Resistance, rootedness and mining protest in Phulbari

This thesis is concerned with the dynamics and social morphology of resistance to mining in Bangladesh. Using the case of on-going resistance to a government supported open-pit coal mine project proposed by Asia Energy Corporations in Phulbari, Northwest Bangladesh, it considers the resistance within a particular context while investigating how the ideas held by various groups intersect and conflict in developing networks of resistance. Through ethnographic engagement in a particular ‘community’, as well as with the activism at the national level, the research attempts to explore how and to what extent the connection and disjuncture of observations and experiences of particular groups shape the resistance movement. The aims of this thesis are two fold. Firstly it expands on anthropological accounts of social movements’ rootedness in patterns of daily life. As such I examine how local resistance to mining initiatives emerges in specific contexts and around such located concerns that often remain unexpressed in the public discourse of protests. I show how resistance builds around anxieties of losing ‘home’ and accompanying rights and claims. Secondly, this research contributes to the anthropological analysis of ‘connection’ and ‘network’ in this ‘global’ era. Through an ethnographic study of the resistance movement against mining I show how the movement’s network is not a smooth integration of groups and actors; tension and ambiguity is central to it. I look at the ways in which friction of disparate ideas attached to different level of analysis, i.e. ‘local’, ‘national’ and ‘universal’, pave way for the formation of tentative alliances as the differential observations come to fit into the common discourses of protest

“The Illusion of Collaboration”: An Integrated Examination of the Antecedents, Processes, and Consequences of Online Group Work

Computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) presents postsecondary educators with a conundrum: how to design and support small-group activities without stifling deep and meaningful learning. The literature indicates that students are not consistently practicing higher-order cognitive activities, educators are not reliably designing or facilitating them, and/or researchers are not locating or identifying them where they are occurring. The aim of this dissertation is to explore these deficits by identifying the antecedent conditions that most affect collaboration. Specifically, I answer the question, how do learner’s prior knowledge, characteristics, and experiences manifest in their collaborative processes. Addressing a gap in the literature, this study employs distance ethnography to assess at a fine-grain level the social and cognitive interactions of a trio of collaborators in a natural setting—an object-oriented, small-group project in an online writing course. The results reveal several ways that learner dispositions and prior knowledge manifest as barriers to productive interactions, including tendencies toward indirect and unidirectional communication; siloed workspaces and individual orientations to group assignments; unequal coordination work; and the preservation of individual autonomy to the detriment of group knowledge objects. The study has pedagogical and theoretical implications related to the theory of transactional distance (TTD) and collaborative cognitive load theory (CCLT) and pedagogical and methodological implications for the integration of reflective-practitioner journals

Blockchain and the General Data Protection Regulation: an irreconcilable regulatory approach?

A blockchain is a class of technology that allows the creation and management of different forms of decentralised and distributed digital ledgers where data are stored, chronologically recorded, transferred and finally shared between the ‘nodes’ participating in a peer-to-peer network. These features prima facie clash with the GDPR that informs the EU data protection legislation and is based on a centralised representation of the reality in which data are processed, collected, and recorded in a database controlled by identified subjects. The underpinning idea of this article is diametrically opposed to the one which considers the technology not GDPR-compliant by default. First, the author argues that the points of tension can be mitigated by technical and/or governance methods, thus acting at both application and infrastructure level. In essence, a case-by-case analysis is the only feasible option to assess the compliance between the regulation and the technology. Second, a further and closer look at blockchain’s underlying concepts reveals how both the GDPR and the blockchain have the same purposes but different approaches. More interestingly, the article suggests that the blockchain could be seen as a Privacy Enhancing Technology (PET), which might help data subjects gain more control over their personal data and hence support one of the GDPR’s purposes (recital 7)

#Blockchain4EU: Blockchain for Industrial Transformations

The project #Blockchain4EU is a forward looking exploration of existing, emerging and potential applications based on Blockchain and other DLTs for industrial / non-financial sectors. It combined Science and Technology Studies with a transdisciplinary policy lab toolbox filled with frameworks from Foresight and Horizon Scanning, Behavioural Insights, or Participatory, Critical and Speculative Design. Amid unfolding and uncertain developments of the Blockchain space, our research signals a number of crucial opportunities and challenges around a technology that could record, secure and transfer any digitised transaction or process, and thus potentially affect large parts of current industrial landscapes. This report offers key insights for its implementation and uptake by industry, businesses and SMEs, together with science for policy strategic recommendations.JRC.I.2-Foresight, Behavioural Insights and Design for Polic

Identifying the Determents of Government E-Service Quality In the UAE

Globally, government entities are facilitating ever more over-the-internet transactional services. In the Middle Eastern context, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is at the forefront. Although the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of the UAE has adopted appropriate e-service quality (ESQ) assessment tools in-house, these tools are designed only for back-end developers, not for gauging end-user satisfaction levels. In light of this, we developed a conceptual framework for the holistic measuring of such citizen opinions. The study incorporated a survey instrument on a sample population (n = 2,197) for investigating the ESQ of the UAE Ministry of Interior transactional e-services. Key findings indicate that most ESQ content factors (excepting reliability) and all ESQ delivery factors, along with Trust in government positively impacted the ESQ user perceptions measured in terms of reuse intentions and overall satisfaction levels. However, familiarity with information and communication technology (ICT familiarity) was found to be insignificant. Responsiveness has the largest impact on ESQ perceptions. Interestingly, no differences between the genders were observed, but age, education and nationality all led to statistically significant differences. This research study adds an in-depth case to the relevant literature on public sector e-service provision in the Middle East and also to the one that considers ESQ assessment. The dissertation furnishes some suggestions about the wider and more systematic deployment of the analytical framework in future studies

Adaptive Data Storage and Placement in Distributed Database Systems

Distributed database systems are widely used to provide scalable storage, update and query facilities for application data. Distributed databases primarily use data replication and data partitioning to spread load across nodes or sites. The presence of hotspots in workloads, however, can result in imbalanced load on the distributed system resulting in performance degradation. Moreover, updates to partitioned and replicated data can require expensive distributed coordination to ensure that they are applied atomically and consistently. Additionally, data storage formats, such as row and columnar layouts, can significantly impact latencies of mixed transactional and analytical workloads. Consequently, how and where data is stored among the sites in a distributed database can significantly affect system performance, particularly if the workload is not known ahead of time. To address these concerns, this thesis proposes adaptive data placement and storage techniques for distributed database systems. This thesis demonstrates that the performance of distributed database systems can be improved by automatically adapting how and where data is stored by leveraging online workload information. A two-tiered architecture for adaptive distributed database systems is proposed that includes an adaptation advisor that decides at which site(s) and how transactions execute. The adaptation advisor makes these decisions based on submitted transactions. This design is used in three adaptive distributed database systems presented in this thesis: (i) DynaMast that efficiently transfers data mastership to guarantee single-site transactions while maintaining well-understood and established transactional semantics, (ii) MorphoSys that selectively and adaptively replicates, partitions and remasters data based on a learned cost model to improve transaction processing, and (iii) Proteus that uses learned workload models to predictively and adaptively change storage layouts to support both high transactional throughput and low latency analytical queries. Collectively, this thesis is a concrete step towards autonomous database systems that allow users to specify only the data to store and the queries to execute, leaving the system to judiciously choose the storage and execution mechanisms to deliver high performance

Networked together: designing participatory research in on-line ethnography

Abstract. This book contains the conference proceedings of the third edition of Rethinking Educational Ethnography: Researching on-line communities and interactions Conference hold in Napoli from 6th to 7th of June 2013. In 2013, the third edition of the Conference has invited ethnographers in different fields of research (not only in education), and those involved in ethnographic investigations in diverse disciplines (anthropology, sociology, etc.) to present and discuss contributions on the challenges of participatory research design in digital ethnography

Conditions of everyday technology use and its Interplay in the lives of older adults with and without dementia

Background: Increased reliance on technology in society incurs a risk that older adults with and without dementia could become excluded from participating in aspects of everyday life in and outside home. This thesis responds to a gap in present understanding about the conditions for Everyday Technology (ET) use (i.e. ticket machines, smartphones) in different international and geographical contexts. By generating new knowledge about the interplay of these conditions on participation, practical information and guidance follow to support both dementia- and age-friendliness as well as general inclusivity in society. Aim: To illuminate the conditions, particularly different country and geographical contexts, of ET use and the interplay of these conditions with participation and inclusion in everyday life both in and outside the home for older adults living with and without mild stage dementia. Methods: Participants with dementia (n =99) and with no known cognitive impairment (n =216) were recruited in the US (sub-study i, n =114), Sweden (sub-study i, n =73, ii, n =69), and England (sub-studies i, iv, n =128, rural sub-study iii, n =10). These four cross-sectional studies used multiple predominantly quantitative methods (i, ii, iv) and a case study approach also involved qualitative data (iii). Structured home-based interviews used the Everyday Technology Use Questionnaire to map respondents’ use of technologies, and the Participation in Activities and Places Outside Home Questionnaire to investigate the amount and pattern of participation outside home. Qualitative data included fieldnotes, observations, annotated maps and more. The findings of the four studies were synthesised using an approach to triangulation. Findings: The triangulation approach yielded three themes: 1) Dementia as a condition of ET use, 2) National, geographical, public and home context as a condition of ET use, 3) Interplay of conditions with participation.1) Dementia was generally not found to be a condition that impacted the challenge of ETs, however groups with dementia typically regarded less ETs to be relevant. There were notable exceptions in both instances. 2) The varying social, infrastructural, and service conditions surrounding national and geographic contexts were seen to shape the constitution and use of ETs outside home. 3) There was a complex interplay between the conditions of ET use and participation outside home. Close and distant human relationships, structural inequalities and transportation options were implicated as stabilising and de-stabilising everyday life. Conclusions: Insights are provided into the interplay between the conditions of ET use and participation in everyday life outside home among older adults with and without dementia. These insights provide opportunities for many different people in societies, communities, neighbourhoods and household to take action. Reducing any friction that people encounter when using ETs in public places and allowing opportunities for manualised participation in occupations outside home could lead to a more inclusive everyday life

Freeing the Grid 2007

Provides a state-by-state analysis of interconnection standards and net-metering rules for citizens, utilities, and policymakers. Identifies best and worst practices of the top- and bottom-rated states