Science and Technology Studies Commons^™

Radio As The Voice Of God: Peace And Tolerance Radio Programming’S Impact On Norms, Daniel P. Aldrich

Daniel P Aldrich

Observers have argued that radio programming can alter norms, especially through hate radio designed to increase animosity between groups. This article tests whether or not radio programming under the countering violent extremism (CVE) policy framework can reduce potential conflict and increase civic engagement and positive views of foreign nations. Data from surveys of more than 1,000 respondents in Mali, Chad, and Niger illuminate the ways in which peace and tolerance programming changed perspectives and altered behavior in statistically significant ways. Results show that individuals exposed to multi-level U.S. government programming were more likely to listen to peace and tolerance radio. …

Hoffman Triangle 2012: Neighborhood Profile Report, Michelle M. Thompson, Josh Baer, Rachael Bauer, Frank Carter, Patrick Coyle, Alex Depriest, Malissa Dietsch, Lawrence Guimont, Kevin Harrison, Nelson Hollings, Annabeth Mccall, Tara Mckeefry, Valerie Mcmillan, Brooke Perry, Adarian Pike, Kevin Potter

Dr. Michelle M. Thompson, GISP, FRGS

Hoffman Triangle is located in the Central City neighborhood of New Orleans. It is bounded by South Claiborne Avenue to the South, Toledo Street and Washington Avenue to the West and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to the East. It is a neighborhood that continues to evolve and significantly grow after the Hurricane Katrina in 2005. In order to support the work that the Neighborhood Development Foundation, Associated Neighborhood Development and the Hoffman Triangle Neighborhood Association are doing to improve the quality of life of all existing and future residents, WhoData.org and the University of New Orleans – Department of …

The Legal Challenges Of Networked Robotics: From The Safety Intelligence Perspective, Yueh-Hsuan Weng, Sophie T.H. Zhao

Yueh-Hsuan Weng

Social Construction Of Safety In Uas Technology In Concrete Settings: Some Military Cases Studied, Gwendolyn C.H. Bakx, James M. Nyce

Gwendolyn C.H. Bakx

Unmanned aerial systems (UASs) in general and UAS safety in particular have so far received little attention in the science, technology and society (STS) literature. This paper therefore reports on sev- eral (military) cases of this relatively new technology, focusing specifi cally on issues of safety. Quite often, safety of technology is considered the result of a rational process – one of a series of rational, often calculative, linear steps. The paper’s results suggest that establishing safety in military UASs is very much a social process. Approaching (military) UAS safety from this perspective could perhaps be complementary to more analytical …

Editorial: Social Implications Of Technology- “Il Buono, Il Brutto, Il Cattivo”, Katina Michael

Professor Katina Michael

Late last year, IEEE SSIT was invited to put together a paper for the centennial edition of Proceedings of the IEEE that was published in May 2012. The paper titled, “Social Implications of Technology: The Past, the Present, and the Future,” brought together five members of SSIT with varying backgrounds, and two intense months of collaboration and exchange of ideas. I personally felt privileged to be working with Karl D. Stephan, Emily Anesta, Laura Jacobs and M.G. Michael on this project.

Book Review: Handbook On Securing Cyber-Physical Critical Infrastructure: Foundations And Challenges (Written By Sajal K. Das, Krishna Kant, Nan Zhang), Katina Michael

Professor Katina Michael

This 800+ page handbook is divided into eight parts and contains thirty chapters, ideal for either an advanced undergraduate or graduate course in security. At the heart of this handbook is how we might go about managing both physical and cyber infrastructures, as they continue to become embedded and enmeshed, through advanced control systems, and new computing and communications paradigms.

Addressing Plagiarism In A Digital Age, Eleanor Kutz, Wayne Rhodes, Stephen Sutherland, Vivian Zamel

Eleanor Kutz

Four faculty members from UMass Boston's English Department explore possible ways of addressing the issue of plagiarism with their students as easy access to materials on the Internet is making it easier then ever to draw on others’ words, with or without appropriate documentation. Approaching faculty concerns from four complementary perspectives, the authors make the case for 1) recasting our understanding of plagiarism in terms of influence, borrowing, and remixing of the sort that is central to musical and artistic creation, 2) examining how students might develop greater awareness of the ways in which they are working with sources in …

Ambivalence And The Decision Tree, Kirby Farrell

kirby farrell

We are insolubly ambivalent creatures. Traditionally cultures have managed ambivalence by focusing on character and morality in motives. Freudian psychology recognized that cognitive conflict is insoluble and stressed equilibrium and grace in adaptation. Today technology's binary structure is complicating and sometimes superseding the traditional trope of character by organizing cognition around the trope of the decision tree.

George Gilbert Pond And The Preservation Of Priestley House, Kristen A. Yarmey, Anthony Cianchetta

Kristen A. Yarmey

Display prepared for the Friends of Priestley House. George Gilbert Pond, a longtime and legendary professor of chemistry at Penn State, saved Priestley House from destruction by purchasing it at an auction in 1919. Since then, Penn State chemists have played a role in ensuring its long term preservation. Graphic design by Anthony Cianchetta. Photos courtesy of the Penn State University Archives and the Friends of Priestley House.

Location-Based Social Networking And Its Impact On Trust In Relationships, Sarah Jean Fusco, Roba Abbas, Katina Michael, Anas Aloudat

Professor Katina Michael

Location based social networking (LBSN) applications are part of a new suite of social networking tools. LBSN is the convergence between location based services (LBS) and online social networking (OSN). LBSN applications offer users the ability to look up the location of another “friend” remotely using a smart phone, desktop or other device, anytime and anywhere. Users invite their friends to participate in LBSN and there is a process of consent that follows. This paper explores the potential impact of LBSN upon trust in society. It looks at the willingness of individuals to share their location data with family, friends, …

The Politics Of Natural Disasters (Pre-Print), Daniel P. Aldrich

Daniel P Aldrich

Political scientists, sociologists, geographers, anthropologists, economists, and historians have studied disaster recovery, best practices in disaster response, the role of the government in rebuilding, and so forth. This annotated bibliography illuminates representative examples of the interdisciplinary work in this vast academic subfield.

Cosmic Singularities: On The Nothing And The Sovereign, Mary-Jane Rubenstein

Mary-Jane Rubenstein

Until very recently, the creation myth of secular modernity has been the hot big bang hypothesis: the explosion of our single universe out of a single point. Physicists concede that in its traditional form, this story performs an uncanny recapitulation of Christian creation theology: the universe bursts forth suddenly, in a flood of light, out of nothing. As many contemporary thinkers have argued, however, the “nothing” of Christian orthodoxy is neither scripturally nor doctrinally self-evident; rather, it is the product of ontopolitical efforts to secure the sovereignty of God. This article traces the twinned concepts of sovereignty and nothingness through …

Emp And Geomagnetic Storm Protection Of Critical Infrastructure, George H. Baker Iii

George H Baker

EMP and solar storm wide geographic coverage and ubiquitous system effects beg the question of “Where to begin?” with protection efforts. Thus, in addressing these “wide area electromagnetic (EM) effects,” we must be clever in deciding where to invest limited resources. Based on simple risk analysis, the electric power and communication infrastructures emerge as the highest priority for EM protection. Programs focused on these highest risk infrastructures will go a long way in lessoning societal impact. Given the national scope of the effects, such programs must be coordinated at the national level but implemented at local level. Because wide-area EM …

Social Implications Of Technology: Past, Present, And Future, Karl D. Stephan, Katina Michael, M.G. Michael, Laura Jacob, Emily Anesta

Professor Katina Michael

The social implications of a wide variety of technologies are the subject matter of the IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology (SSIT). This paper reviews the SSIT’s contributions since the Society’s founding in 1982, and surveys the outlook for certain key technologies that may have significant social impacts in the future. Military and security technologies, always of significant interest to SSIT, may become more autonomous with less human intervention, and this may have both good and bad consequences. We examine some current trends such as mobile, wearable, and pervasive computing, and find both dangers and opportunities in these trends. …

Book Review: The Basics Of Information Security: Understanding The Fundamentals Of Infosec In Theory And Practice, Katina Michael

Professor Katina Michael

Dr Jason Andress (ISSAP, CISSP, GPEN, CEH) has written a timely book on Information Security. Andress who is a seasoned security professional with experience in both the academic and business worlds, categorically demonstrates through his book that underlying the operation of any successful business today is how to protect your most valuable asset- “information”. Andress completed his doctorate in computer science in the area of data protection, and presently works for a major software company, providing global information security oversight and performing penetration testing and risks assessment.

The Technological Trajectory Of The Automatic Identification Industry: The Application Of The Systems Of Innovation (Si) Framework For The Characterisation And Prediction Of The Auto-Id Industry, Katina Michael

Professor Katina Michael

Traditionally the approach used to analyse technological innovation focused on the application of the techno-economic paradigm with the production function as its foundation. This thesis explores the rise of the evolutionary paradigm as a more suitable conceptual approach to investigating complex innovations like automatic identification (auto-ID) devices. Collecting and analysing data for five auto-ID case studies, (bar codes, magnetic-stripe cards, smart cards, biometrics and RF/ID transponders), it became evident that a process of migration, integration and convergence is happening within the auto-ID technology system (TS). The evolution of auto-ID is characterised by a new cluster of innovations, primarily emerging through …

Integrating Value-Driven Feedback And Recommendation Mechanisms Into Business Intelligence Systems, Byron Keating, Tim Coltman, Michael Katina, Valeria Baker

Professor Katina Michael

Most leading organizations, in all sectors of industry, commerce and government are dependent upon

ERP for their organizational survival. Yet despite the importance of the decision to adopt ERP and its

impact on the entire firm’s performance the IT literature has been in the large part silent on the nature

of the ERP investment decision. This study is the first of its kind to determine the preference structure

of senior managers around the organizational benefits and risks of adopting ERP. We present the

results which provide interesting insights into how managers’ perceive the benefit and risk factors

salient to the …

Human Rights, Regulation, And National Security, Katina Michael, Simon Bronitt

Professor Katina Michael

Law disciplines technology, though it does so in a partial and incomplete way as reflected in the old adage that technology outstrips the capacity of law to regulate it. The rise of new technologies poses a significant threat to human rights – the pervasive use of CCTV (and now mobile CCTV), telecommunications interception, and low-cost audio-visual recording and tracking devices (some of these discreetly wearable), extend the power of the state and corporations significantly to intrude into the lives of citizens.

Comments On The Verizon-Spectrumco Deal, Scott J. Wallsten

Scott J. Wallsten

No abstract provided.

Erau Aviation Wildlife Hazard Newsletter, Paul F. Eschenfelder

Paul F. Eschenfelder

No abstract provided.

Effects Of International Collaboration And Knowledge Moderation On China’S Nanotechnology Research Impacts, Li Tang, Philip Shapira

Li Tang

Purpose – Recent studies report that China is becoming a leading nation in the quantity of scientific

output, including in the emerging field of nanotechnology. In nanotechnology, bibliometric measures

based on citations also indicate improvements in the research impacts of Chinese scientific papers. The

purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of international collaboration, including the role of

knowledge moderation through Chinese researchers who collaborate in both domestic and

international scientific cooperation, on the impacts of Chinese nanotechnology research publications.

Design/methodology/approach – Using a nanotechnology publication dataset, bibliometric

analysis and statistical testing are adopted to explore the issues …

Visualizing Nanotechnology Research In Canada: Evidence From Publication Activities, 1990-2009, Guangyuan Hu, Stephen Carley, Li Tang*

Li Tang

Over the last two decades the scientific community has witnessed unprecedented growth of nanotechnology research in Canada. Although recent studies have shown that Canada consistently maintains a position in the first tier of productive countries in terms of its share of the world’s nano-publications, a number of key questions remain unanswered. Using a unique nano-related publication dataset, this paper combines bibliometric analysis and science overlay mapping to visualize the ‘invisible college’ of Canadian nano research. The present analysis finds that the rapid growth of nanotechnology research in Canada is, for the most part, externally driven. In recent years, research content …

Ch 21. 'Future Perspectives On Solar Fuels', Thomas A. Faunce

Thomas A Faunce

This chapter opens by examining whether the research and development of molecular solar fuels will be characterized in future by its promotion of fundamental societal virtues such as equality and environmental sustainability. As a thought experiment, it presents a vision of some important elements of such a future world—one where energy is primarily not only a matter of global artificial photosynthesis (GAP), but of such virtues. Central to the future perspective presented here is nanotechnological construction with enhanced efficiency of each aspect of the natural photosynthetic process into units capable of inexpensive mass production for domestic use. This involves a …

Governing Planetary Nanomedicine: Environmental Sustainability And A Unesco Universal Declaration On The Bioethics And Human Rights Of Natural And Artificial Photosynthesis (Global Solar Fuels And Foods)., Thomas A. Faunce

Thomas A Faunce

Environmental and public health-focused sciences are increasingly characterised as constituting an emerging discipline—planetary medicine. From a governance perspective, the ethical components of that discipline may usefully be viewed as bestowing upon our ailing natural environment the symbolic moral status of a patient. Such components emphasise, for example, the origins and content of professional and social virtues and related ethical principles needed to promote global governance systems and policies that reduce ecological stresses and pathologies derived from human overpopulation, selfishness and greed— such as pollution, loss of biodiversity, deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as provide necessary energy, water and …

A Bad Trip For Health-Related Human Rights: Implications Of Momcilovic V The Queen (2011) 85 Aljr 957, Tim Vines, Thomas A. Faunce

Thomas A Faunce

Momcilovic v The Queen (2011) 85 ALJR 957 [PDF] ; [2011] HCA 34 arose from a prosecution for drug trafficking brought under the Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Act 1981 (Vic) . The Australian High Court held that the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 (Vic) (the Charter) validly conferred a power on the Victorian Supreme Court and Court of Appeal to interpret legislation in a manner consistent with a defined list of human rights. By a slim majority it also held that the Charter validly created a judicial power to "declare" a law inconsistent with one or …

Challenges To Australia’S National Health Policy From Trade And Investment Agreements, Thomas A. Faunce

Thomas A Faunce

Recent federal trade policy commitments concerning the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) negotiations (against changes to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) and against inclusion of an investor state provision) could protect Australia’s tobacco control legislation and Australia's sovereign capacity to regulate public health and environmental policy

The Proposed Ban On Certain Nanomaterials For Electrical And Electronic Equipment In Europe: Global Security Implications, Thomas A. Faunce, Hitoshi Nasu

Thomas A Faunce

International collaboration on nanotechnology governance has so far paid little attention to security implications of regulating the use of nanotechnology. For example, the Coalition of Non-Governmental Organizations (initiated by the International Centre for Technological Assessment) developed 'Principles for the Oversight of Nanotechnologies and Nanomaterials' to provide a set of ethical standards for nanotechnology research and development (Kimbrell, 2009). Similar initiatives are observed at the national level, as has been seen in the Swiss Retailers Association Code of Conduct and the UK's Responsible NanoCode (Bowman and Hodge, 2009, pp.149-152). The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has also been active …

Leisure Divide: Can The Third World Come Out To Play?, Payal Arora

Payal Arora

As billions of dollars are invested in mitigating the digital divide, stakes are raised to gain validity for these cost-intensive endeavors, focusing more on online activities that have clear socio-economic outcomes. Hence, farmers in rural India are watched closely to see how they access crop prices online, while their Orkuting gets sidelined as anecdotal. This paper argues that this is a fundamental problem as it treats users in emerging markets as somehow inherently different from those in the West. After all, it is now commonly accepted that much of what users do online in developed nations is leisure-oriented. This perspective …

Powerful Numbers Or A Short Reflection On Influential Analyses In The History Of Science Of Science Policy, Diana Hicks

Diana Hicks

The quantitative analysis of issues relevant to science policy has a history dating back several decades. Over that time, there have been occasions in which scholarly analyses have escaped from the ivory tower and made an impact on policy discussions or on policy itself. In this paper, I review some of these occasions, looking at what type of analyses were used, who used such analyses, and for what purposes.

Towards Global Artificial Photosynthesis (Global Solar Fuels): Energy, Nanochemistry And Governance, Thomas A. Faunce

Thomas A Faunce

Introduction to special open access edition of Australian Journal of Chemistry with papers from 'Towards Global Artificial Photosynthesis: Energy, Nanochemistry and Governance' conference Lord Howe Island 2011