82 research outputs found
The Formal, Financial and Fraught Route to Global Digital Identity Governance
Examining the activities of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) - an intergovernmental organization at the center of global anti-money laundering and counter-the-financing of terrorism governance- this paper advances a two-fold argument. First, the FATF shapes how, where and who is involved in developing key standards of acceptability underpinning blockchain activities. While not itself directly involved in the actual coding of blockchain protocols, the FATF influences the location and type of centralized modes of control. Drawing on the notion of protocological control from media studies, we illustrate how centralized control emerging in global digital identity governance emanates from the global governance of financial flows long considered by international organizations like the FATF. Second, we suggest that governance by blockchains persistently shapes the ability of the FATF to stem illicit international financial flows. In highlighting both the influence of FATF on blockchain governance and blockchain governance on the FATF we draw two strands literature that have been considered separately together in an analysis of the formal, financial and fraught route to global digital identity governance
Governing Techno-Futures:OECD Anticipation of Automation and the Multiplication of Managerialism
How do international organisations (IOs) govern the present based on claims about the coming impacts of technological change? Drawing on primary documents and participant observation, this article traces how the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) anticipates automation emanating from the growing integration of blockchain technologies in global governance. We find that promises of radical, rapid, and reckless automation advanced by promoters of Bitcoin and other âdefiantâ applications of the technology are steered by this IO towards more incremental and carefully managed forms of automation. The OECD relies on two managerialist practices to anticipate âreckless automationâ through the promotion of what we identify as âresponsible disruptionâ. In combination, OECD practices of scenario building and shared orientation framework construction deepen and extend managerial forms of global governance today whose technocratic and expert-led nature limits democratic possibilities and perpetuates global inequalities
In-situ TEM annealing of amorphous Fe-24at.%W coatings and the effect of crystallization on hardness
This paper describes the crystallization which occurs upon annealing of an amorphous Fe-24at.%W coatings, electrodeposited from a glycolate-citrate plating bath. A combination of Differential Scanning Calorimetry and in-situ Transmission Electron Microscopy annealing is used to study the onset of crystallization of the amorphous coating. The in-situ TEM analyses reveal the formation of first crystallites after annealing at 400\ua0\ub0C for 30\ua0min. Upon a temperature increase to 500â600\ua0\ub0C, the crystallites develop into Fe-rich nanocrystals withâ~â40\ua0nm grain size. The nanocrystals are dispersed in the remaining amorphous Fe-W matrix, which results in the formation of a mixed nanocrystalline-amorphous structure. The observed crystallization can be held responsible for the increase in the hardness obtained upon annealing of Fe-24at.%W coatings. In fact, the hardness of the as-deposited material increases from 11 to 13\ua0GPa after annealing at 400\ua0\ub0C, and it reaches the maximum value of 16.5\ua0GPa after annealing at 600\ua0\ub0C
Inverted spin polarization of Heusler alloys for new spintronic devices
A new magnetic logic overcomes the major limitations of field programmable
gate arrays while having a 50% smaller unit cell than conventional designs
utilizing magnetic tunnel junctions with one Heusler alloy electrode. These
show positive and negative TMR values at different bias voltages at room
temperature which generally adds an additional degree of freedom to all
spintronic devices
3D Fine-scale Terrain Variables from Underwater Photogrammetry: A New Approach to Benthic Microhabitat Modeling in a Circalittoral Rocky Shelf
The relationship between 3D terrain complexity and fine-scale localization and distribution
of species is poorly understood. Here we present a very fine-scale 3D reconstruction model of three
zones of circalittoral rocky shelf in the Bay of Biscay. Detailed terrain variables are extracted from 3D
models using a structure-from-motion (SfM) approach applied to ROTV images. Significant terrain
variables that explain species location were selected using general additive models (GAMs) and
micro-distribution of the species were predicted. Two models combining BPI, curvature and rugosity
can explain 55% and 77% of the Ophiuroidea and Crinoidea distribution, respectively. The third
model contributes to explaining the terrain variables that induce the localization of Dendrophyllia
cornigera. GAM univariate models detect the terrain variables for each structural species in this third
zone (Artemisina transiens, D. cornigera and Phakellia ventilabrum). To avoid the time-consuming task
of manual annotation of presence, a deep-learning algorithm (YOLO v4) is proposed. This approach
achieves very high reliability and low uncertainty in automatic object detection, identification and
location. These new advances applied to underwater imagery (SfM and deep-learning) can resolve the
very-high resolution information needed for predictive microhabitat modeling in a very complex zone.En prens
Interrogating technology-led experiments in sustainability governance
Solutions to global sustainability challenges are increasingly technologyâintensive. Yet, technologies are neither developed nor applied to governance problems in a socioâpolitical vacuum. Despite aspirations to provide novel solutions to current sustainability governance challenges, many technologyâcentred projects, pilots and plans remain implicated in longerâstanding global governance trends shaping the possibilities for success in often underârecognized ways. This article identifies three overlapping contexts within which technologyâled efforts to address sustainability challenges are evolving, highlighting the growing roles of: (1) private actors; (2) experimentalism; and (3) informality. The confluence of these interconnected trends illuminates an important yet often underârecognized paradox: that the use of technology in multiâstakeholder initiatives tends to reduce rather than expand the set of actors, enhancing instead of reducing challenges to participation and transparency, and reinforcing rather than transforming existing forms of power relations. Without recognizing and attempting to address these limits, technologyâled multiâstakeholder initiatives will remain less effective in addressing the complexity and uncertainty surrounding global sustainability governance. We provide pathways for interrogating the ways that novel technologies are being harnessed to address longâstanding global sustainability issues in manners that foreground key ethical, social and political considerations and the contexts in which they are evolving
- âŠ