Week 6- BioBusiness Revolution: Healthcare and biomedical sciences

Overview of the lesson

In this lesson, we started off with discussing about the background of bioBusiness, which are activities based on an understanding of life sciences, life science processes and taking advantage of living systems such as bacterials, germs, virus, humans, plants etc. Next we moved on to talk about the opportunities that bioBusiness has in a bioEnterprise perspective. We acknowledged that low-value added bioBusiness that exist today are valley opportunities, whereby there are many competitors and low barriers of entry. Since bioBusiness is relatively new, and many new discoveries have yet to be made or justified, hence, these are opportunities that people are interested to explore in. Together with the good prospect that bioBusiness can offer to new discoveries and inventions/innovations, more people are now interested to be involved in this area.

We have realized that the global bioBusiness has been contributing to the market share since 2001, however it has been underestimated as we tend to leave out some of the more controversial components such as beauty and sex that are also part of bioBusinesses and they may actually account to 10% of an economy.

Moving on, we had a discussion about the changes in attitude in respect to healthcare from the past 10 to 20 years and how the healthcare and biomedical science have revolutionized. Traditionally, people only seek medical treatment when they fall sick, as for today, we tend to be more health conscious and more open to wellness and healthcare management.  


What i found interesting


The most interesting part of lesson 6 was knowing how fast our society is progressing, not only economically, but also in terms of healthcare services and technology. In the beginning of today's lesson, we watched a video called the future vision of healthcare. Which showed us how improvement in technologies have caused an advancement in healthcare services. This video were slightly geared towards being idealistic, however, it is not impossible in near future as many of these individual technologies such as touch screen and video conferences have already exist. Hence in order for the scenario in the video to happen  may not take a long time, as they only require the convergence of different existing technologies. In fact, futuristic technologies (e- prescription) have started to prevail in today's society, mainly in the western areas. However one problem is how these existing technologies are pieces together, and who is going to do it and how much cost will it incur. Furthermore, once these technologies are created, will the cost of healthcare services be raise? Making it even more unaffordable for those who are poor. This may cause poorer people to move back to traditional healthcare attitudes, whereby they will only seek help from doctors when the fall sick, or might even choose to not see the doctor even though they  are sick, so as to not incur extra cost. 


Most important take away


Most important take away for lesson 6 would be the discussion we had on the effect of rising cost of health care services as technologies improve. The cost of healthcare wold inevitably increase as we receive better services from these improved technologies. However, this would bring us back to our previous lessons whereby we discussed about the discrepancies in living conditions among the first and the third world countries.  Right now, many third world countries have yet to receive proper sanitation and much less healthcare service, but in may first world countries, many people have already started to take note of wellness and healthcare management and place large emphasis on them. If improvements in technologies continue to increase the price of healthcare services, won't it further deprive the third world countries from receiving proper healthcare? But then again, this is solely based on the argument that improved technologies will prevail in all areas and eliminate basic healthcare services.


 How would i like to further this discussion


I would like to learn more about ethical issues that arise due to bioBusinesses and the studies of bioBusiness. Ethical issues are often the grey region whereby it is very hard to differentiate between what is right and what is wrong. However, i believe many interesting points would be brought up if we have a discussion in class. 

Rate this session

I would rate this session 9/10. I really enjoyed the discussion we had on healthcare services and the improving healthcare technologies. Healthcare and biomedical science revolution that prof discussed really interest me. And the readings provided for lesson 6 are really interesting and gave me a good insight on future healthcare technologies/studies that we can expect in future.

Group project outline #1

- Executive summary/introduction (Home page)

-       - Briefly describe what telecommunication is, and how it has evolved over time.

-       - Name some social, cultural, economic impact that telecommunication has on us over the years

-        Time line on the evolving devices

-       - What insights should the reader gain after looking through this website

- Historical Perspective (First tab)

-       - Telecommunication devices used in the past (can have pictures, who invented/improvised it)

-       Social impacts they have on different groups of people (Working adults, children, people overseas, elderly, soldiers)

-       - Economic impact on different areas (Country, networks with other countries, trades)

-       - Cultural impact (maybe not so much yet?)

- Current situation (Second tab)

-       - Telecommunication devices that are most commonly used today (Mobiles, internet)

-       - How they have evolved from the past

-       - What revolutionary changes have taken place

-       - Social impacts they have on different groups of people (Working adults, children, people overseas,   elderly, soldiers)

-       - Economic impacts (able to evacuate people in time during natural disasters, preventing deaths and all)

-       - Cultural impacts (Cross border influence, how the American culture has penetrated in the Asian society)

- Future considerations (Third tab)

-       - Split into 2 different categories (Evolutionary vs revolutionary)

-       - Upcoming telecommunication devices that we find online

-       - Evolutionary (Attainable) (VoIP, 5G)

-       - Revolutionary (Idealistic) (light waves to transmit data, hologram)

-       - Probably some that we can think of ourselves

-       *** We can bring combine different devices/technologies that already exist to come up with something cool. And like say that this is what we hope to achieve in future (Thought technology)

-       Social/cultural/economic/military impacts

Week 5- ICT and world change

Overview of the lesson


In this lesson, we discussed about ICT and how it has changed the world. We started off talking about the progression of mass media and the internet. For the internet, it started off with a one away communication, and it progressed to interactive communication. Mass media on the other hand started off with the word of mouth, where people would relate information to each other through each other. It then moved on to recording and interactive mass media. Moving on, we discussed about practical applications through gaming devices. How some applications today used today were actually ideas from gaming devices. Some of which includes, neuro surgery, flying planes, pilot training stimulator and stimulators used to overcome fears. 


Is ICT a driver of world change? And have we captured the potential of it? Some of us brought up that ICT is indeed a driver of world change. We have no arguments on that, however, is this sufficient? and has it maximised the potential? We felt that ICT has yet to reach out to 2 main groups, mainly the poor and old. 


What i found interesting

What i found most interesting this lesson was the theory from one of the readings(Some thoughts on how ICTs could really change the world). This reading brought up that a complicated technology is actually build by many simple technologies. 


The Networked World: Complex Systems Built from Simple Components

Predicting what complex systems will do is hard. It’s easy to understand what a simple machine will do—a wheel, a lever, a piston, a gear, a switch—but when they combine to become a system—a cart, a train, an automobile, a computer—simple machines interact in new ways. New systems emerge: the cart system changes the street system; automobile systems change streets, buildings, traffic control systems, court systems, training systems, energy systems, agricultural and urban systems, courtship and marriage systems.

It has shown to me that, existing technologies can actually create wonders, if the creator thinks out of the box and innovate something new. Bringing us back to previous lessons where we discussed about evolutionary changes and revolutionary changes. Simple technologies, could be part of a revolutionary change. Most important take away


The most important take away for this lesson will be a sentence brought up in class. "Today's real borders are not between nations, but between the powerful and the powerless, privileged and humiliated". This sentence clearly reflects our society today. ICT is one main area that could clearly draw lines between the powerful and powerless, privileged and humiliated. This probably means that ICT has yet to reach its full potential. Despite having a wide range of methods to improve communication, there are still specific groups of people that have no access to it. 



How would i like to further this discussion


I would like to learn more about what changes can ICT make, in order to reach out to more people from poorer countries. We have discussed several ways in class, however these methods such as the 100dollar laptops and having a common wi-fi point does not sound as realistic as to coming up with a new technology to cater to the needs of these people. 

Rate this session

I would rate this session 6/10. This session has given me a good idea of what ICT is about the the changes it has taken, however, i felt that this session was a little dry. But was more interesting after i have read the readings on it. 

Individual Assignment outline #1

-            Executive Summary

Infertility has been a problem in the society since the beginning of time and much medical research has been carried out over the years to develop technologies. My aim is to discover how the progress of medical technology has impacted the evolution of infertility treatment methods. It will show the infertility treatment methods available in the past and the ones that are currently available to couples now, as well as possible future advancements in this field.

-                Background/Introduction

This project will only be covering infertility and its treatment methods in developed countries. This is because infertility is more of a problem in developed countries than in developing countries. Studies show that a woman’s fertility declines as she ages. In couples where the woman is 35 or older, a third of them have infertility problems and this statistic jumps to two thirds when the woman reaches her 40s and in developed countries, there is an increasing trend of women choosing to start a family at a later age as they prefer to establish their careers first.

However, in developing countries where gender equality has yet to be achieved, a woman’s main role in society is still to bear children for their husbands and most women get married at a young age. In addition, the lack of availability and awareness of birth control in these regions contribute to uncontrolled birth rates and unsustainable growth of the population. Sophisticated medical technologies are more readily available in developed countries than in developing countries due to the economic discrepancies in these areas. This sums up our rational for focusing solely on the development of infertility treatment methods in developed countries.

-            Historical Perspective (ie where we have come from)

Past Infertility Treatment Methods

Couples relied on unconventional methods in the hope of conceiving. In some societies, infertile couples believed in myths which had been passed down for generations.

 For example, it was commonly believed that couples with infertility issues should adopt children as this act of charity would bring good luck into their households resulting in natural children being born later.

Other couples prayed to fertility idols for divine intervention. Another method used to deal with infertility was traditional surrogacy where an infertile woman arranged for another woman to be impregnated by her husband and then claimed the offspring as her own.

In addition, infertile couples were also treated with folk and medicinal remedies. In cultures where infertility was associated with stress levels, couples tried flower remedies where essences of flowers, plants and trees were used to promote a positive mental state, promoting relaxation, reducing stress and enhancing personal well-being.

Another such treatment was aromatherapy which people believed could aid in regulating menstrual cycles. In China, couples tried acupuncture, which is an ancient Chinese medical practice aimed at balancing the energy pathways in the body, to promote both physical and mental well-being. Herbal remedies were also used for women who had hormonal imbalances which caused irregular ovulation. However, there is no evidence to prove that any of these non-medical treatment methods were successful in helping couples conceive.

-            Current Situation (ie where we are today)

Modern Infertility Treatment Methods

Surgical Treatment

In the case where men and women are infertile due to structural problems within their reproductive organs, surgical treatment is usually the only viable treatment option available. Surgery aims to correct these structural problems in order to achieve pregnancy and the severity of these problems determines the kind of surgical treatment adopted. These problems may be congenital - present at birth - or acquired. Some of the anomalies in males include erectile dysfunction, congenitally blocked vas deferens, undescended testes and cysts on the testes or within the scrota sac, while structural problems in females include malformed uterus, blocked fallopian tubes, ovarian cysts and severe endometriosis.

Fertility Drugs

Fertility drugs have been developed to aid women who suffer from hormonal imbalance. These drugs help women regulate their hormone levels and menstrual cycles. Among these drugs, the most commonly used one is Clomiphene – an oral drug which is a selective estrogen receptor modulator used mainly for ovarian stimulation. About 80 percent of women who take this drug ovulate and 40 to 50 percent of these women achieve pregnancy. The next commonly used drugs are gonadotropins which are injectable and increase egg production in the ovaries, which in turn increases the chance of pregnancy.

Intracervical Insemination (ICI)

ICI is relatively similar to IVI. In this process, a speculum is used to open a woman’s vagina to expose her cervix. One end of the catheter will be inserted into her cervix, and the other attached to a sterile syringe containing the sperm sample. The sperm is then injected into the cervix and a sponge is placed over the cervix to prevent the sample from leaking out. This process is carried out just before the woman ovulates.

In Vitro Fertilization

In 1978, Louise Brown, the world’s first “test-tube baby”, was born by In Vitro Fertilization in England. In 1992, researchers in Belgium reported successful pregnancies using Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI) which revolutionized treatment of male infertility.

IVF is the process of fertilization of an egg by manually combining a sperm and an egg in a laboratory dish. This procedure is usually followed by another procedure called embryo transfer, in which the embryo is physically placed in the female’s uterus.

IVF may be used to overcome female infertility where there are problems with the woman’s fallopian tubes. It also assists in male infertility, where there is low sperm count or motility, in which Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI) may be used.

Intratubal Insemincation (ITI)

Intratubal Insemination (ITI) is a less popular measure as it is a relatively more invasive and expensive procedure. In this process, a catheter is inserted through the woman’s vagina, cervix, uterus and into one of her fallopian tubes. The semen sample is then deposited into her fallopian tubes via the catheter. Another method is where a small incision is made in the woman’s abdomen and a tiny camera is inserted into her pelvic cavity. This camera locates the opening of the fallopian tube. A catheter is then inserted into her fallopian tubes and semen sample is deposited there.

Summary

These advancements in technology can be considered revolutionary, in the past, people were more reliant on nature, such as flowers and plants. However, after the inventions of such technologies, it has opened up more solutions for couples that are unable to bear children.

Social impacts

Previously, before the development of sophisticated infertility treatment methods, couples which were not able to conceive could only rely on adoption to have children. Now, infertility is a problem that is easily cured as there are many new infertility treatment methods available which boast of high success rates. Today, relatively few couples are hopelessly sterile.

Single women and same sex parents are now able to have children due to artificial insemination. However, there is controversy surrounding single parents and same sex parents being able to have children. Critics feel that these children’s upbringing may not be as good compared to if they were brought up by two heterosexual parents, although there is no evidence to prove this.

Infertility treatment is very expensive, and only rich couples are able to afford it. As a result, poor couples who experience infertility problems are often excluded from the benefits of infertility treatment due to economic inequality.

However, these methods are still unable to control the personality or character or the child. They are still very likely to take after those of their parents, or be influenced by their upbringings.

Therefore in the next part of my project, I would discuss the progression of these infertility treatment methods, and how they might progress in future.

 -            Future Considerations (ie where we might go)

Liberal Eugenics

Liberal eugenics is an ideology advocating the use of reproductive and genetic technology to give mankind the option of enhancing their future children’s characteristics and capabilities. Parents may voluntarily enter into this service out of the love for their offspring. The method involves the extensive use of PGD, where geneticists insert or remove genes that confer enhancing phenotypes, such as height and intelligence

Nanotechnology

Scientists have been advocating the use of nanotechnology in the medical field to perform high precision and difficulty level operations. There is ongoing research on the use of nanobots (the next generation of nanomachines) to aid infertility especially in couples where males suffering from low sperm motility. The nanobots will help to guide the chosen sperm to the egg so that fertilization can occur. However, these nanobots are not completely safe as the introduction of these foreign objects to the body may provoke a strong immune response. Also there are worries that these devices will reproduce and essentially get out of control, possibly "taking over" the natural system.

Social impact

If liberal eugenics is legalized, countries may use this technology to build a stronger and enhanced military force. For instance, babies’ genes may be modified to become more muscular and less prone to illnesses in the future.

Liberal eugenics may be used to produce intelligent children who may grow up to become extremely innovative and creative adults. If their intelligence is used for the greater good, such modified children will be very beneficial to the society in the future. For example, their intelligence can be especially useful in the medical field to develop cures for current terminal diseases. Similarly, the use of liberal eugenics to produce a more intelligent workforce could also lead to increased productivity and further technological advancements which could improve societal standard of living.

Furthermore, there is a high possibility that liberal eugenics can be employed to solve certain entrenched societal issues. For example, in countries rife with racism, parents may adopt liberal eugenics to modify their babies’ genes to make their skin colour more favourable so that they will not be subjected to racism in the future

 -            Conclusions

The development of infertility treatment methods has given new hope to many couples facing infertility problems. They have shown much promise in helping couples conceive, and tighter medical quality controls in hospitals has increased the likelihood of safe and successful pregnancies.

The move towards public awareness and de-stigmatization of infertility has further encouraged couples who were previously suffering in silence to seek treatment.  Male infertility causes are being increasingly recognized, and women are now no longer singly implicated when infertility affects a marriage.  Couples have come to understand that infertility is often a joint responsibility, and both husband and wife must be motivated to seek solutions.

Week 4- Drivers of world change & change management and leadership

Overview of the lesson


In the first half of the lesson, we discussed about the different drivers of change. The include environmental  drivers, scientific discovery and technology innovation, social demographic cultural and ideological change, business innovation, competition between products and services, globalization and lastly the changing expectations and changing times. Positive and negative effects of our behaviors and attitudes are all drivers of change. I see them as the results of the changes in man kind. In my opinion, these drivers of change are important. They are the caused by and will cause changes in our lives, in both positive and negative ways. We will learn from these negative results and continue to drive for changes. Hence negative results may also an important driver of change. Next we had a discussion on revolutionary and evolutionary changes. An evolutionary change includes rethinking direction and the coming up with new directions for changes. Evolutionary changes are usually geared towards innovations, while revolutionary changes are more related to inventions.

In the second half of the lesson, we discussed about leadership and management. We focused on a couple of main roles, a visionary and a leader. When a visionary gets followers, they become a leader. As for the leader, they manage the vision, while the manager manages the community. However, i believe as a leader, they have manage both the company's vision, as well as the community, so as to convince the community to have trust and follow in them and work towards the vision.

What i found interesting


In enjoyed the video that we watched about the man that led the crowd into dancing. I had great take aways from this video. The first and most important trait that a leader must have is to be courageous. It takes courage for one man to stand up and tries to lead the crowd, even though he may not know if the outcome will be successful. Next, it take the first follower to follow the leader. The role of the first follower is also important, as not only will it boost the confidence of the leader, but also the confidence of the people around. As more people gain confidence, they will start following the crowd. However, many times, we only focus on the achievements and accomplishment of the leader, but not the first follower. Which also plays an important role in leading or encouraging others to join, also implying it that the leader can never succeed alone.

Most important take away


The most important take away for this lesson is that we have to respond to changes. Prof used 3 different approaches to this. The eagle, usually illustrates the leader, one that makes things happen. Next is the ostrich  approach, it illustrates people that let things happen instead of making them happen. Lastly, its the do-do bird approach. They are usually not aware of changed and not taking necessary actions. In my opinion, eagle approach would be the best, whereby you step up and take the lead to make things happen. However, it would take a lot of courage and not everyone have the ability to do that. The least we could do is to embrace changes and respond to them by changing our lifestyle and behavior.

How would i like to further this discussion


I would like to learn more about how we should respond to changes, both negative and positive changes. When should we step up to innovate or invent systems or products that would benefit others. What do we have to take into considerations when we try to make changes. This relates me to our previous week lesson. About the Shahi landscape model, whereby we should examine where the opportunities of the industry are and work towards it.

Rate this session

I would rate this session 9/10. This session gave me a great insight on leadership and management together with the drivers of change and some causes of them.

Week 3- Technology and industrial development & Technology and innovation management

Overview of the lesson


In the first half of the lesson, we covered on Technology and industrial development, and actions that could be taken for them to be sustainable. We were given an overview of how our mindset and abilities have changed from the past. In the beginning, people only had a choice between economy or environment. However today, we have the ability to create a win-win situation for both our economy and environment. Our discussion moved on to talk about different alternative methods we are now using, to create profits for the country, as well as protecting our environment. Policies have been implemented, and many actions such as reusable energy have been taken place.

Second half of the lesson we discussed about the Shahi landscape model for technology assessment.
 

The picture depicts opportunities in the industry. Valley opportunities have low barriers of entry, and has many competitors. One example would probably be the chicken rice stall. Submit opportunities are the direct opposite of valley opportunities. They have high barrier of entry and very few competitors. Cloud opportunities do not have well developed business view, and has keep i view interest. An interesting example would be the bubble tea industry. It moved from the submit to the valleys. However, i few with more creative ideas for bubble tea (cloud opportunities) manage to stand out from the crowd and moved to the submit again.

What i found interesting

What i found most interesting was the video that we have watched called system in crisis. It has clearly shown us the impact of our "buy and throw"mind set, and how we should move from linear to cyclical. Whereby there would be an opportunity for innovation, growth and value creation that would bring about economic growth but no at the expense of the environment. 


Most important take away


Our lifestyle and the rising standard of living is a double edged sword. On the bright side, it has motivated people to continue innovate and invent new things or technologies in order to meet the rising expectations of us. However, increasing amount of new technologies or products have caused people to take things for granted and throw them away as long as they no longer seem appealing or stylish. Not only would this mindset harm our environment like what we saw in the video, but also create more stress to those people creating those products. Linking back to lesson 2, with the happiness index lowered, so will the productivity. Would this cause a decline in the economy? This may seem too far fetch, however, this mindset has got to change, in order for us to protect our environment and to instill a better habit in our future generations. Another alternative would be to invent and come up with new technologies that can allow such spending and throwing habits but at the same time not causing harm to our environment.


How would i like to further this discussion/another topic to discuss


I would like to discuss more in-depth the result of our spending and throwing habits in relations with lesson 2 where we take HDI into consideration. Creating new products -> people buy the products -> more competition for similar products -> forced to come up with something new to keep market shares -> causing stress for those people that have constant datelines to meet to create new things -> production level decreases. 


Rate this session


I would rate this session 8/10. It was really interesting and this topic was something that i could relate to. Not only in my daily life, but it also has slight linkages with what i have studied in geography and economics.