Pub Date : 2018-11-01DOI: 10.1109/ISTAS.2018.8638275
S. Kimbrough, Tate Shafer
Synthetic baseload (SBL) generation is power generation at a constant ("baseload") rate by a plant composed of flexible thermal generation, such as a combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plant, and one or more sources of variable renewable energy (VRE). The paper uses the notion of SBL as an analytic construct and conducts a high-level (basic business case, exploratory) economic analysis. At current U.S. prices for natural gas and VRE (solar PV and wind power), SBL is in many locations either economically attractive now or close to it. SBL would be unambiguously attractive economically with a price on carbon of $60 per metric ton, or even less in some areas. The paper finds that two distinct approaches to assessing fuel price risk - a decision analysis approach and a hedging approach based on a zero-cost collar - agree that the resulting adjusted cost of natural gas (incorporating the cost of risk) makes SBL widely economically attractive. SBL, whether driven by cost fundamentals or prodded by regulation, affords an economic path to intermediate decarbonization of the electric power system.
{"title":"Synthetic Baseload and Intermediate Decarbonization","authors":"S. Kimbrough, Tate Shafer","doi":"10.1109/ISTAS.2018.8638275","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/ISTAS.2018.8638275","url":null,"abstract":"Synthetic baseload (SBL) generation is power generation at a constant (\"baseload\") rate by a plant composed of flexible thermal generation, such as a combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plant, and one or more sources of variable renewable energy (VRE). The paper uses the notion of SBL as an analytic construct and conducts a high-level (basic business case, exploratory) economic analysis. At current U.S. prices for natural gas and VRE (solar PV and wind power), SBL is in many locations either economically attractive now or close to it. SBL would be unambiguously attractive economically with a price on carbon of $60 per metric ton, or even less in some areas. The paper finds that two distinct approaches to assessing fuel price risk - a decision analysis approach and a hedging approach based on a zero-cost collar - agree that the resulting adjusted cost of natural gas (incorporating the cost of risk) makes SBL widely economically attractive. SBL, whether driven by cost fundamentals or prodded by regulation, affords an economic path to intermediate decarbonization of the electric power system.","PeriodicalId":122477,"journal":{"name":"2018 IEEE International Symposium on Technology and Society (ISTAS)","volume":"42 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129732648","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-11-01DOI: 10.1109/istas.2018.8638162
{"title":"ISTAS 2018 Preface","authors":"","doi":"10.1109/istas.2018.8638162","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/istas.2018.8638162","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":122477,"journal":{"name":"2018 IEEE International Symposium on Technology and Society (ISTAS)","volume":"111 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121780798","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-11-01DOI: 10.1109/ISTAS.2018.8638163
J. Schnitzer, Peter L. Levin
Mankind’s newfound ability to edit germline codes will soon be widely available. We will also be able to extend the palette of naturally available amino acids for molecular assembly. The opportunity to heal disease, improve memory, increase strength, and extend lifetime is exciting. The threat that an ideological enemy could insert malfeasant and irreversible mutations is frightening. The United States, at least, needs a policy framework that defines and addresses the five key decisions that will determine whether we can leverage the benefits and simultaneously defend against attacks.
{"title":"The Hope and Challenge of Synthetic Biology","authors":"J. Schnitzer, Peter L. Levin","doi":"10.1109/ISTAS.2018.8638163","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/ISTAS.2018.8638163","url":null,"abstract":"Mankind’s newfound ability to edit germline codes will soon be widely available. We will also be able to extend the palette of naturally available amino acids for molecular assembly. The opportunity to heal disease, improve memory, increase strength, and extend lifetime is exciting. The threat that an ideological enemy could insert malfeasant and irreversible mutations is frightening. The United States, at least, needs a policy framework that defines and addresses the five key decisions that will determine whether we can leverage the benefits and simultaneously defend against attacks.","PeriodicalId":122477,"journal":{"name":"2018 IEEE International Symposium on Technology and Society (ISTAS)","volume":"6 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126120201","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-11-01DOI: 10.1109/ISTAS.2018.8638273
P. Glynn, C. Shapiro, A. Voinov
The management of coupled human-natural (CHN) systems, including natural resource and environmental systems, would benefit from recognition of the need to integrate, and bring critical thinking, transparency, and accountability to science and policy development. It would benefit also from: (1) stakeholder engagement and participatory processes, (2) societal and institutional continuity in science and decisions evaluation and follow-through, and (3) recognition and understanding of the role of biases, beliefs, heuristics, and values (BBHV) in decision-making.We suggest that creating multi-media, efficiently accessible, "Records of Engagement" (RoE) could support meeting the above needs. RoE would offer: (1) a reward system to support and foster stakeholder engagement; (2) a record structure for evaluating processes and outcomes and for learning and knowledge transfer, and (3) an opportunity to systematize, facilitate, create efficiencies, and improve the engagement of experts and stakeholders in participatory modeling, planning and policy development. RoE, in our view, should also not only describe scientific evidence and lines of argumentation but also BBHV and emotions expressed, a first step in understanding their impacts on decision making and management of CHN systems.We seek to engage readers to help us determine how to create RoE, including what they might contain to be most useful. Preliminary thoughts are offered on RoE framework design and content, and on a Decision Tracking System and methodologies that could be used to support creation and use of RoE. Some existing stakeholder engagement records are discussed in reference to the ideal RoE that we envision.
{"title":"Records of Engagement and Decision Tracking for Adaptive Management and Policy Development","authors":"P. Glynn, C. Shapiro, A. Voinov","doi":"10.1109/ISTAS.2018.8638273","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/ISTAS.2018.8638273","url":null,"abstract":"The management of coupled human-natural (CHN) systems, including natural resource and environmental systems, would benefit from recognition of the need to integrate, and bring critical thinking, transparency, and accountability to science and policy development. It would benefit also from: (1) stakeholder engagement and participatory processes, (2) societal and institutional continuity in science and decisions evaluation and follow-through, and (3) recognition and understanding of the role of biases, beliefs, heuristics, and values (BBHV) in decision-making.We suggest that creating multi-media, efficiently accessible, \"Records of Engagement\" (RoE) could support meeting the above needs. RoE would offer: (1) a reward system to support and foster stakeholder engagement; (2) a record structure for evaluating processes and outcomes and for learning and knowledge transfer, and (3) an opportunity to systematize, facilitate, create efficiencies, and improve the engagement of experts and stakeholders in participatory modeling, planning and policy development. RoE, in our view, should also not only describe scientific evidence and lines of argumentation but also BBHV and emotions expressed, a first step in understanding their impacts on decision making and management of CHN systems.We seek to engage readers to help us determine how to create RoE, including what they might contain to be most useful. Preliminary thoughts are offered on RoE framework design and content, and on a Decision Tracking System and methodologies that could be used to support creation and use of RoE. Some existing stakeholder engagement records are discussed in reference to the ideal RoE that we envision.","PeriodicalId":122477,"journal":{"name":"2018 IEEE International Symposium on Technology and Society (ISTAS)","volume":"76 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128783041","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-11-01DOI: 10.1109/ISTAS.2018.8638269
G. Carrión, R. Cintron, M. A. Rodríguez, W. E. Sanabria, R. Reyes, E. O’Neill-Carrillo
Microgrids present a more resilient alternative than centralized power systems, especially in regions prone to natural disasters. This paper presents the design considerations for a community microgrid based on an actual community. Real insolation, demand and system data were used to evaluate three possible designs. The selected design alternative was further developed by undergraduate students in a Senior design course at the University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez (UPRM). The main recommendation was to begin with a few individual rooftop PV systems, use those as a learning experience to develop a solar community, and eventually the community microgrid. Future work includes to better characterize the actual energy demand of the whole community residents to obtain more accurate simulations. Capacity building activities will continue with support from UPRM personnel.
{"title":"Community Microgrids to Increase Local Resiliency","authors":"G. Carrión, R. Cintron, M. A. Rodríguez, W. E. Sanabria, R. Reyes, E. O’Neill-Carrillo","doi":"10.1109/ISTAS.2018.8638269","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/ISTAS.2018.8638269","url":null,"abstract":"Microgrids present a more resilient alternative than centralized power systems, especially in regions prone to natural disasters. This paper presents the design considerations for a community microgrid based on an actual community. Real insolation, demand and system data were used to evaluate three possible designs. The selected design alternative was further developed by undergraduate students in a Senior design course at the University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez (UPRM). The main recommendation was to begin with a few individual rooftop PV systems, use those as a learning experience to develop a solar community, and eventually the community microgrid. Future work includes to better characterize the actual energy demand of the whole community residents to obtain more accurate simulations. Capacity building activities will continue with support from UPRM personnel.","PeriodicalId":122477,"journal":{"name":"2018 IEEE International Symposium on Technology and Society (ISTAS)","volume":"93 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132358350","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-11-01DOI: 10.1109/ISTAS.2018.8638279
Paul M. Cunningham, M. Cunningham
Supported by the European Commission, mHealth4Afrika is co-designing and validating a modular, multilingual, state of the art health information system to address primary healthcare requirements in resource constrained environments. This platform has been co-designed in partnership with Ministries of Health, district health officers, clinic managers and primary healthcare workers from urban, rural and deep rural health centres in Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi and South Africa. This paper provides insights into environment within which this platform is being co-designed and validated and discusses challenges and opportunities associated with co-designing a cross-border solution. While co-designing a solution optimized for subsequent adaptation with only limited need for scarce programming resources is demanding, the flexibility created can make a significant contribution to strengthening primary health delivery at scale in resource constrained environments.
{"title":"mHealth4Afrika – Challenges When Co-Designing a Cross-Border Primary Healthcare Solution","authors":"Paul M. Cunningham, M. Cunningham","doi":"10.1109/ISTAS.2018.8638279","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/ISTAS.2018.8638279","url":null,"abstract":"Supported by the European Commission, mHealth4Afrika is co-designing and validating a modular, multilingual, state of the art health information system to address primary healthcare requirements in resource constrained environments. This platform has been co-designed in partnership with Ministries of Health, district health officers, clinic managers and primary healthcare workers from urban, rural and deep rural health centres in Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi and South Africa. This paper provides insights into environment within which this platform is being co-designed and validated and discusses challenges and opportunities associated with co-designing a cross-border solution. While co-designing a solution optimized for subsequent adaptation with only limited need for scarce programming resources is demanding, the flexibility created can make a significant contribution to strengthening primary health delivery at scale in resource constrained environments.","PeriodicalId":122477,"journal":{"name":"2018 IEEE International Symposium on Technology and Society (ISTAS)","volume":"19 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130033475","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-11-01DOI: 10.1109/ISTAS.2018.8638281
Jeff Robbins
The conventional wisdom on technology is that our ongoing affair is symbiotic. Because it frees us up for more meaningful pursuits, the more technology takes over the mental, physical, and social labor, the better. But is it better? Do most people most of the time make smart use of technology’s freeing up fruits? Do they beneficially translate effort, or, under the illusion of benefit, just let technology do the work and succumb to the always in hand, addictive by design, means to amusement? To answer these questions, this paper draws on an apparent loophole in the second law of thermodynamics - actually a feature – that, under the right conditions, not only allows shrinking entropy as power enabling organized matter and energy, it favors organization as a more ordered, more effective, more efficient means of escalating the sum total of dissipated potential – entropy - in the universe. The claim is that to satisfy the 2nd Law’s demand that no matter what happens, total entropy always increases, behind the mask of win-win symbiosis, the rising organization / shrinking entropy of exponentially concentrating power in advancing technology is parasitically discharging its dissipative effluents into human brains and bodies as it degrades our human to human bonding skills. Outing the modus operandi, an agenda whose means are us, whose ends are not, offers a platform for recognizing and righting the accelerating injustice to ourselves, our children, our human future?
{"title":"Is Technology a Parasite Masquerading as a Symbiont? And if so…","authors":"Jeff Robbins","doi":"10.1109/ISTAS.2018.8638281","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/ISTAS.2018.8638281","url":null,"abstract":"The conventional wisdom on technology is that our ongoing affair is symbiotic. Because it frees us up for more meaningful pursuits, the more technology takes over the mental, physical, and social labor, the better. But is it better? Do most people most of the time make smart use of technology’s freeing up fruits? Do they beneficially translate effort, or, under the illusion of benefit, just let technology do the work and succumb to the always in hand, addictive by design, means to amusement? To answer these questions, this paper draws on an apparent loophole in the second law of thermodynamics - actually a feature – that, under the right conditions, not only allows shrinking entropy as power enabling organized matter and energy, it favors organization as a more ordered, more effective, more efficient means of escalating the sum total of dissipated potential – entropy - in the universe. The claim is that to satisfy the 2nd Law’s demand that no matter what happens, total entropy always increases, behind the mask of win-win symbiosis, the rising organization / shrinking entropy of exponentially concentrating power in advancing technology is parasitically discharging its dissipative effluents into human brains and bodies as it degrades our human to human bonding skills. Outing the modus operandi, an agenda whose means are us, whose ends are not, offers a platform for recognizing and righting the accelerating injustice to ourselves, our children, our human future?","PeriodicalId":122477,"journal":{"name":"2018 IEEE International Symposium on Technology and Society (ISTAS)","volume":"68 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134467222","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-11-01DOI: 10.1109/ISTAS.2018.8638266
Sydney Singleton, S. Kumar, Zhenlong Li
According to the U.S. National Climate Assessment, the Southeast Coast and Gulf Coast of the United States are particularly susceptible to sea level rise, heat waves, hurricanes and lower accessibility to clean water due to climate change. Preparation for climate change consequences can only occur with conversation, which is a method of bringing awareness to the issue. Over the past decade, social media has taken over the spectrum of information exchange in the United States. Social Network Analysis (SNA) is the practice of analyzing trends in volume and opinion of a population of social media users. Twitter, one popular social media platform, is one of the largest microblogging sites in the world, and it provides an abundance of data related to the trending topics such as climate change. In this work, Twitter analytics is performed on the data generated from Twitter users in the United States, who were talking about climate change, global warming and/or CO2, from July 2016 to June 2017. Specifically, a comparative sentiment analysis on the coastal U.S. regions was conducted to recognize which region(s) is/are falling behind on the conversation about climate change and to understand the trends in opinion about climate change over time. The results determined that the southeast coast of the United States is deficient in their discussion about climate change compared to the other coastal regions. Igniting the conversation about this issue in these regions will mitigate the disasters due to climate change by increasing awareness in the people of these regions so they can properly prepare.
{"title":"Twitter Analytics-Based Assessment: Are the United States Coastal Regions Prepared for Climate Changeƒ","authors":"Sydney Singleton, S. Kumar, Zhenlong Li","doi":"10.1109/ISTAS.2018.8638266","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/ISTAS.2018.8638266","url":null,"abstract":"According to the U.S. National Climate Assessment, the Southeast Coast and Gulf Coast of the United States are particularly susceptible to sea level rise, heat waves, hurricanes and lower accessibility to clean water due to climate change. Preparation for climate change consequences can only occur with conversation, which is a method of bringing awareness to the issue. Over the past decade, social media has taken over the spectrum of information exchange in the United States. Social Network Analysis (SNA) is the practice of analyzing trends in volume and opinion of a population of social media users. Twitter, one popular social media platform, is one of the largest microblogging sites in the world, and it provides an abundance of data related to the trending topics such as climate change. In this work, Twitter analytics is performed on the data generated from Twitter users in the United States, who were talking about climate change, global warming and/or CO2, from July 2016 to June 2017. Specifically, a comparative sentiment analysis on the coastal U.S. regions was conducted to recognize which region(s) is/are falling behind on the conversation about climate change and to understand the trends in opinion about climate change over time. The results determined that the southeast coast of the United States is deficient in their discussion about climate change compared to the other coastal regions. Igniting the conversation about this issue in these regions will mitigate the disasters due to climate change by increasing awareness in the people of these regions so they can properly prepare.","PeriodicalId":122477,"journal":{"name":"2018 IEEE International Symposium on Technology and Society (ISTAS)","volume":"45 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133925018","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-11-01DOI: 10.1109/ISTAS.2018.8638268
Gabriel Bartl, L. Gerhold, Kilian Dorner
This contribution aims to illustrate the importance of interdisciplinary exchanges between computer scientists and social scientists in order to navigate and regulate processes of digitalization. An awareness of the differences between those two scientific cultures is a necessary precondition for unambiguous and successful communication. We hold the view that such a perspective is indispensable for cushioning the various effects on the social level that are connected with the constantly increasing relevance of digitalization in everyday life. To make our insights clearer, we focus on challenges engineers encounter when developing algorithms in the field of security technologies. On the whole, the paper intends to reveal the occasional perfidious complexities in innovation processes and votes for a strong support and assistance of software engineers through social scientists with regard to questions of technology assessment and responsibility, especially in the context of such a strongly politicized field as digitalized security.
{"title":"What Computer Scientists Can Learn From Social Scientists : On the Significance of an Interdisciplinary Research Agenda for Shaping Digitalization and its Social Implications","authors":"Gabriel Bartl, L. Gerhold, Kilian Dorner","doi":"10.1109/ISTAS.2018.8638268","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/ISTAS.2018.8638268","url":null,"abstract":"This contribution aims to illustrate the importance of interdisciplinary exchanges between computer scientists and social scientists in order to navigate and regulate processes of digitalization. An awareness of the differences between those two scientific cultures is a necessary precondition for unambiguous and successful communication. We hold the view that such a perspective is indispensable for cushioning the various effects on the social level that are connected with the constantly increasing relevance of digitalization in everyday life. To make our insights clearer, we focus on challenges engineers encounter when developing algorithms in the field of security technologies. On the whole, the paper intends to reveal the occasional perfidious complexities in innovation processes and votes for a strong support and assistance of software engineers through social scientists with regard to questions of technology assessment and responsibility, especially in the context of such a strongly politicized field as digitalized security.","PeriodicalId":122477,"journal":{"name":"2018 IEEE International Symposium on Technology and Society (ISTAS)","volume":"60 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133042474","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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