Stanley Prusiner’s proposal that a protein, the prion, was the infectious agent of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) created a great deal of interest, and discussion was not limited to the TSE research field. In fact, Prusiner actively appealed to individuals outside the TSE research field, particularly science writers, corporate funders, and scientists in other research areas. These individuals, in turn, provided Prusiner with the resources, publicity, and expertise to undertake his innovative research program. Prusiner’s emphasis on the revolutionary nature of prion and his claim that prion research could shed light on more common diseases fostered media interest and corporate support. Early newspaper reports stressed Prusiner’s interpretation of experimental results and helped to keep the idea of a protein agent alive until more evidence could be amassed. Corporate funders, with the aid of non-expert scientists, provided Prusiner with the means to carry out expensive, novel experiments and with the opportunity to collaborate with renowned researchers. Prusiner and his supporters were also adept at communicating the protein-only theory and were able to mitigate the impact of specialist criticism. They conceptualized prion protein conversion by using metaphors and analogies and by arguing that parallel phenomena already occurred in Nature. This shifted the discussion away from the problem of replication and recast the search for the TSE agent as a biochemical puzzle. These conceptualizations also enabled Prusiner to engage scientists in other fields, thereby turning his research program into an interdisciplinary enterprise. Moreover, the BSE crisis and Prusiner’s Nobel Prize provided opportunities to further discussion of prions to a wider audience. The engagement of non-experts ultimately created a vast and stable network of interested parties and supporters that was crucial to Prusiner’s success and to the acceptance of the protein-only theory.

Master of Regional and Community Planning / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / John W. Keller / The purpose of this report is to identify the role of transportation linkages in facilitating economic development in Portland, Maine, and the surrounding region, beginning with the city’s 19th century maritime economy. In the process, this study demonstrates how the evolution of Portland’s economy, from early mercantile capitalism, through the industrial and post-industrial eras, was greatly shaped by a succession of transportation developments, engineered by city leaders. Research reveals that these achievements were coordinated through both public sector planning and private sector entrepreneurship, to cultivate comparative advantages for the city. Evidence of this implicit collaboration is apparent in the growth of new economic sectors to support local shipping, rail, freight, and eventually commercial airline service. As a result of these efforts, Portland maintains a status as a regional economic gateway that is disproportionate to its modest population of fewer than 70,000 residents. In support of this argument, this report will also present relevant historical anecdotes to provide context for the growth of the city and broader region as a whole, from colonization through globalization. As part of the city’s economic history, this discussion demands an examination of the macroeconomic forces that contributed to the rise and fall of the local maritime industries, manufacturing, and the 21st century service sector economy. Additionally, this report will discuss the impact of major global events, including war, recession, and the telecommunication revolution, all of which have precipitated major socio-economic changes across the United States. The report concludes by offering insight into Portland’s future, with specific respect to the 2008 economic crisis and the resulting impact on the local real estate and financial markets. Despite an economic climate that threatens the viability of small cities across the United States, Portland’s history of resilience provides hope for a prosperous future. In light of the city’s modern economic trajectory, the ability to a chart a new course will rely upon progressive leadership that can capitalize on the region’s natural geographic resources. These future developments will, no doubt, parallel a new wave of investment in local infrastructure and transportation linkages.

We examine a diffuse emission region near the center of SNR 0509-67.5 to determine its nature. Within this diffuse region we observe a point-like source that is bright in the near-IR, but is not visible in the B and V bands. We consider an emission line observed at 6766 angstrom and the possibilities that it is Ly alpha, H alpha, and [O II] lambda 3727. We examine the spectral energy distribution (SED) of the source, comprised of Hubble Space Telescope B, V, I, J, and H bands in addition to Spitzer/IRAC 3.6, 4.5, 5.8, and 8 mu m bands. The peak of the SED is consistent with a background galaxy at z approximate to 0.8 +/- 0.2 and a possible Balmer jump places the galaxy at z approximate to 0.9 +/- 0.3. These SED considerations support the emission line's identification as [O II] lambda 3727. We conclude that the diffuse source in SNR 0509-67.5 is a background galaxy at z approximate to 0.82. Furthermore, we identify the point-like source superposed near the center of the galaxy as its central bulge. Finally, we find no evidence for a surviving companion star, indicating a double-degenerate origin for SNR 0509-67.5.

Astrology is a science which has had an uncertain status throughout its history, from its beginnings in Greco-Roman Antiquity to the medieval Islamic world and Christian Europe which led to frequent debates about its validity and what kind of a place it should have, if any, in various cultures. Written in the second century A.D., Ptolemy’s Tetrabiblos is not the earliest surviving text on astrology. However, the complex defense given in the Tetrabiblos will be treated as an important starting point because it changed the way astrology would be justified in Christian and Muslim works and the influence Ptolemy’s presentation had on later works represents a continuation of the method introduced in the Tetrabiblos. Abū Ma‘shar’s Kitāb al-Madkhal al-kabīr ilā ‘ilm akām al-nujūm, written in the ninth century, was the most thorough surviving defense from the Islamic world. Roger Bacon’s Opus maius, although not focused solely on advocating astrology, nevertheless, does contain a significant defense which has definite links to the works of both Abū Ma‘shar and Ptolemy. As such, he demonstrates another stage in the development of astrology. These three works together reveal the threads of a trend of a rationalized astrology separated from its mythical origins which began with Ptolemy and survived through both medieval Islam and medieval Europe. In the two examples of defending astrology I have used, Abū Ma‘shar and Roger Bacon, Ptolemy’s influence can be seen to have persisted from the second century through to the thirteenth, and the nature of the differences in their defenses illustrates the continuation and evolution of the tradition of defending astrology.

We rely on science and other organized forms of inquiry to answer cardinal questions on issues varying from global warming and public health to the political economy. In my thesis, which is in the intersection of philosophy of science, social epistemology, and science and technology studies, I develop a social theory of knowledge that can help us tell when our beliefs and theories on such matters amount to knowledge, as opposed to mere opinion, speculation, or educated guess. The first two chapters discuss relevant shortcomings of mainstream analytic epistemology and the sociology of knowledge, respectively. Mainstream epistemology regards individuals, rather than communities, as the ‎bearers of knowledge or justified belief. In Chapter 1, I argue that typically, only an epistemic community can collectively possess sufficient justification required for knowledge. In Chapter 2, I present a case study in computer science that militates against the sociological understating of knowledge as mere interest-based agreement. I argue that social interests alone cannot explain the unfolding of the events in this case. Rather, we must assume that knowledge is irreducible to social dynamics and interests. In Chapter 3, I begin my positive analysis of the social conditions for knowledge. I explore the question of when a consensus is knowledge based. I argue that a consensus is knowledge based when knowledge is the best explanation of the consensus. I identify three conditions – social diversity, apparent consilience of evidence, and meta agreement, for knowledge being the best explanation of a consensus. In Chapter 4, I illustrate my argument by analyzing the recent controversy about the safety of the drug Bendectin. I argue that the consensus in this case was not knowledge based, and hence the deference to consensus to resolve this dispute was unjustified. In chapter 5, I develop a new theory of the logical relations between evidence and social values. I identify three roles social values play in evidential reasoning and justification: They influence the trust we extend to testimony, the threshold values we require for accepting evidence, and the process of combining different sorts of evidence.

We rely on science and other organized forms of inquiry to answer cardinal questions on issues varying from global warming and public health to the political economy. In my thesis, which is in the intersection of philosophy of science, social epistemology, and science and technology studies, I develop a social theory of knowledge that can help us tell when our beliefs and theories on such matters amount to knowledge, as opposed to mere opinion, speculation, or educated guess. The first two chapters discuss relevant shortcomings of mainstream analytic epistemology and the sociology of knowledge, respectively. Mainstream epistemology regards individuals, rather than communities, as the ‎bearers of knowledge or justified belief. In Chapter 1, I argue that typically, only an epistemic community can collectively possess sufficient justification required for knowledge. In Chapter 2, I present a case study in computer science that militates against the sociological understating of knowledge as mere interest-based agreement. I argue that social interests alone cannot explain the unfolding of the events in this case. Rather, we must assume that knowledge is irreducible to social dynamics and interests. In Chapter 3, I begin my positive analysis of the social conditions for knowledge. I explore the question of when a consensus is knowledge based. I argue that a consensus is knowledge based when knowledge is the best explanation of the consensus. I identify three conditions – social diversity, apparent consilience of evidence, and meta agreement, for knowledge being the best explanation of a consensus. In Chapter 4, I illustrate my argument by analyzing the recent controversy about the safety of the drug Bendectin. I argue that the consensus in this case was not knowledge based, and hence the deference to consensus to resolve this dispute was unjustified. In chapter 5, I develop a new theory of the logical relations between evidence and social values. I identify three roles social values play in evidential reasoning and justification: They influence the trust we extend to testimony, the threshold values we require for accepting evidence, and the process of combining different sorts of evidence.

During the first two thirds of the 20th century, electricity, running water, and a host of new consumer durables diffused into most American homes. These new household technologies revolutionized domestic life by freeing up time from basic housework. In this dissertation, I study the consequences of household technological change on families, focusing on fertility, child health, marriage, and female labour force participation. Chapter 1 provides a short history of household modernization. I then present an econometric framework for evaluating the effects of household technological change, and discuss the main estimation challenges. To address these issues, I introduce an estimation strategy based on a newly-assembled dataset that captures the rollout of the U.S. power grid during the mid-20th century. In chapter 2, I study the impact of household technological change on fertility and child health, exploiting substantial cross-county and cross-state variation in the timing of when households acquired new consumer durables. Modern household technologies led families to make a child quantity-quality tradeoff favouring quality: household modernization is associated with decreases in infant mortality and decreases in fertility. The declines in infant mortality were particularly large in states where households had relied heavily on coal for heating and cooking, where the potential to improve indoor air quality was greatest. Health improvements were also larger in states that had previously invested heavily in maternal education, suggesting that household modernization led parents to provide better infant care. Overall, household technological change can account for between 25% and 30% of the total decline in infant mortality between 1930 and 1960. In chapter 3, I examine the relationship between household modernization, investment in children, and female employment. I present a conceptual framework in which household technological change has little immediate impact on female employment, but generates increased investment in daughters' human capital, ultimately causing a rise in employment for subsequent cohorts of women. I find empirical support for these predictions. Further, the results suggest that the diffusion of modern technology into the home during the first half of the 20th century can account for a significant fraction of the rise in female employment after 1950.

This thesis is a history of science education reform in Ontario, from 1880 to 1940. It examines successive eras of science education reform in secondary (pre-university) schools, including the rise of laboratory science; the spread of general science programs; and efforts to teach science “humanistically.” This research considers the rhetorical strategies employed by scientists and educators to persuade educational policymakers and the public about the value and purpose of science education. Their efforts hinged in large part on building a moral framework for school science, which they promoted an essential stimulus to students’ mental development and a check on the emotive influence of literature and the arts. These developments are placed in international context by examining how educational movements conceived in other places, especially the United States and Britain, were filtered and transformed in the distinct educational context of Ontario. Finally, the sometimes-blurry boundaries between “academic” science education and technical education are explored, most notably in Ontario in the late nineteenth century, when science education was undergoing a rapid, driven expansion in the province’s high schools. This research contributes to a relatively recent body of literature that promotes a greater appreciation of pre-college science education – an area that has often been overlooked in favour of higher education and the training of specialists – as an important window onto the public perception of science.

This thesis is a history of science education reform in Ontario, from 1880 to 1940. It examines successive eras of science education reform in secondary (pre-university) schools, including the rise of laboratory science; the spread of general science programs; and efforts to teach science “humanistically.” This research considers the rhetorical strategies employed by scientists and educators to persuade educational policymakers and the public about the value and purpose of science education. Their efforts hinged in large part on building a moral framework for school science, which they promoted an essential stimulus to students’ mental development and a check on the emotive influence of literature and the arts. These developments are placed in international context by examining how educational movements conceived in other places, especially the United States and Britain, were filtered and transformed in the distinct educational context of Ontario. Finally, the sometimes-blurry boundaries between “academic” science education and technical education are explored, most notably in Ontario in the late nineteenth century, when science education was undergoing a rapid, driven expansion in the province’s high schools. This research contributes to a relatively recent body of literature that promotes a greater appreciation of pre-college science education – an area that has often been overlooked in favour of higher education and the training of specialists – as an important window onto the public perception of science.

Following Merton (1942) science studies has moved from the philosophy of science to a more sociologically minded analysis of scientific activity. This largely involves a shift away from questions that bear on the context of justification – a question of rationality and philosophy, to those that deal with the context of discovery. This thesis investigates changes in science studies in three papers: sociocultural evolutionary theories of scientific change; general trends in science studies - especially concerning the sociology of science; and a principle component analysis (PCA) that details the development and interaction between research programmes in science studies. This thesis describes the proliferation of research programmes in science studies and uses evolutionary theory to make sense of the pattern of change.