Geeks, meta-Geeks, and gender trouble: activism, identity, and low-power FM radio

In this paper, I consider the activities of a group of individuals who tinker with and build radio hardware in an informal setting called 'Geek Group'. They conceive of Geek Group as a radical pedagogical activity, which constitutes an aspect of activism surrounding citizen access to low-power FM radio. They are also concerned with combating the gendered nature of hardware skills, yet in spite of their efforts men tend to have more skill and familiarity with radio hardware than women. Radio tinkering has a long history as a masculine undertaking and a site of masculine identity construction. I argue that this case represents an interplay between geek, activist, and gendered identities, all of which are salient for this group, but which do not occur together without some tension.     

Heredity, reproduction, and perfectibility in revolutionary and Napoleonic France, 1789-1815

During the French Revolution, there appeared a striking and far-ranging medical literature on heredity, reproduction and biological 'perfectibility'. In some ways anticipating ideas associated with modern eugenics, these writings emerged from radical revolutionary projects for 'physical and moral regeneration' and incarnated deep-seated desires to transform French society and make a 'new man' in mind and body. But by breaking down boundaries between public and private life, doctors did more than just try to regulate intimate sexual behaviour. Instead, they proffered a more intimate vision of civic volunteerism, in which sexual hygiene and domestic practices allowed their patients to imagine new forms of society and gave them ways to attain these socio-political dreams. Moreover, they were responding to powerful new worries about heredity and sought to counsel their patients in the ways of family panning. By the end of revolutionary period, then, medical and lay thinkers had transformed the marriage bed and household into a specially controlled environment - a kind of affective laboratory - in which conscientious parents could make healthy children and raise them in the context of specific political and social values.     

Publishing,patenting, and standardization: Motives and barriers of scientists

In this paper, we analyze the motives and barriers of researchers to engage in standardization in comparison with publishing and patenting. We conduct a survey on 129 researchers at the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing, one of Germany’s largest federal research institutes. The resultant dataset enables us to study not only the researchers’ motives and barriers but also the effect of those motives and barriers on the extent to which the respective activities are undertaken. We find that publishing constitutes a baseline activity. By contrast, patenting is driven by commercialization motives, and standardization is mainly fostered by intrinsic motivation. With respect to the barriers, we find that they are mostly inherent to the activity itself or the system in which it is performed. Finally, we discuss several options to develop a more integrative incentive system to exploit the possible synergies between standardization and publishing and patenting.     

Management,politics, and science: a nonseparable system

Philosophy of science, as understood by most social scientists, has given us an image of the scientific enterprise as a large hypothesis testing machine. One key unit within this enterprise is the individual scientist. He has learned or intuitively understands a set of logical rules which he brings to bear in ordering his thinking about a problem. Since he was pictured as operating within an unconstrained environment in an organizationally and morally simplistic world, his goal (scientific ‘truth’) was unambiguous, the organization and conduct of his work frictionless, and his only concerns were logic and measurements. Management and politics had no relationship to his pursuit of truth or the possibility of uncovering it. The other key unit, the scientific community, was equally autonomous from the world of management and politics. It was a social system in which problem definitions and decisions on truth are the joint result of open interaction among autonomous, rational, driven men and the impersonal automatic, application of the rules of evidence and logic.What guaranteed that this marvellous hypothesis testing machine actually operated in this fashion? The character and socialization of the individual scientist and the fact that interference in or imperfections of the process will result in erroneous truths which will eventually catch up with the perpetrators and punish them through individual, system, or societal failure, as in the inexorable workings of the market place of classical economics.If this was ever a very accurate picture of the scientific enterprise, the emergence of ‘Big Science’ has placed its adequacy seriously in doubt. ‘Big Science’ involves a research system in which (a) a consciously articulated goal exists; (b) there has been a commitment of resources and the organization and coordination of skills and institutions on a scale which only national governments can undertake; (c) the decentralized structures of the scientific community are replaced by planned administrative structures; and (d) it is rare that research problems or goals correspond to the neat disciplinary boundaries within science.Recognition of these developments in the scientific community is uneven and the reaction to them ambivalent and the philosophy and sociology of science have yet to come fully to terms with them.     

Observers, objects, and the embedded eye; or, seeing and knowing in Ptolemy and Galen

This essay explores the ways in which theories and entities are culturally and intellectually embedded in historical and disciplinary contexts by looking at the development of a set of related theories of perception that emerged in response to contemporary Sceptical criticisms of the very possibility of doing empirical science. At the same time, it attempts to bring into focus a puzzle about precisely how (and how deeply) seeing itself is conditioned.     

Private and social functions of patents: Innovation,markets, and new firms

This article provides a review of the private and social functions of patents using data and evidence from the economic and management literature. While patents provide incentives to invent by providing private protection to appropriate the returns on inventions, they also have broader effects. For example, in this paper we focus on the fact that they provide signals about the value of new firms, disclose information about the invention, and encourage the exchange of inventions and ideas in markets for technology. In order to better understand the relative importance of the implications of patents, patent agencies and stakeholders should invest to a greater extent in data collections or in creating the conditions for research designs and experiments that nail down causal effects and mechanisms. Available data are not created with these identification strategies in mind, which limits the questions that scholars can ask. Systematic studies that identify different effects of patents can provide the basis for rigorous evidence-based management and policy about patents. This would imply a wider shift from a world in which managerial and policy analysis is distinct from practice, to a world in which analysis and implementation are increasingly co-produced, and there is greater integration between them.     

Implicit aspect extraction in sentiment analysis: Review,taxonomy, oppportunities,and open challenges

Sentiment analysis is a text classification branch, which is defined as the process of extracting sentiment terms (i.e. feature/aspect, or opinion) and determining their opinion semantic orientation. At aspect level, aspect extraction is the core task for sentiment analysis which can either be implicit or explicit aspects. The growth of sentiment analysis has resulted in the emergence of various techniques for both explicit and implicit aspect extraction. However, majority of the research attempts targeted explicit aspect extraction, which indicates that there is a lack of research on implicit aspect extraction. This research provides a review of implicit aspect/features extraction techniques from different perspectives. The first perspective is making a comparison analysis for the techniques available for implicit term extraction with a brief summary of each technique. The second perspective is classifying and comparing the performance, datasets, language used, and shortcomings of the available techniques. In this study, over 50 articles have been reviewed, however, only 45 articles on implicit aspect extraction that span from 2005 to 2016 were analyzed and discussed. Majority of the researchers on implicit aspects extraction rely heavily on unsupervised methods in their research, which makes about 64% of the 45 articles, followed by supervised methods of about 27%, and lastly semi-supervised of 9%. In addition, 25 articles conducted the research work solely on product reviews, and 5 articles conducted their research work using product reviews jointly with other types of data, which makes product review datasets the most frequently used data type compared to other types. Furthermore, research on implicit aspect features extraction has focused on English and Chinese languages compared to other languages. Finally, this review also provides recommendations for future research directions and open problems.     

Recombination, rationality, reductionism and romantic reactions: culture, computers, and the genetic algorithm

The genetic algorithm (GA) is a computational procedure that 'evolves' solutions to optimization problems by generating populations of possible solutions, and then by treating these solutions metaphorically as individuals that can 'mate' and 'compete' to 'survive' and 'reproduce'. In this paper, I explore how culturally specific notions of evolution, population, reproduction, sex/gender, and kinship inflect the ways GAs are assembled and understood. Combining the results of fieldwork among GA workers with analysis of GA texts, I contend that the picture of 'nature' embedded in GAs is resonant with the values of secularized Judeo-Christian white middle-class US-American and European heterosexual culture. I also maintain that GA formulations are accented by languages inherited from sociobiology. I argue that examining GAs can help us track how dominant meanings of 'nature' are being stabilized and refigured in an age in which exchanges of metaphor between biology and computer science are increasingly common.     

Social robots,fiction, and sentimentality

I examine the nature of human-robot pet relations that appear to involve genuine affective responses on behalf of humans towards entities, such as robot pets, that, on the face of it, do not seem to be deserving of these responses. Such relations have often been thought to involve a certain degree of sentimentality, the morality of which has in turn been the object of critical attention (Sparrow in Ethics Inf Technol 78:346–359, 2002; Blackford in Ethics Inf Technol 14:41–51, 2012). In this paper, I dispel the claim that sentimentality is involved in this type of relations. My challenge draws on literature in the philosophy of art and in cognitive science that attempts to solve the so called paradox of fictional emotions, i.e., the seemingly paradoxical way in which we respond emotionally to fictional or imaginary characters and events. If sentimentality were not at issue, neither would its immorality. For the sake of argument, however, I assume in the remaining part of the paper that sentimentality is indeed at play and bring to the fore aspects of its badness or viciousness that have not yet been discussed in connection with robot pets. I conclude that not even these aspects of sentimentality are at issue here. Yet, I argue that there are other reasons to be worried about the wide-spread use of ersatz companionship technology that have to do with the potential loss of valuable, self-defining forms of life.     

Agency,sociomateriality, and configuration work

Social informatics research offers insights into the relationship between information technologies and social contexts. However, the material roles of information technologies, and their interplay with the agentic work of social actors, have not been addressed. Drawing on a field study of 37 mobile knowledge workers, we examine the dual material roles (enabling and constraining) played by information technologies in their work practices. We also investigate how these workers exert agency by fashioning multiple information technologies into a functioning digital assemblage. Although information technologies provide consequential affordances that enable mobilization of work across spaces and times, they simultaneously present design-driven, local, organizational, and temporal technological constraints that require mobile knowledge workers to engage in “configuration work” to make information technologies function effectively. Building on a sociomaterial perspective, we further discuss the interplay of information technologies and work practices enacted by mobile knowledge workers, in which both human and technological agency are materialized.     

Cadmium, carcinogen, co-carcinogen and anti carcinogen

As a stress agent, inducing apoptosis and blocking it, Cd can have both helpful and harmful effects. The atmosphere is a thin envelope which makes the worid a global village. Cd is the most toxic metal in air. As both the first and second messenger of the stress response, it is synergistically toxic with all other stressors, including many other carcinogens. Elimination of Pb and its replacement with added benzene in gasoline appears to have increased the toxicity of atmospheric Cd. With scientific understanding of the molecular basis of Cd's role in carcinogenesis and anti-carcinogenesis, primary cancer prevention can be practiced by reducing Cd and chemical air pollution and educating the public on smoke cessation, healthy eating habits and stress reduction. Using the existing information on Cd and its effects, determinations could be made on established cancers so that individualized treatment protocols can be developed to improve patient care.     

China's innovation policies: Evolution, institutional structure, and trajectory

China has transformed itself from a planning to a market-oriented economy over the past three decades and has sustained a fairly long period of rapid economic growth, to which the contributions from innovation in science and technology (S&T) have become increasingly important. Then, how have China's innovation policies evolved to reflect the changing and supposedly better understanding of innovation by China's policy makers? The paper tries to answer this question through a quantitative analysis of 287 policies issued by China's central government agencies between 1980 and 2005 and of 79 policies introduced between 2006 and 2008 to implement the Medium- and Long-Term Plan for the Development of Science and Technology (2006-2020). China has shifted its S&T and industrial policy-centered innovation strategy and has pursued a series of better coordinated, innovation-oriented economic and technology initiatives that give greater attention to a portfolio of policies that include critical financial, tax, and fiscal measures. There has been a gradual departure from the pattern in which innovation policies are formulated by one single government agency, therefore steering China to a different and probably more promising innovation trajectory.     

Social worlds, actor-networks and controversy: the case of cholesterol, dietary fat and heart disease

Knowledge which links dietary fat and cholesterol to coronary heart disease (CHD) has been controversial for more than forty years. While policies advocating fat and cholesterol restriction are now deeply ingrained in affluent western societies, the scientific 'facts' on which they are supposedly based are highly contested. Applying concepts from actor-network theory and the symbolic interactionist social worlds approach, I argue that knowledge and dietary recommendations relating to cholesterol, fat and CHD are the outcome of complex social negotiations which can only be understood in their cultural, commercial and political contexts. Policies were framed in the 1960s before 'proof' of their efficacy was available. Since then, ambiguous experimental results have been shaped to support the policies. I argue that, despite its many attractive features, actor-network theory cannot adequately deal with protracted controversies. Social worlds theory provides a much more useful framework for investigating long debates in which the 'facts' remain elusive.     

DNA的合成、组装及转移技术

合成生物学作为新近迅速发展的交叉学科,已在生物医药、能源、新材料等领域展现越来越广泛的应用潜力。合成基因组学作为合成生物学的重要研究方向,着重于新生命体系的从头设计与合成,其以DNA合成、拼装和转移等核心技术为支撑。文章对当前基因组合成相关技术进行了阐述,以系统了解该技术体系中存在的问题,便于寻找突破点,把握发展契机。     

组织社会化、信任、知识分享与创新行为:机制与路径研究

组织成员的创新行为直接关系到企业的生存和发展.作为影响组织成员创新行为的重要变量,目前关于组织社会化与创新行为关系的实证研究却比较少.本文以中国华南地区的企业员工为调查对象,对组织社会化与创新行为的关系以及信任、知识分享在其中所起的作用进行了实证研究.在文献研究和系统验证组织社会化、信任、知识分享和创新行为变量信度与效度的基础上,结构方程模型分析的结果表明:组织社会化对信任与知识分享产生正向影响,组织社会化还通过信任对知识分享产生正向影响,组织社会化进一步通过信任、知识分享对创新行为产生正向影响,即组织成员的信任、知识分享在组织社会化与创新行为之间起着中介作用.     

Thermodynamics; work,heat, and temperature concepts,and an examination of the temperature scale

In this paper the concepts of work, heat, and temperature are examined from the stand-point of a complete equation (1) 2 for the internal energy of a system. In an incomplete system energy necessarily remains with the system, which results in the inefficiency of a process. This inefficiency is, of course, appreciable for processes taking place at a finite speed, but is not necessarily eliminated by means of a quasistatic process.The Kelvin temperature scale is shown to be based on an incomplete equation for the internal energy and, therefore, offers certain difficulties. A temperature scale based on a complete equation is shown to have advantages over the Kelvin scale, and it is further shown that the temperature of absolute zero as based on a complete equation is lower than that on the Kelvin scale.A suggestion is offered whereby an actual system may be treated as complete and a temperature scale may be based on this.     

Analyzing youth digital participation: Aims,actors, contexts and intensities

Participation is often used as a blanket term that is uncritically celebrated; this is particularly true in the case of youth digital participation. In this article, we propose a youth-focused analytical framework, applicable to a wide variety of youth digital participation projects, which can help facilitate a more nuanced understanding of these participatory practices. This framework analyzes the aims envisioned for youth participation, the actors and contexts of these activities, and the variable levels of participatory intensity, in order to more accurately assess the forms and outcomes of youth digital participation. We demonstrate the value of this framework by applying it to two contemporary cases of digital youth participation: an informal online community (Nerdfighters) and a formalized educational initiative (CyberPatriot). Such analyses facilitate normative assessments of youth digital participation, which enable us to better assess what participation is good for, and for whom.     

COVID-19, digital privacy,and the social limits on data-focused public health responses

The implementation of digital contact tracing applications around the world to help reduce the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic represents one of the most ambitious uses of massive-scale citizen data ever attempted. There is major divergence among nations, however, between a “privacy-first” approach which protects citizens’ data at the cost of extremely limited access for public health authorities and researchers, and a “data-first” approach which stores large amounts of data which, while of immeasurable value to epidemiologists and other researchers, may significantly intrude upon citizens’ privacy. The lack of a consensus on privacy protection in the contact tracing process creates risks of non-compliance or deliberate obfuscation from citizens who fear revealing private aspects of their lives – a factor greatly exacerbated by recent major scandals over online privacy and the illicit use of citizens’ digital information, which have heightened public consciousness of these issues and created significant new challenges for any collection of large-scale public data. While digital contact tracing for COVID-19 remains in its infancy, the lack of consensus around best practices for its implementation and for reassuring citizens of the protection of their privacy may already have impeded its capacity to contribute to the pandemic response.     

A procedure for comparing passive,active, and semi-active approaches to vibration isolation

A procedure is developed which uses bond graph modeling and a digital computer to determine if semi-active control can provide a suitable performance in an application where totally active control is considered. The application areas principally addressed are those in which the disturbance inputs to the system are of zero mean, i.e. shock and vibration control.The procedure is developed through examples and then generalized to systems of high order and large complexity. The procedure consists basically of designing a control strategy suitable for totally active control and then enforcing a passivity constraint on the actuating device. Experience has shown that semi-active control approaches that of totally active control in most vibration isolation applications.     

Concepts, Principles, and Methods for the Management of Electronic Records

This article discusses the problems and issues that have arisen with the widespread use of digital technology in the modern office, in particular those related to the trustworthiness of electronic records and to their permanent preservation. It defines the concepts of record reliability, authenticity, and authentication; it outlines the principles that should guide the creation and management of reliable electronic records and the maintenance and preservation of authentic records; and it describes methods for the management of trustworthy electronic records in the context of two research projects undertaken by the archival scholars of the University of British Columbia, the first of which, known as the UBC-MAS project, was completed in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Defense in 1994-97, and the second of which, known as InterPARES, is a multinational multidisciplinary collaboration begun in 1999 and nearing the completion of its first phase.