Managing Dangerous Populations: Colonial Legacies of Security and Surveillance

We tend to associate practices of population surveillance with Western modernity and the intensification of security routines with the last decade defined by the “Global War on Terror.” I suggest, however, that proliferation of methods to monitor and control populations are legacies of the practices that were developed in the colonies to manage civilian populations. Here, I outline those institutional colonial legacies.     

On the maximum likelihood estimation of parameters of a spatial discrimination model

Consideration is given here to the problem of maximum likelihood estimation of parameters in a sparial discrimination model which was proposed by switzer (1980). some moments of these estimators are derived. These results extend the work of Mardia (1984) who gave expressions for these estimators without their moments.     

Use of satellite data in agricultural surveys

A major application of satellite remote sensing is the estimation of the acreage of agricultural crops. The potential for crop yield estimation using satellite remote sensing exists, but research in this area is still in its early stages. In this paper we survey the methodology for using remotely sensed data in agricultural surveys, based primarily on research conducted during the Large Area Crop Inventory Experiment (LACIE) and the follow-on program Agricultural Research and Inventory Surveys Through Aerospace Remote Sensing (AgRISTARS). The data obtained from multispectral scanner (MSS) and thematic mapper (TM) sensors onboard the Landsat series of satellites are described. Approaches for preprocessing, transferring, and modeling these data for understanding the relationship between their temporal behavior and crop growth cycles are discussed. Finally, techniques for crop identification and area and yield estimation are briefly described     

信息社会背景下的异地法官远程视频审判的设想

经济基础决定上层建筑。人类进入信息社会,作为上层建筑的司法制度也必然会进行变革。信息社会为司法的变革提供了物质基础,已经相对成熟的远程视频通讯技术使法官身处异地审判成为可能。我们设想由随机产生的不同地域的法官组成合议庭通过远程视频系统审理案件,并当庭作出判决,将法官从熟人社会中彻底解脱出来,完全不受人情、金钱和权力的影响,只凭证据和法律作出判断。但远程视频审判的实现有赖于一个比较充分的庭前准备,只有双方在庭审前充分的交流,包括证据和意见的展示,才可以使庭审顺利进行。     

数字媒介下高校党校远程教学体系的构建

本文对数字媒介下高校党校远程教学体系的构建问题加以论述。     

论人大监督中的程序正义问题

正义的监督,必须建立在正义的监督程序之上,程序正义不仅是司法领域的重要问题,也是人大监督的重要问题。就目前情况看,我国人大及其常委会的监督程序仍不完善,影响了监督的正义性。提高人大监督的正义性,要在民主的价值观下,采取实证主义的方法,建立以宪法和监督法为主,其他法律法规和政治惯例为辅的科学的、完善的监督程序。     

The militarisation of English schools: Troops to Teaching and the implications for Initial Teacher Education and race equality

This article considers the implications of the Troops to Teaching (TtT) programme, to be introduced in England in autumn 2013, for Initial Teacher Education (ITE) and race equality. TtT will fast-track ex-armed service members to teach in schools, without necessarily the requirement of a university degree. Employing theories of white supremacy, and Althusser’s (1971 Althusser, Louis. 1971. “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses.” In Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays, edited by, Althusser Louis, New York: Monthly Review Press. Accessed September 10. http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/althusser/1970/ideology.htm [Google Scholar]) concept of Ideological and Repressive State Apparatus, I argue that this initiative both stems from, and contributes to, a system of social privilege and oppression in education. Despite appearing to be aimed at all young people, the planned TtT initiative is actually aimed at poor and racially subordinated youth. This is likely to further entrench polarisation in a system which already provides two tier educational provision: TtT will be a programme for the inner-city disadvantaged, whilst wealthier, whiter schools will mostly continue to get highly qualified teachers. Moreover, TtT contributes to a wider devaluing of current ITE; ITE itself is rendered virtually irrelevant, as it seems TtT teachers will not be subject specialists, rather will be expected to provide military-style discipline, the skills for which they will be expected to bring with them. More sinister, I argue that TtT is part of the wider militarisation of education. This military-industrial-education complex seeks to contain and police young people who are marginalised along lines of race and class, and contributes to a wider move to increase ideological support for foreign wars - both aims ultimately in the service of neoliberal objectives which will feed social inequalities.     

个人信息权保护的法律界限研究——基于欧洲人权法院50个判例的分析

个人信息权是一种新兴权利,与日益扩张的国家监控权针锋相对.《欧洲人权公约》第八条从个人和家庭隐私的角度,对个人信息权作出了规定.欧洲人权法院的50个相关判例涵盖英国、法国、德国、瑞士、俄罗斯等不同法系的国家,涉及健康隐私、私密声音、私人通信等个人信息,缔约国败诉率高达三分之二,明确表明保护个人信息的法律限度:对个人信息的收集、储存、使用、披露、查询、删除等监控和干预必须依法、善意、必要进行,以充分保障人权.我国应当以“保护为原则,干涉为例外”,立法保护个人信息权,夯实合法性基础;合理善用国家监控权,找准合目的方向;最低程度平衡权益冲突,把握合比例性原则,进一步完善个人信息的法律保护.     

Immunization documentation practices and vaccine-preventable disease surveillance capacity among institutions of higher education in Indiana

Objective: Complete and accurate documentation of immunization records and surveillance of disease transmission are critical to the public health response to outbreaks of communicable disease in institutions of higher education (IHEs). This study aims to describe immunization documentation practices and disease surveillance capacity among IHEs in Indiana in order to inform public health action. Methods: IHEs in Indiana were identified and included in the study if they offered on-campus housing and had a dedicated student health center. Phone surveys were administered in September 2015 to each institution, inquiring about current immunization documentation policies and practices, disease surveillance capacity, and use of statewide electronic reporting systems. Additionally, IHE websites were searched to identify immunization documentation requirements for matriculating students. Results: Surveys were completed for 33 of 38 eligible IHEs. Twenty-three (70%) IHEs reported that student immunization records are entered into an accessible electronic system or database. Matriculating student immunization requirements were identified for 32 institutions. Of these, 22 (69%) required a physician-signed proof of immunization. No IHEs reported documenting historical immunizations in the statewide electronic immunization system and three IHEs (9%) reported utilizing the state electronic disease surveillance program. Conclusions: Immunization documentation practices vary among IHEs in Indiana and use of statewide immunization and disease reporting systems is minimal. Robust utilization of immunization and disease surveillance systems has been shown to improve public health response to communicable disease outbreaks. Improving mutual understanding of policy and practice between health departments and IHEs could improve the ability to respond to public health challenges.     

‘Hypernudge’: Big Data as a mode of regulation by design

ABSTRACT

This paper draws on regulatory governance scholarship to argue that the analytic phenomenon currently known as ‘Big Data’ can be understood as a mode of ‘design-based’ regulation. Although Big Data decision-making technologies can take the form of automated decision-making systems, this paper focuses on algorithmic decision-guidance techniques. By highlighting correlations between data items that would not otherwise be observable, these techniques are being used to shape the informational choice context in which individual decision-making occurs, with the aim of channelling attention and decision-making in directions preferred by the ‘choice architect’. By relying upon the use of ‘nudge’ – a particular form of choice architecture that alters people’s behaviour in a predictable way without forbidding any options or significantly changing their economic incentives, these techniques constitute a ‘soft’ form of design-based control. But, unlike the static Nudges popularised by Thaler and Sunstein [(2008). Nudge. London: Penguin Books] such as placing the salad in front of the lasagne to encourage healthy eating, Big Data analytic nudges are extremely powerful and potent due to their networked, continuously updated, dynamic and pervasive nature (hence ‘hypernudge’). I adopt a liberal, rights-based critique of these techniques, contrasting liberal theoretical accounts with selective insights from science and technology studies (STS) and surveillance studies on the other. I argue that concerns about the legitimacy of these techniques are not satisfactorily resolved through reliance on individual notice and consent, touching upon the troubling implications for democracy and human flourishing if Big Data analytic techniques driven by commercial self-interest continue their onward march unchecked by effective and legitimate constraints.