Quin Madden
Mr. Ippolito
D Block Odd
21 November 2016
Current Event 8
Mizokami, Kyle. "The Pentagon Uses Plant DNA to Catch Counterfeit Parts." Popular Mechanics. N.p., 21 Nov. 2016. Web. 21 Nov. 2016.
In the Article “The Pentagon Uses Plant DNA to Catch Counterfeit Parts”, by Kyle Mizokami, focuses on new advancements to catch counterfeit parts for the military. This new system uses botanical deoxyribonucleic acid—that is, plant DNA—to mark replacement parts. The mark, in the form of DNA suspended in a tiny dot of epoxy ink, is applied pneumatically (using air pressure to move or work) and heat cured. This allows the military to realize if the parts people are selling them are counterfeit or not. Mizokami states “The plant-based DNA provides a unique signature that counterfeiters can't duplicate, and Applied DNA Sciences claims its DNA-based validation system is unbreakable.”
This is huge because now we won't have a V-22 Osprey (helicopter), with eighteen Marine infantrymen die because there were counterfeit parts holding the engine together. In 2011 according to the Washington Post, a congressional probe found at least 1,800 counterfeit parts, with an estimated 1,000,000 or more counterfeit parts hiding in the Pentagon's global spare parts system, sold by hucksters making a cheap buck. This was a huge finding because people were just dropping out of the sky and dieing and no one new what was going on. This new product will help save many lives in our military.
After reading this article I found that it was very informative and helped teach me a lot about counterfeit parts in the military. The author did a great job of giving enormous detail throughout the article. One thing I would have changed was the way which the author structured the article, it seemed choppy. I also thought that the author could have used simpler language throughout this article, I found myself having to go and look up many words. Overall, this article was very informative and taught the reader a lot about the war on counterfeit parts.
Thomas Bender
ReplyDeleteBio
Current event comment
11/22/16
The current event put forth by Quin Madden on the subject of counterfeit parts that are being used in the military, was quite interesting. In this assignment, Quin did a relatively good job. Some of the things that made this current event so good, was Quin’s incorporation of quantitative data such as including the assumed amount of counterfeit parts in use by the military. He also made the article easy to understand which is quite pleasant for the people who have to read his work and comment on it. And most importantly, Quin chose an interesting article which was very enlightening. Although the current event was good, it did have its shortcomings. An example of this would be random hyphens and commas that were incorporated in sentences that did not need them.this could have been fixed by not adding random commas and hyphens in the first place. Also, Quin had a quite obviously copied and pasted section that was highlighted in white, which seems somewhat careless. This could have been fixed by highlighting the words.
I found this current event quite interesting as it highlighted some of the problems with the U.S. military. This assignment was chosen because I found it intriguing. This current event leaves me surprised with how careless the U.S. military is.
Madden, Quin. "Current Event 8 The Pentagon Uses Plant DNA to Catch Counterfeit Parts." Review. Blog post. Blogger. N.p., 21 Nov. 2016. Web. 21 Nov. 2016.
My fellow classmate, Quin Madden, wrote a very insightful review on the article ““The Pentagon Uses Plant DNA to Catch Counterfeit Parts”. Quin did an excellent job summarizing his article, in a clear and concise way. He also used good diction which strengthened his piece and conveyed his point in a more sophisticated and mature tone. He goes into depth describing the research and the experiment results explaining that a “congressional probe found at least 1,800 counterfeit parts, with an estimated 1,000,000 or more counterfeit parts hiding in the Pentagon's global spare parts system, sold by hucksters making a cheap buck,” which strengthens his review.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Quin wrote an excellent review, there are a few areas in which he could improve upon is providing more quotes, by pulling quotes from the article it would of further strengthened and backed up his point of view. Another aspect Quin could improve upon was taking more of a stance on the topic and further explaining how this product will save many lives.
Overall Quin wrote a very strong and detailed review, that provided me with great insight on the article and the topic. It was son interesting how something like a plant's DNA can catch counterfeit parts.
Kirsten Ircha 11/29/16
ReplyDeleteBiology 10H Current Event #9
Citation:
Mizokami, Kyle. "The Pentagon Uses Plant DNA to Catch Counterfeit Parts." Popular
Mechanics. N.p., 22 Nov. 2016. Web. 29 Nov. 2016. .
My fellow classmate, Quinn Madden, wrote an insightful review on the article, “The Pentagon Uses Plant DNA to Catch Counterfeit Parts,” by Kyle Mizokami. This work centers around the new advancements geared towards finding counterfeit parts in the military. As Quinn states in his review, “This new system uses botanical deoxyribonucleic acid—that is, plant DNA—to mark replacement parts.” After, the mark is applied pneumatically and cured with heat. This process allows contifit parts to be suspected. I find that this information described by Quinn is very interesting and had a solid amount of detail. This allows the concepts to be understood but not overcomplicated. Also, I feel Quinn’s choice of article quotes furthered his own review and allowed more of a professional voice to be heard. Lastly, Quinn used very unique information about deaths in the military due to counterfeit parts in his second paragraph. This makes the work seem more relatable as it can be observed through a real life situation.
Although Quinn’s review was written well, a couple areas could be improved. To start, some parts of the review used very informal and almost conversational word choices. This made the sentences feel less legitimate. In the future, Quinn should make sure to use only appropriate phrase choice and avoid words such as “won’t.” This change is very minor and could be fixed though proofreading. Also, some words were used quite often and seemed very repetitive. This could be adjusted through the usage of synonyms to avoid similar sentences.
After reading this review, I am now shocked about human nature, as some people are willing to create counterfeit parts to make profit at the cost of a living military officer. Quinn elaborates on this stating, “This is huge because now we won't have a V-22 Osprey (helicopter), with eighteen Marine infantrymen die because there were counterfeit parts holding the engine together. In 2011 according to the Washington Post, a congressional probe found at least 1,800 counterfeit parts, with an estimated 1,000,000 or more counterfeit parts hiding in the Pentagon's global spare parts system, sold by hucksters making a cheap buck.” I previously did not have knowledge of such terrible incidents or issues surrounding counterfeit parts, but am now informed and thrilled that new technologies will benefit those serving our country. I feel this issue is important because those who are working to protect us are being denied personal safety due to fraud parts and deserve justice.
My classmate Quinn wrote a review on the article, “The Pentagon Uses Plant DNA to Catch Counterfeit Parts” by Kyle Mizokami. The article is about the pentagon trying to catch counterfeit parts in the military. I thought my classmate Quinn did a great job writing his review. One reason I think this is because he did a good job relating her topic to society when he told the readers about how 18 marines died because of counterfeit parts holding the engine together. Another thing I think Quinn did well was was how he was able to critique the author by saying Mizokami could have changed the structure of the article. Also Quinn did a great job
ReplyDeleteProviding facts like when he told the reader that at least 1,800 counterfeit parts were found by a congressional probe.
Although I think Quinn did a great job overall on his current event review, I still think there are some things he could do to improve her review. One thing I think Quinn could have done to improve her review is she could have included specific quotes from the article instead of just explaining facts in his own words so the reader could be sure they were true. If he had done this I think that the review would be given more credibility because the quotes could have backed up his claims. Another way for Quinn to improve his review is that he could have included more information about how they used plant DNA to catch counterfeit parts.
Overall, I think Quinn’s review was very good and he covered an important and relevant topic. Now that I have read this article I am very concerned about the counterfeit parts that could harm the military. I am also very surprised that someone would manufacture something that could kill people trying to protect the country.
Citation:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/research/a23988/plant-dna-pentagon-counterfeit/
Mizokami, Kyle. "The Pentagon Uses Plant DNA to Catch Counterfeit Parts." Popular Mechanics. N.p., 21 Nov. 2016. Web. 21 Nov. 2016.
http://bhscorebio.blogspot.com/2016/11/quin-madden-mr.html#comment-form
Madden, Quin. "Bronxville HS Core Biology." Bronxville HS Core Biology. N.p., 01 Jan. 1970. Web. 01 Dec. 2016.
My classmate Quin wrote an excellent review of the article, “The Pentagon Uses Plant DNA to Catch Counterfeit Parts” by Kyle Mizokami. In particular, he did three things very well. Firstly, Quin used direct quotes from the article, which helped back up the points he made with specific evidence. He also brought in outside sources, which really added to the review as a whole and gave some additional context to the problem at hand. He brought in some facts from The Washington Post which proved the subject of the article is a significant one. Finally, Quin did a great job critiquing the format of the article. He was very specific, discussing how the flow of the article was choppy.
ReplyDeleteDespite these great aspects of the review, there are two things that could be improved. First of all, there were a few grammatical mistakes. For example, “article” is capitalized in the first paragraph when it should not be, and there are a couple of missing punctuation marks. In addition, the wording of the summary is a little confusing for the reader to understand. Adding a little more detail to this section would make the review even better and easier to follow.
Overall, Quin did an excellent and insightful review of this article, and I learned a lot from it. I never knew that the use and storage of counterfeit part was such a huge problem. It was very interesting and concerning to read that over one million counterfeit parts are kept in the Pentagon’s spare parts system.
Alexander New
ReplyDeleteMr. Ippolito
Core Biology H
12/2/16
My classmate, Quin Madden wrote an intriguing review about the article “The Pentagon Uses Plant DNA to Catch Counterfeit Parts”, by Kyle Mizokami. I was interested when I first read the title of the article and I’m glad I learned about this topic. The article mainly focuses on the new advancements that are finding counterfeit parts in the military. I liked how Quin was very descriptive with his information, and it included lots of detail. For example, “This new system uses botanical deoxyribonucleic acid—that is, plant DNA—to mark replacement parts”. I also liked how we went into depth describing the research and the experiment results explaining that a “congressional probe found at least 1,800 counterfeit parts, with an estimated 1,000,000 or more counterfeit parts hiding in the Pentagon’s global spare parts system, sold by hucksters making a cheap buck”. This quote includes facts and it helps to strengthen Quin’s review. A final thing that I liked about Quin’s review was how he critiqued the author by saying Mizokami could have changed the structure of the article.
Even though Quin did a good job on this review, there are some areas for improvement. Something Quin could have changed Quin is include specific quotes from the article itself, rather than just listing off facts. It’s nice sometimes to hear the actual author’s voice instead of just paraphrasing. Quin could have also delved into the scientific reasons behind how they can use DNA to catch counterfeit parts. I was left a little confused on how it worked.
To conclude, Quin’s review was well done and I thought he picked a very interesting article. Having read this article, I am now more aware of how many counterfeit parts can exist across the US. It makes me wonder if the counterfeit parts exist only in the military, or if they also can exist in the real world with other types of machines.
Peter Brennan
ReplyDeleteCharles Ippolito
Core Bio
Current Event Comments
I read a critique by Quin Madden about an article titled “The Pentagon Uses Plant DNA to Catch Counterfeit Parts”. I thought that Quinn did a very good job critiquing this article, however there were some problems. To begin Quin opens with a strong informational background on what this technology is and how it it used. Another thing that Quin did very well is telling the reader why this counterfeiting is a major problem in the US military, it can cause very expensive equipment to fail and even lead to the death of military soldiers. Finally a thing that Quin did very well was showing the reader just how big the problem is in the military, he states “In 2011 according to the Washington Post, a congressional probe found at least 1,800 counterfeit parts, with an estimated 1,000,000 or more counterfeit parts hiding in the Pentagon's global spare parts system, sold by hucksters making a cheap buck.” This really helps to show just how big the problem really is. A problem that Quin made in his critique was that I felt lost at points in the article because the thoughts changed very quickly and with no warning. Another thing Quin could improve on is increasing his total information on how many parts the pentagon holds and not just the amount that are potentially counterfeit. What I learned from this article is that the US military has a serious problem with contractors selling them counterfeit parts for multi million dollar military vehicles. The reason why I chose this article is because I was curious to see where US tax dollars are going to. This changes my view on the US military sector because it shows that the US military do not have proper certification to check these parts.