TECHNOLOGICAL INSTITUTE OF THE PHILIPPINES

STUDENT ASSESSMENT FOR CONTEMPORARY ISSUES (f)

(Engineering Programs)

Name: Royce B. Chua Date: August 8, 2018

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Signature:________________________________ Instructor: Engr. Villanueva a

TAKE HOME EXAM

Direction: Answer the following questions.

1. Enumerate current critical issues that confront the society and discuss how each of these will affect
the practice of your profession.

2. Propose possible engineering solutions along with your field of specialization to address each of
the critical issues stated above.

ANSWERS:

1. The top major critical issues in the country are:

a. Food security – According to weforum.org by 2050, the world must feed 9 billion people.
The demand for food will be 60% greater than it is today. It is also in the interest of the
United Nations to end hunger and achieve food security as well as improved nutrition as
stated in the UN Sustainable development goals. As a Computer Engineer, I believe that
startups and companies committed to solving the problem of food security through
technology and improved methods such as Vertical Farming in the Suburban areas, GMO
Manufacturing, Controlled environments, and Smart Farming. With all these advancement
in solving this problem I believe that jobs will be available to Computer Engineers like me
when I graduate and be involved in providing or aiding in the solution as well.

b. Water Security - According to the UN-Water, the total usable freshwater supply for
ecosystems and humans is only about 200,000 km 3 of water which is less than one
percent (<1%) of all freshwater resources. As a computer engineer, I know that this
problem affects my career similarly to the first problem. It creates an avenue for problem
solvers, and entrepreneurs to think of social startups and consequently companies that
targets solution for these kinds of problems which may be in the form of conversion of
other water sources to freshwater through filtration, protection of water supply against
pollution, and maybe detoxification of dead water sources like rivers, lakes, and springs. I
think that some of those entrepreneurs may need a computer-based solution where I can
utilize my skills. Or maybe I can be the technopreneur in the specific field someday.
Nowadays, I see that many existing companies require analysis and prediction using their
current data so careers in data science are beginning to open up for students like me.
 c. Cybersecurity - According to Insider CSO from IDG, the year 2017 saw some of the
biggest cyberthreats in recent history, with millions of consumers and thousands of
businesses were affected by everything from the WannaCry attack to the Equifax and Uber
data breaches. Gartner reports that worldwide, information security spending will reach
$86.4 billion by the end of 2017 and the 2017 Cybercrime Report anticipates cybercrime
damages to cost the world $6 trillion annually by 2021. Data is very valuable in this time
and in the years to come, it is expected to be the driving force of the fourth industrial
revolution. As such knowing how to protect critical data from big companies to an
individual’s credit card information is vital. As I continue in my program, cybersecurity
continues to grow in demand. As a computer engineer, this field becomes more and more
integrated with my program and we are now being required develop systems that consider
the security aspect more.
2. The solutions that I have thought of are the following:

a. I will develop a cheap Embedded system that can control the growth of crops in order to
promote indoor farming which will raise the percentage of food security since it won't be
disrupted as much as being directly affected by typhoons and droughts. It will be a
controlled environment where temperature, soil moisture, humidity, and light will be
controlled through a microcontroller like the atmega328p and different sensors such as
DHT22 Temperature and Humidity sensor, Soil Sensor, and Light sensor. It will also use
actuators such as motors and motor drivers to perform activities such as distributing water
to the plants. It will also be connected to the internet in order for the household farm
owners to continuously monitor and make the necessary adjustments to the parameters in
case they notice that the environment conditions are changing.

b. In Water security, I am considering developing network controlled robots with cameras that
patrol rivers and lakes for human activities that endanger the quality of the water for both
humans and aquatic life. Like in Laguna Lake, there was a developed embedded system
that can monitor dissolved oxygen levels, temperature, Ph which is important to sustain
aquatic life, this time I consider monitoring the lake for suspicious activity and warn the
authorities or the authorities themselves will take action. The solution will be composed of
a microcomputer like the Raspberry Pi, Picamera, and the robot structure which is
composed of high-powered motors and a sustainable power source. The robots will be
connected to the internet which can then transmit live video feed to the web server of lake
authorities.

c. In Cybersecurity, I think the development of an AI system that can distinguish malicious

online activities like for the simplicity of the solution, network intrusion where an individual
is forcing access to a network where he or she is not authorized. This AI execute the right
tasks in order to ensure the protection of a company or an individuals data. It will also
incorporate network security. To accomplish this AI system, the first step would be to
establish a definition of malicious internet activities with the right internet governing
authorities. For example, activities such as DDOS, Phishing sites, and Attempted network
intrusions. The patterns of these activities will be gathered like name branding with existing
websites and then be fed to the Neural Network then it will be trained in order to recognize
 the pattern behavior of an IP address as malicious or not. My goal in the system is at least
to help reduce the number of Phishing sites on the web.

REFERENCES
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/01/food-security-and-why-it-matters/
http://www.unwater.org/publications/water-security-infographic/
http://ixpower.com/water/faq-water-security-produced-water/
https://www.csoonline.com/article/3241766/cyber-attacks-espionage/top-5-cybersecurity-concerns-for-
2018.html