Science and Technology Policy Commons^™

Power Of Perspective: The Effects Of Public Perceptions Of Police And Fear Of Crime On Attitudes Towards Aerial Drone Use, Olivia G. Tuttle, Miliaikeala S.J. Heen, Mari Sakiyama, Terance D. Miethe, Joel D. Lieberman

Graduate Research Symposium (2010 - 2017)

Historically, unmanned aerial systems (UAS; i.e., drones) have largely been used by the military and federal government. As UAS have become more affordable and easier to operate in recent years, state and local law enforcement agencies have become interested in adopting this technology to facilitate a wide range of police activities (e.g., search and rescue, surveillance, tactical operations, etc.). The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has begun to regulate the use of unmanned aerial systems, which will likely lead to the increased use of drone technology by law enforcement agencies across the country in upcoming years. However, previous research suggests that …

Eyes In The Sky: Public Attitudes Towards Police Use Of Drone Technology, Miliaikeala S.J. Heen, Joel D. Lieberman, Terance D. Miethe

Graduate Research Symposium (2010 - 2017)

No abstract provided.

Perspectivas Locales Sobre El Litio En El Salar De Uyuni: Niveles De Conocimiento Y Opiniones Regionales Sobre El Proyecto Que Puede Determinar El Futuro Del Litio En El Mundo, Gillian Greenberg

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

La combinación del aumento en la urgencia por hacer algo sobre el cambio climático y la popularidad creciente de los vehículos eléctricos sitúan al litio como un material clave en la transición de hidrocarburos en los próximos años. A causa de que la reserva más grande del litio en el mundo está ubicada en el Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia tiene la oportunidad de influir en esta evolución. El proyecto estatal para industrializar el litio en el Salar de Uyuni comenzó en 2008 y continúa trabajando hacia el objetivo de la producción de baterías de litio. Para las comunidades alrededor del …

From Consumers To Creators: Wikistoriograhy And The Consensus Of Collaborative Learning In The Landscape Of Web 2.0, Curran Mcquade

Selected Honors Theses

This thesis reviews the significance of Wikipedia in an approach to internet historiography. Wikipedia incorporates Web 2.0 methods to create a new way to study and revise history through a consensus of multiple users and editors. The argument of the thesis is structured to address some of the qualms many academics have about Wikipedia, examine how historiography functions in an internet driven world, and finally how Wikipedia fits into the puzzle of internet historiography. It concludes that Wikipedia, the largest user-based information site in the world, must be at the forefront of discussion surrounding internet historiography.

The Cyber-Industrial Complex, Connor O’Malley

Political Science Theses and Capstones

When Edward Snowden released a massive trove of classified files from the National Security Agency, the world became aware of numerous global surveillance systems. As Snowden hoped, a global dialogue began concerning surveillance, privacy, and government transparency. While there was a lively discourse surrounding the leak and Snowden, another story was missed. Snowden was not an employee of the NSA; rather he was an employee of Booz Allen Hamilton, a private contractor maintaining computer systems for the NSA. The deeper story here is the emerging relationship between government agencies and technology companies. This paper discusses the theory of iron triangles …

"Chinese Military Space Power: U.S. Department Of Defense Annual Reports, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Following instructions received from the U.S. Congress in the 2000 National Defense Authorization Act, the Department of Defense prepared an annual report on Chinese military power. This report contains classified and unclassif ied editions. Documenting Chinese military space power developments was one of the provisions in this law’s authorizing language. This article will examine how Chinese military space power documents have been described by the Department of Defense during this report's existence through 2015 and detail how members of Congress and Congressional committee hearing witnesses reacted to these developments in Congressional hearing transcripts and in Congressional debate through Fall 2015.

Why Adopt E-Voting? Study On Village Leader Elections In Musi Rawas, South Sumatera, Ikhsan Darmawan, Nurul Nurhandjati

Jurnal Politik

This article elaborates the e-voting adoption in village leader elections held in Musi Rawas Regency, South Sumatera, during the period of 2013 to early 2015. This paper aims at answering the question of why the government of Musi Rawas has adopted e-voting in the village leader elections. More specifically, this paper aims at identifying the motives underlying the policy to adopt e-voting in village leader elections in Musi Rawas. This article is based on the field research held between February and March, 2015. The research employs the qualitative approach. Data is collected through in-depth interview, observation, and news collected from …

The Effect Of Per Capita Income On Broadband Access, Austin Coleman

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

The purpose of this inquiry is to determine the effect of income and ruralness on broadband access. This is relevant because of the economic effects of broadband access, which are not evenly distributed. The primary method of analysis employed was a multivariate regression model incorporating variables measuring broadband access, per-capita income, ruralness, race, and state-level effects. I found that income and ruralness were both significant, and that every $10,000 of per-capita income is associated with a change in broadband access rates of approximately 9%. The results also showed large, significant state-level effects that can be attributed to a combination of …

American Obesity: Rooted In Uncertainty, Institutions And Public Policy, James Woodward

Theses and Dissertations--Public Policy and Administration

Despite the efforts of policymakers, medical professionals, and other stakeholders, obesity and related health problems show no signs of receding from their record-high rates. Public policy has largely taken the form of consumer advice, (e.g., USDA’s Dietary Guidelines). Since consumers bear most of the costs associated with their obesity, the goal of obesity prevention appears to be incentive-compatible, prima facie. That is, there is no a priori case for much further policy intervention unless existing advice is deficient or consumers’ exhibit systematically poor decision-making.

My review of the literature shows that scholars have long conveyed a consistent narrative regarding …

Responses To Change In The Global Political Economy Of Innovation – The Role Of Sub-National States In Industrial Transition, Dan Herman

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This dissertation seeks to explore how sub-national levels of the state promote the development of new industrial sectors. To do so this dissertation builds on a series of theoretical perspectives on the role of the state in the economy and develops a unique view of how sub-national states coalesce and contrast within these perspectives. It does so through a series of empirical case studies focused on sub-national jurisdictions in North America that highlight diverse varieties of state actions that contribute, if not lead, industrial transitions and the development of new innovation-oriented industrial sectors. In so doing, the dissertation presents a …

Crowdsourcing Global Wastewater Data, Don Mosteller, Sam Cohen, Cory Nestor, Angel Hsu, Omar Malik

Yale Day of Data

No time to waste: Crowdsourcing global wastewater treatment data

Worldwide, over 80 percent of wastewater is discharged into water bodies without undergoing treatment, severely impairing human well-being and ecosystem vitality along the way. National performance on wastewater treatment is difficult to quantify and is poorly understood due to a lack of common definitions, poor data collection standards, and limited historical data. To address this, the Yale Environmental Performance Index (EPI), a research group that produces a biennial ranking of country-level environmental performance, developed a first-of-its kind national wastewater treatment indicator.[1]

The indicator assesses wastewater treatment performance for 183 countries, …

Mission Possible: How Fda Can Move At The Speed Of Science, Margaret Anderson, Gail H. Cassell, Maria C. Freire, Lynn Goldman, Peter K. Honig, Frederick Kushner, Mark Mclellan, Barbara J. Mcneil, Martin A. Philbert, Bruce M. Psaty, Alan J. Russell, Ellen Sigal

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

In 2013, the Commissioner of Food and Drugs charged the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) Science Board, an advisory committee of national experts across various scientific disciplines, to make recommendations on areas deemed critical to the Agency’s ability to carry out its scientific mission. The Science Looking Forward Subcommittee was created to evaluate these three principal areas:

1. How FDA can meet emerging and future trends in science and technology
2. How FDA can better use collaborations to advance its mission and
3. How FDA can support a culture of scientific excellence and creativity.

The Subcommittee was also asked to assess progress since …

Keeping Pace: The U.S. Supreme Court And Evolving Technology, Brian Thomas

Politics Summer Fellows

Contemporary mainstream discussions of the Supreme Court are often qualified with the warning that the nine justices are out of touch with everyday American life, especially when it comes to the newest and most popular technologies. For instance, during oral argument for City of Ontario v. Quon, a 2010 case that dealt with sexting on government-issued devices, Chief Justice John Roberts famously asked what the difference was “between email and a pager,” and Justice Antonin Scalia wondered if the “spicy little conversations” held via text message could be printed and distributed. While these comments have garnered a great deal of …

Freedom In My Heart, Karen Sandler

Events

No abstract provided.

The Relevance Of Economic, Institutional And Cultural Determinants For Venture Capital Investments. A Us-Europe Comparison., Nadja Benes

Master's Theses

This study analyzes the determinants of early-stage VC investments by identifying characteristics in the economic, institutional, as well as cultural framework that could explain the diverging levels of early-stage VC investments across countries. Data was assembled for 16 countries during the period from 1995 until 2013. The results indicate that countries that are more open to trade are associated with higher levels in early-stage venture capital. A higher unemployment rate negatively affects a country’s level of early-stage VC funds. Higher R&D expenditures as a proxy for the technological and innovation capacity in a country as well as a higher value …

Spatial, Temporal And Demographical Analysis Of Gulf Of Mexico Research Priorities, The Effect Of The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, Stephen Hiller Sempier

Dissertations

A set of twenty equally-weighted national ocean research priorities were define in 2007, but it was not clear if these priorities applied for the Gulf of Mexico. A series of three longitudinal surveys of people who conduct research, sponsor research or use research for professional or recreational purposes was released that focused on the twenty research priorities and asked people how they rated each. A convenience sampling method was employed, which suggests that the results are constrained to the survey respondents and should not be extrapolated to a larger population. More than 1,500 people completed the 2013 GMRP survey and …

Green Chemistry As A Tool For Understanding The Toxic Substances Control Act: A Lecture Module For Undergraduate Students, Molly R. Blessing

Honors Scholar Theses

The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) is the central form of chemical regulation existent in the United States today, yet scientists are often unaware or uncertain of its provisions. Violations of TSCA by unknowing chemists set industry and government unnecessarily at odds. A lecture on TSCA was developed for undergraduate students that uses the concept of green chemistry to promote interest and incentivize learning. Green chemistry methods are cleaner and less wasteful than traditional chemical ones, and many companies using them are at the forefront of technological innovation. The lecture explains both green chemistry and TSCA, includes company case studies, …

The Snowden Effect: The Conflict In A Free Society, Who Values Privacy Versus Who Values Security?, Matthew C. Blake

Political Science Theses and Capstones

The Obama Administration has come under scrutiny by both the public and Congress, since former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden made known the scope of government surveillance programs being utilized by the U.S. government to gather intelligence on domestic citizens. Snowden’s disclosures about the government’s surveillance practices to the mainstream media began in June 2013. I focus on how public opinion towards the government’s surveillance practices and an individual’s reasonable right to privacy has shifted after revelations made by Edward Snowden on the practices of the NSA. Individuals may show support for more government surveillance in the name …

Comparative Analysis Of Accident And Non-Accident Pilots, David C. Ison

Journal of Aviation Technology and Engineering

The purpose of this study was to investigate potential differences between two pilot groups; the first was a sample of individuals who have not been involved in an accident and the second was a sample of pilots from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) accident database. Factors investigated included flight time, pilot flight review status, pilot certification, employment as a professional pilot, gender, and age. This study was guided by the exigent literature on aviation accidents with a primary focus on general aviation pilot accident attributes. Non-accident pilot participation was solicited through various aviation-related websites and a total of 1,829 …

Signed Peer Reviews As A Means To Improve Scholarly Publishing, Linwood H. Pendleton

Journal of Ocean and Coastal Economics

Peer review is a necessary process with a long history of complaints, including over-solicitation of a small number of reviewers, delays, inadequate numbers of reviewers, and a lack of incentives to provide strong reviews or avoid reviews with little helpful information for the author. In the era of Web-based distribution of research, through working paper or project reports, anonymous peer reviews are much less likely. The Journal of Ocean and Coastal Economics will use signed peer reviews and an open communication process among authors, reviewers, and editors. This approach, to be developed over time, should lead to stronger communication of …

Waste And Duplication In Nasa Programs: The Need To Enhance U.S. Space Program Efficiency, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

The U.S. Government faces acute budgetary deficits and national debt problems in the Obama Administration. These problems have been brought about by decades of unsustainable government spending affecting all agencies including the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. (NASA). An outgrowth of this fiscal profligacy is the presence of wasteful and duplicative programs within NASA that prevent this agency from achieving its space science and human spaceflight objectives. These problems occur due to mismanagement of these programs from NASA and the creation of these programs by the U.S. Congress and congressional committees. This occurs because congressional appropriators tend to be more …

Consumer Protection And Cybersecurity: The Consumer Education Gap, David Serabian

Brookings Mountain West Publications

Consumer cyber protection as it relates to the threat of cyber insecurity is an increasingly critical issue with cyberattacks on major businesses such as Target and Sony. Over 100 million Americans to date have had their financial information compromised, and in the ten-year history of Verizon’s Payment Card Industry investigations no companies were compliant with Payment Card Industry standards at the time of the attack. In March 2015, the FCC fined AT&T $25 million for failing to adequately provide cybersecurity that resulted in almost 300,000 people having their personal and financial information compromised. It was the largest in FCC history …

Faculty Research Productivity In Saudi Arabian Public Universities: A Human Capital Investment Perspective, Abad Alzuman

Theses and Dissertations

In an attempt to transition from its oil-based economy, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is taking further steps towards building a knowledge-based economy. Saudi universities play a pivotal role toward the country’s attempts to achieve the desired sustainable economic growth. And because knowledge production is dependent on the human capital embedded in faculty members working at theses universities, the recommendations of the Saudi National Science and Technology Policy stressed the importance of enhancing research skills of faculty members and researchers at public universities using different means and initiatives. However, a little is known about the impact of the implemented initiatives …

Framing The Question, "Who Governs The Internet?", Robert J. Domanski

Publications and Research

There remains a widespread perception among both the public and elements of academia that the Internet is “ungovernable”. However, this idea, as well as the notion that the Internet has become some type of cyber-libertarian utopia, is wholly inaccurate. Governments may certainly encounter tremendous difficulty in attempting to regulate the Internet, but numerous types of authority have nevertheless become pervasive. So who, then, governs the Internet? This book will contend that the Internet is, in fact, being governed, that it is being governed by specific and identifiable networks of policy actors, and that an argument can be made as to …

Where Is Space? And Why Does That Matter?, Bhavya Lal, Emily Nightingale

Space Traffic Management Conference

Despite decades of debate on the topic, there is no consensus on what, precisely, constitutes the boundary between airspace and outer space. The topic is mired in legal and political conundrums, and the easy solution to-date has been to not agree on a definition of space. Lack of a definition, some experts claim, has not limited space-based activities, and therefore is not a hurdle that must be overcome. There are increasing calls however in light of increasing (and expectations of increasing) space traffic, both orbital and sub-orbital. This paper summarizes the proposed delimitation of space, the current debate on whether …

The Original Intent Of The Wire Act And Its Implications For State-Based Legalization Of Internet Gambling, Michelle Minton

Occasional Papers

Recognizing the growing threat of organized crime, then U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy sought to get the “bankrollers and kingpins” by introducing the Federal Wire Act in 1961, which sought to target the mob’s most profitable racket—bookkeeping on horseracing and sports gambling by prohibiting such gambling on the nation’s communication system at the time (telephone and telegraph). More than 30 years later members of Congress sought to use the Wire Act to stop the rise of casino-style gambling on the Internet. However, the scope of the Wire Act has been disputed among lawmakers, courts, and federal agencies. In 2011 …

Support When It Counts: Library Roles In Public Access To Federally Funded Research, Kristine M. Alpi, William M. Cross, Hilary M. Davis

Charleston Library Conference

In November 2012, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced it would begin enforcing its April 2008 mandate of public access to NIH-funded research by delaying processing of investigators’ grants reporting noncompliant publications. In response, the North Carolina State University (NCSU) Libraries offered to assist the University’s sponsored research administration in supporting NCSU researchers who had publications stemming from NIH funding and had not achieved compliance. Since the 2008 NIH mandate, over 1,000 articles based on NIH-funding have been published by NCSU across research areas including veterinary medicine, life sciences, physical sciences, social sciences, engineering, textiles, design, math, and statistics. …

Exploring The Factors That Influence And Motivate Female Students To Enroll And Persist In Collegiate Stem Degree Programs: A Mixed Methods Study, Rosemary L. Edzie

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Nationally, the need for an increase in interest, enrollment, and degrees awarded from science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) degree programs continues to suffer. While students are enrolling in collegiate STEM degree programs, it is not occurring at a rate that meets the workforce demand. In addition to the concern that there is not a sufficient amount of collegiate STEM majors, there is a concern over too few females enrolling and persisting in collegiate STEM degree programs.

This mixed methods sequential exploratory research study considered the factors that influence and motivate undergraduate female students to enroll and persist in collegiate …

Facing The Apocalypse: Bomb Shelters And National Policy In Eisenhower’S Second Term, Angela A. Badore

Student Publications

This paper explores the issues of civilian defense from a federal perspective during Eisenhower’s second term, particularly focusing on the issue of bomb shelters during the period from 1956-1958. Despite widespread efforts to promote bomb shelters, or fallout shelters, during this period, no significant progress was made toward a federal program. By examining federal efforts such as the Holifield Committee, the Gaither Committee, Operation Alert, and the National Shelter Policy, this paper shows that efforts to set up shelter programs actually made the public and the Eisenhower administration less likely to trust such programs at all.

Does Access To Information Technology Make People Happier? Insights From Well-Being Surveys From Around The World, Carol Graham, Milena Nikolova

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

This lecture summarizes new research on the relationship between access to cell phones, TV, and the internet and subjective well-being worldwide. Technology access is positive for well-being in general, but with diminishing marginal returns for those who already have much access. It is also associated with increased stress and anger among cohorts for whom access to the technologies is new. The increased financial inclusion in very poor countries that comes with cell phones and mobile banking also has effects on well-being. Well-being levels are higher in the countries with higher levels of access to mobile banking, but so are stress …