Portfolio Task 3: Summary on Cyberspace Warfare

I found an interesting article related to securing cyberspace from the Grand Challenges of Engineering. It is about how governments are actually behind some of the major cyber attacks. Here is my summary:

Some of the major breaches in cyberspace security are caused by governments. This is because corporate and national secrets can be obtained through virtual espionage. Not only that, even the information technology infrastructure of a country can be disrupted. It can be said that governments are fighting a war on cyberspace with each other in order to gain dominance financially and politically. A report by Internet experts from various reputable agencies pointed out China as one of the biggest culprit in such cyberspace attacks. However, due to a lack of evidence the China government easily denied involvement. Regardless, it is not the only country using cyberspace for espionage. This is not surprising since government spying has been going on for a long time. But the trouble with these virtual attacks is that they cannot be associated directly with countries. The criminal activities can be conducted by hacker groups who are just supported by a country, and these groups may or may not be totally controlled by that country. Another problem with cyber warfare can be seen from the 2007 five day attack on Estonia by Russia, which caused it's official websites to go down for that period. When Estonia, a NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) country, called on NATO to take military action, it was unable to do so. This is because cyberspace attacks are not viewed as grounds for military protection by NATO. Hence, cyber attacks by a country cannot be responded with military force, no matter how much evidence points to the culprit. And most importantly, countries are rarely accused of cyberspace espionage as it is nearly impossible to prove anything on the Internet. This is why the China government continues to get off scot-free with it's activities.

-Tung, L (2007 November 30). Is World War 3 being fought in cyberspace?. Retrieved September 21, 2008, from ZDNet Australia Web site: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/security/soa/Is-World-War-3-being-fought-in-cyberspace-/0,130061744,339284216,00.htm

Grammar Exercise - Tenses

I have here an online article about chemical engineers. There are ten grammar mistakes on tenses. See if you can get all of them correct! I will put the answers in the comments.

Far from its staid image of freezing labs and oil pipes a degree in chemical engineering can take you into a multitude of sectors, from developing and producing medicines to enhancing the performance of a jet engine, from manufacturing ice lollies to improving the texture of your favourite chocolate bar! 1) Chemical engineering offered a solid professional basis with the opportunity to diversify into a multitude of commercial and industrial sectors, and the opportunities are growing...

2) The chemical engineering profession is traditionally view as the domain of the stalwart petrochemical, oil and gas and pharmaceutical industries, but these days chemical engineering superheroes can be found in such diverse fields as food technology, water, mining and environmental protection. With the rise in media focus on processed foods, the lack of clean drinking water in poor areas and the need for more environmentally friendly fuels, chemical engineers developing solutions to these problems have been revered as the harbingers of change. 3) The expansion of these industries has also ensure a growth in the need for chemical engineers worldwide.

4) Chemical engineers worked out the best way to produce, extract, mix, separate and manipulate and that is why they can be found in such a diverse selection of industries. They design the best way or 'process' by which a raw material is transformed into a product, whether that product is cheese, the fuel in a car engine or paracetamol. 5) But the skills involved don't limited the chemical engineer to manufacturing. Chemical engineers are involved in the current development of nanotechnology, alternatives to fossil fuels and refrigerants that don't damage the ozone layer.

Chemical and Process engineering degrees in the UK are formulated to ensure that their graduates are fully equipped for industry, with all the skills they will need, from design, problem solving, numeracy and analysis skills, to 'transferable skills', such as communication and teamwork. 6) A chemical engineering degree will enhanced your employability whatever your choice of industry or profession, that's why you will also find chemical engineering graduates in accounting, marketing and teaching.

You may not, however, want to stray far from the chemical engineering career path as these professionals are amongst the highest paid in the engineering field! In the most recent IChemE (the Institution of Chemical Engineers) salary survey the average UK graduate wage was £24,988, rising to £31,564 between the ages of 25 and 29, with some engineers earning up to £136,000 later on!

The substantial starting salary can be partially attributed to the significant amount of responsibility given to newly employed graduates. Fresh graduates often move swiftly up the corporate ladder reaching positions of senior management while still comparatively young.

7) In order to ensure that these chemical engineers took their responsibility seriously and keeping themselves and the public safe, chemical engineers are independently assessed by the external body governing the ethics of the profession, IChemE. 'Chartered Chemical Engineer' status is the internationally recognised, professional benchmark that demonstrates to peers, prospective employers and family that you are serious about chemical engineering and the related responsibilities. In fact being a Chartered Chemical Engineer is so well respected it is the badge of professional competence. And while your experience may be hard to translate, becoming chartered is a universal qualification that will be recognised wherever you are in the world. Due to the diversity of chemical engineering jobs and the specialisation of many professionals chemical engineering could take you all over the world, from the oil fields of Saudi Arabia, to the pharmaceutical companies in the Republic of Ireland.

In order to secure your place as one of these chemical engineering elite it is important to choose the right undergraduate degree course. 8) Over 5500 students study chemical and process engineering in the UK last year. Around 35% of these students were from outside the UK; Europe, Malaysia, China and Singapore, and these figures are rising every year.

An undergraduate chemical engineering degree at one of the 22 universities in the UK that currently run them can take the form of either a Bachelor of Engineering (BEng Hons) or a Master of Engineering (MEng Hons). To help you discern which ones are the best look out for their accreditation status. 9) IChemE accredited degrees at 20 UK universities, checking that the quality of the course, teaching and resources matches our strict requirements. 10) An IChemE accredited degree will ensure you get the best opportunity of an excellent degree and its independent standard demonstrates the quality of your degree wherever you are in the world.

-IChemE. Chemical Engineers, The Engineering Super-Heroes? Retrieved 6th September, 2008 from http://www.science-engineering.net/chemical_engineers.htm

My most common grammar mistake.

One of my most common grammar mistakes (and I believed it is the same for many others) is tenses. Very often when I am writing essays I would have to pause and think whether if I am using the correct tenses for some words. I will explain in this post on tenses and their usage.

Basically, tense can be divided into three main groups: Present, Past and Future. They can then be further divided into Simple, Continuous or Perfect. Simple Present tense is used to express actions or situations that always happen or habitually happen. It uses the root form of verbs (take note of plurality). For example, "The Earth spins on it's axis". Simple Past is used for events that happened in a particular time in the past and has already ended: "I played tennis yesterday". The words are usually -ed added to the root of the verbs. Finally, Simple Future is used for an events that will happen in the future: "He will be coming to class later". Normally the words 'shall' and 'will are used for Simple Future tenses.

For Present Continuous tense, it is used for events that happened in the past, are still happening and will probably continue to happen in the future. For example, "She is washing the clothes right now". Past Continuous is used for events that happened and continued in the past. It may or may not continue in the future. Example: "They were playing on the field this morning". Future Continuous tense is used for situations that had already begin to happen and will continue to happen in the future. This is used when the continuity of the event is definite as compared to Present Continuous which is just probable. "I will be watching a movie later" is an example. Note that most verbs in Continuous tenses are their root forms plus -ing at the end.

Next, we have the Perfect tenses. Perfect tenses are usually in the form of have + past participle. Present Perfect tense is for an action or situation which happened sometime in the past and had finished (no particular timing). Example: "He has already gone to bed". Past Perfect tense is use to express one event which happened before another, and both of them happened in the past: "He had already gone to bed when she came". Future Perfect tense is for events that will happen and end in the future before another event which also occurs in the future: "He will have woken up by the time she comes back".

Lastly, we have Perfect Continunous tenses. They are similiar to Perfect tenses except that they are also used to express the progress of the events (usually using duration). Examples: Present - "He has been sleeping for the past six hours"; Past - "He had been sleeping for six hours before she came"; Future - "He will have been sleeping for six hours by the time she comes back".

My main and only source of helping me to create this post are the grammar lessons from http://courses.nus.edu.sg/courseware/ITSELF. I hope you guys will have a better understanding of tenses after reading this post. I will post a simple grammar exercise on tenses in my next post.