Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Dialogue Television: The Climate Engineers, James Fleming

James R. Fleming

The problem of global warming is getting massive public attention. This comes forty years after the first major government report outlining the problem. But there is considerable disagreement over what steps should be taken to mitigate the problem and some scientist fear that politicians are not displaying sufficient urgency. James Fleming describes the technological quick fixes proposed by some scientists and the problems they might create.

Quarries, Caravans, And Routes To Complexity: Prehispanic Obsidian In The South-Central Andes (Ph.D. Dissertation, Uc Santa Barbara Anthropology), Nicholas Tripcevich

Nicholas Tripcevich, Ph.D.

Research And Theory In Advancing Spatial Data Infrastructure Concepts

Harlan J Onsrud

At a high level, the term “spatial data infrastructure” (SDI) is largely self-explanatory. Yet when applied in practice, the concept is complex and has attracted varying definitions in different institutional, social and national contexts. In many nations the assumption is that an SDI is the geographic information technology component of electronic governance. In these nations there may be a strong focus on government itself actively supplying or at least facilitating the creation and maintenance of each of the above elements in order to achieve government objectives. In other nations, government may consciously take a much more passive role in regard …

Using Fuzzy Clustering Methods For Delineating Urban Housing Submarkets, Sungsoon Hwang

Sungsoon Hwang

This study investigates whether a fuzzy clustering method is of any practical value in delineating urban housing submarkets relative to clustering methods based on classic (or crisp) set theory. A fuzzy c-means algorithm is applied to obtain fuzzy set membership degree of census tracts to housing submarkets defined within a metropolitan area. Issues of choosing algorithm parameters are discussed on the basis of applying fuzzy clustering to 85 metropolitan areas in the U.S. The comparison between results of fuzzy clustering and those of crisp set counterpart shows that fuzzy clustering yields statistically more desirable clusters.

The Climate Engineers: Playing God To Save The Planet, James Fleming

James R. Fleming

As alarm over global warming spreads, a radical idea is gaining momentum. Forget cuts in greenhouse-gas emissions, some scientists argue. Find a technological fix. Bounce sunlight back into space by pumping reflective nanoparticles into the atmosphere. Launch mirrors into orbit around the earth. Create a “planetary thermostat.” But what sounds like science fiction is actually an old story. For more than a century, scientists, soldiers, and charlatans have hatched schemes to manipulate the weather and climate. Like them, today’s aspiring climate engineers wildly exaggerate what is possible, and they scarcely consider political, military, and ethical implications of attempting to manage …