Service robotics: do you know your new companion? Framing an interdisciplinary technology assessment

Service-Robotic—mainly defined as “non-industrial robotics”—is identified as the next economical success story to be expected after robots have been ubiquitously implemented into industrial production lines. Under the heading of service-robotic, we found a widespread area of applications reaching from robotics in agriculture and in the public transportation system to service robots applied in private homes. We propose for our interdisciplinary perspective of technology assessment to take the human user/worker as common focus. In some cases, the user/worker is the effective subject acting by means of and in cooperation with a service robot; in other cases, the user/worker might become a pure object of the respective robotic system, for example, as a patient in a hospital. In this paper, we present a comprehensive interdisciplinary framework, which allows us to scrutinize some of the most relevant applications of service robotics; we propose to combine technical, economical, legal, philosophical/ethical, and psychological perspectives in order to design a thorough and comprehensive expert-based technology assessment. This allows us to understand the potentials as well as the limits and even the threats connected with the ongoing and the planned implementation of service robots into human lifeworld—particularly of those technical systems displaying increasing grades of autonomy.     

The contribution of media consumption to civic participation

A national UK survey (N = 1017) examined the association between media consumption and three indicators of civic participation - likelihood of voting, interest in politics, and actions taken in response to a public issue of concern to the respondent. Multiple regression analysis was used to test the variance explained by media use variables after first controlling for demographic, social and political predictors of each indicator of participation. Media use significantly added to explaining variance in civic participation as follows. In accounting for voting, demographic and political/social factors mattered, but so too did some media habits (listening to the radio and engagement with the news). Interest in politics was accounted for by political/social factors and by media use, especially higher news engagement and lower media trust. However, taking action on an issue of concern was accounted for only by political/social factors, with the exception that slightly fewer actions were taken by those who watched more television. These findings provided little support for the media malaise thesis, and instead were interpreted as providing qualified support for the cognitive/motivational theory of news as a means of engaging the public.     

Young people and caregivers' perceptions of an intervention program for children who deliberately light fires

A significant number of children and adolescents engage in deliberate fire setting, beyond the scope of curiosity and experimentation. Interventions developed to respond to the needs of such fire setters generally involve educational and/or psychosocial approaches. Research evaluating the effectiveness of these interventions is dominated by outcome studies which rely on recidivism rates determined by either official records or parent reports. There has however, been no process evaluation studies published. This study presents a process analysis which aimed to identify the strengths and weaknesses of a Fire Awareness and Intervention Program in New Zealand, from the perspectives of program consumers. Qualitative research methods were employed, with data being derived from in-depth interviews with young people and their parents/caregivers. The analysis indicated that (a) the FAIP was generally regarded as a positive experience, (b) practitioners' qualities of empathy and understanding are important for developing rapport with the young people and their parents, (c) education-based intervention tailored to the young person's age and developmental level is important, (d) educational resources need to be updated and used flexibly to respond appropriately to the age and developmental level of the young person, and (e) inter-agency and intra-agency relationships need to be developed and maintained, with formal arrangements for reciprocal referral systems developed in order to respond to the needs of the clients. The resulting implications for service providers, along with future research are discussed.     

Competing values, tensions and trade-offs in management of nuclear power plants

The specific goal of the study is to look how tensions, competing values and trade-offs manifest in the management of nuclear power plants. Second goal is to inspect how existing frameworks, such as Competing Values Framework, can be used to model the tensions. Empirical data consists of thirty interviews that were conducted as part of a NKS study on safety culture in the Nordic nuclear branch. Eight trade-offs are identified based on a grounded theory based analysis of the interview data. The competing values and potential tensions involved in the trade-offs are discussed.     

Predicting 1-year change in body mass index among college students

OBJECTIVE: Despite beliefs about weight gain in college, few researchers have evaluated this phenomenon. PARTICIPANTS: Participants were 18- to 31-year-old students at a midwestern university. The dependent variable was body mass index (BMI) change. METHODS: The authors extracted predictor variables from a Health Risk Appraisal. These included clinical, medical history, medical usage, medications, pain or chronic conditions, perceptual measures, and behavioral factors. The authors performed an ordinal regression technique separately by gender. RESULTS: No predictors were significant for men. Women in the BMI gain group were (1) more likely to consume alcohol, use maladaptive coping behaviors, eat foods low in fiber, and consume caffeine; and (2) less likely to be stress-free, to eat cruciferous vegetables, and to refrain from eating high-cholesterol foods. CONCLUSIONS: The lack of research on predictors of and interventions for reducing BMI gain among college students warrants more research.     

Issues concerning the content and methodology of the upcomming population census

The author examines the content and methodology of the 1989 Soviet census. Items to be included in the questionnaires for both the total population and the 25 percent sample survey are described. The author notes that questions on housing will be included for the first time. Other topics considered include reliability of data, confidentiality, and organization.     

米歇尔·贝克Mozilla的开源革命

随着公司与外部合作的日益加强,革新管理逐渐成为一个受人关注的话题。尤其是在研发革新管理中,如何进行流程管理、如何保护知识产权,以及如何进行决策等,都开始成为外部合作过程中的重大问题。在过去的十年中,Mozilla公司主席米歇尔·贝克成功地带领企业与许多来自公司之外的志愿者们展开了深入合作,并成功地研发出了Firefox浏览器,直接向微软的IE浏览器发起了挑战。     

家庭的社会文化因素

人们都承认家庭在发展青年一代精神文化上的特殊作用,但很少有人承认家庭在发展成长中的年轻人个性方面具有关系到前途命运的意义。重要的是要具体、历史地看待这一问题:如今家庭能起什么作用?为此必须对当代最为复杂的社会进程进行通盘分析。单亲家庭数量不断增长,在城市文明激增条件下家庭的“传统”作用的变化,家庭里孩子数量的减少,青年家庭对物质的过分追求,这一切不可避免地同教育制度一样会导致家庭本身的变态。这不仅是社会的错误,也应当说是教育上的无     

现代美国学校教育交际问题

学生与教师的关系问题是近百年来西方教育思想的现实问题之一。其中尤应提及对其他国家产生巨大影响的美国交际教育。美国学校的交际教育理论是在20世纪初J.杜威研究基础上形成的。他强调,交际素养是未来教师素质的重要因素,教师与