The Limits of Government Regulation of Science

The recent controversy over the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity’s (NSABB) request that Science and Nature redact key parts of two papers on transmissible avian (H5N1) influenza reveal a troubled relationship between science and security. While NSABB’s request does not violate the First Amendment, efforts to censor the scientific press by force of law would usually be an unconstitutional prior restraint of the press absent a compelling state interest. The constitutional validity of conditions on grant funding to require pre-publication review of unclassified research is unclear but also arguably unconstitutional. The clearest case where government may restrict publication is when research has been properly classified as a security risk. It is less clear whether government may suppress the publication of “controlled unclassified information” (CUI). The key inquiry is whether the information poses a genuine security risk and the restraint is the least restrictive alternative. At the same time, the federal government has fairly broad latitude to protect sensitive data in its sole possession from disclosure under FOIA. We propose that future decisions on dual-use research should be taken through a fair and transparent institutional review process, likely best modeled on the institutional biosafety committees required for recombinant DNA research

Science, Politics, and Values: The Politicization of Professional Practice Guidelines

The Connecticut Attorney General’s recent allegations that the Infectious Disease Society of America violated antitrust law through its treatment guidelines for Lyme disease were neither based in sound science or appropriate legal judgment. Strong scientific evidence favors IDSA’s position that chronic infection with the etiologic agent of Lyme disease does not occur in the absence of objective signs of ongoing infection and that long-term antibiotic use to treat dubious infection, recommended in the quasi-scientific guidelines put forth by the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS), are of no benefit. In siding with ILADS and other chronic Lyme disease advocates, ultimately forcing IDSA to settle lest it expend exorbitant legal costs, the attorney general abused science and his public trust. This case exemplifies the politicization of health policy and confuses the relative spheres inhabited by normative discourse and scientific inquiry. Science should provide the evidentiary base for normative discussions, and values and politics will always be important in deciding how science is applied for human benefit. But a wall of separation is needed between science, values, and politics, as medical science, and the patients who depend on it, is too important for political distortion

Effect of 6-Mercaptopurine on Glucose Disappearance and Lactate Formation in the Media of Resistant and Sensitive Human Neoplastic Cells in Vitro

Human neoplastic cells resistant to the antileukemic agent 6-mercaptopurine (6-MP) were examined in tissue culture to study the glycolytic activity of resistant cells. The media, with and without 6-MP, of three neoplastic cell lines, HeLa, HEp-2, and J-lll was compared for glucose and lactate concentrations before and after incubation. It was found that in the media of HeLa and HEp-2 cells exposed to 6-MP glucose disappearance and lactate formation was enhanced. It was also found, however, that glucose and lactate concentrations of the media of 6-MP resistant HeLa and HEp-2 cells were not altered by the activity of 6-MP. On the other hand, in the media of J-lll cells both sensitive and resistant to 6-MP glucose and lactate concentrations were not changed by the activity of 6-MP. The results indicate that with the development of resistance to 6-MP, HeLa and HEp-2 cells no longer are stimulated by 6-MP to use extracellular glucose at an increased rate. It is also known that when HeLa and HEp-2 cells develop resistance to 6-MP there is an associated inability of both cell types to form the 6-MP ribonucleotide. The interrelationships of these two findings is not known; although it is suggested that both cell types develop resistance by a common pathway. However, because glycolytic activity in J-lll cells is not stimulated by 6-MP it is suggested that resistance may develop by still another mechanism

The Detoxification of Petroleum Contaminated Coastal Plain Sandy Soil Using an Amended Vermicomposting Approach

This study explores the feasibility of utilizing an amended vermicomposting treatment approach for detoxifying petroleum hydrocarbon contaminated sandy soil. The bench-scale testing of gasoline and diesel contaminated soil using three test soil vessels and one control soil vessel was performed in a laboratory setting for a six week time period. The control soil received no treatment other than distilled water to maintain soil moisture. Treatment 1 consisted of direct application of liquid municipal biologic sludge on a weekly basis. Treatment 2 consisted of the addition of 30 Eisenia foetida earthworms and distilled water. Treatment 3 consisted of direct application of liquid municipal biologic sludge and 30 Eisenia foetida earthworms. The experimental findings showed the greatest reduction in Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon (TPH) concentration occurred in the soil receiving Treatment 3. In addition, the experimental data showed that the individual segments, biologic sludge alone and earthworms alone, provided significant reductions in TPH concentrations. However, the reductions of the individual segments did not exceed the performance of Treatment 3. This finding does, however, indicate that the interaction of the segments can lead to a higher rate of biodegradation within petroleum contaminated soils. The statistical operations performed on the test soils indicated a statistically significant reduction in TPH concentrations occurred in Treatment 3. In addition, the Lower 95% and Upper 95% prediction intervals and the Lower 99% and Upper 99% prediction intervals for Treatment 3 were the largest among the test and control soils. This suggests the amended vermicomposting treatment approach has merit and further studies should be conducted to show the technical feasibility of this treatment option

Academic Assessment of English Learning School-Aged Children with Suspected Learning Disabilities

The investigators sought to determine whether education evaluators, mainly school psychologists, complied with federal, state, and professional practice guidelines when assessing English learning (EL) school-aged children suspected of a learning disability in three northern California school districts. In accordance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (U.S. Congress, 2004), all intellectual and academic assessments must be selected and administered by properly trained assessors so as not to be racially, culturally, and linguistically inappropriate. The investigators reviewed the academic assessment reports of 88 EL children who, at the time of the study, had been receiving both special education as well as English as a Second Language instruction. We investigated the cumulative files to identify if evaluators consider the student’s primary language by using culturally appropriate tests and interpreters, communicating with families, and consideration other important factors such as their attendance, grades, sex, and other factors. The investigators discovered that out of the 88 children, 76 were assessed in English only although all spoke English as their second language. In addition, none of the school psychologists employed the use of an interpreter during any portion of the assessment process. Findings present a compelling case for greater university program and local in-service training on appropriate assessment procedures for school psychologists when assessing EL children for LD

Policy: An Information Systems Frontier

The information systems community can contribute more, not just to “public policy” but to the broader notion of policy that guides decisions toward desired outcomes. Policy entails politics. It requires knowing about policy promulgation, implementation, and effect. It requires some understanding of policy analysis. The policy analyst takes a scientific and systematic view of policy issues. Much policy is focused on the unglamorous issues of efficiency and effectiveness. The goal is to speak truth to power. This is the first in a series of papers to address policy

A Process Oriented Framework for Assessing the Business Value of Information Technology

In the current competitive environment, the need for better management of all organizational resources, and specifically IT, requires comprehensive assessment of their contribution to firm performance. However, there is little empirical evidence that IT is capable of creating nor has a comprehensive framework of business value emerged. ManyoftheavailablestudiesoflTproductivityandbusinessvaluewereconductedusingfirmleveloutput measures of value. The focus on finn level output variables, while important, provides only limited understanding of how value is created using IT. This paper develops a conceptual framework of the business value outcomes of IT by synthesizing the extant literature on IT business value and IT supported organization and process design. The frameworkprovides a basis for process oriented studies of IT business value and enhances our understanding of the links between information technology and firm performance

Evol uti on and Organizational Information Systems: An Assessment of Nol an\u27s Stage Model

The stage model of Richard Nolan, as published between 1973 and 1979, is the best known model of evolution related to organizational information systems. The model has been accepted as a sound description of this evolution, but has never been subjected to careful conceptual assessment. This paper eval uates the model in 1 ight of its logical structure and its pl ace within the larger realm of evol ution expl anatlons in the social sciences. The model evolved over a period of years. The original 1973 version derived from the S shaped logistic curve of growth in computing budgets. The three points of directional change in the curve were taken as a surrogate of major changes in the environment and management of computing within the organization, dividing the total curve into four sections Nol an called stages: initiation (beginning of use); contagion (rapid expansion of use); control (constraining response from top management to restrict growth); and integration (refinement of controls to accomplish organizational objectives in computing use). This basic descriptive hypothesis was elaborated in the 1974 version (with Cyrus Gibson) which added two significant features: definition of the primary driving agent in computing growth as change in technol ogy; and the devel opment of the model as an equilibrium model . The state of computing at any time was the result of an equilibrium between the stimulating forces of technical change and the constraining forces of manageri al control policies. The model was elaborated in 1977 and 1979 to include two new stages. Management policies were characterized as either slack policies (lack of control s, encouragement of innovation) or control policies (constraints on growth, encouragement of efficiency). The S curve was said to illustrate the organization\u27s learning curve in dealing with computing, in which management policy improves over time in its effectiveness at achieving desired results. A basic change was said to be underway in management attitude toward computing, from concentration on control of computing resources to control of organizational data resources, stimulated in part by the emerging technol ogy of database management systems. A new stage called data administration was added to the model, which would eventually give way to a sixth stage called maturity. In maturity managers woul d be sufficiently knowledgeable to effect a productive balance or equilibrium between sl ack (encouraging innovation) and control (encouraging efficiency). Our evaluation of the model reveal s probl ems with its assumptions. First, the empirical foundation of the model is questionable. Computing budgets are not likely to be effective surrogates for the wide range of variables they are said to represent, and, as subsequent empirical research has shown, do not necessarily conform to the S curve. Moreover, predictions made .using the model \u27s .assumptions have proven inaccurate. Second, the focus on technological change as the basic driving force in computing growth is probably too simplistic. It does not adequately deal with the many demand-related contextual factors of change that have been shown emplrically to be important. Third, the model implicitly assumes that there is cl arity and congruity on organizational goals for computing use among top managers, but this expectation is seldom uphel d. A 1 ack of congruity in goals weakens the assumption that acquisition of knowledge will automatically result in the development of appropriate management controls. Fourth, we doubt that knowledge of appropriate means for deal ing with computing will be as easy to acquire as the model suggests. There are many competi ng theories about how best to manage computing, and differences in organizational actors\u27 abilities to acquire knowledge and dispositions about how to use it. There is no specification in the model regarding how knowledge of appropriate policies leading to maturity will be found and applied. Fifth, balancing control vs. slack policles implies that managers have some idea of the di recti on computing use is headed. In fact, most policies are reactive, and the notion that balance can be deliberately achieved is questionable. Finally, the assumption that change actually proceeds in a continuous manner is not upheld either by the history of computing development in organizations or by other studies of organizational or social change. Within the context of evol ution expl anati ons in the social sciences, Nolan\u27 s model is an exampl e of evol utionist models, which assume same a priori direction of change and an expected end state of change, but seldom precisely specify the mechanisms whereby change takes pl ace. Nol an\u27 s model posits a definite end state (integration in the early versions, maturity in the 1 ater versions), but does not provide a detail ed account of how change takes pl ace. As such, Nolan\u27s model offers some useful insights, but suffers from problems common to evolutionist models: it is difficult to test empi rically, and does not offer a good account of why specific changes occur the way they do. Most importantly, the only empi rical test avall abl e for such model s (waiting to see whether predictions made using them prove to be correct) has not supported the Nolan model to date. The model remains an insightful organizing framework for thinking about computing change in organizations, but is not the empirically validated model of change some of its proponents claim it to be

Rob Kling: A Remembrance

This article presents a remembrance of Rob Kling, a long-time intellectual leader in IS by three colleagues who worked closely with him