Literature Review

Nanotechnology is becoming an increasing part of everyday life. Although the word is unfamiliar to most people, they might be surprised to find that in buying such things as golf balls or tennis rackets, they could also be purchasing a small piece of this growing industry. Carbon nanotubes, for instance, are one kind of nanotechnology that is used in the previous examples to illicit desired properties from sports equipment – generally low weight and high strength.
“At the current prices and with the available technology, carbon nanotubes can be added in small quantities to carbon fibers to form hybrid polymer–matrix composites. Such use allows manufacturers to produce components with higher performance at moderately higher prices.” (Esawi; Farag, 2006)

However, little is known about its effects on human health – toxicology reports are limited and have little standardisation in place, making comparison of data very difficult and as such, safety classifications for hundreds of materials and products do not as yet exist. With so many confused about or completely ignorant of the implications and application of nanotechnology, there is a growing concern about regulating these products in order to prevent mistakes like the use of asbestos in domestic applications that ended, only recently with bans on their use (in1985 for blue and brown asbestos, 1999 for white) due to vast health and safety issues. In fact, carbon nanotubes have come under similar scrutiny- there is some evidence that suggests that the similarity of these tubes to asbestos fibres could indeed result in them causing asbestos-like health problems, such as lung cancer.
“…in Scotland, scientists observed that long, thin carbon nanotubes look and behave like asbestos fibers, which have been shown to cause mesothelioma , a deadly cancer of the membrane lining the body's internal organs (in particular the lungs) that can take 30 to 40 years to appear following exposure…”. (Greenemeier, 2008)
On the other hand, different technologies in the same field have more recently been hailed as potential future cures for cancer, and in one case, nanoscale molecules of titanium dioxide have been created that are capable of tracking down cancerous cells, and then causing their death thanks to an antibody bonded to the molecule. Of course, these advances can be very benificial, provided the costs are carefully counted, but another problem facing nanotechnology is public opinion. In an article for ‘Nanowerk’ (Berger, 2007) Dr Michael Siegrist, a researcher at the University of Zurich’s Social Psychology Institute, said:
“Laypeople’s perceptions of the risks associated with nanotechnology were significantly higher than the experts’ perceptions of the risks,”
If the public do not accept these products as safe, many avenues will remain unexplored, and at the moment most people still think that nanotechnology is science fiction.




References:

Amal M.K. Esawi, Mahmoud M. Farag , 2006. Carbon Nanotube Reinforced Composites: Potential and Current Challenges (ScienceDirect Article) [Online] Updated 28 November 2006
Available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6TX5-4MFKCWY-1&_user=1004260&_coverDate=12%2F31%2F2007&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_origin=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_acct=C000050178&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=1004260&md5=73135ea045c604ffb26033035cb25427&searchtype=av
[Accessed 5 November 2010]

Greenemeier, L., 2008. Study Says Carbon Nanotubes as Dangerous as Asbestos. Scientific American [Online]
Available at: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=carbon-nanotube-danger
[Accessed 5 November 2010]

Berger, M., 2007. Trust will be a key factor in the public’s acceptance of nanotechnology. Nanowerk [Online]
Available at: http://www.nanowerk.com/spotlight/spotid=1702.php
[Accessed 6 November 2010]

Mentor Reflections

I chose my girlfriend to be my mentor, as she is older than me and has often given me good advice on how to take responsibility for myself. We discussed several aspects of my education, and concluded that although I had the right attitude to do the work, that sometimes my approach is not always the best for a particular task. We came up the possibility of keeping a diary in order to keep myself more organised, which I have taken to quite readily and has allowed me to keep better track of not only what I am doing at UCP but also what is going on in my personal life,allowing me to deal with day-to-day situations better as well as becoming more reliable. Being able to now break work down day by day rather than rushing to tackle everything I have on my plate at once means I feel more comfortable about my workload. Never the less, she has encouraged me to work a lot harder at my studies since we last discussed them, and also to rationalise and prioritise when I come to do my work which I feel will allow me to be more flexible about when I allow myself to relax, and when I feel I should get on with studying.

VARK Reflections

According to my VARK questionnaire, my preferred learning style is Read/Write. I would agree with this assessment, because I am usually most comfortable with learning when it involves skimming texts, studying books and taking notes, for which I nearly always simply write everything I need to know down- the act of writing nearly always allows me to recall most of my notes without actually reading them. This contrasts slightly with previous learning style tests I have taken, all of which classified me as a visual learner- whilst I think that this is true to some degree, as I do also find graphs, diagrams and other visual ways of representing data very helpful, I think that read/write is probably a more accurate category. Auditory is my weakest style, and I would say also my least favourite, but I find that most learning is not particularly auditory, so I am not particularly concerned by this. If I wanted to improve my auditory learning however, I would probably focus on my ability to retain information I hear, without necessarily having to write it down in the process.

SWOT Analysis Reflections

When I look at my SWOT analysis sheet, I can see that I do have the skills and qualities needed to succeed on my higher education courses. I can be patient, thorough and keen on my studies. However it also shows me that whilst these skills are useful, I need to re-assess my approach to my studies and change the way I behave to maximise my potential. My attitude towards educational work has changed somewhat over the last few years, and I think that I can be too distracted at times, and occasionally lazy at others, because after finishing A levels, the level 2 courses I studied when I began my apprenticeship were somewhat less of a challenge. Higher education requires a far more focused approach, but I must learn how to manage this focus and manage my own weaknesses. If I can do this, I believe that higher education is the key to a lot of future potential in my life, and I am capable enough to do the work- I just need to do my best.

Learning Line Reflections

My learning line tells me that although I have had difficulty in the past that I have the interest, and the oppurtunity to push myself further in terms of education. This is mostly thanks to my decision not to go to university after I finished my A levels, and become an apprentice. I believe that had I chosen to study a university course after my A levels, my learning line could have taken a more downward turn, as I think the real-world and theoretical experience I haver gained in the last 3 years has prepared me more adequately for higher education than had I launched into it at 18. Whilst I sometimes look back and wonder what life would have been like as a young university student, I believe that I have made the right choices, because a university course would not necessarily have had a particular aim - the courses I am on now are releveant to my career, and will advance it whereas finishing a degree course (such as the physics course i nearly took) with no job could have taken me anywhere, and rather than building a career and a cv, I would have been left with plenty of knowledge, but none of the experience that I have found to be a useful tool in my work life so far.