Science and Technology Policy Commons^™

The End Of Unmeasured Exploitation: How A.S.M., C.A.S., And S.I.A. Challenge Digital Attention Capitalism, Delante Clark

Graduate Scholarship and Creative Works

Digital attention capitalism generates value through the capture and monetization of human attention, yet it has historically lacked standardized mechanisms for measuring attention-related harm. This paper argues that the Attention Safeguard Models (A.S.M.), Cognitive Attentional Standards (C.A.S.), and Sociological Impact Assessment (S.I.A.) collectively challenge this system by introducing an integrated framework for classifying, measuring, and evaluating digital attention harm and its societal consequences. C.A.S. provides standardized measurement of digital attention harm, A.S.M. identifies and classifies patterns of attentional disruption and manipulation, and S.I.A. evaluates broader impacts on institutions, communities, civic engagement, education, social cohesion, and inequality. Together, these systems transform …

Nihilistic Violence Aesthetics In Public Online Communication, Heath Nicholas Landress

Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences

Public online communication has increasingly included violence-related content that is meme-based, ironic, visually stylized, multimodal, and only partially ideological. This comprehensive literature review synthesized research on online extremism, extremist memes, toxic multimodal content, dehumanizing digital communication, nihilistic violent extremism, warning behaviors, platform affordances, and youth-facing online environments. The purpose was to clarify what the literature had established; identify where the scholarship remained fragmented; and map research domains relevant to social, behavioral, public safety, and human services scholarship. The review used a structured, comprehensive literature review strategy supported by integrative synthesis procedures. The final corpus contained 34 scholarly sources, including 32 …

Governing Algorithmic Attention: Attention Safeguard Models And The Cognitive Attentional Standard As System Level Interventions In Human Computer Interaction, Behavioral Economics, And Artificial Intelligence, Delante Clark

Graduate Scholarship and Creative Works

Algorithmic recommendation systems and interface designs shape attention by combining visually salient cues with uncertain reward timing and low friction interaction. These conditions can sustain anticipatory checking, extend time on task, and reduce natural disengagement points through patterns such as infinite scrolling and autoplay. This paper synthesizes research across neuroscience, human computer interaction, behavioral economics, and artificial intelligence to argue that attention capture is a predictable outcome of incentive driven design rather than an individual failure of self regulation. It advances the Attention Safeguard Models and the Cognitive Attentional Standard as system level interventions that regulate exposure conditions, pacing, and …

Shaping Egypt’S Transition To Sustainable Electric Transport: Current Policies And Future Directions, Noha A. Ragab

Theses and Dissertations

Egypt has enacted policies to promote the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) in order to reduce their overall carbon footprint. However, the pace of transition remains limited, so the research aims to answer the following question: “How do current policies shape Egypt’s transition towards sustainable electric transport, and what additional measures can support this transition?" The study employs a qualitative analysis methodology, based on diffusion of innovation theory and conceptual framework, to analyze current policies in Egypt and identify challenges and gaps in their implementation. It also analyzes responses from 23 interviews with experts in the field, manufacturers, dealers, EV …

The Security Of Llm-Generated Code, Christopher Brian Gonzalez Ayala

Student Theses

The rapid adoption of Large Language Models (LLMs) in software development has transformed coding practices by enabling automated code generation, completion, and optimization. Despite these advantages, concerns persist regarding the security and reliability of LLM-generated code. This study presents a comprehensive evaluation of both the functional correctness and security of code produced by three prominent LLMs as of early 2026. A total of 4,800 code snippets were generated using 100 security-focused programming prompts derived from the OWASP Top 10:2025, translated across eight natural languages and two phrasing styles (literal and natural developer-oriented prompts). To assess performance, a multi-stage experimental framework …

Opportunities, Challenges, And Conspicuous Absences: An Integrative Review Of The Social Work Literature On Artificial Intelligence, Michael J. Massey, Ian G. Williams, Grace C. Polistina, Eathan A. Breaux

Publications and Research

INTRODUCTION: Social work discourse regarding artificial intelligence (AI) in practice, research, and education has proliferated over the last 5 years, reflecting both excitement over its potential and ambivalence about its ethical challenges. However, the extent to which social work is fully engaging with the structure of AI and its enormous impacts on the environment, labour, and distribution of power remains unclear.

METHODS: An integrative review of social work literature from 2020–2024 was conducted to address two research questions: 1) What is the nature of the social work discourse related to AI? 2) To what extent is the discourse …

Assessing Public-Sector Readiness For Artificial Intelligence In Egypt, Renad Ahmed Anwar

Theses and Dissertations

Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly adopted in public-sector contexts, yet successful implementation depends on organizational readiness, particularly in developing countries. This study assesses the readiness of Egypt’s public sector for AI adoption using a qualitative expert opinion methodology. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with senior professionals from global technology firms with extensive experience working with public-sector entities in Egypt.

Guided by by an integrated framework combining organizational readiness theory, the Technology–Organization–Environment (TOE) framework, and public value and governance perspectives, the study examines strategic, organizational, human, technological, societal, and governance dimensions of AI readiness. The findings indicate that while Egypt demonstrates strong …

Calculated Risks: The Power Of Predictive Risk Models To Regulate Families Of Color, Ashleigh Washington

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines predictive risk modelling (PRM) in New York City Administration for Children's Services (ACS), specifically exploring AI-enabled design features, practices, and encoded and racialized assumptions about risk in child welfare prevention services. Guided by Critical Race Theory and the Algorithmic Ecology framework, this study traces how PRM in ACS evolved from a service termination tool into a broader, largely internal surveillance apparatus that leverages families’ personal information, including health information, to assess risk of future maltreatment and to evaluate contracted service providers. Drawing on analysis of public records and in-depth interviews with Black parents, the findings describe how …

When Words Flow Like Water: How The Enbridge Line 3 Pipeline Environmental Impact Statement Failed To Prevent Hydrogeologic Harm In Minnesota, Carly Gutzmann

Journal of Earth and Life Science

For the aquifers of Minnesota, the environmental impact statement (EIS) was a promise of protection that never left the page. An environmental impact statement is meant to be an aid in the decision making process in order to ensure that projects consider potential environmental harms that may occur. However, they are often used instead as another regulatory box to check, rather than as active considerations when planning. As such, a project plan can be flawed from the start—if project developers only consider environmental impacts after they have already put considerable time, effort, and funding into their project as-is, they may …

Children Past Curfew: Surveillance, Resistance, And Childhood In Philippine Martial Law Children's Literature, Krisna Marie T. Balolong

Children's Literature (MA) Theses

This paper examines how two Philippine children's books depict state surveillance and its effects on a child's perspective of family, authority figures, and childhood. Through analysis of Augie Rivera's Isang Harding Papel and Sandra Nicole Roldan's At the School Gate, this project makes a connection between children's literature and surveillance studies, offering new framework to engage with children’s literature depicting authoritarian regimes and state violence, especially in cases where children were targets of their governments. Each book is examined by their representations of state surveillance during the Martial Law era of the Philippines, as well as each characters’ individual …

Revenge Of The Interceptors? The Dod, Congress, And The Return Of Space-Based Missile Defense During Trump 45, Chad Mcelroy

CMC Senior Theses

The initiation of the Golden Dome for America program has brought space-based missile defense (SBMD) to the forefront of American national security policy and rekindled debates that had laid dormant since the administration of President Ronald Reagan. How, forty-two years after President Reagan first proposed the Strategic Defense Initiative, did SBMD return as a national priority? In lieu of public information about the ongoing Golden Dome initiative, this thesis explores the first Trump administration, otherwise known as Trump 45, in order to analyze the development of SBMD proposals by its proponents in Congress and the Department of Defense. I used …

Powering The Machine, Draining The Planet: Whether U.S. Environmental Law Is Equipped To Regulate The Energy And Water Demands Of Ai Data Centers, Michael Marcu

Journal of Earth and Life Science

Artificial intelligence (AI) data centers have become one of the United States' fastest-growing and least-regulated sources of environmental stress. In 2024 alone, U.S. data centers consumed 183 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity more than the entire nation of Pakistan and consumed an estimated 17 billion gallons of water (IEA, 2025; Berkeley Lab, 2024). By 2030, electricity demand from these facilities is projected to reach 426 TWh, a 133% increase in six years (Pew Research Center, 2025). This paper examines whether the existing U.S. environmental regulatory framework put by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Clean Water Act (CWA), and the …

The Attention Safeguard Models: Governing Digital Harm Without Restricting Lawful Speech, Delante Clark

Graduate Scholarship and Creative Works

Digital platforms increasingly govern contemporary social, civic, and psychological life through systems optimized for attention capture, amplification, and monetization. While lawful expression remains protected under the First Amendment, the infrastructural mechanisms that determine how speech circulates have produced a range of attention‑based harms, including cyberbullying, engagement farming, compulsive doom scrolling, emotional dysregulation, and civic polarization. This research paper introduces the Attentional Safeguards Model (ASM), coined and formalized by Delante Clark, as a novel governance framework that mitigates such harms by regulating systems of amplification rather than restricting expression itself. Building on attention economy theory, technological mediation, constitutional free‑speech doctrine, …

Fifty Years Of Research In The Commonwealth Of The Bahamas: A Quantitative Thematic Analysis Of Scholarly Output, Amina Moss, Krista D. Sherman, Williamson Gustave, Kathleen Sullivan Sealey, Charlotte Dunn, Nicola Simone Smith, Lindy Knowles, Christy Gibson

Gulf and Caribbean Research

This study presents the first longitudinal bibliometric mapping of peer—reviewed research on The Bahamas, analyzing 12,113 Web of Science records (1975–2025) using CiteSpace v.6.4.R2. We identified 36 co—citation clusters (modularity Q = 0.7967; silhouette = 0.9231) and 28 keyword clusters (Q = 0.7523; silhouette = 0.8695), revealing 8 thematic trajectories over 5 decades. Early research (prior to 1990) focused on carbonate geology and sea—level dynamics across the northwestern Bahama Platform and Blake—Bahama Basin (Cluster#0, silhouette = 0.939). From the 1990s–mid—2000s, attention shifted to marine fisheries, Aliger gigas, coral reefs, and ecological resilience (Cluster #1, n = 203). In the …

Integrating Artificial Intelligence And Machine Learning Technologies Into Common Operating Picture And Course Of Action Development, C. Anthony Pfaff, Christopher John Hickey

Books, Monographs & Collaborative Studies

C. Anthony Pfaff and Christopher John Hickey, Principal Investigators

©2025 C. Anthony Pfaff. All rights reserved.

Integrating Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Technologies into Common Operating Picture and Course of Action Development explores the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to revolutionize military planning processes by enhancing situational awareness and expediting course of action development within the Joint planning process. The study delves into technical, organizational, and resource considerations that are critical for AI integration. In addition, the study highlights the importance of clean, structured data in training AI systems, addresses challenges in data collection across varying formats …

Automation Mismatch: How Contractor Ai Adoption Challenges Institutional Procurement Norms At U.S. Customs And Border Protection (Cbp), Farhan Bin Amjad

Beyond the Project Horizon: Journal of the Center for Project Management Innovation

This letter explores a growing strain in the U.S. federal procurement: the automation mismatch between AI-powered proposal development by contractors and the regulation-bound evaluation systems at agencies like U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Tools like Vultron and Unanet AI have enabled federal contractors to increase proposal submission volume, yet institutional constraints such as data sensitivity, budget limitations, and cultural barriers have hindered equivalent modernization on the government side. This article leverages institutional theory and prior research to analyze this disparity, highlighting how legal and cultural factors limit AI integration in procurement. Detailed analysis of these regulatory and cultural influences …

Colaboración Interdisciplinaria: Tablero De Control Para Una Institución Politécnica R01 En Los Ee. Uu. [Libro], Cristo Leon Ph.D., Victor Hugo Guzmán Zarate Ph.D.

STEM for Success Showcase

Introducción
En el ámbito académico, la colaboración interdisciplinaria emerge como un imperativo estratégico y un desafío multifacético. Este estudio tiene un enfoque eminentemente práctico y busca diseñar y aplicar una herramienta específica —un tablero de control interactivo— para facilitar y mejorar la colaboración interdisciplinaria en un entorno académico real. La complejidad inherente a este desafío se refleja tanto en el dinamismo del ambiente investigativo como en la falta de definiciones operacionales cohesivas que faciliten la evaluación y visualización de la colaboración interdisciplinaria. Para abordar estos desafíos, el presente estudio se llevó a cabo en la Facultad de Ciencias y Artes …

A Theoretical Model Of Participatory Team Science Training, Angela E. Jordan

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

BACKGROUND: Teams have long been used to address major scientific and societal problems, and interdisciplinary teams are understood to be the best approach to complex systems-based problems like climate change. Engaged research collaborations incorporating community members as equal partners in research projects are recognized as both a means of advancing equity and justice in research, and also of improving the success of research translation by developing solutions with community use-value. The science of team science (TS) and community-engaged research (CEnR) have emerged as scholarly disciplines, with attempts to define competencies, skills, functioning, and success. A growing body of literature in …

Does Ai Help Or Harm? Why And How Ai Use Influences Workplace Outcomes And Employee Well-Being, Haille Trimboli, Reka Lassu

Education Division Scholarship

Although the recent surge in excitement surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) might suggest it is a new development, AI has been applied in organizations for over forty years (Fanti et al., 2022; Markelius et al., 2024). Indeed, the term "artificial intelligence" itself emerged in the 1950s during a research project at Dartmouth College, where it was used to describe "machines able to simulate human intelligence" (Haenlein & Kaplan, 2019, p. 3). Most recently, in 2022, the landscape of AI use for laypeople greatly changed when OpenAI introduced ChatGPT, a generative AI tool, to the public; ChatGPT is an advanced AI language …

Amidst The Frenzy Over Deepseek Ai, Us Federal Science And Tech Policy Is A Mess Of Internal Contradictions, Yujia He

Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce Faculty Publications

The release of the R1 model by the Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company, DeepSeek, shocked the US tech industry. Yujia He writes that while DeepSeek’s model may not be quite as superior compared to its competitors as originally thought, the Trump administration has responded to its innovations by further pushing for US leadership in AI. Taking a close look at US research and development policy under the second Trump administration, however, shows the significant disconnect between rhetoric and policy. Federal funding freezes and reduced funding for the National Science Foundation could have dire long-term consequences for research and international cooperation …

Analysing The Us—China “Ai Cold War” Narrative, Yujia He, Richard Heeks

Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce Faculty Publications

Discussions about artificial intelligence (AI) are gaining prominence in the recent revival of “cold war” narratives comparing US-China relations today to the historical rivalry between the US and the Soviet Union. Drawing on a review of existing academic and policy literature engaging with the “AI cold war” narrative, this paper examines how the narrative is justified, and numerous ways that it can be challenged. It finds that the framing is largely driven by the securitisation of AI, as state actors and policy pundits view AI innovations’ dual-use capabilities as key to national security and ideological competition. However, critics posit that …

A Geopolitical Economy Analysis Of China And India’S Approaches To Transnational Data Governance, Yujia He, Ka Zeng

Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce Faculty Publications

Recent literature on the behavior of rising powers in digital trade and data governance highlights their discourses of data sovereignty and desire to preserve domestic policy autonomy. This article contributes to the literature by employing a political economy lens that shifts the focus from the nation-state/inter-state framework towards the dynamics of state–capital relations, allowing for a more historical and contextual understanding of the geopolitics of data governance in emerging economies. Using China and India—two of the largest emerging economies—as comparative cases, and drawing on secondary data from government documents and other sources, the article argues that the interplay between the …

Volume 7 (2024) Artificial Intelligence And Responsibility, Arwa Alnajashi, Danielle Derise, Philip L. Frana, David Mcgraw, Amanda Sawyer, Tatjana Titareva, Raafat Zaini, Allie Zombron

International Journal on Responsibility

The seventh volume of the International Journal on Responsibility (IJR) arrives at a crucial moment in the evolution of artificial intelligence and its integration into our academic and social fabric. As we witness the rapid advancement and deployment of AI systems across various domains, this special issue examines the multifaceted dimensions of responsibility surrounding AI technology, with a particular focus on its role in higher education and broader societal implications.

The articles in this volume contribute to our understanding of responsibility through diverse lenses, from classroom implementation to ethical design considerations. Together, they fulfill IJR’s central mission of exploring “Who …

Uniting Science And Society: The Role Of Leadership Studies, Scientific, And Political Leaders In Combating Science Polarization, Kathryn E. Reda

Interdisciplinary Journal of Leadership Studies

This commentary discusses the recent political polarization of scientific research and how this polarization threatens the neutrality of science in American society. It contends further that leadership studies, along with scientific studies, have become a contentious battleground themselves, particularly on topics like climate change, energy policy, and the COVID-19 pandemic. This is exacerbated by mass media misinformation and declining public trust. Science polarization poses a significant challenge for leadership as it erodes informed decision making, making it crucial for leaders to bridge rather than deepen ideological divides. Leadership studies as a discipline has a responsibility to explore the causes of …

Navigating The Landscape: Perceptions, Motivations, And The Journey Of Data Professionals In Implementing Data Processes And Procedures, Willie Rivers

Dissertations

This explanatory study investigates the motivations behind data professionals' willingness or resistance to implementing data policies and procedures, utilizing the Theory of Planned Behavior and Psychological Ownership as frameworks. Through interviews with 21 data professionals, the research explains how factors such as perceived control, ownership, and attitudes towards data processes influence their motivation. The study tests key propositions, including the impact of perceived time burdens, bureaucratic procedures, and organizational expectations on data governance engagement. The findings underscore the critical role of control and access to information in motivating the adoption of data policies, providing insights for organizations aiming to enhance …

China In Global Digital Trade Governance: Towards A Development-Oriented Agenda?, Yujia He, Ka Zeng

Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce Faculty Publications

Existing literature on the behaviour of rising powers in global trade governance has yielded inconclusive evidence about their role and impact. This article contributes to this literature by examining China's role in global digital trade governance, an issue area which so far has not received sufficient scholarly attention. Specifically, it addresses the following question: as a self-proclaimed leader of the developing world in digital development, to what extent do its preferences and negotiation approach align with the interests of other developing countries? Analysing China's participation in three sets of negotiations using process tracing, the article argues that China's dual identity …

Cyber Threats, Cyber Risks, And Cybersecurity Responses: Modeling Whole-Of-Nation Strategy Implementation For American Organizations And Citizens, Vincent Leon Guerrero

All Dissertations

Amid a landscape of cyber attacks on America occurring below the threshold of armed conflict, strategic national policy efforts recommend a whole-of-nation approach where individuals and public and private organizations increase their defensive posture in cyberspace. Motivation to address the risk of a cyber event includes a continuum of cyber threats that can range from low-level disruptive events to cybercrime and cyber espionage to the possibility of a potentially catastrophic attack on critical infrastructure. In this dissertation, I conduct a survey experiment of various cyber threat conditions and cyber policies to model cybersecurity responses, risk perceptions to a possible cyber …

Chinese Digital Platform Companies’ Expansion In The Belt And Road Countries, Yujia He

Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce Faculty Publications

The emergence of digital platforms is shifting the digital economy toward a platform economy, and Chinese platform-based businesses like Alibaba, Tencent, and JD are increasingly expanding in the Global South. Alongside this, the Chinese government has been promoting digital economy collaboration with emerging markets through high-level engagement under the banner of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and its digital economy component the Digital Silk Road (DSR). Despite significant market interest and policy attention, grounded empirical analysis of Chinese digital platforms’ expansion within Belt and Road Initiative countries is scarce. This study employs a mixed-methods approach, drawing on both quantitative …

Containerization Of Seafarers In The International Shipping Industry: Contemporary Seamanship, Maritime Social Infrastructures, And Mobility Politics Of Global Logistics, Liang Wu

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation discusses the mobility politics of container shipping and argues that technological development, political-economic order, and social infrastructure co-produce one another. Containerization, the use of standardized containers to carry cargo across modes of transportation that is said to have revolutionized and globalized international trade since the late 1950s, has served to expand and extend the power of international coalitions of states and corporations to control the movements of commodities (shipments) and labor (seafarers). The advent and development of containerization was driven by a sociotechnical imaginary and international social contract of seamless shipping and cargo flows. In practice, this liberal, …

Progress Toward Gender Equality In Research & Innovation - 2024 Review, Nicoline Van Der Linden, Guillaume Roberge, Dmitrii Malkov, Alexandre Bédard-Vallée, David Campbell, Elisabeth Browning, Henrique Pinheiro, Stacey Tobin, Thomas Collins, Tina Zdawcyzk, Yunxiaoxiao Zhang

Public Reports

In this report, we explore the progress made over the past two decades toward achieving equal participation by women in research and innovation. By contributing to a greater understanding of the current landscape, this report intends to illuminate pathways forward, inform policymaking and contribute to the pursuit of gender diversity and equal opportunities in the research workforce.