge rates, and the most important part of this is that it is really cheap in contrast to their benefits. Therefore, in this paper, I am going to discuss energy storage solutions based on graphene to enhance the performance of currently used devices, such as lithium-ion batteries and capacitors. Lithium-Ion Batteries Graphene enhances the performance of lithium-ion batteries. Batteries have three elements, the anode, the electrolyte and the cathode. When a battery is being discharged the lithium ions are transferred from the anode, through the electrolyte, to the cathode. When the battery is recharged the movement occurs in reverse. The chargeability, which depends on the energy density, has to do with a number of lithium atoms that can be stored at the anode (or at the cathode). The rate of recharge has to do with the rate at which the lithium ions return from the cathode to the anode, traveling through the electrolyte. In existing lithium-ion batteries the anode is usually made of layer after layer of graphene. They can store one lithium atom for every six carbon atoms. If the anode is formed with silicon sheets, four lithium atoms can be stored for each silicon atom (Amin, Putra & Kosasih, 2016). Silicon, however, presents a drawback, it expands and contracts a lot during the recharging process, causing its fragmentation over time and loss of load capacity. The graphene sheets are very thin, of a single carbon atom of thickness, and proportionally they are very long. This is the reason why the lithium ions have to spend a lot of time traveling to a free position, and therefore the speed of recharge is slow. The solution to these two drawbacks to avoid expansion and contraction is to combine the groups of silicon between the sheets of graphene, as a sandwich. It achieves more energy density than just with graphene, and these
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absorb the dilation of the silicon without being fragmented. Scientists have resorted to a chemical oxidation process to make lithium ions move faster to a free position. This chemical oxidation process creates tiny holes of 10 to 20 nanometers, which serve as a shortcut for lithium atoms to spin, increasing the speed of recharge. The result is it achieves ten times greater energy density and recharge the battery ten times faster. Supercapacitors Graphene enhances the performance of capacitors. Capacitors store energy in the form of an electric charge, unlike batteries that store it in chemical form. The problem is that capacitors store less charge than a conventional battery. Supercapacitors are similar to capacitors but have a much higher capacity to store electrical charge in a reduced space. Also, it has the advantage of an immediate load and withstands an unlimited number of charge cycles. In addition, supercapacitors are ideal for applications where it is necessary to store electrical energy in large quantities, as close as possible to a battery, but also to be able to release it quickly if it is required (Huang, Guo & Tian, 2016). Supercapacitors have all of these characteristics because they are graphene-based. In capacitors activated carbon has been used to make them store energy, but this way was not the best way. Scientists found that using graphene instead of the currently popular activated carbon is the best way to store energy. The reason is that graphene is a form of carbon. Activated carbon has a high surface area but graphene has more. It is necessary to say that one of the limitations to the capacitance of supercapacitors is the surface area of the conductors. The storing of electrostatic charge is affected by the surface area. The capacitance of a
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supercapacitor depends largely on the area of the plates. In this case, using graphene has a good surface/weight ratio. A layer of graphene occupies an area of 2675 square meters per gram. The conductive material in a supercapacitor that has more surface will have a better storage of electrostatic charge. The important part of the supercapacitor is its efficiency. Scientists until now had achieved supercapacitors that are able to store 150 Farads per gram. Nowadays it is suggested that a graphene-based supercapacitor, in theory, can achieve 550 F/g. A graphene-based supercapacitor has been achieved capable of providing 85.6 Wh / kg at room temperature and 180 Wh / kg at 80 degrees centigrade. Opposing View Graphene is one of the strongest, lightest, and most conductive compounds ever discovered. It’s an extraordinary composite. However, a scientist from New York’s Clarkson University says he’s found a way to manufacture hemp waste into a material “better than graphene.” Moreover, the scientist says creating this graphene hemp-like material costs less than it takes to produce graphene. It will be able to recycle leftover hemp bast fiber into powerful energy-storing supercapacitors. There are some steps to make this material. First, is necessary to cook the leftover fibers to achieve hydrothermal synthesis. After the hemp’s lignin and semicellulose dissolve, what’s left are carbon nanosheets similar to the structure of graphene. This is an interesting way to try to have a material a little more cheaply than graphene, but the reality is otherwise. It is true that this material is cheaper, but to transform this material it is necessary to follow the steps described before. Each step has its own cost. If we sum the costs of each
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step, the resultant cost to get this new material becomes the same as that of graphene, with the only difference that graphene, for its properties, is better than this fiber. Conclusion Batteries have the disadvantage that they take a long time to charge for the performance they give. In this field, the capacitors are the most widely used, since they are loaded very fast, but, on the other hand, they have a very limited capacity to store a big quantity of energy. However, graphene-based supercapacitors and batteries have a large capacity to store energy and really small times to recharge compared to other kinds of current batteries. However, this is not the only good thing about graphene, in addition to allowing very large loads in a very short time, supercapacitors and graphene-based batteries reduces the main problems of the current batteries; its weight, its price, its size and, above all, its biodegradability. This means that in a few years people will be able to see devices ridiculously small, cheaper and with a really less weight, and it also means that when batteries and supercapacitors are damaged, they can thrown in the normal trash or can be used as fertilizer for plants. All this added to the pleasure of recharging a tablet in 30 minutes, for example, and being able to enjoy it all day without needing to recharge it.
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References Fuente, J. (2017). Graphene Supercapacitors - What Are They?. Graphenea. Retrieved 20 February 2017, from https://www.graphenea.com/pages/graphene-supercapacitors Huang, G., Guo, X., & Tian, Q. (2016). Formation of graphene-like 2D spinel MnCo2O4 and its lithium storage properties. Sciencedirect.com. Retrieved 21 February 2017, from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925838816338622 Amin, M., Putra, N., & Kosasih, E. (2016). Thermal properties of beeswax/graphene phase change material as energy storage for building applications. Sciencedirect. Retrieved 21 February 2017, from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1359431116323845
THANK YOU FOR READING MY PORTFOLIO
HOPE YOU ENJOY IT BEST REGARDS CLARA CARRERA