Pre-Degree Diploma Journal
2018
Abbey College Cambridge Pre-Degree Diploma Journal 2018 1
Introduction
We are delighted to be launching this year’s Our Art students further highlighted the range of Pre-Degree Diploma Journal – which we hope talent we have here at Abbey with some brilliant pieces exploring the issues they face as students will be volume one of many! today – as did some of our future Medics, who The students have spent the past few months reminded us of the impact of stress and the working in groups to explore the subjects they are importance of a healthy lifestyle. Finally, our hoping to study at university, and their work has Scientists and Psychologists investigated a wide culminated in an independent group project, which range of subjects, from culture and emotion to has helped them to gain skills in research, analysis, what’s really inside tonic water – and even how to and creative and critical thinking. unboil an egg! Each group came up with their own research We are immensely proud of the students’ hard work, question, and we hope you will find many articles to and particularly grateful to the PDD Group Leaders interest you in the Journal. While the Architecture whose unfailing support for the students has helped students explored form and space, the Business and to bring this Journal to life. Our thanks also go to Economics students evaluated leadership styles, the John Menzies, who designed the copy you are now future of currencies and the highly relevant issues of holding, and to Beiqing (Eva) Jiang, who is trade wars and cryptocurrencies. responsible for the fantastic photos you will find at Our Computer Science students have examined current advances in technology, while our Engineers have focused on the transport of the future. Law students grappled with the intricacies of cases, while the Maths students took the subject out of the classroom and into daily life.
the end of the Journal. We hope you enjoy the Journal, and we look forward to many more! Dr. Alexandra Whalley Head of Pre-Degree Diploma
2 Abbey College Cambridge Pre-Degree Diploma Journal 2018
Dr. Aoife O’Gorman PDD Journal Editor
Contents Page 4. Lonely Women Page 5. Form vs Space
Page 24. Does economics have the answer for the global problem of plastic pollution?
Page 6. Bioclimatic Buildings
Page 25. Dream+ Work=Goal
Page 7. Is innovation accessible to all?
Page 26. Hyperloop—the future of transport
Page 8 Is soft the new hard?
Page 27. Nuclear power in future transport
Page 9. Leaders eat last
Page 28. Quantum Teleportation
Page10. Where does the idea of ‘soft is the new hard’ come from?
Page 29. Why isn’t there a space elevator yet?
Page 11. How do you lead the millennial generation?
Page 30. The future of transport—Transit Elevated Bus
Page 12. Should leaders start with why?
Page 31. Will the Hyperloop be practical?
Page 13. Transcription of ‘Stille Wasser Sind Tief’ byTillith
Page 32. Suspended
Page 14. Car Autopilot System
Page 34. How Mathematics helps decision making
Page 33. Self-defence
Page 15. Evolution of mobile communications
Page 35. Maths in nature
Page 16. Hua Dan
Page 36. Queen of the Night
Page 17. Has the transition from command to free-market economies been a failure in some of the post-soviet economies (USSR)?
Page 37. Why don’t we sleep for just 2 hours per day?
Page 18. The craze about cryptocurrency and its disruption of the global economy Page 19. To what extent will North and South Korea benefit from the peace proposal?
Page 38. Stress: Friend or Foe? Page 39. Why should the flu not be taken lightly? Page 40. Does yo-yo dieting really work? Page 41. Do moisturizers really improve skin quality?
Page 20. How might a trade war between the US and China affect the global economy? Page 21. How competitive is the modern fast food industry?
Page 42. Does our culture our determine emotions? Page 43. Can too much protein be harmful to the human body?
Page 22. Why are people paid differently?
Page 44. The organic Substance inside tonic water
Page 23. Will cash disappear
Page 45. Unboiling eggs Pages 46 & 47. Group Photos Abbey College Cambridge Pre-Degree Diploma Journal 2018 3
Lonely Women Student: Zeng, Amy Qinwen, Media: Acrylic, Size: 25x25cm
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Form vs Space Shwe Aung, Pei Yifei Fancy, Ismi Khilyamova, Nyi Nyi Zay most people think space is more important than form for residential buildings. Commercial Buildings
In Architecture, Form and Space are the most important factors to consider when designing a building. Generally, Form is the combination of textures, materials, color, light and shade to create a building whereas Space is the dimensions of the internal environment to suit its function. As one factor could sometimes contradict with the other in architecture, perfecting both design elements at the same time may not always be practical. So, is ‘Form’ more important than ‘Space’ or should ‘Space, be taken into more consideration than ‘Form’ in the design process? We conducted a survey into this topic to find out.
Residential Buildings
Deciding a more important factor between design and the functionality of a commercial building can be hard as both are vital. As these buildings are mainly used for commercial purposes, the form of the building can change our first impression on it. All the structures need to consider the beauty of its form to impress the employees and clients and create a friendly atmosphere. For instance, the building entrance should give us the feeling of being welcomed as we enter the building. Besides, the reflection of beauty could perhaps motivate the employees to work at the place more efficiently. For tourist attractions, people tend to admire buildings with magnificent form. However, according to our survey, most people prefer a spacious environment for work, because the buildings are constructed in a way that maximum efficiency of output work can be achieved. Offices, for example, have similar functions and hence can be grouped into single, linear, and clustered space, which is highly efficient in communication and focus on their own work. Therefore, most commercial buildings are designed in high rise structure and cuboid form. Overall, the survey showed that for residential buildings, 50% more people chose space over form which is significant and the percentages for space and form were 67% and 33% respectively for commercial buildings which shows that most people prefer a spacious environment both at home and at work. However, it is notable that form and space are two opposing elements which together establish an inseparable reality of architecture.
Just like any other buildings, both the structure and the functionality are significant for a residential building. As home is a place for rest, living in a visually magnificent house could help in relaxation. For instance, the use of colors tends to alter people’s emotion; bright colors are more reflective than dark colors which make people more comfortable in the environment. Also, Form could be References a benefit in impressing guests or visitors to your house as the beauty of the house could reflect your https://www.planndesign.com/articles/2758personality and identity. importance-form-architecture In contrast, a house should be constructed to suit its purposes. In some cases where residents have lots of belongings, a wider space might be more necessary than a beautiful space to fit all the things in. Moreover, for large families, the space must be large enough to meet everyone’s needs. For example, a dining room should be big enough to hold all the family members, and the backyard should also have large open spaces for the users to do outdoor activities. With reference to our survey,
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Bioclimatic Buildings William Mendonca primarily oil) or electricity, besides being a significant economic burden due to the high cost of energy, results in large scale atmospheric pollution, mainly carbon dioxide (CO2) which is responsible for the greenhouse effect. Which leads us to our main topic:
Are bioclimatic buildings the solution? They are built with design and construction methods that are based on the local climate, they aim to be comfortable and economical by using solar energy and other eco-friendly sources. Instead of fighting nature, this type of architecture works with nature, and its principles date back many centuries.
So what are the benefits? Taking into account the climate and ecosystems of the environment to maximize performance and has Introduction less overall impact, they use locally sourced building The climate change figure is one of the main global materials, low-impact construction techniques, issues faced by humanity over the past decades and reduce energy consumption for heating, cooling, is a relevant topic for international corporations. This lighting, and equipment, and economize on the has been highly influenced by scientific and political energy used throughout the building. ambitions, arguing whether the statement is true or false, but without a doubt pollution is increasing over In conclusion, bioclimatic buildings could work with ‘green architecture’ as a response to climate the years and damaging our ecosystem. change, but also is a very environmentally friendly In our research I interviewed students and asked and it may be an option for architects in future. them about climate change and its causes: most of them believe that human activity and solar References irradiance contribute to this. https://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/ Part of this will also influence other areas in the role of the science, and as mentioned earlier, in politics. However, our focus is on architecture and what kind of influences this could give to the process of construction. This, for instance, leads us to an important question: how can architecture fight against growing climate issues?
http://www.cres.gr/kape/energeia_politis/ energeia_politis_bioclimatic_eng.htm https://www.iasaglobal.org/itabok/what-is-it-architecture/ https://www.viatechnik.com/blog/bioclimatic-buildingstheir-benefits-features-challenges/
Architecture can be defined by IASA, as the art or science of designing and erecting building. There are many architectural styles that were invented in a response to something or some world event happening. As an example post-modernism was created by the influence of the WWII on architects’ ideals, questioning the science. However, most of these styles or responses have grown through the development of technology. The building sector is responsible for final energy consumption. This, either in the form of heat (using 6 Abbey College Cambridge Pre-Degree Diploma Journal 2018
Is innovation accessible to all? Yixi Zhang, Jingzhu Saw, Ekaterina Ponomareva & Siqi Liao
Real life example of being creative It is true that everyone could be innovative. This is just a matter of being lazy or putting effort into something. In a book called (How to Fly a Horse, written by Kevin Ashton), Ashton described how vanilla is hard to farm and only the Mexicans were able to plant them in the olden days. Until one day, a child of a slave figured out the way to pollinate vanillas and produce tons and tons of vanillas. Although he was just a slave's child, he was able to find ways to help to plant vanillas and because of his effort, we are able to taste the wonder of this magnificent flavour today. Thus, this shows that ordinary people can also be innovative.
Introduction What is innovation? There are lots of meanings of this term. It is often defined as coming up with new ideas and inventions - new ways of production of products or methods. When someone is able to exploit a creative idea successfully, we say they are being innovative. However, every definition, whether it is innovation in business or economics or other spheres of our lives, initially it means being creative, having new ideas. Therefore, this can mean that most people have this feature or ability to innovate because everybody has his/her own ideas and sights. This article will discuss the following question: "Is innovation accessible to all?” because in the modern world it is significant to know, and therefore, to use this knowledge to make our lives better and more convenient.
Why is innovation so important? Albert Einstein famously said that “we cannot solve the problem with the same thinking we used when we created them”. What he referred to was solving maths problems, however, it is true for business as well. Innovation is so important in today’s modern business world. Let’s use Nokia as an example. A company that was once strong and reputable; the company that turned mobile phones into something fashionable. Nokia failed because of many reasons, mainly because it fell behind leading rivals that took on the smartphone market more aggressively. Eventually, in 2013, Microsoft announced that it would acquire Nokia’s mobile device business. Nokia’s strategy did not work, it didn’t see that its brand was not strong enough to keep up with changing times; it did not take on innovation as it should have done, even when Apple released the iPhone, Nokia still had not taken on the power of innovation in a growing and highly competitive market. It failed because it did not keep up with new ideas, and was consequently left behind.
How to be innovative Something that is innovative is new and original. Therefore, becoming “innovative” is to make something new for yourself and other people. If a person loves to experiment and find new ways to do things, he is an innovative person. For example, arguing with yourself and trying to use critical thinking when solving problems could make you innovative. Things taught by others are not always correct, we should learn to debate and negate. Finally, being innovative doesn’t equal success; keeping the characteristic is the first step that leads to innovation.
Conclusion Not everyone could be innovative, but it is accessible to all. In order to be innovative, one needs to have criteria like self-discipline, good ideas, determination and so on. Most people assume that only extraordinary people could create, but so can ordinary people. As long as you believe in yourself, every idea could be real or even succeed in the end. Those who fail or think that they could not create are just trying to find an excuse for not putting enough effort into their ideas. To sum up, do not let laziness be the barrier along your path to creation.
References Ashton, Kevin, 2015, How to Fly a Horse, New York: Doubleday Books https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Mobile#2011%E2%80% 932013:_Partnership_between_Microsoft_and_Nokia https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Innovation https://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/where-nokiawent-wrong
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Is soft the new hard? Jiehan Li, Nijad Muradov, Peng Ji, Qing Guo Great talents and efficient management skills are the primary reason why Apple has become a leader in the manufacture of consumer electronics. So, soft HR is proved to work. Amazon Amazon is a very successful company, the fourth biggest in the world based on market capitalisation. Since it began it has used a Hard approach to Human Resource Management, paying employees by piece rate. It seems to be focused on short term results. However, having bought Zappos in 2009 for $1bn, we think it must also recognise the value of a soft Human Resource Management culture. Zappos runs a ‘holacracy’, a self-managed decentralised organisational structure. None of its Key Characteristics staff have titles, but they are motivated and focused Soft Human Resource management considers on great customer service. Amazon have let Zappos employees as their most important resource. The ‘do their own thing’ and will be aware of their growth leadership style is democratic. McGregor considered and success, because they get the financial benefit. this approach as his ‘Theory Y’. It is focused on innovation, creativity and employee engagement. It can work in all Businesses who value higher order Conclusion needs, which Maslow referenced in his ‘Hierarchy of Right now Apple are the biggest company in the needs’. world. They would say their staff are their greatest Under a Hard Human Resource approach asset and are at the very heart of the Organisation. employees are seen as just a resource. The They ‘start with why’ (Sinek, 2009) and are a Leadership style is Authoritarian and sometimes can Business who deliver life-style solutions. However, be aggressive in how it is delivered. The we also believe that Amazon are starting to think Organisational structure tends to be tall and this way as well. We believe soft is the new hard. communication is top/down (from the most senior manager down). McGregor considered the approach as his ‘Theory X’. Taylor suggested it was the best References way forward to motivate ‘lazy’ employees. Pay them http://management-training-guru.com/2013/12/hrpiece rate, so by how much they produce. strategy-at-apple-make-their-employees-creativeDoes soft win in real life? and-innovative/ Apple Inc. Grant, R.M., 2016, Contemporary strategy analysis: Text and cases edition, Chichester:John Wiley & Mass media knows the founder of the company, Steve Jobs, who put a lot of emphasis on creativity Sons. and innovation. However, we think Apple has based Jarvis, D.W., Mittleman, A.D., Xu, M. and Tam, its success on the strength of its employees, who C.Y.J., Apple Inc. Portable electronic device. U.S. were able to compete with Samsung, Nokia, Patent 8,731,618. 2014 Microsoft, HP and Google amongst others. https://www.zapposinsights.com/about/holacracy Through history, the Apple Inc. market share has Sinek, S., 2009, Start with Why, London:Penguin continued to grow through incredible performance. This is helped by its forward looking Human Resources strategy and culture. It is a culture which involves its staff in decision-making. Apple have great talent, and their management know how to recruit and retain this talent. At the same time, Apple Inc. did not make training compulsory for staff, it is their choice. This shows strong trust. 8 Abbey College Cambridge Pre-Degree Diploma Journal 2018
Leaders eat last Zejun Cheng (Esther), Cuijun Huang (Jody) & Anton Palmov united and they can trust their lives to another person. There is no handbook that make officers do so, but it is just the way of showing how everybody is respected, valued and also teaches responsibility.
Christmas lunch in Abbey Cambridge
Introduction With reference to the book Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek, eating last means that “giving the very essence of life, food and water to the person we love first so that they can live even if it means we eat less.” He believes when it is in danger, real leaders are not protecting themselves, instead, they are willing to put themselves in harm’s way to first protect employees.
Why leaders tend to serve employees first? In the past, leadership styles were mostly autocratic. Decisions were always made from the people from highest hierarchy, causing demotivation and nonparticipation of the subordinates. Consequently, lacking in new ideas for the development of a business creates a competitive disadvantage. Having realised this, nowadays, businesses implement the new management that leaders listen to employees’ ideas and make sure their highest priority needs are being served, which is known as “servant leadership”, a philosophy coined by Robert K. Greenleaf (1970) As a result, with the high engagement of employees, the productivity increases relatively faster.
Every Abbey student will remember how we were served by heads of department and our principals while eating our Christmas lunch this year. As students, we felt valued and cared for by our teachers. After a brief interview, the head of business said that the lunch deeply reminded him of why teachers exist. Teachers exist to serve their students and satisfy their need first. Although the performance of students do not actually influence teachers’ salary, they still prioritise us to tackle our problems on study despite being busy at that time, which profoundly touches us and we really want to show our sincere gratitude to them. The same can be applied to business too; “eating last” is not compulsory to leaders, but if they do so, employees might have a strong feeling of humanization from their leaders, wanting to communicate more with them. By having good communication, leaders can know more innermost thoughts from employees so that they can try their best to help them. It all makes for a happier work environment.
The egalitarianism of Leader Eat Last
In terms of the relationship between leaders and subordinates in the theory “Leaders eat last”, it tends to be equal because only if equality happens can leaders consider employees’ perspectives. Both employees and employers are the indispensable factors to businesses’ success. Therefore, nowadays, entrepreneurs put equality as the core mission to achieve and they think highly of it. In practice, they equally arrange the tasks for employees and respect their proposals even if the suggestion is not perfectly suitable for the business. Reference to the book Leaders Eat Last This enable the business to run in harmony. So There is a quite popular example in the book, which Eating last is actually the reflection of egalitarianism. is the reason why Simon Sinek named his book References ‘Leaders Eat Last’. It is an interview between Simon and commanding General George Flynn, Simon https://www.youtube.com/watch? asked what one of the key reasons was that made v=YMeuk0ZtLM0&feature=youtu.be US marines so well-known and unique. General http://www.doseofleadership.com/ltgen-georgeanswered, ‘officers eat last’. This makes marines flynn/ (2014) Abbey College Cambridge Pre-Degree Diploma Journal 2018 9
Where does the idea of ‘soft is the new hard’ come from? Roushan Amreyeva, Genrikh Kromm and Ihor Mikulich dimension of work such as consultation, etc. On the other hand, being soft in relation to employees often makes subordinates demotivated, so that they may provide poor quality or no outcome at all. However, being autocratic and strict on them can provide a firm with a high-quality job. Putting a lot of pressure on employees can make them frustrated which can negate creativity. This will make their job boring (lack of job enrichment) on a day-to-day basis.
The idea ‘soft is the new hard’ tends to be the most pivotal aspect of Human Resources Management and refers to two ways of dealing with employees. The first one refers to line management based on a laissez-faire leadership style and letting them to have a maximum of delegation towards the prosperity of the certain business. The second one is based on being autocratic and it closely links with strict supervision and minimum of empowerment.
How does hard become the new soft? During the last few centuries, Business and Economics are the subjects that started with no background and have developed a lot. Nowadays business ideas are dynamically changing. A lot of responsibility to the employees means that it also brings a lot of pressure on them as they are fully responsible for actions they take. “Hard” means that all responsibilities are given to the leader and this person is the one who is in charge of their subordinates and the quality of their work.
Taylor, one of the most well-known motivation theorists, refers to the ‘hard’ HRM in his scientific management theory: First of all, studying the work process to determine the most efficient production methods. The next step is observing and timing the best workers in these methods and then training the remaining workers to the same standard. And, finally, the last stage is implementing differential pay rates and close supervision to increase productivity. This is Taylor's version of a ‘hard’ HRM as Taylor supports McGregor’s Theory X leadership theory. He thinks that workforces are mainly lazy and are only motivated by money. This leads to him suggesting the use of an autocratic leadership style and the financial method of rewards such as piecerate payment (payment based on how much a single worker produces during the certain period of time). All in all soft can be a new hard as it is highly affected by the mindset of people from different countries.
References Surridge, M., 2015, AQA business for A Level 1, London:Hodder Education.
How will the idea of soft being the new hard affect the business? Being democratic affects how well they work in business so that they can be more motivated towards the recognition for achievement and promotion (Herzberg’s theory), so therefore the employees will be more productive and bring more benefits into the job. This closely links with the theory of Mayo, which suggests that it is highly advantageous for employers and employees to work in teams. This aspect of his work is an important issue within many businesses today. This brought sociological theory into management and accepted that employees could be motivated by meeting their social needs. More attention was given to the social 10 Abbey College Cambridge Pre-Degree Diploma Journal 2018
How do you lead the millennial generation? Ruyi Zhao, Ninghan Xu, Jiaan Zhou, Siqi Ye, Kaien Zhao have to find out a appropriate way to maintain their working passions.
How to cope with these difficulties To begin with, most millennials develop their strong views and ideas as they get higher education. They are assertive and creative, therefore democratic leadership can give them more spaces and empower. For example, Huawei (a Chinese electronic devices company) employees are free to work in any places and time as long as they can finish their projects before the deadline. As a result, they are able to work efficiently and effectively. The company has developed rapidly.
What is millennial generation? Millennial Generation follows Generation X and it is also known as Generation Y. There are no precise dates for millennials, they were typically born from 1990s to 2000s.
Characteristics of a millennial Compared to past generations, Millennials are the most educated generation. A lot of them want to be independent. They have their own minds, but they are sometimes ‘opinionated’. Moreover, they were growing along with the development of media and digital technologies. Therefore, they are better at accepting change. They are also forward looking.
However, some of them are over confident, they prefer to work by themselves rather than communicating with others. This will lead to a consequence that they can neither recognize their shortcomings nor use their benefits fully. In this case, they ought to be encouraged to work within a group in order to achieve their top productivity. Furthermore, young people have few social experiences and the majority of their knowledge is from schools and books Therefore, they always make mistakes in the real life due to some uncontrollable conditions and external effects. To deal with these problems, businesses should give them more opportunities to do on-the-job training and gain experience.
The difficulties of leading Millennials
Conclusion
Firstly, millennials are living in a developed society, so they may have high requirements such as the working environment and salaries. Hence, they probably change their job more frequently if they are dissatisfied. Also they may lack motivation and loyalty. In addition, millennials aspire to have freedom and equality, ttherefore, it is not easy to manage and control them.
References:
Furthermore, young people frequently prefer to think independently instead of discussing with each other. Give myself as an example, I am 16 and every time my friends and I have an argument, none of us make any concessions. Lastly, with the growth of the internet and social media, millennials can be distracted easily and they are overdependent on technologies.Thus, leaders
Millennials have a strong sense of competition and leaders should help them to overcome their weaknesses. For instance, enhancing their social communication skills. Also young people should listen and learn from the older generation. Thus, the potential of a millennial can be stimulated and they will deliver growth for the economy of each nation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennials SINEK, S., 2009, Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don't, London:Penguin. https://www.inc.com/peter-economy/5-really-bigadvantages-millennials-have-over-everyone-else.html
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Should leaders start with why? Klaudia Uryniuk, Dana Broid and Max Paramanov We believe that people buy products and services to fulfil their needs. If you run out of toilet paper are you going to research the beliefs of paper manufacturers? Of course not. Across every category, buyers respond to practical concerns. “How is this product or service better than other available options?” They ask “how” questions, not “why” questions. (Jeremy Miller, 2014) At the heart of Sinek`s theory is the Golden Circle. In the middle is the question “why,” but there are two more circles to get through. The next outer circle is labelled “how?” The external circle is labelled “what?” We believe that the “how” should go in the middle. If you don’t spend time using the “how” and “what,” your “why” and “how” are ultimately worthless. Start with why, by Simon Sinek was published by Penguin in 2011. This is an inspirational book as it teaches us that anyone can be successful as long as an individual has passion, ambition and determination, if they follow the theory of “the golden circle- Clarity of `Why`, Discipline in `How` and Consistency in `What` “. It has inspired new Business start-ups all over the world.
Our group also believes that by emphasising “why” companies would leave customers confused. When customers visit stores and websites, they do not shop for why the company exists. They shop in stores for what they sell, how they do it and how the store can help them find the product they are looking for. For instance, shoppers of John Lewis go in the store knowing if they cannot find the given product they are going to be able to seek professional According to Sinek, communication is more about advice which would help them purchase their listening rather than speaking. He believed that all marketing strategies should be developed using his desired product. They do not enter the store plan. For example, a logo of the business should be because of why the company exists but, for how the employees can help them and for what they can more than just a picture, it should represent a meaningful symbol, which connects to the customer, offer. and many fail to achieve this due to lack of clarity over ‘why’. Sinek talks about how Apple’s success has been the result of a philosophy that first started References with why the design of the products should be so Sinek, Simon, 2009, Start with Why, London:Penguin appealing. When Apple started with ‘why’ they were https://stickybranding.com/start-with-how-not-why/amp/ able to be ‘different’ from other companies. Their amazing success would suggest that every business http://fraternityman.com/simon-sineks-start-with-whywould benchmark their philosophy against theirs and ruined-leadership/ try to emulate their profitable empire. However, many feel that Simon Sinek has not got it quite right. Many critics such as Ken Krogue, Jeremy Miller and Dr. Brad Gustafson support our group’s opinion that Simon Sinek is incorrect when he states that “Businesses should start with Why?”. They back the group’s opinion that great corporation leaders start with “who” and not with “why”. Our project will be investigating whether our initial feeling that Sinek is wrong is actually the correct evaluation and that “how” is the most important question for entrepreneurs to ask. 12 Abbey College Cambridge Pre-Degree Diploma Journal 2018
Transcription of ‘Stille Wasser Sind Tief’ by Tillith Student: Tam, Sut Lao Stephanie, Media: Watercolour, Size: 30x 21cm
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Car Autopilot System Ayan Mamyraikan, Muhammad Ilya, Jin Chen, Mustafo Kurbonov Vehicles can communicate with each other so that they are able to identify the shortest and fastest route. This means the number of accidents will fall significantly once people start using autopilot. Tesla already considered cases when autopilot may be safer than human drivers, because each case will be considered and solved by the program in the car. When autopilot is switched on, the car can base its speed on the traffic around it, decide whether to change lanes, and park without the driver.
Introduction For years, autopilot has been used in planes. However, now it is being developed for cars. Autopilot for cars is an advanced system offered by Tesla to help drivers so cars can park themselves, change lanes and can be called from a garage or parking spot. More improvements are being made such as allowing the car to enter into another freeway or exit a freeway by itself without needing the driver.
Tesla cars that were released in 2016 had eight cameras that have a 360-degree range of vision around the car. Each of the cameras can see up to 250 meters away. The designers of this system also included ultrasonic sensors to make sure the cars can recognize and avoid objects, and a radar system so it can still see in poor weather. Future developments will include GPS to find the best route to wherever the driver is going, automatic detection of speed limits, and technology which will help the car to find parking spaces and park.
Statistics Present
Driverless cars open up new possibilities to allow those who are not legally eligible to drive, such as Nowadays, the self-driving cars of Tesla have become enormously popular among people. One of convicted drink drivers, younger people, older the benefits of self-driving is that it allows the driver people or those with disabilities, to get around. to enjoy the ride and it increases safety. The system Statistics show that 1.25 million deaths worldwide helps to avoid congestion and reduce emissions as were due to vehicle crashes in 2014. In 2016, there was a 6% increase in traffic fatalities, reaching the well. highest point in nearly a decade. Furthermore, 94% of accidents were caused by people not paying Why autopilot but not human and how it attention, or making mistakes due to alcohol, distraction or drowsiness. works The role of a computer scientist is to research and design models and algorithms that improve autopilot References driving systems. Mostly the work is using C/C++ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_car programmes. https://waymo.com/journey/ https://www.tesla.com/blog/all-tesla-cars-being-produced-
Once autonomous vehicles become a reality, the now-have-full-self-driving-hardware roadway capacity will increase and traffic congestion will be reduced due to the reduced need for safety gaps and being able to better manage traffic flow. 14 Abbey College Cambridge Pre-Degree Diploma Journal 2018
Evolution of mobile communications Robert Wang Zican , Steven Xu Haoqiao, Daniel He Zijian, Charles Chen Sirui and John Weng Weixuan international roaming for a more flexible connection. 4G was released in 2008 and put in mass production in 2013. It supports mobile web access like 3G but also streaming services, HD mobile, 3D TV and other things that demand higher speeds.
5G: the era of IoT
Illustrator: Ash Zhuang Yanhao Companies in the UK started to bidding for 5G, and tourist destinations such as Bristol raised millions of pounds to secure 5G networking. As the technology is improving very fast, we should be more familiar with how mobile communication works. This article provides a brief summary on the history and future of mobile networking.
1G and 2G : how do they actually work? In real life, it is easier to talk to someone than to write a note and hand it to him. However, when it comes to mobile communications, this was reversed. 1G was an analog technology that had no need of information storage. It can be modeled as input -- modulator -- channel -- demodulator -output. "Brick phones" with 1G came out in the 1980s and voice quality was poor. In 1991 in Finland, GSM networks gave birth to the 2G upgrade. In contrast to 1G, this used digital signals, which made it easier to get rid of the background noise, and was able to send text messages. It is an improved version of 1G with encryption so as to convert analog into digital messages. The 2Gtelephone technology introduced call and text encryption, plus data services like SMS (short messaging service), and MMS (multimedia messaging service).
The coding method for 5G has been agreed since 2016 and it will be fully implemented next year. 5G promises significantly faster data rates, higher connection density, and much lower latency, among other improvements. In order to figure out how 5G will change our lives, we need to take a look back. The G stands for generation and 5G is simply the next numbered generation following 4G, which replaced all of the older technologies. 1G enabled us to communicate far from each other, 2G send messages, 3G download and upload from the internet, 4G live videos, cloud storage and connections between things with our phones. Each generation has provided functions that we would never have thought of by improving the speed exponentially. The same is true for 5G functions which bring us great developments. Via the mightiness of its speed, we are going to achieve a spectacular world of internet of things (IoT). The goal of IoT is to connect thousands of physical devices, vehicles, home appliances wirelessly. We can give instructions to any of the devices (see reality editor 2 from MIT). A thousand trillion in total: beds, bottles, clothes and anything we can or cannot even think of are going to be connected to the internet. Cloud computers are going to replace desktop computers since the speed will exceed wired transmission. In the future, we will laugh at today’s technology just like we do now at what we did in the past.
References https://www.lifewire.com/1g-vs-2g-vs-2-5g-vs-3g-vs-4g578681 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_of_things http://www.huawei.com/minisite/5g/cn/ http://m.pc841.com/shoujizhishi/21720.html https://m.sohu.com/a/125809098_425921/? pvid=000115_3w_a
A transition from 2G to 4G The evolution from 2G to 3G ushered in faster and higher capacity. 3G phones added Video Calling and Mobile Internet, based on faster speeds. In addition it introduced cellular network and
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Hua Dan Student: Sun, Mingyu Aurora, Media: Watercolour, Size: 40x25cm
16 Abbey College Cambridge Pre-Degree Diploma Journal 2018
Has the transition from command to free-market economies been a failure in some of the post-soviet countries (USSR)? Adel Azhmagambetova, Shynali Nalkozha, Danylo Kolysnechenko, Nijat Gulmammadov countries such as Lithuania had been more successful in creating independent democratic countries with more western-style politics and equality in politics. Lithuania is considered to have full democracy as its Polity UV score is 10 and it takes 11th place in world ranking of press freedom. In comparison, Belarus stayed a more communist type of economy – after becoming an independent country Belarus had only 1 president and is considered to have autocracy since the Polity UV score is lower than -5.
Speed of development
Introduction A command economy is a type of economy where the allocation of resources and capital goods are dictated by the government. In 1991 the Soviet Union broke down and its 15 republics gained independence. In this project, we are going to try to investigate why for some countries it was harder to move to a free market economy than others by analysing factors such as GDP, speed of development and level of democracy.
Economic development By comparing GDP of post-soviet countries, it is noticeable that some countries did better than others in growing and expanding their economies. For example, Uzbekistan’s GDP decreased in the first few years of transition but recovered in 1995. However, the growth rates stayed relatively low, below 10%, reaching GDP of 241.529 billion US dollars in 2017. In comparison to other countries such as the Kazakhstan economy which was boosted by the break-up of the USSR. In 2018 estimated GDP is 497 billion US dollars. This might be explained using the index of economic freedom or any other alternative measure of the level of the state intervention. A good example of different levels of economic freedom in post USSR are Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan with 69.1% and 51.5% respectively.
Level of democracy In order to assess whether countries would be easily able to change from command economy to market based economies, political aspects and press freedom should be taken into account as well. Some
The Difference in the speed of change in PostSoviet countries was undeniable and according to ‘The Global Competitiveness report’ which was prepared by World Economic Forum, economic transition looks as follows: 1. Only four of the fifteen former Soviet Republics have successfully moved on from the second to third stage of Economic Development (Russia, Estonia Lithuania and Latvia) 2. A further five former Soviet Republics have changed from first to second stage (these are Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Armenia) 3. The rest of the former Soviet Republics are stuck in the first factor driven stage of development. These states include Kyrgyzstan and Tadzhikistan. There are several reasons why some of the former Soviet states have been less successful than others in moving on to a more developed economy. The Baltic countries have historically aligned with Sweden and Norway regarding their economies. In addition Russia as the main successor to the Soviet Union inherited many former Soviet resources.
References https://www.heritage.org/index/visualize https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Uzbekistan https://data.worldbank.org/country/post-demographic-dividend http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14489883 Ghedrovici, Olesea, Ostapenko, Nikolai, 2013, ‘The Glaring Socioeconomic Meltdown in PostSoviet Ukraine, Moldova, and Belarus: A Distorted Mindset in Search of a Way Out’, International Journal of Business and Social Research, Vol. 3, No. 5, available at https://thejournalofbusiness.org/index.php/site/article/view/19
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The craze about cryptocurrency and its disruption on the global economy Brian Teoh, Brandon Vun, William Tiong & Phasnicha Saengming Cryptocurrencies as their “lifesaving currency”. IBM released a figure predicting 65% of surveyed banks to have Blockchain solutions in production in between 2017 to 2020. Why would major financial institutions mass adopt the technology if it isn't revolutionary right? In addition to that, they also stated that “most banks have concluded that Blockchains could greatly reduce the time, cost and risk of many transactions”. The utilisation of decentralised systems results in intermediaries such as lawyers, brokers, bankers and trusted third-party firms being scrapped, eliminating any transactional and service costs. Because of this, there are multitudes of applications that can leverage off the infrastructure and therefore new technologies in financial services are erected. Would a Cryptocurrency-only economy excel in the future? Would entrusting every transaction to a series of never-ending coded ‘blocks’, the ‘Blockchain’ be a feasible way to keep records and avoid double spending in order to minimise leakages? Is a decentralised market better than having a government controlling interest rates and the supply of money? Would the rise of Fintech and its counterparts make the world economy grow more efficiently and sustainably? We formalise these critical questions revolving the expanding market of Cryptocurrencies. Dating back to thousands of years ago, similar mediums were introduced however in physical forms, comprising of stones, shells, gold coins and banknotes. When the means of currencies convert to a branch of Bits, it is challenging to keep account of whether it has been transferred to the other party, therefore, the risk of “double spending”. How is this problem solved in absence of a central authority? Blockchain. A P2P network where every transaction made is confirmed by every single entity of the network to achieve an absolute consensus without even a single minor error. For a new “block” to be added, a Cryptographic puzzle must be solved which therefore ensures trust in the data stored within the ledger which can never be tampered against.
We question our curiosity. With no regulation and the omission of both monetary and fiscal policies, what disruptions would the global economy encounter? Unprecedented changes in foreign relations, dynamics of international trade and the impacts of economic sanctions. Despite that, the real vital transformant part is the economic liberty it gives people around the world where access to financial institutions is limited. All they require is the internet to take part in economic actions. Would this evolution be sustainable? That is up for debate. From the current views, we are only to hope that the problematic patches are solved.
References www-01.ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi-bin/ssialias? htmlfid=GBP03467USEN&. cointelegraph.com/news/adoption-of-bitcoin-picking-upspeed-in-venezuela-called-lifesaving-currency. Chiu, Jonathan, and Koeppl, Thorsten V., 2017, “The Economics of Cryptocurrencies Bitcoin and Beyond.” SSRN Electronic Journal, doi:10.2139/ssrn.3048124
So, would Cryptocurrencies excel? Without doubt. Cryptocurrencies are transforming into a singular universal currency, challenging the status quo in a radical way and transforming the ways people interact especially in those underdeveloped nations. Zimbabwe, Nigeria, South Africa and more notably Venezuela can be seen to be adopting it already. 3rd world countries as such have praised 18 Abbey College Cambridge Pre-Degree Diploma Journal 2018
To what extent will North and South Korea benefit from the peace proposal? Aerin Kim, Jiena Sha, Minh Nguyen, Quan Trinh
However, although believed to be a successful political engagement, there is speculation over whether we will see a repeat of the past whereby when the North was suffering from an economic crisis, a deliberate tension was created to help the negotiation of funding. The cycle has been repeated 6 times, one of which, the current president Moon witnessed as chief of staff to then President Roh during the 2007 peace summit. Thus, it is questionable whether North Korea is prepared to tolerate the high level of inspection and intrusion, required in the nuclear disarmament. In the light of the world-wide applause of Korea’s successful peace treaty we evaluate the economic benefits and possible disadvantages both nations may encounter. In our research of both economies it was evident that both economies’ current state was drastically distinct, with the North being a command economy and the South, although having some government intervention, a market economy. North Korea’s nuclear ambition and military priority has had a consequential impact with GDP in 2016 estimated to be $16.3 billion and GDP per capita being $1700. Here we suggest the possible lack of resources and failure in choice with its main exports, much of which are military products, totaling $2.9 bill as of 2016. In contrast South Korea’s vast manufacturing outputs have contributed to GDP worth $1.5380 trillion as of 2018, which contributes to 2% of world GDP, as well as being 10th in ranking of ‘Data Bank. World Bank.’ It is our belief that the peace treaty will venture into favorable interactions with both nations, as was indicated in the Korea Summit 2018. The South being highly skilled in technical labor and manufacturing may support architecture projects as has been done in the past with Hyundai’s Pyongyang stadium mountain resort. In addition, a peace treaty which implies less hostility could suggest the possible reduction in military expenditure. Currently at over 10 percent of government spending, this stands to benefit South Korea as it will allow them to spend on neglected policies such as unemployment. Moreover, North Korea has great wealth of natural resources: gold, copper, zinc, magnesite, estimated to be worth $6 trillion by experts. This will be an important factor if the two nations were to collaborate.
Here West and East German unification acts as a close comparison model with both nations once being separated and similarly, imbalanced in their economies. East Germany both a communist and deprived economy gained much benefit from unification, with the West giving a generous $2 trillion to secure a market economy and clean up the environmental degradation. However, East Germany was a much wealthier economy than North Korea, with a GDP per capita of $10,000 in 1989 and interactions between the two populations were more extensive, meaning comparisons must be treated with caution. The Korea Institute International Economic Policy estimated unified Korea could generate $8.7 trillion, therefore as economists it is significant to try to predict how the gains from unification will be shared between the two countries.
References: https://edition.cnn.com/2013/10/29/world/asia/north-korea -nuclear-timeline---fast-facts/index.html http://www.dw.com/en/is-germany-a-reunification-modelfor-korea/a-18749755 https://asiansecurityblog.wordpress.com/2011/03/04/ korean-german-unification-parallels-1-similarities/
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How might a trade war between the US and China affect the global economy? Longxuan.Huo, Yun.Ge, Yihang.Gu, Furong.Li inflation and a loss of international competitiveness.
Future expectations: There will be more protectionist measures added to the trading system between the US and China if no further negotiations are made. But as the global economy is getting more integrated and the benefits from globalisation are more and more clear, being a protectionist or an autarky economy is not a good idea. We think the US would ask the Chinese government to import more US made products and therefore reduce the trade deficit to at least half.
Introduction: Trade war between the US and China has started since the tariffs on specific goods has increased since last month. What kind of agreement will China and the US make and what consequences will it bring?
Before the trade war: As Chinese steel manufacturers got grants from Chinese government, there have been many reports and reactions on their action of dumping into the foreign markets, especially the US markets. ZTE was also accused for infringement of US copyrights. Trump wants to decrease the trade deficit between China and the US. US people also acquire some job opportunities as lots of multinationals operate their businesses in China. (e.g.: Foxconn helps Apple to assemble IPhone and other electronic products). The US also led NATO to put a military weapon embargo on China for a long period of time. After these conflicts occurred, the US government and Chinese government started to put barriers on the other’s exports. The US trade deficit with China was $376 billion in 2017. The trade deficit exists because US exports to China were only $130 billion while imports from China were $506 billion.
However, if the US’s requirements cannot be satisfied, there will be some consequences: Firstly, it would help the integration of North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA). Mexico could offer cheap labour for Canadian and US firms to operate, the transportation cost will be much lower than trading with Chinese firms. At the same time, China would pay more attention to the regional trading partners like Japan, Russia, N.K, S.K and countries in the ASEAN. The CNY to USD rate will also drop by a lot to attract further export transactions. This would make big changes to the global trading patterns as the world biggest and second biggest economies decide not to trade a lot compared to before. It would discourage the globalisation and stimulate regional trade. For instance: EU, NAFTA, ASEAN, African Union, etc.
References: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxconn https://www.thebalance.com/u-s-china-trade-deficitcauses-effects-and-solutions-3306277
Costs of the trade war: If the tariffs between these two countries continue to go up, it will harm both the economies. Since they are not able to benefit from the comparative advantages from specialisation and trading, the price of goods in both countries will rise, causing 20 Abbey College Cambridge Pre-Degree Diploma Journal 2018
How competitive is the modern day fast food industry? Ramin Huseynov, Kelsey Jiamin Zheng, Klay Zheng Wang, Amy Qihui Zhang, Elieza Uzamere
throughout the years?
We conducted this research to see how fast food outlets differ from one another in terms of price, quality and competitiveness. We carried out a survey to gauge the opinion of customers based on their options (Primary research) and we used online data based on these outlets (Secondary research).
Throughout the years fast food markets have evolved with their appearance and menus shifting in order to satisfy customers. In 1955 McDonald’s offered a 15p Hamburger however the menu contained nine items. Today, a hamburger costs £3, however the price rise reflects on increased raw material costs, higher rents and increased demand for ready-made hamburgers. Today’s McDonald’s menu provides a much wider choice of food and beverage. Advertising and packaging have also changed, today food advertisements can be seen on billboards, TV commercials and social media. Fast food outlets have also introduced fast order-taking systems which have reduced operating costs, increased customer satisfaction and increased profit margins.
What will happen in the future?
Nowadays, fast food outlets offer customers a delivery service which enables them to receive their In our primary research we asked people about the meal at home. Competitive forces are driving quality and prices of the food in the following outlets: change in the UK’s fast food markets with new McDonalds, Chicken rush, Subway, Pizza Hut and innovations resulting in the introduction of Five guys. The research showed us that McDonalds increasingly exotic cuisines from around the world at and Chicken Rush had a price inelastic demand a price point which is bringing this food to the meaning that the quantity demanded would change general public. Changes in consumer tastes and insignificantly if the prices changed. However the the entrance of new entrepreneurs to the food demand for Subway, Pizza Hut and Five Guys market will force established outlets to change their appears to be price elastic, their customers are price menus in order to protect their market share and sensitive. We also asked customers to rate the improve their customer ratings. quality of the food and customer service on a scale Conclusion of one to ten. On average it turned out that the ratings for McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Subway, Five In conclusion, the UK’s fast food market is extremely Guys and Chicken Rush were 6.5, 6.2, 6.8, 6.9 and competitive with a number of different fast food 7.1 respectively. outlets, offering cuisine from around the world to satisfy customers’ increasing panache for non-native However our Secondary research brought these foods. Undoubtedly there will be future figures down to 3.3, 3.5, 3.3, 4.2 and 5.2, improvements in the UK’s fast food market as respectively. These ratings were online based, a outlets vie for market share and attempt to attract million people took part in rating these outlets from new customers. This will increase the quality of fast the UK. A reason for the low ratings is poor quality food outlets, result in lower prices for customers and food and bad customer service. Customers complained about rude and untrained staff and there therefore increase allocative efficiency. were complaints of poor quality food.
Primary and Secondary Research:
References
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1300/ J061v03n03_04
How has the competitiveness changed Abbey College Cambridge Pre-Degree Diploma Journal 2018 21
Why are people paid differently? Danyang, Chigo Chinda, Demmy Myint Sann, Cheryl Qu, Anthea Kyaw Thein
What causes these differences? 1) Subjective Value What people chose drive the price of an object. In this case, entertainment is the main character that consumers decide to pay willingly at any price, which they highly value, therefore creates a rise in salary of celebrities and footballers.
It is very common for people to click on an article about celebrities like Kanye West and Kim Kardashian. Only some people are interested in reading an article about a scientific research that is benefiting human race. But how does consumers’ tastes and preferences influence the wages of different groups of people? This is evident by the economic theory: Paradox of Value. It means goods essential to life (like water) are very cheap, whereas others which have less value to the human life (such as diamonds) are very expensive. This article is going to explain this paradox further by using real life examples and make it more relevant in our daily lives. Farmers and soldiers are both important for national lives, as farmers provide food for people while soldiers guarantee national security. However, in most countries, they are in the lower class of society. For example, in America, farmers gain $39,332~$21,920 per year. Like farmers, the salary of soldiers in the UK is about $24,000 and that in China is only $11,000.
2) Marginal Utility Consumers compare whether an additional unit of good gives an amount of satisfaction they desire. Hence, extra unit of farmer obtaining goods wouldn’t make a difference after its utility exceeds price but as for celebrity, it sparks peoples’ interest, they recognised their skills and the entertainment they received raise the value of them. The same pattern goes for soldiers and footballers. In a nutshell, economy is affected by choices, the salary is set by the behaviour of consumer preferences, this cause the variations of value for different group of human labour, therefore creates the theory of Paradox of Value.
References https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/gallery/angelina-jolierobert-downey-jr-625755/1-angelina-jolie https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/neymars-wages -salary-brazilian-will-make-at-psg-means-hell-earn-3200an-hour-a3602831.html https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/ocwage.pdf
On the other hand, people like celebrities and footballers, two of who have little effect on our daily lives, earn so much more money relative to farmers and soldiers. One might argue that their talent is worth that much and even more. However, economically speaking, wouldn’t the world be a better place if necessary people get paid for all the effort they put? Statistically, Angelia Jolie, a famous Hollywood actress, get paid approximately $230 million. Will Smith and Rowan Atkinson (Mr.Bean) get paid $250 million and $112 million respectively. Footballers such as Neymar and Messi get paid annually ranging from $38 million- 48 million. The underlying paradox that people are willing to give more to people that doesn’t provide our basic needs is a mystery in itself. 22 Abbey College Cambridge Pre-Degree Diploma Journal 2018
Will cash disappear? Flavia Caushi, Yulia Maznytsia, Fariza Karshigina
Survey: We conducted 2 different surveys which provide us with information about people’s perspective in daily life about cash v cards. In our first survey we asked 100 people of different age groups whether they prefer to use cash or digital payment in their daily basis. The results were other way round than we thought. Teenagers prefer to use credit cards despite their young age they consider it as their way of payment throughout the day. People from 18-40 are divided by half – one part prefer digital payment and others prefer cash. However, our last group with the age older than 40 Introduction: have the most surprising results, even pensioners told that card payment is obviously easier and better In economics, cash is a medium of exchange in physical form such as coins or banknotes. Everyone for them than cash. has heard the line “cash is the king” and in reality, is After this we decided to check whether people’s true as everyday activities are based on it. However, words correspond to their actions to find if cash is on the last years cash has seen a decline while really becoming to be impractical. digital payments such as PayPal or credit cards The second survey was based on subconscious have seen a sharply increase in popularity. Where will cash be 10,50 years from now? Here are a few actions for everyday payment in supermarket. We went for a week in supermarket and took a quota comments about the evolution of cash and probably sampling of 20 people to see their ways of payment. its decline. The result was pretty much as expected where credit cards was a dominant way of paying as more Ways of digital payment: than 65% of people preferred paying by this method. The digital transaction field is attracting more and more interest. Some ways of digital payment consist Conclusion: of pay-pal, credit or debit cards, Amazon Prime, Overall, we are seeing a growth in digital payments. Apple Pay. This has made transactions to business There is a change in the pattern of money supply and payments for goods, easier, faster and more which consists of cash money taking a small part of convenient. it. Its remaining role is just to provide service for those who simply prefer cash better, though with globalization its role is decreasing as digital Advantages and Disadvantages of digital transactions are becoming more of a habit. payment: “Research has found that the demand for cash decreases as debit card usage increases because Disadvantages: Higher Costs - People have to pay a percentage for traders need to make less change for customer their transactions, furthermore there is a high risk of purchases.” fraud , computer hacking or credit card number theft. References Advantages: Time saving because the period of transferring in credit vs cash is shorter. Also, you don’t have to waste time getting to the bank instead transactions can be made from the comfort of your house. In general, for all the shortcomings the pros of electronic digital payment system outweigh and exceed the possibilities of cash transfers in all aspects.
https://unichange.me/ru/articles/ advantages_of_electronic_payment_systems http://digitalwallet.weebly.com/advantages-disadvantages.html https://smallbiztrends.com/2014/06/digital-paymentoptions-small-business.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cash
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Does economics have the answer for the global problem of plastic pollution? Hei Shing Austin Cheung, Yun Korrine Ge, Jingzhuo Roy Liu
Government Intervention
Introduction Nowadays tons of plastic debris can be seen on the coasts, mostly originating from where we stand: the land. Plastic consumption has been worsening over the years, catching the whole world’s attention and placing a question mark about the use of plastic in our daily lives.
External costs of plastic pollution Plastic is a strong, flexible, light, and relatively cheap material, which makes it very attractive in the production of many products. However, these qualities also mean it lasts a very long time and is difficult to dispose of. One truckload of plastic is dumped into the ocean every minute. Plastic can affect marine wildlife in two ways: by entangling creatures, and by being eaten.
The European Union has made a 25 year plan for the environment which includes the development of more recyclable plastic goods and a target of recycling at least 55% of packaging. A ban on microbeads has meant that companies which use them in their products have had to come up with alternatives. The UK is aiming to create an economy where there is no avoidable plastic waste, and introduced a 5p charge on plastic bags in supermarkets to reduce their use. Since the charge was brought in, the UK has used 9 billion fewer plastic bags, and in April 2018, there was a decline in plastic bags on the seabed compared to 2010 which has proved these measures to be effective.
Conclusion Government intervention will be able to reduce the consumption of plastic goods as there is solid evidence that the rate of plastic pollution is declining. However, rules and regulation will not always be there to control the rate of pollution. One day, rules will be abolished and the world may go back to its usual self: filthy and contaminated. For plastic pollution to be curbed forever, the only solution lies within humanity itself. If we truly understand and accept the need to change how society tackles such issues, then perhaps, plastic pollution may be phased out.
References
http://www.environmentalpollution.in/ http://plastic-pollution.org https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/plastic-bagTurtles are the biggest victim of plastic pollution on uk-seas-seabedwaste- pollution-ocean-reducewater, all seven species of turtles are currently endangered. Floating plastic bags resemble jellyfish, environmenta8288526.html http://coastalcare.org/2009/11/plastic-pollution/
and turtles often think plastic bags are food and eat them. This can block their digestive system, which means the turtles starve to death. In one dead turtle found off Hawaii in the Pacific, more than 1000 pieces of plastic were found in its stomach. Besides that, the process of making plastic generates greenhouse gases. With the demand for plastic goods increasing drastically, firms will have no choice but to maximise the supply in order to meet its demand. This will cause global warming, which would be a negative externality as people may get diseases due to the extreme change in weather. It also has high social costs, as plastic pollution has affected the ecosystem.
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Dream+Work=Goal Student: Elina Shinkarevsky, Media: Clay painted with Acrylic, Size: 30x 8cm
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Hyperloop - the future of transport Fan Wang; Qinweiyi Guo; Phone Myint Naing; Nguyen Duy Long Dan lines called field lines, arrowing from north to south with the fields are at their strongest at the poles. Magnetic fields cause magnets to attract or repel other objects. Metals like iron and steel are attracted to magnets whilst aluminium and copper are not. They are non-magnetic. However, being nonmagnetic materials does not imply they are useless. On the contrary, for hyperloop construction, unpowered (passive) tracks are made of aluminium! Pod-side permanent magnets are installed under the capsule repelling the passive conducting aluminium track. The changing magnetic field will induce generations of eddy currents, tiny circular motions of There are mainly four types of transport: trains, cars, currents perpendicular to the direction of magnetic planes and ships and each type has its features and field motion in a block of conducting material, which usages. Trains and cars are suitable for makes the aluminium track. The magnetic field domestically short distance of travel, whilst planes produced by eddy currents has an opposing are specialised in longer distance travel, especially direction to that of the magnets and therefore the in international and overseas travel. Nevertheless, levitation of hyperloop capsules is achieved. they all have the crucial disadvantage of time, However, drag force is also produced during this especially with long distance travel. Therefore, the process. The drag is relatively high when one’s idea of designing a newer and more satisfactory speed is low, and at higher speed, the levitational transport has been introduced, which is the focus of force increases and the drag decreases this article-Hyperloop. correspondingly as the figure shown below. Hyperloop was initially proposed by Elon Musk as a ‘fifth mode of transport’ in 2012. Passengers will be sitting in a capsule travelling in a vacuum tube over ground at the speed of 1200kph (760mph).The train is like a bullet. Inside the bullet, there are seats for passengers. It is shot inside a long tube with a very high acceleration. In order to achieve high acceleration without using massive amounts of energy, the outer shell of the bullet has to be light, strong and tough. The tube contains a vacuum so sound isolation is not necessary. In order to gain disruptively fast speed, hyperloop pods are engineered to be passively levitated in a vacuum tube using magnets.
This method of levitation can be further improved and optimised with the use of Halbach array. This is an arrangement of permanent magnets that optimises and augments the strength of magnetic field on one side, which can change the lifting force and change the braking force for a levitation or braking system.
References https://hyperloop-one.com/blog/how-and-why-werelevitating; https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=hNWwTwnkAhY&list=WL&t=0s&index=29; http:// www.spacex.com/hyperloopalpha;
For understanding the approach of levitation that the hyperloop pods possess an introduction to magnets and Halbach arrays is necessary. Each magnet has a north pole and south pole. They also have invisible
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Nuclear power in future transport Thur San Naing, Kaiyu Hu, Qianyi Ma, Veralyn Yi Ning Chan, Seyed Amir Saman Moghimiasl alter the rate of the reaction. During the process, the temperature gets very high but the water does not boil due to high pressure. The water is then transferred to another chamber via a pipe where it loses heat through conduction. The water inside the other chamber boils and the steam produced is used to generate electricity.
Advantages Nuclear energy is a relatively clean energy (cleaner than burning fossil fuels or coals - no carbon dioxide
Introduction
is produced). A large cargo ship uses up to 10,000
In the past, transportation was limited to the use of animals and carts. However, thanks to the advancement of technology, we are now able to travel great distances in the span of just one day. Additionally, we not only have reached milestones in field of transportation but are also finding new ways to replace the use of fossil fuels which is heavily relied upon to this day and solutions to the greenhouse effect which came along with the usage. The use of nuclear energy can be one of the solutions.
litres of fuel an hour and carbon dioxide produced from fifteen of these ships equals to the total amount
Data Analysis People seem to relate the word nuclear energy to bad influence so we asked staff and students around the college for their perspectives.
produced by all cars combined. An additional benefit is the reduced storage. Eight grams of thorium can power a car for about a century.
Drawbacks The leakage of fuel and subsequent radiation is dangerous. Exposure to a large amount of radiation can cause mutations in DNA and other health problems. The reactors themselves are also large. Although smaller fuel rods can be used, the reactor would still need to be shielded enough to prevent leaks. It means that there will be extra weight on the car which is not ideal. Lastly, it is still impractical to
It can be seen that majority of people relate the word produce nuclear reactors which can fit inside the to bad influences. However, it is not always true and car. an extremely useful thing can be produced using it: Conclusion electricity. In the modern world where massive amounts of How it works Nuclear fission takes place in a nuclear reactor. It carbon dioxide are being produced daily, we need has main parts: the core and coolant tower. In the an efficient and reliable solution as soon as reactor core, there are fuel elements (uranium possible. Nuclear energy can be the solution to this. We can only wait so long until the greenhouse effect
inside), water and control rods.
A high energy neutron is bombarded into the fuel brings us more problems.
elements starting the chain reaction. The uranium References atoms split into new atoms and release extra https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/186907-where-are-all-the neutrons. The new neutrons are very high in energy -clean-infinite-range-nuclear-powered-cars-ships-and-planes and to be able to continue the reaction, they have to https://www.youtube.com/watch? be slowed down through the use of water. The v=68A_HPYGdlk&feature=youtu.be neutrons collide with water molecules, losing energy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1U6Nzcv9Vws&t=225s and slowing down. Then these neutrons hit other https://www.livescience.com/13250-radiation-health-effectsuranium atoms in the fuel rods, continuing the japan-nuclear-reactor-cancer.html process. The control rods absorb excess neutrons to Abbey College Cambridge Pre-Degree Diploma Journal 2018 27
Quantum Teleportation Paul Sukanjanajtee, Aska Fan, Joseph Aghoghovbia, Homa Yaghoubian
Introduction Ever woken up from bed 5 minutes before school, work or maybe even a flight and just surrendering completely to your fate of missing that event? Well maybe in the future you might not have to, due to a process called quantum teleportation.
What is Quantum teleportation Now you may or may not be asking yourself, “What in the world is quantum teleportation and how do I get it?!”. Well, quantum teleportation is the process by which the quantum state of a particle, in simpler terms its information, is transmitted to another location by virtue of quantum entanglement. Quantum entanglement is a physical phenomenon which occurs when pairs or groups of particles are generated or interact in ways such that the quantum state of each particle cannot be described independently of the state of the other.
will fall into the black hole while the other escapes. In order to preserve total energy, the particle that fell into the black hole must have had a negative energy and then the particle went through a stage called ‘annihilation’. This causes the black hole to lose mass and emit energy. This could also be proved by the quantum mechanical uncertainty principle. But then the only way to convert the object we want to teleport is to create a small black hole which sounds terrifying at first thought. Currently the only place where this is possible is CERN’s large Hadron Collider. And also the problem with small black holes is that they are extremely unstable and vanish pretty much instantaneously.
Conclusion In conclusion quantum teleportation, although very experimental at the moment, once perfected could be an absolute asset in our daily lives and applicable in infinite situations. It would be used to provide the world with resources without delay.
References https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_entanglement https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/jul/12/scottycan-you-beam-me-up-scientists-teleport-photons-300miles-into-space https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawking_radiation
Progression Scientist in China have succeeded in beaming photons from a ground station in Ngari in Tibet to China’s Micius satellite, which is in orbit 300 miles above Earth. “So how long till we can start beaming ourselves across the universe?” you may ask. Well, there is a severe problem that must be overcome if we want to make this advancement a reality. How do we convert human beings (matter) into transferable information (energy)? This might be solved using the Hawking Radiation theory. According to anti-matter theorem, every matter always has a corresponding antimatter. Hawking radiation suggests further that one of the particles 28 Abbey College Cambridge Pre-Degree Diploma Journal 2018
Why isn’t there a space elevator yet? Zeus Yuxuan Wang, Emily Jingyi Ma, Vinh Nguyen, Seyedarvin Mirenayat
Motion and Energy Considering the energy, about 54MJ is required to send 1 kilogram of load into space, which means a typical nuclear power plant running regularly for 15 hours can send 1000 tons of items into space. For a climber travelling at 200 km/h, the travelling period would be 10 days. Another possible energy source is solar energy. However only after the first 40 kilometers above the ozone layer can the maximum energy from the sun be obtained. Before that a mixture of energy sources could be applied. It may be also be possible to send solar energy back to earth using cables.
Introduction The idea of building a space elevator was suggested by Konstatin Tsiolkovsky in 1895 and since then it has become a popular topic in Science fiction books such as 2061: Odyssey 3. Ideally it would replace rockets and can send a payload into the earth’s orbit directly. Four main aspects need to be considered: the energy, the material and structure, the cost and the potential dangers.
Structure of Space Elevator The space elevator consists of 4 main parts: Counterweight, cable, a robotic climber and a base station on Earth. Firstly, the base of the cable should lie on the equator in order to keep a fixed rotation with Earth. The part beneath geosynchronous orbit (GSO) will experience gravity, which means that a counterweight will be needed above the GSO to provide tension to keep the mass of the part below GSO from falling back to Earth. The cable of a space elevator should be able to carry its own weight and the additional weight of the climber. The maximum tension produced by the counterweight and Earth is at the geosynchronous altitude therefore the cable must be thickest here and thinner towards the Earth and the counterweight. The Base station can be on either land or water. Stationary land base requires less cost to be built and can be located at high altitudes. However, a mobile base will be able to avoid storms and high winds.
Possible Dangers Satellite: Eventually, a collision will happen between the space elevator and satellites. What are the reasons for this? Due to the intersection point, satellites are always orbiting around earth. We have found out that twice per day each orbital plane will meet with elevator. Thus, if it has been constructed completely before that time, we have to rearrange the routes for thousands of satellites that we have. Radiation: The space elevator will be exposed to Van Allen belts, which is a zone of energetic charged particles. In short term, there is nothing to fear. However, in time, robotic climbers will be poisoned for any unshielded human being or other living organisms.
Conclusion Overall, limitations such as material and energy sources as well as possible dangers are considered to be the reasons that space elevator is not available at present.
References https://futurism.com/why-space-elevators-are-the-futureof-space-travel/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_elevator https://youtu.be/qPQQwqGWktE
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The future of transport -Transit Elevated Bus Vachanop Tiewlamsam, Benny Oseji, Lidan Shi, Haoyuan Zhang using alarms. It would have inflatable evacuation slides like airplanes and warning lights to remind drivers of high vehicles not to pass underneath the bus. It will also have sensors to help it avoid collisions with people or objects.
Advantages Passengers on board the bus are expected to experience a ride comparable to riding in the upper level of a double decker bus. In addition, the bus will be electrically powered using overhead lines or other roof electrical contact systems designed for it. The TEB also has the safety technology in it to avoid disturbing the under bus traffic.
Introduction Transport plays a significant role in our daily lives and is used for many different purposes like companies using commerce and families going on holiday. Since the first invention of transport, it has been evolving exponentially and still continue to progress. People take different means of transportation to their schools and work using the two main sectors of transport - private and public. Another way of classifying transportation is by the type of energy. Considering the decreasing stock of non-renewable energy, the trend of adapting green energy in transportation has grown progressively. The main transportation we will be discussing about is called “Transit Elevated Bus”.
Disadvantages It may be necessary to widen the lanes occupied by the bus to accommodate the bus wheels and undercarriage whilst allowing other vehicles to pass under the bus two abreast. Cost is also an issue because there is also a big cost in setting up the TEB stops.
Conclusion The future of transportation doesn’t have to be travelling at the speed of light or teleportation; it could be something much more realistic and safer. TEBs provide benefits both economically and socially although there are currently still some drawbacks. TEBs could be the first step in really changing the existing way we use transportation.
What is Transit Elevated Bus (TEB)?
References
TEB is a newly designed bus which elevates the bus above roadways. It runs on a fixed route and has a width of two road lanes allowing vehicles under two meters to pass through underneath it. This mainly helps with reductions of traffic congestion.
https://www.networkworld.com/article/2288882/datacenter/12-cool-future-transportation-concepts.html
http://everything.explained.today/Transit_Elevated_Bus/ #Ref-9
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transit_Elevated_Bus
How does it work? A station will set up for passengers on the side of a road at the same height as the bus. The bus will consume electricity using overhead lines, photovoltaic panels, batteries and supercapacitors. The bus will travel with a maximum speed of 60 kilometres per hour. If other cars are too close to the bus or the bus is about to turn, it would warn cars 30 Abbey College Cambridge Pre-Degree Diploma Journal 2018
Will the Hyperloop be practical? Lim You Min, Art Leskaj, Solar Pan & Gloria Tang makes the flow of air converge into a small area then diverge back into a large area, allowing the hyperloop to travel into and out of supersonic speeds, which raises great concern for lots of complicated mathematical calculations concerning pressure.
Costs Hyperloop aims to be cheaper, faster and more ecofriendly compared to the other means of transport. Its cost is estimated to reach €6 bil, which for the route from LA to Bay Area would mean €11.5mln per mile. Musk desires to build it using renewable Introduction resources. If hyperloop was to be build in this way As humans, we travel. Whether it is from our beds to 140,000 tons of carbon would not be emitted in air, the toilet or from home to school, we travel by foot, resulting in 0.2% of Germany’s entire air pollution bike or car. Trains have also advanced rapidly from producers being reduced, and also an overall value the very first steam engine in 1814 by George of nearly €900 mil reduced pollution. Therefore even Stephenson to the concept that may soon be more if the cost is great it will still have a positive effect as realistic than flying cars, the Hyperloop. However, to it is a faster way of transport and would not cause what extent would the Hyperloop become an large amounts of pollution. US$68.4 billion California everyday method of transport? This article will briefly high speed rail project which is significantly slower describe how it works and the limitations of its than the proposed hyperloop project. reality.
Conclusion
How it works Consisting of a capsule with two main parts: A head with a propeller at the front to push the capsule forward and a body filled with seats. It travels through a tube which is a partial vacuum, utilising Newton's first law of motion by reducing as much opposing forces to the vehicle, using electromagnets to push it forwards and the propeller to suck in air at the front and direct it below the vehicle to produce a cushion of air, air bearings, thus creating a low friction suspension system.
The results from the survey we conducted are shown below, with many people believing it is practical. Weighing out the limiting factors and the benefits, our team concluded that this fifth mode of transport can be built as experiments have shown, but requires further refinement of the technology and engineering. One day, we believe it will be practical and become the fifth mode of transport.
References http://www.spacex.com/sites/spacex/files/ hyperloop_alpha.pdf
Problems Getting into the technicalities, there is an issue raised due to the speed of hyperloop is close to the sound speed which is the Kantrowitz limit. In order for a capsule to travel at speeds higher than the speed of sound in a tube, both the tube and capsule would have to create a laval nozzle shape. This
https://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/ nozzled.html https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/ sustainable-business/2017/aug/04/hyperloop-planetenvironment-elon-musk-sustainable-transport
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Suspended Student: Lee, Ker Xin, Media: Acrylic, Size: 29x18cm
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Self-defence Clement Ling Jia Hao, Wei Chuwen, Lor Khang Chee, Rishad Abbasov
Case law authority: R v Clegg [1995] 1 AC 482: The reason why self-defence wasn't successful is because the defendant soldiers shot the victims in the car while it was driving away so the threat was no longer apparent. Most people would agree that this was the correct decision. R v Martin [2002] 2 WLR 1: The defence failed because Martin shot the burglars, who had broken into his house ‘indiscriminately’ in the back, while they were retreating. He was convicted of murder at the trial and the decision was regarded as unfair and unjust Should self-defence ever be a justification because the defendant was justifiably protecting his own property and himself. The problem with the law for murder? is there is no definition of the term reasonable force The lawyers’ practitioner text (Archbold 19-41) and it is difficult for the defendant in such a highly states: “It is both good law and good sense that a stressed situation to act in a rational way. Section 76 man who is attacked may defend himself, that he does at least accept that the defendant cannot may do what is reasonably necessary. It is important always “weigh to a nicety” the required level of force. to ensure that all those acting reasonably and in good faith to defend themselves, their family and their property or in the prevention of crime or the Further protection for householder cases apprehension of offenders are not prosecuted for such action”. The Crime and Courts Act 2013 relaxed the reasonable force requirements and introduced a welcome legal development called the householder When does defence apply? defence whereby the householder only has to prove that their action was not grossly disproportionate. The law is outlined in Section 76 of the Criminal Judges have been careful to stress that this does Justice and Immigration Act 2008 which states that not give homeowners “carte blanche” to use any the force used must be necessary and reasonable degree of force. The new law allows more leeway to but not excessive. These terms are adopted from justify an action by a homeowner towards an existing case law namely R V Palmer [1971] AC 814 intruder. where Lord Morris gave the leading judgement. The force a person used (either excessive or Surely this is a good development of the law? reasonable) will determine whether he is guilty or not guilty of murder which in turn will determine whether he is acquitted or given the mandatory life References sentence. The arbitrary distinction between what is 1. Martin, J, Turner, Chris, 2014, Law A2 5th Edition, excessive or what is reasonable in the heat of the London: Hodder Education. moment is the deciding factor on sentencing. 2. E law resources April 2018.
The law has said that “reasonable” should be assessed in the context of the danger that you honestly and genuinely believed you were facing, not the danger you were actually facing. So, for example, if you act on the belief that you are facing an intruder armed with a gun, you will still be entitled to a “reasonable force” defence if it turns out the supposed weapon was in fact a realistic-looking toy.
3. The Independent, 5th April 2018
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How Mathematics helps decision making Grace Zhixin Wang, Kiki Ming Gao, Roselyn Xinyue Wan, Jimmy Chaojie Zhang The interesting situation is that, if they both advertise, they will both be worse off! Fewer profits are made compared to neither of them advertising. If they choose to advertise, the money goes to the advertising agency. Neither consumers nor suppliers will benefit. I would like to introduce Operational research, a field of applied mathematics that deals with the application of advanced analytical methods to help make decisions. It encompasses a wide range of problem-solving techniques and methods applied in the pursuit of improved decision-making and efficiency. The intuitive part of your mind, while making decisions is more powerful than you may realize. When our brain needs to process lots of information within a limited period of time, it focuses on one aspect of a complex problem and ignores others. This is called heuristic judgment which works simply and efficiently. However, it can lead to systematic deviations from logic, probability or rational choice theory.
Here is another example about room design. The picture at the beginning shows a plan of a building. Each letter represents a room. What is the least number of doors that should be added if people in each room must be able to move to every other room?
Solution: Think of each room as a point, if two rooms are adjacent, you can draw a line to connect the two Many people have a stronger sense of fear and vertices together. Having a chain from one vertex to anxiety about a plane crash than they do about a car another means we can move from one room to accident. Both of these could cause death. In fact, a another. road accident is more likely to happen. Look, we worry about improbable events but ignore things that In order to open the least doors, we need to make happen more frequently. This is a mistake made by the spanning graph has the minimum edges. We heuristic decision making. The cognitive dissonance should open at least ten doors. is caused because there is more media attention given to plane crashes and therefore it causes a To conclude, sometimes our decision making is deeper impression on our brain. It has a stronger based on intuition and habitual thinking rather than impact on people’s judgments and decisions. on calculation and reasoning, which may lead to errors. If we could apply maths knowledge and think logically while dealing with real-life situations, it Think about a very simple maths question. What is might help avoid detours. the answer for 2x5? 10. It doesn’t even require thinking; you may just reflect automatically to get the answer. However, when we need to make a harder References decision or a trickier problem which involves more working and effort, we might use mathematics. For Eastaway, R. and Wyndham, J. (2006) Why do buses example, we might all agree that advertising will come in threes?, London: Robson Books help increase sales for companies. However, when there are two companies competing with each other, will the situation be the same? The case becomes complicated and there are several possible outcomes. Suppose Kim and Jong are the only two brands of suitcase, both of them make 10 million pounds per year without advertising. We may believe that if Kim advertises but Jong doesn’t, Kim will make more profits and vice versa. 34 Abbey College Cambridge Pre-Degree Diploma Journal 2018
Maths in nature Albert Rehak, Maurice Chan, Channing Han Each of these structurally different organisms represent a potential field in mathematics: birds fluid dynamics, fish - mathematical physics, and worms - optimization. Fluid dynamics is used for building aircraft, submarines, and spacecraft. Mathematical physics looks at the application of mathematical methods to problems in physics in our daily life. Lastly optimization is used to select the best process which is used in computer science. We can see that many animals have their own speciality, each with their own distinct apparent purposes such as defence, disguise, movement and reproduction. It appears that each of the animals has their own way to approach different natural Every organism started at the same point. After phenomena. The ultimate reason for animals having years of evolution they become different species. these abilities is survival to assure further Each of them has a different ability, some of them development of the species. Hence this brings us to can fly, and others can swim under the deep sea. So the question why humans are shaped as they are. what makes them different from us? So why are our arms and legs so different to other Firstly, what enables a bird to fly freely in the sky? animals? Why is there such a big variety of Not only do they have a pair of wings, but also their organisms on a relatively small planet? Why is our shapes and structures help them to be in the sky. thinking so different from other species even though Their body shapes can help them move easily in we all evolved for the same time? fluid and their plumage is very smooth which This might sound more related to biology but in fact lessens the friction that acts on them. Secondly they it is all about the connections between mathematics have relatively big wings compared to their body and the environment around us a subject widely size, their wings are about twice as large their body, recognized as mathematical philosophy. so this helps to produce enough force to keep them in the sky. An example of a creature whose unappealing body is the key to its existence is a worm. Worms dig deeply in the soil while under stress of pressure of the ground around them. The ellipsoidal shape of their head allows for even distribution of the forces which act on it, making its environment viable. Similar shapes are used in mines, to divide the forces made by thousands of metres of ground acting on the inner structure.
References https://www.researchgate.net/ publication/321081352_A_Review_of_Human_Body_Sha pe_Detection_Techniques_and_Their_Application_to_the _Prediction_of_Health_Risks http://howthingsfly.si.edu/aerodynamics/pressure-drag https://www.petmd.com/fish/care/ evr_fi_body_shape_and_movement https://ps.is.tuebingen.mpg.de/research_fields/shape
A remarkable representation of the optimization problem on the environment are fish. The shape has to be dynamic while compensating for the pressure of the water around. This means the shape of the fish has the best possible form such that the streamlines take the least energetically demanding path.
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Queen of the Night Student: Jiang, Eva Beiqing, Media: Acrylic, Size: 40x 30cm
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Why don’t we sleep for just 2 hours per day? Magdalena Tomaszuk, Diego Fabrizzio Covarrubias Valer, Yafei Xie Oliver, Kaung Sithu Sett, Kyaw Zin Lin Steven
The researchers state that the frequency of insomnia and number of awakenings are positively correlated to depression and anxiety.
Research We have carried out a cross-sectional study to investigate the influence of different factors on sleep. Method: An questions.
online
survey
consisting
of
19
Sleep is an essential activity that helps maintaining both physical and mental health. The consistency of sleep is regulated by melatonin production, released in 24-hour cycles. The hormone is released mostly in the afternoon and peaks at night, what causes us to fall asleep. However, a disrupted sleep schedule influences melatonin production and can have detrimental effects on an individual’s health and wellbeing, as listed below.
Details: n=455 people, divided into 5 age groups, with the majority of 64.3% aged 15-20, followed by people aged 41+, as a second largest group. 54% of questioned were women, 42.5 % men, the rest preferred not to specify. What is interesting, more than a half - 59% of people tend to go to sleep between 11pm and midnight (64.3% of them have enough sleep), followed by 24% of going to sleep between 1am and 2am (24.5% of them have enough sleep). Almost half of the surveyed population tends to sleep 7-8 hours - as recommended, 40% sleep 56 hours per night. What is notable, more than a half of the people rated their quality of sleep to be either “good”, or “very good”.
Problems caused by the lack of sleep
Summary
Introduction
1. Researchers from Semel Institute for Neuroscience have found that sleep loss disrupts the immune system, increasing the amount of inflammatory markers that damage tissues. While sleeping, several disease-fighting chemicals are released that fight the excess inflammatory markers and any pathogens if needed.
As it can be concluded from the data above, healthy sleep habits are essential for everyone in order to perform normally and not be exposed to any physical or mental damage. The average time assured for sleep should be 7 or more hours/night on regular basis to promote optimal health.
References
2. Sleeping less than 7 hours on regular basis may Irwin, M.R., Wang, M, et al., 2006, ‘Sleep deprivation and result in heart disease, hypertension or stroke, as activation of morning levels of cellular and genomic markers of inflammation’ Arch Intern Med, Vol. 166, No found by AASM and SRS. 18.
3. Lack of sleep is related to an increase in hunger and appetite, especially for high-fat, highcarbohydrate foods, that may lead to obesity. According to N.F.Watson’s study, people who sleep less than 7 hours/night were more likely to become obese than those who slept 7-9 hours.
Ramadan, W., Eschenko, O., et al., 2009, ‘Hippocampal Sharp Wave/Ripples during Sleep for Consolidation of Associative Memory,’ PLoS One, Vole 4, No. 8. Taylor, D.J., Lichstein, K.L., et al., 2005, ‘Epidemiology of insomnia, depression, and anxiety’, Sleep, Vol. 28, No. 11.
4. W. Ramadan and O. Eschenko have found the brain events called “sharp wave ripples” that are Watson, N.F., Badr, M.S., et al., 2015, ‘Recommended Amount of Sleep for a Healthy Adult’, Sleep, Vol. 36, No. responsible for long time memory. The ripples occur 6. mostly during the deepest levels of sleep. Hence, if there is not enough of sleep, one’s ability to learn and retain new information is likely to be impaired. 5. Lack of sleep strongly links to depression, as found in a study of the University of North Texas. Abbey College Cambridge Pre-Degree Diploma Journal 2018 37
Stress: Friend or Foe? Parsa Barzegar, Eleanor Lin Maung, Sai Kham Hloi, Sia Ai Xin, Van Ngoc Thuy Pham, Aliyu Hauwa According to an interview with psychiatrist Dr Wynn, in order to cope with stress its triggers must be identified first. Dr Wynn also stated ‘In order to manage stress, there must a work-life balance in addition to proper diet and regular exercise.’
Survey
Introduction Stress can be defined as a type of emotional tension due to constant pressure and demand from surroundings, which leads to physiological, biochemical, and behavioural changes. Stress can be perceived as being both beneficial and detrimental. According to Yerkes-Dodson Law, the optimum level of stress can have a positive impact on performance. However, if the optimum level has been exceeded performance levels begin to decline. Stress activates the adrenal gland to produce adrenaline also known as the fight-or-flight response hormone, which can be triggered due to many factors such as: personal relationships, illnesses and psychological problems as a consequence of a person’s surroundings. Nonetheless, stress is a survival mechanism, an adaptation from prehistoric times. In modern society many individuals are prone to stress beyond what they can handle, thus reaching the point of becoming disadvantageous. Stress can have negative physical effects which result in emotional and behavioural changes such as depression. To some extent stress plays a positive role. For instance, it is a source of psychological motivation that boosts efforts to meet goals. The right amount of stress is useful to determine the finishing of tasks. In addition, stress helps increase memory capacity. Based on an interview with cardiologist Dr Nami, stress can cause heart-stroke due to over-excretion of hormones such as cortisol that subsequently leads to increased blood pressure damaging the artery walls and making them sources for plaque. Therefore, whenever a person feels threatened or stressed the arteries cannot expand, consequently the heart muscle does not receive sufficient blood in order to provide enough energy to contract and relax. Thus, a heart attack occurs.
A survey was carried out of 100 people from a wide range of ages between 14 and 65. Based on the analysis, studies were the most common cause of stress (36%) followed by work (33%) and family & finances (28%). For the respondents who felt stress was good, the most common positive effects were motivation (31%) and creativity (7%). Other responses included alertness (12%), selfunderstanding (16%), and good concentration (16%). Results concerning the negative effects suggest that the majority of the respondents had decreased productivity when they were stressed (40%), while only 10% were restricted to daily activities. Other responses included lack of sleep (38%), being moody (32%), and irritable (31%). According to the results of the survey, in order to relieve stress the majority of participants chose entertainment (64%) while the minority chose smoking (11%). The remaining respondents chose eating (40%), sports (23%), and sleep (30%).
Conclusion To conclude, stress is a foe to a certain degree. According to the survey, 61% answered that stress is counter-productive. Based on the results of the primary research, as well as secondary research, stress brings more negative consequences than positive. There are positive aspects to stress however, such as motivation, self-understanding, creativity and alertness, although based on the research it is a largely a negative concept..
References http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/understanding-chronicstress.aspx https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mentalhealth-problems/stress/causes-of-stress/ https://www.healthline.com/health/stress/effects-on-body http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/stress-body.aspx Personal Interview with Dr. Nami.
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Why should the flu not be taken lightly? Han-Chieh Yang, Muhammad Redzwan Bin Ryzall, Luiz Carlos Mendes Campo Dall’orto, Chaw Su Thazin, Cho Zin Lin, and Amir Ahmadijooya
The most common severe complication is pneumonia. It damages the lining of the lungs and causes fluid buildup in the alveoli. This reduces the level of oxygen reaching the lungs and other tissues in the body which in turn could result in sepsis and ultimately in death.
Public impact of vaccination
What is flu? Influenza is a respiratory disease caused by infection with the influenza virus, which is classified as Types A, B, or C. According to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, typical symptoms of influenza include headaches, sore throats, dry coughs, aching bodies and fatigue. The flu is often mistaken for the common cold, both of which are respiratory diseases. They are caused by different viruses but they share similar symptoms. Overall, the symptoms of the flu are much more intense. Colds don’t usually have associated complications such as bacterial infections or hospitalisations.
Why is it so hard to eradicate the flu? The influenza virus has a simple RNA structure. When replication happens, there is a very high chance for one piece of mutated gene to be passed on since there is no proofreading mechanism in the virus. This results in different strains of the virus. The immune system will not be able to recognise the altered antigen. This is called genetic drift, which happens all the time. The other underlying cause for the high mutation rate of the influenza virus, particularly type A, is genetic shift. It occurs when two types of virus invade the cell. Some of the genetic material from one virus ends up in the other and a new strain of the virus is produced.
Healthy people being vaccinated can protect the high-risk group from getting the flu using the concept of herd immunity. This occurs when the vaccination of 95% of a population (or herd) provides protection for individuals without immunity. From our survey, 71% of the participants believe an annual flu shot is necessary, which doesn’t reach herd immunity. It is already impossible to completely immunise the population, so with people not believing in the importance of the vaccine, the chances of an outbreak are increased. Furthermore, 18% of the surveyed people believe that influenza is not serious enough to kill. One participant said “Has anyone ever died from having the flu?”. Another individual refused to get a flu shot annually simply because “vaccinations last for a lifetime”.
Conclusion Influenza is an underestimated disease due to the confusion with cold. It can result in deadly complications and has a huge impact on society. Due to its high mutation rate, influenza has become one of the most serious global medical issue. Therefore, flu shouldn’t be taken lightly.
References https://www.healthline.com/health/cold-flu/deadly-flu#2 https://www.livescience.com/61463-how-do-you-die-fromflu.html https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/916866/Flu-crisisvaccination-united-states-cdc-world-health-organisation http://homepage.usask.ca/~vim458/virology/ studpages2009/H1N1/Drift.html
Complications of flu Flu can cause mild or severe complications depending on the patient’s immune system. Mild complications could include sinus and ear infections from the buildup of fluid in the ears and the sinus. Abbey College Cambridge Pre-Degree Diploma Journal 2018 39
Does yo-yo dieting really work? Natanya Ng, Khin Kha Kha, Andia Soltani, Harrison Tang Ying Ming, Brian OuYong Ming Andrew Higginson and his group designed a mathematical model of an animal that undergoes periods of food shortage and abundance and used this to observe any weight changes that occur. Research suggests a survival mechanism hardwired by evolution causes the brain to interpret repeated diets as periods of food scarcity since the body predicts a stage of fasting and responds accordingly. Between diets, it sends out signals telling the body to store more fat in case of future shortages and surprisingly, the model predicts the average weight gain for dieters will actually be greater than those who never diet. “The feast and famine world is mirrored today when people resort to yo-yo diets, resulting in a vicious circle of weight gain and severe calorie cutting�, said Dr Andrew Introduction Yo-yo dieting is the cyclical loss and gain of weight. Higginson. This is weight loss through starvation, missing meals, or low-calorie intake. The dieter loses muscle Results and gains a higher percentage of fat. In yo-yo The primary data collected from our survey dieting, the individuals limit their meals and at times, illustrates that 52% of the participants in our survey binge eating takes place. When the desired weight stated that they gain excess weight gain after diet, 13% stated tiredness as the consequences of Yo-yo is lost, they revert to their original diet. dieting and 17% experienced gain in appetite. 11% of the participants experienced other consequences The Science behind Yo-yo dieting When calorie intake is reduced suddenly, the such as low blood sugar level and hair loss. hypothalamus in the brain detects the change and sends out a thyroliberin hormone to the pituitary gland which releases the thyrotropin hormone. The thyroid then produces thyroid hormones, thyroxine and triiodothyronine which are essential for controlling heart rate, metabolism and digestive functions. This terminates the production of hormones by the pituitary gland in a process known as the loop feedback mechanism. The body now conserves energy through hormones slowing down the metabolism and signalling energy to be stored in the fat cells. Thus, losing weight is made harder.
Conclusion Yo-yo dieting will help dieters to reduce weight in a short term. However, it is evident that this form of diet will not effectively work in the long run based on the results collected and the science discussed behind yo-yo dieting.
References
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4957917/ https://www.independent.ie/life/health-wellbeing/healthyeating/caveman-theory-says-yoyo-dieting-doesnt-workFat cells produce leptin, a hormone which acts on 35267912.html receptors in the accurate nucleus of the http://www.eje-online.org/content/93/3/322.short
hypothalamus to inhibit appetite to achieve energy homeostasis when full. A study carried out by David S. Weigle shows that hypocaloric diet-induced weight loss produces a significant decrease in plasma leptin levels by 54%. This suggests that when the individual returns back to normal calorie intake, less leptin is binded to the receptors in hypothalamus and the dieter tends to eat more without feeling full. This is why 17% of the dieters questioned stated a gain in appetite as an effect of yo-yo dieting. Yo-yo dieting also triggers a caveman response to famine that leads to inevitable weight gain. Dr
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Do moisturizers really improve skin quality? Yuanjun Shi, Yao Zhao, Chuyu Liu, Changhan Zhao
Core ingredients and functions The brand states that a camellia flower extract is key ingredient that hydrates skin cells, thus improving facial skin quality. There are two types; OFA, which repairs and purifies skin surfaces and PFA for moisturizing. The extract contains high oleic acid, an unsaturated fatty acid that can be easier to absorbed by skin. In addition, the ethanol extract from the camellia can have an antioxidant effect on the keratinocytes (skin cells) in humans and as well as being anti-inflammatory.
Introduction Moisturizing is an important part of skin care routines with people trying many products to keep their skin in a perfect state. A popular brand of moisturizers claims that their creams can restore skin vitality through intense hydration, replenishment, restoration of skin volume and even increase the skin’s strength. Is this true? Do these products really help our skin?
Why the Skin Needs Moisturizers The skin is made up of an epidermal outer layer, and inner dermal layer. The surface epidermis layer consists of dead cells. These cells swell when wet, and many of them are shed daily. Oily substances produced in dermis act as a natural barrier. Moisture content in skin is much higher than in the air, so without the barrier, water is more likely to evaporate rather than enter the skin. Our skin is sometimes not capable of keeping itself hydrated, due to irritants such as harsh cleansing products and excess exposure to environment elements. These irritants remove the lipids and lead to easier water loss. A good moisturizer must be able to supplement the lipid barrier with the incorporation of hydrophobic components. Cosmetic products target cells in stratum corneum layer of epidermis, and hardly get to the dermis. They can create smoother skin by filling the gaps between the cornified cells. Also, a barrier can be created on the skin to retain more water.
Glycerol and pentylene glycol (alcohols) take up a high proportion of the ingredients within a moisturizer .They have hydroxyl groups which attract water to keep the skin hydrated. Camellia oil and Butyrospermum Parkii butter can form a barrier on skin to prevent water loss. This is because oil is insoluble in water and so any water underneath will not be able to evaporate past it. After the product is applied, any excess water on that may be on the skin surface will evaporate, leaving a layer of the oil-soluble product behind with some water. In addition to delivering the oil-based product.
Conclusion Although moisturisers do have multiple benefits in aiding the skin to keep itself hydrated, their effect is only topical rather than providing permanent structural improvements due to only being able to reach the skin surface. Reapplication is necessary to continually experience their positive effect.
References Draelos, Z.K., 2000, Atlas of Cosmetic Dermatology. Philadelphia:Churchill Livingstone Mei Jing Piao, et al., 2011, ‘Antioxidant Effects of the Ethanol Extract from Flower of Camellia japonica via Scavenging of Reactive Oxygen Species and Induction of Antioxidant Enzymes’, International Journal of Moleular Science, Vol. 12, No.4 http://illumin.usc.edu/index/article/174/the-chemistrybehind-moisturizers http://www.cosdna.com/chs/cosmetic_054e207175.html
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Does our culture determine our emotions? Chloe Lim, Cindy Nichols, Karlis Vitols, Monique Tan, Melissa Nwako, Sicheng Chen and Vika Pervykh
hide their emotions more so rely on eyes as an indicator of others’ mental states.
The Case for Universality Some argue that emotions are biologically driven and therefore cross-culturally universal. In support of this, when emotions are spontaneously aroused, congenitally blind and sighted individuals produce the same facial expressions (Matsumoto et al, 2009). Also, newborns have the same fully functional facial musculature that exists in adults, therefore muscles used to produce emotions are not changed by cultural experience. That same facial musculature that humans use for emotion is also present in non-human primates like chimpanzees (Bard, 2003). The fact that humans and To answer this question, we will consider similarities chimpanzees share similar emotions indicates that and differences in interpreting and expressing emotions come from a common ancestor, emotions between two distinct collections of supporting the nature argument. cultures. The West embodies individualistic culture, prioritising uniqueness. The East is more collectivist, Conclusion prioritising an individual’s ability to fit in with society. In conclusion, research shows that expression and interpretation of emotion vary cross culturally. Therefore our emotion is undeniably shaped by Expressing Emotions In Ekman’s (1978) study, Japanese and Americans environmental influences. Despite this, the fact that watched stressful films in two conditions: alone and the biological apparatus used to produce emotion is universal shows that emotions are not entirely with the experimenter. When watching alone, both culturally determined. groups showed the same facial expressions. However, when watching with the experimenter, the Japanese masked their negative emotions with References smiles while the Americans continued displaying Bard, K. A., 2003, ‘Development of emotional expression their negative emotions before the experimenter. in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)’, Annals of the New This shows that collectivists adjust their personal York Academy of Sciences, Vol. 1000, 88-90 emotions to maintain social harmony whereas individualists are open to expressing their emotions. Ekman, P., Freisen, P., 1978 ‘Smiles when Lying, Stipek et al. (1989) found that the Chinese were less likely to take pride in their success than Americans were. They also concluded that expression of guilt varied: for individualists, ‘violating a law or a moral principle’ causes guilt, whereas for collectivists, ‘hurting others psychologically’ causes guilt. This shows how similar emotions are expressed in varying situations across cultures.
Interpreting Emotions Yuki et al.’s (2007) study investigated how Americans and Japanese interpreted facial expressions using a questionnaire. Participants had to rate six faces on how happy the emoticons were with different eyes and mouths. The study found the Japanese focused more on the eyes when interpreting emotions, while Americans focused more on the mouth. This is because of socialisation, where Japanese, unlike Americans, are raised to
Interpersonal relations and group processes’, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 54., No. 3., 414420 Matsumoto, D, 2009, ‘Spontaneous Facial Expressions of Emotion of Congenitally and Noncongenitally Blind Individuals’, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 96, No. 1, 1–10 Stipek, D., Weiner, B., & Li, K.,1989, ‘Testing some attribution emotion relations in the People's Republic of China’, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 56, No. 1, 109-116 Yuki, M., 2007, ‘Are the windows to the soul the same in the East and West? Cultural differences in using the eyes and mouth as cues to recognize emotions in Japan and the United States’, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Vol. 43, 303-311
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Can too much protein be harmful to the human body? Salita Som, Selina Robinson, Xian Yang Lim, Pak Yung Edward Mak, ‘Irdina Syahirah Mohd Nadziruddin’ Including protein in the diet brings many health benefits, and high-quality protein powder can definitely boost your protein intake. For optimal health, the average protein powder intake should be 40-50 grams. Despite the many benefits of consuming a well-digested and well-absorbed replacement protein to solid food, getting 30 or more percent of your calories from protein powder can be damaging to vital organs. The effects of too much proteins are the following: extra burden for the kidneys, liver failure, weight gain, diarrhoea/ loose stool. A 2016 study proved that when the diet is replaced with a high protein intake, more weight is gained as compared to when it is replaced with fats. The Over the past decade, gym ‘culture’ has surged in human body is designed to digest solid food and too popularity due to a multitude of factors, ranging from much protein shakes in liquid form can induce stress relief to body image. Regardless of age, diarrhoea. adolescents to elders are joining in on the action. As a result, the consumption of products that are In conclusion, it is evident that a high consumption complementary to ‘hitting the gym,’ such as protein of protein can lead to various health complications. supplements has significantly risen. A survey However this can be prevented by acknowledging conducted with a sample size of 148 respondents the safe amount of protein consumption based on showed several reasons behind protein supplement each individual’s body requirements. consumption. Two of the most common reasons are to build up muscles and as an addition of protein to their diet.
References
The FDA recommendation for daily protein intake is 50 grams based on a 2,000-calorie diet but that figure may vary depending on age and gender. Our bodies require about 20 different amino acids with only nine being considered essential (must be consumed from diet as the body cannot make these). Typically, plant protein sources like beans and legumes do not contain all nine essential amino acids, unlike animal products which do.
http://healthyhabitshub.com/foods-that-help-digestion-ofproteins/ https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/is-too-much-proteinbad-for-you https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/search https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/how-much-proteinper-day
Although it is much argued that athletes who carry out intensive sports routinely should raise their protein consumption, ingesting up to 2.7 grams of protein per kilogram can bring out health risks due to inefficient excretion of excess protein. To maximise protein consumption in the diet more efficiently and handily, fitness ‘gurus’ would tend to turn to protein supplements- mostly known in the form of protein shakes, without knowing the consequences. Generally, proteins are digested in the stomach and the small intestine. The two regions use different enzymes, made in the pancreas, to break down proteins into absorbable sizes. They are then sent to the liver and distributed to other cells.
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The organic substance inside tonic water John Deng, Miranda Wen, Eric Zhou, Blessing Kpodoh to a more energetic state, by giving energy to the electron. When the excited electron falls back to its original position, it gives out energy in the form of photons, the energy difference determining the wavelength of the photons. In the case of quinine, the energy source is ultraviolet light and the released photons have a wavelength of blue visible light. It also has a melting point of 57°C and water solubility of 500mg/dm3. We suggest that the relatively high melting point is due to quinine’s huge amount of electrons contributing to the London force as well as the ability of forming hydrogen bonds, which could also be the reason for its solubility.
Fluorescence of tonic As most people are aware, tonic water is a type of fizzy drink. What makes it different from others is its fluorescence. Tonic water will glow under ultraviolet light, owing to the presence of the organic chemical, quinine. Quinine was first isolated in 1820 from the bark of a cinchona tree. However, the question is how quinine is able to do this.
Other uses of quinine Quinine is also used in medication to treat malaria and babesiosis. In fact, the invention of tonic water is due to people trying to take quinine solution as anti-malarial medication, but the bitter taste forced them to add sugar and soda to it. We have also done a survey based on different brands, and found that the one containing the most ‘natural quinine’ (also the most expensive) was surprisingly rated as worst in taste.
Chemistry of quinine Firstly we need to understand the chemistry around quinine. Quinine has a very complex structure with molecular formula C20H24N2O2, and its IUPAC name is: (R)-[(4S,5R,7S)-5-ethenyl-1-azabicyclo[2.2.2] octan-7-yl]-(6-methoxyquinolin-4-yl)methanol. The (R) in the IUPAC name shows that quinine is capable of forming two enantiomers. Given the difficulty of extracting one enantiomer out of a mixture of both, presumably the cinchona tree chose to produce only the (R) version of this molecule. Quinine also has the following chemical properties: it is capable of forming hydrogen bonds, has 4 rotatable bonds and a relative molecular weight of 324.18. The hydrogen bonds suggest that quinine is soluble in water despite its massive structure.
Properties and explanations So far, research has been done to understand the properties of quinine, including fluorescence. Quoting from an experiment report by Bender, Holzapfel and McCarty: “As light passes through the sample (quinine) it is absorbed by electrons which causes the electrons to be excited and transition to higher energy levels. It has been suggested that the fluorescence of quinine is caused by electron excitation, which is the transfer of a bound electron
References https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonic_water#Fluorescence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electron_excitation http://www.guidetopharmacology.org/GRAC/ LigandDisplayForward?tab=summary&ligandId=2510 https://www.drugbank.ca/drugs/DB00468 Bender, K., Holzapfel, N., McCarty, M., 2017, ‘The Analysis of the Excitation and Emission Wavelengths of Quinine Containing Solutions Using Ultraviolet-Visible Absorption and Fluorescence Spectroscopy’, SCRIBD, [Online]. Available at: https://zh.scribd.com/ document/346515583/quinine-lab-redo Willcox, Merlin, Bodeker, Gerard, Rasoanaivo, Philippe (Eds.), 2004,Traditional Medicinal Plants and Malaria, Florida:CRC Press 6
Bender K, Holzapfel N, McCarty M (24 February 2017). ‘The Analysis of the Excitation and Emission Wavelengths of Quinine Containing Solutions Using Ultraviolet-Visible Absorption and Fluorescence Spectroscopy’, SCRIBD, [Online]. Available at: https://zh.scribd.com/document/346515583/quininelab-redo
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Unboiling eggs Juan Fernandez Pottecher, Serena Daniels, Teng Nattalyn, YIfeng Wang focusing on refolding lysozyme in egg whites.
Introduction Eggs are an intricate mixture of lipids, proteins, minerals and a large amount of water. Although boiling an egg may seem a simple process, it is not. Consequently, unboiling is indeed a challenge that, nonetheless, has been partially resolved. To understand how unboiling works, it is essential to understand how boiling occurs in the first place.
Boiling an egg Proteins in the whites and yolk of the egg are dissolved in water, keeping the hydrophilic (waterattracting) groups facing the outside of the protein. The hydrophobic (water-repelling) groups are sheltered from water molecules. When the egg is heated, its proteins are said to be denatured. They are forced to change shape so that they unfold. Once this happens, aggregation follows where different groups in different proteins interact together. The proteins are kept stacked due to hydrogen bonding, disulphide bridges and many kinds of ionic and hydrophobic interactions. The result being, the denatured proteins coagulate forming random clusters. This causes the egg to turn from relatively transparent, to white and gelatinous.
Unboiling an egg To unboil an egg, you must first break the chemical interactions holding the proteins in a fixed position, then allow the proteins to fold back to their original disposition. A team of scientists from California and Australia were able to partially reverse the cooking of an egg by developing a mechanical approach
To start, the egg whites were dissolved in urea and a buffer solution (that keeps the pH constant) to break apart the proteins. The solution was then placed into a vortex fluid device--the key to refolding proteins to their native states. The rapid spinning in the device causes the liquid to form a very thin layer spread over the walls of the tube. This forms a velocity gradient in the film as the outside layers move at a greater speed than the inside ones. The difference in speed creates a force in the direction of motion in between the layers (equivalent to shear stress), which has shown to allow refolding of proteins. It was found that the best empirical results for lysosome were found when setting the machine to 5000 rpm for 5 minutes as continuous spinning causes re-unfolding of proteins.
Conclusion The vortex fluid device method has significant advantages over other methods, e.g. the new process is about 100 times faster than dialysis and the refolding of proteins has been shown to be achievable in complex environments (e.g. egg whites). Dialysis on the other hand, is carried out by significantly diluting the protein solution, then slowly extracting water allowing the proteins to return to their original shape. Not surprisingly, this is of very low efficiency and produces a poor yield (40%). The revelation of how easy it is to refold proteins has allowed new drugs and better research to emerge.
References https://www.nature.com/scitable/blog/scibytes/ why_do_eggs_hardboil Roth, K., 2018, ‘Boiled Eggs: Soft and Hard’, ChemViews Magazine. Available at: http://www.chemistryviews.org/ details/ezine/1664685/ boiled_eggs_soft_and_hard__part_3.html Yuan, T., Ormonde, C.,et al., 2015, ‘Shear-StressMediated Refolding of Proteins from Aggregates and Inclusion Bodies’ ChemBioChem, Vol. 16, No. 3, 393-396
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2018 Diploma Groups
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Abbey College Cambridge Pre-Degree Diploma Journal 2018 47
Credits Head of Pre-Degree Diploma Programme Dr. Alexandra Whalley
PDD Group Leaders Architecture – Dr. Julian Davies Art – Miss Frances Baker Business Strategy and Leadership – Mr. Andrew Humphris, Mr. Russell Bailey, Mr. Jonathan Bridge, & Ms. Eavan Zora Computer Science – Mr. Paul Brown Economics – Mr. Michael Oswell, Mr. Michael Blott, Mr. David Tilley, & Mr. David Wilson Law – Ms. Rosa Austin Mathematics – Mrs. Anna-Marie Edmunds & Mrs. Jo Wexler Medicine and Dentistry – Dr. Alexandra Whalley & Dr. Nicholas Holmes Natural Sciences – Ms. Laura Senior, Mr. Allan Smith, Mr. Robin Tunnah & Miss Sephora Xuereb Physics and Engineering – Mr. Christopher Ashford, Mr. James Noton & Dr. Graham Willis
Journal Editor Dr. Aoife O’Gorman
Journal Design Mr. John Menzies
Special Thanks to Beiqing (Eva) Jiang
Every effort has been made to check articles for plagiarism. If any problems are identified, please contact Abbey College Cambridge so that corrections can be made.
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