Contemporary Issuesand Electrical Engineering

Miguel F. AcevedoElectrical Engineering

Contemporary

• From Wikipedia• Contemporary may refer to:• Modern era in its generic sense, living,

occurring, or existing, at the same time; often also used as a synonym for "modern"

Contemporary Issues: Examples

• Terrorism and War: 9-11, Iraq, Middle-east conflict

• Global warming• Sustainability

– Energy: new alterntives – Food: prices

• Global economics: recession, financial crisis• Etc. can you provide other examples?

Why?

• Not only to be a good informed citizen, but also a good EE professional

• Recall IEEE Code of Ethics …

From IEEE Code of Ethics

• … in recognition of the importance of our technologies in affecting the quality of life throughout the world and in accepting a personal obligation to our profession, its members and the communities we serve, … and agree:– 1. to accept responsibility in making decisions consistent

with the safety, health and welfare of the public, and to disclose promptly factors that might endanger the public or the environment;

Focus of this presentation

• Global Issues– Globalization– Global warming (if we have enough time)

Thinking globally …

• Taking into account knowledge of – Global – Planet Earth– International – across countries - the world

• Across professional fields and academic disciplines– Physical, Biological– Social, Economical, Cultural– Engineering: socio-technical

Global Issues and EE Education

• Prepare for a globalized workforce– Careers in different regions of the world– Work in a variety of cultural contexts– Products and services that have global effects and

implications

• Engineering requires integrative socio-technological approaches

• How does the world works?

PLANET EARTH

Earth’s dimensions

Difference in diameter=756 –714= 42 Km=26 milesThe distance between Denton and Dallas

Earth Spheres: natural world

Biosphere

Atmosphere

LithosphereHydrosphere

Water: 70% of surface

Location on Earth

Latitude: angle between line going through center and

equatorial plane.

From 0° to 90°, N or S

The length of one degree of latitude increases with

latitude. Why?

Latitudinal zones

Climate: distribution

Longitude & Meridians

Meridian: line containing points of equal longitude.Some important meridians:prime meridian: 0° arbitrary,central meridians for time zones: multiples of 15° (Each time zone is 15°; total 24 x 15° = 360°)180° meridian: for international date line

Time Zones

Time Zones

Rhumb and great circle

We have come a long way

Eratosthenes 200’s BC

Mercator 1500’s AD

Harrison1700’s AD

HandheldGPS90’s-2000’s

RemoteSensing70’s

GIS 80’s

Languages

Languages

Languages

Languageshttp://www.ethnologue.com/

• Rank Language Name Primary Country Population• 1 CHINESE, MANDARIN China 885,000,000• 2 SPANISH Spain 332,000,000• 3 ENGLISH United Kingdom 322,000,000• 4 BENGALI Bangladesh 189,000,000• 5 HINDI India 182,000,000• 6 PORTUGUESE Portugal 170,000,000• 7 RUSSIAN Russia 170,000,000• 8 JAPANESE Japan

125,000,000• 9 GERMAN, STANDARD Germany 98,000,000• 10 CHINESE, WU China 77,175,000• 11 JAVANESE Indonesia, Java, Bali 75,500,800• 12 KOREAN Korea, South 75,000,000• 13 FRENCH France 72,000,000

Languageshttp://www2.ignatius.edu/faculty/turner/languages.htm

• Mandarin Chinese (1.12 billion)• English (480 million)• Spanish (320 million)• Russian (285 million)• French (265 million)• Hindi/Urdu (250 million)• Arabic (221 million)• Portuguese (188 million)• Bengali (185 million)• Japanese (133 million)• German (109 million)

Skills for global thinking

1. Knowing location2. Language3. Knowing Climate4. Awareness Time zones5. Understand cultures and languages6. Thinking open-mindedly within alternative

systems of thought

GLOBALIZATION

What is Globalization?

• Process of increasing interdependence of world economies and societies

• “… interaction and integration among the people, companies, and governments of different nations,”

• “… a process driven by international trade and investment and aided by information technology.”

Globalization: effects

• “… has effects on the environment, on culture, on political systems, on economic development and prosperity, and on human physical well-being in societies around the world.”

• Controversial some say positive, some say negative

Globalization: controversy

• Positive– Rapid growth and poverty reduction; examples

China, India

• Negative– Increased inequality and environmental

degradation– Exploitation of people in developing countries

Globalization not New

• For thousands of years, people in different lands have been buying from and selling to each other

• Examples: Silk Road across Central Asia that connected China and Europe during the Middle Ages.

• For centuries, people and corporations have invested in enterprises in other countries.

Outsourcing

• Sub-Contract processes and services in other countries

• Lower prices of labor, energy, resources, technology

Outsourcing

• Information technology• Human resources• Facilities• Real estate management• Accounting• Customer support and call center functions• Telemarketing• Market research

Outsourcing: engineering

• CAD drafting• Software• Manufacturing• Designing• Web development• Content writing• Ghostwriting

Growth and Poverty Reduction

Links

• http://www.globalization101.org/What_is_Globalization.html

• http://www1.worldbank.org/economicpolicy/globalization/

ELECTRONICS INDUSTRY

World production of active electronic components, 1989

World distribution of US owned semiconductor assembly plants (1988)

History

• From the electron to the Internet 100 years• Discovery of the electron, 1892

– Invention of the transistor, 1947– Introduction of microprocessor, 1972

• Widespread Internet, 1990’s

Trends

• Integration of functionality– Wireless– Digital and analog for radio– Consumer electronics

• Demands– Lower cost– Low power– Higher speeds

• Shortening life cycle of gadgets– Environmental friendly at end of life

GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE

Incoming and outgoing radiation

Radiation balance

Carbon cycle

Atmosphere 740

Soil, leaf litter, peat1,500

Fossils10,000

Ocean39,000

Terrestrial Biota1760

Biota oceansD

e fo

rest

aci

on

GigaTons= Petag=1015 g

5.3

92 90102 1002

Rocks Sediments20,000,000

General Circulation Models: predict climate changes

GCM: example

Potential changes in range

Gaia hypothesis: Earth re-adjusts itself in dynamic equilibrium

• Goddess of the Earth• Feedback• Equilibrium• Oxygen cycle• Goldilocks problem: Venus, Earth, and Mars

– Not just distance to Sun • Strong and weak Gaia• Gaia does not mean "don't worry about pollution

and global warming"

SUSTAINABILITY

Oil spills

Sustainability

• Finite resources• Make them last for future generations• Balance consumption and population• Ecological Footprint

Population growth

Ecological Footprint Atrium of

EESAT

• USA footprint

Ecological Footprint Atrium of

EESAT

• Smaller footprints

India