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Wednesday 8 June 2011

SD329: TMA-2

The second coursework. I haven't finished book 3/block 4 - vision - its a pretty big subject as you might imagine.

So - what's in TMA-2?
Q1 is a research questions. It starts by asking "Can regular drug intake or exposure to chemicals increase the risk of hearing loss?". In particular drugs such as aspirin, paracetamol and the like. Can regular taking of these affect hearing? We are given a paper where there is a claim to that effect. We have to do lots of internet searching to find articles for and against the position, and to determine what we think about each source - how trustworthy it is etc.
There are three parts to the question focused around the two sub questions

1. Is there a proven link between use of either painkillers and hearing loss?
2. Is there any evidence that a particular group within the general population is more at risk or that a particular drug or chemical is any more, or less, risky?
We first have to compile our bibliography of information, together with criticism of the sources.
Then we have to argue to each of the sub question above
Finally we have to describe our search strategy - how we found the items, what we searched for etc.

For question 2, we have to write a summary of one of the detailed chapters in the hearing section. So condensing several pages and diagrams into 400 words.

Question 3 is about hearing directly. First we have to define pitch and intensity. Then we have to describe how both pitch and intensity are encoded, with two possible mechanisms for each.

I found this TMA somewhat easier, although the first question is quite open ended, depending on how much searching you want to do.
Anyway, much happier with the mark for this one, more up to my usual standard.