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TechXplore 2007-2008

TechXplore 2007-2008. Sponsored by the National Science & Technology Education Partnership (NSTEP). www.TechXplore.org. Over Population. Zhile Zhao Shahruk Salam Dong Hui Liang Raymond Yu Mentor: Brett Williams.

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TechXplore 2007-2008

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  1. TechXplore 2007-2008 Sponsored by the National Science & Technology Education Partnership (NSTEP) www.TechXplore.org

  2. Over Population Zhile Zhao Shahruk Salam Dong Hui Liang Raymond Yu Mentor: Brett Williams

  3. The main objective of our team is to figure out a possible solution that can make over population less of a problem, by easing some of its consequences. School: Brooklyn Technical High School City: Brooklyn State: New York Team: High School Project Facilitator: Ms. Green Mentor: Brett Williams Principles of Engineering Team Profile and Assessment

  4. Team Role/ Team Information • Power Point Creator, Team Leader- Zhile Zhao • Researcher- Shahruk Salam, Dong Hui Liang, Raymond Yu • Mentor-Contactor –Raymond Yu We are juniors in Brooklyn Technical High School. We are doing this project for the class Principles of Engineering for the first time. Although there are various interests among our team members, we agreed to do research on this topic because it is a serious threat to our future generation and our planet.

  5. Zhile Zhao I am a 17 year old Junior in Brooklyn Technical High School. I was born in China and immigrated to the U.S. in 2003. I am in the Applied Physics Major in my school. I like to draw, play basketball with my friends, and play computer games. Although I might not be an engineer when I grow up, I think this project will somewhat help me in the future. Raymond Yu Hey everyone!! I am a 16 year old Junior who’s currently attending Brooklyn Tech High School and majoring in Applied Physics. My hobbies are sports (such as handball), games, and of course, hanging out with my friends. I am still looking for a career path for my future, but that would soon come. Member’s Background

  6. Dong Hui Liang Hi!! I am 17 years old, attending Brooklyn Technical High School. I was born in China, and immigrated to America about 5 years ago. I am currently attending Applied Physic Major as a Junior. I like science, playing computer games and math. I am planning to become an engineer or an expert in the medical field in the near future. Shahruk Salam I am 16 years old and am currently attending Brooklyn Technical High School. I was born in Bangladesh and came to America at the age of four. I am in the Physics major and I greatly enjoy physics. I enjoy playing video games with my friends. Member’s Background (cont.)

  7. Mentor Biography • Our mentor, Brett Williams is an electrical engineer currently working in the semiconductor industry.  • He works for AMI Semiconductor, Inc in Pocatello, Idaho. (www.amis.com).  • Right now he is working on a transfer of an 80 volt technology from one of the Fabs in Belgium to one of the Idaho Fabs.  • He was a Naval officer in Orlando, Florida,  and taught nuclear physics and electrical theory to students at the Naval Nuclear Power School before working at AMI Semiconductor.

  8. The world’s fastest growing population is in Africa. Nearly 3/5 lack clean water, 1/4 lack of adequate housing. 4.8 billion people in developing countries lack basic sanitation, almost 1/3 have no access to moderate health care. Due to the opening out of human settings, 16 million hectares of forest are chopped down each year. Experts from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization believe that with the political will and existing technology, there is enough food to sustain the current global population of 6.6 billion and even more. But it is unclear if the Earth's basic biological systems including water resources, forests, fish stocks, and climate - can support another 3-4 billion people.   Back ground information

  9. Very dense human communities produce tons of solid wastes (organic and inorganic waste) daily, consume large quantities of energy and emit more pollutants to the environment. More than 852 million people -- about 13 percent of the world population -- do not have enough food each day to sustain a healthy life, according to the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Water necessities will increase to 20% by 2025. Approximately, one half of wetlands around the world have been lost since 1900. The accelerated growth of the human population has propitiated the destruction of natural habitats of many species.

  10. Possible Solutions to Ease the Consequences of Overpopulation • Increase food supply • Utilize birth control to keep the population at a constant level. • Constructing livable structure in less populated area, such as the deserts.

  11. Many countries in Africa face food shortages mainly because of natural disasters, such as drought, and devastation to farms due to war and human conflicts. The amount of food required to meet the needs of the hungry is only four billion pounds, according to Food Not Bombs. Official surveys indicate that every year more than 350 billion pounds (160 billion kg) of edible food is available for human consumption in the United States. Of that total, nearly 100 billion pounds (45 billion kg) -- including fresh vegetables, fruits, milk, and grain products -- are lost to waste by retailers, restaurants, and consumers. Food Supply

  12. Abstinence Male Condom Female condom Diaphragm and cervical cap Spermicide Birth control pill Contraceptive sponge Vaginal ring Birth control patch There are already many methods that can control birth rate, so it is more a problem about education and religious belief, than it is about technological difficulties. Birth Control Options

  13. Making Deserts Habitable • There are 21 deserts with an area greater than 50,000 square kilometers (19300 square miles) on earth, and many of them are near the sea. • There are less animal that rely on the desert to survive than there are in forest, so the impact on the environment will be less. • Things we need to solve to make desert habitable: energy, water and food supply, transportation. • To prevent houses from sinking into the sand, we came up with an idea about putting barriers in sand to prevent sand from moving to the side, so the sand under the house will have no where to move and have to stay and support the weight of the house.

  14. Final Decision • Base on our research, our team found that the first solution, which is food shortage, is more of a problem about food distribution. As the information mentioned before, hunger and food waste exist side by side. If we can distribute food more equally, the issue of food shortage can be easily solved. Our mentor agreed on this idea too. • Our second solution, birth control, was under a similar situation. There are already many techniques and practices, hence, the team decided to focus on the last solution, which gives more room of imagination and creativity. Also, it seems more interesting to be researched on than the other two solutions.

  15. Mentor’s Feedbacks • “I agree with your focus on increasing the free living space.  I think that the food shortage issue is really more of a problem with food distribution and global education than a lack of food…” 11/09/07 We received this feedback when we first decided to focus on the idea of making desert habitable. • “I like your ideas on using a barrier for the foundation of the building. Would this barrier be a grid filled with sand like the road article that I sent you, or something else?” 12/17/07 We received this comment when we informed our mentor Mr. Williams about our idea of putting barrier in sand to prevent the house from sinking.

  16. Solution to Water Supply in Desert • In order to make desert habitable, one of the most important factors is water supply; we decided to test deserts near oceans first, since we can use desalination to get supply of fresh water. • Desalination process: 1.vaporise the sea water, water would turn into steam and leave salt behind. 2.membrane process, use a synthetic membrane that has small holes on it which only water molecules are able to pass through. • The product water recovery relative to input water flow is 15 to 50% for most seawater desalination plants. For every 100 gallons of seawater, 15 to 50 gallons of pure water would be produced along with brine water containing dissolved solids.

  17. Energy • Energy is another major factor in making desert habitable, and it is essential for air conditioning and other daily activities. • Sun light are exceptionally strong in deserts, so we decided to use solar power. • Solar powers includes: photovoltaic effect and heating transfer fluid to produce steam in order to run a generator. • Silicon is used in the photovoltaic effect. Silicon is an element found in sand, and when it is exposed to sunlight, an electric charge is created. Silicon from one ton of sand, used in photovoltaic cells, could produce as much electricity as burning 500,000 tons of coal. • The energy gathered in this process can be used for air conditioning and manufacturing.

  18. Roads/Transportation • Road is also another factor that we need to consider when we develop desert. It is necessary for transportation and communication. • Barriers are used to trap the sand so it couldn’t move, it can also help support cars that are running on the road. • The roads could sustain cars going at speeds of 35 MPH, which is pretty nice considering the condition of its environment. • There could be 5,000 vehicle passes without changing the performance of the roads. • This idea is useful for the developing stage, and can be replaced later by concrete or other materials.

  19. Housing • We think that putting barrier around sand is actually a good idea, and it’s not hard to construct, with a low expense. • The steel barriers would be pointed on one end so it will be easy to go into the sand. • After it’s in sand, we can use steel bars to connect the bottom, and then refill the “box” will sand, and construct house on it.

  20. Conclusion • Making desert habitable can create more space for people to live hence decreases the threat of epidemic and diseases. • The expense of our idea is unknown. • By moving factories from farmable land to deserts, food supply can actually increase, hence in another way reduce the effects of over population. • It will take everybody’s effort to solve the issue of over population, after all we have only one Earth…

  21. Survey and Results • **Survey Questions** • On a scale from 1 to 5, with 5 being the best, please grade our solution on efficiency. • Have your seen similar solutions to this problem somewhere else? • What else do you think is important to make the desert habitable? • Have you heard of desalination before? • Do you think the use of solar power in the desert will be successful? • Do you think this solution is realistic for future practice?

  22. Results

  23. 1). On a scale from 1 to 5, with 5 being the best, please grade our solution on efficiency. 1. 4% 2. 22% 3. 31% 4. 39% 5. 4% 2). Have your seen similar solutions to this problem somewhere else? Yes-29% No-71% 3). What else do you think is important to make the desert habitable? Water-29% Shelter-8% People’s Need (school, store, hospital)-34% climate protection- 29% 4). Have you heard of desalination before? Yes- 23% No-77% 5). Do you think the use of solar power in the desert will be successful? Yes- 95% No-5% 6). Do you think this solution is realistic for future practice? Yes-55% No-45%

  24. Lessons Learned Our team has learned a lot from this project. At first, we had no idea about how and where we should start our research. Then with the help from our teacher and mentor, we followed the steps that an engineer might take, and arrived at the results that met our expectations. During the process, one important thing we learned is how to work together as a group. As one can see from our presentation, it would take a single person a lot of time to gather such a great deal of information about the topic and combine them together. Although not every team member will become an engineer, what we learned in this project will definitely help us in the future. As the world is becoming “smaller” and “smaller” with new technologies, teamwork is becoming the essential tool to success. One can no longer work as a single man and build a house like what a prehistoric man was able to do; nor can one finish a big project on his own. In conclusion, although we learned many things about our topic, we think that the ability to work as a team is the most important lesson we have learned; and it will have a long lasting effect in our future. Thank You TechXPlore!!!

  25. Bibliography • Deen, Thalif. "RIGHTS: Millions of Starving Shame the World, U.N. Says." IPS. 19 Oct. 2006. Inter Press Service News Agency. 15 Dec. 2007 <http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=35166>. • Nahle, Nasif. "OVERPOPULATION." B.C. 10 Nov. 2003. Biology Cabinet. 17 Dec. 2007 <http://biocab.org/Overpopulation.html>. • Rizvi, Raider. "US: Food Waste and Hunger Exist Side by Side." News Center. 4 Sept. 2004. 12 Dec. 2007 <http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0904-20.htm>. • "Who’S Afraid of Thomas Malthus?" Allianz. Allianz Knowledge Partnersite. 15 Dec. 2007 <http://knowledge.allianz.com/en/globalissues/demographic_change/population_growth/population_growth_malthus.html?gcl

  26. Picture References • Overpopulation, [Online Image], Available fromhttp://www.goalsforamericans.org/gallery/d/281-6/Overpopulation.jpg 12/18/07 • Overpopulation, [Online Image], Available fromhttp://www.senescence.info/overpopulation.jpg 12/18/07 • Food waste, [Online Image], Available from http://www.ci.issaquah.wa.us/images/imagemanager/yesnolist.jpg 12/18/07 • Desert, [Online Image], Available from http://geology.com/records/sahara-desert-map.gif 12/18/07 • Decision making, [Online Image], Available from http://sci-con.org/uploads/2007/01/decision-making.jpg 1/02/08 • Brooklyn Tech Pic, BTHS logo, [Online Image], Available from http://www.bths.edu/ 12/18/07 • Photovoltaic Cell, [Online Image], Available from http://www.pv.unsw.edu.au/images/future-students/solar-cell_p-n.jpg 12/18/07 • Desalination, [Online Image], Available from http://www.awa.asn.au/AM/Images/Misc_Images/desalunit.jpg 12/18/07 • Road, [Online Image], Available from http://www.alcoa.com/alcoa-geo/catalog/pdfs/sand_roads.pd 12/18/07 • Survey, [Online Image], Available from http://www1.istockphoto.com/file_thumbview_approve/3549261/2/istockphoto_3549261_survey_questions.jpg 1/5/08

  27. Thank You For Watching!!

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