Reciprocal Technologies: Enabling the Reciprocal Exchange of Voice in Small-Scale Farming Communities through the Transformation of Information and Communications Technologies

This dissertation claims that the reciprocal exchange of voice—an element for constructing community and strengthening political recognition—may be fostered in small-scale farming communities by (1) the appropriation and transformation of information and communications technologies, (2) artistic intervention, and (3) cross-community research. This study contributes to participatory research methodologies, particularly those that seek to tackle the diverse challenges faced by small-scale farmers from a broad, complex perspective. The main issue identified in this dissertation is as follows: The hegemony of economic behaviors, which stands as a cornerstone of neoliberal capitalism, constitutes the latest stage of a historical process in which the voices of small-scale farmers seem to have been progressively and systematically silenced, their traditional practices largely invalidated, and their reciprocal forms of social, political, and economic organization marginalized. The purpose of this study was to explore whether an open-ended, sociotechnical methodology could be designed and applied in small-scale farming communities with the aim of strengthening their reciprocal practices while amplifying the voices of their members. The author's research addressed the question of how the role of information and communications technologies can contribute to the creation of enabling environments in which subsistence farmers may exercise their own values and make their voices heard. Another goal was to study whether the reciprocal exchange of voice could relate to the construction and dissemination of a knowledge commons and improve the resilience of small-scale farmers in the context of complex and pressing challenges such as anthropogenic climate change. Consequently, the ERV (Enabling Reciprocal Voice) Methodology was developed and applied in small-scale farming communities in order to respond to the questions of this study. The ERV Methodology sought to redefine the modes of usage of information and communications technologies in order to help communities establish a shared communicational praxis and strengthen their reciprocal relations. The ERV Methodology stands in contrast with the technological determinism found in the purely solutionist, short-term initiatives that are generally implemented in small-scale farming communities. Instead of offering rapid solutions to isolated problems, the ERV Methodology sought to consolidate the social networks of farmers through online and offline interaction. The case studies examined in this dissertation were carried out in two small-scale farming communities in Tanzania and Mexico. Following the ERV Methodology, mobile phones and the Internet were used by farmers in those communities as tools for the collaborative creation of a knowledge commons focused on local agriculture. It was found that the ERV Methodology, carried out as artistic intervention, may encourage technological appropriation, induce reciprocity, and amplify voice under certain sociotechnical conditions. These findings suggest that such a methodology might benefit farmers by becoming a significant aid to increase their resilience and their capacity to face complex challenges in the longer term. However, another conclusion was that the ERV Methodology should be applied carefully, with a strong awareness of the local context, and that greater efforts must be made in order to integrate other communities, such as local authorities and scientific researchers, into the reciprocal dynamics enabled by the methodology

Adaptive Coded Modulation Classification and Spectrum Sensing for Cognitive Radio Systems. Adaptive Coded Modulation Techniques for Cognitive Radio Using Kalman Filter and Interacting Multiple Model Methods

The current and future trends of modern wireless communication systems place heavy demands on fast data transmissions in order to satisfy end users’ requirements anytime, anywhere. Such demands are obvious in recent applications such as smart phones, long term evolution (LTE), 4 & 5 Generations (4G & 5G), and worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) platforms, where robust coding and modulations are essential especially in streaming on-line video material, social media and gaming. This eventually resulted in extreme exhaustion imposed on the frequency spectrum as a rare natural resource due to stagnation in current spectrum management policies. Since its advent in the late 1990s, cognitive radio (CR) has been conceived as an enabling technology aiming at the efficient utilisation of frequency spectrum that can lead to potential direct spectrum access (DSA) management. This is mainly attributed to its internal capabilities inherited from the concept of software defined radio (SDR) to sniff its surroundings, learn and adapt its operational parameters accordingly. CR systems (CRs) may commonly comprise one or all of the following core engines that characterise their architectures; namely, adaptive coded modulation (ACM), automatic modulation classification (AMC) and spectrum sensing (SS). Motivated by the above challenges, this programme of research is primarily aimed at the design and development of new paradigms to help improve the adaptability of CRs and thereby achieve the desirable signal processing tasks at the physical layer of the above core engines. Approximate modelling of Rayleigh and finite state Markov channels (FSMC) with a new concept borrowed from econometric studies have been approached. Then insightful channel estimation by using Kalman filter (KF) augmented with interacting multiple model (IMM) has been examined for the purpose of robust adaptability, which is applied for the first time in wireless communication systems. Such new IMM-KF combination has been facilitated in the feedback channel between wireless transmitter and receiver to adjust the transmitted power, by using a water-filling (WF) technique, and constellation pattern and rate in the ACM algorithm. The AMC has also benefited from such IMM-KF integration to boost the performance against conventional parametric estimation methods such as maximum likelihood estimate (MLE) for channel interrogation and the estimated parameters of both inserted into the ML classification algorithm. Expectation-maximisation (EM) has been applied to examine unknown transmitted modulation sequences and channel parameters in tandem. Finally, the non-parametric multitaper method (MTM) has been thoroughly examined for spectrum estimation (SE) and SS, by relying on Neyman-Pearson (NP) detection principle for hypothesis test, to allow licensed primary users (PUs) to coexist with opportunistic unlicensed secondary users (SUs) in the same frequency bands of interest without harmful effects. The performance of the above newly suggested paradigms have been simulated and assessed under various transmission settings and revealed substantial improvements

Anglo-German Rivalry over Telecommunication Networks, 1858-1912

학위논문(박사) -- 서울대학교대학원 : 국제대학원 국제학과, 2023. 2. 이근.그동안 과학기술의 발전은 국제체제의 중요한 변화마다 크게 기여해왔다. 과학기술 분야에서의 우열은 한 국가의 성장과 국제체제 내 위상을 결정하는 주요 요인으로, 국제정치의 주요 개념이라 할 수 있는 권력(power)과 안보(security)에 밀접하게 연계되어 작용해왔다. 그 중에서도 국가 간 연결성에 깊이 관여하는 기술일수록 국제정치적으로 전략적 가치가 크기 때문에 이를 주도하고자 하는 강대국간 경쟁이 심화되는 경향이 있는데 정보통신기술 분야가 대표적이라고 할 수 있다. 따라서 국제정치학계에서도 해당기술의 권력의 도구로서의 중요성이 중점적으로 논의되어왔고, 특히 첨단 과학기술의 발전과 최근 미중간 기술패권경쟁의 격화로 인해 이에 대한 관심이 증대되고 있다. 그럼에도 불구하고 그동안 국제정치학에서 정보통신기술은 주로 외재적인 요인으로 간주되어 도구적인 시각에서 논의되어 왔으며, 이를 국제정치의 주요 변수로 다룬 연구는 많지 않았다. 이에 본 연구는 국제정치에서 단순히 권력의 구성요소로 기술에 접근하는 시각에서 나아가, 국제정치에 직접적인 영향력을 미치는 주요 변수로서의 기술에 주목한다. 본 연구는 네트워크 기술이 국가 간 관계와 국가의 외교정책에 영향을 미치기 시작한 첫번째 시기인 19세기 후반과 20세기 초 통신기술 (해저케이블과 무선전신) 네트워크 구축 및 독점을 둘러싼 영국과 독일 간의 경쟁구도에 대한 사례연구를 진행한다. 이 시기 영국과 독일의 경쟁구도에 대한 기존의 논의는 기술을 주요 요소로 고려하는 접근이 결여되어 있었기 때문에 그 설명에 한계를 노정하고 있다. 따라서 본 연구는 국제정치학의 주요이론인 세력균형이론을 토대로 네트워크 기술의 내재적인 특성인 네트워크 효과를 주요 설명변수로 도입하여 새로운 분석틀인 네트워크 균형 모델을 제시하고 이를 해당사례 분석에 도입하였다. 이를 통해 네트워크 효과가 내재된 기술이 갖는 국제정치적 중요성을 강조하고, 해당기술로 형성된 네트워크 내에서 국가간 네트워크 효과가 발생했을 때 초래되는 지속적인 비대칭적 관계형성 및 주권제약과 이에 대처하기 위한 국가전략에 대한 설명을 제시한다.The development of technology has accompanied every crucial transformation of the international system as a decisive factor closely linked to the principle concepts of international relations such as power and security. Among different types of technologies, those that enhance connectivity among states are the ones with the strongest implications on international politics as they can reap disproportionate benefits for certain industries of certain countries, generating possibilities for violation of sovereignty that can evoke serious security concerns. In this regard, history has shown that telecommunication technologies, sitting at the core of enabling such connectivity, have often taken an important part in great power competition with their political history paralleling and amplifying trends in international relations. However, while the importance of such technologies has been recognized for their impact on the contours of world politics in existing studies, their conceptualization within the discipline has remained quite limited; they are mostly taken as an exogenous factor—an environmental condition or set of instrumental possibilities, rather than something integral to how international politics are carried out. The lack of clear conceptual and analytical frameworks with which to investigate how technology is developed and implemented, why it is developed and implemented in certain ways, and how these processes impact the order of international politics, makes it difficult to incorporate technology as a core component of international relations discussions. Against this backdrop, this study takes a heuristic approach to show the link between network technology and the balancing strategies taken by great powers. In order to do so, it introduces a new analytical framework, the network balancing model, by incorporating the network effect, an intrinsic property of network technologies, as a key explanatory variable into the balance-of-power theory, in an attempt to show that, theoretically and empirically, the network effect influences balance-of-power politics in ways that have not been appreciated by extant literature in the field of international relations. The model is then applied to analyze the very first case of network effect taking place among the states connected within transnational telecommunication networks and the consequent great power rivalry over the dominance of those networks—the Anglo-German rivalry in the first period of globalization.Chapter 1. Introduction 1 1. A Historical Preview 4 2. Empirical Puzzle and Research Question 7 3. Summary of the Research 9 4. Significance of the Research 14 5. Overview of the Chapters 15 Chapter 2. Literature Review 18 1. Theories of Balance of Power 24 2. Technology in International Relations 39 3. Balance-of-Power and Telecommunication Networks 50 Chapter 3. Analytical Framework and Research Design 72 1. A New Analytical Framework: A Model of Network Balancing 72 2. Propositions 91 3. Research Design 95 Chapter 4. Anglo-German Rivalry over the Submarine Cable Network 103 1. The British Monopoly 104 2. Network Balancing by Germany 133 3. Findings and Analysis 146 Chapter 5. Anglo-German Rivalry over the Wireless Telegraph Network 155 1. Great Britains Embryonic Dominance 155 2. Network Balancing by Germany 165 3. Findings and Analysis 191 Chapter 6. Conclusion 197 1. Findings and Evaluation 198 2. Implications for International Relations Theory 208 3. Implications for the U.S.-China rivalry over ICT networks 210 4. Closing Thoughts 216 References 219 Abstract in Korean 257 Acknowledgments 259박

Hybrid Warfare

This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. Hybrid Warfare refers to a military strategy that blends conventional warfare, so-called ‘irregular warfare’ and cyber-attacks with other influencing methods, such as fake news, diplomacy and foreign political intervention. As Hybrid Warfare becomes increasingly commonplace, there is an imminent need for research bringing attention to how these challenges can be addressed in order to develop a comprehensive approach towards Hybrid Threats and Hybrid Warfare. This volume supports the development of such an approach by bringing together practitioners and scholarly perspectives on the topic and by covering the threats themselves, as well as the tools and means to counter them, together with a number of real-world case studies. The book covers numerous aspects of current Hybrid Warfare discourses including a discussion of the perspectives of key western actors such as NATO, the US and the EU; an analysis of Russia and China’s Hybrid Warfare capabilities; and the growing threat of cyberwarfare. A range of global case studies – featuring specific examples from the Baltics, Taiwan, Ukraine, Iran and Catalonia – are drawn upon to demonstrate the employment of Hybrid Warfare tactics and how they have been countered in practice. Finally, the editors propose a new method through which to understand the dynamics of Hybrid Threats, Warfare and their countermeasures, termed the ‘Hybridity Blizzard Model’. With a focus on practitioner insight and practicable International Relations theory, this volume is an essential guide to identifying, analysing and countering Hybrid Threats and Warfare

A Grounded Theory Study for Developing Teacher Self-Efficacy Throughout a Teaching Career

Abstract Teachers face unprecedented pressures that call into question their effectiveness and sense of self-efficacy. Teacher-self efficacy (TSE) involves teachers’ beliefs about their ability to meet the needs of their students regardless of circumstances or challenges (Tschannen-Moran & Hoy, 1977). Studies consistently supported the impact of self-efficacy on teacher effectiveness (Gibson & Dembo, 1984). A gap in the literature existed regarding how teachers develop self-efficacy throughout their careers. A mixed methods grounded theory study was conducted to identify factors affecting teachers’ self-efficacy at various career stages. I conducted a series of recursive interviews and focus groups and collected survey data related to the same topic. Findings revealed teachers develop a sense of self-efficacy in different ways depending in large part on their career path location. However, some factors positively influence TSE in all career stages, including self-reflection, feedback, collaboration, student relationships, and inclusive educational practices. A career model of teacher self-efficacy revealed differences in the contributing factors to self-efficacy based on learning habits and a direct focus on students. Generally speaking, as teachers progress through their careers, their TSE is fostered by narrowing their focus to aspects of their practice that directly impact students. For example, novice teachers developed TSE through feedback from authority figures while veteran teachers sought feedback directly from students. Additionally, the TSE of more experienced teachers was positively impacted by expanding their influence. For instance, veteran teachers pursued opportunities to mentor or coach other teachers as a way give back to the profession while enhancing their TSE

The Behavioral Ecology of the Tibetan Macaque

This open access book summarizes the multi-disciplinary results of one of China’s main primatological research projects on the endemic Tibetan macaque (Macaca thibetana), which had continued for over 30 years, but which had never been reported on systematically. Dedicated to this exceptional Old World monkey, this book makes the work of Chinese primatologists on the social behavior, cooperation, culture, cognition, group dynamics, and emerging technologies in primate research accessible to the international scientific community