Compiling the ethical, legal and social implications of nanotechnology

This paper maintains that although there is much interest at the moment in exploring the Ethical, Legal and Social Implications (ELSI) of nanotechnology, the ability to do so in a critical and reflective way, in part, depends on how nanotechnology's future is envisioned. It is argued that, at present, this vision is articulated through the novum, a narrative device borrowed from the science fiction (SF) genre. The paper concludes by arguing that the widely shared narratives about nanotechnology's future, structured by the novum, not only limit the types of ELSI questions that can be addressed but also lead to a polarized debate. It is also suggested that the device of the novum also obscures the heterogeneous nature of nanotechnology itself.     

Airline deregulation: What's behind the recent losses?

The recent disastrous financial performance of the airline industry is probably thought by many to indicate that deregulation is not workable. But simulations suggest that the current recession and the 1979 fuel price increase are primarily to blame. Deregulation has caused transitional losses for some segments of the industry; but the new freedoms accorded to the airlines probably have helped rather than hurt the profitability of the industry.     

“If you Build it with them,they will come”: What makes a supermarket intervention successful in a food desert?

Using 71 planned supermarket interventions in food deserts, this study assesses the interplay between regional geography, management models, policy drivers, financing, and timing. We find that community engagement and cooperative management models are important factors to opening and sustaining a new store, contributing to subsequent improvements in the foodscape, built environment, and diet‐related health. Findings show that none of the nonprofit or community‐driven stores have closed whereas nearly half of the commercial‐driven and one third of government‐driven cases resulted in canceled plans or closed stores. Our research suggests community engagement is a critical component of effective policies for healthy food access. Future studies may wish to include measurements of community engagement with their case studies to better situate explanatory findings.     

Predicting law enforcement confidence in going ‘hands-on’: the impact of martial arts training,use-of-force self-efficacy,motivation, and apprehensiveness

ABSTRACT

In law enforcement, there are situations allowing officers to gain control of suspects by going ‘hands-on,’ or physically placing someone in custody beyond simple handcuffing. While much empirical attention is placed on more lethal use-of-force (UOF) measures, little is known about going hands-on. This is concerning considering when force is used, it is almost always with the use of hands, fist or feet only. The purpose of this pilot study is to examine whether martial arts training (MAT) and UOF self-efficacy predict confidence in going hands-on, after accounting for perceived motivation and apprehensiveness. It draws from an online survey, and a non-random subsample of 1,064 un-ranked patrol duty officers in the USA. Results indicate that MAT and high perceived UOF self-efficacy safely predict confidence in going hands-on, even after accounting for perceived motivation and apprehensiveness. Nonetheless, apprehensiveness, but not motivation, remains a strong predictor of not being confident in going hands-on.     

The convergent bribe

This essay is an analysis of drawing up a social menu based entirely on goods provided by the state. We make the unavoidable assumption that all voters vote for a specific menu combination on the argument used by J. K. Arrow to prove the voting paradox or voting impossibility. However, what is possible, though not inevitable, is to obtain a maximum or a second-best by allowing some groups to bribe others into accepting a given combination. This will lead to successive sequences of voting until the desired number of sub-combinations is reached. The bribes are thus purposeful, constituting a convergent ordinal chain.     

Re-examining the evidence on the electoral impact of terrorist attacks: The Spanish election of 2004

This paper re-examines the electoral effect of the 11-M terrorist attacks in Madrid. Previous research has focused on post-electoral surveys to construct counterfactuals for the evaluation of the electoral impact of the attack. Bali (Electoral Studies, 2007) claims that the terrorists attacks had an important electoral impact while Lago and Montero (2005) claim the opposite. In this paper I propose to re-examine the evidence using a methodological approach based on actual votes instead of opinions revealed by surveys, and the difference-in-differences estimator. The calculations under the counterfactual of “no terrorist attack” support the forecasts of the polls taken prior to the terrorist attack and the results of Bali (2007). The incumbent (conservative) party would have won the election with between 42% and the 45% of the votes, while the socialist party would have obtained 37% of the votes.