Emerging Technology Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Emerging Technology - Term Paper Example This paper talks about the meaning, history, application, and limitations among other aspects of nanotechnology. Definition, Meaning and History of Nanotechnology Nanotechnology is basically defined as engineering that deals with functional systems at a molecular scale. It can also be defined as the ability of the engineers to make new attributes by controlling features at a nanometre scale (Davies 1). This is the technology that has been used to manufacture the microsystems which have reduced voluminous devices into modern day small devices. Nanotechnology is not only able to produce small devices but also devices which produce minimal waste (Davies 1). Although nanotechnology has gained momentum in the second half of the 20th century, it was James Clerk Maxwell who first toyed with the idea in 1967 (Knol 3). He had called for an experiment of small entities with an aim of handling person molecules. Richard Adolf Zsigmondy became the first person to use nanometer to characterize par ticle sizes in 1914. Modern nanotechnology was suggested by Richard Feynman in 1959 (Knol 2). He brought forth the notion of constructing devices and machines in molecular scale. Gordon Moore went ahead to predict how modern day circuitry would look like in 1965. He did this through his rule which has been practical for 50 years. The nanotechnology applied today was defined by Tokyo Science University lecturer, Norio Taniguchi in 1974 (Knol 3). He defined nanotechnology as the process involving separation, consolidation, and deformation of supplies by use of one molecule or atom. This was followed by discoveries such as the Finns’ atomic layering process. Recognition of this process by the entire scientific community put nanotechnology on the map. Application of nanotechnology was first done by Eric Drexler, a famous nanotechnological scientist, using the idea of molecular manufacturing (Knol 4). He argued that molecules would be a tight collection of marbles if atoms were ta ken to be marbles as represented in figure 1. This saw the molecules become standard scaled tools. These nanoscale tools worked in the same way as their significant counterparts irrespective of their size. The bonds between atoms could hold them together to form parts of nano machines. Drexler had visualized that these nano bots would be used as assemblers so as to place atoms into any desired shape. Drexler went ahead to argue that coal could be modified to diamond and computer chips could be formed from sand. He also explained that the process of manufacturing goods would be quickened by reorganizing the atoms that make them. This ignited the minds of many scientist who consequently devoted their time to develop nanotechnology and its applications we they are seen today. Fig. 1: Tight collection of marbles/atoms Courtesy of hplusmagazine.com Recent Business Applications of Nanotechnology Nanotechnology has had widespread applications in all sectors of the economy. Due to its prove d success in the manufacture of nanometer scale products, it has attracted all industries. Currently, it is the leading in production and application of

The Way Technology Has Changed Man: Hopkins And Wordsworth :: essays research papers

"Where do you want to go today?". We all know this slogan of the most advanced software company in the world, Microsoft. The question we will soon have to answer is were we can't go today. William Wordsworth, a quaint man from the late 18th century and early 19th century, understood the need for change in this world and expressed a pre-mature concern for the future that still applies to this very day in "The world is too much with us". Gerald Hopkins, a poet from the later 19th century, expressed many of same ideas and philosophies as Wordsworth in "God's Grandeur". Their main points were that man's continuous journey towards the future has led us to forget our roots. Though how could two poets from two different lifestyles, Wordsworth the revolutionary and Hopkins the Jesuit, come up with the same basic ideas? They both showed that our continuous journey towards the future has led us to forget our roots as shown by our destruction of nature, by the way the Industrial Revolution has torn us away from our harmony with nature and by the ways we can return back to mother earth.Man continues to destroy nature in an attempt to strengthen himself. Wordsworth and Hopkins talk about man's primal instinct to destroy what is around him. Ironically our destruction of nature leads to the advancements in our personal technologies. This is made evident when Wordsworth says "getting and spending we lay waste our powers." While it is obvious is that Wordsworth thinks we have become to attached to material goods, what does he mean by "lay waste our powers"? Perhaps the only explanation we can give is that Wordsworth believes that Man has, somewhere deep down in him, the ability to be a creator, an architect who can use nature and not abuse it. He also believes that Man keeps destroying nature without realizing the effects this adds to our lives. Hopkins shows this same type of idea but with a higher connection, the power of God. He uses God as a way of showing us the wrong we are doing. He shows Man's disobedience of God as a way to show that we have forgotten nature. Wordsworth thinks our own ambitions have led us to this point and we can't say that Hopkins completely disagrees with that. Hopkins shows how nature accumulates our pollution. They both must have realized the influence these technologies were having on their societies.

Ketcham

At the opening of his essay â€Å"A Rational for Civic Education.†Ã‚   Ralph Ketcham cites America’s forefather Thomas Jefferson who noted that to understand their rights, to maintain them, and to exercise with intelligence their parts in self-government (Ketcham 145).   Jefferson understood the great travails that people had to undertake in order to become free. He truly felt that each person to come had a civic duty to preserve this great freedom.   I am in complete agreement with Ketcham that civic education is important, but it is a harder task to accomplish than one might think.   This attitude is embodied by many adults today, but it is harder and harder to make younger people understand its relevance.Unfortunately, over the centuries, people have forgotten the original concept of freedom as a privilege and see themselves as entitled to all the rights they can claim.   How many court cases have involved some sort of rights violation, as if everybody had a right to have everything he wanted? Civic education is important for people to learn to give back to the country what the country has given to them. Instead of the country owing them, they owe the country, which was poignantly noted in John F. Kennedy’s famous words â€Å"ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.†   Decades after Jefferson’s speech, President Truman sadly noted that college graduates often fell short of the human wholeness and civic conscience which the cooperative activities of citizenship require† (Ketcham 146).Basically, Ketcham argues that this trend occurred as colleges and secondary schools began to see more and more diversity in their populations of students and faculty members and higher degrees of specialization in the teachers.   Because of all this difference, the general â€Å"one-size-fits-all† course of Civics became many course offerings at the college level to suit diverse in terests and to, perhaps, not offend one of the many subsets of citizens in the process (146-147).Civics in many high schools is taught to students as young as fourteen and fifteen years old; these individuals are too young to drive a car, vote in an election, or even to conceptualize their roles as a citizen, let alone practice civic responsibility and self-government.In his essay, Ketcham spends a lot of time discussing the mass accumulation of data that political and social science now demands and concludes that its intended purpose is political agenda, not self-governing.   Fact seeking is a safe activity, and most educated individuals know that statistics can be made to say whatever a person wants, or needs, them to say.However, another plausible explanation is that individuals are no longer learning how to serve government, but instead they are learning how to avoid serving, how to find miniscule violations of supposed rights, to keep from having to do anything they donâ€⠄¢t want to do.   It seems that many of these courses don’t teach citizenship, but teach how to avoid it.   The operate on the idea that â€Å"your rights are violated if†¦Ã¢â‚¬  rather than â€Å"for your rights, you should do this†¦.†Ketcham acknowledges that teaching the public to serve the government is difficult because of differing opinions on what â€Å"right† is.   The natural law may still be intact, but the different religions and cultures that make up the United States can make agreement difficult.   Add to that the inclination for human beings to be selfish and self-serving and the process is muddied further (148-149).Ketcham cited Reinhold Nieuhr who says that â€Å"man’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible; but man’s inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary† (151).   While some people do take civic-minded responsibility very seriously, many others do not.   It seems that Ketcham does not really trust people to undertake their civic roles independently and that he is probably correct in his hesitation.Basically, Ketcham is arguing that individuals, left to their own devices, will not automatically mold into self-governing entities.   The problem is that he doesn’t really explain how a civic education will accomplish this.   While most people agree that a civic education is important, few really know how to turn that into a positive populace.   Even those civic duties that are extremely well-understood are severely underutilized.   In this fast-paced society, people just don’t want to take the time.For example, one civic duty that is actually the source of much bloodshed around the world right now is voting.   While the recent presidential elections have been more exciting than most, the average percentage of people voting during non-Presidential election years in my state is between 12 and 18%.   These people all know that they are allow ed, even compelled, to vote, but still more than four-fifths of the state does not do so.   These numbers are similar for most states, especially among young people.   How do we convince these people to vote?   They have to know that their individual vote matters.   Most people do not really believe that.Next, another civic duty that I have had more than my fair share of is jury duty.   Jury duty is a disruptive irritation to most people.   Unless a juror is lucky (or unlucky) enough to be placed on the O.J. or Paris Hilton trial, most cases are dull and boring.   At my most recent summons, I watched as one person after another attempted to weasel out of doing the duty.   In fact, over a third of the jury pool did not show up.The bailiff assured those of us remaining that they would be subpoenaed to the judge, but few of us believed it.   The running joke is that the only members of a jury are those too stupid to get out of jury duty.   If this is the case, peopl e seem to be actively seeking ways to avoid self-government.   To make matters worse, I got a parking ticket for parking where I was told to park.   It seems that the government is actually repelling people from becoming active citizens.Unfortunately, many people will still gripe and groan.   Perhaps the best civic education would be to teach silence to those who don’t intend to participate.   Those who do participate can then assemble and appeal all they want to.   Unfortunately, it seems that only the most extreme groups have the motivation to organize pickets, sit-ins and the like.   The rest of the citizens are just too busy.   What about writing letters to the governor or congressmen?   Well, America has seen enough shows like West Wing to know that those letters barely make it to a third of fourth string aide.   If we are to be self-governing, we must be certain that our government will listen.Ketcham makes a valid argument that people should all be in troduced to a general civics course at some point during their education.   Certainly every citizen should be well versed in what it takes to be a civic-minded individual.   However, he seems at a loss about how to go from the esoteric and ideal concept of a self-governing populace to the pragmatics of actually making that happen.   If this push toward the more civic-minded citizen is to happen, the obstacles that the government and individuals have created will have to be identified, addressed, and overcome.

What Is a Kilopascal (kPa)

The kilopascal is based on the pascal unit. Heres the definition and a look at the units history. Kilopascal or kPa Definition The kilopascal is a unit of pressure. 1 kPa is approximately the pressure exerted by a 10-g mass resting on a 1-cm2 area. 101.3 kPa 1 atm. There are 1,000 pascals in 1 kilopascal. The pascal and thus the kilopascal are named for the French polymath Blaise Pascal. Kilopascal Uses The pascal (Pa) and kilopascal (kPa) are the most common units of pressure throughout the world. Even in the United States, kPa is often used in favor of pounds per square inch (PSI). The pascal, kilopascal, and gigapascal (GPa) are used to express tensile strength, compressive strength, Youngs modulus, and stiffness of materials. Sources International Bureau of Weights and Measures (2006). The International System of Units (SI) (8th ed.). ISBN 92-822-2213-6.  IUPAC.org. Gold Book,  Standard Pressure.