The coal future : economic and technological analysis of initiatives and innovations to secure fuel supply independence /

Includes bibliographies.

Technology policy and technological innovation in the People's Republic of China

The objective of this research is to unveil the dynamics of technological innovation in planned economies in transition. It is proposed in the thesis that all innovation systems in the world, in fact, consist of certain configurations of market and hierarchy. These systems have always been shifting from one existing market-hierarchy mix to a new one, which is expected to be more conducive to technological innovation and economic development. Current reforms in many planned economies in transition reflect this theoretical proposition. A research framework is constructed to include three main dimensions for the study of a specific innovation system, i.e. Arrangements, Achievements and Actors. China, which has undergone reforms since 1978, is chosen as the empirical basis of the research. The research examined technology policy and technological innovation in China between 1978 to 1988. The thesis starts from Arrangements - R&D System in China and Its Reform. The thesis illustrates reforms in the R&D system in relation to government technology policy. There exist coherent government efforts to promote innovations through various plans, and the planning process incorporates both market and command elements. The institutional structure of Chinese R&D system remains still vertically departmentalised, but horizontal links are created through the market. Secondly, Achievements - Performance of Chinese R&D System is assessed through patterns of technological innovation. Data from National Awards for S&T Progress (1978-1988) are included in a substantial database, which is used to generate patterns of technological innovation and patterns of innovating organisations. These patterns were presented and interpreted in relation to geographical differences, sectoral differences, typological differences, forms of co-operation and the impacts of S&T policy and reform. The third dimension is study on Actors - Innovation in Applied R&D institutes. Through semi-structured interviews and questionnaire survey, internal structure and research management are analysed in the light of ongoing reforms. The reform of R&D funding system greatly affected the way applied R&D institutes operate. Both organisational and individual incentives for innovating are increasingly associated with economic or material benefits. The research suggests there is a need to put reforms in the R&D system into a wider societal and political context. Some general attributes of applied R&D institutes are also discussed in the thesis.

Financial stocks and political bonds: stock market participation and political behavior in the United States and Britain

This dissertation investigates the effect of stock market participation on political behavior. Some observers claim that financial assets—stocks and mutual funds—have a causal effect on political behavior. The “investor class theory” asserts that as people invest in the stock market their partisan attachments shift rightward. The “asset effect theory” claims that financial investments increase political interest and participation. I examine these claims with longitudinal data from the United States and Great Britain covering a twenty-year period from the early 1980s through the mid-2000’s. I also examine the effect of financial asset ownership on political attitudes in the United States during the 2008 stock market crash. I find no evidence to support the argument that stock market participation has any causal effect on partisanship, participation, or political attitudes.

The use of e-voting as a new tool of e-participation in modern democracies

Finding the answer to the question of the role of electronic voting in a modern country consti - tutes an important part of researches into electronic democracy. The recent dynamic development of in - formation and communication technologies (ICT) and mass media have been leading to noticeable changes in functioning of contemporary countries and societies. ICT is beginning to play a greater and greater role and filter down to almost every field of contemporary human life – including politics. Elec - tronic voting represents one of the more and more popular forms of so called e-democracy, and is an in - teresting research subject in the context of mechanisms for implementing this form of participation in elections, its legitimization, specific technological solutions for e-voting and their effectiveness as well as unintended consequences. The main subject of this text is the use of electronic voting ( e-voting )asone of the forms of electronic democracy . The article attempts to answer the following research questions: First, what is the impact of ICT on the political processes – particularly on the voting procedures? Sec- ondly, what is the essence of electronic voting and what are its main features? Finally, what are the e-voting experiences in the European countries? The text is devoted rather to general remarks on e-voting, and does not constitute a complete analysis of the issue. It is intended to be a contribution to the further considerations.

Value creation through trust in technological-mediated social participation

In this article, we advocate for the use of a social-technical model of trust to support interaction designers in further reflecting on trust-enabling interaction design values that foster participation. Our rationale is built upon the believe that technological-mediated social participation needs trust, and it is with trust-enabling interactions that we foster the will for collaborate and share—the two key elements of participation. This article starts by briefly presenting a social-technical model of trust and then moves on with establishing authors rational that interconnects trust with technological-mediated social participation. It continues by linking the trust value to the context of design critique and critical design, and ends by illustrating how to incorporate the trust value into design. This is achieved by proposing an analytical tool that can serve to inform interaction designers to better understand the potential design options and reasons for choosing them.

The conversation on political issues on Twitter: an analysis of the participation and frames in the debate on the 'Wert law' and evictions in Spain

The aim of this study is to determine which social agents are involved in the political debate on Twitter and whether the interpretive hegemony of actors that have traditionally been the most prominent is tempered by the challenge of framing shared with audiences. The relationship between the interpretations expressed and the profiles of participants is analyzed in comparison with the frames used by mainstream media. The chosen methodology combines content analysis and discourse analysis techniques on a sample of 1,504 relevant tweets posted on two political issues –the approval of the education law LOMCE and the evictions caused by the crisis, which have also been studied in the front pages of four leading newspapers in Spain. The results show a correlation between political issue singularities, frames and the type of discussion depending on the participants.