For my group’s capstone we decided to make a go kart. In the beginning we struggled with figuring out what the end product would be, we thought about buying an already made kart and disassembling it, or scrapping the idea and building something more like a truck. We bought components for a go kart like a frame and axle and started working out blueprints for a design. We ran into a lot of problems with the frame we bought, a lot of the measurements were not customary and it was a little small. Designing a new frame was the next idea. We used CAD (Computer-Aided Drawing) programs like Autodesk Fusion 360 and Solidworks 2017 to create 3-dimensional blueprints for the kart that can be printed out. This process is/was not easy, you have to make objects in real life in a computer program, this requires seemingly endless measuring, analyzing, and just thinking about every piece of the kart. We assembled the frame in the program, you can see pictures attached here. During this capstone I learned how to more effectively collaborate with a larger team than I’m used to, how to use 3-dimensional design programs, and how to change ideas with a group so everyone is heard.

Cristian Fernandez

1/19/17

In the video we described the issue of lead poisoning in Philadelphia, and how it impacts a lot of people. We describe how it mainly affects children developmentally and can also harm adults. We describe the politics that go into how lead is dealt with and how it can be treated properly, but it does take time and money. We make sure that people understand that lead isn’t only in the paint on our walls, but also in the water we drink, older plumbing could have been made with lead. For this project I was the editor of the video, and worked with everyone to put the video together, including being in the video. We all worked on the questions and making the video itself (filming). I feel as though I could have helped more on the script. My group did all of the script and I just edited some of it when we were filming mine and others parts. I think we all did a good time managing the time we were given, it seemed like a lot of groups were not on task the whole time and I feel like we worked with all the time we were given and made a good product as a result of it. I think the most meaningful part of creating the PSA was approaching the display of the points we had to someone who has no knowledge of the topic. This required us to go deeper into depth for our research and develop different ways of understanding it, which makes it more impactful to me,

Earth systems can affect each other in many different ways, these interactions often happen during large natural events or disasters but also happen in our everyday lives. The hydrosphere interacts with the geosphere by moving large amounts of land between and away from places creating new formations and diminishing others. In natural disasters the importance of the different environmental systems is exaggerated because the changes are on such a large scale they force their way into other systems. To explain my last point, when a hurricane happens mainly the atmosphere and the hydrosphere interact with each other, but when the conditions of this event become extreme the geosphere can be affected because the combination of water and wind can move large amounts of land to the sea or other parts of the land. The understanding of natural science is key to aiding in handling natural disasters. This is because without the understanding of how hurricanes work or why earthquakes happen it is impossible to correctly prepare for them. This lack of knowledge can be the cost of billions of dollars in recovery from a natural disaster. For creating a sustainable future the thing we have to think about is preparation for these events, it seems like a waste of time to create things to try to prevent natural disasters. Except for sea walls and few other things that can completely solve an issue it should be our primary focus on designing houses that can withstand more extreme weather and buildings that can hold up to larger earthquakes.

Cristian Fernandez

4/19/17

Slide 2:

*Visual*

Slides 3 & 4:

For this project I decided to do Web Design. For this project I used Weebly, a design tool that people use to create web pages, it gave me the ability to create and move text, images, and headings. The goal for this project was to create a website that was easy for people to use and is designed to show my most proud work to people. This project was successful in my eyes, this is because it shows all my work in a platform that works well and people can see easily.

Slide 5:

*Visual*

Slides 6 & 7:

For my Quarter 2 project I decided to do Image editing. This focuses on using web editors to change images so they can make them into whatever they want. I used the tool Pixlr for this because it seemed like the best tool at the time. I ran into many problems while making it, like figuring out what the tools in design menu did. Like here, I didn’t know what the “lasso” tool did, and… well I figured it out.

Slide 8:

*Visual*

Slides 9 & 10:

For last quarter’s project I decided to do Graphic Design. This is a project where you can design a road sign not including any words that displays a message that would be very useful to road users. I also used Pixlr for this project, I used the drawing section of the tool rather than the editing portion. This also included tools that would be useful for what you’re looking for. The sign I decided to make was a “No Skateboarding” sign.

Slide 11:

*Visual*

Slides 12 & 13:

This is a project where you can design a road sign not including any words that displays a message that would be very useful to road users. I also used Pixlr for this project, I used the drawing section of the tool rather than the editing portion. This also included tools that would be useful for what you’re looking for.

Slide 14:

*Visual*

Slides 14 & 15:

The most proud part of this class from this year was the first quarter project being completed. This was the website design project and it was the first time for me designing a website. This was very rewarding to me because Weebly is a good tool that I used and could see a lot of progress. The thing that I’ve most improved upon throughout the year by far has been time management. This has been a problem for me for my whole school career and these checkpoints and tools have greatly impacted this problem for the better. I now know how to design websites and create images for them

Slide 16:

Through the graphic design project I can use the skills I learned of scaling and using tools online to create an image that makes sense. I want to be an engineer when I get older so this will help me in my field.

Slide 17:

Speaking of blueprints, an idea I had for next year’s project for something that’s like graphic design. It has similar elements to the graphic design project, but it has more of an applied goal.

Slide 18:

I’d recommend for anyone taking this class to definitely turn project checkpoints in on time. These do add up and will affect your grade. It’s better just to get them in on time when they’re relatively easy.

Slide 19:

The project checkpoints do help us manage our time. This is the most valuable thing I learned this year. Time management is important to all of our classes and is a valuable life skill.

Slide 20:

The last tip I’d give to anyone taking this class next year is to always try with the work that’s in this class. I know this class is an elective, but it’s still important to get your work in on time and complete it with effort.

Analysis of Caffeine Consumption

Have you ever wondered exactly at what rate caffeine will leave the body, and to what extent will we feel it’s effects? How long it takes for there to be nearly no caffeine left in the body? How long it would take for the amount of caffeine to make no difference to the body? Caffeine is primarily used as a stimulant for consumption in commercial drinks and very few food items. You can find caffeine in many things you consume every day, like tea, soda, coffee, energy drinks, and even chocolate. We have observed that caffeine is eliminated by the body at a rate of 13%/hour. For example; if you have 100mg of caffeine in your body, after 1 hour there will be 87mg of caffeine left in the body. This is an example of exponential decay; this is where decay can be observed by a percentage rather than an amount. This is important because this makes the decay in the beginning in the hour as an amount larger than the amount of decay in the end as milligrams in this case. This also forms an asymptote. This is where the amount can mathematically never reach 0, this is because there is always room to remove a percentage of a total amount, even if the starting amount or the answer are not even measurable by an computer. Even there is no way to get rid of the caffeine, our body can’t feel the affects of this after caffeine count becomes less than 32 mg. So on average it is best to stop drinking caffeine 4-5 hours before you go to bed. This depends greatly on the drink you have and how much caffeine it has, but 4 to 5 hours is a safe time before you go to bed so that the caffeine in your body will be at most considered a minor stimulant.

My project was focused around the idea of Image Editing. I hoped to learn how image editing works and how images can be changed in the media to make us see different things.

First we chose an image, I chose a picture of a cheetah. Then we went to work on editing. I chose to try to create another cheetah from scratch and pieces of the other cheetah. Working with Pixlr was the hardest thing I did with this project. It wasn’t easy to use and creating different layers to edit the cheetah with this application. I learned that over editing an image can happen, this leads to the image being overexposed or not looking even close to the original image. I learned that I need to sometimes get more realistic with these expectations of myself. I think I set goals that are too high sometimes. I would manage my time better.I would say to choose a simple image to start because it’s easier to edit.

1. What is your earliest childhood memory?

“I think it is riding in the car with you and Papa when we were in a hail storm and I was crying.”

    2.    What scared you the most as a little kid?

“Falling down the stairs”

1. What is the best thing about being a teenager?

Wendi: I think the best thing about being a teenager is the amount of freedom that comes with this title and the amount of responsibility.