Stating common beliefs on the subject

0. Some people consider that…violent crime is increasing sharply in London.
1. It is generally agreed that…the police should punish young criminals more several.
2. A common viewpoint is that…healthy food is necessary for students.
3. It is widely believed that…the government should support money to university education.
4. Recent research has suggested that…the government should solve greenhouse effect.
5. It is often argued that…females are more difficult to succeed than males.
6. Many people say that…positive effects of cyber less than negative effects.

My grammar weaknesses

Last week in class I did a diagnostic grammar test and I found that I had grammar problems about

• Verb pattern
• Vocabulary
• Phrasal verb

- Which of the grammar points you have problems with are more important for a) writing b) speaking c) both?
>>Both because grammar is important for all English skill. I usually write wrong essay because I don't know the correct grammar and I think grammar is necessary to speaking only a bit.

- Do you think that doing lots and lots of grammar exercises is the best way to improve your grammar?
>>I think so because when I do lots of grammar exercises I will remember it and after this I can use right grammar.

- Can you think of any other activities that you could do without having to pick up a grammar book?
>>From website, I can learn by using internet. It has many website that you can learn and it's the easiest way.

- How do you think you've learnt the grammar you already know well?
>>I think remember, do a lot of exercise and review every week. It's a good way for me. But I don't like to reveiw frequently, so if you have the best way to learn grammar, please tell me recently.

- Can you find some online exercises to help you with your grammar weaknesses. Please put a link to anything you find, then do the exercise, and paste into your blog any sentences/phrases you got wrong or would like to remember.

>> Verb pattern >> http://depts.gallaudet.edu/esl/verbpat1to3.htm

>> Vocabulary >> http://tryon.oswego.edu/polymers/Vocabulary/index.html

>> Phrasal verb >> http://www.churchillhouse.com/english/exercises/phrasals/

Polymer Science and Engineering

http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/pgprospectus/courses/polymer-science-and-engineering.cfm




My master course is Polymer Science and Engineering(plastics and rubbers). This link is about my course. After I know course structure, I find textbook that is SPECIFICALLY connected to my subject. 'Textbook of Polymer Science' (FRED W.BILLMEYER,JR.) suit for me. I read chapter thirteen (Hydrocarbon Plastics and Elastomers) and write summary.

Polyethylene

- Low-Density(Branched) Polyethylene

Ethylene polymer was branched polyethylene.

Polymerization>>Ethylene (b.p., -104 ˚C) is made from the thermal (steam) and catalytic cracking of a variety of hydrocarbons, ranging from ethane derived from natural gas to fuel oil.

Ethylene polymerization can be carried out with benzene or chlorobenzene as solvent. At the temperatures and pressures used, both polymer and monomer dissolve in these compounds so that the reactions are true solution polymerizations. Water or other liquids may be added to dissipate the heat of reaction.

Structure>> Low-density polyethylene is a partially (50-60%) crystalline solid melting at about 115 ˚C, with density in the range 0.91-0.94. It is soluble in many solvents at temperatures above 100 ˚C, but only a few solvent mixtures provide borderline solubility at or near room temperature.
Properties>> The physical properties of low-density polyethylene are functions of three independent structural variables: molecular weight, molecular-weight distribution or long-chain branching, and short-chain branching.
Applications>> Almost two-thirds of the low- and medium-density branched polyethylene produced has gone into film and sheeting.


- High-Density (Linear) Polyethylene


Linear polyethylene can be produced in several ways, including radical polymerization of ethylene at extremely high pressures, coordination polymerization of ethylene, and polymerization of ethylene with supported metal-oxide catalysts.
Polymerization>> The coordination polymerization of ethylene utilizes a catalyst prepared as a colloidal dispersion by reacting, typically, an aluminum alkyl and TiCl4 in a solvent such as heptane. Ethylene is added to the reaction vessel under slight pressure, at a temperature of 50-75 ˚C. Heat of polymerization is removed by cooling. Polymer forms as a powder or granules, insoluble in the reaction mixture. Heat of polymerization is removed by cooling. At the completion of the reaction, the catalyst is destroyed by the admission of water or alcohol, and the polymer is filtered or centrifuged off, washed, and dried.
Properties>> Most of the differences in properties between branched and linear polyethylenes can be attributed to the higher crystallinity of the latter polymers, Linear polyethylenes are decidedly stiffer than the branched material (modulus of 100,000 versus 20,000 psi), and have a higher crystalline melting point and greater tensile strength and hardness.
Application>> The production of bottles and other containers by blow molding.

Crosslinked Polyethylene
There has been considerable interest in converting polyethylene to a thermosetting material, in order to combine its low cost, easy processing, and good mechanical properties with the enhanced form stability at elevated temperatures, resistance to stress crack, and tensile strength expected in a crosslinked polymer.

My opinion about this chapter
This is the basic of Polymer Science. I am interested in properties of Polyethylene because it has many structures, so it 's many applications. It 's produced thin film by low density polyethylene or hard container by high density polyethylene. It 's very fantastic products. I think that I can understand this chapter because it's many technical words. I studied Bachelor degree in chemistry, so I have known the meaning of technical words in my field. But some words I don't understand for instance ;

• crack ; I cracked an egg into the pan.


• dissipate ; Bad smell dissipated in the air.


• elevate ; Smoking often elevates blood pressure.


• carry out (phrasal verb) ; Our soldiers carried out a successful attack last night.


• to dissolve in


• to dissipate the heat


• to remove by
• catalytic cracking of a variety of hydrocarbons
• to dissipate the heat of reaction

The writing exercise from Jim's blog

A. You are going to use the Internet to find some information about how to write an introduction to an academic essay. Remember – your written assignments this month involve writing an introduction (200 – 250 words) to an essay.
Visit these websites from British universities:



http://www.phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk/introductions.htm

http://www.uefap.com/writing/writfram.htm



1 Looking at the information on both the websites – what should a good introduction contain?

a) It should include a few general statements about the subject to provide a background to your essay and to attract the reader's attention. It should try to explain why you are writing the essay. It may include a definition of terms in the context of the essay, etc.

b) It should also include a statement of the specific subdivisions of the topic and/or indication of how the topic is going to be tackled in order to specifically address the question.



2 On the University of Manchester page, look at the suggested language for different sections of the introduction. Which verb tenses are most commonly used in each section? (write down a verb tense and an example for each…)

• Establishing the importance of the topic:

Present Simple Tense ; X is a common disorder characterised by ......

• Establishing the importance of the topic (time frame given):

Present Perfect Tense ; Recently, researchers have shown an increased interest in ......

• Highlighting a problem or controversy in the field of study:

Present Perfect Tense ; The issue has grown in importance in light of recent ......

• Highlighting a knowledge gap in the field of study:

Present Perfect Tense ; However, there have been no controlled studies which compare differences in ......

• Focus and aim:

Present Simple Tense ; This paper seeks to address the following questions:

• Outline of structure:

Present Perfect Tense ; The essay has been organised in the following way.

B. Now visit this site:

http://www.englishforuniversity.com/search/label/Writing%20an%20introduction

1 What is the introduction a chance for you to do?

To make a first impression

2 Why do you think planning is important when you are writing an introduction?

Because it can help an introduction be more effective and help manage the time.

3 Look at the example essay question: "Is the present level of immigration in the United Kingdom beneficial to the country?" Read the introduction (below the plan). You should be able to see that the introduction contains all the elements from your answer to question 1 in the Section A. Also, notice the use of verb tenses.

Present Simple, Present Perfect

4 I would like you to rewrite this introduction (to the same question) using the language suggestions from the University of Manchester website and post it on your blog by the end of this class. If you do not have a blog, write it on a separate sheet of paper to give to me by the end of class.

It is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the immigration to the United Kingdom because it is a developed country. Many people want to get a good quality life, so they move to UK that is the famous country in the world. It brings the benefit to the UK.

My comments about seminar

Last Friday I attended the seminar group which had six students, I felt boring because I didn't understand someone in my group speaking and he didn't listen everybody.
Every time that I started to speak I used seminar language for example Yes, you're right,but... About my pronunciation I think now it's OK but in the next time I will try to more better than this.
Grammatical, it's very difficult for me and I don't know that I said it's right or wrong.
About vocabulary, in my opinion I should to learn academic words more than now.

Friday seminar

In my seminar group today I got new information from my friends about

Television viewing habits around the world

• TV viewing habits in USA, almost children 2-11 years old watching TV more than 2 hours/day and do their homework only 1 hours/day, so now it 's a problem of USA because children don' t control time to watching TV.


• The popular TV program in USA is talk shows 'Oprab'and news is NBC, CNN.


• In Vietnam, housewife and retired people are the group of people that more watching TV than other groups


• In my country(Thailand) children watching TV 1 in 5 of their wake up time and children who live in city more watching TV than rural children.


• The positive effects of TV viewing habits are entertainment, help to learn about other cultures and family member of all ages have an opportunity to spend time together.


• The negative effects of TV viewing habits are violent programs have effect to children are aggressive and children have 'buy me syndrom' because chidren start begging them to buy a toy or snacks, it 's a chain problem , if parents buy snacks for their children and they 've a bit nutrition, a lot of sugar and fat , their children will fat and get a lot of weight.

Television images

• Sometimes TV images real, sometimes it's not real for example advertisement usually exaggerate and use graphic for their products.


• TV images can influence the viewer think.

The future for television and television viewers

• In my group, we think media literacy is very important and it should teach in schools.


• The main purpose of TV is to inform and to educate. Other purposes is to sell, to show reality and sometimes to help people escape reality.


• In my country use TV to remote learning, the students that live in rural and far from the city, they can get knowledge from school center in the city.


• Over the next twenty years, may have many channels and TV program may better than now.

Preparation for the seminar

Children 'recover' from TV harm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7018076.stm

- Johns Hopkins University say children under-fives who watched over two hours a day increased their risk.
- A UK expert said the level of damage could depend on the individual child.
- Having a television in the child's bedroom at five years old was linked to behavioural problems, poor social skills and also poor sleep.
- But, Dr Richard House, a lecturer in psychotherapy at Roehampton University "Human behaviour is far more complex than these measures of behaviour and social skills - there may well be some more subtle form of harm that is undetected.

I think the risk of children that watch TV depend on their individual child and the amount of hour that they watch TV in each day.

Learn English by the song

when you say nothing at all- Ronan Keating
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuJrEBtmM1Q

It's amazing how you can speak right to my heart
Without saying a word, you can light up the dark
Try as I may I could never explain
What I hear when you don't say a thing
The smile on your face lets me know that you need me
There's a truth in your eyes saying you'll never leave me
The touch of your hand says you'll catch me whenever I fall
You say it best.. when you say nothing at all
All day long I can hear people talking out loud
But when you hold me near, you drown out the crowd (the crowd)
Try as they may they can never define
What's been said between your heart and mine
The smile on your face lets me know that you need me
There's a truth in your eyes saying you'll never leave me
The touch of your hand says you'll catch me whenever I fall
You say it best.. when you say nothing at all
The smile on your face lets me know that you need me
There's a truth in your eyes saying you'll never leave me
The touch of your hand says you'll catch me whenever I fall
You say it best.. when you say nothing at all
(You say it best when you say nothing at all
You say it best when you say nothing at all..)
The smile on your face
The truth in your eyes
The touch of your hand
Let's me know that you need me..

New words and idioms

Talk out loud = Talk aloud, Talk loudly

• Talk something out = Resolve a problem by discussion
• Talk somebody out of doing something = Persuade someone not to do something

Drown out = prevent a sound from being heard by making a loud noise

Reporting Verbs

1. Most iPod owners described that on average, only 20 of the tracks on their iPods would have been bought from the iTunes shop.
2. Far more important, they suggested, was free music ripped from CDs someone already owned or acquired from file-sharing sites.
3. 83% of iPod owners showed that they do not buy digital music regularly. The minority, 17%, buy and download music, usually single tracks, at least once per month.
4. On average, the study explains that only 5% of the music on an iPod will be bought from online music stores. The rest will be from CDs the owner of an MP3 player already has or tracks they have downloaded from file-sharing sites.
5. "It is not instructive to think of portable media player owners, nor iPod owners specifically, as homogenous groups," discussed the report.
6. It asserted: "Digital music buyers do not necessarily stop file-sharing upon buying legally".
7. The importance of "free" to digital music fans should not be underestimated, recommended the report, and should be a factor for newer digital music firms, such as Spiral Frog, which use an ad-supported model.
8. "Digital music purchasing has not yet fundamentally changed the way in which digital music customers buy music," claimed the report

Interesting Websites

1 www.fonetiks.org

This website is very useful because it has many pronunciation of English language.
Students can practice easily and it help you to improve your pronunciation.

2 www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/index.shtml

Students that want to learn English language should use this website. This website has news for knowing event of world, moreover it gives you to practice many skills in English language for example grammar, listening, vocabulary etc.

3 www.learnenglish.org.uk

I strongly recommend this website to practice and learn English language. This website were contained much knowledge and many games. It is very interesting and enjoyable.

drinking habit

Introduction

Over the last ten years, young women in the UK have increased to binge drinking habits. If young women continued to drink in this way, they could present problems for the health such as damage liver, damage to the oesophagus and damage to the brain in the future. Professor Plant said “some of the reasons women used not to drink so extensively were because they feared for their physical safety when they did” (BBC, 2006). It is valuable to find why drinking habits have changed then to effectively solve this problem.

The purpose of this research has two aims. The first aim of research is finding out if female international students drink less/more/ the same as male students. The second purpose is if they drink less/more/the same as they did in their countries.

Method

The sample

The sample was 20 respondents (female 10 and male 10). These respondents were of different age and genders, and from different countries. They were all students of London Metropolitan University.

Data Collection

This was carried out through the use of a questionnaire that was contained with drinking habit in their countries questions and in the UK questions. Then, identify the information.

Findings

The first aim of research was discovered that female international students drink
less than male international students. The second aim of research was found that international students drink in the UK the same as in their countries.

There is 65% of international students drink in their countries (male 61.53%, female 38.46%). The highest percentage of drinking is once a week about 35%.
A half of international students usually drink 2-5 cans once in their countries. Both sexes of international students that drink 2-5 cans once are equal (50%).

There is 65% of international students drink in the UK (male 53.84%, female 46.15%).The percentage of international students drinking in their countries is the same as in the UK. The percentage of male drinking in the UK slightly decreased, while the percentage of female drinking increase nearly one tenth.
Two fifth of international students usually drink 2-5 cans once in the UK .The quantity of drinking 2-5 cans once in their countries reduce from 50% to 40% in the UK.

All of the international students drink with friends, so the most important reason of changing drinking habit is no friends.

Questionnaire for drinking habit

1. How old are you?
a.18-21 b.22-25 c.26-30 d.over 30

2. What's your gender?
a.male b.female

3. Which country are you from?

4. How long have you been in London?
a.less than 1 month b. 1-3 months c.3-6 months
d. 6-12 months e.more than 1 year

5. How often did you drink in your country?
a.none b.less than once a week c.once a week
d. a couple of times a week e.everyday

6. How much did you drink at a time in your country?
a.one can(325ml) b.2-5 cans c.more than 5 cans

7. How often do you drink in London?
a.none b.less than once a week c.once a week
d.a couple of times a week e.everyday

8. How much do you drink at a time in London?
a.one can(325ml) b.2-5 cans c.more than 5 cans

9. Why did you change your drinking habit?

10. Who do you drink with?
a.alone b.friends c.family d.other( )

11.Where do you drink?
a.at home b.in PUB c.in restaurants d.other( )

12.If you changed your drinking habit, tell me the reason.

13.Do you agree that women drink more than men?
a.Yes b.No c.No idea

When you are trialling your questions, pay attention to the following following factors:

1 Are your questions easy to understand?
I think all question are easy to understand.

2 Are you able to clarify if you don't get the data you need?
- The question number 6,8 are difficult to clarify because it's difficult to specific amount of drinking in glass,bottle,jug or can.
- The question number 9 is not clearify because it has many way to answer.

3 Do the answers you get give you useful data for your research?
I think it' s OK. The answer will give me to succeed main research aim.