Food Saver (Other (Not Listed) Sample)

Food Saver
Name
Institution
Individual Assignment
Q1.
Referencing provides both the academic and technical writers with the means of acknowledging/mentioning the sources of the ideas used in their papers. The sources are mentioned both in the body of the paper (in-text citation or footnotes) and at the end of the paper (bibliography or list of references). Referencing is done for various reasons. First it is done to distinguish writers own ideas from ideas picked from other sources. Failure to distinguish the ideas results into plagiarism, a practice that is highly discouraged in technical and academic writing. It is important to note that plagiarism is treated as an offence and copyright laws. Institutions of learning treat it as an act of academic dishonesty that attracts serious censorship and other disciplinary repercussions. Second, mentioning other writers’ ideas in technical or academic paper strengthens/validates the author’s arguments/positions/claims or findings by showing concurrence. For example, researchers often refer to the findings of other studies to validate their own findings. Third, referring to other sources of ideas in one’s academic or technical paper enable the readers to gauge the depth of knowledge in the area by assessing how the copied idea has been integrated into the work. A highly knowledgeable writer is able to analyze and synthesize other writer’s ideas and properly integrate them into his/her work.
Q2.
Engineers can be students, educators, and consultant. Engineers pursuing postgraduate degrees are often required to write technical papers for assessments. As researchers or educators especially at university level, engineers are expected to conduct and submit their manuscripts for reviews and publications in journals. Besides, a consulting engineer is also required to write technical papers/reports for clients on any various engineering issues. As an engineer, I would be expected to use referencing in all my technical papers. Irrespective of the purpose of the technical paper written, the Engineer would be required to acknowledge the sources information/ideas that are not his/her own. Sources would include books, articles published on journals, reports and reputable webpage. Some of the papers that an Engineer is expected to write and include referencing are seminar/workshop papers, research articles, books and technical reports.
Q3.
Canada is one of the countries that pay very close attention to the quality of her water system. However, just like other countries in the world, Canada is also grappling with the challenge of providing safe drinking water to her entire population. Various studies have began to point out that water from sources such as wells and lakes are contaminated with toxic or pathogenic substances that originate from natural sources or as a result of human activities. The national prevalence of some of these pollutants is a subject of extensive research. Diane et al. (2012) for example conducted a research to determine the prevalence of microcystin, a carcinogenic bacterial toxin that has the potential of causing death of wildlife fish and even humans. Out of the 3,474 analyzed water bodies, microcystin was present in 246 water bodies.
Locas, Barthe, Margolin & Payment (2008) investigated the microbiological contamination of underground waters in three provinces in Canada. The pollutant of interest to the researchers was human enteric virus that is can be used as an indicator of ground water when bacterial contaminants may be absent. The researchers established that water quality varied across sampled site. However, the indicators were frequently present in sites that were classified as contaminated. Hence, the researchers concluded that there is need to use historical data to map out or detect sources of contamination. The third article by McGuigan, Hamula, Huang, Gabos & Le (2010) is a systematic literature review of the prevalence of arsenic in Canadian drinking water. The researchers discovered that most provincial territories provided data on concentration of arsenic with most municipalities quoting figures less than10 micrograms per liter. However, the authors observed that the municipalities did not provide information on specific locations of contaminations. Hence, the concluded that concluded that lack of centralized source information on arsenic concentration was a threat to water quality in Canada.
The above reviewed articles highlights that there are issues that the Canadian authorities must tackle in the quest to make water safe for human and animal use. First, there is need for a thorough study of all suspected pollutants on sampled water bodies in the country so that their concentration can be determined. Once the concentrations of these contaminants have been established, the data should be published in a centralized place that can be accessed by everyone. For example, researchers wishing to conduct further study on water quality may use the information as baseline data.
Individual Design Assignment
Drying has been used as a method of food preservation since antiquity. Drying preserves food by removing water that encourages the growth of microorganisms. Drying is more effective as a food preservation method when done in vacuum (in absence of air). Air is particularly responsible for oxidation of food that makes food. Oxidized food is a good substrate for growth of microorganisms such as bacteria that rotten food. Vacuum drying enables high amount of water from the food to evaporate within a shorter time because the reduced surrounding pressure. The drying is done under relatively low temperature that does not greatly affect the taste of food as compared with conventional drying methods. The design for this food saving device shall consist of a vacuum chamber where the food is placed and an external heating agent.
Constraints
Constraints are specific limits that the vacuum drier as a food saving device is expected to meet in order to be accepted. The following constrains shall apply;
1 The vacuum drier must have a capacity of between (1.5-2.0) m3.
Vacuum drier has a chamber or containers for putting food. It is important that the drier has a capacity that ensures enough amount of food is dried at a particular time.
2 The temperature of the chamber should not exceed 60º C
Vacuum driers usually work at room temperature. However, the process may be slow and it is important that the temperature in the chamber is raised through external or internal heating system to make the process faster.
3 Minimal residual gas content
For faster evaporation, the chamber should not have any residual air inside while functioning.
4 The dryer must work within the pressure of 18 to 22 inches mercury.
Effective drying occurs at optimum pressure. From literature, the optimum pressure is 18 to 22 inHg.
5 Leak rate not exceeding 10-7 mBar Liter per second
Vacuum chambers usually entertain a extremely small value of leak rate from the environment. The acceptable maximum leak rate for the drier is 10-7 mBar Liter per second.
Functions of the Vacuum Drier
Primary functions
1 Expelling air from the chamber: This function shall be achieved through the use of vacuum pump
2 Heating the food: This function shall be achieved through the use of an external heating agent powered by mains electricity, solar or fuel
3 Regulating the temperature and pressure: This function shall be achieved through the use of regulators.
A Pair wise Comparison Chart
Objectives

Energy Efficiency

Cost

Durability

Maintainability

Usability

Safety

Score

Energy Efficiency

…

1

1

1

1

1

5

Cost

0

…

1

1

1

1

4

Durability

0

0

…

1

0

0

1

Maintainability

0

0

1

…

0

0

1

Usability

0

0

1

1

…

1

3

Safety

0

0

1

1

0

…

2