STS goes to school: Spatial imaginaries of technology, knowledge and presence

The following text presents a revised and extended version of the public defence of my Ph.D. thesis, which I presented at the Faculty of Social Sciences on 18th November 2005, Copenhagen University. The thesis applies and develops theoretical perspectives from Science and Technology Studies – especially Actor-Network Theory – on the empirical field of primary education. This field has not prior been approached by these theories. Based on ethnographic field studies the thesis presents and compares what I call spatial imaginaries of interactions of humans and learning materials in a traditional classroom and in a computer lab. The study describes and discusses the forms of knowledge and the forms of presence performed through these socio-material interactions. The study thus contributes a definition of materialities that takes the understanding of technology in education beyond the dominant humanist approach to schooling

Towards a Typology of Interdisciplinarity in Cybersecurity:Trade, Choice, and Agnostic-Antagonist

Cybersecurity research increasingly involves non-engineering disciplines, such as psychology, social science and law [41]. In this paper, we argue that cybersecurity research is not only reshaped through new methods and concepts of these adjacent fields, but also through shared interdisciplinary practices. Existing literature on interdisciplinarity in cybersecurity is primarily concerned with defining ideal models that are based on ideals, rather than in empirical research of how interdisciplinarity is formed in practice. We offer an ethnographic analysis of interdisciplinary formats based on our four-year participation in the ongoing interdisciplinary cybersecurity PhD programme SecHuman at the Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany. The PhD programme brings together engineers, social scientists as well as humanities scholars. Drawing on methods and literature of ethnographic science and technology studies (STS), we attend to eight different interdisciplinary formats and analyse how they shape cybersecurity research: its logics of accountability, of innovation, and of ontology [3]. This leads to a typology of five modes of interdisciplinarity that can be found in the PhD programme: 1. choice, 2. subordinate-service, 3. integrative-synthetic, 4. trading, and 5. agonistic-antagonistic. Based on our empirical findings, we discuss how each mode shapes cybersecurity, and conclude with suggestions of how to craft interdisciplinary formats in the field

NÅR BØRN OG UNGE SPILLER MEGET ONLINE - og voksne frygter afhængighed

Når børn og unge spiller online rigtig mange timer og deres forældre eller andre voksne er bange for, at de er afhængige af onlinespil, hvad skal man da stille op? Skal man straks slå op i DSM-III R og checke, om børnene scorer på kriterierne for afhængighed? Skal man hive stikket ud eller sætte password på computeren? Nej, det skal man ikke, argumenterer jeg for i denne artikel. Man skal finde ud af, hvad man har med at gøre. Dette forslag er lige så ligefremt, som det er kompliceret. Det er det, denne artikel handler om. Jeg stiller spørgsmålet om, HVORDAN vi kan forstå børns og unges storforbrug onlinespil. Der er altså tale om bidrag til en metode for forståelse af børn og unge, der spille meget. Artiklen anlægger en deskriptiv vinkel og tager ikke stilling til, om børns og unges storforbrug af onlinespil er problematisk, og for hvem det måtte være problematisk. Jeg taler om ’storforbrug’ frem for om ’afhængighed’. Ved at sætte en diagnosticerende betragtning ’uden for døren’ skaber jeg i denne artikel et rum for at se på den sammenhæng, som børn og unges storforbrug af onlinespil indgår i. Et rum, der åbner for at finde grunde til børns storforbrug af onlinespil i deres livssituation, og som kan danne baggrund for en eventuel forebyggelses- eller behandlingsstrategi, der inddrager andre perspektiver end individualpsykologiske eller biologiske

Prevalence and type distribution of human papillomavirus infections in Danish patients diagnosed with vulvar squamous cell tumors and precursors

Objective: To study the prevalence and type distribution of human papillomavirus (HPV) in patients with vulvar high-grade precancerous lesions and vulvar squamous cell carcinoma (VSCC). Methods: Formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue samples from Danish patients diagnosed with vulvar precancerous lesions or VSCC in the period from 2010 to 2012 were obtained. HPV-DNA detection was carried out by the use of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using GP5+/GP6+ primers and genotyped by sequencing. A systematic literature search on the PubMed database was performed to investigate the prevalence and genotype distribution worldwide. Results: In the present study population (n = 149) 52 vulvar high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSIL), 2 differentiated vulvar intraepithelial neoplasia (dVIN), and 95 VSCC cases were identified. HPV was detected in 85 patients (57.0%). Overall, a higher proportion of the vulvar high-grade precancerous lesions were HPV positive compared to VSCC (83.6% vs. 42.1%, p < 0.001). Additionally, HSIL had a significantly higher HPV-positive rate compared to keratinizing VSCC (84.6% vs. 33.3%, p < 0.001). However, the HPV positivity was comparable between HSIL and non-keratinizing VSCC (84.6% vs. 82.4%, p = 0.825). One dVIN was HPV positive whereas the other was HPV negative. HPV-16 was the most common HPV type (68.2%), followed by HPV-33 (18.8%) and HPV-18 (8.2%). Conclusions: Most vulvar HSIL and non-keratinizing VSCCs appear to be HPV associated. However, we find a high HPV association in keratinizing VSCC, which needs to be further studied. HPV-16 remains the predominant genotype, but HPV-33 also seems to play a role in the development of VSCC

Polychromatic neutron phase contrast imaging of weakly absorbing samples enabled by phase retrieval

We demonstrate the use of a phase retrieval technique for propagation-based phase contrast neutron imaging with a polychromatic beam. This enables imaging samples with low absorption contrast and/or improving the signal-to-noise ratio to facilitate e.g. time resolved measurements. A metal sample, designed to be close to a pure phase object, and a bone sample with canals partially filled with D2O were used for demonstrating the technique. These samples were imaged with a polychromatic neutron beam followed by phase retrieval. For both samples the signal-to-noise ratio were significantly improved and in case of the bone sample, the phase retrieval allowed for separation of bone and D2O, which is important for example for in situ flow experiments. The use of deuteration-contrast avoids the use of chemical contrast enhancement and makes neutron imaging an interesting complementary method to X-ray imaging of bone

Please Go Away… We’re Reading: A Practice Approach to a Taken-for-Granted Academic Craft

Reading is not only a mental decoding activity but also a social, material, bodily, and affective practice. It is learned; changes over time; varies across situations; and is crucial for academic institutions. Nonetheless, academics practice reading largely individually. Yet, reading remains an undervalued part of how professional research (work) is done. In this paper, we take a practice-oriented approach: How is reading enacted as a seemingly self-evident academic technique? Drawing on Science & Technology Studies and collective auto-ethnographic reflections of our readings in the RUSTlab at Ruhr University Bochum, we explore how reading is structured with respect to different goals—be it for critique, fun, teaching, or writing. We consider aspects of the material infrastructure such as pens and (missing) couches, and analyze how situations, bodies, and settings enact and afford different modes of reading. We organize the modes of reading into reading about, reading around, and reading aloud. This paper argues that reading is a craft that requires care and companionship, and that it matters who gets to read, when and where reading is done, and what the legitimate excuses for not reading are. We polemicize that academics would do well to bring reading practices from the individualized margins to the heart of collective exchange