Controversial technologies in intramedullary osteosynthesis of rats femur fractures

The aim: to conduct a comparative study of osteoreparative regeneration, namely in the periosteal and intermediate areas of the cortex, during intramedullary osteosynthesis of the femur of rats with and without reaming of the bone marrow canal. Materials and methods. The work is based on the results of an experimental study conducted on 56 white mature laboratory rats, which simulated diaphyseal fracture of the femur and performed stable nail osteosynthesis with reaming of the bone marrow canal in the first series and without reaming in the second series of the experiment. Histological examination of the specimens was performed on the 7th, 14th, 28th and 90th day after surgery. Results. The procedure of reaming the bone marrow canal reduces the potential reparative capacity of bone tissue in the endosteal area and leads to “distorted” activation of the process of the cortex restructuring. There is a significant activation of osteoclastic resorption. Conclusions. Bone fusion is more active with the use of intramedullary fixator without reaming of the bone marrow canal, because its reaming reduces the manifestations of reparative potentials in the endosteal region and leads to excessive activation of the resorptive process of restructuring the cortex of both endosteal and central part

A little about artificial intelligence: controversial technologies

The article considers features of the use of artificial intelligence in various areas. Examples of ambiguous and not always constructive application of such technologies are presented. Attention is focused on the need to form systems and legal foundations of security working with AI technologies.

Understanding attitudes on new technologies to manage invasive species

Invasive animal species threaten global biodiversity. In New Zealand invasive species threaten iconic native species, and scientists are seeking approval to research new technologies that might be capable of eradicating these invasive species. The aim of this research was to understand what New Zealanders with an interest in pest control consider to be the main risks and benefits of introducing new technologies to manage invasive species. We invited key informants to participate in the focus groups, selecting people with knowledge and experience of pest control issues in New Zealand. Data were collected from seven focus groups held in three locations across New Zealand. A thematic analysis of the data was then conducted in which three key themes emerged: concern about the risk of unintended consequences, the benefits of landscape-scale technologies, and New Zealand being an early adopter of new technologies. The focus groups articulated a variety of benefits from introducing new technologies – such as replacing dangerous poisons with non-toxic alternatives – but it was the risks of the new technologies that dominated the discussions. Given these results, we recommend an education and communication strategy focussed on social learning, in conjunction with a codesigned decision-making process, to help establish social licence for the application of potentially controversial technologies.

How the Chinese public makes decisions about controversial technologies: A case study on GMOs

A number of events in China in recent years have been characterized by tensions or controversies between scientists and the public, such as the p-Xylene chemical project in Xiamen, nuclear energy projects, and genetic engineering. Scientists tend to attribute such conflict to inadequate public knowledge of science, leading to misunderstandings about it. However, that view ignores the influence on public perceptions of news reports and online discussions about controversial technologies in new media. Social media reporting affects the audience's perception of the risks posed by controversial technologies and can cause people to lose confidence in the scientific community and damage their trust in government. Thus, the public opposes these technologies. In this context, this study explores the relationship between the public's trust in the scientific community and the government on the one hand and its attitude towards controversial technologies on the other. I surveyed 1,235 people using a national online probability sampling strategy. I found that people's use of new media was significantly related to the extent of their knowledge of specific controversial technologies and was associated with other people's opinions about those technologies. The more attention people paid to WeChat coverage of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), the more supportive they were of them. Thus, the public's use of new media is a key factor in predicting its positive attitude to GMOs. Scientific literacy also significantly affects public attitudes to GMOs, directly as well as indirectly.

Natur als Widerspruch

Green genetic engineering is one of the most controversial technologies in recent history. On the basis of a qualitative content analysis of German position papers criticising this technology, this book clarifies three questions: Why is the controversy so vehement and emotional? Why is there no prospect of a compromise on this matter? And what ideas of the relationship between humans and nature play a role in the dispute? ‘Nature’ is omnipresent and dazzling, but how is this term used in current social debates? What concrete interpretations is ‘nature’ associated with? This study understands the controversy over green genetic engineering as an exemplary controversy that exposes fundamental aspects of the modern age and its relationship to nature.

Resisting ruination: resource sovereignties and socioecological struggles in Cotopaxi, Ecuador

This paper examines coordinated community responses to the deployment of controversial technologies by broccoli plantations in Cotopaxi province in Ecuador's central highlands. It studies the influence of enduring structures of inequality that delimit the distribution of land and water in the region – the effects of what Ann Stoler calls imperial debris within ongoing processes of ruination. It considers the socioecological struggles mobilized to address these processes in terms of resource sovereignties – shifting assemblages of rights and relations between land, identity, ecology and social justice. The technologies in question – acetylene 'cannons' designed to disperse clouds and thus prevent damage to crops from hailstones – were locally disruptive to weather patterns, agriculture, and everyday life. In collaboration with the regional offices of Ecuador's national Indigenous Movement, affected communities from across the region campaigned – in the streets and in the courts, and ultimately with some success – to outlaw these technologies of appropriation. Although the initial case was settled in 2010, new suspicions emerged in early 2016 as some community members again blamed the plantations for an unseasonable drought, alleging they had found new technologies to use in the destruction of clouds. Reading the cannons as forms of rubble (Gordillo 2014) focuses our attention on how and why these abandoned technologies re-emerged as a source of conflict in the region and exerted unexpected influence on responses to drought conditions. I suggest these claims, counterclaims and subsequent struggles not only reveal the persistence of processes of ruination and of resistance to them but also expose the fragility within apparently immutable political systems and destructive landscapes. Key words: environment, Ecuador, technology, ruination, rubble, water