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Rejecting acceptance: learning from public dialogue on self-driving vehicles

Abstract The investment and excitement surrounding self-driving vehicles are huge. We know from earlier transport innovations that technological transitions can reshape lives, livelihoods, and places in profound ways. There is therefore a case for wide democratic debate, but how should this take place? In this paper, we explore the tensions between democratic experiments and technological ones with a focus on policy for nascent self-driving/automated vehicles. We describe a dominant model of public engagement that imagines increased public awareness leading to acceptance and then adoption of the technology. We explore the flaws in this model, particularly in how it treats members of the public as users rather than citizens and the presumption that the technology is well-defined. Analysing two large public dialogue exercises in which we were involved, our conclusion is that public dialogue can contribute to shifting established ideas about both technologies and the public, but that this reframing demands openness on the part of policymakers and other stakeholders. Rather than seeing public dialogues as individual exercises, it would be better to evaluate the governance of emerging technologies in terms of whether it takes place ‘in dialogue’

The Omaha Gospel Complex In Historical Perspective

In this article, I document the introduction and development of gospel music within the African-American Christian community of Omaha, Nebraska. The 116 predominantly black congregations in Omaha represent twenty-five percent of the churches in a city where African-Americans comprise thirteen percent of the overall population.1 Within these institutions the gospel music genre has been and continues to be a dynamic reflection of African-American spiritual values and aesthetic sensibilities. By focusing the research on perceptions and descriptions provided by the music\u27s practitioners, an examination of this genre at the local level will shed insight into the development and dissemination of gospel music on the broader national scale. Following an introduction to the gospel genre, the character of sacred music in Omaha\u27s African-American Christian institutions prior to the appearance of gospel will be examined. Next, the city\u27s male quartet practice will be considered. Factors that facilitated the adoption of gospel by mainstream congregations during the 1930s and 1940s will then be addressed. In conclusion, the role of Salem Baptist Church as a focal point and instigator of musical change from the 1950s to the present will be described. The accepted definition of the word gospel, as found in the Oxford English Dictionary, reads, \u27the glad tidings (of the Kingdom of God)\u27 announced to the world by Jesus Christ. Hence, the body of religious doctrine taught by Christ and His apostles; the Christian revelation, religion or dispensation. This definition also describes the word as short for gospel music [italics in the original]. 2 Gospel music in the tradition of black Christianity, the subject of the effort at hand, has twice been given articulate and insightful definition by African- American scholar Pearl Williams-Jones, who wrote, The term \u27Afro-American gospel music\u27 is used to refer to a particular body of contemporary black religious music which is the sum total of our past and present socioeconomic and cultural traditions. Afro-American gospel music is characterized by its use of texts of poetic imagery, poly-rhythms with strong emphasis upon syncopation, melodies based upon the traditional \u27blues scales\u27 (which consists of the lowered thirds, fifths, and sevenths) and European harmonies. 3 She elaborated on the cultural ethos a few years later, saying, Black gospel music, a synthesis of West African and Afro-American music, dance, poetry and drama, is a body of urban contemporary black religious music of rural folk origins which is a celebration of the Christian experience of salvation and hope. It is at the same time a declaration of black selfhood which is expressed through the very personal medium of music. 4 Gospel music today is the latest stage in a musical continuum whose foundation was in place over one hundred years ago. The first African-American denomination was the African Methodist Episcopal Church (A.M.E.), officially chartered in Philadelphia in 1816.5 Its bishop, Richard Allen (1760-1831), had earlier compiled A Collection of Spiritual Songs and Hymns Selected from Various Authors by Richard Allen, African Minister (1801), the first hymnal designed specifically for use by African- Americans.6 The formal worship service of early African-American Protestantism relied on, for the most part, the same repertoire used in the white Protestant church. The works of the English composer, Isaac Watts (1674- 1748), for example, were particularly well received, and to this day this body of hymns is simply referred to in the vernacular of the black church as the Dr. Watts. The performance style was one of lining-out, also called surgesinging or long-meter, wherein a line of text is recited or sung by a leader and then sung in response by the congregation.

Bone Cutting, Placement, and Cannibalism? Middle Preceramic Mortuary Patterns of Nanchoc, Northern Peru

Mortuary practices of the Middle Preceramic period (ca. 8500-4000 B.P.) are discussed for the Nanchoc region of the upper Zaña Valley, northern Peru. Careful breaking, cutting, and placement of human bones from adult males during the Las Pircas Phase (8500-6000 B.P. ) gave way to more haphazard breakage and discard during the subsequent Tierra Blanca Phase (6000-5000 B.P.). The evidence of cannibalism is considered. Bone breakage, cutting, and possibly cannibalism is believed to have been part of a broader process of ritualization that mitigated the spiritual danger of the transition from hunting-gathering to horticulture. Este trabajo discute las prácticas mortuorias del Período Precerámico Medio (ca. 8500 - 4000 A.P.) de la región Nanchoc del Valle superior de Zaña del norte de Perú. Rompimiento de huesos en forma cuidadosa, cortes y entierro de huesos de hombres adultos durante la Fase Las Pircas (8500 - 600 A.P.) da lugar a un quebramiento mas al azar de huesos y subsecuente descarte en la Fase Tierra Blanca (6000 - 5000 A. P.). Se considera la posibilidad de canibalismo. Las quebraduras de huesos, cortes y posiblemente el canibalismo podrían haber sido parte importante de un amplio proceso de rituales que mitigaban el peligro espiritual de la transición de los cazadores recolectores a la horticultura

Daphnia magna egg piRNA cluster expression profiles change as mothers age

Background: PiRNAs prevent transposable elements wreaking havoc on the germline genome. Changes in piRNA expression over the lifetime of an individual may impact on ageing through continued suppression, or release, of transposable element expression. We identified piRNA producing clusters in the genome of Daphnia magna by a combination of bioinformatic methods, and then contrasted their expression between parthenogenetically produced eggs representing maternally-deposited germline piRNAs of young (having their 1st clutch) and old (having their 5th clutch) mothers. Results from eggs were compared to cluster expression in three generations of adults. Results: As for other arthropods, D. magna encodes long uni-directionally transcribed non-coding RNAs consisting of fragmented transposable elements which account for most piRNAs expressed. Egg tissues showed extensive differences between clutches from young mothers and those from old mothers, with 578 and 686 piRNA clusters upregulated, respectively. Most log fold-change differences for significant clusters were modest, however. When considering only highly expressed clusters, there was a bias towards 1st clutch eggs at 41 upregulated versus eight clusters in the eggs from older mothers. F0 generation differences between young and old mothers were fewer than eggs, as 179 clusters were up-regulated in young versus 170 old mothers. This dropped to 31 versus 22 piRNA clusters when comparing adults in the F1 generation, and no differences were detected in the F3 generation. Inter-generational losses of differential piRNA cluster were similar to that observed for D. magna micro-RNA expression. Conclusions: Little overlap in differentially expressed clusters was found between adults containing mixed somatic and germline (ovary) tissues and germ-line representing eggs. A cluster encompassing a Tudor domain containing gene important in the piRNA pathway was upregulated in the eggs from old mothers. We hypothesise that regulation of this gene could form part of a feedback loop that reduces piRNA pathway activity explaining the reduced number of highly-expressed clusters in eggs from old mothers

Vehicle Systems Panel deliberations

The Vehicle Systems Panel addressed materials and structures technology issues related to launch and space vehicle systems not directly associated with the propulsion or entry systems. The Vehicle Systems Panel was comprised of two subpanels - Expendable Launch Vehicles & Cryotanks (ELVC) and Reusable Vehicles (RV). Tom Bales, LaRC, and Tom Modlin, JSC, chaired the expendable and reusable vehicles subpanels, respectively, and co-chaired the Vehicle Systems Panel. The following four papers are discussed in this section: (1) Net Section components for Weldalite Cryogenic Tanks, by Don Bolstad; (2) Build-up Structures for Cryogenic Tanks and Dry Bay Structural Applications, by Barry Lisagor; (3) Composite Materials Program, by Robert Van Siclen; (4) Shuttle Technology (and M&S Lessons Learned), by Stan Greenberg