Non-technical Issues Research Articles

Molecular biology or molecular politics? The production of scientific consensus on the hazards of recombinant DNA technology.

This paper examines an early phase of the controversy over the hazards of recombinant DNA technology in the United States in the period 1976-78, during which agreement was reached within the biomedical community that these hazards were minimal. The proceedings of three scientific meetings that are generally agreed to have been central events in the emergence of this new perception of recombinant DNA hazards are examined. Techniques previously used to examine policy making on non-technical issues are applied here to analyze the formation of this scientific consensus. These techniques are used to show how certain social characteristics of the meetings-the sponsorship and organization of the meetings, informal processes affecting the scope of the proceedings, and the dissemination of the results-acted as `social filters' for the complex set of perceptions of recombinant DNA hazards with which the scientific community started. In contrast to the received view of the recombinant DNA controversy, according to which the issue was resolved at a technical level, this paper argues that social dimensions of the decision process were crucial to the outcome.

Non-technical issues in acceptance of SILs

Technical issues in Systems Implementation Language (SIL) design are comparatively well understood. However, some major factors in the choice of a SIL for a given project are not related to the technical merits of the language. They are: availability of a "good" implementation, programmer trainability, and existence of a user community.

Understanding the software paradox

This paper considers why the software community has not yet automated the process of developing software. It identifies some of the major factors which inhibit the establishment of a unifying view. The paper considers alternate views of the development process and discusses implications of each. Finally, it reviews some of the non-technical issues related to software development. This is a paper of ideas; no solutions are offered.

Identifying mediating factors of moral reasoning in science education

AbstractThe purpose of this research was to examine how science content knowledge, moral reasoning ability, attitudes, and past experiences mediate the formation of moral judgments on environmental dilemmas. The study was conducted in two phases using environmental science majors and nonscience majors of college age. Phase One determined if environmental science majors exhibited higher levels of moral reasoning on nontechnical environmental social issues than on general social issues and examined the extent to which possible mediating factors accounted for differences in moral reasoning. Phase Two was qualitative in nature, the purpose of which was to observe and identify trends in conversations between subjects as to how certain mediating factors are revealed as people form moral judgments. The framework on which this study was constructed incorporates a progressive educational position; a position that views science education as being interdisciplinary, and a social means to a social end.

The CEC plans for electronic publishing and document delivery

The paper outlines a proposed Community plan for action in the field of electronic publishing and delivery of documents. The plan was prepared together with the Document Delivery Task Force of the Committee for Information and Documentation on Science and Technology (CIDST) which advises the Commission of the European Communities on IDST matters. The action programme concentrates on a number of pilot experiments covering the whole chain of functions from document ordering to the delivery on the user's desk. The experiments will probably also include satellite communication tests, and they will be complemented by a number of studies, some of them dealing with non-technical issues such as copyright.

The difficult crossmatch: a consideration of the staff and not the method.

The crossmatching laboratory is regarded as a stressful work environment where many nontechnical issues may influence the interpretation of test results, particularly if the results are unclear. An attempt has been made to identify major areas of conflict and stress and to demonstrate their relationship to the quality of crossmatching. The Janis an Mann model for decision making in conflict situations is presented and related to interpretation of crossmatches.

The Institutional Aspects of Radioactive Waste Management

This paper examines the institutional aspects of managing high-level radioactive wastes. It provides a brief analysis of three different nontechnical issues: intergenerational distribution of risk,...

Indices of World Tension in The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (The Bulletin) was founded shortly after the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Japan. Its founders were primarily scientists who had been involved in the projects leading to the development of nuclear weapons. Shocked by this dramatic evidence of the potentially disastrous effects of science upon human survival, they formed a group dedicated to publicizing the technical and social issues involved. The Bulletin publishes articles dealing with such scientific and technological issues as the power and yield of nuclear weapons, the detectability of explosions, and the construction of reactors; and with such nontechnical issues as ethical and educational concerns in science, the political background of arms limitation negotiations, domestic pressures related to security, and the international communication of scientific discoveries. Throughout the 36 years of its existence, The Bulletin has taken as its major focus the stability of peace in the world and the dangers posed to that stability by various national and international events.

Radioactive waste: a technical solution?

Commentary:Management of nuclear wastes has become much more than a problem of technology. Difficulties with institutional problems, political insensitivity to citizen participation in the nuclear waste disposal issue, and other non-technical issues have served to cancel nuclear waste projects long before any technological solution can be demonstrated. Federal governments' abortive efforts to establish a waste storage policy are chronicled. Increased citizen involvement in nuclear waste facility siting is recommended. (1 drawing, 23 references)