Results tagged “Library” from Technology and the U.S. Experience

Does anybody out there know a good teacher here to interview concerning blogs and politics.  I know I want to look in the political science department, but I was just wondering who out there may know the most on the subject?

I'm trying to focus my topic from internet and cell phones and how they affect communication/relationships to looking at specifically texting. But I'm having some trouble finding enough information in terms of sources, I've been looking and getting information from a lot of popular articles but not as many textbooks. Any ideas where I could look in the library for information about this?

Well, after running into a dead end with the LZR suit,  I have switched to nuclear power, with a focus on safety.  Since people often have a stigma with nuclear power,  I plan on arguing that it is a safe source of power. I have found a couple of good sources through OmniFile and Academic Premier, but I could use suggestions on finding books and other sources to continue to pursue the topic so I can prepare a new set of annotated sources. Also, I want to ensure that my paper does not overlap too much with Taylor Martin's, as we are looking at some similar subject matter. I would appreciate any helpthat could be offered to me.

I already have some good sources, but I have been wondering whether or not I should interview someone from the political science department to get their take on blogs as a news source in politics?  What do you all think? 

 

This is my annotated sources entry.  The topic is the LZR Racer by Speedo. Unfortunately, as  I wrote this outline, I found that the number of quality sources quickly ran out, and that the NCAA's ban on the suit had been overturned, which could have been a key part of my argument.  So I'm wondering if I should continue with this topic, or should I type up another annotated sources entry this weekend for my backup topic, which is arguing in favor of nuclear power, and would definitely have a much larger base of sources to choose from.

I will delve into the controversial issue of Davidson college administrators monitoring student emails. My thesis, that it is unethical for college administrators to create a power structure by accessing and releasing information from student's emails.  My intended audience is fellow Davidson classmates, who are interested under what circumstances their emails are opened and what is done with their information.  I will give a brief description of the legal ethics behind email privacy, focusing on specific student examples and relevant consequences of such court cases. In addition, I will look into the specified conditions under which student email are searched and accessed. In regards to my research, I will interview the ITS staff in charge of monitoring the emails. These primary sources will give me information regarding under what circumstances emails are monitored, the method of searching for through emails and what is done with these emails. On the other hand, if they do not give me this information it compounds the unfairness of the situation by giving administrators access to our emails with very little accountability or transparency.  In addition, I will use articles from the legal information databases and personal cases to give a background of the legality of email privacy.

Work Cited

 

Abbasi, Ahmed, and Chen Hisinchun. "Writeprints: A Stylometric Approach to Identity-Level Identification and Similarity Detection in Cyberspace," ACM Transactions on Information Systems, 2008. Vol. 2, Issue 2.  7:1-7:29.

 

Hinduja, Sameer, and Justin W. Pathcin. "Offline Consequences of Online Victimization: School Violence and Delinquency" Journal of School Violence. Vol. 6 Issue 3, 2007, 89-112.

 

Hoffman, Lance. J. "Building in big brother : the cryptographic policy debate," New York : Springer-Verlag, 1995.

 

Jasper, Margaret C. "Identity theft and how to protect yourself," Dobbs Ferry, N.Y: Oceana Publications, 2006.

 

"Sex crimes and the Internet : hearing before the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, One Hundred Tenth Congress, first session, October 17, 2007." Serial No. 110-87. Washington : U.S. G.P.O. printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary, 2007. <http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=110_house_hearings&docid=f:38335.pdf>

 

 "The national strategy to secure cyberspace : [electronic resource] draft for comment / The President's Critical Infrastructure Protection Board," Washington, D.C:, the President's Critical Infrastructure Protection Board, 2002. <https://ezproxy.lib.davidson.edu/login?url=http://purl.access.gpo.gov/GPO/LPS22941>

 

 

    The Internet is often thought of as a negative technology when it comes to music and the music industry. Downloading music and pirating are two of the biggest concerns on the minds of anti-internet music lovers. However, as the music industry evolved and begun to really discover what popular culture wanted from music, the producers and record labels began taking advantage of artists and the music they wanted to play. Music today has largely become a week-by-week fad change...

Annotated bibliography for politics and social networking sites.

After several weeks of searching, I have decided to address the topic of blogs, and more specifically look at how blogs have an impact on politics through their journalistic capabilities.

                                                                                                                                    Taylor Martin

 

Thesis:

 

·         Because nuclear power is a sustainable energy source and its development increases national security, nuclear power will be the primary source of energy for the United States within 10 years.

 

Research:

 

·         The development and use of nuclear power as an energy source has been disputed over the last half century. I want to prove that the benefits of nuclear power outweight the risks through increased funding and development of new technologies. As a viable alternative to fossil fuels, nuclear power is an efficient form of energy with minimal environmental damage, and it is a symbol of economic and military strength in the global arena. I am writing to with the intended audience of politicians, scientists, and environmentalists and aim to disprove the criticisms that nuclear energy is ¹⁾ a dangerous, declining energy source, ²⁾ damaging to the environment (radioactive waste), ³⁾ and a cause of nuclear proliferation. Science and technology databases such as Academic Search Premier, AccessScience, and Web of Knowledge offer the most information relevant to the creation of nuclear power. Science journals (IoP, SPIN Web, etc.) have information pertaining to the the pros and cons of nuclear physics. PAIS International is an additional resource for political arguments and policies concerning nuclear proliferation. If possible, I would like to interview a professor who has experience with nuclear physics. These are a few routes to explore; however, there is such a wealth of information on nuclear power that anything could be a potential source.

 

Howard, John. "Nuclear Power's New Age." The Economist 06 Sept. 2007.

 

·         The general point of this article is that the development of nuclear power is inevitable because of the global economic strain. The reliance on fossil fuels has developed countries looking for alternative energy sources to insure domestic economic stability as well as national security. Many environmentalists are starting to embrace the idea of nuclear power as an alternative energy source, and the general international consensus is pushing the creation of more reactors.

 

Rosa, Eugene A., and Riley E. Dunlap.. "Nuclear power: Three decades of public opinion." Public Opinion Quarterly 58.2 (Summer94 1994): 295-324. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. [Library name], [City], [State abbreviation]. 26 Oct. 2008 <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=9410063648&site=ehost-live>.

 

·         This article focuses on the social perspective toward the use of nuclear power and nuclear plants. The 3-Mile Island incident in Pensylvannia is used as an example to portray the reactions of Americans in response to the disaster. The pros and cons of nuclear plants are related to the way in which people percieve nuclear technology. Whether or not the government supports nuclear power is critical to a population's response to the idea. The third part of the 20^th centurty offered little support for nuclear power; however, there is now a renewal of interest in the development of nuclear technology.

 

Singer, J. David, and Volker Krause.. "Alliances and Nuclear Proliferation: A Matter of Reliability?." Conference Papers -- International Studies Association (2006 Annual Meeting 2006): 1. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. [Library name], [City], [State abbreviation]. 26 Oct. 2008 <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=27205035&site=ehost-live>.

 

·         The balance of power concept is adressed in this article to prove that nuclear weapons/technology keeps powerful countries in-check. The idea of increased nuclear proliferation is mentioned. Singer states, "We expect states to be more likely to engage in nuclear proliferation if (1) they lack support in military conflict from any nuclear major powers, (2) they have no nuclear major power allies, (3) nuclear major power allies do not support them in military conflict, and/or (4) nuclear major power allies are diverted from assisting them in military conflict because they are preoccupied with other armed confrontations." This is a key to my thesis in proving that regulations are crucial to prevent the top down model of nuclear proliferation.

 

Rogers, Kenneth A., and Marvin G. Kingsley.. "The Politics of Interim Radioactive Waste Storage:The United States." Environmental Politics 13.3 (Sep. 2004): 590-611. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. [Library name], [City], [State abbreviation]. 26 Oct. 2008 <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=14433467&site=ehost-live>.

 

·         The political viewpoint on radioactive waste is addressed in context of the known technology used to dispose of it. Since there are insufficient funds to develop new methods to destroy radioactive "hard" waste with no damage to the environment, plants are forced to store used uranium and fuel rods underground or in tanks. Private funding must be accompanied with government spending in order to secure long-term energy with no risk to the people or environment.  If new technology is created to provide a better means of destroying radioactive waste, plants would be passively secure (non-threatening) to the environment and the surrounding area.

 

 

Rahn, Frank J.. "Nuclear power." AccessScience@McGraw-Hill. 26 Oct. 2008. http://www.accessscience.com, DOI 10.1036/1097-8542.459600.

 

·         The encyclopedia entry for nuclear power gives general information about the history, use, and future of nuclear power. This is important in order to understand the United States' current ranking compared to other world leaders using nuclear power as energy. The creation and development of nuclear energy is described in great detail which clearly points out the future advantages of fission.  As for the safety of nuclear power, meltdowns are becoming less of a threat with newer innovations to stabilize the reactor core.

 

Lynas, Mark. "Why greens must learn to love nuclear power." New Statesman 137.4914 (22 Sep. 2008): 54-56. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. [Library name], [City], [State abbreviation]. 26 Oct. 2008 <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=34376121&site=ehost-live>.

 

Nuclear power used as energy is the best alternative to other fuel sources. The long term cost is cheap compared to the expense of building the plants. Nuclear energy is sustainable and a viable source of fuel with low impact to the environment. Mark argues in favor of adopting nuclear power to fight global warming and climate change and to conserve natural resources. The number of supporters for nuclear power is growing exponentially with the economic strains on the international market.

           

Annotated Bibliography: Light pollution

Topic Description

The sky in most major, bustling cities today looks like a starless orange haze. The bright city lights fade out the stars and lighten the sky, a popular concern with astronomers or people who want to make the city more aesthetically pleasing.  However, few people know bright city lights have a great effect on human health and are damaging the environment.  Birds, sea turtles, and insects are examples of species affected by light pollution. Experiments have also been conducted linking excessive exposure to artificial light to increased risk of breast cancer.  Other misconceptions many people have about light pollution are that light at night prevents crime and more light improves visibility.  Dark skies need to be treated as a scarce natural resource.  For my research paper, I am targeting city planners and city residents in order to spread education on the topic. I am planning to research my topic in the library's indexes and databases.  I think the "Science and Technology" and "Popular Sources" indexes, which include databases such as LexisNexis Environmental, will be very helpful. I want to look at sources explaining experiments that test how artificial light is related to breast cancer and how artificial light affects peoples' internal clocks.  I would like to interview a person knowledgeable on my topic and I may try to contact one of the authors of the articles I read.

Possible Thesis: Light pollution is serious problem that needs to be addressed as it is threatening human health and the environment.

Sources:

1. Longcore, Travis, and Catherine Rich. "Ecological Light Pollution." Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. Vol. 2 , no. 4 2004, 191-98.  26 Oct. 2008.

<http://www.urbanwildlands.org/Resources/LongcoreRich2004.pdf>.

This article will help explain the specific ways light pollution affects ecosystems.  The name "light pollution" alone has the connotation of mainly human's declining ability to see the sky. However, there needs to be more recognition of the different types of light pollution besides astronomical such as ecological light pollution.  It affects important parts of numerous species' behavior including foraging, reproduction, migration, and communication.  Light pollution disrupts ecosystems and affects the competition and predation.  The article also discusses steps that should be taken in the future to protect ecosystems such as the environment monitoring protocol needs to include measurements of light disturbance. 

 

2. Stevens, Richard. "Artificial Lighting in the Industrialized World: Circadian Disruption and Breast Cancer." Cancer Causes and Control (May 2006), 501-07. <http://data.nextrionet.com/site/idsa/breastcancerstevens.pdf>.

This article gives a detailed explanation of how extended exposure to artificial light during the night is increasing the chance of women getting breast cancer.  The main reason behind the risk of breast cancer is thought to be that melatonin is reduced  and estrogen increased.  The article explains that the artificial light theory first came about when scientists investigated the question of why there are so many more cases of breast cancer in developed countries than in developing.  The article not only provides an explanation of why not spending enough time in a dark environment increases the risk for breast cancer in women, it also gives examples of experiments that scientists have conducted to test the hypothesis. 

 

3. Guynup, Sharon. "Light Pollution Taking Toll on Wildlife, Eco-Groups Say." National Geographic News. 17 Apr. 2003. National Geographic. 26 Oct. 2008.

<http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/04/0417_030417_tvlightpollution.html>.

This article makes an interesting point that dark skies should be considered a natural resource; dark skies should be protected just as rivers and forests are protected. This point could be a major part of my argument and help explain how people's views need to drastically change towards light pollution. There is not enough concern for the topic. The article also focuses on the harmful effects light pollution has on different animal species.  Birds, sea turtles, frogs and salamanders are examples of animals at risk. An experiment on frogs and the effects of lights showed that light exposure even affects aspects of physical development such as hormone production.  The hormones is frogs regulate things such as how much fat frogs store in the winter and when they produce eggs.

 

4. Klinkenborg, Verlyn. "Our Vanishing Night." National Geographic. Nov 2008. 26 Oct. 2008.

<http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/geopedia/Light_Pollution>.

This article is helpful because it gives an overview of the problem of light pollution. It is not extremely detailed, but addresses some of the important issues related to light pollution. We are constantly extending the day and shortening the night and as a result people's internal clocks are out of rhythm.  Light pollution harms the environment because it affects many animal species.  Small nocturnal animals such as bats and rodents are more visible and prone to predators because they feed off insects, which are attracted to bright lights.  Birds' normal behaviors change including age of maturity, migration schedules, and sense of direction.  Sea turtles can't find dark beaches for their eggs and baby sea turtles can't find the direction of the ocean when they hatch on brightly lit beaches. 

5. "Melatonin." Making Treatment Decisions. 20 July 2007. American Cancer Society.

26 Oct. 2008.

<http://www.cancer.org/docroot/ETO/content/ETO_5_3X_Melatonin.asp>.

This article is about different aspects of melatonin including what it is, why the body produces it, and how it affects the body. The information about melatonin in this article will be helpful in explaining the effects of light pollution on humans.  Melatonin is a hormone produced by the pineal gland in response to darkness; it is important for sleeping and waking. While there is still a great deal of research to do on melatonin, some scientists believe it is a powerful antioxidant that block free radicals from destroying cells and stop the spread of certain cancers.  Other relevant information the article includes covers research conducted on the effects of melatonin and cancer and how melatonin supplements would affect the body.

 

6. "Building Community." Nightscape: 18 pgs. 26 Oct. 2008. <http://data.nextrionet.com/site/idsa/nl73-74.pdf >.

A section in this article discusses how overly lit areas can actually be more dangerous than darkness.   One possible solution to decrease light pollution is to dim city lights or remove some streetlights. I will be able to use this article to dispel a counter-argument people could have against this solution that less light is more dangerous. Bright light limits the eye's ability to see in darkness and uneven light makes it difficult to see details. Reducing criminal activity will also be an incentive for city planners to focus on lowering light pollution.  Well lit cities will improve the environment, lower energy use, and improve the charm of the city.

I am planning on investigating politics and their relationship to social networking sites. I'm still not sure how I am going to narrow the topic. I was thinking about arguing that the future of political campaigns lies in social networking sites and not print media. Any thoughts?

I need some help finding some more sources for my topic. I'm still not positive how I'm going to narrow it down, but I'm going to go the route of the effect of the internet on the music business and try to argue that pirating is actually having a more positive effect on the music business. I'll have to find a good strategy for arguing that and I can probably do even better with the thesis but thats what I have for now.

After searching for the past several weeks for a legitimate topic, Professor Miller and myself concluded that writing about blogs would be the best option.  My ideas so far are to either look at blogs as a legitimate source of investigative journalism, to look at the effects of blogs on politics and see where it takes me, or discuss how to determine the legitimacy of a blog.  My question is where should I start and where should I go to find some solid information?

So I have been browsing the catalog and databases for about an hour everyday this week, and am still struggling to find a few strong sources for one of my potential topics. I was wondering if anyone had had particular success with a resource, or could point me in the right direction. My potential topics are as follows:

Negative impacts of technology in sports

Potential economic returns of going back to the moon

Negatives of Solar Power in the short term.

Thank you.

I've decided to research the topic of communications, mainly Internet and cell phones, and how they've changed people's relationships to be much less personable. I need to do some research in the library to find books and articles on this topic to get better ideas of how to narrow my thesis and possibly find a more interesting standpoint on it. Where would be the best place to do this? And does anyone have an any ideas for how I could make this a more unique idea to research?

What would be resources for my research topic: Its wrong for colleges such as Davidson to monitor their students email accounts. I am looking for resources such as court cases dealing with the subject and privacy laws. Also, anyone who has any interesting ways to narrow this topic would be greatly appreciated.