JOURNAL ENTRY 3 - MULTIMEDIA ENTRY

THE INSOMNIA TEST

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6tfy2AKznI

Here is a video about insomnia. In this video, 11 signs of sleep deprivation are shown. The results of insomnia are shown with examples. I think the video is very informative and clear. That's why I chose tihs video to reflect on insomnia.

In the video, 11 signs of insomnia are shown and each of them is represented by different people. I think interpretations are very successful and clear. As I mentioned in the previous journal, the results of insomnia can be really serious and dangerous for people. It can also become a chronic disorder and the results shown in the video may be permanent in the bodies of insomniacs. I think the most enjoyable sign is the one saying that "you are spontaneously cry. Generally, people who watch funny cat videos burst into loud laughter but insomniacs may really cry while watching these videos. Also, another sign which is about snakes that don't really exist is presented in a very funny and exact way. I really love these examples. Actually, all of  the examples are very successfully shown but the ones that I mentioned are very amusing.

To sum up, I think this video is appropriate for the subject I explained. The video is not only informative but hilarious as well. Thanks for watching! :)

JOURNAL ENTRY 3

SLEEP SLEEP SLEEP

    At some nights, we stare at ceiling constantly and cannot fall asleep. Maybe it's because we have something in our minds or have had four cup of coffee during the day. This situation doesn't last long for us but there are some people who cannot sleep well for days. These people are suffering from a sleep disorder: insomnia.

      Insomnia, or sleeplessness, is a sleep disorder in which there is an inability to fall asleep or to stay asleep as long as desired. Patients generally complain about not closing their eyes for more than a couple of minutes when trying to fall asleep. If sleeplessness lasts for more than several nights, it could become a chronic disorder. This chronic disorder could also be very dangerous because sleeping is very important for one's health of body and mind. Insomnia disconcerts the natural balance of sleep and recovery of this situation could be troublesome.

    The reasons for suffering from insomnia vary from people to people. Some patients generally have rest in the  afternoon or towards evening. That's why they have trouble in going to sleep at nights. Also some people push the limits of their bodies and this makes them lack of sleeping. Consuming so much caffeinated beverages such as tea and coffee is another reason for insomnia. Also people who are on medication could undergo this disorder because medications also unbalances sleeping. In addition, a stres-filled life mostly comes with insomnia. There are other several factors that stimulate insomnia but these are the most common ones. 

       Insomnia is a very common disorder among adults. Most adults have experienced insomnia at one time or another in their lives. An estimated 30%-50% of the general population are affected by insomnia, and 10% of them have chronic insomnia. This symptom comes up also for children. According to a research, two out of three children under 10 years old suffer from a sleep disorder at one time. We can conclude that insomnia is very widespread.

Insomnia may seem to be a nightmare but there is nothing to fear from it. It could be easily cured. It is possible for insomniacs to sleep like a log and have sweet dreams during nights.

JOURNAL ENTRY 2

BENEFITS OF BILINGUALISM

Today, thanks to technology and other opportunities, more of the world's population is bilingual or multilingual than monolingual. At least, most of the people from foreign countries know the universal language -English- and the number of those people is a great part of bilingualism. In addition to facilitating cross-cultural communication, being bilingual also positively affects cognitive abilities. 

Researchers have shown that when a bilingual person uses one language, the other is active at the same time. For example, a Russian-English bilingual person asked to "pick up a marker" from a set of objects would look more at a stamp than someone who doesn't know Russian. It's because the Russian word for "stamp" (marka in Russian) sounds like the English word he or she heard "marker". In cases like this, language co-activation occurs because what the listener hears could map onto words in either language. Because both of a bilingual person's language sytems are always active and competing, that person uses these control mechanisms every time she or he speaks or listens. This constant practice strengthens the control mechanisms and changes the associated brain regions. 

Furthermore, bilingual people often perform better on tasks that require conflict management. To illustrate, we all know the classic Stroop test, in which the word itself (i.e red) and its font color (i.e blue) conflict. In this test, people see a word and are asked to name the color of the word's font. Bilingual people who can ignore one language when using the other one are better at practicing this test than monolingual people. This is because this test requires ignoring the word itself and concentrating on the font color.

Bilingual people are also better than monolingual people at switching between two tasks. For instance, when bilinguals have to switch from categorizing objects by color (red or green) to categorizing them by shape (circle or triangle), they do so more quickly than monolingual people, reflecting better cognitive control when changing strategies.

Moreover, being bilingual can have tangible practical benefits. The improvements in cognitive and sensory processing driven by bilingual experience may help a bilingual person to better process information in the environment, leading to a clearer signal for learning. This kind of improved attention to detail shows that bilingual adults learn a third language better than monolingual adults learn a second language. 

These are some main benefits of being bilingual. I chose this topic because we all are learning English and also other languages and I want to show you how lucky we are. I believe everyone should know at least one foreign language. :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHMRCXx9NpY

           There is a funny video about the benefits of bilingualism. In this video, there is a fish in a glass bell and a cat which is about to eat the fish. The cat is licking its lips and stalking to the fish. The fish sees the cat and is afraid but it has a plan. When the cat comes and makes a move to eat the fish, the fish barks. The cat is scared and runs away. Thus, the fish can survive thanks to its second language. We can conclude from this video that knowing more than one language is very important. There is a Turkish proverb saying that knowing one language makes you one man but knowing two makes you two men. When we know more than one language, it means we can improve ourselves. I mean we know not only a language, but the culture of that language and the way of living of people speaking that language as their mother tongue as well. Hence, it helps us broaden our viewpoint to life. Also, we can easily make friends from different countries when we know the languages of those people. For example, the fish in the video can easily communicate with a dog because the fish knows the language of the dogs. :) To sum up, being bilingual has many advantages. We can say based on the video that bilingualism can even save life. :)

JOURNAL ENTRY 1

LIVING WALLS

In our day, one of the fastest advancing social process is urbanization. As a result of this urbanization, the nature is being more and more destroyed. However, landscape architects have a very simple and esthetic solution to this problem: vertical gardening. 

The vegetation for a green façade is always attached on outside walls; with living walls this is also usually the case. Also, some living walls can also be green walls for interior use. For living walls there are many methods including attaching to the air return of the building to help with air filtration. They are also referred to biowalls.

There are two main categories of green walls: green façades and living walls. Green façades are made up of climbing plants either growing directly on a wall or, more recently, specially designed supporting structures. The plant shoot system grows up the side of the building while being rooted in the ground. With a living wall the modular panels are often made of stainless steel containers, geotextiles, irrigation systems, a growing medium and vegetation. There are three types of growth media used in living walls: loose media, mat media and structural media. 

Loose Media: Loose medium walls tend to be "soil-on-a-shelf" or "soil-in-a-bag" type systems. Loose medium systems have their soil packed into a shelf or bag and then are installled onto the wall. These systems require their media to be replaced at least once a year on exteriors and approximately every two years on interiors. 

Mat Media: Mat type systems tend to be either coir fibre or felt mats. Mat media are quite thin, even in multiple layers, and as such cannot support vibrant root systems of mature plants for more than three to five years before the roots overtake the mat and water is not able to adequately wick through the mats. 

Structural Media: Structural media are growth medium blocks that are not loose, nor mats, but incorporate the best features of both into a block that can be manufactured into various sizes, shapes and thicknesses. These media have the advantage that they do not break down for 10 to 15 years. They are also easily handled for maintenance and replacements. 

When compared to usual gardening, there are many benefits of  vertical gardening. One of them is that you can have various plants in much less space. Also, living walls have improved air circulation and less risk of plant diseases and pests. It is easier to tend and harvest. Thanks to transpiration process, plants on the walls can cool their environments. Above all, these plants provide oxygen. It is very important because air pollution is one of the essential problems in metropolises. Moreover, it requires less soil preparation and digging from the first day. Besides all these, looking at the green walls is very restful and soothing. These walls make you feel as if you were in an everlasting verdant forest. 

I believe you all like this idea and wish that we had these living walls on our departments or dormitories. I wish, too. :)

MY COMMENTS

http://iremoyku.blogspot.com/2012/11/journal-entry-6.html#comment-form

http://ozlemdogann.blogspot.com/2012/12/journal-set-2-multi-media-entry.html

http://bushess05.blogspot.com/2013/01/journal-set-3-entry-1.html

http://inci010911.blogspot.com/2012/12/journal-set-1-reflection-entry_23.html#comment-form

REWRITTEN JOURNAL 2

BEING A METU STUDENT

This year is not my first year at METU because I studied at the Department of Basic English last year. I am not going through an adaptation process this year but last year was not easy for me. Although I stayed in the dormitory in high school for four years, it was still challenging for me to be far away from my family and old friends. However, I didn't feel alone because I had some of my friends from high school in METU. They helped me a lot during my adaptation process. Moreover, my roommates were friendly, cheerful and positive people. I had so much fun with my friends last year. However, the immoderate climate of Ankara was a big challenge for me. The daytimes were very hot and the nights were so cold at the beginnings. Although it was difficult for me, I got used to the climate in time.

This year, I do not have problems about adjusting to METU at all. But as for courses, they are more difficult and intensive when compared to high school but they are very useful for us to develop ourselves in terms of writing, listening and speaking skills. Furthermore, we are learning second language beside English. I am learning German and it is very enjoyable for me.

As for the campus, I think that METU has one of the best campuses in Turkey. All of its departments, dormitories, cafes and even markets are the same campus and I think it is a big advantage for us in terms of transportation. The campus is very huge but the transportation inside the campus is provided by ring services and minibuses easily.

There are a lot of student clubs and communities and also social services such as sport centers, tennis courts and swimming pool. We can develop ourselves socially thanks to these opportunities. To sum up, METU fulfilled my expectations and I am glad and proud of being a METU student. :)

REWRITTEN JOURNAL 1

MY IDEAL UNIVERSITY

I think a university must have several features to be an ideal university for me. Firstly, the academic staff must be qualified and well-equipped. Also, the curriculum is very significant.In an ideal university's curriculum, there must be technical and practical courses, foreign language courses and opportunities to interact with foreigners because, in order to increase its students' chances to have good jobs, being active and known worldwide is very important for an ideal university. In addition, libraries and laboratories must be adequate and easy to access. Similarly, the internet connection must be satisfactory and accesible.

Secondly, there must be social clubs and entertainment opportunities. Students cannot always study, right? They need to relax and have fun when necessary. That's why the recreation atmosphere is also essential. Students should do physical activities, swim, play several games such as football, basketball, volleyball, tenis or badminton at university. Moreover, several student clubs must be active. Students can express their feelings and thoughts freely by means of these clubs. 

Thirdly, the structure of university must be well-organized and aesthetic. It is better to gather all departments, dormitories and social services in the same campus. Also the campus should be surrounded by nature; for example forests, groves, lakes or rivers.

When it comes to question that whether METU satisfies the criteria of my ideal university, my answer is certainly "yes, it does". Although it is a little bit expensive to live in here, METU has all of the features that I demand for an ideal university.