Thesis and Literature Review: Air Quality Assessment (Thesis Proposal Sample)

Literature Review
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Introduction
Air pollution continues to be a major problem affecting the overall air quality globally partly because of natural processes and largely because of human activities (Botkin & Keller, 1997). Growing emission of nicotine to the environment by the smokers is one of the major pollutants affecting the air quality negatively but many researchers interested in the assessment of air quality have been overlooking this important aspect. It has become very important to investigate this issue, especially because of the growing use of e-cigarettes as an alternative to tobacco smoking as a way of enhancing the health of the smokers (European Lung Foundation, 2013). However, the proponents of e-cigarettes have been oblivious of the fact that e-cigarettes could be healthier to the smoker but riskier to the environment hence the importance of undertaking a research study in this area.
Electronic cigarettes, mainly referred to as e-cigarettes are electronic devices that help an individual to inhale nicotine with an objective of helping such a person to quit smoking tobacco (European Lung Foundation, 2013). There are few studies on the assessment of risks and benefits of e-cigarettes to the users and the environment because these types of cigarettes have emerged lately as a new concept that many researchers have not investigated (European Lung Foundation, 2013). Cigarette smoking has potential health risks to the smoker but they experience a problem in attempts to quit smoking because of the addictive element of nicotine. Cigarette smoking becomes even a more complex problem because the nicotine is also exposed to the air, which results in secondary smoking to the non-smokers. Therefore, smoking has also become an issue of concern among the environmentalists interested in the quality of air. Air pollution is an extensive and broad field because it can involve pollution from a great number of elements. Nevertheless, it is important to recognize that some aspects of air pollution are more critical than others hence would require more attention. To assess air quality effectively, it is important to collect meteorological data and analyse it to determine the level of various air pollutants (World Health Organisation, 2016). The use of e-cigarettes is a new air pollution issue that require attention from the researcher because the nicotine emitted to the air by these cigarettes is damaging to the environment (Sglantz, 2016). Lack of smoke from e-cigarettes does not make them environmental friendly at all. Therefore, air quality assessment should focus on this area as a new aspect that has not been investigated but its potential damages to the environment can be anticipated. For example, use of e-cigarettes has the potential to normalise smoking because many people may indulge into the behaviour hence increasing the overall nicotine emission to the environment. Environmentalists have been overlooking the issue of e-cigarettes and this should change as soon as possible. The objective of this study is to analyse the existing literature covering the use of e-cigarettes and the resulting effects environment. This wil...