Local, National and Global Citizenship

Original article can be found at: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t725445575~db=all Copyright Informa / Taylor and Francis Group. DOI: 10.1080/03004270385200361This paper puts local, national and global citizenship into context post 11.9.01 and pre Johannesburg Earth Summit 2002. It contextulises the strands of the Crick report (1998) and how these integrate with the national curriculum. It argues for a school ethos of citizenship which permeates the whole curriculum rather than a taught citizenship curriculum. The whole notion of citizenship is related to Agenda 21 and Local Agenda 21 and strong bonds are made with Education for Sustainability and Environmental Education.Peer reviewe

The curse of Frankenstein: visions of technology and society in the debate over new reproductive technologies

At each successive moment in their development new reproductive technologies have provided the occasion for virulent argument about the role of technology in human affairs. And more generally, technoscientific knowledge has long been held both in awe and suspicion, with the latter acting as a kind of counterbalance to the continuing cultural investment in the image of scientific knowledge as empowerment, as the motive force of beneficial change. Given this cultural ambivalence the paper focuses on media representations of cloning and the 'designer baby' (with the latter enveloping a debate that has run for almost a decade now) and explores the ways utopian images of a world rendered ever more amenable to human desires have been closely shadowed by just as compelling dystopian visions which are nevertheless constructed from the same cultural material. Figures of occidental folklore such as Frankenstein (or Jeckyll or Brave New World), thus function as something of a convenient shorthand for articulating unease with the direction and pace of technological development, or even voicing loss of confidence in the modernist technoscientific project of instrumental control. In these circumstances, the chimeric notions of the 'designer baby' or the human 'clone' appear Janus-faced, concurrently representing the powers of human creativity as well as the monstrous progeny of an excessive epistemophilia. They are in this sense potent metaphors for the biotechnological revolution's declared power to re-shape both nature and society - for 'good' or 'ill'

Worst Case Reliability Prediction Based on a Prior Estimate of Residual Defects

In this paper we extend an earlier worst case bound reliability theory to derive a worst case reliability function R(t), which gives the worst case probability of surviving a further time t given an estimate of residual defects in the software N and a prior test time T. The earlier theory and its extension are presented and the paper also considers the case where there is a low probability of any defect existing in the program. For the "fractional defect" case, there can be a high probability of surviving any subsequent time t. The implications of the theory are discussed and compared with alternative reliability models

Using a Log-normal Failure Rate Distribution for Worst Case Bound Reliability Prediction

Prior research has suggested that the failure rates of faults follow a log normal distribution. We propose a specific model where distributions close to a log normal arise naturally from the program structure. The log normal distribution presents a problem when used in reliability growth models as it is not mathematically tractable. However we demonstrate that a worst case bound can be estimated that is less pessimistic than our earlier worst case bound theory

A Methodology for Safety Case Development

This paper will outline a safety case methodology that seeks to minimise safety risks and commercial risks by constructing a demonstrable safety case. The safety case ideas presented here were initially developed in an EU-sponsored SHIP project [1] and was then further developed in the UK Nuclear Safety Research Programme (the QUARC Project [2]). Some of these concepts have subsequently been incorporated in safety standards such as MOD Def Stan 00-55, and have also been used to establish specific safety cases for clients. A generalisation of the concepts also appears in Def Stan 00-42 Part 2, in the form of the software reliability case

A framework for a joint hydro-meteorological-social analysis of drought

This article presents an innovative framework for analysing environmental governance challenges by focusing on their Drivers, Responses and Impacts (DRI). It builds on and modifies the widely applied Drivers, Pressures, States, Impacts and Responses (DPSIR) model. It suggests, firstly and most importantly, that the various temporal and spatial scales at which Drivers, Responses and Impacts operate should be included in the DRI conceptual framework. Secondly, the framework focuses on Drivers, Impacts and Responses in order to provide a parsimonious account of a drought system that can be informed by a range of social science, humanities and science data. ‘Pressures’ are therefore considered as a sub-category of ‘Drivers’. ‘States’ are a sub-category of ‘Impacts’. Thirdly, and most fundamentally in order to facilitate cross-disciplinary research of droughts, the DRI framework defines each of its elements, ‘Drivers’, ‘Pressures’, ‘States’, ‘Impacts’ and ‘Responses’ as capable of being shaped by both linked natural and social factors. This is different from existing DPSIR models which often see ‘Responses’ and ‘Impacts’ as located mainly in the social world, while ‘States’ are considered to be states within the natural environment only. The article illustrates this argument through an application of the DRI framework to the 1976 and 2003–6 droughts. The article also starts to address how - in cross-disciplinary research that encompasses physical and social sciences – claims about relationships between Drivers as well as Impacts of and Responses to drought over time can be methodologically justified. While the DRI framework has been inductively developed out of research on droughts we argue that it can be applied to a range of environmental governance challenges

The NASA-Lewis/ERDA solar heating and cooling technology program

Plans by NASA to carry out a major role in a solar heating and cooling program are presented. This role would be to create and test the enabling technology for future solar heating, cooling, and combined heating/cooling systems. The major objectives of the project are to achieve reduction in solar energy system costs, while maintaining adequate performance, reliability, life, and maintenance characteristics. The project approach is discussed, and will be accomplished principally by contract with industry to develop advanced components and subsystems. Advanced hardware will be tested to establish 'technology readiness' both under controlled laboratory conditions and under real sun conditions

Conditions for electron-cyclotron maser emission in the solar corona

Context. The Sun is an active source of radio emission ranging from long duration radio bursts associated with solar flares and coronal mass ejections to more complex, short duration radio bursts such as solar S bursts, radio spikes and fibre bursts. While plasma emission is thought to be the dominant emission mechanism for most radio bursts, the electron-cyclotron maser (ECM) mechanism may be responsible for more complex, short-duration bursts as well as fine structures associated with long-duration bursts. Aims. We investigate the conditions for ECM in the solar corona by considering the ratio of the electron plasma frequency {\omega}p to the electron-cyclotron frequency {\Omega}e. The ECM is theoretically possible when {\omega}p/{\Omega}e < 1. Methods. Two-dimensional electron density, magnetic field, plasma frequency, and electron cyclotron frequency maps of the off- limb corona were created using observations from SDO/AIA and SOHO/LASCO, together with potential field extrapolations of the magnetic field. These maps were then used to calculate {\omega}p/{\Omega}e and Alfven velocity maps of the off-limb corona. Results. We found that the condition for ECM emission ({\omega}p/{\Omega}e < 1) is possible at heights < 1.07 R_sun in an active region near the limb; that is, where magnetic field strengths are > 40 G and electron densities are greater than 3x10^8 cm-3. In addition, we found comparatively high Alfv\'en velocities (> 0.02 c or > 6000 km s-1) at heights < 1.07 R_sun within the active region. Conclusions. This demonstrates that the condition for ECM emission is satisfied within areas of the corona containing large magnetic fields, such as the core of a large active region. Therefore, ECM could be a possible emission mechanism for high-frequency radio and microwave bursts.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure