1. Introduction To Iesl B Paper

Introduction to IESL B Paper Shavindranath Fernando Past President

WHO IS AN ENGINEER ……… ? • An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality, safety and cost. The word engineer is derived from the Latin root

• Engineers are grounded in applied sciences, and their work in research and development is distinct from the basic research focus of scientists. The work of engineers forms the link between scientific discoveries and the applications that meet the needs of society.

Therefore the central focus of the engineering profession is the application of scientific knowledge to meet societal needs.

On the other hand Engineers may pursue creative efforts without involving analytical skills, and one may apply analytical skills without entering the domain of creativity.

• For example, as engineers apply commercial software to the solution of an engineering problem, the application of analytical skills, per se, may involve little or no creativity. • On the other hand an Engineer may design an ergonomic office space with little analytical skills. • Hence Let us now look at Engineering from these perspectives.

Three aspects of Engineering

Three aspects of Engineering Sector A: represents the intersection

of purely analytical talents with the engineering domain. This may be used to represent engineering science, an ability to model complex systems and predict their response to various inputs under various conditions.  This segment of engineering has, of course, been the subject of intense development over the last half century and has benefitted most directly from the availability of fast digital computers.

.

Three aspects of Engineering

Sector C: The intersection of our creative capacity with the engineering domain, can be viewed as representing those sudden intuitive leaps often responsible for revolutionary advances in technology called "significant novelty" as well as those aspects of engineering, not yet fully supported by engineering science, that remain more art than science

Three aspects of Engineering

Sector B : (the intersection of knowledge and need with both creative and analytical capability) can be used to represent engineering design and much "real world" problem solving. This sector includes activities ranging from developing innovative products and processes, to creating an innovative bridge design, to developing a new control process for petrochemical production.

What about the other sectors in the above figure represent?

Sector 1: the intersection of analytical skills with societal needs outside the bounds of scientific knowledge might include economics and philosophy. Sector 3: may encompass the arts. Sector 2: may be used to represent those societal needs outside the bounds of scientific knowledge that required both analytical and creative skills, perhaps including public policy, business administration, and music.

Engineers Can not ignore the above

Engineers are creative problem solvers

What does the Accreditation Board of USA say … The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) of USA identifies engineering as "that profession” in which knowledge of the mathematical and natural sciences gained by study, experience, and practice is applied with judgment to develop ways to utilize, economically, the materials and forces of nature "for the benefit of mankind" 

What Does the International Professional Engineers Agreement say…

Engineer , Engineering Technologist and Engineering Technician

WHAT DO WE NEED OUR ENGINEERS TO BE ? •

SPEAK-UP, LISTEN: Open and always in a talking mood, does not ration words

•

WRITE WELL: Clear and logical writing, in whatever they write. Fiercely careful about accuracy.

•

GOOD MANNERS: Courteous, well mannered.

•

DRESS WELL: Be smartly dressed to suit the occasion.

•

READ WELL: Such a lot of media, news channels, Journals, Technical reports

•

WORK HARD

Are you ready to face the challenge?

Are you ready to face the challenge? • Face The Challenge Confidently thinking … “ If I can’t Who Can”

• and After winning be humble enough to say … “If I can who can’t “

Professional Review • IESL tests theExamination candidates on: (i) professional experience and (ii) knowledge on general issues faced by engineers and the society they work in • Comprise of : a) Viva- voce – an oral examination (shorten form viva) simply means an interview aimed at assessing one’s knowledge. b) “A” paper which is prepared specifically to examine the candidate on his specific experience and c) “B” paper aimed at testing the candidate’s knowledge on engineer’s role in society and general affairs

What do we examine at IESL B Paper • In Engineering Council (UK) Examination there is a specific subject called “Engineer in Society” • We at IESL call it B Paper and we test the knowledge on general issues faced by engineers and the society they work in • But we have a syllabus which is very wide and relate to day to day issues we as Engineers face in society. • How many have looked at it? • Have you gone through some of the lectures done last year? • Are you aware of the structure of the B Paper? • Have you gone through the pass papers and attempted to do them. What about kuppi???

Paper B The Structure and emphasis – Communication Skills, Code of Conduct and awareness of events taking place in the Society 1. Written Paper B would be of 03 hours duration and will consist of two Sections. Section I will be on Engineering Ethics and Code of Conduct whilst Section II will be on topics based on issues taking place in society, both local and foreign, and in other spheres other than engineering that has direct impact on the society. 2. Out of the questions in Section II, half of the questions will be on topics of general nature where specific knowledge about the area subjected to the question is not necessarily required to answer them. Candidates are usually asked to analyse, express opinions, comment, giving views, elaborate etc. on certain issues taking place in the society. A candidate who is generally sensitive to what is taking place around him and who can form his opinion about them should be able to answer these questions without difficulty. The other half of questions will be based on specific pre-identified areas. 3. Candidates are required to answer four (04) questions; selecting one (01) from Section I and three (03) from section II. Candidates can select any mix of questions irrespective of the type in Section II. 4. Each question will carry 25 marks and the pass mark for the paper will be

IESL will be testing you on... • 1. Communication skills - The art of communicating clearly, concisely and intelligibly in English. The art of structuring an answer, the beginning, the body and the conclusion, presentation and the flow, transition from one point to another, proper use of paragraphs, writing grammatically correct English, spellings, writing answers to the point etc.

• 2. Ethics and Code of Conduct. (Refer IESL publications on the subject). • 3. Issues affecting the Society – Social, Economic Political factors, Gender Issues, behavioral sciences, National Development, Industry, Commerce, Role and responsibility of engineers as a member of the society and as a professional, public perception of engineers, strengths , opportunities and threats to the profession, role of the civil society, environmental issues, emerging technologies, International affairs, Governments national policy and Sri Lankan economy, major infrastructure projects taking place and planned for future etc. • 4. Also listen to the lectures on specific topics arranged by IESL from time to time and in this series of lectures and last few years on which few questions will be directly based upon.

WHY DO STUDENTS FAIL IN THE “B” PAPER ? THE REAL REASON: STUDENTS DO NOT WORK HARD AND PREPARE ADEQUATELY, TO MEET THE REQUIREMENTS (as you did in the school, university, IESL examinations) - they do not read technical literature, national news papers, international journals or simply not interested in topics other than their own area of

Problems faced by candidates:

The problems faced by candidates and their weaknesses have been identified to be the following: (i) poor reading habits, (ii) lack of knowledge of common affairs, especially politics, economics, social issues, (iii) inability to correctly understand the question (iv) inability to structure a response to a question,

To overcome these problems series of lectures are conducted about three months before the PR examination IESL hopes that this series of lectures and interaction with eminent resource persons will help candidates to overcome their weaknesses before the examination, and enable them to face the paper with a greater degree of confidence.

IESL will do its part; What do you have to do… • Attend these Lectures as much as possible, if you miss it look them up in the web site. • Read articles of national interest especially on engineering related issues and issues that impact the national economy, International relations, environment etc. • Attempt the pass papers and write answers to those questions and check with the resource persons if they would like to give a feed back on your answers I will most certainly do so on my subject areas. • If you are not quite competent in English Please follow an English course. English is not our mother tongue.

Topics of General Nature

Let us Look at these Awful Pictures Who is responsible for those???

Electrical Short Circuit caused this Fire

1100 lives were lost in Dhaka in 2013

Looks Funny Therte was a joke in one our news papers…

Can we afford to laugh at others???

If Technologists and Technicians try to do the job of Engineers this may happen But are we prepared to face the challenge. Can we confidently say that we Engineers in Sri Lanka will not let this happen? Can IESL assure that our Charted Engineers are in a position to avoid this kind of disasters. The answer is in your hand…

How about your General Knowledge Shall we have a quiz? • What is CEPA Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement • What is NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization • GATT General Agreement on Trade and Tariff • SAPTA South Asian Preferential Trade Agreement • SAFTA Agreement on South Asian Free Trade Agreement

Some unsavory statistics – Are you prepared to Change it!!! Year

March 2013

Sept. 2013

March 2014

Sept. 2014

March 2015

Total applied

534

565

775

801

911

Total candidates for the exam

426

461

623

650

716

Total passed

198

210

354

347

398

Passed candidates percentage

46

46

57

53

56

How Many exams have you faced ? But Unfortunately these things happen. Can you assure us that this will not happen this time… anyway you have no choice IESL has decided not to tolerate this anymore 1.       To write the correct question number. Otherwise it goes to the wrong examiner for marking. 2.       To write the correct Index number in all pages. 3.       There are cases who do not write the Index Number at all. 4.       To write the correct question numbers to which they have answered. Some do not fill this page. 5.       Proper hand writing. Very difficult to read. There were instances where the examiner has given zero marks since they could not read the writing. 6.       Read the Instruction clearly before start writing. Some answer 5 questions. Some answer both questions in Section 1

 

Theme and Coverage

Resource Person

Examiner

  1

2

3

Introduction to B Paper: Coverage of the  paper, structure of the paper, resource  persons, proposed reading material, how  applicants should prepare themselves to  answer the paper, common problems faced by  students, how to correct the weaknesses,  general reading material. Code of Ethics:Key elements in the  IESLAct,Code of Conduct andBy Laws.

Eng.  Shavindranath  Fernando

Eng.Russel De  Zilwa

Engineer in Society:Social sciences: Moral  Eng. Proboda  conduct, professional integrity, gender issues,  Jinasena poverty and poverty alleviation, mechanisms  and institutions that address social issues in  Sri Lanka, shortcomings.

Eng Russel De  Zilwa

Eng. Proboda  Jinasena

4

Prof. W L  Science and Environment: (i) Sciences:  Recent key findings/headline research projects  Sumathipala and in pure sciences (physics, chemistry, biology),  Mrs.  astronomy (ii) Environment: Key topics in the  current debate on global environment (global  RamaniEllepola warming, ozone depletion), and international  protocols and projects/actions (Kyoto protocol,  carbon trading, other voluntary mechanisms),  national environment of Sri Lanka, key  environmental issues, environmental laws and  regulations, IEE/EIA process in Sri Lanka,  environmental license, forestry, fauna and  flora, coastal and marine resources.

  Prof. (Ms) N  Ratnayeka

5

Dr. Saman  Government, National Policy and the Kelegama Economy: (i) Government: A brief political  history of Sri Lanka, forms of government,  pros and cons of different models (ii) National  policy of Sri Lanka: How national policies  should be structured, introduction to policy  documents available in Sri Lanka (iii) Economy  and Trade: Economic policies, fiscal policy,  economic growth, structural changes in the  economy, disparities in growth/GDP among  provinces, balance of payments, public  spending, managing the budget deficit,  managing the exchange rate, trade deficit,  international debt, comparison of  closed/open/hybrid economic policies, Sri  Lanka’s trade relationships with the world and  introduction to GSP, SAFTA, CEPA, and  similar active or proposed agreements. (iv)  International trade: Role of WTO, key features  of GATT

Dr TLGunaruwan

6

Mr. Nihal Rodrigo International Affairs: (i) World Politics: Recent  political changes in the world, current and longrunning conflicts, super powers, colonialism (ii) The  UN charter and UN system: history, role of UN,  various agencies of the UN, (iii) Disarmament:  Initiatives, nuclear non-proliferation treaty,  exceptions, history of world wars.

 Mr Nihal Rodrigo

7

Eng.  Physical and urban Infrastructure: (i)Irrigation and  WimalasenaGamag water supply: History of irrigation, major tanks, reservoirs  e and canals, key beneficiaries, agricultural development,  And water supply and drainage, key challenges faced by the  population and service providers (ii) Roads and highways:   Eng. Gunathilake  Bandara National highways and road network, planned expressway  network, key problems of access and mobility, and how  they can be solved, maintenance of roads, problems and  solutions, (iii) Transportation: Road and rail transportation  facilities in Sri Lanka, public Vs private modes of transport,  private sector investment and operation of public  transportation facilities, congestion, (iv) Urban  development: Urbanization, migration to cities, importance  of urban planning, current problems with urban services in  Sri Lanka and possible solutions.

Eng.  WimalasenaGamage And Eng Gunathilake  Bandara

8

Emerging Technologies: Progress in various  disciplines, Nano technology, current research  and achievements, Sri Lanka’s initiatives.

Eng. Ranil  Senaratne

9

Quality Assurance: (i) Quality standards: BS,  ISO, IEC, VDE and other similar internationally  recognized standards, how the international  system of standards operate, mandatory vs  optional standards, (ii) Sri Lanka Standards:  Overall policy, standards and procedure to  establish standards, role of SLSI, testing and  enforcement, legal framework.

Eng Sunanda  Fernando

  Eng Ranil  Senaratne

Eng Sunanda  Fernando

10

Infrastructure (Energy): Electricity and petroleum sector  history, institutions and their roles, key issues faced by the  sector and sector institutions, costs of energy, renewable  energy potential and limitations, prospects for oil and gas in  Sri Lanka, planned development in electricity and  petroleum infrastructure, regulatory institution(s). Infrastructure (Telecom and IT): Sri Lanka’s fixed and  mobile network, backbone infrastructure, modes of  international communications, new generation of mobile  telephony, costs and pricing of network usage, IT  infrastructure,  facilities to remote areas, home ownership  of IT facilities, telecom and IT regulatory institutions.

  Eng.SamithaMidigas Eng. Shavindra  pe Fernando

& Eng. E M Piyasena       Eng. Tilak de Silva

Eng. Tilak de Silva

  11

Management, behavioral & Social Sciences: Management: Leadership, motivating employees, decisionmaking, how to conduct a meeting, conflict resolution,  negotiations, strategies to reach a consensus.

12

Let us make sense when we talk and write: (i) Speaking:  planning a presentation, content, delivery (ii) Writing: Clear  and concise writing, how to structure a response to a  question, common mistakes.

Eng. Shavindra  Fernando

Lecture Schedule 5.00 to 7.00pm

Date and Time Presentation Resource person Dec 18th (Fri) - Introduction to B Paper Eng. Shavindranath Fernando Dec 28th (Mon) - Code of Ethics / Conduct Eng. Russel De Zilwa Jan 1st (Fri) - National Key Environmental Issues. Mrs. Ramani Ellepola Jan 4th (Mon) - International Affairs Mr. Nihal Rodrigo Jan 8th (Fri) - Infrastructure (Energy). Eng. Samitha Midigaspe Jan 11th (Mon) - Infrastructure (Civil related) Eng Wimalasena Gamage Jan 15th (Fri) - Sustainable Development 7 Climate Change Prof. W L Sumathipala Jan 19th (Tues) - Infrastructure (Road related) Eng. Gunathilake Bandara Jan 22nd Fri) - Government, National Policy & Economy Dr. Saman Kelegama Jan 26th (Tues) - Engineer in Society Eng. Praboda Jinasena Jan 29th (Fri) - Quality Assurance Eng. Sunanda Fernando Feb 2nd (Fri) - Infrastructure (IT &Telecommunications) Eng. Tilak de Silva Feb 8th (Tues) - Infrastructure (Petroleum) Eng. E M Piyasena Feb 16th (Mon) - Let us make sense when we talk and write Eng. Shavindranath Fernando

Are You Ready!!!