Week #1: Before Going Abroad - Documents

1. Reading

Preparing Documents

Getting your papers ready is the first thing you do before a trip. The first document you need is a passport. You can apply for one at an emigration office, or at an embassy. Most countries charge a fee for passports. If you have a passport, make sure that it’s valid for six more months. Make copies of it, keep copies with you in a suitcase and with a friend or a family member.

Another thing to get ready is visa. A visa is a stamp or a sticker in your passport. Some visas are for business, others are for study or travel. Sometimes you need to get your visa before you travel. Each country is different. You can apply at the embassy for that country. In other countries you can get your visa when you land at an airport.

Your travel itinerary is a list of your plans. You need to keep it safe. Keep a copy with you all the time. Give a copy of your itinerary to a friend or family member.

When travelling to another country, your vaccinations need to be up to date. Go to your doctor. Tell the doctor where you’re going. He or she will give you the vaccinations and then give you immunization record. This is a small booklet with your vaccination history in it. Take it on your trip. Think about buying travel health insurance. Most insurance companies will give you a card that has your insurance company name and number. You can use this card if you have an accident.

Now that all your documents are ready, you can start making reservations.

Dialogue 1

- Can I help you?

- I’d like to apply for an American visa.

- What kind of visa do you need? Tourist or business?

- Business.

- OK! You need a B-1 business visa.

- What’s the validity?

- It is valid for 14 days after entry.

- That’s perfect. What’s the fee?

- You must pay a 75 dollars fee.

- Thanks!

Dialogue 2

- What can I do for you?

- I’m going on a trip. Do I need vaccinations?

- What countries will you visit?

- We’re going to Kenya, Africa.

- Are you going to be near any animals?

- Yes, we’re going to go on a safari.

- You need vaccinations for hepatitis A, meningitis, rabies and typhoid fever.

- OK.

- I’ll give you an immunization record. Take this booklet with you when you travel.

- I’ll put it in my luggage.

2. Video

Notes: https://notepad.pw/IGc8fjPARe4OUCkePOmi

Monthly Review #6: Lessons Learned

Lecciones aprendidas del mes:

• Luego de un mes de prueba con la versión paga de ChatGPT he comprobado que es un buen asistente para aprender Inglés. Implementaré como hábito hablar diariamente con ChatGPT durante 30 min. Esto me ayudará a mejorar en mi fluidez con el idioma.
• Seguir la metodología de Aprendizaje Basado en Proyectos (ABP): El ABP es una metodología basada en el estudiante como protagonista de su propio aprendizaje, buscando responder a problemáticas reales. Siguiendo este enfoque, a mi manera, estaré trabajando en proyectos en forma de retos (challenges) de 6 meses, lo suficientemente largo como para marcar una diferencia real, pero lo suficientemente corto como para que parezca factible. También es lo suficientemente largo como para crear hábitos que se mantendrán má allá del final del reto. 

Week #24: Cryptocurrency

Video

Reading: Explainer - What are cryptocurrencies like bitcoin?

Source: https://www.centralbank.ie/consumer-hub/explainers/what-are-cryptocurrencies-like-bitcoin

1. Introduction

Cryptocurrencies - also known as digital currencies or virtual currencies - are a form of digital money. They allow payments to be made electronically and function in a similar way to standard currencies that use physical cash. However, unlike standard currencies that can be exchanged physically using notes and coins, cryptocurrencies are only exchanged electronically using lines of computer code. Examples of well-known cryptocurrencies are bitcoin and ethereum, but a wide range of others also exist.

2. How are cryptocurrencies different from standard money?

Most "paper currencies," such as the euro, have legal tender status. This means the currency is the country’s officially recognised currency, and must be accepted as payment of a debt.

Cryptocurrencies on the other hand, do not have legal tender status. This means there is no legal obligation for them to be accepted.

Another big difference between cryptocurrencies and paper currencies is how they are structured. Official currencies are centralised and guaranteed by a central bank that controls their supply. So for example, the European Central Bank guarantees the euro and controls its supply in the euro area. Cryptocurrencies meanwhile are unregulated and decentralised. This means that no central bank guarantees them or controls their supply.

3. Who controls cryptocurrencies?

Cryptocurrencies are controlled using a technology known as “blockchain” or “distributed ledger technology”. A good way to understand distributed ledger technology is to think of it like one big public file – or ledger – that is shared and stored across a huge network of computers. This file contains all the transactions made using the cryptocurrency. Because it is publicly shared and its contents validated by so many different people, it makes it virtually impossible for anyone to include a fraudulent transaction on it.

4. Is bitcoin a currency?

A common question relating to bitcoin (and other cryptocurrencies) is whether it is a currency and if it can function as money. A well-functioning currency has the following three functions:

Store of value: To be a store of value, a currency should be stable over time. Due to large price fluctuations, this is not the case for bitcoin.

Unit of account: A unit of account means that the money should allow us to easily form an understanding of the value of goods and services, and allow us to compare them to each other. The volatility of bitcoin makes it difficult to perceive it as a unit of account.

Medium of exchange: A medium of exchange means money should facilitate buyers and sellers to make transactions. In some ways, bitcoin fulfils this condition – as buyers and sellers can use it for some transactions. However, limitations such as slow transaction speeds, high transaction costs, as well as bitcoin’s unstable value make it difficult for it to properly function as a medium of exchange.

In general, bitcoin, and cryptocurrencies are more like very high-risk, speculative assets than a standard currency.

5. Could a central bank issue a digital currency?

As part of the Eurosystem, the Central Bank is investigating the potential issuance of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) – a digital euro.

Any digital euro would be complementary to physical euro banknotes and coins rather than a substitute for them.

It would be fundamentally different from a cryptocurrency like bitcoin because it would be backed by the European Central Bank.

As such, people using a digital euro could have the same level of confidence as with cash, since they would be both backed by a central bank.

For more information and the latest updates on the possible creation of a digital euro see: A Digital Euro.

Week #23: Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Plan

Video

Reading: What is AI?

AI, also known as Artificial intelligence, is a technology with human-like problem-solving capabilities. AI in action appears to simulate human intelligence—it can recognize images, write poems, and make data-based predictions. 

Modern organizations collect large data volumes from diverse sources, such as smart sensors, human-generated content, monitoring tools, and system logs. Artificial intelligence technologies analyze the data and use it to assist business operations effectively. For example, AI technology can respond to human conversations in customer support, create original images and text for marketing, and make smart suggestions for analytics.

Ultimately, artificial intelligence is about making software smarter for customized user interactions and complex problem-solving.

What are some types of AI technologies?

AI apps and technologies have increased exponentially in the last few years. Below are some examples of common AI technologies you may have encountered.

• Image generation: Image generation involves AI creating new images from scratch or based on descriptions. For example, AI can take a simple text prompt like "a sunset over the mountains" and generate a realistic or artistic image of that scene. This technology is used in art, entertainment, and marketing, allowing creators to visualize concepts quickly and efficiently.
• Text generation: Text generation is when AI writes text automatically, mimicking human writing. It can create anything from simple sentences to entire articles, poems, or stories. This technology is used in chatbots, content creation, and even for writing emails or reports.
• Speech generation and recognition: Speech generation allows AI to produce spoken words, like how virtual assistants (such as Alexa) talk to you. Speech recognition is when AI understands and processes human speech. This technology is widely used in voice-activated devices, customer service hotlines, and even in helping people with disabilities communicate more effectively.
• Multimodal AI: Multimodal AI combines different data types, like text, images, and sound, to create a more comprehensive understanding of information. For example, a multimodal AI might analyze a video by understanding the spoken words and objects in the video and reading any text that appears on the screen. This advanced form of AI is used in fields like autonomous vehicles, where understanding and interpreting multiple data types simultaneously is crucial for safe operation.

How is AI used today?

AI is everywhere today, working behind the scenes to power your favorite applications.

• Content recommendation: AI is at work every time you log into your favorite streaming service. Streaming platforms use AI algorithms to analyze your viewing or listening habits and recommend content tailored to your preferences. The algorithms consider factors like your past selections, trending content, and similarities with other users. They ensure you always have something interesting to watch or listen to.
• Personalized shopping experiences: Online retailers utilize AI to personalize your shopping experience. AI suggests items that match your interests by analyzing your browsing history, purchase patterns, and the time you spend looking at specific products; you find what you’re looking for more quickly and can discover new products.
• Healthcare: AI is revolutionizing healthcare by assisting in diagnostics, treatment planning, and patient monitoring. For example, AI-powered systems analyze medical images to detect early signs of diseases like cancer. AI systems integrate data from smart wearables, patient records, and family history to help doctors customize treatment plans for chronic ailments.
• Forecasting: Forecasting with AI is about predicting future events or trends based on historical data. For example, weather forecasting systems use AI to predict weather patterns, helping people plan for storms or other weather-related events. AI forecasting helps companies anticipate product demand, allowing them to manage inventory better and avoid shortages or surpluses.
• Traffic management: AI systems analyze real-time geospatial data to predict traffic patterns, optimize routes, and suggest alternative paths during congestion. AI helps you get to your destination faster and reduces fuel consumption and emissions, contributing to a greener environment.

Business Use Case: Coding Automation

AI assists in coding automation by generating code snippets, automating repetitive coding tasks, and detecting bugs. This speeds up the development process, reduces errors, and allows developers to focus on more complex aspects of software development.

By taking care of these routine tasks, AI allows developers to focus on the more complex and creative parts of software development. They can spend more time designing new features, improving product experience, and solving difficult problems.

Success Stories:

• GitHub Copilot, powered by OpenAI, helps developers by suggesting code snippets and completing lines of code. This tool has significantly increased coding efficiency and reduced development time. Source: GitHub.

Industries:

• Technology: Accelerates software development and improves code quality.
• Finance: Automates the development of financial software and algorithms.
• E-commerce: Enhances website and app development.
• Healthcare: Develops and maintains health management software.
• Automotive: Creates and tests software for autonomous vehicles.

Vocabulary

Shortages

Surpluses

Week #22: Internet of Things (IoT)

Activities

Video

Reading: The Internet of Things

Source: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article-internet-thingsiot-deepak-sreesaran-s/

The Internet of Things (IoT) describes the network of physical objects—“things”—that are embedded with sensors, software, and other technologies for the purpose of connecting and exchanging data with other devices and systems over the internet. These devices range from ordinary household objects to sophisticated industrial tools. With more than 7 billion connected IoT devices today, experts are expecting this number to grow to 10 billion by 2020 and 22 billion by 2025. 

Over the past few years, IoT has become one of the most important technologies of the 21st century. Now that we can connect everyday objects—kitchen appliances, cars, thermostats, baby monitors—to the internet via embedded devices, seamless communication is possible between people, processes, and things.

By means of low-cost computing, the cloud, big data, analytics, and mobile technologies, physical things can share and collect data with minimal human intervention. In this hyperconnected world, digital systems can record, monitor, and adjust each interaction between connected things. The physical world meets the digital world—and they cooperate.

Industrial IoT (IoT) refers to the application of IoT technology in industrial settings, especially with respect to instrumentation and control of sensors and devices that engage cloud technologies. Refer to this Titan use case PDF for a good example of IoT. Recently, industries have used machine-to-machine communication (M2M) to achieve wireless automation and control. But with the emergence of cloud and allied technologies (such as analytics and machine learning), industries can achieve a new automation layer and with it create new revenue and business models. IoT is sometimes called the fourth wave of the industrial revolution, or Industry 4.0. The following are some common uses for IoT:

• Smart manufacturing
• Connected assets and preventive and predictive maintenance
• Smart power grids
• Smart cities
• Connected logistics
• Smart digital supply chains

IoT Intelligent Applications are prebuilt software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications that can analyze and present captured IoT sensor data to business users via dashboards. We have a full set of IoT Intelligent Applications.

IoT applications use machine learning algorithms to analyze massive amounts of connected sensor data in the cloud. Using real-time IoT dashboards and alerts, you gain visibility into key performance indicators, statistics for mean time between failures, and other information. Machine learning–based algorithms can identify equipment anomalies and send alerts to users and even trigger automated fixes or proactive counter measures.

With cloud-based IoT applications, business users can quickly enhance existing processes for supply chains, customer service, human resources, and financial services. There’s no need to recreate entire business processes.

IoT is reinventing the automobile by enabling connected cars. With IoT, car owners can operate their cars remotely—by, for example, preheating the car before the driver gets in it or by remotely summoning a car by phone. Given IoT’s ability to enable device-to-device communication, cars will even be able to book their own service appointments when warranted.

The connected car allows car manufacturers or dealers to turn the car ownership model on its head. Previously, manufacturers have had an arms-length relationship with individual buyers (or none at all). Essentially, the manufacturer’s relationship with the car ended once it was sent to the dealer. With connected cars, automobile makers or dealers can have a continuous relationship with their customers. Instead of selling cars, they can charge drivers usage fees, offering a “transportation-as-a-service” using autonomous cars. IoT allows manufacturers to upgrade their cars continuously with new software, a sea-change difference from the traditional model of car ownership in which vehicles immediately depreciate in performance and value.

Vocabulary

• Household
• Appliances
• Seamless

Links

• The Role of IoT in Smart Farming

Generalized internet of things -artificial intelligence/machine learning workflow for agricultural solutions.

Week #21: Cloud Computing

Activities

Video

Reading

Cloud computing is the on-demand delivery of IT resources via the internet, with pay-as-you-go pricing. Instead of buying, owning, and maintaining physical data centers and servers, you can access technology services, such as computing power, storage, and databases, on an as-needed basis from a cloud provider like Amazon Web Services.

Organizations of every type, size, and industry are using the cloud for a wide variety of use cases, such as data backup, disaster recovery, email, virtual desktops, software development and testing, big data analytics, and customer-facing web applications. For example:

• Health care companies are using the cloud to develop more personalized treatments for patients.
• Financial services companies are using the cloud to power real-time fraud detection and prevention.
• Video game makers are using the cloud to deliver online games to millions of players around the world.

With cloud computing, your business can become more agile, reduce costs, instantly scale, and deploy globally in minutes. Cloud computing gives you instant access to a broad range of technologies so you can innovate faster and build nearly anything you can imagine—from infrastructure services such as compute, storage, and databases to internet of things, machine learning, data analytics, and much more.

You can deploy technology services in a matter of minutes and move from idea to implementation significantly faster than before. This flexibility gives you the freedom to experiment and test new ideas, differentiate customer experiences, and transform your business. For instance, you could add machine learning and intelligence to your applications to personalize experiences and improve customer engagement.

With cloud computing, there is no need to make large upfront investments in hardware or overpay for unused capacity. Instead, you can trade capital expense for variable expense and only pay for IT as you consume it. You access resources from the cloud in real-time as they're needed, scaling them up or down to match your business needs.

Cloud computing also makes it easy to expand to new regions and deploy globally in minutes. For example, Amazon Web Services has infrastructure worldwide, allowing you to deploy applications in multiple physical locations with just a few clicks. Positioning applications closer to end-users reduces latency and enhances their experience.

No matter your location, size, or industry, the cloud frees you from managing infrastructure and data centers, allowing you to focus on what matters most to your business.

Monthly Review #5: Lessons Learned

Lecciones aprendidas del mes:

• Corroboro la importancia de tener un plan de 6 meses, lo cual me ha ayudado a mantenerme enfocado en perseguir el objetivo de mejorar en el idioma.
• El hecho de definir un tema de estudio semanal me ha ayudado a no abarcar muchas cosas al mismo tiempo, sin embargo he visto que dentro de la semana necesito tener más claridad de las actividades que debo realizar durante todo los días de la semana. Revisar el ejemplo de plan de estudio semanal.
• Para mejorar la experiencia de conversación con ChatGPT debo ingresar prompts que le instruyan como debe actuar durante nuestras conversaciones. Ver prompt