SCIE1000 Semester 2, 2024
Python and Communication Assignment
1 The scenario
A new public science museum in St Lucia is developing an exhibit. A feature of the museum is thateach exhibit item is accompanied by two explanations, each written for a different audience. Oneexplanation is pitched to the “science rookie” and the other to the “science enthusiast”. Patronsread the explanation tailored to the level at which they feel most comfortable. Some characteristicsof typical patrons in each category are described in Table 1.Table 1: Characteristics of different patrons
Patron Type Typical characteristics
Science RookieNot familiar with scientific terminology or notation;will need terminology explained using a simple vocabulary;
is unfamiliar with graphs;may be a younger person, possibly 10+ years of age;likes to press buttons.Science EnthusiastFamiliar with common scientific terminology and notation (not overly technical);can handle terminology explained using somewhat sophisticated vocabulary;is prepared to read longer passages of moderate complexity;
likes to know about modelling assumptions and limitations;is familiar with graphs;likes to press buttons.The museum is planning an exhibition called “Plastics in our Oceans: A Cautionary Tale” which
examines how humankind’s voracious appetite for the production and consumption of plastic productscan have calamitous consequences for the natural environment around us. The aim of the exhibitionis summarised in the following passage from the exhibition prospectus:Plastics have revolutionised the cost-effectiveness and versatility of manufacturing in the post-war era. Plastics have become so commonplace in modern times that it is hard to imagine life without them. However, as plastic consumption has increased, so too has our knowledge and understanding of the potentially devastating impacts of mismanaged plastic waste. As we plan for a more sustainable future, we must examine our dependency on plastics and the consequences of inaction on the future health and prosperity of the planet. In this particular exhibit, patrons will gain a sense of scale for the rateatwhich the plastic productshumans produce are entering marine environments, both now, and in the future.The museum director has asked the SCIE1000 teaching team for help in finding skilled volunteersto develop exhibit items. Once developed, the items will be maintained and potentially modified bymuseum staff, each of whom has a strong background in high-school mathematics combined witha beginners level of Python experience. The director has been informed that SCIE1000 students1are skilled at: making mathematical models using a mathematicaltoolkit familiar to any studentwho has completed intermediate level high school maths (aka Mathematical Methods, or equivalent);writing Python programs, including those which use arrays, loops, plots and user-defined functions;and communicating scientific information to a variety of audiences.
2 An overview of the task
You will write an interactive Python program that will run on a machine in the exhibition hall atthe new science museum as part of this exhibition. Your program will guide users to a better understanding of the scale of plastic production and the impact this may have on marine environments.The information you need to create the relevant model is provided inSection 5 of this document,and a 代寫 SCIE1000 Python and Communicationhigh-level overview of how to complete the task is provided in Section 6.
This assignment requires you to produce two deliverables, (D1) and (D2), as outlined below:
(D1) A Python code file that satisfies the specifications in Section 7. This includes following thelogical flow laid out in the flowchart provided in Figure 3 (see Page 10).
(D2) An audio-video screencapture file (3-5 minutes long) in which you show your code and give anoverview of your approaches to modelling, programming and communication, aimed at museustaff who will need to maintain your code. One way to create such a file is by recording withZoom (open a Zoom meeting, share your screen, and select Record → Record to this computer).Please note that 5 minutes is a hard upper limit for the recording, and museum staff will stopwatching your video at the 5 minute mark.
3 Submission and grading
Both deliverables (D1) and (D2) are to be uploaded via the Blackboard submission link by 1pm on
October 15, 2024. If your video file is large, or if there are many other Blackboard users, it can take
time for your video file to load and you need to wait for your browser to complete the submission.The UQ guidelines on Blackboard assignment submissions ecommend submitting at least 3 hours before the deadline, in case of any internet/computer/technical issues. If you do have technical issues,
you should contact the student IT service “AskUs” at the library. Late submissions without an approved extension will be penalised according to the policy in the Course Profile;consult the Course Profile for more information.Your submitted code will be run and tested as part of this grading process. A rubric (grading criteria)for this assignment is on Page 11. The file that you submit will be checked using software which isspecially designed to detect plagiarism in code. Consult the Course Profile for more information andprocedures concerning plagiarism.This assignment has an advanced section which must be attempted by students aiming for grades of6 or 7 (see the grading criteria for more explanation). The shaded section of the flowchart indicates
he requirements of this advanced section. If you have any questions, please contact the courselecturers via the course discussion board (see Section 4 below).
24 About getting help
This assignment is a piece of summative assessment, designed to let you demonstrate your level of
mastery of several learning objectives in this course. As such, it is very important that the work you
submit is all your own. This does not mean that you cannot receive help in regards to this assignment,but that help must be limited to general advice about modelling,Python and communication. This
ask sheet has been carefully constructed, and part of your job is to interpret the information it
contains. Some choices have been left to your judgement, and this is intentional. Remember that you must not look at anyone else’s code and you must not show your code to anyone.Both of these actions are examples of behaviour that may be considered academic misconduct. Nocode from your assignment attempt should be posted on the course discussion board, or any otherite, at any time. However, if you have problems with your code, you may develop some genericsample code that demonstrates the issue that you are having (but does not relate to the assignment).This can be discussed with others and/or posted to the course discussion board for assistance. Allsuchdiscussion board posts must be made visible to all students, so that everyone can see the question
and the answer from lecturers.
5 Modelling plastic entering the ocean
5.1 Plastic production
The term plastic refers to a broad group of synthetic polymers that have become ubiquitous inmodern manufacturing due to their low production cost and broad utility across a huge range of dif
industries including packaging, consumer products, textiles, transportation, construction andelectronics. The origin of large scale plastic production dates backto the 1950s and global plasticproduction has increased year-on-year in all but three years since then [1].Figure 1: Examples of different modern plastic.
The museum exhibit aims to convey to patrons the scale of plastic production both now and intothe future, and what implications this may have for our oceans.
Selected data for the global rate of plastic production between 1975 and 2017 is provided in Table 2[2].3Table 2: Data for the annual global rate of plastic production from 1975–2017, sourced from [2] via
[
Where P is the rate of global plastic production (in million tonnes·year−1 ) and t is the time (in
years) since 1975. For modelling purposes, you may assume that any relationship for the global rate
of plastic production over the interval 1975–2017 can be extrapolated to future years. However, you
should clearly communicate to patrons when your model is being used to make predictions beyond
the time frame of the data provided.
5.2 Plastics entering the marine environment
The lifespan of a plastic product is the time that elapses between its creation until it becomes waste.
The lifespan of plastics varies significantly depending upon the type of plastic and how it is used. For
example, plastics used in building and construction typically have longer lifespans on the order of
decades, whereas plastics used in packaging may have an average lifespan on the order of months [4].
There are many different pathways for dealing with plastic wastes including reuse, recycling, thermal
destruction and disposal. However, reused and recycled plastics eventually need to be disposed of,
since these processes cannot be repeated indefinitely [1]. Mismanagement of plastic waste can lead
to plastics entering the marine environment.
Estimating how much plastic enters the world’s oceans is a complex problem. Jambeck et al. (2015)
developed a framework for estimating the amount of mismanaged plastic waste from coastal popu
lations that could potentially become marine debris. Based on data from 2010, they estimated that
approximately 2.96% of the plastic produced in that year ended up as ocean plastic [5], as depicted4in Figure 2. Using this information, and the model for plasticproduction provided in equation (1),you should develop a new model which estimates the global rate at which plastics enter the world’soceans. You may assume that this relationship between plastic produced and plastic entering the
oceans holds true in other years.
Figure 2: Infographic produced by [3] depicting the proportion of plastic produced that ended up in
the world’s oceans in 2010 based on [5].
5.3 A compounding problem
Once plastics have entered the marine environment they can remain there for a long time. In theocean, plastics do not generally biodegrade on a timescale that would contribute to the removal of
plastics from the environment. Instead, plastics at the sea surface are likely to undergo solar UVinduced photodegradation reactions. This “weathering” of plastic materials in the ocean can causelarger macroplastics to break down into microplastic debris [6]. The small size of such debris createsadditional problems for effective detection and can hamper efforts to remove plastics from the ocean.Consequently, without targeted intervention, we can assume that all plastics that have entered theocean remain in the ocean.
5.4 Impact of plastic on marine environments
Ingestion or interaction with marine plastics (such as through entanglement, ghost fishing, dispersalby rafting and habitat alteration) has been shown to affect more than 800 marine species, many of5which are listed as being at risk according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature[7, 8]. These effects can include ill health and death. Microplastics have been shown to collect in thegut, digestive tract and gills of various marine species when ingested, and some species have been
hown to accumulate microplastics in other tissues through translocation [8].As microplastics contaminate the environment, their presence has been demonstrated in the food chain. At lower trophic levels in the marine environment, the presence of microplastics has been reported in zooplankton, chaetognatha, ichtyoplankton, copepods, and salps. Microplastic contamination also occurs at higher trophic levels, in invertebrates (polychaetes, crustaceans, echinoderms, bivalves) and vertebrates (fish, seabirds, and mammals). Plastic particles reach them either through direct consumption or through trophic transfer.[10]
5.5 Looking to the future
Geyer (2020) suggests that, based on current trends in plastic production, waste generation, andwaste management, recycling and incineration will not be sufficient to sustainably manage plasticin the long term. Hence it will be important to consider mechanisms for reducing the amount ofplastic produced and consumed [1]. Furthermore, sustainable consumption and production have beenidentified by the United Nations as a key sustainable development goal as part of a larger collective
of 17 goals aimed at providing a global vision for achieving a sustainable, just, and safe planet [9].
6 A detailed overview of the task Your assignment submission must follow the specifications listed in Section 7. Below, we first give ahigh-level overview of how to approach the main section and the advanced section of this assessmenttask.
To complete the main section, you will need to:
❼ Determine an appropriate mathematical function to model the global rate at which plasticsenter the marine environment using the information provided in Sections 5.1 and 5.2, andclearly communicate the potential scale of this issue to patrons. Your model will be based onthe one provided by museum staff in equation (1). You will write a function in your code whichimplements the ocean plastics model. Your function should take one input, time in years since
1975, and return an estimate of the global rate at which plastics enter the marine environment(in million tonnes· year−1 ) at that time.❼ Produce a graph of the moof the rate of plastic entering the ocean.
❼ To give patrons a sense of the scale of plastic entering the ocean, you should include a com
parison for patrons which depends on the output of your model for the global rate of plasticentering the ocean. Your comparison should provide patrons with acleaunderstanding of thescale of the mass of plastic entering the ocean in their chosen year, by comparing it the mass
of an object or objects that would be familiar to the patrons.6❼ Communicate appropriately with museum patrons as informed by the main section of the
flowchart in Figure 3.
❼ Include a description of how you approached this section of your code in your screen capturevideo (D2), including (briefly) how you developed your models and the overall code structure.
To complete the advanced section, you will need to:
❼ Explore other models for the rate of plastics entering the ocean, using methods covered inSCIE1000. You will write a function in your code which implements your chosen alternativemodel. Create a graph that compares your alternative model to the quadratic model andpresent this to the science enthusiast.
❼ Calculate the predicted doubling time from the present year using your alternative model.
❼ Communicate appropriately with museum patrons as informed by the the advanced section ofhe flowchart in Figure 3.❼ Include a description of how you approached this section of your code in your screencapturevideo (D2), including how you developed your models.
7 Specifications for your submitted file
7.1 Specifications about the Python
❼ Museum staff have supplied a flowchart describing how the program should run (Figure 3 onPage 10). Your code must be an implementation of the flowchart provided.
❼ Your code must be well-structured and follow the guidelines for programming practice, as
introduced in SCIE1000.
❼ Whenever you prompt the user for information, you may assume they enter a suitable number,
and you can store their answer as an integer or as a floating point number as appropriate. You
do not need to check for incorrect inputs.
❼ You may only use Python commands introduced in SCIE1000. Recall that museum staff
must be able to maintain and modify the code, so you may only use commands that they
understand. Museum staff have a beginner’s level of experience using Python, which you may
regard as the equivalent of a student who has taken SCIE1000. The Python commands youhave covered in this course should be more than sufficient to complete the assignment.
❼ Museum staff have identified functions that they think will be useful in possible modificationsand extensions of the code. You must define these functions in your code. You shoulduse these functions in your code as appropriate. You may define other new functions as needed.
77.2 Specifications about the communication
❼ All messages to the user, including prompts to enter data, should communicate in a mannerappropriate for the level of patron and should serve the purpose of the program.
❼ You should write no more than a couple of sentences for each piece of information you explainto the user. Follow the principles for communication in science as described in Appendix B ofthe workbook. Be precise, clear and concise!
❼ You should use units appropriately in your communication with the user. Make sure you areaware of the units of values being passed into functions and the units of values being returnedrom functions.
❼ You should include useful and appropriate comments in your code to help the museum
staff who may need to maintain and modify the code. Any variable names and function names
you define should be chosen with communication in mind.
❼ Whenever you produce a graph you should provide appropriate labels and accompanying explanatory text.
❼ Your screen capture video should provide a clear overview of how your code works
and why you made the choices you did. This does not replace excellent commenting inthe code.
❼ To reference sources other than those cited in this task sheet, you should include a bibliographyas comments at the end of your code, to show the museum staff maintaining the code whereou obtained any relevant information you used. You may use any referencing style.
7.3 File type and file name
❼ Your assignment (D1) should be saved as a .py file called PlasticOceans********.py withthe string ******** replaced by your student number.
❼ Your screencapture audio/video file (D2) should be saved as Explanation********.mp4
with the string ******** replaced by your student number.
❼ It is your responsibility to ensure that the file types are correct.
8References
[1] Geyer, R. (2020). A brief history of plastics. In: M. Streit-Bianchi et al. (eds.), Mare Plasticum – The Plastic
Sea.
[2] Geyer, R., Jambeck, J.R. and Law, K.L. (2017). Production, use, and fate of all plastics ever made. Science
Advances: 3:e1700782 DOI:10.1126/sciadv.1700782
[3] Ritchie, H., Samborska, V. and Roser, M. (2023). Plastic Pollution. Our World in Data:
https://
ourworldindata.org/plastic-pollution
[4] Wang, C., Liu, Y., Chen, W.-Q., Zhu, B., Qu, S., Xu, M. (2021). Critical review of global plastics stock and flow
data. Journal of Industrial Ecology. 25: p. 1300– 1317. https://doi.org/10.1111/jiec.13125
[5] Jambeck, J.R., Geyer, R., Wilcox, C., Siegler, T.R., Perryman, M., Andrady, A., Narayan R. and Law, K.L.
(2015). Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean. Science: 347(6223), pp. 768-771. DOI:10.1126/science.
1260352
[6] Andrady, A. L. (2015). Persistence of plastic litter in the oceans. In Marine anthropogenic litter (pp. 57-72).
Springer, Cham.
[7] Marine Debris: Understanding, Preventing and Mitigating the Significant Adverse Impacts on Marine and Coastal
Biodiversity. Technical Series No.83. Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Montreal, 78 pages.
[8] Steer, M., and Thompson, R. C. (2020). Plastics and Microplastics: Impacts in the Marine Environment. In Mare
Plasticum-The Plastic Sea (pp. 49-72). Springer, Cham.
[9] United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Sustainable Development. (n.d.) Ensure sustainable
consumption and production patterns. https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal12. Date accessed: 26th April, 2022.
[10] Hollman, Peter CH and Bouwmeester, Hans and Peters, Rudolphus Johannes Bernhardus (2013). Microplastics
in aquatic food chain: sources, measurement, occurrence and potential health risks. In RIKILT.
9Print a welcome message appropriate for all patrons.
Print a statement explaining the patron types and prompt the user to enter their patrtype.Print an introduction about plastics and this exhibit appropriate for the chosen patron
type.Print a statement about the scale of plastic production and plastics entering the ocean anow this has changed over time as appropriate for the chosen patron ype.nthusiast?Display a graph of the model of the rate of plastic enteringhe ocean vs. years since 1975 over the period 1975—2050our graph should display estimateddata points by year
given in Section 5.1. Your model should use a solid linewhen interpolating and a dashed line when extrapolating.Prompt the user to enter a year between 1975 and 2050.Yes
NoCalculate the estimated rate of plastic entering the ocean in that year using yourmodel and report a message with a useful comparison, as appropriate for the
chosen patron type.Ask the user if they wish to choose another year.Print a statement appropriate for the patron type explaining why plastics accumulating in
the ocean over time is an issue.Explain at least two limitations of the quadratic model that has been used.No
YesEnthusiast?Graph your new model with the quadratic model andcompare the two. an appropriate farewell message.Advanced NoYeAsk the patron to estimate how long it will take for the rateof plastic entering the ocean to double from the current level,