Thesis (M.A.) -- University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 2005. / Title from title page screen (viewed on Feb. 2, 2006). Thesis advisor: George White. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1998. / Vita. Abstract. Author's abstract: Adapting Thomas P. Hughes's "large technological systems" thesis, I focus on the technical, social, political, and human problems that nuclear weapons scientists faced while pursuing the thermonuclear project, demonstrating why the early American thermonuclear bomb project was an immensely complicated scientific and technological undertaking. I concentrate mainly on Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory's Theoretical, or T, Division, and its members' attempts to complete an accurate mathematical treatment of the "Super"--The most difficult problem in physics in the postwar period -- and other fusion weapon theories. Although tackling a theoretical problem, theoreticians had to address technical and engineering issues as well. I demonstrate the relative value and importance of H-bomb research over time in the postwar era to scientific, politician, and military participants in this project. I analyze how and when participants in the H-bomb project recognized both blatant and subtle problems facing the project, how scientists solved them, and the relationship this process had to official nuclear weapons policies. Consequently, I show how the practice of nuclear weapons science in the postwar period became an extremely complex, technologically-based endeavor. "LA-13577-T thesis, issued July 1999." Includes bibliographical references. Also available online via Internet.

In Sweden, the 1970s saw widespread public concerns about data privacy. The use of computers in the 1970 census sparked debate, and in 1973 Sweden's data privacy law, datalagen, came into force. In 1980, a parliamentary delegation was tasked with investigating further options for political action. In the years around 1980, computers, and how they should be used, was a topic of hot political and public debate. One particularly influential voice in this debate was professor Lars Kristiansson. He shared his visions of the future in debate articles, radio and television interviews, and books. Moreover, he co-hosted two educational series in Swedish public service television. Kristiansson took it on himself to educate Swedish citizens on the perils of a future, Big Brother-like society. Kristiansson frequently expressed his concerns in drastic terms. He repeatedly associated computers in general, and microcomputers in particular, with the atomic bomb. In this thesis, I set out to interpret Kristiansson's visions of the future computer society, including his atomic bomb metaphor. His work is placed in a context of contemporary ideas, such as those of the Cold War and the 1960s popular left-wing movements, as well as his own academic and professional background. The atomic bomb metaphor was, in this interpretation, shaped both by Kristiansson's personal experience and by widespread popular ideas of an imminent "intelligence explosion". Much of Kristiansson's criticism, directed against the computerized society of the future, concerned what he viewed as a conflation of theory and reality. The criticism was originally directed against a naïve positivism, as Kristiansson warned his engineering students against confusing mathematical models with physical reality. This criticism of positivism evolved into a warning against a society shaped by governmental computer models, but the examples, including some illustrations, were largely retained from his teaching materials.

Possible risks of using radioactive materials are a highly discussed topic nowadays. This work is dealing with this problem and it is focused on possible risks of using radioactive materials from the ex-treatment plant of uranium ores MAPE Mydlovary. In introductory chapters I am describing the current state of ex-treatment plant of uranium ores. I am dealing with the history of operation of MAPE, information about sludge lagoons and about stored sediments in them and other characteristics concerning this operation. For years, sediments in which radionuclides are contained have been stored in treatment plants and that is why I am dealing with ionizing radiation. Because the topic is the using of radioactive materials which can be used mainly by terrorists, I am also describing this worldwide phenomenon of recent years where I first of all focused on super-terrorism using radioactive weapons, namely so-called ?dirty bombs?. The target of this work is to find out possibilities of using radioactive materials from the ex-treatment plant. Therefore I measured values of radioactivity and exposition of radiation at some places with the help of exploratory research. That meant sampling of soils and water and also measurement of power of dose equivalent of radiation gamma. After gathering information of needed radiation values I carried out simulation of possible using of radioactive materials from the premises MAPE. By means of dirty bomb I used the programme TerEx at using radioactive material. Then I carried out several calculations which were focused on inhalation, ingestion or outdoor radiation from radioactive materials and also calculation how much it is necessary to gain a significant source of ionizing radiation. From these sources I have deduced impacts for individuals, society or environment. Based on analysis and evaluation of given problems, my set hypothesis ?By using radioactive materials from the ex-treatment plant of uranium ores MAPE Mydlovary a serious threat to people will not occur? was confirmed. Results of my work can be used as a study material for completing and broadening knowledge about risks resulting from using radioactive materials. Further an increase of foreknowledge and explanation of certain consequences of ionizing radiation on humans from materials from the ex-treatment plant of uranium ores MAPE Mydlovary, for inhabitants of Mydlovary and surrounding areas and also useful information for lay and professional society which is interested in these problems.

It's been almost 70 years since the end of the worst military conflict of all times, the World War II, during which millions of people died. It is a sad fact that it still causes casualties even today. The problem lies in thousands of different pieces of munitions located throughout Europe. The biggest problem is posed by unexploded aerial bombs that have in recent years took its toll on bomb disposal experts as well as other people. The problem of aerial bombs are mainly American and British origin, which bear long-term mechanical - chemical igniter. The design of these igniters does not allow their simple unscrewing from the body itself, and even the handling of these aerial bombs may cause its explosion and the threat to all persons located in its vicinity. Even in our country can be found these air bombs with this type of igniter. This thesis deals with the possibilities of such a disposal with regard to economic and technological possibilities of the Czech Police bomb disposal experts. Therefore, research was conducted with a focus on how best to dispose of aerial bombs. Bomb disposal experts were approached to give their professional opinions. A part of the research was the study of foreign literature dealing with this issue. The sad fact is that this problem is not satisfactorily resolved anywhere in Europe. Abroad, various methods were used as appropriate, such as using high pressure water cutting or blasting the use of special keys. As demonstrated by accident in 2010 when in German Göttingen three bomb disposal experts died in liquidation of aerial bombs using high-pressure cutting, this method and similar have proven to be inappropriate. The preparation of these special methods takes an excessively long time, and in many cases the bomb requires manipulation. Bomb disposal experts of the Czech Republic along with other experts are developing and improving the explosive separation method using a special explosive (ammunition). The most appropriate seems the use of long flexible bomb explosive: RAZOR made by a Czech company - VÚPCH Pardubice - Semtín. The explosive is attached to the body of the bomb either on its perimeter or in the axis of the bomb and this leads to the separation of the lighter or pull out the body of the lighter without explosion of the body of the bomb. Practical experience shows that the use of this special method can reduce time to prepare bomb disposal and the handling of the bomb is minimal or none. Unfortunately, there is always a risk that there will be accidental explosion of aerial bombs and therefore is imperative to comply with all safety measures to the maximum extent possible.

Ao longo das duas Guerras Mundiais, observou-se o rompimento da humanidade com as normas de conduta inauguradas pelo Iluminismo, legitimando a violência como algo intrínseco à sociedade moderna. Essa mudança de valores foi acompanhada pelo crescente investimento científico e tecnológico, que atingiu um elevado desenvolvimento durante o século XX e trouxe, como um de seus resultados, os maiores genocídios realizados pelos Estados autoritários em nome de seus interesses políticos e econômicos. A barbárie nos leva a considerar um elemento para a reflexão: as testemunhas. Essas corporificam a necessidade de um resgate da humanização, da retomada dos valores morais perdidos com a banalização da violência. Assim, o testemunho confronta a história e demonstra que o desenvolvimento tecnológico não é sinônimo de desenvolvimento humano. Pelo contrário, permitem questionar a verdadeira intenção das nações que, em busca de hegemonia, destroem maciçamente populações inteiras. Nesse contexto, emergem as seguintes questões: o que é o testemunho e qual a sua importância para a sociedade moderna? O que levou, historicamente, ao surgimento das testemunhas? Qual o contexto histórico que proporcionou o desenvolvimento da bomba atômica? Por que houve a necessidade, por parte das nações em guerra, de exterminarem milhares de pessoas, principalmente civis? Qual a consequência do rompimento das normas de civilidade pelas duas Guerras Mundiais? Para responder a essas perguntas, investigou-se o Museu Memorial da Paz de Hiroshima no que diz respeito a sua exposição permanente, seus objetivos no que se refere à luta contra o esquecimento da catástrofe atômica e à coleta de testemunhos. Após esse primeiro momento da pesquisa, procedeu-se ao estudo do contexto histórico que culminou nas atrocidades cometidas ao longo das duas Grandes Guerras, os resultados dos extermínios em massa para a sociedade moderna e, finalmente, o estudo sobre o trauma e o testemunho em relação aos sobreviventes do bombardeio atômico de Hiroshima / Throughout the two World Wars, a disruption between humankind and the standards of conduct inaugurated by the Enlightenment was observed, legitimizing violence as something intrinsic to modern society. This change in values was followed by the increasing scientific and technological investment, which reached a high development during the twentieth century and brought, as one of its results, the greatest genocides carried out by the authoritarian States on behalf of their political and economic interests. The barbarism leads us to consider an element for reflection: the witnesses. They embody the need for redemption of humanization and the resumption of the moral values, both lost in the trivialization of violence. Thus, the testimony confronts history and shows that technological development is not a synonymous for human development. On the contrary, they allow us to question the true intent of the nations that, in their quest for domination, massively destroy entire populations. In this context, the following questions arise: what is the testimony and what is its importance to modern society? Historically, what had led to the appearance of witnesses? What is the historical context that provided the development of the atomic bomb? Why was there the need, by the nations at war, to exterminate thousands of people, mainly civilians? What is the consequence of breaking the rules of civility by the two World Wars? To answer these questions, the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum was investigated regarding its permanent exhibition, its goals regarding the struggle against forgetting the atomic disaster and the gathering of testimonies. After this first stage of the research, it was proceeded the study of the historical context that culminated in the atrocities committed during the two Great Wars, the results for modern society of the mass exterminations and finally, the study of trauma and testimony regarding the survivors of the Hiroshima atomic bombing

A proposta deste trabalho é buscar refletir e compreender como são construídas as representações do horror, em especial de Hiroshima, enfocando o evento violento da bomba atômica a partir da narrativa de Nakazawa Keiji, Gen Pés Descalços, fazendo uma articulação com outras obras que também representam a catástrofe. Para tal, foi realizada uma discussão sobre a possibilidade da escrita da catástrofe e do horror, o discurso histórico e as representações, a questão da memória, história e escrita, das dimensões da construção de si pelo seu autor, as questões políticas e ideológicas que são parte do entorno das representações e, por fim, a questão da possibilidade da experiência com o real. / The purpose of this paper is to reflect and understand how the representations about the horror are build, especially of Hiroshima, focusing on the violent event of the atomic bomb from the narrative of Nakazawa Keiji, Barefoot Gen, making links with other works that also represent catastrophe. To this end, a discussion was held about the possibility of writing and the horror of the catastrophe, the historical discourse and representations, the question of memory, history and writing, the dimensions of the building itself by its author, the political and ideological surroundings are part of the representations and, finally, the question of the possibility of the experience with the real.

The purpose is to understand the reasons for changed perceptions about Swedish nuclear weapons during the time when Sweden considered acquiring these weapons. The main question is: which stories about Swedish nuclear weapons did key players in Sweden present from 1958 to 1963 and how did these stories change. Primary sources are texts from 1958– 1963, texts for or against Swedish atomic weapons, government investigations and political texts and bills. The theoretical perspective is framing analysis (Kuypers) and narrative analysis (Shenhav) unified in a method. Text-by-text, framing, agenda extension, and story are investigated and compared, supported by previous research. The analysis shows that stories can be divided into five categories, the military, the dystopian, the scientific, the state community building and the security policy stories. In 1958, the military story of nuclear weapons dominated as an issue of weapons development in the nuclear age. The following year, new stories came from opinion leaders, the yes side developed stories about the necessity of the bomb for the military and in foreign policy. The no side told stories about the consequences of a Swedish bomb as a dystopia for humanity and the collapse in foreign relations. Both told scientific stories about the effects which either ended in calming message to the people or created fear of radiation damage and the genetics of future generations. After 1959 both the Social Democrats and the military began to hesitate and changed their stories. Among other things, future civil nuclear power, economic realism and good relations with the US outweighed the idea of nuclear weapons guaranteeing a Swedish non-alliance policy. The change in the stories could also be interpreted as an early de facto no a conclusion shared by previous research. By 1963 the Social Democrats' story of a modern society without nuclear weapons dominated.

The safety and security of a radiological facility shares a common objective which is to ensure the protection of the population and the environment from an undue radiological hazard. Adapting and extending risk assessment to security applications has been limited because of the adaptive nature of the sub-state actors and the lack of historical data of terrorist attacks on radiological facilities. Currently, no broad risk index exists for radiological facilities, such as healthcare centers and universities. This study develops a quantitative risk-based methodology that radiological facilities can employ to conduct self-assessments and gain better understanding of the threat they face. The computation of the Potential Facility Risk Index (PFRI) is based on the triplet definition (threat, vulnerability, and consequences) of risk. The threat component of the PFRI is devised as a utility function weighing the threat group attributes and asset preference. The principles of probabilistic risk assessment and pathway analysis are implemented to account for radioactive material theft probabilities in different attack scenarios. Locational hazards and nuclear security culture are measured as a function of radiological facility vulnerability. The consequences of loss of life and economic loss are computed, as a result of an attack from the radiological dispersal device (RDD). The methodology is applied to a hypothetical healthcare facility a single radioactive with three material assets (⁶⁰Co, ¹³⁷Cs, ¹⁹²Ir). The representation of the PFRI value on a qualitative scale-ranging from “very low risk” (1) to “very high risk” (10) presents a holistic view of the state of the facility risk to RDD. The PFRI may be used by decision makers to evaluate any security upgrades and justify security investments. The RDD game, developed as an extension to PFRI, provides the healthcare facility (defender) with strategic options to budget scarce security resources and make optimal choices under severe uncertainty about the terrorist adversary (attacker) theat.

It has been estimated that approximately half of all anthropogenic fossil fuel carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions have been absorbed by the oceans. Air-sea gas exchange of CO2 and the buffering capacity of seawater allows the oceans to store significant amounts of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC; ~38,000 GtC). The Arctic Ocean is currently warming at double the rate of the rest of the planet, yet the effect of climate change on the Arctic marine carbon cycle remains unconstrained. Recent work suggests that Arctic marine environments are a carbon sink for the majority of the year, and plays a key role in storing anthropogenic carbon below the mixed layer. Baffin Bay is a semi-enclosed, Arctic basin that supplies cold surface water to the Labrador Sea; a critical region for North Atlantic deep-water formation. While the physical oceanography of surface Baffin Bay is well characterized, less is known about deep water formation mechanisms and its ventilation age. The few residence times for Baffin Bay Deep Water (BBDW) range widely from 20-1450 years. Improved residence time estimates are essential for understanding the role Baffin Bay plays in the Arctic carbon cycle and how this region will respond to climate change. Radiocarbon (D14C) and stable carbon (δ13C) measurements of DIC are powerful tools for parameterizing water mass sources, aging and residence times. However, very few DIC Δ14C and d13C data have been reported in the Arctic Ocean, comprising only a handful of stations in the Eurasian Basin, Canadian Basin, and Beaufort Sea. With this goal in mind, we conducted a study in which DIC samples were collected aboard the CCGS Amundsen in 2019 for δ13C and Δ14C analysis. DIC δ13C and D14C values ranged from 0.68‰ to +1.90‰ and -90.0‰ to +29.8‰, respectively. Surface DIC δ13C values were +0.69‰ to +1.90‰, while deep (>100m) d13C values ranged -0.01 to -0.68‰. Significant linear correlations were found for δ13C and potential density, suggesting DIC δ13C is an effective water mass and carbon source tracer in Baffin Bay. Surface DIC Δ14C values ranged -5.4‰ to +22.9‰, while deep DIC (>1400m) DIC Δ14C averaged -82.2 8.5‰ (n = 9). Much larger surface to deep gradients in DIC Δ14C are observed in Baffin Bay vs. that of the North Atlantic Ocean, suggesting significant aging of BBDW. Next, we used the potential alkalinity method (Palk) and the ΔC* method to quantify the amount of “bomb” 14C and anthropogenic C (DICanth) to model “natural” DIC Δ14C profiles. Both Palk and ΔC* proxies had high errors in cold, low salinity surface water. In particular, surface (<400m) Δ14Cbomb was overestimated at all stations. However, both proxies did not indicate Δ14Cbomb or DICanth contributions below 1000m. Two 14C residence times were estimated based on two proposed mechanisms of BBDW formation. A residence time of 690 +/- 35 years was estimated assuming surface brine rejection in Nares Strait is the main source of BBDW. Another plausible source of BBDW is the entrainment of dense north Atlantic Water over Davis Strait mixed with brine enriched surface water. A comparison of DICanth and Δ14Cbomb corrected deep DIC Δ14C values from the North Atlantic (GO SHIP A16N) to BBDW, resulted in a residence time of 360 +/- 35 years. These residence times (360-690 years) provide new constraints on the ventilation age of deep Baffin Bay and suggest this basin has the potential to store carbon for centuries.