Professionalism for medicine: opportunities and obligations.

PubMed

Cruess, Sylvia R; Johnston, Sharon; Cruess, Richard L

2002-08-19

Physicians' dual roles - as healer and professional - are linked by codes of ethics governing behaviour and are empowered by science. Being part of a profession entails a societal contract. The profession is granted a monopoly over the use of a body of knowledge and the privilege of self-regulation and, in return, guarantees society professional competence, integrity and the provision of altruistic service. Societal attitudes to professionalism have changed from supportive to increasingly critical - with physicians being criticised for pursuing their own financial interests, and failing to self-regulate in a way that guarantees competence. Professional values are also threatened by many other factors. The most important are the changes in healthcare delivery in the developed world, with control shifting from the profession to the State and/or the corporate sector. For the ideal of professionalism to survive, physicians must understand it and its role in the social contract. They must meet the obligations necessary to sustain professionalism and ensure that healthcare systems support, rather than subvert, behaviour that is compatible with professionalism's values.

Professionalism for medicine: opportunities and obligations.

PubMed

Cruess, Sylvia R; Johnston, Sharon; Cruess, Richard L

2004-01-01

Physicians' dual roles--as healer and professional--are linked by codes of ethics governing behaviour and are empowered by science. Being part of a profession entails a societal contract. The profession is granted a monopoly over the use of a body of knowledge and the privilege of self-regulation and, in return, guarantees society professional competence, integrity and the provision of altruistic service. Societal attitudes to professionalism have changed from supportive to increasingly critical--with physicians being criticised for pursuing their own financial interests, and failing to self-regulate in a way that guarantees competence. Professional values are also threatened by many other factors. The most important are the changes in healthcare delivery in the developed world, with control shifting from the profession to the State and/or the corporate sector. For the ideal of professionalism to survive, physicians must understand it and its role in the social contract. They must meet the obligations necessary to sustain professionalism and ensure that healthcare systems support, rather than subvert, behaviour that is compatible with professionalism's values.

A conceptual framework for characterizing forest areas with high societal values: experiences from the Pacific Northwest of USA and Central Europe

Treesearch

Tina Simonèiè; Thomas A. Spies; Robert L. Deal; Andrej Bonèina

2015-01-01

In recent decades, much work has been invested to describe forest allocations with high societal values. Yet, few comparative analyses have been conducted on their importance and differences across the regions of the globe. This paper introduces a conceptual framework to characterize forest priority areas defined as areas with identified higher importance of societal...

An exploratory case study of the impact of expanding cost-effectiveness analysis for second-line nivolumab for patients with squamous non-small cell lung cancer in Canada: Does it make a difference?

PubMed

Shafrin, Jason; Skornicki, Michelle; Brauer, Michelle; Villeneuve, Julie; Lees, Michael; Hertel, Nadine; Penrod, John R; Jansen, Jeroen

2018-04-26

Health technology appraisal agencies often rely on cost-effectiveness analyses to inform coverage decisions for new treatments. These assessments, however, frequently measure a treatment's value from the payer's perspective, and may not capture value generated from reduced caregiving costs, increased productivity, value based on patient risk preferences, option value or the insurance value to non-patients. To examine how using a broader societal perspective of treatment value affects cost-effectiveness estimates, this case study analyzed the net monetary benefit (NMB) of second-line nivolumab treatment of patients with squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in Canada. The comparator was treatment with docetaxel. NMB was measured from three perspectives: (i) traditional payer, (ii) traditional societal and (iii) broad societal. Nivolumab was more effective (increased quality-adjusted life years by 0.66 versus docetaxel), but also increased costs by $100,168 CAD. When valuing a quality-adjusted life year at $150,000, the net monetary benefit from the payer perspective suggested that costs modestly exceed benefits (NMB: -$1031). Adopting a societal perspective, however, nivolumab's benefits outweighed its costs (NMB: +$6752 and +$91,084 from the traditional and broad societal perspectives, respectively). Broadening cost-effectiveness analysis beyond the traditional payer perspective had a significant impact on the result and should be considered in order to capture all treatment benefits and costs of societal relevance. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Evaluation Scale: Exploring Decisions about Societal Impact in Peer Review Panels

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Derrick, Gemma E.; Samuel, Gabrielle N.

2016-01-01

Realising the societal gains from publicly funded health and medical research requires a model for a reflexive evaluation precedent for the societal impact of research. This research explores UK Research Excellence Framework evaluators' values and opinions and assessing societal impact, prior to the assessment taking place. Specifically, we…

Parent-Offspring Value Transmission in a Societal Context: Suggestions for a Utopian Research Design--With Empirical Underpinnings.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boehnke, Klaus

2001-01-01

Puts intrafamilial value transmission into a societal context, using data from a study of university student-parents triads to show why a unified research approach is necessary. All conservation values were more important to the parents than the offspring, while the reverse was found for self-transcendence versus self-enhancement values. (SM)

The Value of Information from a GRACE-Enhanced Drought Severity Index

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kuwayama, Y.; Bernknopf, R.; Brookshire, D.; Macauley, M.; Zaitchik, B. F.; Rodell, M.; Vail, P.; Thompson, A.

2015-12-01

In this project, we develop a framework to estimate the economic value of information from the Gravity and Climate Experiment (GRACE) for drought monitoring and to understand how the GRACE Data Assimilation (GRACE-DA) system can inform decision making to improve regional economic outcomes. Specifically, we consider the potential societal value of further incorporating GRACE-DA information into the U.S. Drought Monitor mapmaking process. Research activities include (a) a literature review, (b) a series of listening sessions with experts and stakeholders, (c) the development of a conceptual economic framework based on a Bayesian updating procedure, and (d) an econometric analysis and retrospective case study to understand the GRACE-DA contribution to agricultural policy and production decisions. Taken together, the results from these research activities support our conclusion that GRACE-DA has the potential to lower the variance associated with our understanding of drought and that this improved understanding has the potential to change policy decisions that lead to tangible societal benefits.

Advances in risk assessment for climate change adaptation policy.

PubMed

Adger, W Neil; Brown, Iain; Surminski, Swenja

2018-06-13

Climate change risk assessment involves formal analysis of the consequences, likelihoods and responses to the impacts of climate change and the options for addressing these under societal constraints. Conventional approaches to risk assessment are challenged by the significant temporal and spatial dynamics of climate change; by the amplification of risks through societal preferences and values; and through the interaction of multiple risk factors. This paper introduces the theme issue by reviewing the current practice and frontiers of climate change risk assessment, with specific emphasis on the development of adaptation policy that aims to manage those risks. These frontiers include integrated assessments, dealing with climate risks across borders and scales, addressing systemic risks, and innovative co-production methods to prioritize solutions to climate challenges with decision-makers. By reviewing recent developments in the use of large-scale risk assessment for adaptation policy-making, we suggest a forward-looking research agenda to meet ongoing strategic policy requirements in local, national and international contexts.This article is part of the theme issue 'Advances in risk assessment for climate change adaptation policy'. © 2018 The Author(s).

Advances in risk assessment for climate change adaptation policy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adger, W. Neil; Brown, Iain; Surminski, Swenja

2018-06-01

Climate change risk assessment involves formal analysis of the consequences, likelihoods and responses to the impacts of climate change and the options for addressing these under societal constraints. Conventional approaches to risk assessment are challenged by the significant temporal and spatial dynamics of climate change; by the amplification of risks through societal preferences and values; and through the interaction of multiple risk factors. This paper introduces the theme issue by reviewing the current practice and frontiers of climate change risk assessment, with specific emphasis on the development of adaptation policy that aims to manage those risks. These frontiers include integrated assessments, dealing with climate risks across borders and scales, addressing systemic risks, and innovative co-production methods to prioritize solutions to climate challenges with decision-makers. By reviewing recent developments in the use of large-scale risk assessment for adaptation policy-making, we suggest a forward-looking research agenda to meet ongoing strategic policy requirements in local, national and international contexts. This article is part of the theme issue `Advances in risk assessment for climate change adaptation policy'.

Advances in risk assessment for climate change adaptation policy

PubMed Central

Adger, W. Neil; Brown, Iain; Surminski, Swenja

2018-01-01

Climate change risk assessment involves formal analysis of the consequences, likelihoods and responses to the impacts of climate change and the options for addressing these under societal constraints. Conventional approaches to risk assessment are challenged by the significant temporal and spatial dynamics of climate change; by the amplification of risks through societal preferences and values; and through the interaction of multiple risk factors. This paper introduces the theme issue by reviewing the current practice and frontiers of climate change risk assessment, with specific emphasis on the development of adaptation policy that aims to manage those risks. These frontiers include integrated assessments, dealing with climate risks across borders and scales, addressing systemic risks, and innovative co-production methods to prioritize solutions to climate challenges with decision-makers. By reviewing recent developments in the use of large-scale risk assessment for adaptation policy-making, we suggest a forward-looking research agenda to meet ongoing strategic policy requirements in local, national and international contexts. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Advances in risk assessment for climate change adaptation policy’. PMID:29712800

Straight Shooting. What's Wrong with America and How To Fix It.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Silber, John

This book presents the ideas of the president of Boston University on how America can change course and restore traditional democratic values. The primary threat to American freedom comes not from foreign nations but from societal and individual attitudes of self indulgence, extravagance, and a declinging educational system. A return to…

Social Climate Change: A Sociology of Environmental Philosophy

Treesearch

Robert E. Manning

2003-01-01

Democracy demands that public policy ultimately reflect evolving social thought. However, in the nonmarket realm of public land management, and environmental policy more broadly, where price signals that drive the free-market economy are generally lacking, this requires a concerted effort on the part of social science to measure and monitor societal values and related...

Theorizing Educational Leadership Studies, Curriculum, and "Didaktik": Nonaffirmative Education Theory in Bridging Disparate Fields

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ylimaki, Rose M.; Uljens, Michael

2017-01-01

Recent neoliberal policies and societal trends point toward new and perennial tensions for nation-state education, including curriculum/Didaktik and leadership thereof. These challenges affect governance/leadership and curriculum with changes in aims and values together in ways that demand coherence, yet the traditionally disparate fields of…

Societal Culture and Teachers' Responses to Curriculum Reform: Experiences from China

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yin, Hong-biao

2013-01-01

Educational change is intrinsically bound to the cultural characteristics of the society. However, the relationship between educational change and societal culture is rarely explored, especially in the context of mainland China. Following a 3-year qualitative research project, the present study explored the influence of societal culture on…

Mapping the Delivery of Societal Benefit through the International Arctic Observations Assessment Framework

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lev, S. M.; Gallo, J.

2017-12-01

The international Arctic scientific community has identified the need for a sustained and integrated portfolio of pan-Arctic Earth-observing systems. In 2017, an international effort was undertaken to develop the first ever Value Tree framework for identifying common research and operational objectives that rely on Earth observation data derived from Earth-observing systems, sensors, surveys, networks, models, and databases to deliver societal benefits in the Arctic. A Value Tree Analysis is a common tool used to support decision making processes and is useful for defining concepts, identifying objectives, and creating a hierarchical framework of objectives. A multi-level societal benefit area value tree establishes the connection from societal benefits to the set of observation inputs that contribute to delivering those benefits. A Value Tree that relies on expert domain knowledge from Arctic and non-Arctic nations, international researchers, Indigenous knowledge holders, and other experts to develop a framework to serve as a logical and interdependent decision support tool will be presented. Value tree examples that map the contribution of Earth observations in the Arctic to achieving societal benefits will be presented in the context of the 2017 International Arctic Observations Assessment Framework. These case studies will highlight specific observing products and capability groups where investment is needed to contribute to the development of a sustained portfolio of Arctic observing systems.

Interdependencies, values and the reshaping of difference: gender and generation at the birth of twentieth-century modernity.

PubMed

Irwin, Sarah

2003-12-01

The paper explores the mutuality of values, claims and social relations in the process of social change. Values are not separable from social relations but are embedded in the shaping and reshaping of social difference and interdependence. The paper focuses on developments around the turn of the twentieth century, and analyses changes in the relative social positioning of children and adults, and women and men, shifting patterns of interdependence, and linked values and ideas about difference. The reconfiguring of generational and gender relations was integral to the first fertility decline, to transformation in family life and societal divisions of labour, and to the embedding of particular values and claims regarding gendered difference, identities and gender appropriate roles. Analysis of these developments reveals the mutuality of 'cultural' and 'material' processes and holds lessons for interpreting social change today.

Considerations of net present value in policy making regarding diagnostic and therapeutic technologies.

PubMed

Califf, Robert M; Rasiel, Emma B; Schulman, Kevin A

2008-11-01

The pharmaceutical and medical device industries function in a business environment in which shareholders expect companies to optimize profit within legal and ethical standards. A fundamental tool used to optimize decision making is the net present value calculation, which estimates the current value of cash flows relating to an investment. We examined 3 prototypical research investment decisions that have been the source of public scrutiny to illustrate how policy decisions can be better understood when their impact on societally desirable investments by industry are viewed from the standpoint of their impact on net present value. In the case of direct, comparative clinical trials, a simple net present value calculation provides insight into why companies eschew such investments. In the case of pediatric clinical trials, the Pediatric Extension Rule changed the net present value calculation from unattractive to potentially very attractive by allowing patent extensions; thus, the dramatic increase in pediatric clinical trials can be explained by the financial return on investment. In the case of products for small markets, the fixed costs of development make this option financially unattractive. Policy decisions can be better understood when their impact on societally desirable investments by the pharmaceutical and medical device industries are viewed from the standpoint of their impact on net present value.

Character and Citizenship Education: Conversations between Personal and Societal Values

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sim, Jasmine B.-Y.; Low, Ee Ling

2012-01-01

The theme of this special issue is "Character and Citizenship Education: Conversations between Personal and Societal Values." Character education and citizenship education, taken separately or as a single entity are currently riding high on the political and educational policy agendas of several governments (Arthur, 2003; Berkowitz & Bier, 2007;…

Operational experiments for sustainably managing forests (Grossflächige Feldversuche für die nachhaltige Waldnutzung).

Treesearch

Robert C. Szaro; Charles E. Peterson; Klaus Von Gadow

2006-01-01

Historically, applied manipulative studies of forests have tested the ability of specific silvicultural treatments to address wood production objectives. Changing societal values now demand expanded approaches to forest management that also integrate social, ecological, and economic goals. As a result, many recent (past decade) experimental manipulations have become...

Fluctuations in national forest timber harvest and removals: the southern regional perspective

Treesearch

Sonja N. Oswalt; Tony G. Johnson; Mike Howell; James W. Bentley

2009-01-01

Here, we examine fluctuations in timber harvest and removals on National Forest System (NFS) lands of the Southern Region in light of changing societal values and administrative policies. We also present timber product utilization information based on multiple data sources, examine NFS removals in the context of standing volume, and compare NFS removals with removals...

Societal consequences of Title II of Public Law 92-513: Motor Vehicle Information and Cost Savings Act. Final report, May 1974--Mar 1975

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Northrop, G.M.

1975-06-01

Societal consequences of the availability, under Title II, Public Law 92-513, of information on crashworthiness, crash repair cost, routine maintenance and repair cost, and insurance cost are investigated. Surveys of small groups of private passenger car buyers and fleet buyers were conducted, and the results were analyzed. Three simple computer models were prepared: (1) an Accident Model to compare the number of occupants suffering fatal or serious injuries under assumed car-buying behavior with and without the availability of Title II information and changes made by car manufacturers that modify crashworthiness and car weight; (2) a New Car Sales Model tomore » determine the impact of car-buying behavior on 22 societal elements involving consumer expenditures and employment, sales margin, and value added for dealers, car manufacturers, and industrial suppliers; and (3) a Car Operations Model to determine the impact of car-buying behavior on the total gasoline consumption cost, crash repair cost, routine maintenance, repair cost, and insurance cost. Projections of car-buying behavior over a 10-year period (1976-1985) were made and results presented in the form of 10-year average values of the percent difference between results under 'With Title II' and 'Without Title II' information.« less

Doctors Without Borders.

PubMed

Wass, Val; Southgate, Lesley

2017-04-01

The unprecedented demands of patient and population priorities created by globalization and escalating health and social inequities will not be met unless medical education changes. Educators have failed to move fast enough to create an education framework that meets current population needs. A new common set of professional values around global social accountability is necessary. Education borders must be broken down at three levels-societal-institutional, interpersonal, and individual.At a societal-institutional level, global health must be embraced as part of a philosophy of population needs, human rights, equity, and justice. A move from informative acquisition of knowledge and skills to formative learning where students socialize around values, develop leadership attributes, and become agents for change is needed. At an interpersonal level, radical changes in curriculum delivery, which move away from the well-defined borders of specialty rotations, are required. Students must develop an integrated understanding of the future of health care and the patient's journey through health care delivery, within the context of population needs. At an individual level, doctors need to understand the boundaries of the professional values they hold within themselves and develop a deeper understanding of their own internal prejudices and conflicts. Opening the borders between the sciences and humanities is essential. Fostering and mentoring that emphasize that resilience, leadership, flexibility, and the ability to cope with uncertainty are needed to tackle the complexities of current, as well as future, health care. Doctors need to understand the restraints within themselves to work effectively without borders.

Improving Public Engagement With Climate Change: Five "Best Practice" Insights From Psychological Science.

PubMed

van der Linden, Sander; Maibach, Edward; Leiserowitz, Anthony

2015-11-01

Despite being one of the most important societal challenges of the 21st century, public engagement with climate change currently remains low in the United States. Mounting evidence from across the behavioral sciences has found that most people regard climate change as a nonurgent and psychologically distant risk-spatially, temporally, and socially-which has led to deferred public decision making about mitigation and adaptation responses. In this article, we advance five simple but important "best practice" insights from psychological science that can help governments improve public policymaking about climate change. Particularly, instead of a future, distant, global, nonpersonal, and analytical risk that is often framed as an overt loss for society, we argue that policymakers should (a) emphasize climate change as a present, local, and personal risk; (b) facilitate more affective and experiential engagement; (c) leverage relevant social group norms; (d) frame policy solutions in terms of what can be gained from immediate action; and (e) appeal to intrinsically valued long-term environmental goals and outcomes. With practical examples we illustrate how these key psychological principles can be applied to support societal engagement and climate change policymaking. © The Author(s) 2015.

The New Standards of General Education: The Ideological Foundation of the Russian School System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dronov, V. P.; Kondakov, A. M.

2010-01-01

Practically no one will dispute that the future of Russia depends on the successfulness of the multifaceted modernization of Russian society, a task that cannot be confined solely to the socioeconomic sphere. The most fundamental task is that of changing the societal system of values and institutions. If Russia is to modernize successfully, the…

I Feel Like an Armadillo: A Look at College Seniors and Recent Graduates Using Erik Erikson's Model of "Identity Versus Role-Diffusion."

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jaurigue, Rebecca

Developmental psychologist Erik Erikson observed that achieving a sense of self, an identity, was the important psychosocial task facing adolescents. The conflict lies in discovering and defining that identity despite parental and societal demands, changing values and opportunities, the influence of friends, and lovers, education, and finances.…

Managing forest water quantity and quality under climate change

Treesearch

Daniel A. Marion; Ge Sun; Peter V. Caldwell; Chelcy F. Miniat; Ying Ouyang; Devendra M. Amatya; Barton D. Clinton; Paul A. Conrads; Shelby Gull Laird; Zhaohua Dai; J. Alan Clingenpeel; Yonqiang Liu; Edwin A. Roehl; Jennifer A. Moore Myers; Carl Trettin

2014-01-01

Water is a critical resource of the Southern United States and is intimately linked to other ecosystem and societal values. The South is known for its warm climate, rich water resources (Figure 9.1), and large acreage of forest lands that provide an ideal place for people to live. Indeed, water availability is central to sustaining an economy that relies on irrigation...

The Evolving Ethics of Dialysis in the United States: A Principlist Bioethics Approach

PubMed Central

Mehrotra, Rajnish; Tonelli, Mark R.; Lam, Daniel Y.

2016-01-01

Throughout the history of dialysis, four bioethical principles — beneficence, nonmaleficence, autonomy and justice — have been weighted differently based upon changing forces of technologic innovation, resource limitation, and societal values. In the 1960s, a committee of lay people in Seattle attempted to fairly distribute a limited number of maintenance hemodialysis stations guided by considerations of justice. As technology advanced and dialysis was funded under an amendment to the Social Security Act in 1972, focus shifted to providing dialysis for all in need while balancing the burdens of treatment and quality of life, supported by the concepts of beneficence and nonmaleficence. At the end of the last century, the importance of patient preferences and personal values became paramount in medical decisions, reflecting a focus on the principle of autonomy. More recently, greater recognition that health care financial resources are limited makes fair allocation more pressing, again highlighting the importance of distributive justice. The varying application and prioritization of these four principles to both policy and clinical decisions in the United States over the last 50 years makes the history of hemodialysis an instructive platform for understanding principlist bioethics. As medical technology evolves in a landscape of changing personal and societal values, a comprehensive understanding of an ethical framework for evaluating appropriate use of medical interventions enables the clinician to systematically negotiate and optimize difficult ethical situations. PMID:26912540

Can value-based insurance impose societal costs?

PubMed

Koenig, Lane; Dall, Timothy M; Ruiz, David; Saavoss, Josh; Tongue, John

2014-09-01

Among policy alternatives considered to reduce health care costs and improve outcomes, value-based insurance design (VBID) has emerged as a promising option. Most applications of VBID, however, have not used higher cost sharing to discourage specific services. In April 2011, the state of Oregon introduced a policy for public employees that required additional cost sharing for high-cost procedures such as total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Our objectives were to estimate the societal impact of higher co-pays for TKA using Oregon as a case study and building on recent work demonstrating the effects of knee osteoarthritis and surgical treatment on employment and disability outcomes. We used a Markov model to estimate the societal impact in terms of quality of life, direct costs, and indirect costs of higher co-pays for TKA using Oregon as a case study. We found that TKA for a working population can generate societal benefits that offset the direct medical costs of the procedure. Delay in receiving surgical care, because of higher co-payment or other reasons, reduced the societal savings from TKA. We conclude that payers moving toward value-based cost sharing should consider consequences beyond direct medical expenses. Copyright © 2014 International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

La Niña, El Niño, and Atlantic Hurricane Damages in the United States

Science.gov Websites

accounting for the most significant societal changes. To normalize past impacts data to 1997 values, losses significantly higher that the U.S. will experience greater impacts because of a larger number of tropical even in a relatively inactive season a single storm can have significant impacts, e.g., Andrew (1992

Literacies of (Post)Socialist Childhood: Alternative Readings of Socialist Upbringings and Neoliberal Futures

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mead, Michael A.; Silova, Iveta

2013-01-01

In the former Soviet Union, the upbringing of children in the spirit of Marxist-Leninist values was central to the project of societal transformation. More than 20 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, it is important to understand how the education of young children in this region has changed in response to a world rapidly globalising and…

The Influence Factors and Mechanism of Societal Risk Perception

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zheng, Rui; Shi, Kan; Li, Shu

Risk perception is one of important subjects in management psychology and cognitive psychology. It is of great value in the theory and practice to investigate the societal hazards that the public cares a lot especially in Socio-economic transition period. A survey including 30 hazards and 6 risk attributes was designed and distributed to about 2, 485 residents of 8 districts, Beijing. The major findings are listed as following: Firstly, a scale of societal risk perception was designed and 2 factors were identified (Dread Risk & Unknown Risk). Secondly, structural equation model was used to analyze the influence factors and mechanism of societal risk perception. Risk preference, government support and social justice could influence societal risk perception directly. Government support fully moderated the relationship between government trust and societal risk perception. Societal risk perception influenced life satisfaction, public policy preferences and social development belief.

Societal Change: Via Violence or "Peaceful Revolution"?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Williamson, E. G.

1975-01-01

Discusses the role of Student Personnel Services in aiding students to identify and evaluate, through rational dialogue, the "causal variables" of human misery and degradation as the strategy of their preparation to innovate societal change. (Author)

Older persons' definitions and explanations of elder abuse in the Netherlands.

PubMed

Mysyuk, Yuliya; Westendorp, Rudi G J; Lindenberg, Jolanda

2016-01-01

In this article we explore older persons' definitions of and explanations for elder abuse in the Netherlands by means of interviews with older persons. A qualitative study was conducted based on semistructured interviews with 35 older persons who had no experience with abuse. Our findings show that older persons participating in our study define elder abuse foremost as physical violence that is performed intentionally. The study participants explain elder abuse as a result of the dependency and vulnerability of older persons, of changing norms and values, and of changes in the position of older persons in society, which result in disrespect toward older persons and a lack of social control and responsibility. The older persons' explanations for the occurrence of abuse mainly focus on societal changes; older persons seem to regard elder abuse primarily as a societal problem. This understanding of, and explanation for, elder abuse may influence their detection and reporting behavior, as they may tend to acknowledge only severe cases of intentional physical violence that leave clear and therefore physically detectable evidence.

Societal individualism predicts prevalence of nonhomosexual orientation in male-to-female transsexualism.

PubMed

Lawrence, Anne A

2010-04-01

There are two distinct subtypes of male-to-female (MtF) transsexuals: homosexual and nonhomosexual. The relative prevalence of these two subtypes varies dramatically between countries, but no explanation of this variability has yet been proposed. This study examined the hypothesis that the prevalence of nonhomosexual MtF transsexualism, relative to homosexual MtF transsexualism, would be higher in individualistic countries than in collectivistic countries. I analyzed data from 22 studies of MtF transsexualism, conducted in 16 countries, examining the association between percentage of nonhomosexual participants and Hofstede's (Culture's consequences: Comparing values, behaviors, institutions, and organizations across nations, 2001) Individualism Index (IDV). IDV accounted for 77% of observed variance in the percentage of nonhomosexual MtF participants (r = 0.88, p < .0001). Controlling for differences in national wealth and in Hofstede's other indices of societal values (Power Distance, Uncertainty Avoidance, and Masculinity) did not significantly change the ability of IDV to account for variance in the percentage of nonhomosexual participants. The factors that contribute to the observed association between societal individualism and the relative prevalence of nonhomosexual MtF transsexualism remain to be determined, but a greater tolerance within individualistic countries for socially disruptive gender transitions by nonhomosexual gender dysphoric men, and the availability within many collectivistic countries of socially approved transgender roles for pervasively feminine homosexual gender dysphoric men, are plausible contributors.

Identity loss and recovery in the life stories of Soviet World War II veterans.

PubMed

Coleman, Peter G; Podolskij, Andrei

2007-02-01

We examined the adjustment to societal change following the fall of communism in a group of Soviet war veterans from Russia and the Ukraine. The focus of the study was on the dynamics of identity development, and especially generativity, in a period of intense social upheaval. We administered measures of self-esteem, life satisfaction, and generativity to 50 World War II veterans from five distinct areas of the former Soviet Union. We also conducted life-history interviews and made a thematic analysis of the transcripts. Despite the loss of the system of government and values that had dominated their lives, most participants demonstrated positive well-being, and especially a high sense of generativity. They described their experience of societal change as having disturbed their past, present, and future sense of self. Most, however, had found ways of reaffirming a generative identity. For some, this meant maintaining a Soviet identity; for others, it meant taking a critical view of the history through which they had lived. The principal sustaining element among the participants as a whole was hope in their own families' future. Major societal change of the kind experienced by Soviet war veterans in later life poses a challenge to a continued sense of generativity. These elderly veterans were able to meet this challenge, providing evidence of their resilience and the continuing strength of family bonds in the former Soviet Union at this time of debate about national identity.

[Tomorrow's family doctor].

PubMed

Bischoff, T; Herzig, L; Aubert, J; Sommer, J; Haller, D M

2012-05-16

The profession of family doctor will undergo profound changes in the coming decade due to external, political, demographic and societal developments. Changes will also occur from within the profession affecting its content and its functioning. Other influences, in addition to generational developments (reduced working hours, feminisation, revaluation of the work-life balance), will come from collaboration with new professions, news structures as well as technical and human progress. In this transitional period it is important to uphold core values of family medicine, in particular coordination, continuity of care and the global approach to patients. In training future family doctors we must both prepare them for new skills and roles, and continue to share the core values with them.

The Value of Information from a GRACE-Enhanced Drought Severity Index

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kuwayama, Y.; Bernknopf, R.; Macauley, M.; Brookshire, D.; Zaitchik, B. F.; Rodell, M.

2013-12-01

Water storage anomalies derived from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Data Assimilation System (GRACE-DAS) have been used to enhance the information contained in drought indicators. The potential value of this information is to inform local and regional decisions to improve economic welfare in the face of drought. Based on a characterization of current drought evaluations, a modeling framework has been structured to analyze the contributed value of the Earth observations in the assessment of the onset and duration of droughts and their regional impacts. The analysis focuses on (1) characterizing how GRACE-DAS provides Earth observation information for a drought warning, (2) assessing how a GRACE-DAS-enhanced U.S. Drought Monitor would improve economic outcomes in a region, and (3) applying this enhancement process in a decision framework to illustrate the potential role of GRACE data products in a recent drought and response scenario for a value-of-information (VOI) analysis. The VOI analysis quantifies the relative contribution of enhanced understanding and communication of the societal benefits associated with GRACE Earth observation science. Our emphasis is to illustrate the role of an enhanced National Integrated Drought Information System outlook on three key societal outcomes: effects on particular economic sectors, changes in land management decisions, and reductions in damages to ecosystem services.

Effect of Component Failures on Economics of Distributed Photovoltaic Systems

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lubin, Barry T.

2012-02-02

This report describes an applied research program to assess the realistic costs of grid connected photovoltaic (PV) installations. A Board of Advisors was assembled that included management from the regional electric power utilities, as well as other participants from companies that work in the electric power industry. Although the program started with the intention of addressing effective load carrying capacity (ELCC) for utility-owned photovoltaic installations, results from the literature study and recommendations from the Board of Advisors led investigators to the conclusion that obtaining effective data for this analysis would be difficult, if not impossible. The effort was then re-focusedmore » on assessing the realistic costs and economic valuations of grid-connected PV installations. The 17 kW PV installation on the University of Hartford's Lincoln Theater was used as one source of actual data. The change in objective required a more technically oriented group. The re-organized working group (changes made due to the need for more technically oriented participants) made site visits to medium-sized PV installations in Connecticut with the objective of developing sources of operating histories. An extensive literature review helped to focus efforts in several technical and economic subjects. The objective of determining the consequences of component failures on both generation and economic returns required three analyses. The first was a Monte-Carlo-based simulation model for failure occurrences and the resulting downtime. Published failure data, though limited, was used to verify the results. A second model was developed to predict the reduction in or loss of electrical generation related to the downtime due to these failures. Finally, a comprehensive economic analysis, including these failures, was developed to determine realistic net present values of installed PV arrays. Two types of societal benefits were explored, with quantitative valuations developed for both. Some societal benefits associated with financial benefits to the utility of having a distributed generation capacity that is not fossil-fuel based have been included into the economic models. Also included and quantified in the models are several benefits to society more generally: job creation and some estimates of benefits from avoiding greenhouse emissions. PV system failures result in a lowering of the economic values of a grid-connected system, but this turned out to be a surprisingly small effect on the overall economics. The most significant benefit noted resulted from including the societal benefits accrued to the utility. This provided a marked increase in the valuations of the array and made the overall value proposition a financially attractive one, in that net present values exceeded installation costs. These results indicate that the Department of Energy and state regulatory bodies should consider focusing on societal benefits that create economic value for the utility, confirm these quantitative values, and work to have them accepted by the utilities and reflected in the rate structures for power obtained from grid-connected arrays. Understanding and applying the economic benefits evident in this work can significantly improve the business case for grid-connected PV installations. This work also indicates that the societal benefits to the population are real and defensible, but not nearly as easy to justify in a business case as are the benefits that accrue directly to the utility.« less

Cultural Change: The How and the Why.

PubMed

Varnum, Michael E W; Grossmann, Igor

2017-11-01

More than half a century of cross-cultural research has demonstrated group-level differences in psychological and behavioral phenomena, from values to attention to neural responses. However, cultures are not static, with several specific changes documented for cultural products, practices, and values. How and why do societies change? Here we juxtapose theory and insights from cultural evolution and social ecology. Evolutionary approaches enable an understanding of the how of cultural change, suggesting transmission mechanisms by which the contents of culture may change. Ecological approaches provide insights into the why of cultural change: They identify specific environmental pressures, which evoke shifts in psychology and thereby enable greater precision in predictions of specific cultural changes based on changes in ecological conditions. Complementary insights from the ecological and cultural evolutionary approaches can jointly clarify the process by which cultures change. We end by discussing the relevance of cultural change research for the contemporary societal shifts and by highlighting several critical challenges and future directions for the emerging field of cross-temporal research on culture and psychology.

Societal views on NICE, cancer drugs fund and value-based pricing criteria for prioritising medicines: a cross-sectional survey of 4118 adults in Great Britain.

PubMed

Linley, Warren G; Hughes, Dyfrig A

2013-08-01

The criteria used by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) for accepting higher incremental cost-effectiveness ratios for some medicines over others, and the recent introduction of the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) in England, are assumed to reflect societal preferences for National Health Service resource allocation. Robust empirical evidence to this effect is lacking. To explore societal preferences for these and other criteria, including those proposed for rewarding new medicines under the future value-based pricing (VBP) system, we conducted a choice-based experiment in 4118 UK adults via web-based surveys. Preferences were determined by asking respondents to allocate fixed funds between different patient and disease types reflecting nine specific prioritisation criteria. Respondents supported the criteria proposed under the VBP system (for severe diseases, address unmet needs, are innovative--provided they offered substantial health benefits, and have wider societal benefits) but did not support the end-of-life premium or the prioritisation of children or disadvantaged populations as specified by NICE, nor the special funding status for treatments of rare diseases, nor the CDF. Policies introduced on the basis of perceived--and not actual--societal values may lead to inappropriate resource allocation decisions with the potential for significant population health and economic consequences. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

What is the value of conducting a trial of r-tPA for the treatment of mild stroke patients?

PubMed

Guzauskas, Gregory F; Chen, Er; Lalla, Deepa; Yu, Elaine; Tayama, Darren; Veenstra, David L

2017-02-01

Background The Phase IIIb, Double-Blind, Multicenter Study to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of Alteplase in Patients With Mild Stroke: Rapidly Improving Symptoms and Minor Neurologic Deficits (PRISMS) trial will assess r-tPA in ischemic stroke patients who present with mild deficits (i.e. mild stroke). Aims To assess PRISMS's societal value in clarifying the optimal care for patients with mild ischemic stroke. Methods A value of information (VOI) decision model was developed to compare the outcomes of mild stroke patients treated vs. not treated with r-tPA. Model inputs were derived from a subset of Third International Stroke Trial patients, a recent meta-analysis of r-tPA trials, expert opinion, and other published sources. VOI analyses were also used to assess the expected US societal value of the PRISMS trial and the expected value of reducing uncertainty in key trial estimates. Results The expected net societal value of the PRISMS trial was approximately $210 million ($160 m-$260 m), representing a six-fold return on investment. The value of reducing uncertainty in r-tPA efficacy was approximately $150 million ($100 m-$200 m), while reducing uncertainty in r-tPA safety (increased risk for symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage) did not add additional value in comparison. Conclusions Developing a better understanding of the outcomes of r-tPA treatment in patients with mild ischemic stroke will provide tremendous societal value by clarifying current uncertainty around treatment effectiveness. Enrollment in the PRISMS trial for patients presenting with mild ischemic stroke within 0-3 h of symptom onset should be highly encouraged.

The economics of comparative effectiveness studies: societal and private perspectives and their implications for prioritizing public investments in comparative effectiveness research.

PubMed

Meltzer, David; Basu, Anirban; Conti, Rena

2010-01-01

Comparative effectiveness research (CER) can provide valuable information for patients, providers and payers. These stakeholders differ in their incentives to invest in CER. To maximize benefits from public investments in CER, it is important to understand the value of CER from the perspectives of these stakeholders and how that affects their incentives to invest in CER. This article provides a conceptual framework for valuing CER, and illustrates the potential benefits of such studies from a number of perspectives using several case studies. We examine cases in which CER provides value by identifying when one treatment is consistently better than others, when different treatments are preferred for different subgroups, and when differences are small enough that decisions can be made based on price. We illustrate these findings using value-of-information techniques to assess the value of research, and by examining changes in pharmaceutical prices following publication of a comparative effectiveness study. Our results suggest that CER may have high societal value but limited private return to providers or payers. This suggests the importance of public efforts to promote the production of CER. We also conclude that value-of-information tools may help inform policy decisions about how much public funds to invest in CER and how to prioritize the use of available public funds for CER, in particular targeting public CER spending to areas where private incentives are low relative to social benefits.

A low tension between individual and societal time aspects in health improved outcomes.

PubMed

Ortendahl, Monica; Fries, James F

2006-11-01

To review intertemporal choices, involving decisions with a trade-off between something now and something later. These choices are common in health both at an individual and societal level. The present value of an outcome, for example, the amount of money or the health outcomes in various aspects, is equivalent to the value of a future outcome discounted with the delay of time. The concept of diminishing value over time is positive discounting. Economic forecasts generally use discount rates in which the value of a future dollar is less than the value of a present dollar, and where the discount rates are similar for the individual investor and society. The value of future health is commonly thought of as similar to the value of future money. Yet, the individual may rationally choose a discount rate that is exceedingly low or even negative. This paradox is particularly relevant when considering primary and secondary prevention, where initial and continuing costs may precede beneficent outcomes by decades, making discount rate selections the dominant factor in determining decisions. We suggest that the societal perspective should also recognize that discount rates for health outcomes are largely irrelevant and that even negative discount rates have crucial relevance.

Transformative Research: Personal and Societal

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mertens, Donna M.

2017-01-01

Transformative researchers have the potential to contribute to both personal and societal transformation. In this article, I argue that the two are intertwined and that personal transformation is a necessary component of research that is designed to support change at the societal level in the form of furthering human rights and social justice. I…

Technology Education and Societal Change.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gilberti, Anthony F.

1994-01-01

Citizens in a democracy should understand the relationship of technological development to societal change. The rationale for universal technological education stems from the ideals of cultural education, the responsibilities of democratic life, and the need for economic security. Technology education furthers understanding of our technological…

Researchers of Color, Fame, and Impact.

PubMed

Zárate, Michael A; Hall, Gordon Nagayama; Plaut, Victoria C

2017-11-01

Fame and eminence, as traditionally measured, limit the definition of impact to the publication world. We add two types of impact to the traditional measures of fame and eminence. Many of the traditional measures of fame or eminence are based on social-network connections, whereby individuals appoint other people to positions of eminence. Editorial boards are one specific example. Eminence is also limited to number of publications, for example, with little regard for the impact of those publications at the societal level. In addition to the dominant measures of eminence, societal impact broadens the definition of impact to reflect real-world changes. Two examples include mentoring, which is rarely mentioned as a criterion for eminence, and policy value, such as when research influences important public policy. These additions are discussed in reference to the general underrepresentation of researchers of color in academia.

Competition and deregulation in the electric industry. A study of organizational change: The New York State Public Service Commission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ashley, Deborah J. Cordaro

2000-11-01

Public organizations are formed in response to societal needs. They collect taxes, educate children, enforce laws and provide protection to the environment, the nation and consumers. One such organization is the New York State Public Service Commission. In 1907, legislation was passed to form the New York State Public Service Commission the first regulatory body of its kind in the United States. Its mission was to provide safe, reliable and reasonably priced electricity. Subsequently, this became the model that was implemented in every state in the nation. The past decade heralds an era of competition and a lessening of regulatory control. The telephone, natural gas and airline industries are in various stages of deregulation, and the electric industry is beginning down this path as well. In an environment such as this, are regulatory organizations necessary, and if they are, how can they organize to meet the new societal requirements? The case of the New York State Public Service Commission at this point in time offers a real time study of a regulatory body immersed in an environment that is calling for competition and an end to big government. Utilizing case studies of industries that have deregulated, or are in the process of deregulating, indicates a future societal need for regulations. This result does not lead to a conclusion that organizational change is unnecessary. This Dissertation will lay out the current organizational structure of the Public Service Commission, give an overview of the environmental signals, describe the mission/core values, and illustrate general political and employee factors that are indigenous to public service. Utilizing both classic and current organizational theory, an evaluation will be made of the Commission's need for change, their ability to change, and obstacles they may encounter.

Teacher Collaboration in Times of Uncertainty and Societal Change: The Case Study of Post-Soviet Ukraine

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kutsyuruba, Benjamin

2013-01-01

The work of teachers is subject to changing not only policies and reforms but also the complexities and contradictions of societal transformations. This paper examines teachers' perceptions of the impact of post-Soviet transformations on teacher collaboration amid the changing education policies and reforms in Ukraine. Drawing on qualitative…

Then and now with utility advertising and marketing

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Netschert, B.C.

Basic business functions, such as advertising and marketing, occupy a valid place in the lives of public utilities, even in an environment where conservation and economy are emphasized. The author describes how a particular group of electric-utility companies has changed emphasis in an exemplary response to new societal pressures and values. He identifies the litmus test of the appropriateness of promotional and information activities and expenditures by utilities in terms of consumer sovereignty.

Moral and Ethical Relativism and the US Armed Forces A Course for Effectiveness

DTIC Science & Technology

1998-04-01

are redefined by themselves. President Clinton, addressing the Human Rights Campaign dinner for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people, said...societal agenda. The change was born out of a radical agenda to strike down any discrimination of homosexuals thereby validating their lifestyle...are no women on the Seattle Seahawks. This is not because the owners have discriminated against women or believe them to be inferior in value. They

Societal Development and Social Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nderu-Boddington, Eulalee

2008-01-01

This article compares and contrasts the theories of three major writers on societal change: Chirot discusses the economic power struggles within and among core, peripheral, and semiperipheral societies, Toffler exposes a future in which major power shifts could have cataclysmic results, and Bruner emphasizes the importance of education to temper…

The total assessment profile, volume 1. [including societal impact cost effectiveness, and economic analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Leininger, G.; Jutila, S.; King, J.; Muraco, W.; Hansell, J.; Lindeen, J.; Franckowiak, E.; Flaschner, A.

1975-01-01

A methodology is described for the evaluation of societal impacts associated with the implementation of a new technology. Theoretical foundations for the methodology, called the total assessment profile, are established from both the economic and social science perspectives. The procedure provides for accountability of nonquantifiable factors and measures through the use of a comparative value matrix by assessing the impacts of the technology on the value system of the society.

Virtual University: A Peer to Peer Open Education Network

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Razavi, Amir R.; Strommen-Bakhtiar, Abbas; Krause, Paul

2011-01-01

The world is currently going through a transitional period, moving from the Service era to the Information era. Rapid societal and technological innovations are changing the way we live, communicate, and work. As the rate of the technological/societal change increases, pressure on educational institutions also increases. This pressure is…

Our Voice Counts: Adolescents' View on Their Future in South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Steyn, Miemsie; Badenhorst, Jo; Kamper, Geritt

2010-01-01

We focus on the impact of societal change and related societal problems on the youth of post-apartheid South Africa. Within the parameters of an eco-systemic model, it is argued that adolescents' perspectives on their future in this country could be negatively influenced by the extent of societal problems that are currently experienced in South…

Linking the Observation of Essential Variables to Societal Benefits

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sylak-Glassman, E.

2017-12-01

Different scientific communities have established sets of commonly agreed upon essential variables to help coordinate data collection in a variety of Earth observation areas. As an example, the World Meteorological Organization Global Climate Observing System has identified 50 Essential Climate Variables (ECVs), such as sea-surface temperature and carbon dioxide, which are required to monitoring the climate and detect and attribute climate change. In addition to supporting climate science, measuring these ECVs deliver many types of societal benefits, ranging from disaster mitigation to agricultural productivity to human health. While communicating the value in maintaining and improving observational records for these variables has been a challenge, quantifying how the measurement of these ECVs results in the delivery of many different societal benefits may help support their continued measurement. The 2016 National Earth Observation Assessment (EOA 2016) quantified the impact of individual Earth observation systems, sensors, networks, and surveys (or Earth observation systems, for short) on the achievement of 217 Federal objectives in 13 societal benefit areas (SBAs). This study will demonstrate the use of the EOA 2016 dataset to show the different Federal objectives and SBAs that are impacted by the Earth observation systems used to measure ECVs. Describing how the measurements from these Earth observation systems are used not only to maintain the climate record but also to meet additional Federal objectives may help articulate the continued measurement of the ECVs. This study will act as a pilot for the use of the EOA 2016 dataset to map between the measurements required to observe additional sets of variables, such as the Essential Ocean Variables and Essential Biodiversity Variables, and the ability to achieve a variety of societal benefits.

Comparing Facilitator Priorities of Suicide Survivor Support Groups: A Cross-Cultural Comparison Between Japanese and American Groups.

PubMed

Feigelman, William; Feigelman, Beverly; Kawashima, Daisuke; Shiraga, Keisuke; Kawano, Kenji

2017-08-01

A total of 56 Japanese and 59 American survivor of suicide support group facilitators were asked to rank the mutual aid objectives of their groups following Shulman's scheme in terms of their frequency and importance. Both American and Japanese facilitators showed an emphasis on personal adaptation goals (such as helping bereaved feel less isolated in their grief or encouraging bereaved to share their coping with loss experiences) over collective goals (such as raising monies for more research on mental illness or trying to combat societal suicide stigma in their local communities). Differences were also noted with American facilitators evaluating helping with problem solving, sharing different ways of coping, viewing personal issues as societal problems, and advocating for promoting social change as significantly higher than the Japanese did. We believe some of these contrasts reflect differences in American and Japanese cultural values.

Access. Challenge for Change/Societe Nouvelle Number Eleven.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Prinn, Elizabeth, Ed.

Access is a journal published three or four times a year by Challenge for Change/Societe Nouvelle (CCSN). CCSN is an experimental program established by the Government of Canada as a cooperative effort between the National Film Board of Canada and certain of the Government's departments. Its purposes are to improve communications, create greater…

Patient and Societal Value Functions for the Testing Morbidities Index

PubMed Central

Swan, John Shannon; Kong, Chung Yin; Lee, Janie M.; Akinyemi, Omosalewa; Halpern, Elkan F.; Lee, Pablo; Vavinskiy, Sergey; Williams, Olubunmi; Zoltick, Emilie S.; Donelan, Karen

2013-01-01

Background We developed preference-based and summated scale scoring for the Testing Morbidities Index (TMI) classification, which addresses short-term effects on quality of life from diagnostic testing before, during and after a testing procedure. Methods The two TMI value functions utilize multiattribute value techniques; one is patient-based and the other has a societal perspective. 206 breast biopsy patients and 466 (societal) subjects informed the models. Due to a lack of standard short-term methods for this application, we utilized the visual analog scale (VAS). Waiting trade-off (WTO) tolls provided an additional option for linear transformation of the TMI. We randomized participants to one of three surveys: the first derived weights for generic testing morbidity attributes and levels of severity with the VAS; a second developed VAS values and WTO tolls for linear transformation of the TMI to a death-healthy scale; the third addressed initial validation in a specific test (breast biopsy). 188 patients and 425 community subjects participated in initial validation, comparing direct VAS and WTO values to the TMI. Alternative TMI scoring as a non-preference summated scale was included, given evidence of construct and content validity. Results The patient model can use an additive function, while the societal model is multiplicative. Direct VAS and the VAS-scaled TMI were correlated across modeling groups (r=0.45 to 0.62) and agreement was comparable to the value function validation of the Health Utilities Index 2. Mean Absolute Difference (MAD) calculations showed a range of 0.07–0.10 in patients and 0.11–0.17 in subjects. MAD for direct WTO tolls compared to the WTO-scaled TMI varied closely around one quality-adjusted life day. Conclusions The TMI shows initial promise in measuring short-term testing-related health states. PMID:23689044

Implications of human value shift and persistence for biodiversity conservation.

PubMed

Manfredo, Michael J; Teel, Tara L; Dietsch, Alia M

2016-04-01

Large-scale change in human values and associated behavior change is believed by some to be the ultimate solution to achieve global biodiversity conservation. Yet little is known about the dynamics of values. We contribute to this area of inquiry by examining the trajectory of values affecting views of wildlife in North America. Using data from a 19-state study in the United States and global data from the Schwartz Value Survey, we explored questions of value persistence and change and the nature of attitudinal responses regarding wildlife conservation issues. We found support, based on subjects' ancestry, for the supposition that domination is a prevalent American value orientation toward wildlife that has origins in European Judeo-Christian traditions. Independent of that effect, we also found indications of change. Modernization is contributing to a shift from domination to mutualism value orientations, which is fostering attitudes less centered on human interests and seemingly more consistent with a biocentric philosophy. Our findings suggest that if value shift could be achieved in a purposeful way, then significant and widespread behavior change believed necessary for long-term conservation success may indeed be possible. In particular, greater emphasis on mutualism values may help provide the context for more collaborative approaches to support future conservation efforts. However, given the societal forces at play, it is not at all clear that human-engineered value shift is tenable. Instead of developing strategies aimed at altering values, it may be more productive to create strategies that recognize and work within the boundaries of existing values. Whereas values appear to be in a period of flux, it will be difficult to predict future trends without a better understanding of value formation and shift, particularly under conditions of rapid social-ecological change. © 2016 Society for Conservation Biology.

Personal Values and Attitudes towards Societal and Environmental Accountability: A Study of MBA Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bhattacharyya, Asit

2016-01-01

Efforts to promote corporate societal and environmental accountability (SEA) should be informed by an understanding of stakeholders' attitudes toward enhanced accountability standards. However, little is known regarding current attitudes on this subject or the determinants of these attitudes. To address this issue, this study examines the…

Awareness of Societal Issues among High School Biology Teachers Teaching Genetics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lazarowitz, Reuven; Bloch, Ilit

2005-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate how aware high school biology teachers are of societal issues (values, moral, ethic, and legal issues) while teaching genetics, genetics engineering, molecular genetics, human heredity, and evolution. The study includes a short historical review of World War II atrocities during the Holocaust when…

Societal costs of home and hospital end-of-life care for palliative care patients in Ontario, Canada.

PubMed

Yu, Mo; Guerriere, Denise N; Coyte, Peter C

2015-11-01

In Canada, health system restructuring has led to a greater focus on home-based palliative care as an alternative to institutionalised palliative care. However, little is known about the effect of this change on end-of-life care costs and the extent to which the financial burden of care has shifted from the acute care public sector to families. The purpose of this study was to assess the societal costs of end-of-life care associated with two places of death (hospital and home) using a prospective cohort design in a home-based palliative care programme. Societal cost includes all costs incurred during the course of palliative care irrespective of payer (e.g. health system, out-of-pocket, informal care-giving costs, etc.). Primary caregivers of terminal cancer patients were recruited from the Temmy Latner Centre for Palliative Care in Toronto, Canada. Demographic, service utilisation, care-giving time, health and functional status, and death data were collected by telephone interviews with primary caregivers over the course of patients' palliative trajectory. Logistic regression was conducted to model an individual's propensity for home death. Total societal costs of end-of-life care and component costs were compared between home and hospital death using propensity score stratification. Costs were presented in 2012 Canadian dollars ($1.00 CDN = $1.00 USD). The estimated total societal cost of end-of-life care was $34,197.73 per patient over the entire palliative trajectory (4 months on average). Results showed no significant difference (P > 0.05) in total societal costs between home and hospital death patients. Higher hospitalisation costs for hospital death patients were replaced by higher unpaid caregiver time and outpatient service costs for home death patients. Thus, from a societal cost perspective, alternative sites of death, while not associated with a significant change in total societal cost of end-of-life care, resulted in changes in the distribution of costs borne by different stakeholders. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Moral Values and Science Teaching: A Malaysian School Curriculum Initiative

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tan, Sok Khim

Implicit in teaching science has been the teaching of a set of values. However, its presence has remained unacknowledged because of assumptions made that its products are value-free and that work of science involves positive values. Malaysian schools have introduced a set of noble values to be taught as a subject called moral education while at the same time expecting all subjects, including the sciences to actively inculcate these noble values in their lessons. A search for values related to science included studies from science education curriculums, studies by scientists and philosophers of science, feminist and Indian critics of science. These values could be categorized into four categories representing epistemological values, supporting values, societal and moral values and power-oriented values. While some categories compliment each other, others are in contention. This paper argues for the inclusion of societal and moral values in the science classrooms. A compassionate scientist should be a reality. The task for Malaysian science educators is to find a way to raise awareness of these values.

Access. Challenge for Change/Societe Nouvelle Number Twelve.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Prinn, Elizabeth, Ed.; Henaut, Dorothy Todd, Ed.

This issue of Access, the journal issued periodically by Challenge for Change/Societe Nouvelle, contains two groups of articles. The first focuses upon the Skyriver Project, relating how a project was developed which used film and video tape as a means of helping Alaskan communities to assess their own needs and to advocate for themselves the…

Quantifying and Valuing Potential Climate Change Impacts on Coral Reefs in the United States

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wobus, C. W.; Lane, D.; Buddemeier, R. W.; Ready, R. C.; Shouse, K. C.; Martinich, J.

2012-12-01

Global climate change presents a two-pronged threat to coral reef ecosystems: increasing sea surface temperatures will increase the likelihood of episodic bleaching events, while increasing ocean carbon dioxide concentrations will change the carbonate chemistry that drives coral growth. Because coral reefs have important societal as well as ecological benefits, climate change mitigation policies that ameliorate these impacts may create substantial economic value. We present a model that evaluates both the ecological and the economic impacts of climate change on coral reefs in the United States. We use a coral reef mortality and bleaching model to project future coral reef declines under a range of climate change policy scenarios for south Florida, Puerto Rico and Hawaii. Using a benefits transfer approach, the outputs from the physical model are then used to quantify the economic impacts of these coral reef declines for each of these regions. We find that differing climate change trajectories create substantial changes in projected coral cover and value for Hawaii, but that the ecological and economic benefits of more stringent emissions scenarios are less clear for Florida and Puerto Rico. Overall, our results indicate that the effectiveness of climate change mitigation policies may be region-specific, but that these policies could result in a net increase of nearly $10 billion in economic value from coral reef-related recreational activities alone, over the 21st century.

Resilience of Socio-Hydrological Systems in Canadian Prairies to Agricultural Drainage: Policy Analysis and Modelling Approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wheater, H. S.; Xu, L.; Gober, P.; Pomeroy, J. W.; Wong, J.

2017-12-01

Extensive agricultural drainage of lakes and wetlands in the Canadian Prairies has led to benefits for agricultural production, but has had a substantial influence on hydrological regimes and wetland extent. There is need for the potential impacts of current policy in changing the socio-hydrological resilience of prairie wetland basins in response to agricultural drainage to be examined. Whilst wetland drainage can increase agricultural productivity, it can also reduce stocks of natural capital and decrease ecosystem services, such as pollutant retention, habitat for waterfowls, carbon sequestration, and downstream flood attenuation. Effective policies that balance drainage benefits and negative externalities have to consider pricing. This is explored here using the Cold Regions Hydrological Model for hydrological simulations and the Inclusive Wealth approach for modelling in support of cost-benefit analysis. Inclusive wealth aggregates the value of natural, human, and technological assets used to produce social welfare. A shadow price, defined as the marginal change in social value for a marginal change in the current stock quantity, is used to valuate assets that contribute to social welfare. The shadow price of each asset is estimated by taking into account the social and economic benefits and external losses of wetland services caused by wetland drainage. The coupled model was applied to the Smith Creek Research Basin in south-eastern Saskatchewan, Canada where wetland drainage has caused major alterations of the hydrological regime including increased peak flows, discharge volumes and duration of streamflow. Changes in depressional storage in wetlands was used to calculate the corresponding changes of inclusive wealth over a 30-year period under the impacts from the limitation proposed in the Agricultural Water Management Strategy of Saskatchewan. The adjusted societal values of drainage demonstrate the dynamics between changes in hydrological conditions of wetland basins and social welfare, which help to evaluate potential impacts of the current policy on the resilience and sustainability of socio-hydrological systems. The results also help determine effective goals for management to maximize the societal benefits of drainage and minimize its negative impacts on ecosystem functions.

Transforming EQ-5D utilities for use in cost–value analysis of health programs.

PubMed

Nord, Erik; Johansen, Rune

2015-04-01

In a number of jurisdictions there is increasing interest in incorporating concerns for fairness in models for economic evaluation of health interventions. Cost–value analysis is a name for evaluations with such a broader aim. The most widely held concern for fairness is a concern for the worse off, i.e. the idea that severity of illness should count in determining priorities. In economic evaluations of improvements in health-related quality of life this concern may be taken into account by replacing conventional health state utilities with societal values for health states that are characterised by strong upper end compression and decreasing marginal value of utility gains. We review evidence on the strength of concerns for the worse off--measured at the cardinal level--in 15 articles published in peer-reviewed journals in the time period 1978–2010, with reports from altogether 20 individual studies in nine different countries. We report 116 individual observations of paired comparisons of utility improvements with different start levels. Concerns for severity show up quite strongly across countries, sample types and question framings. By means of regression analyses we fit a societal value function to the data that has the property of decreasing marginal value of utility gains. Using the central tendency in the data we present two plausible transformations of EQ-5D utilities into societal values that reflect concerns for the worse off.

Are large-scale manipulations of streamflow for ecological outcomes effective either as experiments or management actions? (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Konrad, C. P.; Olden, J.

2013-12-01

Dams impose a host of impacts on freshwater and estuary ecosystems. In recent decades, dam releases for ecological outcomes have been increasingly implemented to mitigate for these impacts and are gaining global scope. Many are designed and conducted using an experimental framework. A recent review of large-scale flow experiments (FE) evaluates their effectiveness and identifies ways to enhance their scientific and management value. At least 113 large-scale flow experiments affecting 98 river systems globally have been documented over the last 50 years. These experiments span a range of flow manipulations from single pulse events to comprehensive changes in flow regime across all seasons and different water year types. Clear articulation of experimental objectives, while not universally practiced, was crucial for achieving management outcomes and changing dam operating policies. We found a strong disparity between the recognized ecological importance of a multi faceted flow regimes and discrete flow events that characterized 80% of FEs. Over three quarters of FEs documented both abiotic and biotic outcomes, but only one third examined multiple trophic groups, thus limiting how this information informs future dam management. Large-scale flow experiments represent a unique opportunity for integrated biophysical investigations for advancing ecosystem science. Nonetheless, they must remain responsive to site-specific issues regarding water management, evolving societal values and changing environmental conditions and, in particular, can characterize the incremental benefits from and necessary conditions for changing dam operations to improve ecological outcomes. This type of information is essential for understanding the full context of value based trade-offs in benefits and costs from different dam operations that can serve as an empirical basis for societal decisions regarding water and ecosystem management. FE may be the best approach available to managers for resolving critical uncertainties that impede decision making in adaptive settings, for example, when we lack sufficient understanding to model biophysical responses to alternative operations. Integrated long term monitoring of biotic abiotic responses and defining clear management based objectives highlight ways for improving the efficiency and value of FEs.

Economic Value of an Advanced Climate Observing System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wielicki, B. A.; Cooke, R.; Young, D. F.; Mlynczak, M. G.

2013-12-01

Scientific missions increasingly need to show the monetary value of knowledge advances in budget-constrained environments. For example, suppose a climate science mission promises to yield decisive information on the rate of human caused global warming within a shortened time frame. How much should society be willing to pay for this knowledge today? The US interagency memo on the social cost of carbon (SCC) creates a standard yardstick for valuing damages from carbon emissions. We illustrate how value of information (VOI) calculations can be used to monetize the relative value of different climate observations. We follow the SCC, setting uncertainty in climate sensitivity to a truncated Roe and Baker (2007) distribution, setting discount rates of 2.5%, 3% and 5%, and using one of the Integrated Assessment Models sanctioned in SCC (DICE, Nordhaus 2008). We consider three mitigation scenarios: Business as Usual (BAU), a moderate mitigation response DICE Optimal, and a strong response scenario (Stern). To illustrate results, suppose that we are on the BAU emissions scenario, and that we would switch to the Stern emissions path if we learn with 90% confidence that the decadal rate of temperature change reaches or exceeds 0.2 C/decade. Under the SCC assumptions, the year in which this happens, if it happens, depends on the uncertain climate sensitivity and on the emissions path. The year in which we become 90% certain that it happens depends, in addition, on our Earth observations, their accuracy, and their completeness. The basic concept is that more accurate observations can shorten the time for societal decisions. The economic value of the resulting averted damages depends on the discount rate, and the years in which the damages occur. A new climate observation would be economically justified if the net present value (NPV) of the difference in averted damages, relative to the existing systems, exceeds the NPV of the system costs. Our results (Cooke et al. 2013) compared the proposed CLARREO advance in satellite absolute calibration for climate change records to an existing system for detecting decadal temperature change using infrared spectra from weather satellites. New results extend this to observational detection of cloud feedback which is the largest uncertainty in determining climate sensitivity and therefore the uncertainty in economic impacts. New results also include the use of multiple societal decision triggers. While CLARREO is used as an example, the value should be considered as relevant to a complete high accuracy climate observing system, as societal decisions are unlikely to be based on one or a few observations. The VOI is found to depend on the required confidence level, the trigger value at which we would abandon the BAU emissions path, the path to which we switch, and the date at which the new system is launched. The VOI of advanced climate observations in this decision context is the surfeit of NPV of averted damages, relative to the existing system. Over all it is in the order of tens of trillions of US dollars in Net Present Value. The results conclude that the economic value of advanced climate observing systems is dramatically larger than their cost, and argues for the continual enhancement of the SCC assessment process.

Sociological Approaches to Issues on Teacher Burnout.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Margolin, Edythe

Sensations of burnout have a great deal to do with societal issues and the way that society defines the self concept of individuals. When people do not feel as societal values dictate, they often begin to sense disappointment in themselves, their life styles, and what they are receiving from people around them in the form of approval, praise, or…

Communique Declaration: The New Dynamics of Higher Education and Research for Societal Change and Development (2nd UNESCO Higher Education Assembly July, 2009)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Adult Learning, 2012

2012-01-01

This article presents the communique declaration on the new dynamics of higher education and research for societal change and development. This declaration begins with a preamble and focuses on (1) social responsibility of higher education; (2) access, equity and quality; (3) internationalisation, regionalisation and globalisation; (4) learning…

Perceptions of the News Media's Societal Roles: How the Views of U.K. Journalism Students Changed during Their Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hanna, Mark; Sanders, Karen

2012-01-01

A longitudinal study of U.K. journalism undergraduates records how their attitudes on societal roles of the news media changed during university education. Students became more likely to endorse an adversarial approach toward public officials and businesses as extremely important. Yet students did not support these roles as strongly as an older…

Social Change, Competition and Inequality: Macro Societal Patterns Reflected in Curriculum Practices of Turkish Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Somel, Rahsan Nazli; Nohl, Arnd-Michael

2015-01-01

Curriculum reforms provide a unique opportunity to investigate how in times of social change education is not only influenced by, but also itself a driver of, competition and inequality. This article sheds light on a specific instance of how macro-societal patterns in education intermingle in twenty-first century Turkey by inquiring into a major…

Is "end of life" a special case? Connecting Q with survey methods to measure societal support for views on the value of life-extending treatments.

PubMed

Mason, Helen; Collins, Marissa; McHugh, Neil; Godwin, Jon; Van Exel, Job; Donaldson, Cam; Baker, Rachel

2018-05-01

Preference elicitation studies reporting societal views on the relative value of end-of-life treatments have produced equivocal results. This paper presents an alternative method, combining Q methodology and survey techniques (Q2S) to determine the distribution of 3 viewpoints on the relative value of end-of-life treatments identified in a previous, published, phase of this work. These were Viewpoint 1, "A population perspective: value for money, no special cases"; Viewpoint 2, "Life is precious: valuing life-extension and patient choice"; and Viewpoint 3, "Valuing wider benefits and opportunity cost: the quality of life and death." A Q2S survey of 4,902 respondents across the United Kingdom measured agreement with these viewpoints; 37% most agreed with Viewpoint 1, 49% with Viewpoint 2, and 9% with Viewpoint 3. Regression analysis showed associations of viewpoints with gender, level of education, religion, voting preferences, and satisfaction with the NHS. The Q2S approach provides a promising means to investigate how in-depth views and opinions are represented in the wider population. As demonstrated in this study, there is often more than 1 viewpoint on a topic and methods that seek to estimate that averages may not provide the best guidance for societal decision-making. © 2018 The Authors. Health Economics Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Developing an Arctic Observing Network: Looking Beyond Scientific Research as a Driver to Broader Societal Benefits as Drivers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jeffries, M. O.

2017-12-01

This presentation will address the first ever application of the Societal Benefit Areas approach to continuing efforts to develop an integrated pan-Arctic Observing Network. The scientific research community has been calling for an Arctic Observing Network since the early years of this century, at least. There is no question of the importance of research-driven observations at a time when rapid changes occurring throughout the Arctic environmental system are affecting people and communities in the Arctic and in regions far from the Arctic. Observations are need for continued environmental monitoring and change detection; improving understanding of how the system and its components function, and how they are connected to lower latitude regions; advancing numerical modeling capabilities for forecasting and projection; and developing value-added products and services for people and communities, and for decision- and policymaking. Scientific research is, without question, a benefit to society, but the benefits of Earth observations extend beyond scientific research. Societal Benefit Areas (SBAs) were first described by the international Group on Earth Observations (GEO) and have since been used by USGEO as the basis for its National Earth Observation Assessments. The most recent application of SBAs to Earth observing realized a framework of SBAs, SBA Sub-areas, and Key Objectives required for the completion of a full Earth observing assessment for the Arctic. This framework, described in a report released in June 2017, and a brief history of international efforts to develop an integrated pan-Arctic Observing Network, are the subjects of this presentation.

Education, Social Embeddedness, and the Integration of the Turkish Community in Germany: An Analysis of Homeland Identity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Verdugo, Richard R.; Mueller, Claus

2009-01-01

Education serves many valuable social functions. Among these functions are the development of skills among students that can be used later in the labor market, the passing of societal history and culture from one generation to the next, and the inculcation of important societal norms and values so students have the opportunity of becoming…

Recovery of transplantable organs after cardiac or circulatory death: Transforming the paradigm for the ethics of organ donation

PubMed Central

Verheijde, Joseph L; Rady, Mohamed Y; McGregor, Joan

2007-01-01

Organ donation after cardiac or circulatory death (DCD) has been introduced to increase the supply of transplantable organs. In this paper, we argue that the recovery of viable organs useful for transplantation in DCD is not compatible with the dead donor rule and we explain the consequential ethical and legal ramifications. We also outline serious deficiencies in the current consent process for DCD with respect to disclosure of necessary elements for voluntary informed decision making and respect for the donor's autonomy. We compare two alternative proposals for increasing organ donation consent in society: presumed consent and mandated choice. We conclude that proceeding with the recovery of transplantable organs from decedents requires a paradigm change in the ethics of organ donation. The paradigm change to ensure the legitimacy of DCD practice must include: (1) societal agreement on abandonment of the dead donor rule, (2) legislative revisions reflecting abandonment of the dead donor rule, and (3) requirement of mandated choice to facilitate individual participation in organ donation and to ensure that decisions to participate are made in compliance with the societal values of respect for autonomy and self-determination. PMID:17519030

“Working to shape what society's expectations of us should be”: Philip Morris' societal alignment strategy

PubMed Central

Yang, J S; Malone, R E

2009-01-01

Background A key element of Philip Morris's (PM's) corporate social responsibility initiatives is “societal alignment”, defined as “strategies and programs to meet society's expectations of a responsible tobacco company”. This study explored the genesis and implementation of Philip Morris' (PM) societal alignment efforts. Methods The study retrieved and analysed approximately 375 previously undisclosed PM documents now available electronically. Using an iterative process, the study categorised themes and prepared a case analysis. Results Beginning in 1999, PM sought to become “societally aligned” by identifying expectations of a responsible tobacco company through public opinion research and developing and publicising programs to meet those expectations. Societal alignment was undertaken within the US and globally to ensure an environment favourable to PM's business objectives. Despite PM's claims to be “changing”, however, societal alignment in practice was highly selective. PM responded to public “expectations” largely by retooling existing positions and programs, while entirely ignoring other expectations that might have interfered with its business goals. It also appears that convincing employees of the value and authenticity of societal alignment was difficult. Conclusions As implementation of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control proceeds, tobacco control advocates should closely monitor development of such “alignment” initiatives and expose the motivations and contradictions they reveal. PMID:18845623

Breast Cancer Estrogen Receptor Status According to Biological Generation: US Black and White Women Born 1915-1979.

PubMed

Krieger, Nancy; Jahn, Jaquelyn L; Waterman, Pamela D; Chen, Jarvis T

2018-05-01

Evidence suggests that contemporary population distributions of estrogen-receptor (ER) status among breast cancer patients may be shaped by earlier major societal events, such as the 1965 abolition of legal racial discrimination in the United States (state and local "Jim Crow" laws) and the Great Famine in China (1959-1961). We analyzed changes in ER status in relation to Jim Crow birthplace among the 46,417 black and 339,830 white US-born, non-Hispanic women in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) 13 Registry Group who were born between 1915 and 1979 and diagnosed (ages 25-84 years, inclusive) during 1992-2012. We grouped the cases according to birth cohort and quantified the rate of change using the haldane (which scales change in relation to biological generation). The percentage of ER-positive cases rose according to birth cohort (1915-1919 to 1975-1979) only among women diagnosed before age 55. Changes according to biological generation were greater among black women than among white women, and among black women, they were greatest among those born in Jim Crow (versus non-Jim Crow) states, with this group being the only group to exhibit high haldane values (>|0.3|, indicating high rate of change). Our study's analytical approach and findings underscore the need to consider history and societal context when analyzing ER status among breast cancer patients and racial/ethnic inequities in its distribution.

Challenges in measuring and valuing productivity costs, and their relevance in mood disorders

PubMed Central

Lensberg, Benedikte R; Drummond, Michael F; Danchenko, Natalya; Despiégel, Nicolas; François, Clément

2013-01-01

Lost productivity is often excluded from economic evaluations, which may lead to an underestimation of the societal benefits of treatment. However, there are multiple challenges in reliably estimating and reporting productivity losses. This article explores the main challenges, ie, selecting an appropriate valuation method (ie, human capital, friction cost, or multiplier), avoiding double counting, and accounting for equity. It also discusses the use of presenteeism instruments and their application in clinical trials, with a specific focus on their relevance in individuals with mood disorders. Further research and discussion is required on the development of reliable techniques for measuring and valuing productivity changes due to presenteeism. PMID:24273412

Changes in Student Knowledge and Views of Geohazards, Societal Risks, and Monitoring at Active Plate Boundaries Using a Data-Rich Curriculum

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Selkin, P. A.; Goodell, L. P.; Teasdale, R.

2015-12-01

The "Living on the Edge: Building Resilient Societies on Active Plate Margins" curriculum consists of six data-rich activities, each intended for a 50-minute class, in which students assess risk at active plate boundaries due to earthquakes and volcanoes. Developed as part of the InTeGrate NSF STEP Center the peer-reviewed, publically available materials (http://serc.carleton.edu/104296) have been used at several institutions in diverse classroom settings including small laboratory sections, large lecture courses, medium-sized upper division courses and professional development programs for middle and high school teachers. Pre- and post-instruction surveys measured content knowledge and geoscience literacy, self-efficacy in using geologic data to assess hazards and risk, and attitudes towards the value of monitoring plate margins. The activities have overall positive effects on knowledge of geohazard concepts. Views about the value of scientific practice also became more positive: 74% of students indicated they "agree" or "strongly agree" that monitoring geologic activity has value to them personally (even if they don't live on an active plate margin) and 94% indicated that such monitoring is valuable to society. Most became more confident in evaluating geologic hazard and risk (>60% of students self-described increased confidence by one or more Likert levels). Student knowledge of both the types and limits of data in forecasting geological hazards and their effects also improved. However, attitudes toward sustainability and geoscience careers did not change. Learning and attitudinal improvements are true for all classroom types, but the degree of change varies with class size and the amount of time spent on activities. Learning data and instructor feedback suggest that interactive classroom activities that use real-world data to address societally relevant issues increase student learning and enhance students' ability to synthesize scientific information.

The role of adult education and learning policy in fostering societal sustainability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Milana, Marcella; Rasmussen, Palle; Holford, John

2016-10-01

The idea of "sustainability" as a core value has slowly permeated policy and practice at governmental and institutional levels, in public and private policy. However, at times when social and economic crises have revealed the fragility of existing institutions and policies, it is important to consider how sustainability is - and could be - integrated into educational policies. In this theoretical contribution to a special issue on "Societal sustainability", the authors draw on available literature and knowledge. They begin their paper by summarising the conditions under which the concept of "sustainability" entered political discourse in the early 1970s and outline how it has influenced educational research. They then introduce the longstanding debate about the relative role of tradition (in terms of traditional cultural and social order) and change (in terms of efforts to provide learning opportunities for everyone) in adult education. Finally, they argue for a rethinking of the ontology of sustainability: this, they suggest, can shed new light on its relationships with adult education and learning and social justice.

Water Diplomacy: A Synthesis of Explicit and Tacit Water Information to Create Actionable Knowledge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Islam, S.; Moomaw, W.; Portney, K.; Reed, M.; Vogel, R. M.; Water Diplomacy

2011-12-01

Water issues are complex because they cross multiple boundaries and involve various stakeholders with competing needs. The origin of many water issues is a dynamic consequence of competition and feedback among variables in the natural, societal and political domains. Together, these interactions generate what we call water networks. As population growth, economic development and climate change impose pressures on finite water resources, management of these water networks becomes crucial. Science alone is not sufficient; nor can policy-making that does not take science into account yield sustainable management solutions. Rather, sustainable solutions may only be found through a diplomatic or negotiated approach that simultaneously takes science, policy, and politics into account. Water issues need to be understood as the product of competition, interconnection, and feedback among variables in the Natural and Societal Domains (NSDs). Within the natural domain: water quantity (Q), water quality (P), and ecosystem (E) constrain and define network dynamics. While in the societal domain, interactions among culture and values (V), assets (C), and governance and institutions (G) create complex contextual differences in the network. These six NSD variables constitute the nodes of a water network while interactions and feedback among natural, societal and political forces define the complexity of a network. The knowledge needed to resolve water conflicts and to manage water networks effectively must extend beyond scientific assessment that ignore societal variables (C, G, and V) or treat them as exogenous, and beyond policy analysis that does not consider the impact of natural variables (E, P, and Q) and the couplings among them. Many water conflicts arise when NSD variables, and the networks they define, are mismanaged. These networks are open-ended systems that cross boundaries (physical, disciplinary, and jurisdictional ) and change continuously; thus, efforts to manage them assuming that they have fixed boundaries , or can be optimized with scientific objectivity without properly accounting for contextual differences, are likely to fail. Once water conflicts are framed properly, the tools of joint fact-finding and collaborative problem-solving can be used to negotiate solutions that are both adaptive and enforceable. We will use AquaPedia - a growing knowledge base of water issues from across the world - to demonstrate the utility of this synthesis of explicit and tacit knowledge in addressing water problems and creating actionable knowledge.

ECOSYSTEM SERVICES IN THE MID-ATLANTIC UNITED STATES

EPA Science Inventory

Ecological resources have both extrinsic and intrinsic values. These range from the direct economic values

derived from resource harvests, to inherently ecological characteristics that are necessary for ecosystem

functioning, and finally to societal value that human...

Societal Influences on Health and Life-styles

PubMed Central

Ulmer, David D.

1984-01-01

Strong sociocultural forces affect individual attitudes toward health and choice of life-style. Economic deprivation fosters negative health behaviors. Positive health habits are reinforced by discrete societal groups. The news media, particularly television, disseminate much useful health information, though the overall educational value is diminished by the content of commercial messages and programming. The automobile is a major societal influence, but neither individual drivers nor the car manufacturers give enough priority to highway safety, leaving that role to governmental regulation. American industry is becoming a positive influence in the encouragement of good health habits, and fashion is lately an important ally in personal health maintenance. PMID:6523860

[Policy decisions from a societal perspective: local or national evaluation of health related quality of life not necessary].

PubMed

Buskens, E

2005-07-09

Research among a sample of the Dutch population has shown that different relative values are assigned to some of the five sub-domains of the 'Euro-Quality of life, five dimensions' (EQ-5D) questionnaire when compared to the current English values. These findings might be interpreted as proof that the resulting 'tariffs' should also differ across countries. Conversely, one could argue that the current Oxford tariffs are simply inadequate. Clearly, decisions for individual patients should be based on the individual's preferences. However, policy decisions taken from a societal perspective should be based on a global value system. It would seem that a single Western European tariff would be preferable to a whole range of national tariffs.

Cost-value analysis of health interventions: introduction and update on methods and preference data.

PubMed

Nord, Erik

2015-02-01

According to the consensus statement from the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research Quality-Adjusted Life-Year (QALY) workshop in Philadelphia in 2007 "concerns for fairness may cause social resource allocation preferences to deviate considerably from the ranking that consideration of costs per QALY would suggest." Salient concerns for fairness include the view that priority should be given to the severely ill over the less severely ill, that people have a right to realize their potential for health even if their capacity to benefit from treatment is moderate, and that everybody has the same right to treatment that averts premature death, even if their health and functional level is less than perfect. Cost-value analysis incorporates these concerns in formal economic evaluation of health interventions and programs and thus has a potential for ranking interventions and programs in a way that is more consistent with societal values. Data on the strength of public concerns for fairness are now sufficient to be useful in formal economic evaluation. The data may, within a context of fair and open deliberations, help societal decision makers to roughly indicate the societal value of a QALY in different circumstances and thus determine a tentative grading of willingness to pay for a QALY.

The social cost of methane: theory and applications.

PubMed

Shindell, D T; Fuglestvedt, J S; Collins, W J

2017-08-24

Methane emissions contribute to global warming, damage public health and reduce the yield of agricultural and forest ecosystems. Quantifying these damages to the planetary commons by calculating the social cost of methane (SCM) facilitates more comprehensive cost-benefit analyses of methane emissions control measures and is the first step to potentially incorporating them into the marketplace. Use of a broad measure of social welfare is also an attractive alternative or supplement to emission metrics focused on a temperature target in a given year as it incentivizes action to provide benefits over a broader range of impacts and timescales. Calculating the SCM using consistent temporal treatment of physical and economic processes and incorporating climate- and air quality-related impacts, we find large SCM values, e.g. ∼$2400 per ton and ∼$3600 per ton with 5% and 3% discount rates respectively. These values are ∼100 and 50 times greater than corresponding social costs for carbon dioxide. Our results suggest that ∼110 of 140 Mt of identified methane abatement via scaling up existing technology and policy options provide societal benefits that outweigh implementation costs. Within the energy sector, renewables compare far better against use of natural gas in electricity generation when incorporating these social costs for methane. In the agricultural sector, changes in livestock management practices, promoting healthy diets including reduced beef and dairy consumption, and reductions in food waste have been promoted as ways to mitigate emissions, and these are shown here to indeed have the potential to provide large societal benefits (∼$50-150 billion per year). Examining recent trends in methane and carbon dioxide, we find that increases in methane emissions may have offset much of the societal benefits from a slowdown in the growth rate of carbon dioxide emissions. The results indicate that efforts to reduce methane emissions via policies spanning a wide range of technical, regulatory and behavioural options provide benefits at little or negative net cost. Recognition of the full SCM, which has typically been undervalued, may help catalyze actions to reduce emissions and thereby provide a broad set of societal benefits.

An overview of wetlands of Saudi Arabia: Values, threats, and perspectives.

PubMed

Al-Obaid, Sami; Samraoui, Boudjéma; Thomas, Jacob; El-Serehy, Hamed A; Alfarhan, Ahmed H; Schneider, Wolfgang; O'Connell, Mark

2017-02-01

The wetlands of Saudi Arabia are located in a water-stressed region that is highly vulnerable to climate and other global changes. Sebkhas, mudflats, mangroves, and wadis are the dominant wetlands in the arid regions of North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. These unique wetlands are recognized as a sanctuary for biodiversity and for their economic services generated from mineral extraction, agriculture, and grazing. Despite their ecological values and societal services, the long-term permanence of Saudi Arabia's wetlands faces strong challenges resulting from human activities associated with sustained population growth, habitat degradation, and coastal development. This paper consolidates a literature review of Saudi Arabia's wetlands from local to global importance, highlights their biodiversity, and identifies threats and evolution of these vulnerable ecosystems in the arid Arabian Peninsula by focusing on the status of key freshwater taxa (Odonata, freshwater fishes, amphibians, and waterbirds) and documenting changes affecting important wetlands.

Inland and coastal waters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mouw, Colleen; Greb, Steven

2012-09-01

Workshop for Remote Sensing of Coastal and Inland Waters;Madison, Wisconsin, 20-22 June 2012 Coastal and inland water bodies, which have great value for recreation, food supply, commerce, transportation, and human health, have been experiencing external pressure from direct human activities and climate change. Given their societal and economic value, understanding issues of water quality, water quantity, and the impact of environmental change on the ecological and biogeochemical functioning of these water bodies is of interest to a broad range of communities. Remote sensing offers one of the most spatially and temporally comprehensive tools for observing these waters. While there has been some success with remotely observing these water bodies, many challenges still remain, including algorithm performance, atmospheric correction, the relationships between optical properties and biogeochemical parameters, sufficient spatial and spectral resolution, and a lack of uncertainty estimates over the wide range of environmental conditions encountered across these coastal and inland water bodies.

Consumption value theory and the marketing of public health: an effective formative research tool.

PubMed

Nelson, Douglas G; Byus, Kent

2002-01-01

Contemporary public health requires the support and participation of its constituency. This study assesses the capacity of consumption value theory to identify the basis of this support. A telephone survey design used simple random sampling of adult residents of Cherokee County, Oklahoma. Factor analysis and stepwise discriminant analysis was used to identify and classify personal and societal level support variables. Most residents base societal level support on epistemic values. Direct services clientele base their support on positive emotional values derived from personal contact and attractive programs. Residents are curious about public health and want to know more about the health department. Where marketing the effectiveness of public health programs would yield relatively little support, marketing health promotion activities may attract public opposition. This formative research tool suggests a marketing strategy for public health practitioners.

Teaching for Social Values in Social Studies.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dunfee, Maxine; Crump, Claudia

A guide for teaching values in social studies takes a positive stand with regard to the importance of values education in the elementary school based on the belief that many personal and societal problems are the results of unresolved value conflicts. It is hypothesized that children who have continuing experiences in value identification,…

Societal interventions to prevent child abuse and neglect.

PubMed

Hay, T; Jones, L

1994-01-01

A framework for understanding child maltreatment in terms of complex and interacting factors from the individual to the societal level can aid in conceptualizing and implementing prevention efforts. Research on interventions at the societal level can guide a broad range of activities, increasing their effectiveness and viability. Fundamental approaches include evaluation of specific interventions and systems-level research on implementation and development of best practice in prevention activities for different portions of society. Research can indicate the roles that each individual, agency, organization, community, and level of government can play. The U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child provides a useful framework for societal level change to improve the welfare of children and families.

Continent of pessimism or continent of realism? A multilevel study into the impact of macro-economic outcomes and political institutions on societal pessimism, European Union 2006-2012.

PubMed

Steenvoorden, Eefje H; van der Meer, Tom Wg

2017-06-01

The often-posed claim that Europe is a pessimistic continent is not unjustified. In 2012, 53 percent of European Union (EU) citizens were pessimistic about their country. Surprisingly, however, societal pessimism has received very little scientific attention. In this article, we examine to what extent political and economic factors drive societal pessimism. In terms of political factors, we expect that supranationalization, political instability, and corruption increase societal pessimism, as they diminish national political power and can inspire collective powerlessness. Economically, we expect that the retrenchment of welfare state provisions and economic decline drive societal pessimism, as these developments contribute to socioeconomic vulnerability. We assess the impact of these political and economic factors on the level of societal pessimism in the EU, both cross-nationally and over time, through multilevel analyses of Eurobarometer data (13 waves between 2006 and 2012 in 23 EU countries). Our findings show that the political factors (changes in government, corruption) primarily explain cross-national differences in societal pessimism, while the macro-economic context (economic growth, unemployment) primarily explains longitudinal trends within countries. These findings demonstrate that, to a large extent, societal pessimism cannot be viewed separately from its political and economic context.

Continent of pessimism or continent of realism? A multilevel study into the impact of macro-economic outcomes and political institutions on societal pessimism, European Union 2006–2012

PubMed Central

Steenvoorden, Eefje H; van der Meer, Tom WG

2017-01-01

The often-posed claim that Europe is a pessimistic continent is not unjustified. In 2012, 53 percent of European Union (EU) citizens were pessimistic about their country. Surprisingly, however, societal pessimism has received very little scientific attention. In this article, we examine to what extent political and economic factors drive societal pessimism. In terms of political factors, we expect that supranationalization, political instability, and corruption increase societal pessimism, as they diminish national political power and can inspire collective powerlessness. Economically, we expect that the retrenchment of welfare state provisions and economic decline drive societal pessimism, as these developments contribute to socioeconomic vulnerability. We assess the impact of these political and economic factors on the level of societal pessimism in the EU, both cross-nationally and over time, through multilevel analyses of Eurobarometer data (13 waves between 2006 and 2012 in 23 EU countries). Our findings show that the political factors (changes in government, corruption) primarily explain cross-national differences in societal pessimism, while the macro-economic context (economic growth, unemployment) primarily explains longitudinal trends within countries. These findings demonstrate that, to a large extent, societal pessimism cannot be viewed separately from its political and economic context. PMID:28690338

Teachers' Views on Values Education: A Qualitative Study in Sweden and Turkey

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thornberg, Robert; Og uz, Ebru

2013-01-01

The aim of the current study was to examine Swedish and Turkish teachers' perspectives on values education. Qualitative interviews with 52 teachers were conducted and analyzed. Values education was mostly about compliance with societal values and norms. The learning goals or values in values education were mainly on how to treat others and on…

Societal individualism-collectivism and uncertainty avoidance as cultural moderators of relationships between job resources and strain.

PubMed

Jang, Seulki; Shen, Winny; Allen, Tammy D; Zhang, Haiyan

2018-05-01

The job demands-resources model is a dominant theoretical framework that describes the influence of job demands and job resources on employee strain. Recent research has highlighted that the effects of job demands on strain vary across cultures, but similar work has not explored whether this is true for job resources. Given that societal characteristics can influence individuals' cognitive structures and, to a lesser extent, values in a culture, we address this gap in the literature and argue that individuals' strain in reaction to job resources may differ across cultures. Specifically, we theorize that the societal cultural dimensions of individualism-collectivism and uncertainty avoidance shape individual-level job resource-strain relationships, as they dictate which types of resources (i.e., individual vs. group preference-oriented and uncertainty-reducing vs. not) are more likely to be valued, used, or effective in combating strain within a culture. Results revealed that societal individualism-collectivism and uncertainty avoidance independently moderated the relationships between certain job resources (i.e., job control, participation in decision making, and clear goals and performance feedback) and strain (i.e., job satisfaction and turnover intentions). This study expands our understanding of the cross-cultural specificity versus generalizability of the job demands-resources model.

Societal individualism–collectivism and uncertainty avoidance as cultural moderators of relationships between job resources and strain

PubMed Central

Shen, Winny; Allen, Tammy D.; Zhang, Haiyan

2017-01-01

Summary The job demands–resources model is a dominant theoretical framework that describes the influence of job demands and job resources on employee strain. Recent research has highlighted that the effects of job demands on strain vary across cultures, but similar work has not explored whether this is true for job resources. Given that societal characteristics can influence individuals' cognitive structures and, to a lesser extent, values in a culture, we address this gap in the literature and argue that individuals' strain in reaction to job resources may differ across cultures. Specifically, we theorize that the societal cultural dimensions of individualism–collectivism and uncertainty avoidance shape individual‐level job resource–strain relationships, as they dictate which types of resources (i.e., individual vs. group preference‐oriented and uncertainty‐reducing vs. not) are more likely to be valued, used, or effective in combating strain within a culture. Results revealed that societal individualism–collectivism and uncertainty avoidance independently moderated the relationships between certain job resources (i.e., job control, participation in decision making, and clear goals and performance feedback) and strain (i.e., job satisfaction and turnover intentions). This study expands our understanding of the cross‐cultural specificity versus generalizability of the job demands–resources model. PMID:29780207

A choice mind-set increases the acceptance and maintenance of wealth inequality.

PubMed

Savani, Krishna; Rattan, Aneeta

2012-07-01

Wealth inequality has significant psychological, physiological, societal, and economic costs. In six experiments, we investigated how seemingly innocuous, culturally pervasive ideas can help maintain and further wealth inequality. Specifically, we tested whether the concept of choice, which is deeply valued in American society, leads Americans to act in ways that perpetuate wealth inequality. Thinking in terms of choice, we argue, activates the belief that life outcomes stem from personal agency, not societal factors, and thereby leads people to justify wealth inequality. The results showed that highlighting the concept of choice makes people less disturbed by facts about existing wealth inequality in the United States, more likely to underestimate the role of societal factors in individuals' successes, less likely to support the redistribution of educational resources, and less likely to support raising taxes on the rich-even if doing so would help resolve a budget deficit crisis. These findings indicate that the culturally valued concept of choice contributes to the maintenance of wealth inequality.

The use of disease-specific outcome measures in cost-utility analysis: the development of Dutch societal preference weights for the FACT-L scale.

PubMed

Lamers, Leida M; Uyl-de Groot, Carin A; Buijt, Ivonne

2007-01-01

The Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Lung (FACT-L) is a validated, sensitive and reliable patient questionnaire that evaluates and quantifies quality of life (QOL) across several domains, including lung cancer-related symptoms. The FACT-L was not designed for use in economic evaluation and does not incorporate preferences into its scoring system. To derive a set of Dutch preference weights for FACT-L health states that can be used to convert FACT-L into a single value that can be used in cost-utility analyses. A representative sample of the Dutch population (n = 1076) directly valued an orthogonal set of eight FACT-L health states on a 100-point rating scale with the anchor points 'worst imaginable health state' and 'best imaginable health state'. Eleven FACT-L items were selected to describe the FACT-L health states that were directly valued. Regression analysis was used to interpolate values for all other possible health states. Scores were transformed into values on a scale where 0 indicated dead and 1 indicated full health. The estimated values for FACT-L health states ranged from 0.08 to 0.93. The estimated value sets were applied to FACT-L data of lung cancer patients participating in a clinical study. Significant differences in the mean value and mean gain of 0.12 and 0.07, respectively, were found between patients in remission and patients with progressive disease at 4 weeks' follow-up. Our results reaffirmed that the methodology used here is a feasible option to convert data collected with a disease-specific outcome measure into preferences. We concluded that the sensitivity of the derived set of societal preferences to capture differences and changes in clinical health states is an indication of its construct validity.

The Value of Nursing Care: A Concept Analysis.

PubMed

Dick, Tracey K; Patrician, Patricia A; Loan, Lori A

2017-10-01

To report an analysis of the concept of value of nursing care. Value-based health care delivery and reimbursement models are focused on value as a product of quality and cost. Nursing care provides tangible and intangible contributions to patient and organizational outcomes. The nursing profession must be able to proactively and effectively communicate the value of nursing care. Concept analysis. Thirty-five separate sources were chosen from database searches of CINAHL Complete and ABI/INFORM Complete. Key terms utilized for the search were "nursing value" OR "nursing care value" OR "value of nursing". Caron and Bowers' (2000) dimensional analysis method was used as a guide for the project. Dimensions identified from this concept analysis included: (a) economic, (b) relational, and (c) societal. Direct care nurses experience the relational and societal dimensions of the value of nursing care. Patients and/or families experience the relational dimension of value in nursing care. Health care administrators, third-party payers, and nurse researchers interpret value from the economic dimension. Future nursing research should better quantify the economic value of nursing care. Qualitative research which focuses on how patients and families experience the value of nursing care would also contribute to further refinement of this concept. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Enhancing prescription drug innovation and adoption.

PubMed

Alexander, G Caleb; O'Connor, Alec B; Stafford, Randall S

2011-06-21

The adoption and use of a new drug would ideally be guided by its innovation and cost-effectiveness. However, information about the relative efficacy and safety of a drug is typically incomplete even well after market entry, and various other forces create a marketplace in which most new drugs are little better than their older counterparts. Five proposed mechanisms are considered for promoting innovation and reducing the use of therapies ultimately found to offer poor value or have unacceptable risks. These changes range from increasing the evidence required for U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval to modifying the structure of drug reimbursement. Despite the challenges of policy implementation, the United States has a long history of successfully improving the societal value and safe use of prescription medicines.

Invited review: Sustainability of the US dairy industry.

PubMed

von Keyserlingk, M A G; Martin, N P; Kebreab, E; Knowlton, K F; Grant, R J; Stephenson, M; Sniffen, C J; Harner, J P; Wright, A D; Smith, S I

2013-09-01

The US dairy industry has realized tremendous improvements in efficiencies and milk production since the 1940s. During this time, farm and total cow numbers have decreased and average herd size has increased. This intensification, combined with the shift to a largely urban public, has resulted in increased scrutiny of the dairy industry by social and environmental movements and increased concern regarding the dairy industry's sustainability. In response to these concerns, a group of scientists specializing in animal welfare, nutrient management, greenhouse gas emissions, animal science, agronomy, agricultural engineering, microbiology, and economics undertook a critical review of the US dairy industry. Although the US dairy system was identified as having significant strengths, the consensus was that the current structure of the industry lacks the resilience to adapt to changing social and environmental landscapes. We identified several factors affecting the sustainability of the US dairy industry, including climate change, rapid scientific and technological innovation, globalization, integration of societal values, and multidisciplinary research initiatives. Specific challenges include the westward migration of milk production in the United States (which is at odds with projected reductions in precipitation and associated limitations in water availability for cattle and crops), and the growing divide between industry practices and public perceptions, resulting in less public trust. Addressing these issues will require improved alignment between industry practices and societal values, based upon leadership from within the industry and sustained engagement with other interested participants, including researchers, consumers, and the general public. Copyright © 2013 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Research Challenges And Opportunities To Enhance Ecological Functions In Forested Wetlands

Treesearch

John A. Stanturf; J. Steven Meadows

1994-01-01

Protecting wetland values and functions are important goals for forest managers. Value and function are easy terms to confuse, but they are not interchangeable. Societal values are directly and indirectly associated with ecological functions. For example, forested wetlands may suppress flooding downstream, which is a value. Floodplain forests store water, impede...

The Societal and Economic Value of Rotator Cuff Repair

PubMed Central

Mather, Richard C.; Koenig, Lane; Acevedo, Daniel; Dall, Timothy M.; Gallo, Paul; Romeo, Anthony; Tongue, John; Williams, Gerald

2013-01-01

Background: Although rotator cuff disease is a common musculoskeletal problem in the United States, the impact of this condition on earnings, missed workdays, and disability payments is largely unknown. This study examines the value of surgical treatment for full-thickness rotator cuff tears from a societal perspective. Methods: A Markov decision model was constructed to estimate lifetime direct and indirect costs associated with surgical and continued nonoperative treatment for symptomatic full-thickness rotator cuff tears. All patients were assumed to have been unresponsive to one six-week trial of nonoperative treatment prior to entering the model. Model assumptions were obtained from the literature and data analysis. We obtained estimates of indirect costs using national survey data and patient-reported outcomes. Four indirect costs were modeled: probability of employment, household income, missed workdays, and disability payments. Direct cost estimates were based on average Medicare reimbursements with adjustments to an all-payer population. Effectiveness was expressed in quality-adjusted life years (QALYs). Results: The age-weighted mean total societal savings from rotator cuff repair compared with nonoperative treatment was $13,771 over a patient’s lifetime. Savings ranged from $77,662 for patients who are thirty to thirty-nine years old to a net cost to society of $11,997 for those who are seventy to seventy-nine years old. In addition, surgical treatment results in an average improvement of 0.62 QALY. Societal savings were highly sensitive to age, with savings being positive at the age of sixty-one years and younger. The estimated lifetime societal savings of the approximately 250,000 rotator cuff repairs performed in the U.S. each year was $3.44 billion. Conclusions: Rotator cuff repair for full-thickness tears produces net societal cost savings for patients under the age of sixty-one years and greater QALYs for all patients. Rotator cuff repair is cost-effective for all populations. The results of this study should not be interpreted as suggesting that all rotator cuff tears require surgery. Rather, the results show that rotator cuff repair has an important role in minimizing the societal burden of rotator cuff disease. PMID:24257656

Northern Eurasia Future Initiative: Facing the Challenges of Global Change in the 21st century

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Groisman, P. Y.; Gulev, S.; Maksyutov, S. S.; Qi, J.

2015-12-01

During the past 10 years, the Northern Eurasia Earth Science Partnership Initiative (NEESPI) - an interdisciplinary program of internationally-supported Earth systems and science research - has addressed large-scale and long-term manifestations of climate and environmental changes over Northern Eurasia and their impact on the Global Earth system. With more than 1480 peer-reviewed journal publications and 40 books to its credit, NEESPI's activities resulted in significant scientific outreach. This created a new research realm through self-organization of NEESPI scientists in a broad research network, accumulation of knowledge while developing new tools (observations, models, and collaborative networks) and producing new, exciting results that can be applied to directly support decision-making for societal needs. This realm was summed up at the Synthesis NEESPI Workshop in Prague, Czech Republic (April 9-12, 2015) where it was decided to shift gradually the foci of regional studies in Northern Eurasia towards applications with the following major Science Question: " What dynamic and interactive change(s) will affect societal well-being, activities, and health, and what might be the mitigation and adaptation strategies that could support sustainable development and decision-making activities in Northern Eurasia?". To answer this question requires a stronger socio-economic component in the ongoing and future regional studies focused on sustainable societal development under changing climatic and environmental conditions, especially, under conditions when societal decision-making impacts and feeds back on the environment. This made the NEESPI studies closer to the ICSU research initiative "Future Earth". Accordingly, the NEESPI Research Team decided to reorganize in the nearest future NEESPI into "Northern Eurasia Future Initiative" (NEFI) and began development of its Programmatic White Paper (in preparation at the time of this abstract submission). The NEFI research foci emerged in discussions within the NEESPI community during the past 12 months. Presentation will provide justification of these foci and approach examples addressing them. The societal challenges, particularly the socio-economic challenges are the top priority in most of them. .

Societal transformation and adaptation necessary to manage dynamics in flood hazard and risk mitigation (TRANS-ADAPT)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fuchs, Sven; Thaler, Thomas; Bonnefond, Mathieu; Clarke, Darren; Driessen, Peter; Hegger, Dries; Gatien-Tournat, Amandine; Gralepois, Mathilde; Fournier, Marie; Mees, Heleen; Murphy, Conor; Servain-Courant, Sylvie

2015-04-01

Facing the challenges of climate change, this project aims to analyse and to evaluate the multiple use of flood alleviation schemes with respect to social transformation in communities exposed to flood hazards in Europe. The overall goals are: (1) the identification of indicators and parameters necessary for strategies to increase societal resilience, (2) an analysis of the institutional settings needed for societal transformation, and (3) perspectives of changing divisions of responsibilities between public and private actors necessary to arrive at more resilient societies. This proposal assesses societal transformations from the perspective of changing divisions of responsibilities between public and private actors necessary to arrive at more resilient societies. Yet each risk mitigation measure is built on a narrative of exchanges and relations between people and therefore may condition the outputs. As such, governance is done by people interacting and defining risk mitigation measures as well as climate change adaptation are therefore simultaneously both outcomes of, and productive to, public and private responsibilities. Building off current knowledge this project will focus on different dimensions of adaptation and mitigation strategies based on social, economic and institutional incentives and settings, centring on the linkages between these different dimensions and complementing existing flood risk governance arrangements. The policy dimension of adaptation, predominantly decisions on the societal admissible level of vulnerability and risk, will be evaluated by a human-environment interaction approach using multiple methods and the assessment of social capacities of stakeholders across scales. As such, the challenges of adaptation to flood risk will be tackled by converting scientific frameworks into practical assessment and policy advice. In addressing the relationship between these dimensions of adaptation on different temporal and spatial scales, this project is both scientifically innovative and policy relevant, thereby supporting climate policy needs in Europe towards a concept of risk governance. Key words: climate change adaptation; transformation; flood risk management; resilience; vulnerability; innovative bottom-up developments; multifunctional use

Earth's future in the Anthropocene: Technological interventions between piecemeal and utopian social engineering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schäfer, Stefan; Stelzer, Harald; Maas, Achim; Lawrence, Mark G.

2014-04-01

An extensive discussion in the academic and policy communities is developing around the possibility of climate engineering through stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI). In this contribution, we develop a perspective on this issue in the context of the wider setting of societal development in the Anthropocene. We draw on Karl Popper's concepts of piecemeal and utopian social engineering to examine how different visions of societal development relate to SAI. Based on this reflection, we argue that the debate on SAI is fueled not only by the inequitable distribution of its effects and potential atmospheric and climatic side effects, as disconcerting as some of these effects and side effects may be, but also, and perhaps primarily, by its apparent privileging of the status quo and incremental change over a more immediate and radical change in societal organization. Although differing ideological orientations might thus help explain the intensity of parts of the debate, the understanding from which they follow, in which societal development is deduced from postulated technological characteristics and assumptions about a technology's use, hides from view a more subtle understanding of the relationship between technology and politics.

Alternative socio-centric approach for model validation - a way forward for socio-hydrology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van Emmerik, Tim; Elshafei, Yasmina; Mahendran, Roobavannan; Kandasamy, Jaya; Pande, Saket; Sivapalan, Murugesu

2017-04-01

To better understand and mitigate the impacts of humans on the water cycle, the importance of studying the co-evolution of coupled human-water systems has been recognized. Because of its unique system dynamics, the Murrumbidgee river basin (part of the larger Murray-Darlin basin, Australia) is one of the main study areas in the emerging field of socio-hydrology. In recent years, various historical and modeling studies have contributed to gaining a better understanding of this system's behavior. Kandasamy et al. (2014) performed a historical study on the development of this human-water coupled system. They identified four eras, providing a historical context of the observed "pendulum" swing between first an exclusive focus on agricultural development, followed by increasing environmental awareness, subsequent efforts to mitigate, and finally to restore environmental health. A modeling effort by Van Emmerik et al. (2014) focused on reconstructing hydrological, economical, and societal dynamics and their feedbacks. A measure of changing societal values was included by introducing environmental awareness as an endogenously modeled variable, which resulted in capturing the co-evolution between economic development and environmental health. Later work by Elshafei et al. (2015) modeled and analyzed the two-way feedbacks of land use management and land degradation in two other Australian coupled systems. A composite variable, community sensitivity, was used to measure changing community sentiment, such that the model was capable of isolating the two-way feedbacks in the coupled system. As socio-hydrology adopts a holistic approach, it is often required to introduce (hydrologically) unconventional variables, such as environmental awareness or community sensitivity. It is the subject of ongoing debate how such variables can be validated, as there is no standardized data set available from hydrological or statistical agencies. Recent research (Wei et al. 2017) has provided one such avenue for validation, by using newspaper articles from the last 169 years to derive an index of economic development and environmental sustainability for the complete Murray-Darlin basin. Based on this alternative approach, the similar time periods as Kandasamy et al. (2014) were derived independently. Furthermore, their environmental sustainability index closely follows the parsimoniously modeled environmental awareness from Van Emmerik et al. (2014). Besides a direct validation of previous studies, this independent work provides credibility for the development and use of models such as those developed by Van Emmerik et al. (2014) and Elshafei et al. (2015). With this presentation, we aim to highlight how alternative sources of societal data can be used to independently validate and assess the realism of socio-hydrological models in spite of the fact that at least a significant part of the societal values has to remain endogenous, and only coupled socio-hydrological models of the Van Emmerik et al. (2014) and Elshafei et al. (2014, 2015) are indispensable for any generalization from highly monitored to unmonitored places, underpinned by general theories. References Elshafei, Y., et al. : "A prototype framework for models of socio-hydrology: identification of key feedback loops and parameterisation approach." HESS, 2014. Elshafei, Y., et al. : "A model of the socio-hydrologic dynamics in a semiarid catchment: Isolating feedbacks in the coupled human-hydrology system", WRR, 2015. Kandasamy, J., et al. : "Socio-hydrologic drivers of the pendulum swing between agricultural development and environmental health: a case study from Murrumbidgee River basin, Australia." HESS, 2014. Van Emmerik, T., et al. : "Socio-hydrologic modeling to understand and mediate the competition for water between agriculture development and environmental health: Murrumbidgee River basin, Australia." HESS, 2014. Wei, et al.: "Evolution of the societal value of water resources for economic development versus environmental sustainability in Australia from 1843 to 2011", Global Environmental Change, 2017.

Capacity of US Forests to Maintain Existing Carbon Sequestration will be affected by Changes in Forest Disturbances and to a greater extent, the Economic and Societal Influences on Forest Management and Land Use

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Joyce, L. A.; Running, S. W.; Breshears, D. D.; Dale, V.; Malmsheimer, R. W.; Sampson, N.; Sohngen, B.; Woodall, C. W.

2012-12-01

Increasingly the value of US forest carbon dynamics and carbon sequestration is being recognized in discussions of adaptation and mitigation to climate change. Past exploitation of forestlands in the United States for timber, fuelwood, and conversion to agriculture resulted in large swings in forestland area and terrestrial carbon dynamics. The National Climate Assessment explored the implications of current and future stressors, including climate change, to the future of forest carbon dynamics in the United States. While U.S forests and associated harvested wood products sequestered roughly 13 percent of all carbon dioxide emitted in the United States in 2010, the capacity of forests to maintain this amount of carbon sequestration will be affected by the effects of climate change on forest disturbances, tree growth and mortality, changes in species composition, and to a greater extent, the economic and societal influences on forest management and forestland use. Carbon mitigation through forest management includes three strategies: 1) land management to increase forest area (afforestation) and/or avoid deforestation; 2) carbon management in existing forests; and 3) use of wood in place of materials that require more carbon emissions to produce, in place of fossil fuels to produce energy or in wood products for carbon storage. A significant financial incentive facing many private forest owners is the value of their forest lands for conversion to urban or developed uses. In addition, consequences of large scale die-off and wildfire disturbance events from climate change pose major challenges to forestland area and forest management with potential impacts occurring up to regional scales for timber, flooding and erosion risks, other changes in water budgets, and biogeochemical changes including carbon storage. Options for carbon management on existing forests include practices that increase forest growth such as fertilization, irrigation, switch to fast-growing planting stock and shorter rotations, and weed, disease, and insect control, and increasing the interval between harvests or decreasing harvest intensity. Economic drivers will affect future carbon cycle of forests such as shifts in forest age class structure in response to markets, land-use changes such as urbanization, and forest type changes. Future changes in forestland objectives include the potential for bioenergy based on forestland resources, which is as large as 504 million acres of timberland and 91 million acres of other forest land out of the 751 million acres of U.S. forestland. Implications of forest product use for bioenergy depend on the context of specific locations such as feedstock type and prior management, land conditions, transport and storage logistics, conversion processes used to produce energy, distribution and use. Markets for energy from biomass appear to be ready to grow in response to energy pricing, policy and demand, although recent increases in the supply of natural gas have reduced urgency for new biomass projects. Beyond use in the forest industry and some residences, biopower is not a large-scale enterprise in the United States. Societal choices about forest policy will also affect the carbon cycles on public and private forestland.

Data to Decisions: Valuing the Societal Benefit of Geospatial Information

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pearlman, F.; Kain, D.

2016-12-01

The March 10-11, 2016 GEOValue workshop on "Data to Decisions" was aimed at creating a framework for identification and implementation of best practices that capture the societal value of geospatial information for both public and private uses. The end-to-end information flow starts with the earth observation and data acquisition systems, includes the full range of processes from geospatial information to decisions support systems, and concludes with the end user. Case studies, which will be described in this presentation, were identified for a range of applications. The goal was to demonstrate and compare approaches to valuation of geospatial information and forge a path forward for research that leads to standards of practice.

Towards a new paradigm of Socio-Hydrology; insights from the Saskatchewan River Basin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wheater, H. S.; Gober, P.

2011-12-01

Effects of human-induced change on the land surface and the functioning of water systems are ubiquitous. There is a basic need to understand these human processes and to represent them appropriately in hydrological models. Some land use effects, such as urbanisation, are well understood, but not readily quantifiable at catchment scale. Agricultural intensification, on the other hand, is poorly understood, and tools for quantification often lack scientific basis. And while land surface change affects runoff and recharge, in most major river systems flows are also modified by storage, withdrawals and returns; groundwater is also often heavily influenced by management. Quantification of these effects remains a major and neglected challenge - much large-scale hydrological modelling is concerned with hypothetical 'natural' systems. At a deeper level, in an era of rapid change and profound uncertainties about both human and physical systems, water management requires an understanding of the drivers of, and responses to change. Socio-hydrology has two very specific social components: 1. Integrating humans and their activities into water science. 2. Ensuring that water decision-making incorporates a range of values and perspectives about the meaning, value and use of water. Socio-hydrology recognizes that many of the current stresses on water systems stem from social factors such as demography, the global economy, changing societal values and norms, technological innovation, laws and customs, and financial markets. It also acknowledges that the inability of many water systems to adjust to change is because of outdated governance, institutional rigidity, failure to adequately perceive threats to water security, ill-functioning markets, and undue focus on physical at the expense of social change. Increasingly, it is recognized that some of the most critical vulnerabilities in contemporary water systems lie at the intersection between human activities and physical systems, such as when governance systems are incapable of dealing with climate-induced changes in water supply. Socio-hydrology also incorporates research into the processes by translating traditional scientific information into tools for water decision making. These processes are inherently social and value-based. They depend upon the way various water stakeholders (e.g. municipalities, farmers, mining companies, environmental groups, Aboriginal Peoples) define the problem of water security and the values they place on different aspects of it. Socio-hydrology is at the forefront of efforts to establish and study participatory processes for decision making in the water sector. We illustrate these issues by reference to the inter-provincial Saskatchewan River Basin in western Canada. The University of Saskatchewan has established socio-hydrology as a priority research area. Our goal is to integrate hydro-ecological research with social science to study societal responses to water stresses like flooding, drought and nutrient pollution and investigate the potential of existing and new economic and other policy instruments to help communities make sound decisions under uncertainty.

Awareness of Societal Issues Among High School Biology Teachers Teaching Genetics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lazarowitz, Reuven; Bloch, Ilit

2005-12-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate how aware high school biology teachers are of societal issues (values, moral, ethic, and legal issues) while teaching genetics, genetics engineering, molecular genetics, human heredity, and evolution. The study includes a short historical review of World War II atrocities during the Holocaust when scientists from all the above-mentioned disciplines had been involved in trying to support and develop the eugenics theories. It investigates pre- and postwar theories of the eugenics movement in the United States which were implemented successfully in Germany and a literature survey of the studies of societal issues related to these subjects. The sample consisted of 30 male and female biology teachers. Enclosed are teachers' answers in favor or against including debates about societal issues in their classrooms while teaching the disciplines mentioned above. Teachers' answers were analyzed in relation to three variables: years of teaching experience, gender, and religion faith. Data were collected from questionnaires and personal interviews and analyzed according to qualitative and quantitative methods. The results show that amongst the teachers there is a medium to low level of awareness of societal issues, while mainly emphasizing scientific subjects in preparation of matriculation examinations. The majority of the teachers do not include societal issues in their teaching, but if students raise these issues, teachers claimed to address them. No differences in teachers' opinions to societal issues were found in relation to gender or religious faith. Teachers with more years of teaching experience tend to teach with a more Science, Technology, and Society (STS) approach than novice teachers. The results are discussed in relation to teachers' professional development and teaching strategies are suggested to be used in their classrooms based on a STS approach, which includes the societal issues as a main goal.

Public Value Mapping of Equity in Emerging Nanomedicine

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Slade, Catherine P.

2011-01-01

Public values failure occurs when the market and the public sector fail to provide goods and services required to achieve the core values of society such as equity (Bozeman 2007). That public policy for emerging health technologies should address intrinsic societal values such as equity is not a novel concept. However, the ways that the public…

Valuing Puget Sound’s Valued Ecosystems Components

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-07-01

communicate the value of Puget Sound nearshore restoration to managers and the public, and are intended to speak to ecological and societal values...list of VECs is meant to represent a cross-section of organisms and physical structures that occupy and interact with the physical processes found in...7 Applying Economic Valuation Techniques to Ecological Resources

Public Value Posters: Conveying Societal Benefits of Extension Programs through Evaluation Evidence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chazdon, Scott; Meyer, Nathan; Mohr, Caryn; Troschinetz, Alexis

2017-01-01

The public value poster session is a new tool for effectively demonstrating and reporting the public value of Extension programming. Akin to the research posters that have long played a critical role in the sharing of findings from academic studies, the public value poster provides a consistent format for conveying the benefits to society of…

Societal Impacts of Solar Electromagnetic Radiation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lean, J. L.

2000-05-01

Changes in solar electromagnetic radiation, which occur continuously and at all wavelengths of the spectrum, can have significant societal impacts on a wide range of time scales. Detection of climate change and ozone depletion requires reliable specification of solar-induced processes that mask or exacerbate anthropogenic effects. Living with, and mitigating, climate change and ozone depletion has significant economic, habitat and political impacts of international extent. As an example, taxes to restrict carbon emission may cause undue economic stress if the role of greenhouse gases in global warming is incorrectly diagnosed. Ignoring solar-induced ozone changes in the next century may lead to incorrect assessment of the success of the Montreal Protocol in protecting the ozone layer by limiting the use of ozone-destroying chlorofluorocarbons. Societal infrastructure depends in many ways on space-based technological assets. Communications and navigation for commerce, industry, science and defense rely on satellite signals transmitted through, and reflected by, electrons in the ionosphere. Electron densities change in response to solar flares, and by orders of magnitude in response to EUV and X-ray flux variations during the Sun's 11-year activity cycle. Spacecraft and space debris experience enhanced drag on their orbits when changing EUV radiation causes upper atmosphere densities to increase. Especially affected are spacecraft and debris in lower altitude orbits, such as Iridium-type communication satellites, and the International Space Station (ISS). Proper specification of solar-induced fluctuations in the neutral upper atmosphere can, for example, aid in tracking the ISS and surrounding space debris, reducing the chance of ISS damage from collisions, and maximizing its operations. Aspects of solar electromagnetic radiation variability will be briefly illustrated on a range of time scales, with specific identification of the societal impacts of different spectral regions.

Economic and societal dimensions of nanotechnology-enabled drug delivery.

PubMed

te Kulve, Haico; Rip, Arie

2013-05-01

There is an increasing interest in nanotechnology-enabled drug delivery systems which are expected to have significant impacts for health care. The economic and societal aspects are uncertain, even ambiguous, at this stage of development, and often not addressed, or only as part of the promises about present options. In our review we will report on assessments of actors regarding economic and societal aspects and, occasionally, of expected impacts. Topics discussed include: present and future markets of nano-enabled drug delivery, industry dynamics, regulation, cost-effectiveness, and broader ethical issues. We also include a brief discussion of anticipatory activities of actors who are concerned about these aspects. Performance of nano-enabled drug delivery, a necessary step to have future impacts at all, needs to be improved further, and in interaction with demands of users along the product value chain and with further stakeholder such as regulatory agencies and health insurers. When supported by analysis of societal embedding of new products and scenarios, this allows relevant societal and economic aspects to be taken into account at an early stage. A key issue in realizing impacts will be liability, and roles and responsibilities of technology developers and stakeholders more generally.

A chironomid-based record of temperature variability during the past 4000 years in northern China and its possible societal implications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Haipeng; Chen, Jianhui; Zhang, Shengda; Zhang, David D.; Wang, Zongli; Xu, Qinghai; Chen, Shengqian; Wang, Shijin; Kang, Shichang; Chen, Fahu

2018-03-01

Long-term, high-resolution temperature records which combine an unambiguous proxy and precise dating are rare in China. In addition, the societal implications of past temperature change on a regional scale have not been sufficiently assessed. Here, based on the modern relationship between chironomids and temperature, we use fossil chironomid assemblages in a precisely dated sediment core from Gonghai Lake to explore temperature variability during the past 4000 years in northern China. Subsequently, we address the possible regional societal implications of temperature change through a statistical analysis of the occurrence of wars. Our results show the following. (1) The mean annual temperature (TANN) was relatively high during 4000-2700 cal yr BP, decreased gradually during 2700-1270 cal yr BP and then fluctuated during the last 1270 years. (2) A cold event in the Period of Disunity, the Sui-Tang Warm Period (STWP), the Medieval Warm Period (MWP) and the Little Ice Age (LIA) can all be recognized in the paleotemperature record, as well as in many other temperature reconstructions in China. This suggests that our chironomid-inferred temperature record for the Gonghai Lake region is representative. (3) Local wars in Shanxi Province, documented in the historical literature during the past 2700 years, are statistically significantly correlated with changes in temperature, and the relationship is a good example of the potential societal implications of temperature change on a regional scale.

Social and legal aspects of marriage in women with mental illness in India.

PubMed

Sharma, Indira; Tripathi, C B; Pathak, Abhishek

2015-07-01

The institution of marriage in Hindus is regulated by the prevailing social norms and the Hindu Marriage Act (HMA), 1955. Married women with mental illness are heavily discriminated. This paper examines the social and legal aspects of Hindu marriage in women with mental illness. The HMA, 1955 lays down the conditions for a Hindu marriage and also provides matrimonial reliefs: Nullity of marriage, restitution of conjugal rights, judicial separation and divorce. The application of the provisions of HMA in the setting mental illness is difficult and challenging. There is a wide gap between the legislative provisions of HMA, and societal value systems and attitudes towards marriage in Indian society. Societal norms are powerful and often override the legal provisions. The disparities are most glaring in the setting of mental illness in women. This is a reflection of social stigma for mental illness and patriarchal attitude towards women. Concerted efforts are needed to bridge the gap between the legislative provisions of HMA and societal value systems and attitudes toward marriage. Awareness programs regarding the nature and types of mental illness, advances in treatment and information about good outcome of severe mental illness will be helpful. Improvement in moral and religious values will overcome to some extent the negative attitudes and patriarchal mind set toward married women with mental illness.

Teaching Societal and Ethical Implications of Nanotechnology to Engineering Students through Science Fiction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Berne, Rosalyn W.; Schummer, Joachim

2005-01-01

Societal and ethical implications of nanotechnology have become a hot topic of public debates in many countries because both revolutionary changes and strong public concerns are expected from its development. Because nanotechnology is, at this point, mostly articulated in visionary and futuristic terms, it is difficult to apply standard methods of…

Sexuality: from stigma, stereotypes and secrecy to coming out, communication and choice.

PubMed

Nay, Rhonda; McAuliffe, Linda; Bauer, Michael

2007-03-01

Ageism and sexism have been remarkably successful in portraying sexuality as the preserve of young people and stereotyping older people as asexual. Older people have colluded in the stereotype by passing as asexual and generally keeping secret their ongoing interest in, or expression of, sexuality. The labelling as 'deviant' and associated stigma experienced by people who dare to breach societal stereotypes are recognized as tools used by powerful vested interests to maintain and manage the norms and values of society. Despite the sanctions, people do find ways of resisting, and over time norms and values change. This paper notes the centrality of sexuality to identity and argues that nursing is pivotally placed to recognize and value the older person's sexuality and support older people to 'come out' and re-claim the sexuality of their choice. It provides a provocative vision of how care and attitudes might look in 2025.

Australia is ‘free to choose’ economic growth and falling environmental pressures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hatfield-Dodds, Steve; Schandl, Heinz; Adams, Philip D.; Baynes, Timothy M.; Brinsmead, Thomas S.; Bryan, Brett A.; Chiew, Francis H. S.; Graham, Paul W.; Grundy, Mike; Harwood, Tom; McCallum, Rebecca; McCrea, Rod; McKellar, Lisa E.; Newth, David; Nolan, Martin; Prosser, Ian; Wonhas, Alex

2015-11-01

Over two centuries of economic growth have put undeniable pressure on the ecological systems that underpin human well-being. While it is agreed that these pressures are increasing, views divide on how they may be alleviated. Some suggest technological advances will automatically keep us from transgressing key environmental thresholds; others that policy reform can reconcile economic and ecological goals; while a third school argues that only a fundamental shift in societal values can keep human demands within the Earth’s ecological limits. Here we use novel integrated analysis of the energy-water-food nexus, rural land use (including biodiversity), material flows and climate change to explore whether mounting ecological pressures in Australia can be reversed, while the population grows and living standards improve. We show that, in the right circumstances, economic and environmental outcomes can be decoupled. Although economic growth is strong across all scenarios, environmental performance varies widely: pressures are projected to more than double, stabilize or fall markedly by 2050. However, we find no evidence that decoupling will occur automatically. Nor do we find that a shift in societal values is required. Rather, extensions of current policies that mobilize technology and incentivize reduced pressure account for the majority of differences in environmental performance. Our results show that Australia can make great progress towards sustainable prosperity, if it chooses to do so.

The need to respect nature and its limits challenges society and conservation science

PubMed Central

Martin, Jean-Louis; Maris, Virginie; Simberloff, Daniel S.

2016-01-01

Increasing human population interacts with local and global environments to deplete biodiversity and resources humans depend on, thus challenging societal values centered on growth and relying on technology to mitigate environmental stress. Although the need to address the environmental crisis, central to conservation science, generated greener versions of the growth paradigm, we need fundamental shifts in values that ensure transition from a growth-centered society to one acknowledging biophysical limits and centered on human well-being and biodiversity conservation. We discuss the role conservation science can play in this transformation, which poses ethical challenges and obstacles. We analyze how conservation and economics can achieve better consonance, the extent to which technology should be part of the solution, and difficulties the “new conservation science” has generated. An expanded ambition for conservation science should reconcile day-to-day action within the current context with uncompromising, explicit advocacy for radical transitions in core attitudes and processes that govern our interactions with the biosphere. A widening of its focus to understand better the interconnectedness between human well-being and acknowledgment of the limits of an ecologically functional and diverse planet will need to integrate ecological and social sciences better. Although ecology can highlight limits to growth and consequences of ignoring them, social sciences are necessary to diagnose societal mechanisms at work, how to correct them, and potential drivers of social change. PMID:27185943

The need to respect nature and its limits challenges society and conservation science.

PubMed

Martin, Jean-Louis; Maris, Virginie; Simberloff, Daniel S

2016-05-31

Increasing human population interacts with local and global environments to deplete biodiversity and resources humans depend on, thus challenging societal values centered on growth and relying on technology to mitigate environmental stress. Although the need to address the environmental crisis, central to conservation science, generated greener versions of the growth paradigm, we need fundamental shifts in values that ensure transition from a growth-centered society to one acknowledging biophysical limits and centered on human well-being and biodiversity conservation. We discuss the role conservation science can play in this transformation, which poses ethical challenges and obstacles. We analyze how conservation and economics can achieve better consonance, the extent to which technology should be part of the solution, and difficulties the "new conservation science" has generated. An expanded ambition for conservation science should reconcile day-to-day action within the current context with uncompromising, explicit advocacy for radical transitions in core attitudes and processes that govern our interactions with the biosphere. A widening of its focus to understand better the interconnectedness between human well-being and acknowledgment of the limits of an ecologically functional and diverse planet will need to integrate ecological and social sciences better. Although ecology can highlight limits to growth and consequences of ignoring them, social sciences are necessary to diagnose societal mechanisms at work, how to correct them, and potential drivers of social change.

Australia is 'free to choose' economic growth and falling environmental pressures.

PubMed

Hatfield-Dodds, Steve; Schandl, Heinz; Adams, Philip D; Baynes, Timothy M; Brinsmead, Thomas S; Bryan, Brett A; Chiew, Francis H S; Graham, Paul W; Grundy, Mike; Harwood, Tom; McCallum, Rebecca; McCrea, Rod; McKellar, Lisa E; Newth, David; Nolan, Martin; Prosser, Ian; Wonhas, Alex

2015-11-05

Over two centuries of economic growth have put undeniable pressure on the ecological systems that underpin human well-being. While it is agreed that these pressures are increasing, views divide on how they may be alleviated. Some suggest technological advances will automatically keep us from transgressing key environmental thresholds; others that policy reform can reconcile economic and ecological goals; while a third school argues that only a fundamental shift in societal values can keep human demands within the Earth's ecological limits. Here we use novel integrated analysis of the energy-water-food nexus, rural land use (including biodiversity), material flows and climate change to explore whether mounting ecological pressures in Australia can be reversed, while the population grows and living standards improve. We show that, in the right circumstances, economic and environmental outcomes can be decoupled. Although economic growth is strong across all scenarios, environmental performance varies widely: pressures are projected to more than double, stabilize or fall markedly by 2050. However, we find no evidence that decoupling will occur automatically. Nor do we find that a shift in societal values is required. Rather, extensions of current policies that mobilize technology and incentivize reduced pressure account for the majority of differences in environmental performance. Our results show that Australia can make great progress towards sustainable prosperity, if it chooses to do so.

Sex Role Socialization in Sport.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mawson, L. Marlene

Sport values follow societal values, and, in American society, it is evident that men have determined the social, political, and economic values upon which this country has established its laws. An overview of the social influence of men in comparison to that of women in the development of American society points out how men and women have assumed…

Open-Air Biowarfare Testing and the Evolution of Values

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

The United States and the United Kingdom ended outdoor biological warfare testing in populated areas nearly half a century ago. Yet, the conduct, health effects, and propriety of those tests remain controversial. The varied views reflect the limits of currently available test information and evolving societal values on research involving human subjects. Western political culture has changed since the early days of the American and British testing programs. People have become less reluctant to question authority, and institutional review boards must now pre-approve research involving human subjects. Further, the heightened stringency of laboratory containment has accentuated the safety gap between a confined test space and one without physical boundaries. All this makes it less likely that masses of people would again be unwittingly subjected to secret open-air biological warfare tests. PMID:27564984

Accountable disease management of spine pain.

PubMed

Smith, Matthew J

2011-09-01

The health care landscape has changed with new legislation addressing the unsustainable rise in costs in the US system. Low-value service lines caring for expensive chronic conditions have been targeted for reform; for better or worse, the treatment of spine pain has been recognized as a representative example. Examining the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and existing pilot studies can offer a preview of how chronic care of spine pain will be sustained. Accountable care in an organization capable of collecting, analyzing, and reporting clinical data and operational compliance is forthcoming. Interdisciplinary spine pain centers integrating surgical and medical management, behavioral medicine, physical reconditioning, and societal reintegration represent the model of high-value care for patients with chronic spine pain. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Value of Inclusion

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Felder, Franziska

2018-01-01

In recent years inclusion has become one of the most dominant values and objectives in education. However, there is still considerable disagreement concerning the theoretical concept of inclusion and its normative implications. This article suggests an understanding of inclusion that first differentiates analytically between societal and communal…

Assessing the Role and Impact of Geospatial Data for Wildland Fire Management Decisions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Klein, E. A.; Lev, S. M.

2016-12-01

The 2015 Wildland and Fire Science and Technology Task Force Final Report, produced by the National Science and Technology Council, Committee on Environment, Natural Resources, and Sustainability, Subcommittee on Disaster Reduction, highlighted the increasing frequency of large wildfires and the growing demand for science to inform critical resource decisions to manage, mitigate, respond to, and recover from wildland fires. Federal spending on fire suppression from 2005-2015 has more than doubled despite policy changes that prioritize the mitigation of fire risks through the use of fuel treatments, prescribed fire, and management of naturally occurring wildfires to protect life and property. Fire suppression policies over the last century have created forests primed for severe fire, and in the face of a changing climate, the benefits of re-introducing fire into once fire-resilient ecosystems are clear. There are a range of complex factors and regional variation associated with wildland fire risk that complicate our understanding and effective management of this hazard. Data derived from Earth-observing (EO) systems and networks are a crucial input for managers when making decisions about fire suppression and fuel management. EO data can also be used to develop pre- and post-fire metrics that can aid in the evaluating the effectiveness of wildland fire management decisions. A value-tree method for mapping the role of EO systems and networks in delivering societal benefit through key Federal objectives related to wildland fire management will be presented. The value-tree methodology utilizes input from subject matter experts to assess the availability and usability of data and data products and to evaluate the impact of individual EO data inputs for achieving wildland fire management objectives. The results provide a qualitative assessment of the value of the data for the objectives described and identify critical gaps and continuity issues associated with improvements to and continuous delivery of societal benefit.

Value-based medicine, comparative effectiveness, and cost-effectiveness analysis of topical cyclosporine for the treatment of dry eye syndrome.

PubMed

Brown, Melissa M; Brown, Gary C; Brown, Heidi C; Peet, Jonathan; Roth, Zachary

2009-02-01

To assess the comparative effectiveness and cost-effectiveness (cost-utility) of a 0.05% emulsion of topical cyclosporine (Restasis; Allergan Inc, Irvine, California) for the treatment of moderate to severe dry eye syndrome that is unresponsive to conventional therapy. Data from 2 multicenter, randomized, clinical trials and Food and Drug Administration files for topical cyclosporine, 0.05%, emulsion were used in Center for Value-Based Medicine analyses. Analyses included value-based medicine as a comparative effectiveness analysis and average cost-utility analysis using societal and third-party insurer cost perspectives. Outcome measures of comparative effectiveness were quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) gain and percentage of improvement in quality of life, and for cost-effectiveness were cost-utility ratio (CUR) using dollars per QALY. Topical cyclosporine, 0.05%, confers a value gain (comparative effectiveness) of 0.0319 QALY per year compared with topical lubricant therapy, a 4.3% improvement in quality of life for the average patient with moderate to severe dry eye syndrome that is unresponsive to conventional lubricant therapy. The societal perspective incremental CUR for cyclosporine over vehicle therapy is $34,953 per QALY and the societal perspective average CUR is $11,199 per QALY. The third-party-insurer incremental CUR is $37,179 per QALY, while the third-party-insurer perspective average CUR is $34,343 per QALY. Topical cyclosporine emulsion, 0.05%, confers considerable patient value and is a cost-effective therapy for moderate to severe dry eye syndrome that is unresponsive to conventional therapy.

Increasing Influence of Societal Response Variables in Coastal Evolution Projections (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gayes, P. T.; McCoy, C. A.; Pietrafesa, L. J.

2010-12-01

Recent efforts to project changes in coastal erosion and vulnerability of the state of South Carolina’s (SC’s) oceanfront for different scenarios of future sea level have reinforced the significance of the influence of societal modifications and response to past and anticipated coastal change in these systems. For large reaches of the SC coast human interactions have been a dominant signal driving coastal change across annual to decadal scales. Over the last 20 years, SC’s shoreline has been advanced seawards in many areas due to a combination of sustained societal commitment to beach nourishment and to a lull in atmospheric storms; reversing the long-term erosional trend of shoreline change. Adjacent areas not yet threatened or where coastal defense is unsupported economically have continued to migrate landwards. Locally, efforts focused on stabilizing the subaerial beach have not moderated long-term shoreward migration of the shoreface changing the overall morphology of the coastal boundary waves and currents are operating against. These societal effects, coupled with realistic, substative assessments of future atmospheric storm activity and sea level variability, both over scales of seasons to multi-decades, require consideration to realistically project future coastal behavior across time and spatial scales for planning and resource management. As with future climate and sea level variability effects on the shoreline, the scale and intensity of societal response is not static or precisely projected spatially and temporally into the future. With continued expansion of coastal development and erosion into previously lightly developed and defended coastal areas, societal influences should be expected to increase. Increasing cost of larger scale defenses will likely drive pressure for hardened structures to enhance ”softer” nourishment strategies. However, this strategy would further modify the ability of nature to respond to natural forces. Nourishment programs are strongly cyclic and can act in or out of phase with natural cyclic (inlet migration, sea level variability) or stochastic (storms) drivers with significant effects on coastal response and predictions of coastal behavior. Economic cycles and events may similarly moderate timing and scale of coastal defense relative to natural drivers. Societal decisions to not, enhance and or even abandon and remove existing engineering structures as future forces and costs increase, can result in a disproportional response and potentially failure of a section of coast. Some communities have expressed confidence in the ability to maintain the oceanfront shoreline against most projections of sea level rise over the next 100 years. The long-term trend in sea level change may be less important than naturally occurring regional scale, seasonal to inter-annual to multi-decadal variability in sea level; and these are complex but deterministic. There is less confidence, however, in the ability to combat passive submergence and associated flooding issues behind the immediate oceanfront. To the extent that may influence commitment to defend the oceanfront could strongly influence coastal behavior and stability in the long term.

Evolution of China's water issues as framed in Chinese mainstream newspaper.

PubMed

Xiong, Yonglan; Wei, Yongping; Zhang, Zhiqiang; Wei, Jing

2016-03-01

There is an urgent need globally to trigger fundamental societal changes in water management away from existing unsustainable paradigms. This paper attempts to understand the evolution of newspaper coverage of water issues in China by analyzing water-related articles in a major national newspaper, the People's Daily, over the period 1946-2012 using a content analysis approach. The major findings include the following: (1) water issues were in relatively prominent positions in the newspaper; (2) the reporting of water issues in China experienced three stages: 1946 to the middle of 1980s-flood and drought control and water for food production, the middle of 1980s to 1997-water for economic development, and 1998 to the present-water for the environmental sustainability and economic development; (3) the reporting of water issues in the People's Daily clearly reflected China's top-down water resources management system, and no "real" public opinions on water were reported during the study period; and (4) the People's Daily is just a wind vane of Chinese mainstream values and policies on water. The findings supported the realist assumption that the societal value changes on water issues in China were triggered by a range of factors including biophysical pressure (floods and droughts), political campaign (the Cultural Revolution), macro-economic reform (Reform and Opening-up), water institutional arrangement (the Water Law), and water management reform (the No. 1 Central Document on water reform). While there are similarities and differences between this study and other studies, important implications for more sustainable water management are a need to strengthen academic specialists' and NGO's voices in the newspaper to create a better informed public, and to stimulate practices toward sustainable water use.

Graceful Failure and Societal Resilience Analysis Via Agent-Based Modeling and Simulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schopf, P. S.; Cioffi-Revilla, C.; Rogers, J. D.; Bassett, J.; Hailegiorgis, A. B.

2014-12-01

Agent-based social modeling is opening up new methodologies for the study of societal response to weather and climate hazards, and providing measures of resiliency that can be studied in many contexts, particularly in coupled human and natural-technological systems (CHANTS). Since CHANTS are complex adaptive systems, societal resiliency may or may not occur, depending on dynamics that lack closed form solutions. Agent-based modeling has been shown to provide a viable theoretical and methodological approach for analyzing and understanding disasters and societal resiliency in CHANTS. Our approach advances the science of societal resilience through computational modeling and simulation methods that complement earlier statistical and mathematical approaches. We present three case studies of social dynamics modeling that demonstrate the use of these agent based models. In Central Asia, we exmaine mutltiple ensemble simulations with varying climate statistics to see how droughts and zuds affect populations, transmission of wealth across generations, and the overall structure of the social system. In Eastern Africa, we explore how successive episodes of drought events affect the adaptive capacity of rural households. Human displacement, mainly, rural to urban migration, and livelihood transition particularly from pastoral to farming are observed as rural households interacting dynamically with the biophysical environment and continually adjust their behavior to accommodate changes in climate. In the far north case we demonstrate one of the first successful attempts to model the complete climate-permafrost-infrastructure-societal interaction network as a complex adaptive system/CHANTS implemented as a ``federated'' agent-based model using evolutionary computation. Analysis of population changes resulting from extreme weather across these and other cases provides evidence for the emergence of new steady states and shifting patterns of resilience.

The CEOS Atmospheric Composition Constellation: Enhancing the Value of Space-Based Observations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Eckman, Richard; Zehner, Claus; Al-Saadi, Jay

2015-01-01

The Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) coordinates civil space-borne observations of the Earth. Participating agencies strive to enhance international coordination and data exchange and to optimize societal benefit. In recent years, CEOS has collaborated closely with the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) in implementing the Global Earth Observing System of Systems (GEOSS) space-based objectives. The goal of the CEOS Atmospheric Composition Constellation (ACC) is to collect and deliver data to improve monitoring, assessment and predictive capabilities for changes in the ozone layer, air quality and climate forcing associated with changes in the environment through coordination of existing and future international space assets. A project to coordinate and enhance the science value of a future constellation of geostationary sensors measuring parameters relevant to air quality supports the forthcoming European Sentinel-4, Korean GEMS, and US TEMPO missions. Recommendations have been developed for harmonization to mutually improve data quality and facilitate widespread use of the data products.

Societal Factors Affecting Communication and Cooperation Between Industry and Accounting Education at Castleton State College.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Neil, Bryan L.

The purpose of the practicum was to determine the societal factors existing in the accounting industry and accounting education, with the aim of integrating the changing regulations and environment of the industry into the classroom at Castleton State College (Vermont). A group of certified public accountants were surveyed by Likert scale to learn…

Societal Culture and the Changing Role of School Principals in the Post-Soviet Era: The Case of Kazakhstan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yakavets, Natallia

2016-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of societal and cultural factors on the practices and perceptions of school principals in Kazakhstan. Design/methodology/approach: The paper draws on empirical data collected in Kazakhstan over two years in the course of an international, collaborative, multi-stranded project. Findings:…

People and Choices: Pattern of Healthful Living, Level 8. A Values Curriculum, Second Revision.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fortney, Nancy D.

This curriculum guide for eighth-grade teachers contains values-based classroom lessons which are intended to assist students in the development of (1) a positive self-concept, (2) rational thinking processes, (3 ) inter- and intrapersonal skills necessary for individual and group effectiveness, and (4) a personal and societal value system.…

Touching Lives: Pattern of Healthful Living, Level 4. A Values Curriculum, Second Revision.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taylor, Wendelin

This curriculum guide for fourth-grade teachers contains values-based classroom lessons which are intended to assist students in the development of (1) a positive self-concept, (2) rational thinking processes, (3) inter- and intrapersonal skills necessary for individual and group effectiveness, and (4) a personal and societal value system.…

Getting It All Together: Pattern of Healthful Living, Level 6. A Values Curriculum, Second Revision.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lamb, Carolyn

This curriculum guide for sixth-grade teachers contains values-based classroom lessons which are intended to assist students in the development of (1) a positive self-concept, (2) rational thinking processes, (3) inter- and intrapersonal skills necessary for individual and group effectiveness, and (4) a personal and societal value system. Teaching…

Reaching out: Pattern of Healthful Living, Level 7. A Values Curriculum, Second Revision.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reese, Mary Jane

This curriculum guide for seventh-grade teachers contains values-based classroom lessons which are intended to assist students in the development of (1) a positive self-concept, (2) rational thinking processes, (3) inter- and intrapersonal skills necessary for individual and group effectiveness, and (4) a personal and societal value system.…

Defining and Delivering Measurable Value: A Mega Thinking and Planning Primer

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kaufman, Roger

2005-01-01

Mega planning has a primary focus on adding value for all stakeholders. It is realistic, practical, and ethical. Denning and then achieving sustained organizational success is possible. It relies on three basic elements: (1) "A societal value-added "frame of mind" or paradigm": your perspective about your organization, people, and our world. It…

Climate Change Risk Perception in Taiwan: Correlation with Individual and Societal Factors

PubMed Central

2018-01-01

This study differentiates the risk perception and influencing factors of climate change along the dimensions of global severity and personal threat. Using the 2013 Taiwan Social Change Survey (TSGS) data (N = 2001) as a representative sample of adults from Taiwan, we investigated the influencing factors of the risk perceptions of climate change in these two dimensions (global severity and personal threat). Logistic regression models were used to examine the correlations of individual factors (gender, age, education, climate-related disaster experience and risk awareness, marital status, employment status, household income, and perceived social status) and societal factors (religion, organizational embeddedness, and political affiliations) with the above two dimensions. The results demonstrate that climate-related disaster experience has no significant impact on either the perception of global severity or the perception of personal impact. However, climate-related risk awareness (regarding typhoons, in particular) is positively associated with both dimensions of the perceived risks of climate change. With higher education, individuals are more concerned about global severity than personal threat. Regarding societal factors, the supporters of political parties have higher risk perceptions of climate change than people who have no party affiliation. Religious believers have higher risk perceptions of personal threat than non-religious people. This paper ends with a discussion about the effectiveness of efforts to enhance risk perception of climate change with regard to global severity and personal threat. PMID:29316685

Climate Change Risk Perception in Taiwan: Correlation with Individual and Societal Factors.

PubMed

Sun, Yingying; Han, Ziqiang

2018-01-08

This study differentiates the risk perception and influencing factors of climate change along the dimensions of global severity and personal threat. Using the 2013 Taiwan Social Change Survey (TSGS) data (N = 2001) as a representative sample of adults from Taiwan, we investigated the influencing factors of the risk perceptions of climate change in these two dimensions (global severity and personal threat). Logistic regression models were used to examine the correlations of individual factors (gender, age, education, climate-related disaster experience and risk awareness, marital status, employment status, household income, and perceived social status) and societal factors (religion, organizational embeddedness, and political affiliations) with the above two dimensions. The results demonstrate that climate-related disaster experience has no significant impact on either the perception of global severity or the perception of personal impact. However, climate-related risk awareness (regarding typhoons, in particular) is positively associated with both dimensions of the perceived risks of climate change. With higher education, individuals are more concerned about global severity than personal threat. Regarding societal factors, the supporters of political parties have higher risk perceptions of climate change than people who have no party affiliation. Religious believers have higher risk perceptions of personal threat than non-religious people. This paper ends with a discussion about the effectiveness of efforts to enhance risk perception of climate change with regard to global severity and personal threat.

Sleep, Health, and Society.

PubMed

Grandner, Michael A

2017-03-01

Biological needs for sleep are met by engaging in behaviors that are largely influenced by the environment, social norms and demands, and societal influences and pressures. Insufficient sleep duration and sleep disorders such as insomnia and sleep apnea are highly prevalent in the US population. This article outlines some of these downstream factors, including cardiovascular and metabolic disease risk, neurocognitive dysfunction, and mortality, as well as societal factors such as age, sex, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomics. This review also discusses societal factors related to sleep, such as globalization, health disparities, public policy, public safety, and changing patterns of use of technology. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Emergent Societal Effects of Crimino-Social Forces in an Animat Agent Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scogings, Chris J.; Hawick, Ken A.

Societal behaviour can be studied at a causal level by perturbing a stable multi-agent model with new microscopic behaviours and observing the statistical response over an ensemble of simulated model systems. We report on the effects of introducing criminal and law-enforcing behaviours into a large scale animat agent model and describe the complex spatial agent patterns and population changes that result. Our well-established predator-prey substrate model provides a background framework against which these new microscopic behaviours can be trialled and investigated. We describe some quantitative results and some surprising conclusions concerning the overall societal health when individually anti-social behaviour is introduced.

Evolution of China's water issues as framed in Chinese mainstream media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wei, Y.; Xiong, Y.; Zhang, Z.

2016-12-01

There is an urgent need globally to trigger fundamental societal changes in water use away from existing unsustainable paradigms. This paper attempts to understand the evolution of newspaper coverage of water issues in China by analyzing water-related articles in a major national newspaper People's Daily during 1946-2012 using a content analysis approach. The major findings include: 1) water issues have been in relatively important positions in the newspaper; 2) water issues reporting in China has experienced three stages: 1946- the middle of 1980s: flood and drought control and water for food; the middle of 1980s to 1997: water for economic development; and 1998 to the present: water for the environmental sustainability and economic development; 3) water issue reporting in the People's Daily clearly reflected China's top-down water resources management system, no "real" public opinions on water were reported during the study period; 4) The People's Daily is just a wind vane of Chinese mainstream values and policies on water. These findings supported the realist assumption that the societal changes on water issues in China were triggered by a multitude of factors including the biophysical pressure (floods and droughts), political campaign (the Cultural Revolution), macro-economic reform (Reform and Opening-up), water institutional arrangement (the Water Law) and water management reform (the No. 1 Central Document on water reform).

Reimagining NEPA: choices for environmentalists

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pollack, S.

1985-01-01

Five years after the end of the environmental decade the movement has split into those whose strategy is to enhance opportunities for grassroots organizing and those whose strategy is to increase internal expertise. The positions of the technocratic and grassroots proponents over the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) show that one sees NEPA as a way to empower a new class of professionals, while the other uses NEPA to elevate the importance of citizen's participation in decision making. A third, or deep ecology, perspective criticizes both approaches and treats environmental degradation as a symptom of deeper societal problems, solvable onlymore » by massive changes in current values and institutions.« less

The Evolution of English Language Teaching during Societal Transition in Finland--A Mutual Relationship or a Distinctive Process?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jaatinen, Riitta; Saarivirta, Toni

2014-01-01

This study describes the evolution of English language teaching in Finland and looks into the connections of the societal and educational changes in the country as explanatory factors in the process. The results of the study show that the language teaching methodology and the status of foreign languages in Finland are clearly connected to the…

Societal value of generic medicines beyond cost-saving through reduced prices.

PubMed

Dylst, Pieter; Vulto, Arnold; Simoens, Steven

2015-01-01

This paper aims to provide an overview of the added societal value of generic medicines beyond their cost-saving potential through reduced prices. In addition, an observational case study will document the impact of generic entry on access to pharmacotherapy in The Netherlands and an illustrative exercise was carried out to highlight the budget impact of generic entry. A narrative literature review was carried out to explore the impact of generic medicines on access to pharmacotherapy, innovation and medication adherence. Data from the Medicines and Medical Devices Information Project database in The Netherlands were used for the case study in which the impact of generic medicine entrance on the budget and the number of users was calculated as an illustrative exercise. Generic medicines have an additional societal value beyond their cost-saving potential through reduced prices. Generic medicines increase access to pharmacotherapy, provide a stimulus for innovation by both originator companies and generic companies and, under the right circumstances, have a positive impact on medication adherence. Generic medicines offer more to society than just their cost-saving potential through reduced prices. As such, governments must not focus only on the prices of generic medicines as this will threaten their long-term sustainability. Governments must therefore act appropriately and implement a coherent set of policies to increase the use of generic medicines.

Value of information and pricing new healthcare interventions.

PubMed

Willan, Andrew R; Eckermann, Simon

2012-06-01

Previous application of value-of-information methods to optimal clinical trial design have predominantly taken a societal decision-making perspective, implicitly assuming that healthcare costs are covered through public expenditure and trial research is funded by government or donation-based philanthropic agencies. In this paper, we consider the interaction between interrelated perspectives of a societal decision maker (e.g. the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence [NICE] in the UK) charged with the responsibility for approving new health interventions for reimbursement and the company that holds the patent for a new intervention. We establish optimal decision making from societal and company perspectives, allowing for trade-offs between the value and cost of research and the price of the new intervention. Given the current level of evidence, there exists a maximum (threshold) price acceptable to the decision maker. Submission for approval with prices above this threshold will be refused. Given the current level of evidence and the decision maker's threshold price, there exists a minimum (threshold) price acceptable to the company. If the decision maker's threshold price exceeds the company's, then current evidence is sufficient since any price between the thresholds is acceptable to both. On the other hand, if the decision maker's threshold price is lower than the company's, then no price is acceptable to both and the company's optimal strategy is to commission additional research. The methods are illustrated using a recent example from the literature.

Social and legal aspects of marriage in women with mental illness in India

PubMed Central

Sharma, Indira; Tripathi, C. B.; Pathak, Abhishek

2015-01-01

The institution of marriage in Hindus is regulated by the prevailing social norms and the Hindu Marriage Act (HMA), 1955. Married women with mental illness are heavily discriminated. This paper examines the social and legal aspects of Hindu marriage in women with mental illness. The HMA, 1955 lays down the conditions for a Hindu marriage and also provides matrimonial reliefs: Nullity of marriage, restitution of conjugal rights, judicial separation and divorce. The application of the provisions of HMA in the setting mental illness is difficult and challenging. There is a wide gap between the legislative provisions of HMA, and societal value systems and attitudes towards marriage in Indian society. Societal norms are powerful and often override the legal provisions. The disparities are most glaring in the setting of mental illness in women. This is a reflection of social stigma for mental illness and patriarchal attitude towards women. Concerted efforts are needed to bridge the gap between the legislative provisions of HMA and societal value systems and attitudes toward marriage. Awareness programs regarding the nature and types of mental illness, advances in treatment and information about good outcome of severe mental illness will be helpful. Improvement in moral and religious values will overcome to some extent the negative attitudes and patriarchal mind set toward married women with mental illness. PMID:26330650

Cultural Value Orientations and Alcohol Consumption in 74 Countries: A Societal-Level Analysis

PubMed Central

Inman, Richard A.; da Silva, Sara M. G.; Bayoumi, Rasha R.; Hanel, Paul H. P.

2017-01-01

A significant proportion of all deaths globally can be attributed to alcohol consumption. Although a range of correlates of alcohol consumption have already been identified at the individual level, less is understood about correlates at the macro level, such as cultural values. As a development in this understanding may prove useful for global health organizations aiming to tackle the problems associated with excessive drinking, our aim was to investigate the association between encultured alcohol consumption and Cultural Value Orientations. We obtained data describing average alcohol consumption and Cultural Value Orientations, for 74 countries, from an online data repository. To assess whether Cultural Value Orientations are associated with alcohol consumption we calculated partial correlations and performed a ridge regression analysis. Our analyses revealed that Cultural Value Orientations were significantly associated with alcohol consumption, even after controlling for average income and education level. A profile emerged in which values of autonomy and harmony were shown to be positively associated with alcohol consumption, and hierarchy and embeddedness negatively associated with alcohol consumption. The effect was modified by gender. Changes in cultural Harmony, Mastery, Autonomy and Egalitarianism were associated with increases in alcohol consumption in males, but not females, while changes in cultural Embeddedness and Hierarchy were associated with decreases in consumption in females, but no change in males. Finally, we demonstrate that latitude, and by extension its covariates such as climatic demands, partially accounted for the effect of harmony and affective autonomy on alcohol consumption. This research highlights that cultural values, and their interaction with gender, should be an important consideration for international public health organizations aiming to tackle the problems associated with alcohol consumption, but that future research is required to fully understand the link between cultural values and alcohol. PMID:29209246

Are large-scale flow experiments informing the science and management of freshwater ecosystems?

USGS Publications Warehouse

Olden, Julian D.; Konrad, Christopher P.; Melis, Theodore S.; Kennard, Mark J.; Freeman, Mary C.; Mims, Meryl C.; Bray, Erin N.; Gido, Keith B.; Hemphill, Nina P.; Lytle, David A.; McMullen, Laura E.; Pyron, Mark; Robinson, Christopher T.; Schmidt, John C.; Williams, John G.

2013-01-01

Greater scientific knowledge, changing societal values, and legislative mandates have emphasized the importance of implementing large-scale flow experiments (FEs) downstream of dams. We provide the first global assessment of FEs to evaluate their success in advancing science and informing management decisions. Systematic review of 113 FEs across 20 countries revealed that clear articulation of experimental objectives, while not universally practiced, was crucial for achieving management outcomes and changing dam-operating policies. Furthermore, changes to dam operations were three times less likely when FEs were conducted primarily for scientific purposes. Despite the recognized importance of riverine flow regimes, four-fifths of FEs involved only discrete flow events. Over three-quarters of FEs documented both abiotic and biotic outcomes, but only one-third examined multiple taxonomic responses, thus limiting how FE results can inform holistic dam management. Future FEs will present new opportunities to advance scientifically credible water policies.

Watchable Wildlife and Demand-Driven General Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alley, Richard B.

2013-01-01

The societal benefits of an educated citizenry may be lost if "customers" at tuition-driven universities demand less of what they pay for because they value a credential more than the education it represents. Insights from potential employers may help students see the value of education and demand their money's worth.

Analysis of Children's Songs in Terms of Values

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Keray Dinçel, Betül

2017-01-01

Children's songs inspire the love of music in children and improve their musical skills and at the same time, teach national values and societal rules, contribute to their personality development, make children feel happier, foster interpersonal communication and particularly contribute to the cognitive and linguistic development of children at…

Measurement and Model Linkages in Assessing School Environments.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schmitt, Neal

Detailed methodology used to evaluate a causal model of school environment is presented in this report. The model depicts societal features that influence school district values and organizational characteristics, which in turn influence school operations and personnel attitudes and values. These school variables affect school community members'…

The conceptual foundation of environmental decision support.

PubMed

Reichert, Peter; Langhans, Simone D; Lienert, Judit; Schuwirth, Nele

2015-05-01

Environmental decision support intends to use the best available scientific knowledge to help decision makers find and evaluate management alternatives. The goal of this process is to achieve the best fulfillment of societal objectives. This requires a careful analysis of (i) how scientific knowledge can be represented and quantified, (ii) how societal preferences can be described and elicited, and (iii) how these concepts can best be used to support communication with authorities, politicians, and the public in environmental management. The goal of this paper is to discuss key requirements for a conceptual framework to address these issues and to suggest how these can best be met. We argue that a combination of probability theory and scenario planning with multi-attribute utility theory fulfills these requirements, and discuss adaptations and extensions of these theories to improve their application for supporting environmental decision making. With respect to (i) we suggest the use of intersubjective probabilities, if required extended to imprecise probabilities, to describe the current state of scientific knowledge. To address (ii), we emphasize the importance of value functions, in addition to utilities, to support decisions under risk. We discuss the need for testing "non-standard" value aggregation techniques, the usefulness of flexibility of value functions regarding attribute data availability, the elicitation of value functions for sub-objectives from experts, and the consideration of uncertainty in value and utility elicitation. With respect to (iii), we outline a well-structured procedure for transparent environmental decision support that is based on a clear separation of scientific prediction and societal valuation. We illustrate aspects of the suggested methodology by its application to river management in general and with a small, didactical case study on spatial river rehabilitation prioritization. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Climate mitigation and the future of tropical landscapes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Thomson, Allison M.; Calvin, Katherine V.; Chini, Louise Parsons

2010-11-16

Land use change to meet 21st Century demands for food, fuel, and fiber will occur in the context of both a changing climate as well as societal efforts to mitigate climate change. This changing natural and human environment will have large consequences for forest resources, terrestrial carbon storage and emissions, and food and energy crop production over the next century. Any climate change mitigation policies enacted will change the environment under which land-use decisions are made and alter global land use change patterns. Here we use the GCAM integrated assessment model to explore how climate mitigation policies that achieve amore » climate stabilization at 4.5 W m-2 radiative forcing in 2100 and value carbon in terrestrial ecosystems interact with future agricultural productivity and food and energy demands to influence land use in the tropics. The regional land use results are downscaled from GCAM regions to produce gridded maps of tropical land use change. We find that tropical forests are preserved only in cases where a climate mitigation policy that values terrestrial carbon is in place, and crop productivity growth continues throughout the century. Crop productivity growth is also necessary to avoid large scale deforestation globally and enable the production of bioenergy crops. The terrestrial carbon pricing assumptions in GCAM are effective at avoiding deforestation even when cropland must expand to meet future food demand.« less

Strategic plan for the U.S. Geological Survey 1996 to 2005

USGS Publications Warehouse

,

1996-01-01

During the past two decades profound changes have swept across the scientific, social, and political landscape in which the U.S. Geological Survey (the USGS) functions and to which it is inextricably linked. Core values that were institutionally forged and universally embraced in the past have been vigorously challenged and even vigorously assaulted. Political, economic, and societal forces that coalesced in 1995 threatened the very existence of the U.S. Geological Survey an organization that we long believed to be vital and important to the well-being of the American people and to the advancement of the earth sciences. The near abolishment of the USGS was averted largely by our customers. It was their understanding of the value of our work and their demand that we continue to provide our products and services that ensured our near-term survival.

Cost-utility analysis of a multidisciplinary strategy to manage osteoarthritis of the knee: economic evaluation of a cluster randomized controlled trial study.

PubMed

Marra, Carlo A; Grubisic, Maja; Cibere, Jolanda; Grindrod, Kelly A; Woolcott, John C; Gastonguay, Louise; Esdaile, John M

2014-06-01

To determine if a pharmacist-initiated multidisciplinary strategy provides value for money compared to usual care in participants with previously undiagnosed knee osteoarthritis. Pharmacies were randomly allocated to provide either 1) usual care and a pamphlet or 2) intervention care, which consisted of education, pain medication management by a pharmacist, physiotherapy-guided exercise, and communication with the primary care physician. Costs and quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) were determined for patients assigned to each treatment and incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) were determined. From the Ministry of Health perspective, the average patient in the intervention group generated slightly higher costs compared with usual care. Similar findings were obtained when using the societal perspective. The intervention resulted in ICERs of $232 (95% confidence interval [95% CI] -1,530, 2,154) per QALY gained from the Ministry of Health perspective and $14,395 (95% CI 7,826, 23,132) per QALY gained from the societal perspective, compared with usual care. A pharmacist-initiated, multidisciplinary program was good value for money from both the societal and Ministry of Health perspectives. Copyright © 2014 by the American College of Rheumatology.

Eliciting societal preferences of reimbursement decision criteria for anti cancer drugs in South Korea.

PubMed

Kwon, Sun-Hong; Park, Sun-Kyeong; Byun, Ji-Hye; Lee, Eui-Kyung

2017-08-01

In order to look beyond the cost-effectiveness analysis, this study used a multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA), which reflects societal values with regard to reimbursement decisions. This study aims to elicit societal preferences of the reimbursement decision criteria for anti cancer drugs from public and healthcare professionals. Eight criteria were defined based on a literature review and focus group sessions: disease severity, disease population size, pediatrics targets, unmet needs, innovation, clinical benefits, cost-effectiveness, and budget impacts. Using quota sampling and purposive sampling, 300 participants from the Korean public and 30 healthcare professionals were selected for the survey. Preferences were elicited using an analytic hierarchy process. Both groups rated clinical benefits the highest, followed by cost-effectiveness and disease severity, but differed with regard to disease population size and unmet needs. Innovation was the least preferred criteria. Clinical benefits and other social values should be reflected appropriately with cost-effectiveness in healthcare coverage. MCDA can be used to assess decision priorities for complicated health policy decisions, including reimbursement decisions. It is a promising method for making logical and transparent drug reimbursement decisions that consider a broad range of factors, which are perceived as important by relevant stakeholders.

From the Classics to the Cuts: Valuing Teaching Public Administration as a Public Good

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shand, Rory; Howell, Kerry E.

2015-01-01

This article intends to raise a number of issues regarding teaching public administration in the higher education sector and the value it has for individuals and society. The article explores the issue of value with reference to the teaching and learning of Public Administration as a discipline in the wider societal context. The article argues…

"Cultural fit": individual and societal discrepancies in values, beliefs, and subjective well-being.

PubMed

Lu, Luo

2006-04-01

The author examined the relationship between cultural values, beliefs, and subjective well-being (SWB) in the context of the "cultural fit" proposition with 3 diverse Chinese samples from Taiwan and Mainland China (N = 581). The author found that beliefs regarding the independent self, the interdependent self, active control, and relationship harmony as forming individual-level culture were consistently related to SWB. Furthermore, the author found that the magnitude of cultural fit was associated with SWB for certain groups of the Chinese people. It is most interesting that the direction of cultural fit regarding independent self was also important for SWB. Specifically, people who endorsed higher independent self but expected lower societal endorsement of such views were better off in SWB than those of the opposite combination.

The Background to Language Change in Hong Kong.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harrison, Godfrey; So, Lydia K. H.

1996-01-01

Seeks to link the rapid pace of societal change in Hong Kong over the past 50 years with changing patterns of language use there. Shows how the country has changed demographically, economically, politically, socially, and technologically. (16 references) (Author/CK)

Reimbursed Price of Orphan Drugs: Current Strategies and Potential Improvements.

PubMed

Mincarone, Pierpaolo; Leo, Carlo Giacomo; Sabina, Saverio; Sarriá-Santamera, Antonio; Taruscio, Domenica; Serrano-Aguilar, Pedro Guillermo; Kanavos, Panos

2017-01-01

The pricing and reimbursement policies for pharmaceuticals are relevant to balance timely and equitable access for all patients, financial sustainability, and reward for valuable innovation. The proliferation of high-cost specialty medicines is particularly true in rare diseases (RDs) where the pricing mechanism is characterised by a lack of transparency. This work provides an overall picture of current strategies for the definition of the reimbursed prices of orphan drugs (ODs) and highlights some potential improvements. Current strategies and suggestions are presented along 4 dimensions: (1) comprehensive value assessment, (2) early dialogs among relevant stakeholders, (3) innovative reimbursement approaches, and (4) societal participation in producing ODs. Comprehensive value assessment could be achieved by clarifying the approach of distributive justice to adopt, ensuring a representative participation of stakeholders, and with a broad consideration of value-bearing factors. With respect to early dialogs, cross-border cooperation can be determinant to companies and agencies. The cost-benefit ratio of early dialogs needs to be demonstrated and the "regulatory capture" effect should be monitored. Innovative reimbursement approaches were developed to balance the need for evidence-based decisions with the timely access to innovative drugs. The societal participation in producing ODs needs to be recognised in a collaborating framework where adaptive agreements can be developed with mutual satisfaction. Such agreements could also impact on coverage and reimbursement decisions as additional elements for the determination of a comprehensive societal value of ODs. Further research is needed to investigate the highlighted open challenges so that RDs will not remain, in practical terms, orphan diseases. © 2017 S. Karger AG, Basel.

The importance of identifying and modifying unemployment predictor variables in the evolution of a novel model of care for low back pain in the general population.

PubMed

Harris, Simon A; Rampersaud, Y Raja

2016-01-01

Care for low back pain (LBP) is costly, fragmented and, in non-compensation populations, rarely specifically addresses factors associated with maintaining employment status or return to work (RTW). This study aimed to identify modifiable independent risk factors for (1) a negative work status at presentation and (2) a change in work status during treatment in a cohort of LBP patients. The results are intended to inform improvement in best-evidence care pathways to maximize societal outcomes and overall value of a new model of care. A prospective observational study was carried out. Work-eligible, non-workers compensation patients with recurrent or persistent LBP ≥6 weeks and ≤12 months. The Inter-professional Spine Assessment and Education Clinics (ISAEC)-a novel Government-funded shared-care model of management for LBP. This study used the following methods: (1) Cross-sectional analysis of baseline data from the initial ISAEC consultation (t0) from December 2012 to April 2014. Work status at t0 was dichotomized as employed (E) or underemployed (UE; unemployed, modified work duty, or disability). Multivariate logistic regression modeling was used to determine independent predictors of UE status at t0. (2) Bivariate analysis of longitudinal data from t0 to 6 months (t1) to identify risk factors for work status change. Employment journey categorized into four groups: Et0/Et1-employed at t0 and employed at t1; Et0/UEt1-employed at t0 and underemployed at t1; UEt0/Et1-underemployed at t0 and employed at t1; UEt0/UEt1-underemployed at t0 and underemployed at t1. This study yielded the following results: (1) Initial consultation data on 462 consecutive patients (Et0=344, UEt0=118). Multivariate logistic regression identified legal claim, depression, smoking, and higher STarT Back (or Oswestry Disability Index [ODI]) score as independent risk factors for UEt0. (2) Overall UE rate did not significantly change during longitudinal analysis (n=178, UEt0=25.5%, UEt1=22.9%). However, 10.5% of Et0 became UEt1 (Et0/Et1=102, Et0/UEt1=12). Bivariate analysis identified elevated baseline ODI score as the only significant predictor variable for UEt1 in Et0 cohort (p=.0101). Conversely, ISAEC improved the employment status in 41% of UEt0 to Et1 (UEt0/Et1=16, UEt0/UEt1=23), and the absence of depression was significant for predicting RTW (p=.0001). From a societal perspective, employment status as an outcome measure is paramount in assessing the value of a new model of care for LBP. Mitigation strategies for the predictor variables identified will be included in ISAEC pathways to translate clinical improvement into societal added value. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Beyond Thin Ice: Co-Communicating the Many Arctics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Druckenmiller, M. L.; Francis, J. A.; Huntington, H.

2015-12-01

Science communication, typically defined as informing non-expert communities of societally relevant science, is persuaded by the magnitude and pace of scientific discoveries, as well as the urgency of societal issues wherein science may inform decisions. Perhaps nowhere is the connection between these facets stronger than in the marine and coastal Arctic where environmental change is driving advancements in our understanding of natural and socio-ecological systems while paving the way for a new assortment of arctic stakeholders, who generally lack adequate operational knowledge. As such, the Arctic provides opportunity to advance the role of science communication into a collaborative process of engagement and co-communication. To date, the communication of arctic change falls within four primary genres, each with particular audiences in mind. The New Arctic communicates an arctic of new stakeholders scampering to take advantage of unprecedented access. The Global Arctic conveys the Arctic's importance to the rest of the world, primarily as a regulator of lower-latitude climate and weather. The Intra-connected Arctic emphasizes the increasing awareness of the interplay between system components, such as between sea ice loss and marine food webs. The Transforming Arctic communicates the region's trajectory relative to the historical Arctic, acknowledging the impacts on indigenous peoples. The broad societal consensus on climate change in the Arctic as compared to other regions in the world underscores the opportunity for co-communication. Seizing this opportunity requires the science community's engagement with stakeholders and indigenous peoples to construct environmental change narratives that are meaningful to climate responses relative to non-ecological priorities (e.g., infrastructure, food availability, employment, or language). Co-communication fosters opportunities for new methods of and audiences for communication, the co-production of new interdisciplinary knowledge and cross-epistemological perspectives, and direct feedback to the science community regarding the societal implications of future research. Currently, the Study for Environmental Arctic Change (SEARCH) is developing this necessary cadre of co-communicators of marine and coastal arctic change.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Weaver, C. P.; Mooney, Sian; Allen, D.

US efforts to integrate social and biophysical sciences to address the issue of global change exist within a wider movement to understand global change as a societal challenge and to inform policy. Insights from the social sciences can help transform global change research into action.

A Conceptual Framework for Planning Systemic Human Adaptation to Global Warming

PubMed Central

Tait, Peter W.; Hanna, Elizabeth G.

2015-01-01

Human activity is having multiple, inter-related effects on ecosystems. Greenhouse gas emissions persisting along current trajectories threaten to significantly alter human society. At 0.85 °C of anthropogenic warming, deleterious human impacts are acutely evident. Additional warming of 0.5 °C–1.0 °C from already emitted CO2 will further intensify extreme heat and damaging storm events. Failing to sufficiently address this trend will have a heavy human toll directly and indirectly on health. Along with mitigation efforts, societal adaptation to a warmer world is imperative. Adaptation efforts need to be significantly upscaled to prepare society to lessen the public health effects of rising temperatures. Modifying societal behaviour is inherently complex and presents a major policy challenge. We propose a social systems framework for conceptualizing adaptation that maps out three domains within the adaptation policy landscape: acclimatisation, behavioural adaptation and technological adaptation, which operate at societal and personal levels. We propose that overlaying this framework on a systems approach to societal change planning methods will enhance governments’ capacity and efficacy in strategic planning for adaptation. This conceptual framework provides a policy oriented planning assessment tool that will help planners match interventions to the behaviours being targeted for change. We provide illustrative examples to demonstrate the framework’s application as a planning tool. PMID:26334285

A Conceptual Framework for Planning Systemic Human Adaptation to Global Warming.

PubMed

Tait, Peter W; Hanna, Elizabeth G

2015-08-31

Human activity is having multiple, inter-related effects on ecosystems. Greenhouse gas emissions persisting along current trajectories threaten to significantly alter human society. At 0.85 °C of anthropogenic warming, deleterious human impacts are acutely evident. Additional warming of 0.5 °C-1.0 °C from already emitted CO₂ will further intensify extreme heat and damaging storm events. Failing to sufficiently address this trend will have a heavy human toll directly and indirectly on health. Along with mitigation efforts, societal adaptation to a warmer world is imperative. Adaptation efforts need to be significantly upscaled to prepare society to lessen the public health effects of rising temperatures. Modifying societal behaviour is inherently complex and presents a major policy challenge. We propose a social systems framework for conceptualizing adaptation that maps out three domains within the adaptation policy landscape: acclimatisation, behavioural adaptation and technological adaptation, which operate at societal and personal levels. We propose that overlaying this framework on a systems approach to societal change planning methods will enhance governments' capacity and efficacy in strategic planning for adaptation. This conceptual framework provides a policy oriented planning assessment tool that will help planners match interventions to the behaviours being targeted for change. We provide illustrative examples to demonstrate the framework's application as a planning tool.

Nephrologists' perspectives on waitlisting and allocation of deceased donor kidneys for transplant.

PubMed

Tong, Allison; Howard, Kirsten; Wong, Germaine; Cass, Alan; Jan, Stephen; Irving, Michelle; Craig, Jonathan C

2011-11-01

Deceased donor kidneys are a scarce resource and there is debate about how to maximize the benefit from each donated kidney while ensuring equity of access to transplants. Allocation of kidneys to waitlisted patients is determined by a computer algorithm, but the decision to waitlist patients or accept the kidneys offered is largely at the discretion of nephrologists. This study aims to elicit nephrologists' perspectives on waitlisting patients for kidney transplant and the allocation of deceased kidneys. We conducted semistructured face-to-face interviews with adult and pediatric nephrologists from 15 Australian nephrology or transplant centers. Transcripts were analyzed for descriptive and analytical themes. 25 nephrologists participated. 5 major themes on waitlisting and deceased donor kidney allocation were identified: patient advocacy (championing their own patients, empowering patients, giving hope, individualizing judgments, patient preferences, and limited autonomy), professional and moral integrity (transparency, avoiding value judgments, and eliminating bias), protecting center reputation (gatekeeping), achieving equity (uniformity, avoiding discrimination, and fairness for specific populations), and maximizing societal benefit (prioritizing best use of kidney, resource implications, favoring social contribution, and improving efficiency of the allocation process). In making individual patient assessments, estimates about outcomes for a patient had to be resolved with whether it was reasonable from a broader societal perspective. Nephrologists expressed their primary responsibility in terms of giving their own patients access to a transplant and upholding professional integrity by maintaining transparency and avoiding value judgments and bias. However, nephrologists perceived an obligation to protect their center's reputation through the selection of "good" patients, and this caused some frustration. Despite having personal preferences for optimizing the balance between societal benefit and equity, nephrologists did not want direct responsibility for ensuring societal benefit in clinical practice. Rather, they placed the onus on policy makers and the community to reconcile such tensions and advocate for societal benefit. Copyright © 2011 National Kidney Foundation, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Are life-extending treatments for terminal illnesses a special case? Exploring choices and societal viewpoints.

PubMed

McHugh, Neil; van Exel, Job; Mason, Helen; Godwin, Jon; Collins, Marissa; Donaldson, Cam; Baker, Rachel

2018-02-01

Criteria used by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to assess life-extending, end-of-life (EoL) treatments imply that health gains from such treatments are valued more than other health gains. Despite claims that the policy is supported by societal values, evidence from preference elicitation studies is mixed and in-depth research has shown there are different societal viewpoints. Few studies elicit preferences for policies directly or combine different approaches to understand preferences. Survey questions were designed to investigate support for NICE EoL guidance at national and regional levels. These 'Decision Rule' and 'Treatment Choice' questions were administered to an online sample of 1496 UK respondents in May 2014. The same respondents answered questions designed to elicit their agreement with three viewpoints (previously identified and described) in relation to provision of EoL treatments for terminally ill patients. We report the findings of these choice questions and examine how they relate to each other and respondents' viewpoints. The Decision Rule questions described three policies: DA - a standard 'value for money' test, applied to all health technologies; DB - giving special consideration to all treatments for terminal illnesses; and DC - giving special consideration to specific categories of treatments for terminal illnesses e.g. life extension (as in NICE EoL guidance) or those that improve quality-of-life (QoL). Three Treatment Choices were presented: TA - improving QoL for patients with a non-terminal illness; TB - extending life for EoL patients; and TC - improving QoL at the EoL. DC received most support (45%) with most respondents giving special consideration to EoL only when treatments improved QoL. The most commonly preferred treatment choices were TA (51%) and TC (43%). Overall, this study challenges claims about public support for NICE's EoL guidance and the focus on life extension at EoL and substantiates existing evidence of plurality in societal values. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

An analysis of discrepancies between United Kingdom cancer research funding and societal burden and a comparison to previous and United States values.

PubMed

Carter, Ashley J R; Delarosa, Beverly; Hur, Hannah

2015-11-02

Ideally, the allocation of research funding for each specific type of cancer should be proportional to its societal burden. This burden can be estimated with the metric 'years of life lost' (YLL), which combines overall mortality and age at death. Using United Kingdom data from 2010, we compared research funding from the National Cancer Research Institute to this YLL burden metric for 26 types of cancers in order to identify the discrepancies between cancer research funding allocation and societal burden. We also compared these values to United States data from 2010 and United Kingdom data published in 2005. Our study revealed a number of discrepancies between cancer research funding and burden. Some cancers are funded at levels far higher than their relative burden suggests (testicular, leukaemia, Hodgkin's lymphoma, breast, cervical, ovarian, prostate) while other cancers appear under-funded (gallbladder, lung, nasopharyngeal, intestine, stomach, pancreatic, thyroid, oesophageal, liver, kidney, bladder, and brain/central nervous system). United Kingdom funding patterns over the past decade have generally moved to increase funding to previously under-funded cancers with one notable exception showing a converse trend (breast cancer). The broad relationship between United Kingdom and United States funding patterns is similar with a few exceptions (e.g. leukaemia, Hodgkin's lymphoma, prostate, testicular cancer). There are discrepancies between cancer research funding allocation and societal burden in the United Kingdom. These discrepancies are broadly similar in both the United Kingdom and the United States and, while they appear to be improving, this is not consistent across all types of cancer.

Economics research supporting water resource stewardship in the Pacific Northwest.

Treesearch

Laurie L. Houston; Jeffrey D. Kline; Ralph J. Alig

2002-01-01

The use of water increasingly involves complex tradeoffs among biophysical, economic, ecological, and societal values. Knowledge about the value of water to different users and methods with which to evaluate biophysical, economic, ecological, and social tradeoffs associated with allocating limited water resources among competing uses is vital to devising appropriate...

Poverty, Rape, Adult/Teen Sex: Why "Pregnancy Prevention" Programs Don't Work.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Males, Mike

1994-01-01

Stephen Caldas assumes that modern "teenage" sex and pregnancy are deviant, isolatable behaviors. However, teenage and adult sexual behaviors are so intertwined at the personal and societal levels that there is no distinct teenage phenomenon amenable to school intervention. Attempting to preach values contradicting the values adults practice is…

Government Workers Adding Societal Value: The Ohio Workforce Development Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guerra, Ingrid; Bernardez, Mariano; Jones, Michael; Zidan, Suhail

2005-01-01

This case study illustrates the application of Mega--adding measurable value for all stakeholders including society--as the central and ultimate focus for needs assessment. In this case, two needs assessment studies were conducted within a five-year period (1999-2003) with the State of Ohio's Workforce Development (WD) program. An initial needs…

The Alternative Media's Values for the 21st Century.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jassem, Harvey C.

There are thousands of alternative media outlets in the United States. By definition, they differ from the mainstream dominant media. The idea that the media represent and promulgate societal values is widely held. While not monolithic, the dominant media which grew alongside mass industrialization share an overriding bias. The dominant media…

Diver perceptions of Florida Keys Reef conditions by specialization level

Treesearch

Sarah Young; David Loomis

2010-01-01

Understanding different user-group values, preferences, and perceptions can lead to more efficient and effective management decisions, reducing conflict and helping to balance eco-societal goals. User perceptions of reef condition, ecological health, and impacts to reefs can provide valuable information to managers on motivations, values, willingness to comply with...

Residual timber values within Piedmont streamside management zones of different widths and harvest levels

Treesearch

William A. Lakel; Wallace Aust; C. Andrew Dolloff; Patrick D. Keyser

2015-01-01

Forested streamside management zones (SMZs) provide numerous societal benefits including protection of water quality and enhancement of in-stream and riparian habitats. However, values of residual timber in SMZs are often ignored, yet maintenance of unnecessarily wide SMZs can potentially reduce merchantable timber. Therefore, forestland owners, managers, and logging...

Early Childhood Socialization: Societal Context and Childrearing Values in Hungary

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brayfield, April; Korintus, Marta

2011-01-01

This article examines the socio-cultural context of early childhood socialization in Hungary. Using a macroscopic lens, we describe the national demographic situation and the social organization of early childhood education and care. Our analysis then shifts to a microscopic focus on parental values and beliefs about the substance of what young…

The Economic Value of Climate Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wielicki, B. A.; Cooke, R.; Young, D. F.; Mlynczak, M. G.

2012-12-01

While demonstrating the economic value of science is challenging, it can be more direct for some Earth observations. For example, suppose a climate science mission can yield decisive information on climate change within a shortened time frame. How much should society be willing to pay for this knowledge today? The US interagency memo on the social cost of carbon (SCC) provides a standard for valuing damages from carbon emissions. We illustrate how value of information (VOI) calculations can be used to monetize the relative value of different climate observations. We follow the SCC, stipulating uncertainty in climate sensitivity, using discount rates of 2.5%, 3% and 5%, and using one of the Integrated Assessment Models sanctioned in SCC (DICE, Nordhaus 2008). We consider three mitigation scenarios: Business as Usual (BAU), a moderate response (DICE Optimal), and a strong response (Stern). To illustrate results, suppose that we would switch from BAU to the Stern emissions path if we learn with 90% confidence that the decadal rate of temperature change reaches or exceeds 0.2 C/decade. Under the SCC assumptions, the year in which this happens, if it happens, depends on uncertain climate sensitivity and on the emissions path. The year in which we become 90% certain also depends on our Earth observations, their accuracy, and their completeness. The resolving power of a climate observing system cannot exceed climate system natural variability. All climate observations add noise to natural variability caused by observing limitations, including calibration errors and space/time sampling uncertainty. The basic concept is that more accurate observations can advance the time for societal decisions. The economic value of the resulting averted damages depends on the discount rate, and the years in which the damages occur. A new climate observation would be economically justified if the net present value (NPV) of the difference in averted damages, relative to the existing systems, exceeds the NPV of the system costs. We present illustrative results comparing the proposed CLARREO advance in satellite absolute calibration for climate change records to an existing system for detecting decadal temperature change and cloud feedback (i.e. climate sensitivity uncertainty). While CLARREO is used as an example, the value should be considered as relevant to an improved climate observing system, since societal decisions are unlikely to be based on one or a few observations. The VOI is found to depend on the required confidence level, the trigger value at which we would abandon the BAU emissions path, the path to which we switch, and the date at which the new system is launched. The VOI of CLARREO in this decision context is the surfeit of NPV of averted damages, relative to the existing system. Over all it is in the order of tens of trillions of US dollars. Among the noteworthy conclusions are (1) switching to either the DICE optimal or Stern emissions paths makes only a modest difference in the VOI of CLARREO, (2) raising the trigger value from 0.2C to 0.3C/decade, increases the VOI of CLARREO, while increasing the total NPV of climate damages, and (3) the choice of discount rate affects the VOI by a factor ~ 5. The results conclude that the economic value of advanced climate observing systems is dramatically larger than their cost, and argues for the continual enhancement of the SCC assessment process.

Update on value-based medicine.

PubMed

Brown, Melissa M; Brown, Gary C

2013-05-01

To update concepts in Value-Based Medicine, especially in view of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act assures that some variant of Value-Based Medicine cost-utility analysis will play a key role in the healthcare system. It identifies the highest quality care, thereby maximizing the most efficacious use of healthcare resources and empowering patients and physicians.Standardization is critical for the creation and acceptance of a Value-Based Medicine, cost-utility analysis, information system, since 27 million different input variants can go into a cost-utility analysis. Key among such standards is the use of patient preferences (utilities), as patients best understand the quality of life associated with their health states. The inclusion of societal costs, versus direct medical costs alone, demonstrates that medical interventions are more cost effective and, in many instances, provide a net financial return-on-investment to society referent to the direct medical costs expended. Value-Based Medicine provides a standardized methodology, integrating critical, patient, quality-of-life preferences, and societal costs, to allow the highest quality, most cost-effective care. Central to Value-Based Medicine is the concept that all patients deserve the interventions that provide the greatest patient value (improvement in quality of life and/or length of life).

American undergraduate students' value development during the Great Recession.

PubMed

Park, Heejung; Twenge, Jean M; Greenfield, Patricia M

2017-02-01

The Great Recession's influence on American undergraduate students' values was examined, testing Greenfield's and Kasser's theories concerning value development during economic downturns. Study 1 utilised aggregate-level data to investigate (a) population-level value changes between the pre-recession (2004-2006: n = 824,603) and recession freshman cohort (2008-2010: n = 662,262) and (b) overall associations of population-level values with national economic climates over long-term periods by correlating unemployment rates and concurrent aggregate-level values across 1966-2015 (n = 10 million). Study 2 examined individual-level longitudinal value development from freshman to senior year, and whether the developmental trajectories differed between those who completed undergraduate education before the Great Recession (freshmen in 2002, n = 12,792) versus those who encountered the Great Recession during undergraduate years (freshmen in 2006, n = 13,358). Results suggest American undergraduate students' increased communitarianism (supporting Greenfield) and materialism (supporting Kasser) during the Great Recession. The recession also appears to have slowed university students' development of positive self-views. Results contribute to the limited literature on the Great Recession's influence on young people's values. They also offer theoretical and practical implications, as values of this privileged group of young adults are important shapers of societal values, decisions, and policies. © 2016 International Union of Psychological Science.

Collective futures: how projections about the future of society are related to actions and attitudes supporting social change.

PubMed

Bain, Paul G; Hornsey, Matthew J; Bongiorno, Renata; Kashima, Yoshihisa; Crimston, Daniel

2013-04-01

We identified the active ingredients in people's visions of society's future ("collective futures") that could drive political behavior in the present. In eight studies (N = 595), people imagined society in 2050 where climate change was mitigated (Study 1), abortion laws relaxed (Study 2), marijuana legalized (Study 3), or the power of different religious groups had increased (Studies 4-8). Participants rated how this future society would differ from today in terms of societal-level dysfunction and development (e.g., crime, inequality, education, technology), people's character (warmth, competence, morality), and their values (e.g., conservation, self-transcendence). These measures were related to present-day attitudes/intentions that would promote/prevent this future (e.g., act on climate change, vote for a Muslim politician). A projection about benevolence in society (i.e., warmth/morality of people's character) was the only dimension consistently and uniquely associated with present-day attitudes and intentions across contexts. Implications for social change theories, political communication, and policy design are discussed.

Opposite Trends in the Regulation of Pornography? Policy Differentiation and Policy Convergence Across 26 Countries Between 1960 and 2010.

PubMed

Person, Christian; Hurka, Steffen; Knill, Christoph

2016-09-01

In recent decades, the regulation of pornography has been confronted with challenges emerging from cultural change, economic interests, and technological progress. As a result, the respective regulatory frameworks have changed substantially in many countries. These changes have been accompanied by fierce political struggles and societal value conflicts. However, there are few comparative studies on the reactions of national governments to these problems. In this article, we present new empirical data on the regulation of pornography in 26 countries between 1960 and 2010. To assess regulatory change, we rely on a new measurement approach that considers the extent to which governments intervene into individual freedoms and the degree to which noncompliance with these rules is actually sanctioned. Our analysis reveals a trend toward more permissive styles of pornography regulation. However, this trend is accompanied by growing regulatory specialization and a convergence toward more interventionist regimes for special types of pornography.

Creating value in health care through big data: opportunities and policy implications.

PubMed

Roski, Joachim; Bo-Linn, George W; Andrews, Timothy A

2014-07-01

Big data has the potential to create significant value in health care by improving outcomes while lowering costs. Big data's defining features include the ability to handle massive data volume and variety at high velocity. New, flexible, and easily expandable information technology (IT) infrastructure, including so-called data lakes and cloud data storage and management solutions, make big-data analytics possible. However, most health IT systems still rely on data warehouse structures. Without the right IT infrastructure, analytic tools, visualization approaches, work flows, and interfaces, the insights provided by big data are likely to be limited. Big data's success in creating value in the health care sector may require changes in current polices to balance the potential societal benefits of big-data approaches and the protection of patients' confidentiality. Other policy implications of using big data are that many current practices and policies related to data use, access, sharing, privacy, and stewardship need to be revised. Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

Logistics Response to the Industry 4.0: the Physical Internet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maslarić, Marinko; Nikoličić, Svetlana; Mirčetić, Dejan

2016-11-01

Today's mankind and all human activities are constantly changing and evolving in response to changes in technology, social and economic environments and climate. Those changes drive a "new" way of manufacturing industry. That novelty could be described as the organization of production processes based on technology and devices autonomously communicating with each other along the value chain. Decision-makers have to address this novelty (usually named as Industry 4.0) and try to develop appropriate information systems, physical facilities, and different kind of technologies capable of meeting the future needs of economy. As a consequence, there is a need for new paradigms of the way freight is move, store, realize, and supply through the world (logistics system). One of the proposed solutions is the Physical Internet, concept of open global logistics system which completely redefines current supply chain configuration, business models, and value-creation patterns.However, further detailed research on this topic is much needed. This paper aims to provide a balanced review of the variety of views considered among professionals in the field of Physical Internet with the final aim to identify the biggest challenges (technological, societal, business paradigm) of proposed new logistics paradigm as a practical solution in supporting Industry 4.0.

The Role of Wilderness Protection and Societal Engagement as Indicators of Well-Being: An Examination of Change at the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Watson, Alan E.

2013-01-01

A societal decision to protect over 9 million acres of land and water for its wilderness character in the early 1960s reflected US wealth in natural resources, pride in the nation's cultural history and our commitment to the well-being of future generations to both experience wild nature and enjoy benefits flowing from these natural ecosystems.…

Assessing and Responding to the Risks of Global and Societal Changes in the MENA Region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lange, Manfred

2017-04-01

Interactions and feedbacks between rapidly increasing multiple pressures on water, energy and food security drive social-ecological systems at multiple scales towards critical thresholds in countries of the Eastern Mediterranean, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA Region). The MENA Region is expected to experience significantly above-global-mean changes in climatic conditions and has been designated as one of the global "climate change hot spots" (Giorgi, F., 2006). The MENA region is also characterized by one of the highest rates of population growth on Earth, having seen a 3.7-fold increase in population between 1950 to 2000. The region is expected to continue to see a roughly doubling of its population until 2050 (Population Reference Bureau, 2001). Significant gender inequalities and an extremely high rate of youth unemployment are repercussions of such developments that exacerbate the societal pressures and tensions in the region. In addition, the events of the "Arab Spring", have resulted in major political, economic and societal transitions and have frequently been accompanied by significant armed struggles within and between countries of the MENA Region. These developments and the still ongoing conflicts in parts of the region render this region to one of the global "political, societal and humanitarian hot-spots". Responding to these challenges requires integrated science and a close relationship between policy makers and stakeholders, a need that Future Earth (www.futureearth.org) has been designed to respond to. In order to address the requirements of nation states and local communities, Future Earth has adopted a regional governance structure. This has resulted in the establishment of the Future Earth MENA Regional Center at the Cyprus Institute (FEMRC) in Nicosia, Cyprus, as one of five Regional Centers worldwide. One of the major challenges in establishing a regional Future-Earth-related research agenda lies in a comprehensive assessments of the combined risks posed by the MENA region being considered a climatic and a societal "hot spot", as described above. These risks will have to be effectively communicated to stakeholders and the research community in order to outline, specify and implement research towards efficacious mitigation and adaption strategies aimed to minimize adverse effects of challenges posed by global and societal changes in the MENA region. The paper will describe the current state of advancing such a process and will introduce a first draft of a "Future Earth Research Strategy for the MENA Region", as formulated by the FEMRC and its Regional Advisory Committee.

A method to identify drivers of societal change likely to affect natural assets in the future, illustrated with Australia's native biodiversity.

PubMed

Pepper, D A; Lada, Hania; Thomson, James R; Bakar, K Shuvo; Lake, P S; Mac Nally, Ralph

2017-03-01

Human society has a profound adverse effect on natural assets as human populations increase and as global climate changes. We need to envisage different futures that encompass plausible human responses to threats and change, and become more mindful of their likely impacts on natural assets. We describe a method for developing a set of future scenarios for a natural asset at national scale under ongoing human population growth and climate change. The method involves expansive consideration of potential drivers of societal change, a reduction of these to form a small set of key drivers to which contrasting settings are assigned, which we use to develop a set of different scenarios. We use Australia's native biodiversity as the focus to illustrate the method. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Tracing society in climate change: Societal negotiations and physical dynamics of water under climate change conditions in the Cordillera Blanca region, Peru

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Neuburger, Martina; Gurgiser, Wolfgang; Maussion, Fabien; Singer, Katrin; Kaser, Georg

2017-04-01

Natural scientists observe and project changes in precipitation and temperature at different spatio-temporal scales and investigate impacts on glaciers and hydrological regimes. Simultaneously, social groups experience ecological phenomena as linked to climate change and integrate them into their understanding of nature and their logics of action, while political actors refer to scientific results as legitimization to focus on adaptation and mitigation strategies on global, national and regional/local level. However, natural and socio-political changes on various scales (regarding time and space) are not directly interlinked, but are communicated by energy and material flows, by discourses, power relations and institutional regulations. In this context, it remains still unclear how natural dynamics are (dis)entangled with societal processes in their historical dimensions and in their interrelations from global via national to regional and local scales. Considering the Cordillera Blanca region in Peru as an example, we analyze the intertwining of scales (global, national, regional, local) and spheres (natural, political, societal) to detect entanglements and disconnections of observed processes. Using the methodology of a time line, we present precipitation variability and glacier recession at different scales, estimate qualitative water availability and investigate the links to the implementation of international and national political programs on climate change adaptation in the Cordillera Blanca region focusing on water and agrarian programs. Finally, we include supposedly contradictory reports of rural population on climate change and related impacts on water availability and agricultural production to analyze the (dis)entanglement due to changing power relations and dominant discourses.

Developing Character and Values for Global Citizens: Analysis of pre-service science teachers' moral reasoning on socioscientific issues

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Hyunju; Chang, Hyunsook; Choi, Kyunghee; Kim, Sung-Won; Zeidler, Dana L.

2012-04-01

Character and values are the essential driving forces that serve as general guides or points of reference for individuals to support decision-making and to act responsibly about global socioscientific issues (SSIs). Based on this assumption, we investigated to what extent pre-service science teachers (PSTs) of South Korea possess character and values as global citizens; these values include ecological worldview, socioscientific accountability, and social and moral compassion. Eighteen PSTs participated in the SSI programs focusing on developing character and values through dialogical and reflective processes. SSIs were centered on the use of nuclear power generation, climate change, and embryonic stem cell research. The results indicated that PSTs showed three key elements of character and values, but failed to apply consistent moral principles on the issues and demonstrated limited global perspectives. While they tended to approach the issues with emotion and sympathy, they nonetheless failed to perceive themselves as major moral agents who are able to actively resolve large-scale societal issues. This study also suggests that the SSI programs can facilitate socioscientific reasoning to include abilities such as recognition of the complexity of SSIs, examine issues from multiple perspectives, and exhibit skepticism about information.

Understanding Montane Snow Water Equivalent Response to Climate Change and Variability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huning, L. S.; AghaKouchak, A.

2017-12-01

Large populations worldwide rely on the seasonal snowpack for the majority of their water resources. Warming temperatures and other hydrometeorological changes impact the timing, distribution, and amount of montane snow water equivalent (SWE). Therefore, developing an improved understanding of the historical response to changing atmospheric drivers across snow-dominated mountainous regions has significant societal value related to water resources management and environmental hazards (i.e. flooding and droughts) for a future warming climate. Utilizing multi-decadal snow data sets and a probabilistic risk model over mountain ranges such as the Sierra Nevada (USA), the response of snowpack characteristics (e.g. SWE/snowfall, peak SWE, day of peak SWE, melt rate, etc.) to unit changes in hydrometeorological quantities (e.g. air temperature, humidity, winds, etc.) is quantified. The likelihood that the amount of SWE will exceed specified amounts (e.g. long-term peak SWE value) is presented for a range of climatic conditions. This study compares hydrologic response of montane SWE across windward and leeward basins, elevational bands, and regions of differing physiographic characteristics to understand how projected global warming such as a unit increase in air temperature or changes in other hydrometeorological quantities impact SWE at different spatial scales (i.e. basin-wide and range-wide). It provides insight that can be used to understand vulnerabilities of the seasonal snowpack to changes in climatic and atmospheric conditions.

Population change and socio-cultural values.

PubMed

1982-06-01

The developing countries of the world in general, and those of Asia and the Pacific in particular, recognize that unplanned population growth is a stumbling block to socioeconomic development. Discussion here focuses on population growth and social, economic, and institutional forces, which are referred to as sociocultural values. Generally, sociocultural values change sluggishly over time. The rate at which a country's sociocultural values change depends on several factors such as the stage of economic development and modernization and whether a country has an open or closed door policy. "The Value of Children Study: A Crossnational Study" by Fred Arnold et al. shows that there are positive and negative values attributed to children in the Asian countries. These are: positive general values--emotional benefits, economic benefits and security, self enrichment and development, identification with children, and family cohesiveness and continuity; negative general values--emotional costs, economic costs, restrictions on opportunity costs, physical demands, and family costs; large family values--sibling relationships, sex preferences, child survival; and small family values--maternal health and societal costs. Possibly the most formidable obstacle to the success of antinatalist population policies is that of religious values. It appears that the Muslim world is divided on the issue of fertility control. Conflicting views regarding fertility control is perhaps aggravated by the fact that there is no central international religious official hierarchy that issues out edicts. Despite the presence of a centralized religious hierarchy and a network of churches from the Vatican to the village levels among the Catholics, and a clearer elucidation of the Humanae Vitae, a liberal attitude to population regulation and family planning has emerged, largely because of the declining quality of life of the people resulting from unplanned births. Economic benefits of children include benefits from children's help in the house, business, or farm, from care of siblings, and from sharing of income; and old age security for the parents, including economic support, physical care, and psychological security. People in some countries of the region have a number of prenatalist values and beliefs, including a preference for sons. Changing attitudes and social realities have resulted in value changes, value crises, value conflicts, and confusion. Value clarification has much potential in terms of a couple's decision making. Values clarification involves at least 7 steps: choosing freely; choosing from alternatives; choosing after thoughtful consideration of consequences; prizing and cherishing; publicly affirming; acting; and acting with some pattern.

Conspiracy theories as part of history: The role of societal crisis situations.

PubMed

van Prooijen, Jan-Willem; Douglas, Karen M

2017-07-01

In the present contribution, we examine the link between societal crisis situations and belief in conspiracy theories. Contrary to common assumptions, belief in conspiracy theories has been prevalent throughout human history. We first illustrate historical incidents suggesting that societal crisis situations-defined as impactful and rapid societal change that calls established power structures, norms of conduct, or even the existence of specific people or groups into question-have stimulated belief in conspiracy theories. We then review the psychological literature to explain why this is the case. Evidence suggests that the aversive feelings that people experience when in crisis-fear, uncertainty, and the feeling of being out of control-stimulate a motivation to make sense of the situation, increasing the likelihood of perceiving conspiracies in social situations. We then explain that after being formed, conspiracy theories can become historical narratives that may spread through cultural transmission. We conclude that conspiracy theories originate particularly in crisis situations and may form the basis for how people subsequently remember and mentally represent a historical event.

The Road Less Travelled: The Deep Challenges of Social Transformations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

O'Brien, K. L.; Moser, S. C.

2016-12-01

How do we create the societal transformations necessary to stabilize the global climate and address other global goals? The roadmap metaphor guiding this session reflects a managerial approach to deep decarbonization, one that can be planned, charted, guided and implemented with the tools already known. Transformations and systems change involve far more than technical innovations, policy instruments and behavioral change. Drawing on a wide range of research on transformation processes from the social sciences and humanities and systems science, we argue that current approaches to decarbonization are likely to fail if they ignore theories of social change, including insights on the dynamics of social, cultural, economic and political transformations. Climate stabilization also calls for attention to the relationships between human values, political agency, power, and institutional change. It is precisely these deeper dynamics - which are typically ignored - that stall transformative change. Rather than developing a carbon road map, we suggest both a wider and deeper exploration of the territory of social transformation is needed, and suggest both different metaphors and methods to engage individual change agents and communities of actors, who together can create pathways to sustainability.

Perspectives on use and protection of genetic information in work settings: results of a preliminary study.

PubMed

Roberts, Laura Weiss; Geppert, Cynthia M A; Warner, Teddy D; Green Hammond, Katherine A; Rogers, Melinda; Smrcka, Julienne; Roberts, Brian B

2005-04-01

The societal use of genetic information raises ethical concerns, and the views of working persons regarding genetic information have received little attention. We performed an empirical project to characterize perspectives of 63 employees at two sites who expressed strong interest in learning about and protecting their personal genetic information. Genetic data were seen as more sensitive than other health data, and disclosure of genetic susceptibility was perceived as having negative consequences. This study suggests the value of exploring the perspectives of key stakeholders most directly affected by genetic applications across diverse societal settings.

[The value of sports for handicapped patients. Achieving social integration--building bridges by paralympic sports].

PubMed

Steadward, R D

2000-11-01

It is important to reflect back on the enormous changes that have taken place in society over the past century that have affected the quality of life of disabled persons and societal attitudes towards disability. Although great progress has been made, these people remain marginalized and disadvantaged, and despite all the efforts of volunteers, professionals, and governments, we cannot categorically state that they are fully socially integrated. The term disability continues to carry an enormous stigma, and therefore it is important to examine the concept of social integration and the issues around it as they affect disabled persons and the role of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) movement in achieving this end.

Boosting Belligerence

PubMed Central

Van de Vyver, Julie; Houston, Diane M.; Abrams, Dominic; Vasiljevic, Milica

2016-01-01

Major terrorist events, such as the recent attacks in Ankara, Sinai, and Paris, can have profound effects on a nation’s values, attitudes, and prejudices. Yet psychological evidence testing the impact of such events via data collected immediately before and after an attack is understandably rare. In the present research, we tested the independent and joint effects of threat (the July 7, 2005, London bombings) and political ideology on endorsement of moral foundations and prejudices among two nationally representative samples (combined N = 2,031) about 6 weeks before and 1 month after the London bombings. After the bombings, there was greater endorsement of the in-group foundation, lower endorsement of the fairness-reciprocity foundation, and stronger prejudices toward Muslims and immigrants. The differences in both the endorsement of the foundations and the prejudices were larger among people with a liberal orientation than among those with a conservative orientation. Furthermore, the changes in endorsement of moral foundations among liberals explained their increases in prejudice. The results highlight the value of psychological theory and research for understanding societal changes in attitudes and prejudices after major terrorist events. PMID:26674127

Exploring Elementary Students' Understanding of Energy and Climate Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boylan, Colin

2008-01-01

As environmental changes become a significant societal issue, elementary science curricula need to develop students' understanding about the key concepts of energy and climate change. For teachers, developing quality learning experiences involves establishing what their students' prior understanding about energy and climate change are. A survey…

CLIMATE CHANGE EFFECTS ON ECOSYSTEM SERVICES AND HUMAN HEALTH

EPA Science Inventory

Human health and well-being are and will be affected by climate change, both directly through changes in extreme weather events and indirectly through weather induced changes in societal systems and their supporting ecosystems. The goal of this study was to develop and apply a b...

Erotized, AIDS-HIV information on public-access television: a study of obscenity, state censorship and cultural resistance.

PubMed

Lukenbill, W B

1998-06-01

This study analyzes court records of a county-level obscenity trial in Austin, Texas, and the appeal of the guilty verdict beginning with a Texas appellate court up to the U.S. Supreme Court of two individuals who broadcast erotized AIDS and HIV safer sex information on a public-access cable television. The trial and appellate court decisions are reviewed in terms of argument themes, and the nature of sexual value controversy is outlined. Erotic materials often conflict with broad-based sexual and community values, and providing erotized HIV and AIDS information products can be a form of radical political action designed to force societal change. This study raises question as to how this trial and this type of informational product might affect the programs and activities of information resource centers, community-based organizations, libraries, and the overall mission of public health education.

ENHANCING PRESCRIPTION DRUG INNOVATION AND ADOPTION

PubMed Central

Alexander, G. Caleb; O’Connor, Alec B.; Stafford, Randall S.

2014-01-01

The adoption and use of a new drug would ideally be guided by its Innovation and cost-effectiveness. The adoption and use of a new drug would ideally be guided by its innovation and cost-effectiveness. However, information about the relative efficacy and safety of a drug is typically incomplete even well after market entry, and various other forces create a market place in which most new drugs are little better than their older counterparts. Five proposed mechanisms are considered for promoting innovation and reducing the use of therapies ultimately found to offer poor value or have unacceptable risks. These changes range from increasing the evidence required for U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval to modifying the structure of drug reimbursement. Despite the challenges of policy implementation, the United States has a long history of successfully improving the societal value and safe use of prescription medicines. PMID:21690598

Meeting the challenges to European healthcare: lessons learned from the 'Stockholm Revolution'.

PubMed

Hjertqvist, Johan

2002-01-01

Healthcare is a political 'hot potato' in Sweden, just as it is throughout Europe. Regardless of whether the focus is on the 'Swedish model' or a 'European model', the operative term should be 'Culture - a set of values common to European healthcare systems'. An analysis of change and challenge in European healthcare systems must examine these values in the context of technological and societal forces before addressing the overarching concerns of where the money will come from. Discussion of the reform evidenced by the 'Stockholm Revolution' will serve as a model of how European healthcare systems can adapt to new conditions by the following approaches: modernising services through incentives; making the consumer a partner by focusing on consumer-related outcomes; building employee networks that encourage responsibility and problem solving; making healthcare an attractive labour market; and creating self-employment opportunities in the healthcare market to increase efficiency and emphasis on consumer satisfaction.

Economic vulnerability to sea-level rise along the northern U.S. Gulf Coast

USGS Publications Warehouse

Thatcher, Cindy A.; Brock, John C.; Pendleton, Elizabeth A.

2013-01-01

The northern Gulf of Mexico coast of the United States has been identified as highly vulnerable to sea-level rise, based on a combination of physical and societal factors. Vulnerability of human populations and infrastructure to projected increases in sea level is a critical area of uncertainty for communities in the extremely low-lying and flat northern gulf coastal zone. A rapidly growing population along some parts of the northern Gulf of Mexico coastline is further increasing the potential societal and economic impacts of projected sea-level rise in the region, where observed relative rise rates range from 0.75 to 9.95 mm per year on the Gulf coasts of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. A 1-m elevation threshold was chosen as an inclusive designation of the coastal zone vulnerable to relative sea-level rise, because of uncertainty associated with sea-level rise projections. This study applies a Coastal Economic Vulnerability Index (CEVI) to the northern Gulf of Mexico region, which includes both physical and economic factors that contribute to societal risk of impacts from rising sea level. The economic variables incorporated in the CEVI include human population, urban land cover, economic value of key types of infrastructure, and residential and commercial building values. The variables are standardized and combined to produce a quantitative index value for each 1-km coastal segment, highlighting areas where human populations and the built environment are most at risk. This information can be used by coastal managers as they allocate limited resources for ecosystem restoration, beach nourishment, and coastal-protection infrastructure. The study indicates a large amount of variability in index values along the northern Gulf of Mexico coastline, and highlights areas where long-term planning to enhance resiliency is particularly needed.

The equivalence of numbers: The social value of avoiding health decline: An experimental web-based study

PubMed Central

Schwappach, David LB

2002-01-01

Background Health economic analysis aimed at informing policy makers and supporting resource allocation decisions has to evaluate not only improvements in health but also avoided decline. Little is known however, whether the "direction" in which changes in health are experienced is important for the public in prioritizing among patients. This experimental study investigates the social value people place on avoiding (further) health decline when directly compared to curative treatments in resource allocation decisions. Methods 127 individuals completed an interactive survey that was published in the World Wide Web. They were confronted with a standard gamble (SG) and three person trade-off tasks, either comparing improvements in health (PTO-Up), avoided decline (PTO-Down), or both, contrasting health changes of equal magnitude differing in the direction in which they are experienced (PTO-WAD). Finally, a direct priority ranking of various interventions was obtained. Results Participants strongly prioritized improving patients' health rather than avoiding decline. The mean substitution rate between health improvements and avoided decline (WAD) ranged between 0.47 and 0.64 dependent on the intervention. Weighting PTO values according to the direction in which changes in health are experienced improved their accuracy in predicting a direct prioritization ranking. Health state utilities obtained by the standard gamble method seem not to reflect social values in resource allocation contexts. Conclusion Results suggest that the utility of being cured of a given health state might not be a good approximation for the societal value of avoiding this health state, especially in cases of competition between preventive and curative interventions. PMID:11879529

Forest ecosystem services: Cultural values

Treesearch

Melissa M. Kreye; Damian C. Adams; Ramesh Ghimire; Wayde Morse; Taylor Stein; J. M. Bowker

2017-01-01

How we define “culture” and societal well-being related to culture depends heavily on who is looking at it, but culture can be generally described as “the customs and beliefs of a particular group of people that are used to express their collectively held values” (Soulbury Commission 2012). In the context of forests, culturally derived norms, beliefs, and values help...

Philanthropy's new agenda: creating value.

PubMed

Porter, M E; Kramer, M R

1999-01-01

During the past two decades, the number of charitable foundations in the United States has doubled while the value of their assets has increased more than 1,100%. As new wealth continues to pour into foundations, the authors take a timely look at the field and conclude that radical change is needed. First, they explain why. Compared with direct giving, foundations are strongly favored through tax preferences whose value increases in rising stock markets. As a nation, then, we make a substantial investment in foundation philanthropy that goes well beyond the original gifts of private donors. We should therefore expect foundations to achieve a social impact disproportionate to their spending. If foundations serve merely as passive conduits for giving, then they not only fall far short of their potential but also fail to meet an important societal obligation. Drawing on Porter's work on competition and strategy, the authors then present a framework for thinking systematically about how foundations create value and how the various approaches to value creation can be deployed within the context of an overarching strategy. Although many foundations talk about "strategic" giving, much current practice is at odds with strategy. Among the common problems, foundations scatter their funding too broadly, they overlook the value-creating potential of longer and closer working relationships with grantees, and they pay insufficient attention to the ultimate results of the work they fund. This article lays out a blueprint for change, challenging foundation leaders to spearhead the evolution of philanthropy from private acts of conscience into a professional field.

What's in a Name? Moral Education and Terminological Precision.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cheek, Dallas Henderson; Cheek, Carole Maxwell

1993-01-01

Although many blame societal relativism for lack of moral vision, the term "moral education" is not being used with clarity and specificity. Confusing it with values/ethics/character training makes curricular application difficult. (SK)

Making Transitions: The Role of Interaction in Joining a Workplace Community of Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Holmes, Janet

2015-01-01

In the process of transitioning from one institution or workplace to another, people often encounter new interactional norms and values. For those moving countries as well as workplaces, the transition may involve different cultural and societal norms and values; but even a move between organisations or workplace teams within a country may present…

Doing Gender for Different Reasons: Why Gender Conformity Positively and Negatively Predicts Self-Esteem

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Good, Jessica J.; Sanchez, Diana T.

2010-01-01

Past research has shown that valuing gender conformity is associated with both positive and negative consequences for self-esteem and positive affect. The current research (women, n= 226; men, n= 175) explored these conflicting findings by separating out investing in societal gender ideals from personally valuing one's gender identity ("private…

Curriculum as Transmitter of Socioeconomic and Political Values: Case Study of a Middle School Writing Project.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martin, June M.

This research project analyzed the manifest and hidden curriculum of a sixth-grade writing project to determine how it transmitted societal values. Entitled "Right is Write", the writing project was a simulation game in which students played roles of writers, agents, editors, and publishers interacting to produce, evaluate, buy, and sell…

Does Individual Secularism Promote Life Satisfaction? The Moderating Role of Societal Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Li, Liman Man Wai; Bond, Michael H.

2010-01-01

This study was designed to examine the link between values and life satisfaction, examining the role of culture in this process. Secularism was found to predict life satisfaction scores at a small but statistically very significant level in persons from all nations participating in all four waves of the World Values Survey. The direction and…

After Deschooling, What?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Illich, Ivan

1971-01-01

Effective educational innovation is possible only when accompanied by basic political and societal change: such change will determine whether deschooling leads to a vulgarization of learning or to universal access to the tools of learning for those needing them. (JM)

Northern Eurasia Future Initiative: Facing the Challenges of Global Change in the 21st century

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Groisman, Pavel; Gutman, Garik; Gulev, Sergey; Maksyutov, Shamil; Qi, Jiaguo

2016-04-01

During the past 12 years, the Northern Eurasia Earth Science Partnership Initiative (NEESPI) - an interdisciplinary program of internationally-supported Earth systems and science research - has addressed large-scale and long-term manifestations of climate and environmental changes over Northern Eurasia and their impact on the Global Earth system. With more than 1500 peer-reviewed journal publications and 40 books to its credit, NEESPI's activities resulted in significant scientific outreach. This created a new research realm through self-organization of NEESPI scientists in a broad research network, accumulation of knowledge while developing new tools (observations, models, and collaborative networks) and producing new, exciting results that can be applied to directly support decision-making for societal needs. This realm was summed up at the Synthesis NEESPI Workshop in Prague, Czech Republic (April 9-12, 2015) where it was decided to shift gradually the foci of regional studies in Northern Eurasia towards applications with the following major Science Question: " What dynamic and interactive change(s) will affect societal well-being, activities, and health, and what might be the mitigation and adaptation strategies that could support sustainable development and decision-making activities in Northern Eurasia?". To answer this question requires a stronger socio-economic component in the ongoing and future regional studies focused on sustainable societal development under changing climatic and environmental conditions, especially, under conditions when societal decision-making impacts and feeds back on the environment. This made the NEESPI studies closer to the ICSU research initiative "Future Earth". Accordingly, the NEESPI Research Team decided to reorganize in the nearest future NEESPI into "Northern Eurasia Future Initiative" (NEFI) and began development of its Programmatic White Paper (in preparation at the time of this abstract submission). The NEFI research foci emerged in discussions within the NEESPI community during the past 20 months. Presentation will provide justification of these foci and approach examples addressing them. The societal challenges, particularly the socio-economic challenges are the top priority in most of them. Throughout the NEESP Initiative duration, support for it studies has been provided by different national and international Agencies of the United States (in particular, the NASA Land Cover and Land Use Change Program), the Russian Federation (in particular, the Ministry of Education and Science, e.g., mega-grant 14.B25.31.0026), European Union, Japan, and China. After the NEFI White Paper release, we anticipate a similar kind of support for this new Initiative.

The role of wilderness protection and societal engagement as indicators of well-being: An examination of change at the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness

Treesearch

Alan E. Watson

2011-01-01

A societal decision to protect over 9 million acres of land and water for its wilderness character in the early 1960s reflected US wealth in natural resources, pride in the nation's cultural history and our commitment to the well-being of future generations to both experience wild nature and enjoy benefits flowing from these natural ecosystems. There is no...

Assessing trends in insured losses from floods in Spain 1971-2008

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barredo, J. I.; Saurí, D.; Llasat, M. C.

2012-05-01

Economic impacts from floods have been increasing over recent decades, a fact often attributed to a changing climate. On the other hand, there is now a significant body of scientific scholarship all pointing towards increasing concentrations and values of assets as the principle cause of the increasing cost of natural disasters. This holds true for a variety of perils and across different jurisdictions. With this in mind, this paper examines the time history of insured losses from floods in Spain between 1971 and 2008. It assesses whether any discernible residual signal remains after adjusting the data for the increase in the number and value of insured assets over this period of time. Data on insured losses from floods were sourced from Consorcio de Compensación de Seguros (CCS). Although a public institution, CCS compensates homeowners for the damage produced by floods, and thus plays a role similar to that of a private insurance company. Insured losses were adjusted using two proxy measures: first, changes in the total amount of annual surcharges (premiums) paid by customers to CCS, and secondly, changes in the total value of dwellings per year. The adjusted data reveals no significant trend over the period 1971-2008 and serves again to confirm that at this juncture, societal influences remain the prime factors driving insured and economic losses from natural disasters.

Optimization of PSA screening policies: a comparison of the patient and societal perspectives.

PubMed

Zhang, Jingyu; Denton, Brian T; Balasubramanian, Hari; Shah, Nilay D; Inman, Brant A

2012-01-01

To estimate the benefit of PSA-based screening for prostate cancer from the patient and societal perspectives. A partially observable Markov decision process model was used to optimize PSA screening decisions. Age-specific prostate cancer incidence rates and the mortality rates from prostate cancer and competing causes were considered. The model trades off the potential benefit of early detection with the cost of screening and loss of patient quality of life due to screening and treatment. PSA testing and biopsy decisions are made based on the patient's probability of having prostate cancer. Probabilities are inferred based on the patient's complete PSA history using Bayesian updating. The results of all PSA tests and biopsies done in Olmsted County, Minnesota, from 1993 to 2005 (11,872 men and 50,589 PSA test results). Patients' perspective: to maximize expected quality-adjusted life years (QALYs); societal perspective: to maximize the expected monetary value based on societal willingness to pay for QALYs and the cost of PSA testing, prostate biopsies, and treatment. From the patient perspective, the optimal policy recommends stopping PSA testing and biopsy at age 76. From the societal perspective, the stopping age is 71. The expected incremental benefit of optimal screening over the traditional guideline of annual PSA screening with threshold 4.0 ng/mL for biopsy is estimated to be 0.165 QALYs per person from the patient perspective and 0.161 QALYs per person from the societal perspective. PSA screening based on traditional guidelines is found to be worse than no screening at all. PSA testing done with traditional guidelines underperforms and therefore underestimates the potential benefit of screening. Optimal screening guidelines differ significantly depending on the perspective of the decision maker.

Societal cost of subcutaneous and intravenous trastuzumab for HER2-positive breast cancer - An observational study prospectively recording resource utilization in a Swedish healthcare setting.

PubMed

Olofsson, Sara; Norrlid, Hanna; Karlsson, Eva; Wilking, Ulla; Ragnarson Tennvall, Gunnel

2016-10-01

Trastuzumab is part of the standard treatment for HER2-positive breast cancer. The aim of this study was to estimate the societal value of trastuzumab administered through subcutaneous (SC) injection compared to intravenous (IV) infusion. Female patients with HER2-positive breast cancer receiving SC or IV trastuzumab were consecutively enrolled from five Swedish oncology clinics from 2013 to 2015. Data on time and resource utilization was collected prospectively using patient and nurse questionnaires. Societal costs were calculated by multiplying the resource use by its corresponding unit price, including direct medical costs (pharmaceuticals, materials, nurse time, etc.), direct non-medical costs (transportation) and indirect costs (production loss, lost leisure time). Costs were reported separately for patients receiving trastuzumab for the first time and non-first time ("subsequent treatment"). In total, 101 IV and 94 SC patients were included in the study. The societal costs were lower with SC administration. For subsequent treatments the cost difference was €117 (IV €2099; SC €1983), partly explained by a higher time consumption both for nurses (14 min) and patients (23 min) with IV administration. Four IV and 16 SC patients received trastuzumab for the first time and were analysed separately, resulting in a difference in societal costs of €897 per treatment. A majority of patients preferred SC to IV administration. SC administration resulted in both less direct medical costs and indirect costs, and was consequently less costly than IV administration from a societal perspective in a Swedish setting. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Information-Theoretic Approach May Shed a Light to a Better Understanding and Sustaining the Integrity of Ecological-Societal Systems under Changing Climate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, J.

2016-12-01

Considering high levels of uncertainty, epistemological conflicts over facts and values, and a sense of urgency, normal paradigm-driven science will be insufficient to mobilize people and nation toward sustainability. The conceptual framework to bridge the societal system dynamics with that of natural ecosystems in which humanity operates remains deficient. The key to understanding their coevolution is to understand `self-organization.' Information-theoretic approach may shed a light to provide a potential framework which enables not only to bridge human and nature but also to generate useful knowledge for understanding and sustaining the integrity of ecological-societal systems. How can information theory help understand the interface between ecological systems and social systems? How to delineate self-organizing processes and ensure them to fulfil sustainability? How to evaluate the flow of information from data through models to decision-makers? These are the core questions posed by sustainability science in which visioneering (i.e., the engineering of vision) is an essential framework. Yet, visioneering has neither quantitative measure nor information theoretic framework to work with and teach. This presentation is an attempt to accommodate the framework of self-organizing hierarchical open systems with visioneering into a common information-theoretic framework. A case study is presented with the UN/FAO's communal vision of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) which pursues a trilemma of efficiency, mitigation, and resilience. Challenges of delineating and facilitating self-organizing systems are discussed using transdisciplinary toold such as complex systems thinking, dynamic process network analysis and multi-agent systems modeling. Acknowledgments: This study was supported by the Korea Meteorological Administration Research and Development Program under Grant KMA-2012-0001-A (WISE project).

Climate change impacts on groundwater recharge- uncertainty, shortcomings, and the way forward?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Holman, I. P.

2006-06-01

An integrated approach to assessing the regional impacts of climate and socio-economic change on groundwater recharge is described from East Anglia, UK. Many factors affect future groundwater recharge including changed precipitation and temperature regimes, coastal flooding, urbanization, woodland establishment, and changes in cropping and rotations. Important sources of uncertainty and shortcomings in recharge estimation are discussed in the light of the results. The uncertainty in, and importance of, socio-economic scenarios in exploring the consequences of unknown future changes are highlighted. Changes to soil properties are occurring over a range of time scales, such that the soils of the future may not have the same infiltration properties as existing soils. The potential implications involved in assuming unchanging soil properties are described. To focus on the direct impacts of climate change is to neglect the potentially important role of policy, societal values and economic processes in shaping the landscape above aquifers. If the likely consequences of future changes of groundwater recharge, resulting from both climate and socio-economic change, are to be assessed, hydrogeologists must increasingly work with researchers from other disciplines, such as socio-economists, agricultural modellers and soil scientists.

Changing Family Forms.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seibert, M. Therese; Willetts, Marion C.

2000-01-01

Explores the definition of family. Considers three facets of the contemporary family measured by U.S. Census statistics: (1) marriage and divorce trends; (2) declining fertility; and (3) the rise in single-headed families. Addresses the societal changes (economic, cultural, legal, and technological) that have influenced the changes in family…

The Effect of Recent Trends on Dental Hygiene.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Douglass, Chester W.

1991-01-01

Six trends affecting dental hygiene practice are discussed: demographic changes; disease pattern changes; higher societal expectations; financing and delivery system changes; technological advancement; and regulatory and legislative trends. It is argued that, though the trends reflect positively on dental hygiene, practitioners need to increase…

Transforming conservation science and practice for a postnormal world.

PubMed

Colloff, Matthew J; Lavorel, Sandra; van Kerkhoff, Lorrae E; Wyborn, Carina A; Fazey, Ioan; Gorddard, Russell; Mace, Georgina M; Foden, Wendy B; Dunlop, Michael; Prentice, I Colin; Crowley, John; Leadley, Paul; Degeorges, Patrick

2017-10-01

We examine issues to consider when reframing conservation science and practice in the context of global change. New framings of the links between ecosystems and society are emerging that are changing peoples' values and expectations of nature, resulting in plural perspectives on conservation. Reframing conservation for global change can thus be regarded as a stage in the evolving relationship between people and nature rather than some recent trend. New models of how conservation links with transformative adaptation include how decision contexts for conservation can be reframed and integrated with an adaptation pathways approach to create new options for global-change-ready conservation. New relationships for conservation science and governance include coproduction of knowledge that supports social learning. New processes for implementing adaptation for conservation outcomes include deliberate practices used to develop new strategies, shift world views, work with conflict, address power and intergenerational equity in decisions, and build consciousness and creativity that empower agents to act. We argue that reframing conservation for global change requires scientists and practitioners to implement approaches unconstrained by discipline and sectoral boundaries, geopolitical polarities, or technical problematization. We consider a stronger focus on inclusive creation of knowledge and the interaction of this knowledge with societal values and rules is likely to result in conservation science and practice that meets the challenges of a postnormal world. © 2017 The Authors. Conservation Biology published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Society for Conservation Biology.

Synthesis centers as critical research infrastructure

USGS Publications Warehouse

Baron, Jill S.; Specht, Alison; Garnier, Eric; Bishop, Pamela; Campbell, C. Andrew; Davis, Frank W.; Fady, Bruno; Field, Dawn; Gross, Louis J.; Guru, Siddeswara M.; Halpern, Benjamin S; Hampton, Stephanie E.; Leavitt, Peter R.; Meagher, Thomas R.; Ometto, Jean; Parker, John N.; Price, Richard; Rawson, Casey H.; Rodrigo, Allen; Sheble, Laura A.; Winter, Marten

2017-01-01

Demand for the opportunity to participate in a synthesis-center activity has increased in the years since the US National Science Foundation (NSF)–funded National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) opened its doors in 1995 and as more scientists across a diversity of scientific disciplines have become aware of what synthesis centers provide. The NSF has funded four synthesis centers, and more than a dozen new synthesis centers have been established around the world, some following the NSF model and others following different models suited to their national funding environment (http://synthesis-consortium.org).Scientific synthesis integrates diverse data and knowledge to increase the scope and applicability of results and yield novel insights or explanations within and across disciplines (Pickett et al. 2007, Carpenter et al. 2009). The demand for synthesis comes from the pressing societal need to address grand challenges related to global change and other issues that cut across multiple societal sectors and disciplines and from recognition that substantial added scientific value can be achieved through the synthesis-based analysis of existing data. Demand also comes from groups of scientists who see exciting opportunities to generate new knowledge from interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary collaboration, often capitalizing on the increasingly large volume and variety of available data (Kelling et al. 2009, Bishop et al. 2014, Specht et al. 2015b). The ever-changing nature of societal challenges and the availability of data with which to address them suggest there will be an expanding need for synthesis.However, we are now entering a phase in which government support for some existing synthesis centers has ended or will be ending soon, forcing those centers to close or develop new operational models, approaches, and funding streams. We argue here that synthesis centers play such a unique role in science that continued long-term public investment to maximize benefits to science and society is justified. In particular, we argue that synthesis centers represent community infrastructure more akin to research vessels than to term-funded centers of science and technology (e.g., NSF Science and Technology Centers). Through our experience running synthesis centers and, in some cases, developing postfederal funding models, we offer our perspective on the purpose and value of synthesis centers. We present case studies of different outcomes of transition plans and argue for a fundamental shift in the conception of synthesis science and the strategic funding of these centers by government funding agencies.

The Cost-Effectiveness of Ranibizumab for the Treatment of Diabetic Macular Edema.

PubMed

Brown, Gary C; Brown, Melissa M; Turpcu, Adam; Rajput, Yamina

2015-07-01

To assess the incremental, comparative effectiveness (patient value gain) and cost effectiveness (financial value gain) associated with 0.3-mg intravitreal ranibizumab injection therapy versus sham therapy for diabetic macular edema (DME). Value-Based Medicine (Center for Value-Based Medicine, Flourtown, PA) 14-year, cost-utility analysis using patient preferences and 2012 United States real dollars. Published data from the identical Ranibizumab Injection in Subjects with Clinically Significant Macular Edema with Center Involvement Secondary to Diabetes Mellitus (RISE and RIDE) clinical trials. An incremental cost-utility analysis was performed using societal and third-party insurer cost perspectives. Costs and outcomes were discounted with net present value analysis at 3% per annum. The incremental comparative effectiveness was measured in: (1) quality-adjusted life year (QALY) gain and (2) percent patient value (quality-of-life) gain. Cost effectiveness was quantified with the cost-utility ratio (CUR) measured as $/QALY. The 14-year, incremental patient value gain conferred by intravitreal ranibizumab therapy for diabetic maculopathy was 0.9981 QALY, equating to an 11.6% improvement in quality of life. The direct, ophthalmic medical cost for ranibizumab therapy in 1 eye was $30 116, whereas for 2 eyes it was $56 336. The direct, nonophthalmic, medical costs saved from decreased depression, injury, skilled nursing facility admissions, nursing home admissions, and other vision-associated costs totaled $51 758, resulting in an overall direct medical cost of $4578. The net mean societal cost for bilateral ranibizumab therapy was -$30 807. Of this total, decreased caregiver costs accrued a $31 406 savings against the direct medical costs, whereas decreased wage losses accrued a $3978 savings. The third-party insurer CUR for bilateral ranibizumab therapy was $4587/QALY. The societal cost perspective for bilateral therapy was -$30 807/QALY, indicating that ranibizumab therapy dominated sham therapy because it conferred both a positive QALY gain of 0.9981 and a financial value gain (positive financial return on investment) of $30 807 referent to the direct ophthalmic medical costs expended. Intravitreal ranibizumab therapy for the treatment of DME confers considerable patient (human) value gain. It also accrues financial value to patients, public and private insurers, and society. Copyright © 2015 American Academy of Ophthalmology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Contributions of societal modernity to cognitive development: a comparison of four cultures.

PubMed

Gauvain, Mary; Munroe, Robert L

2009-01-01

This study examined how societal changes associated with modernization are related to cognitive development. Data were from 4 cultural communities that represented a broad range of traditional and modern elements: the Garifuna (Belize), Logoli (Kenya), Newars (Nepal), and Samoans (American Samoa). Naturalistic observations and the performances of 3-, 5-, 7-, and 9-year-old children (N = 192) on 7 cognitive measures were examined. Results replicated age-related improvement on all measures. Contributions of modernity were evident in children's play behaviors and cognitive performances, especially in skills related to schooling. Modernization and schooling independently predicted differences on most of the measures. Results are discussed in relation to the Flynn effect, the worldwide increase in cognitive scores across generations, and the ways in which societal modernization may contribute to cognitive development.

Social cost of carbon pricing of power sector CO2: accounting for leakage and other social implications from subnational policies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bistline, John E.; Rose, Steven K.

2018-01-01

In environments where climate policy has partial coverage or unequal participation, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions or economic activity may shift to locations and sectors where emissions are unregulated. This is referred to as leakage. Leakage can offset or augment emissions reductions associated with a policy, which has important environmental and economic implications. Although leakage has been studied at national levels, analysis of leakage for subnational policies is limited. This is despite greater market integration and many existing state and regional environmental regulations in the US. This study explores leakage potential, net emissions changes, and other social implications in the US energy system with regionally differentiated pricing of power sector CO2 emissions. We undertake an economic analysis using EPRI’s US-REGEN model, where power sector CO2 emissions are priced in individual US regions with a range of social cost of carbon (SCC) values. SCC estimates are being considered by policy-makers for valuing potential societal damages from CO2 emissions. In this study, we evaluate the emissions implications within the SCC pricing region, within the power sector outside the SCC region, and outside the power sector (i.e. in the rest of the energy system). Results indicate that CO2 leakage is possible within and outside the electric sector, ranging from negative 70% to over 80% in our scenarios, with primarily positive leakage outcomes. Typically ignored in policy analysis, leakage would affect CO2 reduction benefits. We also observe other potential societal effects within and across regions, such as higher electricity prices, changes in power sector investments, and overall consumption losses. Efforts to reduce leakage, such as constraining power imports into the SCC pricing region likely reduce leakage, but could also result in lower net emissions reductions, as well as larger price increases. Thus, it is important to look beyond leakage and consider a broader set of environmental and economic metrics. Leakage rates, net emissions outcomes, electricity price changes, fuel market effects, and macroeconomic costs vary by region of the country, time, policy stringency, policy design (e.g. leakage mitigation provisions), policy environment in neighboring regions, and price responsiveness of demand.

Miles to go before we sleep: racial inequities in health.

PubMed

Williams, David R

2012-09-01

Large, pervasive, and persistent racial inequalities exist in the onset, courses, and outcomes of illness. A comprehensive understanding of the patterning of racial disparities indicates that racism in both its institutional and individual forms remains an important determinant. There is an urgent need to build the science base that would identify how to trigger the conditions that would facilitate needed societal change and to identify the optimal interventions that would confront and dismantle the societal conditions that create and sustain health inequalities.

Intelligent Data Analysis in the 21st Century

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cohen, Paul; Adams, Niall

When IDA began, data sets were small and clean, data provenance and management were not significant issues, workflows and grid computing and cloud computing didn’t exist, and the world was not populated with billions of cellphone and computer users. The original conception of intelligent data analysis — automating some of the reasoning of skilled data analysts — has not been updated to account for the dramatic changes in what skilled data analysis means, today. IDA might update its mission to address pressing problems in areas such as climate change, habitat loss, education, and medicine. It might anticipate data analysis opportunities five to ten years out, such as customizing educational trajectories to individual students, and personalizing medical protocols. Such developments will elevate the conference and our community by shifting our focus from arbitrary measures of the performance of isolated algorithms to the practical, societal value of intelligent data analysis systems.

"Reconstructing a Sense of Self": Trauma and Coping Among Returned Women Survivors of Human Trafficking in Vietnam.

PubMed

Le, PhuongThao D

2017-03-01

Survivors of human trafficking who return to their community of origin must cope with the trauma they experienced as victims as well as the conditions that contributed to their trafficking vulnerabilities. In this article, I examine the psychosocial adjustment process among women survivors of trafficking who returned to Vietnam. Supplemented by participation observation, thematic analysis of in-depth interviews with survivors revealed that throughout the trafficking process, the women experienced multiple abuses and changes in relationships and environments. The women coped by navigating a process of "reconstructing a sense of self," seeking congruence between their self-understandings and the changing contextual factors while exhibiting three main coping strategies: regulating emotional expression and thought, creating opportunities within constraints, and relating to cultural schemas. The findings underscore the importance of considering contextual factors such as cultural norms and societal values in efforts to assist trafficked survivors reintegrate into their communities.

Alaska Arctic marine fish ecology catalog

USGS Publications Warehouse

Thorsteinson, Lyman K.; Love, Milton S.

2016-08-08

The marine fishes in waters of the United States north of the Bering Strait have received new and increased scientific attention over the past decade (2005–15) in conjunction with frontier qualities of the region and societal concerns about the effects of Arctic climate change. Commercial fisheries are negligible in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas, but many marine species have important traditional and cultural values to Alaska Native residents. Although baseline conditions are rapidly changing, effective decisions about research and monitoring investments must be based on reliable information and plausible future scenarios. For the first time, this synthesis presents a comprehensive evaluation of the marine fish fauna from both seas in a single reference. Although many unknowns and uncertainties remain in the scientific understanding, information presented here is foundational with respect to understanding marine ecosystems and addressing dual missions of the U.S. Department of the Interior for energy development and resource conservation. 

Global environmental change research: empowering developing countries.

PubMed

Nobre, Carlos A; Lahsen, Myanna; Ometto, Jean P H B

2008-09-01

This paper discusses ways to reconcile the United Nations Millennium Development Goals with environmental sustainability at the national and international levels. The authors argue that development and better use of sustainability relevant knowledge is key, and that this requires capacity building globally, and especially in the less developed regions of the world. Also essential is stronger integration of high-quality knowledge creation and technology--and policy--development, including, importantly, the creation of centers of excellence in developing regions which effectively use and produce applications-directed high quality research and bring it to bear on decision making and practices related to environmental change and sustainable management of natural resources. The authors argue that Southern centers of excellence are a necessary first step for bottom-up societal transformation towards sustainability, and that such centers must help design innovative ways to assess and place value on ecosystem services.

The Senior Living Lab: an example of nursing leadership

PubMed Central

Riva-Mossman, Susie; Kampel, Thomas; Cohen, Christine; Verloo, Henk

2016-01-01

The Senior Living Lab (SLL) is dedicated to the care of older adults and exemplifies how nursing leadership can influence clinical practice by designing research models capable of configuring interdisciplinary partnerships with the potential of generating innovative practices and better older patient outcomes. Demographic change resulting in growing numbers of older adults requires a societal approach, uniting stakeholders in social innovation processes. The LL approach is an innovative research method that values user perceptions and participation in the cocreation of new products and services. The SLL is crafting a platform responsive to change. It is a learning organization facilitating community-based participatory research methods in the field. Advanced nurse practitioners are well positioned to lead the way forward, fostering interdisciplinary academic collaborations dedicated to healthy aging at home. The SLL demonstrates how nursing science is taking the lead in the field of social innovation. PMID:27013869

The Energy-Water-Food Nexus.

PubMed

Keairns, D L; Darton, R C; Irabien, A

2016-06-07

As the global population grows in size and increasingly lives in cities, and with lifestyles based on greater material consumption, more attention is being given to the integrated system that supplies our energy, water, and food, the Nexus. There is also mounting concern about effects on the Nexus of climate change and damage to the natural environment that provides essential ecosystem services. Nexus analysis applies existing techniques, such as computational modelling and Life Cycle Assessment, but new frameworks and tools are needed, including those that will integrate societal and technical dimensions. Case studies show the vital role played by stakeholder involvement in clarifying issues, priorities, and values. They also demonstrate the importance of an integrated systems view of the complex interrelationships of the Nexus when planning effective remedies. Assessments conclude that transformative social and political change is needed to create new structures, markets, and governance to deal with the Nexus if we are to meet agreed-upon sustainable development goals.

The Senior Living Lab: an example of nursing leadership.

PubMed

Riva-Mossman, Susie; Kampel, Thomas; Cohen, Christine; Verloo, Henk

2016-01-01

The Senior Living Lab (SLL) is dedicated to the care of older adults and exemplifies how nursing leadership can influence clinical practice by designing research models capable of configuring interdisciplinary partnerships with the potential of generating innovative practices and better older patient outcomes. Demographic change resulting in growing numbers of older adults requires a societal approach, uniting stakeholders in social innovation processes. The LL approach is an innovative research method that values user perceptions and participation in the cocreation of new products and services. The SLL is crafting a platform responsive to change. It is a learning organization facilitating community-based participatory research methods in the field. Advanced nurse practitioners are well positioned to lead the way forward, fostering interdisciplinary academic collaborations dedicated to healthy aging at home. The SLL demonstrates how nursing science is taking the lead in the field of social innovation.

Individual, Country and Societal Cluster Differences on Measures of Personality, Attitudes, Values, and Social Norms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stankov, Lazar

2011-01-01

This study investigated cross-cultural differences on 38 subscales from 4 major domains--personality, social attitudes, values, and social norms. These scales were administered to participants who took the Test of English as a Foreign Language[TM] (TOEFL[R], N = 1,600) and U.S. college students (N = 429). Total variability of each subscale was…

A Methodology for Developing Evidence about Meaning in Occupation: Exploring the Meaning of Working.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baker, Nancy A.; Jacobs, Karen; Tickle-Degnen, Linda

2003-01-01

The Meaning of Working Survey, with the constructs of work centrality, societal work norms, and valued work outcomes, was completed by 170 workers. They did not view work as central, but as a constraint or reciprocal arrangement. They valued benefits and wages over intrinsic outcomes. Cluster analysis revealed that work meanings were related to…

Utilization and Value of Public Sector Information for Knowledge Development: The Case of South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sharif, Raed M.

2013-01-01

Although there appears to be a broad recognition of the key role that Public Sector Information (PSI) can play in the development of societies, there are still significant gaps in our understanding of how PSI is actually being utilized and of its wider societal value, especially in developing countries. The overarching goal of this dissertation…

Self-Knowledge and Risk in Stratified Medicine

PubMed Central

Hordern, Joshua

2017-01-01

This article considers why and how self-knowledge is important to communication about risk and behaviour change by arguing for four claims. First, it is doubtful that genetic knowledge should properly be called ‘self-knowledge’ when its ordinary effects on self-motivation and behaviour change seem so slight. Second, temptations towards a reductionist, fatalist, construal of persons’ futures through a ‘molecular optic’ should be resisted. Third, any plausible effort to change people's behaviour must engage with cultural self-knowledge, values and beliefs, catalysed by the communication of genetic risk. For example, while a Judaeo-Christian notion of self-knowledge is distinctively theological, people's self-knowledge is plural in its insight and sources. Fourth, self-knowledge is found in compassionate, if tense, communion which yields freedom from determinism even amidst suffering. Stratified medicine thus offers a newly precise kind of humanising health care through societal solidarity with the riskiest. However, stratification may also mean that molecularly unstratified, ‘B’ patients’ experience involves accentuated suffering and disappointment, a concern requiring further research. PMID:28517991

Don't Discount Societal Value in Cost-Effectiveness Comment on "Priority Setting for Universal Health Coverage: We Need Evidence-Informed Deliberative Processes, Not Just More Evidence on Cost-Effectiveness".

PubMed

Hall, William

2017-01-14

As healthcare resources become increasingly scarce due to growing demand and stagnating budgets, the need for effective priority setting and resource allocation will become ever more critical to providing sustainable care to patients. While societal values should certainly play a part in guiding these processes, the methodology used to capture these values need not necessarily be limited to multi-criterion decision analysis (MCDA)-based processes including 'evidence-informed deliberative processes.' However, if decision-makers intend to not only incorporates the values of the public they serve into decisions but have the decisions enacted as well, consideration should be given to more direct involvement of stakeholders. Based on the examples provided by Baltussen et al, MCDA-based processes like 'evidence-informed deliberative processes' could be one way of achieving this laudable goal. © 2017 The Author(s); Published by Kerman University of Medical Sciences. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Societal-level Risk Factors Associated with Pediatric Hearing Loss: A Systematic Review

PubMed Central

Vasconcellos, Adam P.; Colello, Stephanie; Kyle, Meghann E.; Shin, Jennifer J.

2015-01-01

Objective To determine if the current body of evidence describes specific threshold values of concern for modifiable societal-level risk factors for pediatric hearing loss, with the overarching goal of providing actionable guidance for the prevention and screening of audiological deficits in children. Data Sources Three related systematic reviews were performed. Computerized PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library searches were performed from inception through October 2013 and were supplemented with manual searches. Review Methods Inclusion/exclusion criteria were designed to determine specific threshold values of societal-level risk factors on hearing loss in the pediatric population. Searches and data extraction were performed by independent reviewers. Results There were 20 criterion-meeting studies with 29,128 participants. Infants less than 2 standard deviations below standardized weight, length, or body mass index were at increased risk. Specific nutritional deficiencies related to iodine and thiamine may also increase risk, although data are limited and threshold values of concern have not been quantified. Blood lead levels above 10 μg/dL were significantly associated with pediatric sensorineural loss, and mixed findings were noted for other heavy metals. Hearing loss was also more prevalent among children of socioeconomically disadvantaged families, as measured by a poverty income ratio less than 0.3 to 1, higher deprivation category status, and head of household employment as a manual laborer. Conclusions Increasing our understanding of specific thresholds of risk associated with causative factors forms the foundation for preventive and targeted screening programs as well as future research endeavors. PMID:24671458

Societal-level Risk Factors Associated with Pediatric Hearing Loss: A Systematic Review.

PubMed

Vasconcellos, Adam P; Colello, Stephanie; Kyle, Meghann E; Shin, Jennifer J

2014-07-01

To determine if the current body of evidence describes specific threshold values of concern for modifiable societal-level risk factors for pediatric hearing loss, with the overarching goal of providing actionable guidance for the prevention and screening of audiological deficits in children. Three related systematic reviews were performed. Computerized PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library searches were performed from inception through October 2013 and were supplemented with manual searches. Inclusion/exclusion criteria were designed to determine specific threshold values of societal-level risk factors on hearing loss in the pediatric population. Searches and data extraction were performed by independent reviewers. There were 20 criterion-meeting studies with 29,128 participants. Infants less than 2 standard deviations below standardized weight, length, or body mass index were at increased risk. Specific nutritional deficiencies related to iodine and thiamine may also increase risk, although data are limited and threshold values of concern have not been quantified. Blood lead levels above 10 µg/dL were significantly associated with pediatric sensorineural loss, and mixed findings were noted for other heavy metals. Hearing loss was also more prevalent among children of socioeconomically disadvantaged families, as measured by a poverty income ratio less than 0.3 to 1, higher deprivation category status, and head of household employment as a manual laborer. Increasing our understanding of specific thresholds of risk associated with causative factors forms the foundation for preventive and targeted screening programs as well as future research endeavors. © American Academy of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery Foundation 2014.

Accounting for natural resources and environmental sustainability: linking ecosystem services to human well-being.

PubMed

Jordan, Stephen J; Hayes, Sharon E; Yoskowitz, David; Smith, Lisa M; Summers, J Kevin; Russell, Marc; Benson, William H

2010-03-01

One of society's greatest challenges is to sustain natural resources while promoting economic growth and quality of life. In the face of this challenge, society must measure the effectiveness of programs established to safeguard the environment. The impetus for demonstrating positive results from government-sponsored research and regulation in the United States comes from Congress (General Accountability Office; GAO) and the Executive Branch (Office of Management and Budget; OMB). The message is: regulatory and research programs must demonstrate outcomes that justify their costs. Although the concept is simple, it is a complex problem to demonstrate that environmental research, policies, and regulations cause measurable changes in environmental quality. Even where changes in environmental quality can be tracked reliably, the connections between government actions and environmental outcomes seldom are direct or straightforward. In this article, we describe emerging efforts (with emphasis on the role of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; EPA) to frame and measure environmental outcomes in terms of ecosystem services and values-societally and ecologically meaningful metrics for gauging how well we manage environmental resources. As examples of accounting for outcomes and values, we present a novel, low-cost method for determining relative values of multiple ecosystem services, and describe emerging research on indicators of human well-being.

Ways that Social Change Predicts Personal Quality of Life

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cheung, Chau-Kiu; Leung, Kwok

2010-01-01

A notable way that social change affects personal quality of life would rely on the person's experience with social change. This experience may influence societal quality of life and quality of work life, which may in turn affect personal quality of life. Additionally, the experience of social change is possibly less detrimental to personal…

Climate change and the biosphere

Treesearch

F. Stuart Chapin

2008-01-01

Scientific assessments now clearly demonstrate the ecologic and societal consequences of human induced climate change, as detailed by the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report. Global warming spells danger for Earth's biomes, which in turn play an important role in climate change. On the following pages, you will read about some of...

Engineering and Technology Students' Perceptions of Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mativo, John M.; Womble, Myra N.; Jones, Karen H.

2013-01-01

As cultural, social, political and economic changes take place, the secondary or high school curriculum should reflect and respond to changing needs and aspirations of students. Technology Education has been proactive in this arena as it has transformed over the decades to meet ever-changing societal needs. The most recent change to the discipline…

Societal Change and the Growing Divide between Knowing and Understanding

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Elkind, David

2011-01-01

Social and economic changes affect children indirectly, through the modifications they engender in parental behavior. No-fault divorce laws, for example, made divorce easier and led to a substantial increase in the number of separated families. In contrast to social and economic change, technological change can impact children directly without…

Enhancing watershed research capacity: the role of data management

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Water resources are under growing pressure globally, and in the face of projected climate change, changes in precipitation frequency and intensity; evapotranspiration, runoff, and snowmelt pose severe societal challenges. Interdisciplinary environmental research across natural and social sciences to...

Greening TVET: Qualifications Needs and Implementation Strategies. Report of the UNESCO-UNEVOC Virtual Conference, 12 to 26 November 2013

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training, 2014

2014-01-01

Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) faces a number of challenges, including technological and societal changes, exemplified by changes in demography, rapidly changing labour markets, persistent social inequalities and conflict. These changes require people to possess skills that are adaptable to the changing nature of work and…

Climate Information and Misinformation: Getting the Message Out

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carr, M.; Rubenstein, M.; Brash, K.; Hernandez, T. E.; Anderson, R. F.; Fulton, M.; Kahn, B.

2010-12-01

While it is commonly accepted that improved science comprehension is a key element to informed decisions on the many societal issues that interface with science and technology, it is not always clear what that understanding should entail. Is it knowledge of a set of facts and their context, the ability to read scientific papers, familiarity with data sets and their strengths and limitations, the development of original research? Physical scientists continue to operate assuming the deficit model: that lack of societal engagement results from ignorance or lack of information. Yet, in the case of climate, an active community of citizen scientists is engaged in a parallel research activity that aims to audit the basic tenets of the field, thus illustrating that greater literacy does not necessarily lead to consensus. Communication experts have long noted the inadequacy of the deficit model, highlighting the importance of prior knowledge, interests, and values. Science communicators recommend direct public engagement using non-traditional tools and fora. Here we explore three modes of engaging the public on the theme of climate change skepticism: a report published by a major financial institution (following a deficit model, but targeting a highly educated non-science community), blogging (using the broad potential reach and ongoing engagement of the internet), and student discussion groups (taking a participatory 'community outreach' approach).

Engineers and Active Responsibility.

PubMed

Pesch, Udo

2015-08-01

Knowing that technologies are inherently value-laden and systemically interwoven with society, the question is how individual engineers can take up the challenge of accepting the responsibility for their work? This paper will argue that engineers have no institutional structure at the level of society that allows them to recognize, reflect upon, and actively integrate the value-laden character of their designs. Instead, engineers have to tap on the different institutional realms of market, science, and state, making their work a 'hybrid' activity combining elements from the different institutional realms. To deal with this institutional hybridity, engineers develop routines and heuristics in their professional network, which do not allow societal values to be expressed in a satisfactory manner. To allow forms of 'active' responsibility, there have to be so-called 'accountability forums' that guide moral reflections of individual actors. The paper will subsequently look at the methodologies of value-sensitive design (VSD) and constructive technology assessment (CTA) and explore whether and how these methodologies allow engineers to integrate societal values into the design technological artifacts and systems. As VSD and CTA are methodologies that look at the process of technological design, whereas the focus of this paper is on the designer, they can only be used indirectly, namely as frameworks which help to identify the contours of a framework for active responsibility of engineers.

Facing the Facts and Living our Values

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Snieder, R.

2009-05-01

One of the major challenges for the 21st Century is to establish an energy system that is safe, affordable, sustainable, and environmentally responsible. With current reserves in coal and nonconventional oil, we will not run out of energy in the coming century, but we may pay a price with a climate that heats up with an unprecedented rate of change. Even with current technology, there is a wealth of information and solutions available, and we could benefit much by using this knowledge more effectively than we do now. An example is the McKinsey report on the cost of avoiding CO2 emissions (http://mckinsey.com/clientservice/ccsi/greenhousegas.asp). According to this analysis, the USA can avoid about 40% of its CO2 emissions at zero total cost. About 20% of those emissions can be saved by taking steps that save money and reduce energy consumption. In the process of working on these steps for reducing CO2 emissions, many jobs are created. The energy and climate challenge thus comes with new opportunities. Geoscientists can make a difference by talking about energy and climate, and by helping create awareness for the energy challenge and the associated opportunities. Scientists and engineers are, in general, loath to discuss the issue of values. Yet, despite the logical basis of science, our science and the personal views of scientists can help shape our societal values. This can happen, however, only when scientists articulate their values and stimulate their students and the public to make conscious choices what their values are. Education, whether it is in the classroom, at a community center, church, or service club, can play an important role in making the public aware of the facts that are important for the choices that we need to make at a personal and societal level for our energy use. In order to facilitate this type of communication I have created a public lecture that is available online (http://www.mines.edu/˜rsnieder/Global_Energy.html). As a geoscientist, each of us can make a positive difference by being involved in such education.

Reflections on societal change, adjustments, and responses.

PubMed

Friedlander, D; Okun, B

2009-04-01

Building on Davis (1963) and subsequent work, we propose a conceptual framework that provides a guide for the organization of empirical demographic research. Our approach is based on the notion that changes in nuptiality, fertility, and migration are not objectives in and of themselves, but means for reducing welfare gaps - defined as the gaps between actual welfare and that which could be attained with altered demographic and/or other behavior. We clarify theoretical issues concerning three levels of analysis. At the highest level, societal change leads to welfare gaps for families and/or individuals. In turn, behavioral adjustments are made to reduce these gaps. Finally, demographic responses at the community level result when large numbers of families and/or individuals adjust behavior in a particular manner. We consider and exemplify relationships among demographic and other responses in historical, agricultural contexts.

Accounting for multiple sources of uncertainty in impact assessments: The example of the BRACE study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

O'Neill, B. C.

2015-12-01

Assessing climate change impacts often requires the use of multiple scenarios, types of models, and data sources, leading to a large number of potential sources of uncertainty. For example, a single study might require a choice of a forcing scenario, climate model, bias correction and/or downscaling method, societal development scenario, model (typically several) for quantifying elements of societal development such as economic and population growth, biophysical model (such as for crop yields or hydrology), and societal impact model (e.g. economic or health model). Some sources of uncertainty are reduced or eliminated by the framing of the question. For example, it may be useful to ask what an impact outcome would be conditional on a given societal development pathway, forcing scenario, or policy. However many sources of uncertainty remain, and it is rare for all or even most of these sources to be accounted for. I use the example of a recent integrated project on the Benefits of Reduced Anthropogenic Climate changE (BRACE) to explore useful approaches to uncertainty across multiple components of an impact assessment. BRACE comprises 23 papers that assess the differences in impacts between two alternative climate futures: those associated with Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) 4.5 and 8.5. It quantifies difference in impacts in terms of extreme events, health, agriculture, tropical cyclones, and sea level rise. Methodologically, it includes climate modeling, statistical analysis, integrated assessment modeling, and sector-specific impact modeling. It employs alternative scenarios of both radiative forcing and societal development, but generally uses a single climate model (CESM), partially accounting for climate uncertainty by drawing heavily on large initial condition ensembles. Strengths and weaknesses of the approach to uncertainty in BRACE are assessed. Options under consideration for improving the approach include the use of perturbed physics ensembles of CESM, employing results from multiple climate models, and combining the results from single impact models with statistical representations of uncertainty across multiple models. A key consideration is the relationship between the question being addressed and the uncertainty approach.

The economic burden of disease by industry: Differences in quality-adjusted life years and associated costs.

PubMed

Tolbert, Davina V; McCollister, Kathryn E; LeBlanc, William G; Lee, David J; Fleming, Lora E; Muennig, Peter

2014-07-01

This study compares differences in quality-adjusted life expectancy across the eight original National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) industry sectors. Data from the 1997 to 2012 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) were used to estimate quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) for all workers and by NORA sector. Differences in QALYs were calculated and translated into economic values using estimates of the societal willingness-to-pay per QALY. Mean QALYs across workers was 29.17 years. Among NORA sectors, wholesale, and retail trade workers had the highest average QALYs remaining (35.88), while mining workers had the lowest QALYs (31.4). The economic value of this difference ranges from $604,843 to $1,155,287 per worker depending on the societal willingness-to-pay per QALY. The value of life lost within some industries is very high relative to others. Additional investments in occupational safety, benefits, and health promotion initiatives may reduce these losses, but experimental research is needed to assess the effectiveness of such programs. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Collective behaviour, uncertainty and environmental change.

PubMed

Bentley, R Alexander; O'Brien, Michael J

2015-11-28

A central aspect of cultural evolutionary theory concerns how human groups respond to environmental change. Although we are painting with a broad brush, it is fair to say that prior to the twenty-first century, adaptation often happened gradually over multiple human generations, through a combination of individual and social learning, cumulative cultural evolution and demographic shifts. The result was a generally resilient and sustainable population. In the twenty-first century, however, considerable change happens within small portions of a human generation, on a vastly larger range of geographical and population scales and involving a greater degree of horizontal learning. As a way of gauging the complexity of societal response to environmental change in a globalized future, we discuss several theoretical tools for understanding how human groups adapt to uncertainty. We use our analysis to estimate the limits of predictability of future societal change, in the belief that knowing when to hedge bets is better than relying on a false sense of predictability. © 2015 The Author(s).

Implicit and Explicit Racial Attitudes Changed During Black Lives Matter.

PubMed

Sawyer, Jeremy; Gampa, Anup

2018-07-01

Lab-based interventions have been ineffective in changing individuals' implicit racial attitudes for more than brief durations, and exposure to high-status Black exemplars like Obama has proven ineffective in shifting societal-level racial attitudes. Antiracist social movements, however, offer a potential societal-level alternative for reducing racial bias. Racial attitudes were examined before and during Black Lives Matter (BLM) and its high points of struggle with 1,369,204 participants from 2009 to 2016. After controlling for changes in participant demographics, overall implicit attitudes were less pro-White during BLM than pre-BLM, became increasingly less pro-White across BLM, and were less pro-White during most periods of high BLM struggle. Considering changes in implicit attitudes by participant race, Whites became less implicitly pro-White during BLM, whereas Blacks showed little change. Regarding explicit attitudes, Whites became less pro-White and Blacks became less pro-Black during BLM, each moving toward an egalitarian "no preference" position.

Conspiracy theories as part of history: The role of societal crisis situations

PubMed Central

van Prooijen, Jan-Willem; Douglas, Karen M

2017-01-01

In the present contribution, we examine the link between societal crisis situations and belief in conspiracy theories. Contrary to common assumptions, belief in conspiracy theories has been prevalent throughout human history. We first illustrate historical incidents suggesting that societal crisis situations—defined as impactful and rapid societal change that calls established power structures, norms of conduct, or even the existence of specific people or groups into question—have stimulated belief in conspiracy theories. We then review the psychological literature to explain why this is the case. Evidence suggests that the aversive feelings that people experience when in crisis—fear, uncertainty, and the feeling of being out of control—stimulate a motivation to make sense of the situation, increasing the likelihood of perceiving conspiracies in social situations. We then explain that after being formed, conspiracy theories can become historical narratives that may spread through cultural transmission. We conclude that conspiracy theories originate particularly in crisis situations and may form the basis for how people subsequently remember and mentally represent a historical event. PMID:29081831

TRACKING CHANGES IN WETLANDS WITH URBANIZATION: SIXTEEN YEARS OF EXPERIENCE IN PORTLAND, OREGON

EPA Science Inventory

Urban wetlands can provide valuable ecological and societal services. They also can experience rapid change with development. Data from National Wetland Inventory Maps (NWI) and a series of field studies conducted between 1987 and 1998 were used to track changes over 16 years i...

Cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness of the incorporation of the pneumococcal 7-valent conjugated vaccine in the routine vaccination schedule of Catalonia (Spain).

PubMed

Navas, E; Salleras, L; Gisbert, R; Domínguez, A; Timoner, E; Ibáñez, D; Prat, A

2005-03-18

The health and economic costs and benefits of vaccinating a cohort of 60,000 children born in Catalonia in the year 2000 with the pneumococcal 7-valent conjugated vaccine were compared with the alternative of not implementing the vaccination programme. The time horizon fixed for the programme was 10 years for invasive disease, 2 years for all episodes of pneumonia and otitis media and 3.5 years for the placement of tympanostomy tubes. In the base case (incidence rate of invasive disease of 160 per 100,000 and price of the vaccine 50 euros) the net present value was negative, both from the societal perspective (-5.1million euros) and from the provider's perspective (-9.2million euros). The benefit-cost ratio was 0.59 euros from the societal perspective. The cost per disability adjusted life year (DALY) gained was 44,307 euros from the societal perspective and 80,291 euros from the provider's perspective.

Individualized cost-effectiveness analysis of patient-centered care: a case series of hospitalized patient preferences departing from practice-based guidelines.

PubMed

Padula, William V; Millis, M Andrew; Worku, Aelaf D; Pronovost, Peter J; Bridges, John F P; Meltzer, David O

2017-03-01

To develop cases of preference-sensitive care and analyze the individualized cost-effectiveness of respecting patient preference compared to guidelines. Four cases were analyzed comparing patient preference to guidelines: (a) high-risk cancer patient preferring to forgo colonoscopy; (b) decubitus patient preferring to forgo air-fluidized bed use; (c) anemic patient preferring to forgo transfusion; (d) end-of-life patient requesting all resuscitative measures. Decision trees were modeled to analyze cost-effectiveness of alternative treatments that respect preference compared to guidelines in USD per quality-adjusted life year (QALY) at a $100,000/QALY willingness-to-pay threshold from patient, provider and societal perspectives. Forgoing colonoscopy dominates colonoscopy from patient, provider, and societal perspectives. Forgoing transfusion and air-fluidized bed are cost-effective from all three perspectives. Palliative care is cost-effective from provider and societal perspectives, but not from the patient perspective. Prioritizing incorporation of patient preferences within guidelines holds good value and should be prioritized when developing new guidelines.

The measurement and prevalence of an ideational model of family and economic development in Nepal

PubMed Central

Thornton, Arland; Ghimire, Dirgha J.; Mitchell, Colter

2012-01-01

This paper is motivated by the expectation that developmental idealism has been disseminated to ordinary people and affects family behavior. Developmental idealism is a belief and value system that endorses societal and family development, views societal and family development as occurring together, and suggests that modern families are causes and consequences of societal development. We use data collected in Nepal in 2003 to examine the understandings of ordinary people and show that Nepalis can discuss ideas about development and its relationship to family life and that developmental idealism has been widely disseminated in Nepal. Developmental idealism is related in predictable ways to education, work experience, rural-urban residence, and mass media exposure. Although research ascertaining the influence of developmental idealism on demographic decision-making and behavior would be valuable, we cannot evaluate this with our one-time crossectional data, but our data and theory suggest that this influence may be substantial. PMID:22963536

Technology Changes Intelligence: Societal Implications and Soaring IQs.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sternberg, Robert J.

1997-01-01

Discusses the effects technology may have on human intelligence. Topics include the use of computational devices, including calculators, in schools; the changes word processing has brought about in writing; the use of television; and the effects of weapons on children. (LRW)

Curriculum as a Path to Convergence.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hyslop, Cheryl; Parsons, Michael H.

1995-01-01

Describes changes in career and community college curricula, focusing on the general education function, structure, developmental education components, technical specialization, and connections between basic education and technology. Suggests that educational partnerships and curriculum changes are agents of societal renewal. (23 citations) (MAB)

Environmental management strategy: four forces analysis.

PubMed

Doyle, Martin W; Von Windheim, Jesko

2015-01-01

We develop an analytical approach for more systematically analyzing environmental management problems in order to develop strategic plans. This approach can be deployed by agencies, non-profit organizations, corporations, or other organizations and institutions tasked with improving environmental quality. The analysis relies on assessing the underlying natural processes followed by articulation of the relevant societal forces causing environmental change: (1) science and technology, (2) governance, (3) markets and the economy, and (4) public behavior. The four forces analysis is then used to strategize which types of actions might be most effective at influencing environmental quality. Such strategy has been under-used and under-valued in environmental management outside of the corporate sector, and we suggest that this four forces analysis is a useful analytic to begin developing such strategy.

Environmental Management Strategy: Four Forces Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Doyle, Martin W.; Von Windheim, Jesko

2015-01-01

We develop an analytical approach for more systematically analyzing environmental management problems in order to develop strategic plans. This approach can be deployed by agencies, non-profit organizations, corporations, or other organizations and institutions tasked with improving environmental quality. The analysis relies on assessing the underlying natural processes followed by articulation of the relevant societal forces causing environmental change: (1) science and technology, (2) governance, (3) markets and the economy, and (4) public behavior. The four forces analysis is then used to strategize which types of actions might be most effective at influencing environmental quality. Such strategy has been under-used and under-valued in environmental management outside of the corporate sector, and we suggest that this four forces analysis is a useful analytic to begin developing such strategy.

Measuring the value of older people's production: a diary study

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background The productive capacity of retired people is usually not valued. However, some retirees produce much more than we might expect. This diary-based study identifies the activities of older people, and suggests some value mechanisms. One question raised is whether it is possible to scale up this diary study into a larger representative study. Methods Diaries kept for one week were collected among 23 older people in the north of Sweden. The texts were analysed with a grounded theory approach; an interplay between ideas and empirical data. Results Some productive activities of older people must be valued as the opportunity cost of time or according to the market value, and others must be valued with the replacement cost. In order to make the choice between these methods, it is important to consider the societal entitlement. When there is no societal entitlement, the first or second method must be used; and when it exists, the third must be used. Conclusions An explicit investigation of the content of the entitlement is needed to justify the choice of valuation method for each activity. In a questionnaire addressing older people's production, each question must be adjusted to the type of production. In order to fully understand this production, it is important to consider the degree of free choice to conduct an activity, as well as health-related quality of life. PMID:22230745

The how and why of societal publications for citizen science projects and scientists

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van Vliet, Arnold J. H.; Bron, Wichertje A.; Mulder, Sara

2014-05-01

In the scientific community, the importance of communication to society is often underestimated. Scientists and scientific organisations often lack the skills to organise such communication effectively. The Dutch citizen science phenology network Nature's Calendar has been successful in communicating to the general public via numerous newspaper articles, television appearances, presentations, websites and social media. We refer to these publications as societal publications. Due to active communication to mass media, we frequently reach millions of people. This communication helped us to involve thousands of volunteers in recording the timing of phenological events like the start of flowering, leaf unfolding and bird migration, but also several health-related events like hay fever symptoms and tick bites. In this paper, we analyse and present our experiences with the Nature's Calendar project regarding societal publications. Based on this analysis, we explain the importance of societal publications for citizen science projects and scientists in general, and we show how scientists can increase the newsworthiness of scientific information and what factors and activities can increase the chances of media paying attention to this news. We show that societal publications help phenological networks by facilitating the recruitment, retention and instruction of observers. Furthermore, they stimulate the generation of new ideas and partners that lead to an increase in knowledge, awareness and behavioural change of the general public or specific stakeholders. They make projects, and scientists involved, better known to the public and increase their credibility and authority. Societal publications can catalyse the production of new publications, thereby enforcing the previous mentioned points.

The how and why of societal publications for citizen science projects and scientists.

PubMed

van Vliet, Arnold J H; Bron, Wichertje A; Mulder, Sara

2014-05-01

In the scientific community, the importance of communication to society is often underestimated. Scientists and scientific organisations often lack the skills to organise such communication effectively. The Dutch citizen science phenology network Nature's Calendar has been successful in communicating to the general public via numerous newspaper articles, television appearances, presentations, websites and social media. We refer to these publications as societal publications. Due to active communication to mass media, we frequently reach millions of people. This communication helped us to involve thousands of volunteers in recording the timing of phenological events like the start of flowering, leaf unfolding and bird migration, but also several health-related events like hay fever symptoms and tick bites. In this paper, we analyse and present our experiences with the Nature's Calendar project regarding societal publications. Based on this analysis, we explain the importance of societal publications for citizen science projects and scientists in general, and we show how scientists can increase the news worthiness of scientific information and what factors and activities can increase the chances of media paying attention to this news. We show that societal publications help phenological networks by facilitating the recruitment, retention and instruction of observers. Furthermore, they stimulate the generation of new ideas and partners that lead to an increase in knowledge, awareness and behavioural change of the general public or specific stakeholders. They make projects, and scientists involved, better known to the public and increase their credibility and authority. Societal publications can catalyse the production of new publications, thereby enforcing the previous mentioned points.

Climate Change and Health: Transcending Silos to Find Solutions.

PubMed

Machalaba, Catherine; Romanelli, Cristina; Stoett, Peter; Baum, Sarah E; Bouley, Timothy A; Daszak, Peter; Karesh, William B

2015-01-01

Climate change has myriad implications for the health of humans, our ecosystems, and the ecological processes that sustain them. Projections of rising greenhouse gas emissions suggest increasing direct and indirect burden of infectious and noninfectious disease, effects on food and water security, and other societal disruptions. As the effects of climate change cannot be isolated from social and ecological determinants of disease that will mitigate or exacerbate forecasted health outcomes, multidisciplinary collaboration is critically needed. The aim of this article was to review the links between climate change and its upstream drivers (ie, processes leading to greenhouse gas emissions) and health outcomes, and identify existing opportunities to leverage more integrated global health and climate actions to prevent, prepare for, and respond to anthropogenic pressures. We conducted a literature review of current and projected health outcomes associated with climate change, drawing on findings and our collective expertise to review opportunities for adaptation and mitigation across disciplines. Health outcomes related to climate change affect a wide range of stakeholders, providing ready collaborative opportunities for interventions, which can be differentiated by addressing the upstream drivers leading to climate change or the downstream effects of climate change itself. Although health professionals are challenged with risks from climate change and its drivers, the adverse health outcomes cannot be resolved by the public health community alone. A phase change in global health is needed to move from a passive responder in partnership with other societal sectors to drive innovative alternatives. It is essential for global health to step outside of its traditional boundaries to engage with other stakeholders to develop policy and practical solutions to mitigate disease burden of climate change and its drivers; this will also yield compound benefits that help address other health, environmental, and societal challenges. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Road to Hell Is Paved with Good Intentions: Why Harm-Benefit Analysis and Its Emphasis on Practical Benefit Jeopardizes the Credibility of Research.

PubMed

Grimm, Herwig; Eggel, Matthias; Deplazes-Zemp, Anna; Biller-Andorno, Nikola

2017-09-11

It is our concern that European Union Directive 2010/63/EU with its current project evaluation of animal research in the form of a harm-benefit analysis may lead to an erosion of the credibility of research. The HBA assesses whether the inflicted harm on animals is outweighed by potential prospective benefits. Recent literature on prospective benefit analysis prioritizes "societal benefits" that have a foreseeable, positive impact on humans, animals, or the environment over benefit in the form of knowledge. In this study, we will argue that whether practical benefits are realized is (a) impossible to predict and (b) exceeds the scope and responsibility of researchers. Furthermore, we believe that the emphasis on practical benefits has the drawback of driving researchers into speculation on the societal benefit of their research and, therefore, into promising too much, thereby leading to a loss of trust and credibility. Thus, the concepts of benefit and benefit assessment in the HBA require a re-evaluation in a spirit that embraces the value of knowledge in our society. The generation of scientific knowledge has been utilised to great benefit for humans, animals, and the environment. The HBA, as it currently stands, tends to turn this idea upside down and implies that research is of value only if the resulting findings bring about immediate societal benefit.

Status, Power, and Intergroup Relations: The Personal Is the Societal

PubMed Central

Fiske, Susan T.; Dupree, Cydney H.; Nicolas, Gandalf; Swencionis, Jillian K.

2016-01-01

Hierarchies in the correlated forms of power (resources) and status (prestige) are constants that organize human societies. This article reviews relevant social psychological literature and identifies several converging results concerning power and status. Whether rank is chronically possessed or temporarily embodied, higher ranks create psychological distance from others, allow agency by the higher ranked, and exact deference from the lower ranked. Beliefs that status entails competence are essentially universal. Interpersonal interactions create warmth-competence compensatory tradeoffs. Along with societal structures (enduring inequality), these tradeoffs reinforce status-competence beliefs. Race, class, and gender further illustrate these dynamics. Although status systems are resilient, they can shift, and understanding those change processes is an important direction for future research, as global demographic changes disrupt existing hierarchies. PMID:27453923

Status, Power, and Intergroup Relations: The Personal Is the Societal.

PubMed

Fiske, Susan T; Dupree, Cydney H; Nicolas, Gandalf; Swencionis, Jillian K

2016-10-01

Hierarchies in the correlated forms of power (resources) and status (prestige) are constants that organize human societies. This article reviews relevant social psychological literature and identifies several converging results concerning power and status. Whether rank is chronically possessed or temporarily embodied, higher ranks create psychological distance from others, allow agency by the higher ranked, and exact deference from the lower ranked. Beliefs that status entails competence are essentially universal. Interpersonal interactions create warmth-competence compensatory tradeoffs. Along with societal structures (enduring inequality), these tradeoffs reinforce status-competence beliefs. Race, class, and gender further illustrate these dynamics. Although status systems are resilient, they can shift, and understanding those change processes is an important direction for future research, as global demographic changes disrupt existing hierarchies.

Interpretation of Recent Temperature Trends in California

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Duffy, P B; Bonfils, C; Lobell, D

2007-09-21

Regional-scale climate change and associated societal impacts result from large-scale (e.g. well-mixed greenhouse gases) and more local (e.g. land-use change) 'forcing' (perturbing) agents. It is essential to understand these forcings and climate responses to them, in order to predict future climate and societal impacts. California is a fine example of the complex effects of multiple climate forcings. The State's natural climate is diverse, highly variable, and strongly influenced by ENSO. Humans are perturbing this complex system through urbanization, irrigation, and emission of multiple types of aerosols and greenhouse gases. Despite better-than-average observational coverage, we are only beginning to understand themore » manifestations of these forcings in California's temperature record.« less

Childhood and Family in the 21st Century: Preparing for an Unknown Future.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gammage, Philip

This paper examines the importance of children's early experience and its implications for the future. The paper notes three important societal changes--changes in women's roles, changes in the concept of marriage, and changes in the nature of childhood--and discusses the factors underlying these trends. Current research suggests that the…

Linking soil systems to societal value systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Helming, Katharina; Daedlow, Katrin; Techen, Anja; Kaiser, David Brian

2017-04-01

Sustainable management of soils is needed to avoid soil degradation and to maintain soil functions. This requires the assessment of how human activities drive soil management, how soil management affect soil functions and soil degradation, which trade-offs occur and how they compromise sustainable development targets. In the frame of the German research programme "Soils as a sustainable resource for the bio-economy - BonaRes", we developed an enhanced approach of the DPSIR (driver-pressure-state-impact-response) cycle which helps to assess these interrelations. Because not all soil functions can be maximized simultaneously in space and time and trade-offs are inevitable, it depends on the societal value system to decide which management practices and respective soil functional performances are valued sustainably. We analysed the applicability of three valuation concepts being prominent in research about social-ecological systems, namely resource efficiency, ecosystem services, and ethics and equity. The concept of resource efficiency is based in the life-cycle thinking and is often applied at the level of the farming systems and in the context of bio-economy strategies. It covers the use of natural (water, energy, nutrients, land) and economic resources. At the landscape level, the concept of ecosystem services is prominent. Here, the contribution of soils to the provisioning, regulating and cultural services of the natural ecosystems is considered. Ethical considerations include the intrinsic values of nature as well as issues of local and global equity between different societal groups, generations, and localities. The three concepts cover different problem dimensions and complexity levels of soil management and decision making. Alone, none of them are capable to discover complex questions of sustainable soil management and development. Rather, the exact spatial and temporal framing of the sustainability problem at stake determines which combination of the value system is appropriate. Exemplified by some studies on soil management, we conclude with an outlook on criteria for selecting and combining value systems to assess the involvement of soil functions to specific Sustainable Development Goals at different spatial, temporal and decision making scales.

Northern Eurasia Future Initiative (NEFI): Presentation and Justification of the NEFI Science Plan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Groisman, P. Y.; Gutman, G.; Gulev, S.; Maksyutov, S. S.; Qi, J.; Shugart, H. H., Jr.

2016-12-01

Since 2004, the Northern Eurasia Earth Science Partnership Initiative (NEESPI) - an interdisciplinary program of internationally-supported Earth systems and science research - has addressed large-scale and long-term manifestations of climate and environmental changes over Northern Eurasia and their impact on the Global Earth system. With more than 1500 peer-reviewed journal publications and 40 books to its credit, NEESPI's activities resulted in significant scientific outreach. This created a new research realm through self-organization of NEESPI scientists in a broad research network, accumulation of knowledge while developing new tools (observations, models, and collaborative networks) and producing new, exciting results that can be applied to directly support decision-making for societal needs. At the Synthesis NEESPI Workshop in Prague, Czechia (April 9-12, 2015) it was decided to shift gradually the foci of regional studies in Northern Eurasia towards applications with the following major Science Question: "What dynamic and interactive change(s) will affect societal well-being, activities, and health, and what might be the mitigation and adaptation strategies that could support sustainable development and decision-making activities in Northern Eurasia?". To answer this question requires a stronger socio-economic component in the ongoing and future regional studies focused on sustainable societal development under changing climatic and environmental conditions. The NEESPI Research Team has reorganized itself into "Northern Eurasia Future Initiative" (NEFI) and began development of the NEFI Programmatic White Paper released at http://neespi.org in June 2016. Presentation will provide justification of the new NEFI research foci and approach examples addressing them. The societal challenges, particularly the socio-economic challenges are the top priority in most of them. Throughout the NEESP Initiative duration, support for it studies has been provided by different national and international Agencies of the United States (in particular, the NASA Land Cover and Land Use Change Program), Russian Federation (in particular, the Ministry of Education and Science, e.g., mega-grant 14.B25.31.0026), European Union, Japan, and China. We anticipate a similar kind of support for NEFI.

Seismic hazard communication in Istanbul

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ickert, Johanna

2015-04-01

Conflicting societal conceptions of earthquake safety provide challenges but also opportunities for the communication of seismic hazards. This paradox is exemplified in the controversial social reactions to the ongoing 'urban renewal projects' in Istanbul. Seismologists estimate that there is a high probability that a major earthquake will strike Istanbul in the next decade or so. Detailed earthquake risk analysis, and direct experience of the losses suffered during the major earthquakes that struck Turkey in 1999 and 2011, have engendered a broad societal recognition of the need for extensive earthquake preparedness and response planning. However, there has been dissent concerning the democratic legitimation of some of Istanbul's mitigation measures, most notably the implementation of the 'Law for the Regeneration of Areas Under Disaster Risk' (Law 6306, known as the 'disaster law') in May 2012. The strong interconnections between geological 'matters of fact' and societal 'matters of concern' raise fundamental questions for geocommunication on how to deal with this societal complexity, particularly in terms of maintaining trust in the geoscientist. There is a growing recognition among geoscientists that achieving disaster resilience in Istanbul is not solely the domain of 'earthquake experts' but rather requires a shared societal responsibility. However, the question arises as to how geocommunication can be designed to respond to this increased demand for interdisciplinarity and civil participation. This research will confront this question, exploring ways to combine qualitative and quantitative analyses, values and preferred norms with facts and observations, and be organised around an interactive web-based documentary platform that integrates multiple knowledge bases and seeks to help connect different communication cultures.

Linked Climatic, Environmental, and Societal Changes in the Lower Yellow River Area during the Neolithic-Bronze Age Transition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, S. Y.

2017-12-01

Understanding human-environment interactions during times of large and rapid climatic changes in the second half of the Holocene may deepen our insight into human adaptation and resilience against potential climate anomalies in the future. However, the drivers and societal responses tend to be different from area to area, and the degree and nature of this link are still a matter of debate. Flooding sediments preserved within the cultural stratigraphical context at archaeological sites in the lower Yellow River area may offer an ideal framework for evaluating the association between evolution of Neolithic cultures and climate fluctuations. Here, we present evidence from a mound site for the prevalence of extreme overbank floods during the Neolithic-Bronze Age transition most likely triggered by excessive summer precipitation in the Yellow River valley when prolonged weak El Niño condition prevailed. Repeated flooding during around 4000-3500 cal yr BP substantially modified the floodplain landscape, thereby driving people to disperse to areas dominated by the Erlitou culture and eventually giving rise to a state-level society in central China historiographically identified as the Xia Dynasty. Changes in the drainage network due to repeated flooding also exerted a profound impact on the rice farming-based communities centered in the region of the floods. Our results provide a precise past analogue of the linked climatic, environmental, and societal changes at a time when human societies were evolving into a hierarchy similar to those of today.

Climate change through an editorial lens

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nerlich, Brigitte

2018-06-01

Editorials provide an opportunity for international science journals to exert influence on professional scientists and wider public discourse. Now research shows how editorials on climate change in Nature and Science respond to societal events and reflect the national contexts in which these journals are situated.

Coastal regime shifts: rapid responses of coastal wetlands to changes in mangrove cover.

PubMed

Guo, Hongyu; Weaver, Carolyn; Charles, Sean P; Whitt, Ashley; Dastidar, Sayantani; D'Odorico, Paolo; Fuentes, Jose D; Kominoski, John S; Armitage, Anna R; Pennings, Steven C

2017-03-01

Global changes are causing broad-scale shifts in vegetation communities worldwide, including coastal habitats where the borders between mangroves and salt marsh are in flux. Coastal habitats provide numerous ecosystem services of high economic value, but the consequences of variation in mangrove cover are poorly known. We experimentally manipulated mangrove cover in large plots to test a set of linked hypotheses regarding the effects of changes in mangrove cover. We found that changes in mangrove cover had strong effects on microclimate, plant community, sediment accretion, soil organic content, and bird abundance within 2 yr. At higher mangrove cover, wind speed declined and light interception by vegetation increased. Air and soil temperatures had hump-shaped relationships with mangrove cover. The cover of salt marsh plants decreased at higher mangrove cover. Wrack cover, the distance that wrack was distributed from the water's edge, and sediment accretion decreased at higher mangrove cover. Soil organic content increased with mangrove cover. Wading bird abundance decreased at higher mangrove cover. Many of these relationships were non-linear, with the greatest effects when mangrove cover varied from zero to intermediate values, and lesser effects when mangrove cover varied from intermediate to high values. Temporal and spatial variation in measured variables often peaked at intermediate mangrove cover, with ecological consequences that are largely unexplored. Because different processes varied in different ways with mangrove cover, the "optimum" cover of mangroves from a societal point of view will depend on which ecosystem services are most desired. © 2016 by the Ecological Society of America.

Using a social justice and health framework to assess European climate change adaptation strategies.

PubMed

Boeckmann, Melanie; Zeeb, Hajo

2014-11-28

Climate change puts pressure on existing health vulnerabilities through higher frequency of extreme weather events, changes in disease vector distribution or exacerbated air pollution. Climate change adaptation policies may hold potential to reduce societal inequities. We assessed the role of public health and social justice in European climate change adaptation using a three-fold approach: a document analysis, a critical discourse analysis of a subgroup of strategies, and a ranking of strategies against our social justice framework. The ranking approach favored planning that includes various adaptation types, social issues and infrastructure changes. Themes on values identified in the five subgroup documents showed that risks are perceived as contradictory, technology is viewed as savior, responsibilities need to be negotiated, and social justice is advocated by only a few countries. Of 21 strategy documents assessed overall, those from Austria, England and Sweden received the highest scores in the ranking. Our qualitative assessment showed that in European adaptation planning, progress could still be made through community involvement into adaptation decisions, consistent consideration of social and demographic determinants, and a stronger link between infrastructural adaptation and the health sector. Overall, a social justice framework can serve as an evaluation guideline for adaptation policy documents.

Outreach, Engagement, and the Changing Culture of the University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Byrne, John V.

2016-01-01

Public higher education is in danger of failing to respond sufficiently to changing conditions that affect the public's need for services. A recognition of the apparent failure of higher education to keep pace with societal change and to meet the additional challenges of declining funding, increased accountability, and shifts in public attitudes…

Climate Change and Societal Response: Livelihoods, Communities, and the Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Molnar, Joseph J.

2010-01-01

Climate change may be considered a natural disaster evolving in slow motion on a global scale. Increasing storm intensities, shifting rainfall patterns, melting glaciers, rising sea levels, and other manifold alterations are being experienced around the world. Climate has never been constant in any location, but human-induced changes associated…

Strategies for Universities in the 21st Century.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mauch, James

This paper discusses the future of higher education in the United States, focusing on societal changes and strategies for universities in coming decades. It examines population aging, shifting demographics, life-style and other social changes, and workforce changes such as the growth of the service sector in the economy, noting their effects on…

Balancing Change and Tradition in Global Education Reform

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rotberg, Iris C., Ed.

2004-01-01

In Balancing Change and Tradition in Global Education Reform, Rotberg brings together examples of current education reforms in sixteen countries, written by "insiders". This book goes beyond myths and stereotypes and describes the difficult trade-offs countries make as they attempt to implement reforms in the context of societal and global change.…

ICT in Preschool: Friend or Foe? The Significance of Norms in a Changing Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lindahl, Mats Gunnar; Folkesson, Anne-Mari

2012-01-01

Societal change and prescriptions in curricula demand a change in educational practice. This can create conflicts between practitioners' usual practices (norms) and those prescribed by curricula. One example is the introduction of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) into preschool practice. Hence, our aim is to analyse how norms are…

The Principal and Educational Change.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haynes, Kathy; Blomstedt, Robert

This paper reports on a: (1) review of recent literature on the principal's role in the implementation of educational reform, and (2) study of teacher perceptions of the role of the principal in the implementation of recent Texas reform legislation. Research on societal and organizational change shows that the inevitability of change should be a…

Using Technology to Meet the Challenges of Medical Education

PubMed Central

Guze, Phyllis A.

2015-01-01

Medical education is rapidly changing, influenced by many factors including the changing health care environment, the changing role of the physician, altered societal expectations, rapidly changing medical science, and the diversity of pedagogical techniques. Changes in societal expectations put patient safety in the forefront, and raises the ethical issues of learning interactions and procedures on live patients, with the long-standing teaching method of “see one, do one, teach one” no longer acceptable. The educational goals of using technology in medical education include facilitating basic knowledge acquisition, improving decision making, enhancement of perceptual variation, improving skill coordination, practicing for rare or critical events, learning team training, and improving psychomotor skills. Different technologies can address these goals. Technologies such as podcasts and videos with flipped classrooms, mobile devices with apps, video games, simulations (part-time trainers, integrated simulators, virtual reality), and wearable devices (google glass) are some of the techniques available to address the changing educational environment. This article presents how the use of technologies can provide the infrastructure and basis for addressing many of the challenges in providing medical education for the future. PMID:26330687

Using Technology to Meet the Challenges of Medical Education.

PubMed

Guze, Phyllis A

2015-01-01

Medical education is rapidly changing, influenced by many factors including the changing health care environment, the changing role of the physician, altered societal expectations, rapidly changing medical science, and the diversity of pedagogical techniques. Changes in societal expectations put patient safety in the forefront, and raises the ethical issues of learning interactions and procedures on live patients, with the long-standing teaching method of "see one, do one, teach one" no longer acceptable. The educational goals of using technology in medical education include facilitating basic knowledge acquisition, improving decision making, enhancement of perceptual variation, improving skill coordination, practicing for rare or critical events, learning team training, and improving psychomotor skills. Different technologies can address these goals. Technologies such as podcasts and videos with flipped classrooms, mobile devices with apps, video games, simulations (part-time trainers, integrated simulators, virtual reality), and wearable devices (google glass) are some of the techniques available to address the changing educational environment. This article presents how the use of technologies can provide the infrastructure and basis for addressing many of the challenges in providing medical education for the future.

Socialising Multilingualism: Determinants of Codeswitching in Kenyan Primary Classrooms.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Merritt, Marilyn; And Others

1992-01-01

Using ethnographic observations of classroom interaction in three primary schools, determinants of teachers' language choice and codeswitching among English, Swahili, and mother-tongue were explored: official school policy, cognitive concerns, classroom management concerns, values and attitudes about societal multilingualism. (36 references)…

Crucial Issues in Secondary Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Van Til, William

1976-01-01

Nine crucial issues in secondary education are identified: (1) self-actualization skills, (2) humane values, (3) social survival skills, (4) transfer of social heritage, (5) utilization of total environment, (6) program content, (7) organizational renewal, (8) optimum resource usage, (9) societal participation in educational improvement. (MB)

Introduction.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dain, Phyllis; Steig, Margaret F.

1979-01-01

While libraries have the basic responsibility of collecting, documenting, and organizing information, they also have a bigger responsibility to societal elements of public policy, political theory, social trends, and cultural values. This article introduces the theme of this issue, which discusses libraries and society in relation to these bigger…

Integrating Remote and Social Sensing Data for a Scenario on Secure Societies in Big Data Platform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Albani, Sergio; Lazzarini, Michele; Koubarakis, Manolis; Taniskidou, Efi Karra; Papadakis, George; Karkaletsis, Vangelis; Giannakopoulos, George

2016-08-01

In the framework of the Horizon 2020 project BigDataEurope (Integrating Big Data, Software & Communities for Addressing Europe's Societal Challenges), a pilot for the Secure Societies Societal Challenge was designed considering the requirements coming from relevant stakeholders. The pilot is focusing on the integration in a Big Data platform of data coming from remote and social sensing.The information on land changes coming from the Copernicus Sentinel 1A sensor (Change Detection workflow) is integrated with information coming from selected Twitter and news agencies accounts (Event Detection workflow) in order to provide the user with multiple sources of information.The Change Detection workflow implements a processing chain in a distributed parallel manner, exploiting the Big Data capabilities in place; the Event Detection workflow implements parallel and distributed social media and news agencies monitoring as well as suitable mechanisms to detect and geo-annotate the related events.

Industry Perspectives on Market Access of Innovative Drugs: The Relevance for Oncology Drugs.

PubMed

Pauwels, Kim; Huys, Isabelle; Casteels, Minne; Simoens, Steven

2016-01-01

Key Points - Representatives of the pharmaceutical industry call for a broader recognition of value within the assessment and appraisal of innovative drugs- Focus on value within the assessment and appraisal of drugs is jeopardized by financial drives as the side of industry and at the side of the payers- A well-considered value-framework, with attention for patient reported outcomes, societal preferences and dynamic approach on the drug life cycle, needs to be incorporated in assessment and appraisal at national and European level in order to coordinate the views of different stakeholders and allow efficient resource allocation This study presents industry perspectives on the challenges related to market access of innovative drugs in general and oncology drugs in specific. Fifteen interviews were conducted with representatives of pharmaceutical companies and industry associations. Interviewees call for a broader recognition of value within the assessment and appraisal of drugs. According to interviewees, focus on value is jeopardized by the lack of a common value definition across Europe, poor availability and validity of value measures and cost-saving measures such as external reference price setting and cost-effectiveness analysis at the side of the payers. Centralized assessment of relative-effectiveness at European level would provide a common value estimate across member states, independent of financial drivers. Empirical evidence on PRO and societal preferences is however essential in the development of a value definition. Furthermore, value-based pricing would imply a dynamic approach where the price is differentiated across indications and across the lifecycle of the drug, especially in fields such as oncology. Financial drivers however also threat the application of value-based pricing at the side of the industry, making value-based profitability a more appropriate term.

Boosting Belligerence: How the July 7, 2005, London Bombings Affected Liberals' Moral Foundations and Prejudice.

PubMed

Van de Vyver, Julie; Houston, Diane M; Abrams, Dominic; Vasiljevic, Milica

2016-02-01

Major terrorist events, such as the recent attacks in Ankara, Sinai, and Paris, can have profound effects on a nation's values, attitudes, and prejudices. Yet psychological evidence testing the impact of such events via data collected immediately before and after an attack is understandably rare. In the present research, we tested the independent and joint effects of threat (the July 7, 2005, London bombings) and political ideology on endorsement of moral foundations and prejudices among two nationally representative samples (combined N = 2,031) about 6 weeks before and 1 month after the London bombings. After the bombings, there was greater endorsement of the in-group foundation, lower endorsement of the fairness-reciprocity foundation, and stronger prejudices toward Muslims and immigrants. The differences in both the endorsement of the foundations and the prejudices were larger among people with a liberal orientation than among those with a conservative orientation. Furthermore, the changes in endorsement of moral foundations among liberals explained their increases in prejudice. The results highlight the value of psychological theory and research for understanding societal changes in attitudes and prejudices after major terrorist events. © The Author(s) 2015.

Economic Analysis of Children's Surgical Care in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review and Analysis.

PubMed

Saxton, Anthony T; Poenaru, Dan; Ozgediz, Doruk; Ameh, Emmanuel A; Farmer, Diana; Smith, Emily R; Rice, Henry E

2016-01-01

Understanding the economic value of health interventions is essential for policy makers to make informed resource allocation decisions. The objective of this systematic review was to summarize available information on the economic impact of children's surgical care in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). We searched MEDLINE (Pubmed), Embase, and Web of Science for relevant articles published between Jan. 1996 and Jan. 2015. We summarized reported cost information for individual interventions by country, including all costs, disability weights, health outcome measurements (most commonly disability-adjusted life years [DALYs] averted) and cost-effectiveness ratios (CERs). We calculated median CER as well as societal economic benefits (using a human capital approach) by procedure group across all studies. The methodological quality of each article was assessed using the Drummond checklist and the overall quality of evidence was summarized using a scale adapted from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. We identified 86 articles that met inclusion criteria, spanning 36 groups of surgical interventions. The procedure group with the lowest median CER was inguinal hernia repair ($15/DALY). The procedure group with the highest median societal economic benefit was neurosurgical procedures ($58,977). We found a wide range of study quality, with only 35% of studies having a Drummond score ≥ 7. Our findings show that many areas of children's surgical care are extremely cost-effective in LMICs, provide substantial societal benefits, and are an appropriate target for enhanced investment. Several areas, including inguinal hernia repair, trichiasis surgery, cleft lip and palate repair, circumcision, congenital heart surgery and orthopedic procedures, should be considered "Essential Pediatric Surgical Procedures" as they offer considerable economic value. However, there are major gaps in existing research quality and methodology which limit our current understanding of the economic value of surgical care.

The development of a public optometry system in Mozambique: a Cost Benefit Analysis.

PubMed

Thompson, Stephen; Naidoo, Kovin; Harris, Geoff; Bilotto, Luigi; Ferrão, Jorge; Loughman, James

2014-09-23

The economic burden of uncorrected refractive error (URE) is thought to be high in Mozambique, largely as a consequence of the lack of resources and systems to tackle this largely avoidable problem. The Mozambique Eyecare Project (MEP) has established the first optometry training and human resource deployment initiative to address the burden of URE in Lusophone Africa. The nature of the MEP programme provides the opportunity to determine, using Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA), whether investing in the establishment and delivery of a comprehensive system for optometry human resource development and public sector deployment is economically justifiable for Lusophone Africa. A CBA methodology was applied across the period 2009-2049. Costs associated with establishing and operating a school of optometry, and a programme to address uncorrected refractive error, were included. Benefits were calculated using a human capital approach to valuing sight. Disability weightings from the Global Burden of Disease study were applied. Costs were subtracted from benefits to provide the net societal benefit, which was discounted to provide the net present value using a 3% discount rate. Using the most recently published disability weightings, the potential exists, through the correction of URE in 24.3 million potentially economically productive persons, to achieve a net present value societal benefit of up to $1.1 billion by 2049, at a Benefit-Cost ratio of 14:1. When CBA assumptions are varied as part of the sensitivity analysis, the results suggest the societal benefit could lie in the range of $649 million to $9.6 billion by 2049. This study demonstrates that a programme designed to address the burden of refractive error in Mozambique is economically justifiable in terms of the increased productivity that would result due to its implementation.

A societal cost-of-illness study of hemodialysis in Lebanon.

PubMed

Rizk, Rana; Hiligsmann, Mickaël; Karavetian, Mirey; Salameh, Pascale; Evers, Silvia M A A

2016-12-01

Renal failure is a growing public health problem, and is mainly treated by hemodialysis. This study aims to estimate the societal costs of hemodialysis in Lebanon. This was a quantitative, cross-sectional cost-of-illness study conducted alongside the Nutrition Education for Management of Osteodystrophy trial. Costs were assessed with a prevalence-based, bottom-up approach, for the period of June-December 2011. The data of 114 patients recruited from six hospital-based units were collected through a questionnaire measuring healthcare costs, costs to patients and family, and costs in other sectors. Recall data were used for the base-case analysis. Sensitivity analyses employing various sources of resources use and costs were performed. Costs were uprated to 2015US$. Multiple linear regression was conducted to explore the predictors of societal costs. The mean 6-month societal costs were estimated at $9,258.39. The larger part was attributable to healthcare costs (91.7%), while costs to patient and family and costs in other sectors poorly contributed to the total costs (4.2% and 4.1%, respectively). In general, results were robust to sensitivity analyses. Using the maximum value for hospitalization resulted in the biggest difference (+15.5% of the base-case result). Female gender, being widowed/divorced, having hypertension comorbidity, and higher weekly time on dialysis were significantly associated with greater societal costs. Information regarding resource consumption and cost were not readily available. Rather, they were obtained from a variety of sources, with each having its own strengths and limitations. Hemodialysis represents a high societal burden in Lebanon. Using extrapolation, its total annual cost for the Lebanese society is estimated at $61,105,374 and the mean total annual cost ($18,516.7) is 43.70% higher than the gross domestic product per capita forecast for 2015. Measures to reduce the economic burden of hemodialysis should be taken, by promoting chronic kidney disease's prevention and encouraging transplantation.

Normalised flood losses in Europe: 1970-2006

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barredo, J. I.

2009-02-01

This paper presents an assessment of normalised flood losses in Europe for the period 1970-2006. Normalisation provides an estimate of the losses that would occur if the floods from the past take place under current societal conditions. Economic losses from floods are the result of both societal and climatological factors. Failing to adjust for time-variant socio-economic factors produces loss amounts that are not directly comparable over time, but rather show an ever-growing trend for purely socio-economic reasons. This study has used available information on flood losses from the Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT) and the Natural Hazards Assessment Network (NATHAN). Following the conceptual approach of previous studies, we normalised flood losses by considering the effects of changes in population, wealth, and inflation at the country level. Furthermore, we removed inter-country price differences by adjusting the losses for purchasing power parities (PPP). We assessed normalised flood losses in 31 European countries. These include the member states of the European Union, Norway, Switzerland, Croatia, and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Results show no detectable sign of human-induced climate change in normalised flood losses in Europe. The observed increase in the original flood losses is mostly driven by societal factors.

Recognizing Campus Landscapes as Learning Spaces

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scholl, Kathleen G.; Gulwadi, Gowri Betrabet

2015-01-01

American higher education institutions face unique twenty-first century changes and challenges in providing good, holistic learning spaces for the diverse and evolving needs of today's college student. Continued enrollment growth, societal and technological changes, financial challenges, and a need for increased universal and open access create…

Educational Technologists, Chameleons, and Systemic Thinking.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reigeluth, Charles M.; Avers, Dale

1997-01-01

Discusses systemic thinking and how it can help educational technologists better cope with change. Highlights include major societal paradigm shifts, differences between the industrial age and the information age that affect education, features of an information-age educational system, and changing uses of media and technology. (LRW)

Technology and Changing Lifestyles. Teacher's Guide. Preparing for Tomorrow's World.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Iozzi, Louis A.

"Technology and Changing Lifestyles" is one of the "Preparing for Tomorrow's World" (PTW) program modules. PTW is an interdisciplinary, future-oriented program incorporating information from the sciences and social sciences and addressing societal concerns which interface science/technology/society. The program promotes…

People and Environmental Changes. Teacher's Guide. Preparing for Tomorrow's World.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Iozzi, Louis A.

"People and Environmental Changes" is one of the "Preparing for Tomorrow's World" (PTW) program modules. PTW is an interdisciplinary, future-oriented program which incorporates information from the sciences and social sciences and addresses societal concerns which interface science/technology/society. The program promotes…

Contracting with Teacher Partnerships.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shaten, Jessica; Kolderie, Ted

This monograph describes the concept of school district contracts with teacher partnerships for educational services; taking the view of education as an industry, the document analyzes advantages, obstacles, and strategies of such a change. Section 1, "The Challenge," suggests that societal changes make an education industry outside the…

Planning Education: Exchanging Approaches to Teaching Practice-Based Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ritchie, Heather; Sheppard, Adam; Croft, Nick; Peel, Deborah

2017-01-01

Planning curricula have continually evolved to meet changing societal needs, technological change and employer expectations. The professional accrediting body in the United Kingdom, the Royal Town Planning Institute, stipulates the core planning skills required, differentiating between formal classroom-based learning and professional competencies,…

Persistent Inequality: Changing Educational Attainment in Thirteen Countries. Social Inequality Series.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shavit, Yossi, Ed.; Blossfeld, Hans-Peter, Ed.

This book encompasses a systematic, comparative study of change in educational stratification in 13 industrialized countries, exploring which societal conditions help reduce existing inequalities in educational opportunity. The contributors show that in most industrialized countries inequalities in educational opportunity among students from…

Modeling Climate and Societal Resilience in the Mediterranean During the Last Millennium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wagner, S.; Xoplaki, E.; Luterbacher, J.; Zorita, E.; Fleitmann, D.; Preiser-Kapeller, J.; Toreti, A., , Dr; Sargent, A. M.; Bozkurt, D.; White, S.; Haldon, J. F.; Akçer-Ön, S.; Izdebski, A.

2017-12-01

Past civilisations were influenced by complex external and internal forces, including changes in the environment, climate, politics and economy. A geographical hotspot of the interplay between those agents is the Mediterranean, a cradle of cultural and scientific development. We analyse a novel compilation of high-quality hydroclimate proxy records and spatial reconstructions from the Mediterranean and compare them with two Earth System Model simulations (CCSM4, MPI-ESM-P) for three historical time intervals - the Crusaders, 1095-1290 CE; the Mamluk regime in Transjordan, 1260-1516 CE; and the Ottoman crisis and Celâlî Rebellion, 1580-1610 CE - when environmental and climatic stress tested the resilience of complex societies. ESMs provide important information on the dynamical mechanisms and underlying processes that led to anomalous hydroclimatic conditions of the past. We find that the multidecadal precipitation and drought variations in the Central and Eastern Mediterranean during the three periods cannot be explained by external forcings (solar variations, tropical volcanism); rather they were driven by internal climate dynamics. The integrated analysis of palaeoclimate proxies, climate reconstructions and model simulations sheds light on our understanding of past climate change and its societal impact. Finally, our research emphasises the need to further study the societal dimension of environmental and climate change in the past, in order to properly understand the role that climate has played in human history.

DEVELOPMENTS IN VALUE FRAMEWORKS TO INFORM THE ALLOCATION OF HEALTHCARE RESOURCES.

PubMed

Oortwijn, Wija; Sampietro-Colom, Laura; Habens, Fay

2017-01-01

In recent years, there has been a surge in the development of frameworks to assess the value of different types of health technologies to inform healthcare resource allocation. The reasons for, and the potential of, these value frameworks were discussed during the 2017 Health Technology Assessment International (HTAi) Policy Forum Meeting. This study reflects the discussion, drawing on presentations from invited experts and Policy Forum members, as well as a background paper. The reasons given for a proliferation of value frameworks included: rising healthcare costs; more complex health technology; perceived disconnect between price and value in some cases; changes in societal values; the need for inclusion of additional considerations, such as ethical issues; and greater empowerment of clinicians and patients in defining and using value frameworks. Many Policy Forum participants recommended learning from existing frameworks. Furthermore, there was a desire to agree on the core components of value frameworks, defining the additional value elements as necessary and considering how they might be measured and used in practice. Furthermore, adherence to the principles of transparency, predictability, broad stakeholder involvement, and accountability were widely supported, along with being forward looking, explicit, and consistent across decisions. Value frameworks continue to evolve with significant implications for global incentives for innovation and access to health technologies. There is a role for the HTA community to address some of the key areas discussed during the meeting, such as defining the core components for assessing the value of a health technology.

Extending life for people with a terminal illness: a moral right and an expensive death? Exploring societal perspectives.

PubMed

McHugh, Neil; Baker, Rachel M; Mason, Helen; Williamson, Laura; van Exel, Job; Deogaonkar, Rohan; Collins, Marissa; Donaldson, Cam

2015-03-07

Many publicly-funded health systems apply cost-benefit frameworks in response to the moral dilemma of how best to allocate scarce healthcare resources. However, implementation of recommendations based on costs and benefit calculations and subsequent challenges have led to 'special cases' with certain types of health benefits considered more valuable than others. Recent debate and research has focused on the relative value of life extensions for people with terminal illnesses. This research investigates societal perspectives in relation to this issue, in the UK. Q methodology was used to elicit societal perspectives from a purposively selected sample of data-rich respondents. Participants ranked 49 statements of opinion (developed for this study), onto a grid, according to level of agreement. These 'Q sorts' were followed by brief interviews. Factor analysis was used to identify shared points of view (patterns of similarity between individuals' Q sorts). Analysis produced a three factor solution. These rich, shared accounts can be broadly summarised as: i) 'A population perspective - value for money, no special cases', ii) 'Life is precious - valuing life-extension and patient choice', iii) 'Valuing wider benefits and opportunity cost - the quality of life and death'. From the factor descriptions it is clear that the main philosophical positions that have long dominated debates on the just allocation of resources have a basis in public opinion. The existence of certain moral positions in the views of society does not ethically imply, and pragmatically cannot mean, that all are translated into policy. Our findings highlight normative tensions and the importance of critically engaging with these normative issues (in addition to the current focus on a procedural justice approach to health policy). Future research should focus on i) the extent to which these perspectives are supported in society, ii) how respondents' perspectives relate to specific resource allocation questions, and iii) the characteristics of respondents associated with each perspective.

Qualitative Analysis of Organizational Change in One U.S. Dental School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crain, Geralyn Dell

2010-01-01

Currently, there is need for change in the way that dental schools in the United States educate their students to keep pace with the rapidly changing nature of the profession and to better address societal needs. Despite a well-documented change agenda put forth by individual authors and agencies both within and outside of dental education,…

Changing times at the Rocky Mountain Forest & Range Experiment Station: Station history from 1976 to 1997

Treesearch

R. H. Hamre

2005-01-01

Changing Times includes a review of early Station history, touches on changing societal perspectives and how things are now done differently, how the Station has changed physically and organizationally, technology transfer, a sampling of major characters, how some Station research has been applied, and a timeline of significant and/or interesting events. It includes...

Comparative biogeochemistry-ecosystem-human interactions on dynamic continental margins

USGS Publications Warehouse

Levin, Lisa A.; Liu, Kon-Kee; Emeis, Kay-Christian; Breitburg, Denise L.; Cloern, James; Deutsch, Curtis; Giani, Michele; Goffart, Anne; Hofmann, Eileen E.; Lachkar, Zouhair; Limburg, Karin; Liu, Su-Mei; Montes, Enrique; Naqvi, Wajih; Ragueneau, Olivier; Rabouille, Christophe; Sarkar, Santosh Kumar; Swaney, Dennis P.; Wassman, Paul; Wishner, Karen F.

2014-01-01

The ocean’s continental margins face strong and rapid change, forced by a combination of direct human activity, anthropogenic CO2-induced climate change, and natural variability. Stimulated by discussions in Goa, India at the IMBER IMBIZO III, we (1) provide an overview of the drivers of biogeochemical variation and change on margins, (2) compare temporal trends in hydrographic and biogeochemical data across different margins (3) review ecosystem responses to these changes, (4) highlight the importance of margin time series for detecting and attributing change and (5) examine societal responses to changing margin biogeochemistry and ecosystems. We synthesize information over a wide range of margin settings in order to identify the commonalities and distinctions among continental margin ecosystems. Key drivers of biogeochemical variation include long-term climate cycles, CO2-induced warming, acidification, and deoxygenation, as well as sea level rise, eutrophication, hydrologic and water cycle alteration, changing land use, fishing, and species invasion. Ecosystem responses are complex and impact major margin services including primary production, fisheries production, nutrient cycling, shoreline protection, chemical buffering, and biodiversity. Despite regional differences, the societal consequences of these changes are unarguably large and mandate coherent actions to reduce, mitigate and adapt to multiple stressors on continental margins.

Comparative biogeochemistry-ecosystem-human interactions on dynamic continental margins

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Levin, Lisa A.; Liu, Kon-Kee; Emeis, Kay-Christian; Breitburg, Denise L.; Cloern, James; Deutsch, Curtis; Giani, Michele; Goffart, Anne; Hofmann, Eileen E.; Lachkar, Zouhair; Limburg, Karin; Liu, Su-Mei; Montes, Enrique; Naqvi, Wajih; Ragueneau, Olivier; Rabouille, Christophe; Sarkar, Santosh Kumar; Swaney, Dennis P.; Wassman, Paul; Wishner, Karen F.

2015-01-01

The oceans' continental margins face strong and rapid change, forced by a combination of direct human activity, anthropogenic CO2-induced climate change, and natural variability. Stimulated by discussions in Goa, India at the IMBER IMBIZO III, we (1) provide an overview of the drivers of biogeochemical variation and change on margins, (2) compare temporal trends in hydrographic and biogeochemical data across different margins, (3) review ecosystem responses to these changes, (4) highlight the importance of margin time series for detecting and attributing change and (5) examine societal responses to changing margin biogeochemistry and ecosystems. We synthesize information over a wide range of margin settings in order to identify the commonalities and distinctions among continental margin ecosystems. Key drivers of biogeochemical variation include long-term climate cycles, CO2-induced warming, acidification, and deoxygenation, as well as sea level rise, eutrophication, hydrologic and water cycle alteration, changing land use, fishing, and species invasion. Ecosystem responses are complex and impact major margin services. These include primary production, fisheries production, nutrient cycling, shoreline protection, chemical buffering, and biodiversity. Despite regional differences, the societal consequences of these changes are unarguably large and mandate coherent actions to reduce, mitigate and adapt to multiple stressors on continental margins.

Societal views and animal welfare science: understanding why the modified cage may fail and other stories.

PubMed

Weary, D M; Ventura, B A; von Keyserlingk, M A G

2016-02-01

The innovations developed by scientists working on animal welfare are often not adopted in practice. In this paper, we argue that one important reason for this failure is that the solutions proposed do not adequately address the societal concerns that motivated the original research. Some solutions also fail because they do not adequately address perceived constraints within the industry. Using examples from our own recent work, we show how research methods from the social sciences can address both of these limitations. For example, those who persist in tail-docking cattle (despite an abundance of evidence showing that the practice has no benefits) often justify their position by citing concern for cow cleanliness. This result informs the nature of new extension efforts directed at farmers that continue to tail dock, suggesting that these efforts will be more effective if they focus on providing producers with methods (of proven efficacy) for keeping cows clean. Work on pain mitigation for dehorning shows that some participants reluctant to provide pain relief believe that the pain from this procedure is short lasting and has little impact on the calf. This result informs the direction of new biological research efforts to understand both the magnitude and duration of any suffering that result from this type of procedure. These, and other examples, illustrate how social science methodologies can document the shared and divergent values of different stakeholders (to ensure that proposed solutions align with mainstream values), beliefs regarding the available evidence (to help target new scientific research that meets the perceived gaps), and barriers in implementing changes (to ease adoption of ideas by addressing these barriers).

Cost-effectiveness analysis of a patient-centered care model for management of psoriasis.

PubMed

Parsi, Kory; Chambers, Cindy J; Armstrong, April W

2012-04-01

Cost-effectiveness analyses help policymakers make informed decisions regarding funding allocation of health care resources. Cost-effectiveness analysis of technology-enabled models of health care delivery is necessary to assess sustainability of novel online, patient-centered health care models. We sought to compare cost-effectiveness of conventional in-office care with a patient-centered, online model for follow-up treatment of patients with psoriasis. Cost-effectiveness analysis was performed from a societal perspective on a randomized controlled trial comparing a patient-centered online model with in-office visits for treatment of patients with psoriasis during a 24-week period. Quality-adjusted life expectancy was calculated using the life table method. Costs were generated from the original study parameters and national averages for salaries and services. No significant difference existed in the mean change in Dermatology Life Quality Index scores between the two groups (online: 3.51 ± 4.48 and in-office: 3.88 ± 6.65, P value = .79). Mean improvement in quality-adjusted life expectancy was not significantly different between the groups (P value = .93), with a gain of 0.447 ± 0.48 quality-adjusted life years for the online group and a gain of 0.463 ± 0.815 quality-adjusted life years for the in-office group. The cost of follow-up psoriasis care with online visits was 1.7 times less than the cost of in-person visits ($315 vs $576). Variations in travel time existed among patients depending on their distance from the dermatologist's office. From a societal perspective, the patient-centered online care model appears to be cost saving, while maintaining similar effectiveness to standard in-office care. Copyright © 2011 American Academy of Dermatology, Inc. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Connecting Knowledge, Belief, Values and Action: Informing Climate Literacy by Using Autobiographies to Articulate Environmental Worldviews

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Owens, M. A.

2011-12-01

Climate literacy is evolving as a specific subset of science and environmental literacy. Through a longitudinal analysis of environmental autobiographies of an internationally and religiously diverse group of environmental sciences majors at a Historically Black College or University (HBCU) in the southern U.S., this presentation will explore: 1) sources and impact of religious beliefs on students' environmental worldview; 2) conflicts between religious, community and scientific values; and 3) navigating the tensions between trust in a religious deity as well as scientific methods and processes. Lester Milbrath states that "beliefs empower and deceive us." The media, as well as significant people and institutions, including religious institutions, socialize us and contribute to individual and societal worldviews. "We so thoroughly accept our culture's beliefs about how the world works that we hardly ever think about them even though they underlie everything we think and do." Beliefs, attitudes, and values comprise an important component of environmental literacy, a praxis-oriented concept from the field of environmental education, which is defined as: [T]he capacity to perceive and interpret the relative health of environmental systems and take appropriate action to maintain, restore, or improve the health of those systems . . . Environmental literacy should be defined in terms of observable behaviors. (Disinger and Roth 1992, 2). Environmental literacy draws upon six areas: environmental sensitivity; knowledge; skills; beliefs, attitudes and values; personal investment and responsibility; and active involvement. It involves particular ways of thinking, acting, and valuing (Roth 1992). Religious beliefs, or lack thereof, shape worldviews, thereby influencing individual and societal environmental and more specifically, climate literacy. For example, Western Christianity espouses a hierarchical anthropocentric worldview, putting God infinitely above human beings, and human beings above nature. The creation stories of Genesis have been used both implicitly and explicitly to justify domination and exploitation of the earth and its resources. Autobiographies may be used as a reflective pedagogical tool to help students to identify various components of their respective environmental worldviews that may influence their overall environmental and climate literacy. Narrative responses to guiding questions prompt students to reflect on beliefs, trust, and values. This research will inform the development of culturally relevant and scientifically sound approaches to climate change education.

Expansion of the wilderness values scale with three sub-scales: Personal maintenance, expression and learning, and societal maintenance

Treesearch

Rudy M. Schuster; Ken Cordell; Gary T. Green

2007-01-01

The purpose of this research was to expand the wilderness value scale administered in the 1994 and 2000 versions of the National Survey on Recreation and the Environment using questions included in the 2003 NSRE. A data set of 1,900 cases was randomly split in half. Validity of the additional questions was tested using principal component analysis, a confirmatory...

Wind Vision. A New Era for Wind Power in the United States (Executive Summary, Full Report, and Appendices); U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), NREL (National Renewable Energy Laboratory)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

None, None

The Wind Vision analysis demonstrates the economic value that wind power can bring to the nation, a value exceeding the costs of deployment. Wind’s environmental benefits can address key societal challenges such as climate change, air quality and public health, and water scarcity. Wind deployment can provide U.S. jobs, U.S. manufacturing, and lease and tax revenues in local communities to strengthen and support a transition of the nation’s electricity sector towards a low-carbon U.S. economy. The path needed to achieve 10% wind by 2020, 20% by 2030, and 35% by 2050 requires new tools, priorities, and emphases beyond those forgedmore » by the wind industry in growing to 4.5% of current U.S. electricity demand. Consideration of new strategies and updated priorities as identified in the Wind Vision could provide substantial positive outcomes for future generations.« less

Riots of the Other: An analysis of societal reactions to contemporary riots in disadvantaged neighbourhoods in the Netherlands

PubMed Central

Bouabid, Abdessamad

2016-01-01

In this article I argue that there has been a change in the dynamics of riots in the Netherlands from the escalated political protests of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s to public disturbances in disadvantaged neighbourhoods that lack a clearly articulated political component in the last two decades. This article examines the societal reactions such recent ‘riots’ evoke and the means by which the demarcated autonomous and exogenous groups are designated as ‘the rioters’ through a process of ‘Othering’. It examines the 2007 ‘Slotervaart riot’ as an exemplary case of such recent ‘riots’ in the Netherlands. It concludes that placing the focus on demarcated groups of Others during recent ‘riots’ in the Netherlands allowed broader social problems to be placed outside the ‘normal’ or ‘pure’ societal body. PMID:28596708

Barriers to addressing the societal determinants of health: public health units and poverty in Ontario, Canada.

PubMed

Raphael, Dennis

2003-12-01

Despite Canada's reputation as a leader in health promotion and population health concepts, actual public health practice for the most part remains wedded to downstream strategies focussed on behaviour change. In Canada's largest province this has led to the implementation of a heart health promotion approach focussed on diet, activity and tobacco use. This is so despite increasing evidence that these approaches are generally ineffective, particularly for those at greatest risk. In addition, these strategies appear to divert public and governmental attention away from addressing the broader societal determinants of health. Examples of Ontario public health units that have begun to address societal determinants of health provide a counterbalance to the dominant paradigm that frames health as an individual responsibility. These new approaches focus attention upon the health-threatening effects of governments' regressive social and economic policies in a manner consistent with the best principles of health promotion.

Gauging the societal impacts of natural disasters using a capability approach.

PubMed

Gardoni, Paolo; Murphy, Colleen

2010-07-01

There is a widely acknowledged need for a single composite index that provides a comprehensive picture of the societal impact of disasters. A composite index combines and logically organizes important information policy-makers need to allocate resources for the recovery from natural disasters; it can also inform hazard mitigation strategies. This paper develops a Disaster Impact Index (DII) to gauge the societal impact of disasters on the basis of the changes in individuals' capabilities. The DII can be interpreted as the disaster impact per capita. Capabilities are dimensions of individual well-being and refer to the genuine opportunities individuals have to achieve valuable states and activities (such as being adequately nourished or being mobile). After discussing the steps required to construct the DII, this article computes and compares the DIIs for two earthquakes of similar magnitude in two societies at different levels of development and of two disasters (earthquake and wind storm) in the same society.

On the societal nature of praxis and organic research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roth, Wolff-Michael

2016-03-01

In its focus on social practices, the feature article presents an interesting theoretical framework for rethinking not only where and how knowing and learning in science education exhibit themselves but also we might change our own research practice. The framework is not new to me, as I have advocated it explicitly for more than 15 years. But over time it became apparent to me that some particularities of participation in practice may be grounded more strongly in an orientation towards the societal nature of any human praxis. In this forum contribution, I present a theoretical approach built on societal-historical activity theory that also takes activism as a major category for theorizing participation. This approach not only covers the extent of the social practice framework but also allows us to make thematic the production of inequity and restrictions to access science and engineering that are characteristic of many societies.

Social Gerontology Training Manual.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tucker, Jeanne C., Ed.; Umbarger, Vivian C., Ed.

This guide for educators, human service workers, and others interested in social gerontology contains four sections covering fifteen subject areas/sessions. Unit 1, Societal Structure and Its Relationship to the Aged, presents data concerning demographics of the aging population, historical factors having an impact upon value processing of older…

Avoiding Corporal Punishment in School: Issues for School Counselors.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Forness, Steven R.; Sinclair, Esther

1984-01-01

Focuses on the legal status and societal values that promote the use of corporal punishment in public schools, and on the role of the elementary school counselor in helping teachers deal with punishment. Discusses factors affecting the effectiveness of punishment and suggests alternatives. (JAC)

A VISION FOR A BEACH FORECASTING TOOL

EPA Science Inventory

The societal value of safe access to swimmable water is intuitive and in many countries it is a legal right. Threats to water quality reduce these recreational opportunities. The risk comes from exposure to waterborne pathogens from a myriad of sources, both human and animal. ...

The socio-environmental history of the Peloponnese during the Holocene: Towards an integrated understanding of the past

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weiberg, Erika; Unkel, Ingmar; Kouli, Katerina; Holmgren, Karin; Avramidis, Pavlos; Bonnier, Anton; Dibble, Flint; Finné, Martin; Izdebski, Adam; Katrantsiotis, Christos; Stocker, Sharon R.; Andwinge, Maria; Baika, Kalliopi; Boyd, Meighan; Heymann, Christian

2016-03-01

Published archaeological, palaeoenvironmental, and palaeoclimatic data from the Peloponnese in Greece are compiled, discussed and evaluated in order to analyse the interactions between humans and the environment over the last 9000 years. Our study indicates that the number of human settlements found scattered over the peninsula have quadrupled from the prehistoric to historical periods and that this evolution occurred over periods of climate change and seismo-tectonic activity. We show that societal development occurs both during periods of harsh as well as favourable climatic conditions. At some times, some settlements develop while others decline. Well-known climate events such as the 4.2 ka and 3.2 ka events are recognizable in some of the palaeoclimatic records and a regional decline in the number and sizes of settlements occurs roughly at the same time, but their precise chronological fit with the archaeological record remains uncertain. Local socio-political processes were probably always the key drivers behind the diverse strategies that human societies took in times of changing climate. The study thus reveals considerable chronological parallels between societal development and palaeoenvironmental records, but also demonstrates the ambiguities in these correspondences and, in doing so, highlights some of the challenges that will face future interdisciplinary projects. We suggest that there can be no general association made between societal expansion phases and periods of advantageous climate. We also propose that the relevance of climatic and environmental regionality, as well as any potential impacts of seismo-tectonics on societal development, need to be part of the interpretative frameworks.

Holocene fluctuations in human population demonstrate repeated links to food production and climate

PubMed Central

Colledge, Sue; Fuller, Dorian; Fyfe, Ralph; Shennan, Stephen; Stevens, Chris

2017-01-01

We consider the long-term relationship between human demography, food production, and Holocene climate via an archaeological radiocarbon date series of unprecedented sampling density and detail. There is striking consistency in the inferred human population dynamics across different regions of Britain and Ireland during the middle and later Holocene. Major cross-regional population downturns in population coincide with episodes of more abrupt change in North Atlantic climate and witness societal responses in food procurement as visible in directly dated plants and animals, often with moves toward hardier cereals, increased pastoralism, and/or gathered resources. For the Neolithic, this evidence questions existing models of wholly endogenous demographic boom–bust. For the wider Holocene, it demonstrates that climate-related disruptions have been quasi-periodic drivers of societal and subsistence change. PMID:29158411

The Economics of Comparative Effectiveness Studies

PubMed Central

Meltzer, David; Basu, Anirban; Conti, Rena

2013-01-01

Comparative effectiveness research (CER) can provide valuable information for patients, providers and payers. These stakeholders differ in their incentives to invest in CER. To maximize benefits from public investments in CER, it is important to understand the value of CER from the perspectives of these stakeholders and how that affects their incentives to invest in CER. This article provides a conceptual framework for valuing CER, and illustrates the potential benefits of such studies from a number of perspectives using several case studies. We examine cases in which CER provides value by identifying when one treatment is consistently better than others, when different treatments are preferred for different subgroups, and when differences are small enough that decisions can be made based on price. We illustrate these findings using value-of-information techniques to assess the value of research, and by examining changes in pharmaceutical prices following publication of a comparative effectiveness study. Our results suggest that CER may have high societal value but limited private return to providers or payers. This suggests the importance of public efforts to promote the production of CER. We also conclude that value-of-information tools may help inform policy decisions about how much public funds to invest in CER and how to prioritize the use of available public funds for CER, in particular targeting public CER spending to areas where private incentives are low relative to social benefits. PMID:20831292

Cultural Change, Human Activity, and Cognitive Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gauvain, Mary; Munroe, Robert L.

2012-01-01

Differential cognitive performance across cultural contexts has been a standard result in comparative research. Here we discuss how societal changes occurring when a small-scale traditional community incorporates elements from industrialized society may contribute to cognitive development, and we illustrate this with an analysis of the cognitive…

Family-Focused Workplace Guide.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

SERVE: SouthEastern Regional Vision for Education.

The relationship between family and the workplace and the impact of both on school readiness are well documented. As society changes, home, work, and school relationships are being reassessed and retooled. Noting that employers are taking an increasing role in helping families cope with societal changes, this handbook offers information to…

Comparative Theories of Social Change.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peter, Hollis W.; And Others

This symposium report contains various statements of the theory of change and societal growth and maintenance viewed from the perspectives of major social disciplines. Comparative theories in these areas can provide guidelines for predicting, planning, and carrying out social development programs. The theme of the symposium was the problem of…

Same Sneakers, New Tricks: Curricular Alternatives for Physical Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lund, Jacalyn L.

1993-01-01

As societal demands for health and fitness are changing, physical education curricula must also change. The traditional multiactivity curriculum is inadequate, because poorly skilled students lack enough time to learn the necessary skills. Three alternative curriculum models (adventure education, physical fitness, and sports education)…

A comparison of cancer burden and research spending reveals discrepancies in the distribution of research funding.

PubMed

Carter, Ashley J R; Nguyen, Cecine N

2012-07-17

Ideally, the distribution of research funding for different types of cancer should be equitable with respect to the societal burden each type of cancer imposes. These burdens can be estimated in a variety of ways; "Years of Life Lost" (YLL) measures the severity of death in regard to the age it occurs, "Disability-Adjusted Life-Years" (DALY) estimates the effects of non-lethal disabilities incurred by disease and economic metrics focus on the losses to tax revenue, productivity or direct medical expenses. We compared research funding from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to a variety of burden metrics for the most common types of cancer to identify mismatches between spending and societal burden. Research funding levels were obtained from the NCI website and information for societal health and economic burdens were collected from government databases and published reports. We calculated the funding levels per unit burden for a wide range of different cancers and burden metrics and compared these values to identify discrepancies. Our analysis reveals a considerable mismatch between funding levels and burden. Some cancers are funded at levels far higher than their relative burden suggests (breast cancer, prostate cancer, and leukemia) while other cancers appear underfunded (bladder, esophageal, liver, oral, pancreatic, stomach, and uterine cancers). These discrepancies indicate that an improved method of health care research funding allocation should be investigated to better match funding levels to societal burden.

Evidence and implications of recent and projected climate change in Alaska's forest ecosystems

Treesearch

Jane M. Wolken; Teresa N. Hollingsworth; T. Scott Rupp; F. Stuart Chapin; Sarah F. Trainor; Tara M. Barrett; Patrick F. Sullivan; A. David McGuire; Eugenie S. Euskirchen; Paul E. Hennon; Erik A. Beever; Jeff S. Conn; Lisa K. Crone; David V. A' More; Nancy Fresco; Thomas A. Hanley; Knut Kielland; James J. Kruse; Trista Patterson; Edward A.G. Schuur; David L. Verbyla; John Yarie

2011-01-01

The structure and function of Alaska's forests have changed significantly in response to a changing climate, including alterations in species composition and climate feedbacks (e.g., carbon, radiation budgets) that have important regional societal consequences and human feedbacks to forest ecosystems. In this paper we present the first comprehensive synthesis of...

Development and Validation of the ACSI: Measuring Students' Science Attitudes, Pro-Environmental Behaviour, Climate Change Attitudes and Knowledge

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dijkstra, E. M.; Goedhart, M. J.

2012-01-01

This article describes the development and validation of the Attitudes towards Climate Change and Science Instrument. This 63-item questionnaire measures students' pro-environmental behaviour, their climate change knowledge and their attitudes towards school science, societal implications of science, scientists, a career in science and the urgency…

Changing Science Education to Meet the Demands of a Changing Society

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fensham, Peter J.

2017-01-01

Changes in society can, on occasion, lead to new demands on schooling, and on science education in particular. A major such demand in the 1960s led to a conceptual form of science that has dominated school science education ever since. Subsequent major societal demands have usually not been nearly as successful in redefining school science…

Feminism and Family.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Elshtain, Jean Bethke

1983-01-01

Radical feminism has done a disservice in its call to women to abandon their traditional family roles. Rather than deny women the meaning that traditional female roles provide, feminists should seek to break down societal values that downgrade these roles and to create a better social environment for family life. (Author/AOS)

Targetting Teenagers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bernard van Leer Foundation Newsletter, 1995

1995-01-01

This theme issue of the Bernard van Leer Foundation newsletter focuses on the problem of teenage pregnancy and teenage parenthood in developing and developed nations, and examines the problems that teenage mothers face in different societies. It explores societal norms and values related to teenage parenting; the effects of teenage parents on…

Are Culturally Biased Test Useful?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kelley, H. Paul

1982-01-01

Whether culturally biased tests are useful depends on what is meant by that phrase and the purpose for which the test is to be used. Keeping the distinction between aptitude and achievement in mind, different definitions of fair use of tests come from different sets of societal values. (Author/CM)

Cross-Cultural Psychology as a Scholarly Discipline: On the Flowering of Culture in Behavioral Research.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Segall, Marshall H.; Lonner, Walter J.; Berry, John W.

1998-01-01

Examines interrelationship of culture and behavior. Perspectives include absolutism and relativism, each with methodological consequences for such research concerns as values gender differences, cognition, aggression, intergroup relations, and psychological acculturation. Describes societal concerns relating to these topics. Contains 88…

Impact of consensus statements and reimbursement on vena cava filter utilization.

PubMed

Desai, Sapan S; Naddaf, Abdallah; Pan, James; Hood, Douglas; Hodgson, Kim J

2016-08-01

Pulmonary embolism is the third most common cause of death in hospitalized patients. Vena cava filters (VCFs) are indicated in patients with venous thromboembolism with a contraindication to anticoagulation. Prophylactic indications are still controversial. However, the utilization of VCFs during the past 15 years may have been affected by societal recommendations and reimbursement rates. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of societal guidelines and reimbursement on national trends in VCF placement from 1998 to 2012. The National Inpatient Sample was used to identify patients who underwent VCF placement between 1998 and 2012. VCF placement yearly rates were evaluated. Societal guidelines and consensus statements were identified using a PubMed search. Reimbursement rates for VCF were determined on the basis of published Medicare reports. Statistical analysis was completed using descriptive statistics, Fisher exact test, and trend analysis using the Mann-Kendall test and considered significant for P < .05. The use of VCFs increased 350% between January 1998 and January 2008. Consensus statements in favor of VCFs published by the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma (July 2002) and the Society of Interventional Radiology (March 2006) were temporally associated with a significant 138% and 122% increase in the use of VCFs, respectively (P = .014 and P = .023, respectively). The American College of Chest Physicians guidelines (February 2008 and 2012) discouraging the use of VCFs were preceded by an initial stabilization in the use of VCFs between 2008 and 2012, followed by a 16% decrease in use starting in March 2012 (P = .38). Changes in Medicare reimbursement were not followed by a change in VCF implantation rates. There is a temporal association between the societal guidelines' recommendations regarding VCF placement and the actual rates of insertion. More uniform consensus statements from multiple societies along with the use of level I evidence may be required to lead to a definitive change in practice. Copyright © 2016 Society for Vascular Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Presenting evidence and summary measures to best inform societal decisions when comparing multiple strategies.

PubMed

Eckermann, Simon; Willan, Andrew R

2011-07-01

Multiple strategy comparisons in health technology assessment (HTA) are becoming increasingly important, with multiple alternative therapeutic actions, combinations of therapies and diagnostic and genetic testing alternatives. Comparison under uncertainty of incremental cost, effects and cost effectiveness across more than two strategies is conceptually and practically very different from that for two strategies, where all evidence can be summarized in a single bivariate distribution on the incremental cost-effectiveness plane. Alternative methods for comparing multiple strategies in HTA have been developed in (i) presenting cost and effects on the cost-disutility plane and (ii) summarizing evidence with multiple strategy cost-effectiveness acceptability (CEA) and expected net loss (ENL) curves and frontiers. However, critical questions remain for the analyst and decision maker of how these techniques can be best employed across multiple strategies to (i) inform clinical and cost inference in presenting evidence, and (ii) summarize evidence of cost effectiveness to inform societal reimbursement decisions where preferences may be risk neutral or somewhat risk averse under the Arrow-Lind theorem. We critically consider how evidence across multiple strategies can be best presented and summarized to inform inference and societal reimbursement decisions, given currently available methods. In the process, we make a number of important original findings. First, in presenting evidence for multiple strategies, the joint distribution of costs and effects on the cost-disutility plane with associated flexible comparators varying across replicates for cost and effect axes ensure full cost and effect inference. Such inference is usually confounded on the cost-effectiveness plane with comparison relative to a fixed origin and axes. Second, in summarizing evidence for risk-neutral societal decision making, ENL curves and frontiers are shown to have advantages over the CEA frontier in directly presenting differences in expected net benefit (ENB). The CEA frontier, while identifying strategies that maximize ENB, only presents their probability of maximizing net benefit (NB) and, hence, fails to explain why strategies maximize ENB at any given threshold value. Third, in summarizing evidence for somewhat risk-averse societal decision making, trade-offs between the strategy maximizing ENB and other potentially optimal strategies with higher probability of maximizing NB should be presented over discrete threshold values where they arise. However, the probabilities informing these trade-offs and associated discrete threshold value regions should be derived from bilateral CEA curves to prevent confounding by other strategies inherent in multiple strategy CEA curves. Based on these findings, a series of recommendations are made for best presenting and summarizing cost-effectiveness evidence for reimbursement decisions when comparing multiple strategies, which are contrasted with advice for comparing two strategies. Implications for joint research and reimbursement decisions are also discussed.

Parochial trust and cooperation across 17 societies

PubMed Central

Romano, Angelo; Balliet, Daniel; Liu, James H.

2017-01-01

International challenges such as climate change, poverty, and intergroup conflict require countries to cooperate to solve these complex problems. However, the political tide in many countries has shifted inward, with skepticism and reluctance to cooperate with other countries. Thus, cross-societal investigations are needed to test theory about trust and cooperation within and between groups. We conducted an experimental study in 17 countries designed to test several theories that explain why, who, and where people trust and cooperate more with ingroup members, compared with outgroup members. The experiment involved several interactions in the trust game, either as a trustor or trustee. We manipulated partner group membership in the trust game (ingroup, outgroup, or unknown) and if their reputation was at stake during the interaction. In addition to the standard finding that participants trust and cooperate more with ingroup than outgroup members, we obtained findings that reputational concerns play a decisive role for promoting trust and cooperation universally across societies. Furthermore, men discriminated more in favor of their ingroup than women. Individual differences in cooperative preferences, as measured by social value orientation, predicted cooperation with both ingroup and outgroup members. Finally, we did not find support for three theories about the cross-societal conditions that influence the degree of ingroup favoritism observed across societies (e.g., material security, religiosity, and pathogen stress). We discuss the implications for promoting cooperation within and between countries. PMID:29133403

Beyond wilderness: Broadening the applicability of limits of acceptable change

Treesearch

Mark W. Brunson

1977-01-01

The Limits of Acceptable Change (LAC) process helps managers preserve wilderness attributes along with recreation opportunities. Ecosystem management likewise requires managers to balance societal and ecosystem needs. Both are more likely to succeed through collaborative planning. Consequently, LAC can offer a conceptual framework for achieving sustainable solutions...

Preserving Canadian Exceptionalism: An Educator's Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shaker, Paul

2009-01-01

In this article, the author discusses the educational and societal differences between Canada and the United States. He claims that an egocentric culture, committed to immediate gratification, stands in the way of a healthy response to change. People are always seeking accommodation to the changes around them. When people choose familiar behaviour…

2020 Perfect Vision for the Next Century: An Environmental Scan.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Friedel, Jan

Focusing on the future of the Eastern Iowa Community College District (EICCD), this environmental scan examines changes occurring in both local and worldwide populations and workforces; political, societal, and economic environs; and technology. Section I describes the changing population and demographics in the United States, focusing on the…

Changing Contexts for Counselor Preparation in the 1990s.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hackney, Harold, Ed.

The five chapters in this monograph provide guidelines for counselors in the 1990s who will be faced with such societal issues as substance abuse, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), teenage pregnancy, youth unemployment, homelessness, crime and delinquency, and school dropouts. "The Contemporary Counselor in a Changed World" (Harold…

Twenty-first Century Ethical Challenges for Psychology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koocher, Gerald P.

2007-01-01

Foreseeable social and technological changes will force us to reevaluate our thinking about ethically appropriate ways to fulfill our mission of using psychology to advance human health and welfare in the twenty-first century. Three categories of challenge related to societal and technological changes have become particularly evident. First,…

The Education of Population Scientists.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Malcolm, Janet M.; Cargille, Charles M.

Population science, a combination of natural science, social science, and management science, deals with the phenomena associated with the human population size. Subjects include the rates of change of the sizes of the various subsets of the human population, the causes and results of those changes, the societal pressures for control of population…

Changing Societal Roles and Teaching.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dow, Ruth McNabb

This handbook for home economics teachers as well as those teaching social studies and consumer education is designed to provide content and numerous student activities that explore the nature and effects of changing roles in society, particularly sex-related roles. The handbook begins with a brief section containing ten short single paragraph…

Analysis of Water Conflicts across Natural and Societal Boundaries: Integration of Quantitative Modeling and Qualitative Reasoning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, Y.; Balaram, P.; Islam, S.

2009-12-01

Water issues and problems have bewildered humankind for a long time yet a systematic approach for understanding such issues remain elusive. This is partly because many water-related problems are framed from a contested terrain in which many actors (individuals, communities, businesses, NGOs, states, and countries) compete to protect their own and often conflicting interests. We argue that origin of many water problems may be understood as a dynamic consequence of competition, interconnections, and feedback among variables in the Natural and Societal Systems (NSSs). Within the natural system, we recognize that triple constraints on water- water quantity (Q), water quality (P), and ecosystem (E)- and their interdependencies and feedback may lead to conflicts. Such inherent and multifaceted constraints of the natural water system are exacerbated often at the societal boundaries. Within the societal system, interdependencies and feedback among values and norms (V), economy (C), and governance (G) interact in various ways to create intractable contextual differences. The observation that natural and societal systems are linked is not novel. Our argument here, however, is that rigid disciplinary boundaries between these two domains will not produce solutions to the water problems we are facing today. The knowledge needed to address water problems need to go beyond scientific assessment in which societal variables (C, G, and V) are treated as exogenous or largely ignored, and policy research that does not consider the impact of natural variables (E, P, and Q) and that coupling among them. Consequently, traditional quantitative methods alone are not appropriate to address the dynamics of water conflicts, because we cannot quantify the societal variables and the exact mathematical relationships among the variables are not fully known. On the other hand, conventional qualitative study in societal domain has mainly been in the form of individual case studies and therefore, the knowledge generated from these studies cannot be easily generalized or transferred to other basins. Here, we present an approach to integrate the quantitative and qualitative methods to study water issues and capture the contextual knowledge of water management- by combining the NSSs framework and an area of artificial intelligence called qualitative reasoning. Using the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) River Basin dispute as an example, we demonstrate how quantitative modeling and qualitative reasoning can be integrated to examine the impact of over abstraction of water from the river on the ecosystem and the role of governance in shaping the evolution of the ACF water dispute.

Contextualizing immigrants' lived experience: story of Taiwanese immigrants in the United States.

PubMed

Tsai, Jenny Hsin-Chun

2003-01-01

Immigration involves extensive changes in living environments. Nonetheless, the predominant approach in the health science literature has been to utilize individual characteristics (including ethnic background) to explain and predict immigrants' lived experiences and health outcomes. Contexts, particularly the larger societal contexts by which immigrants are constituted, are generally ignored. Data from a critical ethnography regarding immigrants' experiences with language, occupation, and economic survival in the United States are utilized to illustrate that immigrants' lives are inseparable from the larger societal contexts, such as immigration policy, Western imperialism, and structural discrimination. The implications for practice, education, and research are discussed.

The Value of Fieldwork in Life and Environmental Sciences in the Context of Higher Education: A Case Study in Learning about Biodiversity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scott, Graham W.; Goulder, Raymond; Wheeler, Phillip; Scott, Lisa J.; Tobin, Michelle L.; Marsham, Sara

2012-01-01

Fieldwork is assumed by most practitioners to be an important if not essential component of a degree level education in the environmental sciences. However, there is strong evidence that as a result of a wide range of pressures (academic, financial and societal) fieldwork is in decline in the UK and elsewhere. In this paper we discuss the value of…

Changes in personality among male and female dental graduates.

PubMed

McCreary, C P; Gershen, J A

1982-05-01

This study examines changes in personality traits in male and female dental students and recent graduates. The Comrey Personality Scales were administered to two freshman classes, and the test was readministered two months after graduation for one class and twenty-six months after graduation for the other class. Sex. class, and test/retest scores were analyzed using a three-way analysis of variance with repeated measures for each scale. Significant test/retest differences consisted of increases on the Orderliness versus Lack of Compulsion Scale and Conformity versus Rebelliousness Scale and a decrease on the Activity versus Lack of Energy Scale. There were significant sex differences on the Activity versus Lack of Energy, Emotional Stability versus Neuroticism, and Masculinity versus Femininity Scales; a decrease on the Empathy versus Egocentrism Scale occurred among females in one of the classes. Dental students became increasingly more orderly and identified with established social values; they also became less competitive and less driven to excel. The dental school experience may partially explain these changes; however, other conditions, such as maturation and societal influences, may have been involved.

Developing a multi-criteria approach for drug reimbursement decision making: an initial step forward.

PubMed

Dionne, Francois; Mitton, Craig; Dempster, Bill; Lynd, Larry D

2015-01-01

Coverage decisions for a new drug revolve around the balance between perceived value and price. But what is the perceived value of a new drug? Traditionally, the assessment of such value has largely revolved around the estimation of cost-effectiveness. However, very few will argue that the cost-effectiveness ratio presents a fulsome picture of 'value'. Multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) has been advocated as an alternative to cost-effectiveness analysis and it has been argued that it better reflects real world decision-making. The objective of this project was to address the issue of the lack of a satisfactory methodology to measure value for drugs by developing a framework to operationalize an MCDA approach incorporating societal values as they pertain to the value of drugs. Two workshops were held, one in Toronto in conjunction with the CAPT annual conference, and one in Ottawa, as part of the annual CADTH Symposium. Notes were taken at both workshops and the data collected was analyzed using a grounded theory approach. The intent was to reflect, as accurately as possible, what was said at the workshops, without normative judgement. Results to date are a set of guiding principles and criteria. There are currently ten criteria: Comparative effectiveness, Adoption feasibility, Risks of adverse events, Patient autonomy, Societal benefit, Equity, Strength of evidence, Incidence/prevalence/severity of condition, Innovation, and Disease prevention/ health promotion. Much progress has been made and it is now time to share the results. Feedback will determine the final shape of the framework proposed.

Collectivistic Conflict of Chinese in Counseling: Conceptualization and Therapeutic Directions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kwan, Kwong-Liem Karl

2009-01-01

Rapid Westernization and modernization in most Chinese societies has triggered a process of acculturation to Western value orientations, which induced conflicts between Confucian-based collectivism and Western individualism at both the societal and individual levels. A review of research instruments indicated that a cultural conflict approach is…

A Phenomenographic Investigation of the Ways Engineering Students Experience Innovation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fila, Nicholas David

2017-01-01

Innovation has become an important phenomenon in engineering and engineering education. By developing novel, feasible, viable, and valued solutions to complex technical and human problems, engineers support the economic competitiveness of organizations, make a difference in the lives of users and other stakeholders, drive societal and scientific…

Identity Issues in Asian-American Children's and Adolescent Literature (1999-2007)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liu, Yi-chen

2009-01-01

Published research suggests that literature should transmit ethnic and societal values as well as reassure one's own confidence and self-respect. This study provides a model for examining Asian-American children's and adolescent literature critically from the perspective of identity issues. It examines fifteen award-winning Asian-American…

A public utility model for managing public land recreation enterprises.

Treesearch

Tom Quinn

2002-01-01

Through review of relevant economic principles and judicial precedent, a case is made that public-land recreation enterprises are analogous to traditionally recognized public utilities. Given the historical concern over the societal value of recreation and associated pricing issues, public-land management policies failing to acknowledge these utility-like...

Decision Support Framework Implementation Of The Web-Based Environmental Decision Analysis DASEES: Decision Analysis For A Sustainable Environment, Economy, And Society

EPA Science Inventory

Solutions to pervasive environmental problems often are not amenable to a straightforward application of science-based actions. These problems encompass large-scale environmental policy questions where environmental concerns, economic constraints, and societal values conflict ca...

Integrating the Teaching of Science and Social Studies.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Switzer, Thomas; Voss, Burton

Examples of the interface of science and society are offered as several persuasive reasons for integrating science and social studies curriculum in elementary and secondary schools. These reasons include: (1) the search for new personal and societal values as a result of scientific and technological development in prolonging human life, in…

Intercultural Development: Topics and Sequences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Savicki, Victor; Adams, Ingrid; Wilde, April; Binder, Frauke

2008-01-01

When people travel from their own home culture to a different culture, they experience variations not only in terms of scenery and societal arrangements, but also in terms of daily routines, interpersonal interactions, and expectations. Many differences are based on the divergence in underlying values and concerns of the home versus the host…

Personality and Physical Correlates of Bulimic Symptomatology among Mexican American Female College Students.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lester, Regan; Petrie, Trent A.

1995-01-01

Examined the relationship of personality and physical variables to bulimic symptoms. Hierarchical regression analysis of a sample of Mexican American female students revealed that body mass and endorsement of United States societal values concerning attractiveness were related positively to bulimic symptomatology; age, body satisfaction, and…

International Preschool Inclusion: Bridging the Gap between Vision and Practices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Frankel, Elaine B.; Gold, Susan; Ajodhia-Andrews, Amanda

2010-01-01

Inclusion, promoted internationally by both legislative mandate and societal values, is a practice in which early childhood educators are encouraged to explore new methods for serving children with disabilities and developmental delays in typical early childhood programs. The belief that children with disabilities should participate within natural…

National Culture-Management Practices: United States and Saudi Arabia Contrasted.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hashmi, Mahmud S.

Successful conduct of business in Saudi Arabia requires attitudes and skills significantly different from those needed in the United States. Distinct societal differences can turn winning practices in one culture into failures in another. Despite Saudi Arabia's recent emergence as a wealthy marketplace, traditional values and a unique lifestyle…

Social Indicators, Policy Analysis and Simulation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Little, Dennis

1972-01-01

A secondary-level simulation designed to demonstrate the impact of policy, values, and technological and societal developments upon the quality of life within a hypothetical state is described. See related document ED 064 865 for availability of the actual game. By simulating the evaluation of policies in terms of social indicators, STAPOL (State…

Promoting Value, Affordability, and Innovation in Cancer Drug Treatment - The Rising Cost of Cancer Drugs: Impact on Patients and Society

Cancer.gov

Innovative new drugs have improved outcomes for many cancer patients. But spending on cancer drugs has increased dramatically in recent years, placing a burden on cancer patients and a strain on health system and societal resources.

Liberal Learning through the Decision Sciences Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Venkataramanan, M. A.; Ernstberger, Kathryn W.

2015-01-01

To formulate a plan for affecting the future, business schools must first understand their origins as well as the multitude of current pressures and demands they face. The fundamental philosophy that drives business education, namely the maximization of shareholder wealth, must now be coupled with an emphasis on societal value creation. Liberal…

Options to Injustice: The Battered Woman.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fine, Michelle

Cultural heritage, societal values, role expectations, the legal system, and sex stereotyping are examples of the multi-level collusion of forces which keep victims of domestic violence from challenging the legitimacy of the abusive behavior. Powerless subjects of injustice, specifically battered women, who are eager to maintain high self-regard…

Project Basic Instructional Guide: Volume III, Citizenship.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maryland State Dept. of Education, Baltimore.

A series of elementary and secondary school learning activities which correlate to citizenship education goals of the Maryland State Board of Education are presented. The five goals are to understand individual and group responsibilities in a democracy, know the functions of law and support a system of justice, value individual, societal, and…

The more it changes; the more it remains the same: a Foucauldian analysis of Canadian policy documents relevant to student selection for medical school.

PubMed

Razack, Saleem; Lessard, David; Hodges, Brian D; Maguire, Mary H; Steinert, Yvonne

2014-05-01

Calls to increase the demographic representativeness of medical classes to better reflect the diversity of society are part of a growing international trend. Despite this, entry into medical school remains highly competitive and exclusive of marginalized groups. To address these questions, we conducted a Foucauldian discourse analysis of 15 publically available policy documents from the websites of Canadian medical education regulatory bodies, using the concepts of "excellence" (institutional or in an applicant), "diversity," and "equity" to frame the analysis. In most documents, there were appeals to broaden definitions of institutional excellence to include concerns for greater social accountability. Equity concerns tended to be represented as needing to be dealt with by people in positions of authority in order to counter a "hidden curriculum." Diversity was represented as an object of value, situated within a discontinuous history. As a rhetorical strategy, documents invoked complex societal shifts to promote change toward a more humanistic medical education system and profession. "Social accountability" was reified as an all-encompassing solution to most issues of representation. Although the policy documents proclaimed rootedness in an ethos of improving the societal responsiveness of the medical profession, our analysis takes a more critical stance towards the discourses identified. On the basis of our research findings, we question whether these calls may contribute to the maintenance of the specific power relations they seek to address. These conclusions lead us to consider the possibility that the discourses represented in the documents might be reframed to take into account issues of power distribution and its productive and reproductive features. A reframing of discourses could potentially generate greater inclusiveness in policy development processes, and afford disadvantaged and marginalized groups more participatory roles in the discussion.

From science to policy; A road map for a sustainable resource management in Turkey's marine EEZs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gazihan, A.; Salihoglu, B.; Akoglu, E.; Oguz, T.

2016-02-01

This study provides a scientific base for Ecosystem Based Fisheries Management (EBFM) decisions for Turkey's exclusive economic zones in the Black Sea, the Marmara Sea, the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. For this aim, an interdisciplinary holistic approach is employed to explore the linkages and feedbacks between changing national societal and economic needs, managerial decisions, environmental pressures and the health of regional marine ecosystems through derived socioeconomic and ecological indicators from statistical and field data as well as Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE) model results. Results quantified the level of human induced pressures driven by increasing societal and economic demands due to human population increase, national economic crises and corresponded governmental subsidies. Cumulative effects of these pressures together with changing climatic conditions deteriorated the marine resources and, as a consequence, limited the socio-economic services provided by ecosystems (e.g. nation-wide decreases in weight (-47%) and value (-37%) of landings, economic profitability (-61%) and per capita fish consumption (-29%) over the last decade). Even though the pressures increased correspondingly in all the marine regions, their consequences in the regional marine ecosystems realized differently. Observed trends in socioeconomic and ecologic indicators and past and future model scenario simulations done by Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE) model provided region-specific optimum EBFM options. Research results were synthesized specific to each responsible stakeholder groups and communicated by means of regional stakeholder meetings, project web-side, social and national media and scientific platforms. Present study is expected to increase the stakeholders' awareness for sustainable, responsible resource co-management and will be integrated into decision-making processes and serve as a model case study. This is a contribution funded by TUBITAK (113Y040 DEKOYON Project).

Uncertainty As a Trigger for a Paradigm Change in Science Communication

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schneider, S.

2014-12-01

Over the last decade, the need to communicate uncertainty increased. Climate sciences and environmental sciences have faced massive propaganda campaigns by global industry and astroturf organizations. These organizations use the deep societal mistrust in uncertainty to point out alleged unethical and intentional delusion of decision makers and the public by scientists and their consultatory function. Scientists, who openly communicate uncertainty of climate model calculations, earthquake occurrence frequencies, or possible side effects of genetic manipulated semen have to face massive campaigns against their research, and sometimes against their person and live as well. Hence, new strategies to communicate uncertainty have to face the societal roots of the misunderstanding of the concept of uncertainty itself. Evolutionary biology has shown, that human mind is well suited for practical decision making by its sensory structures. Therefore, many of the irrational concepts about uncertainty are mitigated if data is presented in formats the brain is adapted to understand. At the end, the impact of uncertainty to the decision-making process is finally dominantly driven by preconceptions about terms such as uncertainty, vagueness or probabilities. Parallel to the increasing role of scientific uncertainty in strategic communication, science communicators for example at the Research and Development Program GEOTECHNOLOGIEN developed a number of techniques to master the challenge of putting uncertainty in the focus. By raising the awareness of scientific uncertainty as a driving force for scientific development and evolution, the public perspective on uncertainty is changing. While first steps to implement this process are under way, the value of uncertainty still is underestimated in the public and in politics. Therefore, science communicators are in need for new and innovative ways to talk about scientific uncertainty.

The EBM-DPSER Conceptual Model: Integrating Ecosystem Services into the DPSIR Framework

PubMed Central

Kelble, Christopher R.; Loomis, Dave K.; Lovelace, Susan; Nuttle, William K.; Ortner, Peter B.; Fletcher, Pamela; Cook, Geoffrey S.; Lorenz, Jerry J.; Boyer, Joseph N.

2013-01-01

There is a pressing need to integrate biophysical and human dimensions science to better inform holistic ecosystem management supporting the transition from single species or single-sector management to multi-sector ecosystem-based management. Ecosystem-based management should focus upon ecosystem services, since they reflect societal goals, values, desires, and benefits. The inclusion of ecosystem services into holistic management strategies improves management by better capturing the diversity of positive and negative human-natural interactions and making explicit the benefits to society. To facilitate this inclusion, we propose a conceptual model that merges the broadly applied Driver, Pressure, State, Impact, and Response (DPSIR) conceptual model with ecosystem services yielding a Driver, Pressure, State, Ecosystem service, and Response (EBM-DPSER) conceptual model. The impact module in traditional DPSIR models focuses attention upon negative anthropomorphic impacts on the ecosystem; by replacing impacts with ecosystem services the EBM-DPSER model incorporates not only negative, but also positive changes in the ecosystem. Responses occur as a result of changes in ecosystem services and include inter alia management actions directed at proactively altering human population or individual behavior and infrastructure to meet societal goals. The EBM-DPSER conceptual model was applied to the Florida Keys and Dry Tortugas marine ecosystem as a case study to illustrate how it can inform management decisions. This case study captures our system-level understanding and results in a more holistic representation of ecosystem and human society interactions, thus improving our ability to identify trade-offs. The EBM-DPSER model should be a useful operational tool for implementing EBM, in that it fully integrates our knowledge of all ecosystem components while focusing management attention upon those aspects of the ecosystem most important to human society and does so within a framework already familiar to resource managers. PMID:23951002

The EBM-DPSER conceptual model: integrating ecosystem services into the DPSIR framework.

PubMed

Kelble, Christopher R; Loomis, Dave K; Lovelace, Susan; Nuttle, William K; Ortner, Peter B; Fletcher, Pamela; Cook, Geoffrey S; Lorenz, Jerry J; Boyer, Joseph N

2013-01-01

There is a pressing need to integrate biophysical and human dimensions science to better inform holistic ecosystem management supporting the transition from single species or single-sector management to multi-sector ecosystem-based management. Ecosystem-based management should focus upon ecosystem services, since they reflect societal goals, values, desires, and benefits. The inclusion of ecosystem services into holistic management strategies improves management by better capturing the diversity of positive and negative human-natural interactions and making explicit the benefits to society. To facilitate this inclusion, we propose a conceptual model that merges the broadly applied Driver, Pressure, State, Impact, and Response (DPSIR) conceptual model with ecosystem services yielding a Driver, Pressure, State, Ecosystem service, and Response (EBM-DPSER) conceptual model. The impact module in traditional DPSIR models focuses attention upon negative anthropomorphic impacts on the ecosystem; by replacing impacts with ecosystem services the EBM-DPSER model incorporates not only negative, but also positive changes in the ecosystem. Responses occur as a result of changes in ecosystem services and include inter alia management actions directed at proactively altering human population or individual behavior and infrastructure to meet societal goals. The EBM-DPSER conceptual model was applied to the Florida Keys and Dry Tortugas marine ecosystem as a case study to illustrate how it can inform management decisions. This case study captures our system-level understanding and results in a more holistic representation of ecosystem and human society interactions, thus improving our ability to identify trade-offs. The EBM-DPSER model should be a useful operational tool for implementing EBM, in that it fully integrates our knowledge of all ecosystem components while focusing management attention upon those aspects of the ecosystem most important to human society and does so within a framework already familiar to resource managers.

'Fair innings' in the face of ageing and demographic change.

PubMed

Hazra, Nisha C; Gulliford, Martin C; Rudisill, Caroline

2018-04-01

There are now 125 million people aged 80 years and over worldwide, projected by the United Nations to grow threefold by 2050. While increases in life expectancy and rapid increases in the older-age population are considered positive developments, the consequential future health care burden represents a leading concern for health services. We revisit Williams' 'fair innings' argument from 1997, in light of technological and demographic changes, and challenge the notion that greater longevity may impose an unfair burden on younger generations. We discuss perspectives on the equity-efficiency trade-off in terms of their implications for the growing over-80 population, as well as society in general. This includes questioning the comparison of treatment cost-effectiveness in younger vs. older populations when using quality-adjusted life years and the transience of life expectancies over generations. While recognising that there will never be a clear consensus regarding societal value judgements, we present empirical evidence on the very elderly that lends support to a stronger anti-ageist stance given current increases in longevity.

Pure science and the problem of progress.

PubMed

Douglas, Heather

2014-06-01

How should we understand scientific progress? Kuhn famously discussed science as its own internally driven venture, structured by paradigms. He also famously had a problem describing progress in science, as problem-solving ability failed to provide a clear rubric across paradigm change--paradigm changes tossed out problems as well as solving them. I argue here that much of Kuhn's inability to articulate a clear view of scientific progress stems from his focus on pure science and a neglect of applied science. I trace the history of the distinction between pure and applied science, showing how the distinction came about, the rhetorical uses to which the distinction has been put, and how pure science came to be both more valued by scientists and philosophers. I argue that the distinction between pure and applied science does not stand up to philosophical scrutiny, and that once we relinquish it, we can provide Kuhn with a clear sense of scientific progress. It is not one, though, that will ultimately prove acceptable. For that, societal evaluations of scientific work are needed.

Addiction, risk, and resources.

PubMed

Allamani, Allaman

2007-01-01

Addiction is a contemporary social issue bound to the myth of self-control and control of the other, which is typical of the contemporary "market ideology" society. In its broad definition it includes not only the use and misuse of "substances" and addictive behaviors, but also the concept of risk. There is a continuum between "addicted behaviors" and behaviors that are not "addicted" but may induce and/or be related to both physical and psycho-social problems on a micro- to macrolevel. Different studies have documented substantial changes in the consumption of tobacco, drugs, alcoholic beverages, as well as "junk foods" during the last decades in various countries. All too often politicians, health administrators, and local providers believe that consumption prevention programs are able, per se, to effect such changes. In fact, the impact of factors such as international trade, globalization and societal values, among many others, are considered relevant. On the other hand, sufficient place must be given to national and community-based preventive initiatives.

Streamflow droughts in major watershed regions of the conterminous U.S.: Understanding evolution of historic patterns

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pournasiri Poshtiri, M.; Pal, I.

2015-12-01

Climate non-stationarity affects regional hydrological extremes. This research looks into historic patterns of streamflow drought indicators and their evolution for major watershed regions in the conterminous U.S. (CONUS). The results indicate general linear and non-linear drying trends, particularly in the last four decades, as opposed to wetting trends reported in previous studies. Regional differences in the trends are notable, and echo the local climatic changes documented in the recent National Climate Assessment (NCA). A reversal of linear trends is seen for some northern regions after 1980s. Patterns in return periods and corresponding return values of the indicators are also examined, which suggests changing risk conditions that are important for water-resources decision-making. Persistent or flash drought conditions in a river can lead to chronic or short-term water scarcity—a main driver of societal and cross-boundary conflicts. Thus, this research identifies "hotspot" locations where suitable adaptive management measures are most needed.

The role of the physician in transforming the culture of healthcare.

PubMed

Smits, Stanley J; Bowden, Dawn E; Wells, James O

2016-07-04

Purpose The healthcare system in the USA is undergoing unprecedented change and its share of unintended consequences. This paper explores the leadership role of the physician in transforming the present culture of healthcare to restore, refine and preserve its traditional care components. Design/methodology/approach The literature on change, organizational culture and leadership is leveraged to describe the structural interdependencies and dynamic complexity of the present healthcare system and to suggest how physicians can strengthen the care components of the healthcare culture. Findings When an organization's culture does not support internal integration and external adaptation, it is the responsibility of leadership to transform it. Leaders can influence culture to strengthen the care components of the healthcare system. The centrality of professionalism in the delivery of patient services places a moral, societal and ethical responsibility on physicians to lead a revitalization of the care culture. Practical implications This paper focuses on cultural issues in healthcare and provides options and guidance for physicians as they attempt to lead and manage the context in which services are delivered. Originality/value The Competing Values Framework, the major interdependent domains and five principal mechanisms for leaders to embed and fine tune culture serve as the main tenets for describing the ongoing changes in healthcare and defining the role of the physician as leaders and advocates for the Patient Care Culture.

Adaptive Pacing, Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, Graded Exercise, and Specialist Medical Care for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis

PubMed Central

McCrone, Paul; Sharpe, Michael; Chalder, Trudie; Knapp, Martin; Johnson, Anthony L.; Goldsmith, Kimberley A.; White, Peter D.

2012-01-01

Background The PACE trial compared the effectiveness of adding adaptive pacing therapy (APT), cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT), or graded exercise therapy (GET), to specialist medical care (SMC) for patients with chronic fatigue syndrome. This paper reports the relative cost-effectiveness of these treatments in terms of quality adjusted life years (QALYs) and improvements in fatigue and physical function. Methods Resource use was measured and costs calculated. Healthcare and societal costs (healthcare plus lost production and unpaid informal care) were combined with QALYs gained, and changes in fatigue and disability; incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) were computed. Results SMC patients had significantly lower healthcare costs than those receiving APT, CBT and GET. If society is willing to value a QALY at £30,000 there is a 62.7% likelihood that CBT is the most cost-effective therapy, a 26.8% likelihood that GET is most cost effective, 2.6% that APT is most cost-effective and 7.9% that SMC alone is most cost-effective. Compared to SMC alone, the incremental healthcare cost per QALY was £18,374 for CBT, £23,615 for GET and £55,235 for APT. From a societal perspective CBT has a 59.5% likelihood of being the most cost-effective, GET 34.8%, APT 0.2% and SMC alone 5.5%. CBT and GET dominated SMC, while APT had a cost per QALY of £127,047. ICERs using reductions in fatigue and disability as outcomes largely mirrored these findings. Conclusions Comparing the four treatments using a health care perspective, CBT had the greatest probability of being the most cost-effective followed by GET. APT had a lower probability of being the most cost-effective option than SMC alone. The relative cost-effectiveness was even greater from a societal perspective as additional cost savings due to reduced need for informal care were likely. PMID:22870204

Towards a comparable carbon footprint for local initiatives: The FP7 project TESS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reusser, Dominik E.; Kropp, Jürgen P.

2014-05-01

TESS (Towards European Societal Sustainability -- www.tess-transition.eu) is a three-year, European-wide research project. It aims to reach an understanding of the potential for community-led initiatives to help deliver a truly sustainable, low-carbon future. Transitions to low-carbon societies take place at multiple and complementary scales. Transition processes are highly dependent on the innovative potential of community-based initiatives and their articulation with appropriate institutional architecture. Community-based initiatives are potentially more adaptable and less constrained by current structural circumstances than top-down policies and can give impetus to large-scale and technology driven changes. TESS will provide an understanding on the upscaling possibilities of such high-potential community-based initiatives by addressing two main questions: What is the impact of community-based initiatives in terms of carbon reduction potential and economic effect? What institutional structures (values, policies and mechanisms) support these initiatives in persisting beyond the initial phase and moving into an acceleration phase, spreading desired impacts? Answers will be provided through (1) a novel measuring, reporting and verification (MRV) framework for benchmarking community-based initiatives. This will enable quantifiable, comparable and standardised evaluation, and (2) the identification of success factors for the emergence, persistence and diffusion of promising initiatives, including online initiatives. We will identify these initiatives through case studies across regions and sectors and produce a systemic understanding of their impact on societal transitions towards sustainability. Our research will be integrated and transdisciplinary, with the unique opportunity to bring together social and natural scientists to foster a transition towards European societal sustainability. Our work will feed into and extend the Climate Adapt database to facilitate reconciliation of mitigation and adaptation and connect to Europe wide evaluation approaches such as the Common Monitoring and Evaluation Framework (CMEF) of the Rural Development Programmes. The poster will show the current state of the initiative selection process and of the method development.

Adaptive pacing, cognitive behaviour therapy, graded exercise, and specialist medical care for chronic fatigue syndrome: a cost-effectiveness analysis.

PubMed

McCrone, Paul; Sharpe, Michael; Chalder, Trudie; Knapp, Martin; Johnson, Anthony L; Goldsmith, Kimberley A; White, Peter D

2012-01-01

The PACE trial compared the effectiveness of adding adaptive pacing therapy (APT), cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT), or graded exercise therapy (GET), to specialist medical care (SMC) for patients with chronic fatigue syndrome. This paper reports the relative cost-effectiveness of these treatments in terms of quality adjusted life years (QALYs) and improvements in fatigue and physical function. Resource use was measured and costs calculated. Healthcare and societal costs (healthcare plus lost production and unpaid informal care) were combined with QALYs gained, and changes in fatigue and disability; incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) were computed. SMC patients had significantly lower healthcare costs than those receiving APT, CBT and GET. If society is willing to value a QALY at £30,000 there is a 62.7% likelihood that CBT is the most cost-effective therapy, a 26.8% likelihood that GET is most cost effective, 2.6% that APT is most cost-effective and 7.9% that SMC alone is most cost-effective. Compared to SMC alone, the incremental healthcare cost per QALY was £18,374 for CBT, £23,615 for GET and £55,235 for APT. From a societal perspective CBT has a 59.5% likelihood of being the most cost-effective, GET 34.8%, APT 0.2% and SMC alone 5.5%. CBT and GET dominated SMC, while APT had a cost per QALY of £127,047. ICERs using reductions in fatigue and disability as outcomes largely mirrored these findings. Comparing the four treatments using a health care perspective, CBT had the greatest probability of being the most cost-effective followed by GET. APT had a lower probability of being the most cost-effective option than SMC alone. The relative cost-effectiveness was even greater from a societal perspective as additional cost savings due to reduced need for informal care were likely.

Huge Increase in Day-Care Workers: A Result of Multiple Societal Changes.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bureau of Labor Statistics (DOL), Washington, DC.

Using Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates of employment in day-care establishments, this study analyzes changes in day care over the past 20 years. Growth in day-care employment has been much stronger than that of other industries. Since 1972, employment has increased by nearly 250 per cent. Causes of growth includes changing trends in enrollment…

Changes in Primary School Pupils' Conceptions of Water in the Context of Science, Technology, and Society (STS) Instruction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Havu-Nuutinen, Sari; Kärkkäinen, Sirpa; Keinonen, Tuula

2018-01-01

Pupils' conceptual change processes that have led to long-term changes in learning processes can be very challenging and interwoven with several issues. Meanwhile, school learning is often determined as fragmented, without providing connections to pupils' different life and societal contexts. In this study, Science, Technology, and Society (STS)…

Enhancing Primary School Students' Knowledge about Global Warming and Environmental Attitude Using Climate Change Activities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Karpudewan, Mageswary; Roth, Wolff-Michael; Bin Abdullah, Mohd Nor Syahrir

2015-01-01

Climate change generally and global warming specifically have become a common feature of the daily news. Due to widespread recognition of the adverse consequences of climate change on human lives, concerted societal effort has been taken to address it (e.g. by means of the science curriculum). This study was designed to test the effect that…

Doctoral Social Work Education: Responding to Trends in Society and the Academy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cnaan, Ram A.; Ghose, Toorjo

2018-01-01

This article is intended to forecast major environmental changes that may impact social work doctoral education and assess what should be done in anticipation of these changes. We apply an open system and future studies perspective to guide our work. We present a set of predicted societal changes that will impact social work as a profession and…

Images de la societe dans le cinema francais des dix dernieres annees (Images of Society in French Film in the Last Ten Years).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Esteve, Michel

1980-01-01

It is proposed that film has become a mirror of French society and of social change in France since 1968. It reflects changes in life-style, evolution of morals, fluctuations in fashion, and changes in urban and rural landscapes. However, it rarely questions society seriously. (MSE)

Impacts of impervious cover, water withdrawals, and climate change on river flows in the conterminous US

Treesearch

P. V. Caldwell; G. Sun; S. G. McNulty; E. C. Cohen; J. A. Moore Myers

2012-01-01

Rivers are essential to aquatic ecosystem and societal sustainability, but are increasingly impacted by water withdrawals, land-use change, and climate change. The relative and cumulative effects of these stressors on continental river flows are relatively unknown. In this study, we used an integrated water balance and flow routing model to evaluate the impacts of...

Arctic Indicators of Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stanitski, D.; Druckenmiller, M.; Fetterer, F. M.; Gerst, M.; Intrieri, J. M.; Kenney, M. A.; Meier, W.; Overland, J. E.; Stroeve, J. C.; Trainor, S.

2016-12-01

The Arctic is undergoing unprecedented change. Indicators of change enable better decision-making at the community to policy levels. The results presented here focus on a subset of physical, biological, societal, and economic indicators of Arctic change recommended in one of a group of papers emanating from the earlier National Climate Indicators System (NCIS) work led by Kenney et al. (2016). The intent of the NCIS was to establish a "system of physical, natural, and societal indicators that communicate and inform decisions about key aspects of the physical climate, climate impacts, vulnerabilities, and preparedness" in support of the sustained U.S. National Climate Assessment. Our analysis, guided by a tailored selection and recommendation criteria, resulted in a list of "existing" indicators, as well as those "in development", "recommended", and "aspirational". A goal of this effort is to identify a set of both lagging and leading indicators that is based on reliable and sustained data sources with known user communities. We intend for these indicators to guide decision-makers in their responses to climate change, and ideally help inform decisions of groups like the Arctic Council and U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) as they develop plans and priorities.

Middle Holocene rapid environmental changes and human adaptation in Greece

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lespez, Laurent; Glais, Arthur; Lopez-Saez, José-Antonio; Le Drezen, Yann; Tsirtsoni, Zoï; Davidson, Robert; Biree, Laetitia; Malamidou, Dimitra

2016-03-01

Numerous researchers discuss of the collapse of civilizations in response to abrupt climate change in the Mediterranean region. The period between 6500 and 5000 cal yr BP is one of the least studied episodes of rapid climate change at the end of the Late Neolithic. This period is characterized by a dramatic decline in settlement and a cultural break in the Balkans. High-resolution paleoenvironmental proxy data obtained in the Lower Angitis Valley enables an examination of the societal responses to rapid climatic change in Greece. Development of a lasting fluvio-lacustrine environment followed by enhanced fluvial activity is evident from 6000 cal yr BP. Paleoecological data show a succession of dry events at 5800-5700, 5450 and 5000-4900 cal yr BP. These events correspond to incursion of cold air masses to the eastern Mediterranean, confirming the climatic instability of the middle Holocene climate transition. Two periods with farming and pastural activities (6300-5600 and 5100-4700 cal BP) are evident. The intervening period is marked by environmental changes, but the continuous occurrence of anthropogenic taxa suggests the persistence of human activities despite the absence of archaeological evidence. The environmental factors alone were not sufficient to trigger the observed societal changes.

Earth from Space: The Power of Perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abdalati, W.

2016-12-01

Throughout history, humans have always valued the view from above, seeking high ground to survey the land, find food, assess threats, and understand their immediate environment. The advent of aircraft early in the 20th century took this capability literally to new levels, as aerial photos of farm lands, hazards, military threats, etc. provided new opportunities for security and prosperity. And in 1960, with the launch of the first weather satellite, TIROS, we came to know our world in ways that were not possible before, as we saw the Earth as a system of interacting components. In the decades since, our ability to understand the Earth System and its dynamic components has been transformed profoundly and repeatedly by satellite observations. From examining changes in sea level, to deformation of the Earth surface, to ozone depletion, to the Earth's energy balance, satellites have helped us understand our changing planet in ways that would not have otherwise been possible. The challenge moving forward is to continue to evolve beyond watching Earth processes unfold and understanding the underlying mechanisms of change, to anticipating future conditions, more comprehensively than we do today, for the benefit of society. The capabilities to do so are well within our reach, and with appropriate investments in observing systems, research, and activities that support translating observations into societal value, we can realize the full potential of this tremendous space-based perspective. Doing so will not just change our views of the Earth, but will improve our relationship with it.

Tobacco: coopting our public health.

PubMed

Basil, M D

1996-01-01

Communication is a tool that can be used to promote public health. The case of tobacco illustrates, however, that behavior change can only be advocated, not ensured. The tobacco industry has focused on individual- and societal-level actions that effectively sabotage antismoking campaigns. Health communication researchers should pay special attention to how politics is subverted, the principle of freedom of speech is abused, message framing encourages the continued marketing of cigarettes, and tobacco advertising swamps public health messages in both quantity and style. The field of health communication should do two things to help counter this campaign. First, we should make a concerted effort to refute the arguments offered by the tobacco companies. Second, we should continue to take action on four levels--as individuals, as responsible citizens, in support of organizations, and to create societal changes that will reduce the use of tobacco.

History, biology, and health inequities: emergent embodied phenotypes and the illustrative case of the breast cancer estrogen receptor.

PubMed

Krieger, Nancy

2013-01-01

How we think about biology--in historical, ecological, and societal context--matters for framing causes of and solutions to health inequities. Drawing on new insights from ecological evolutionary developmental biology and ecosocial theory, I question dominant gene-centric and ultimately static approaches to conceptualizing biology, using the example of the breast cancer estrogen receptor (ER). Analyzed in terms of its 4 histories--societal, individual (life course), tumor (cellular pathology), and evolutionary--the ER is revealed as a flexible characteristic of cells, tumors, individuals, and populations, with magnitudes of health inequities tellingly changing over time. This example suggests our science will likely be better served by conceptualizing disease and its biomarkers, along with changing magnitudes of health inequities, as embodied history--that is, emergent embodied phenotype, not innate biology.

Holocene fluctuations in human population demonstrate repeated links to food production and climate.

PubMed

Bevan, Andrew; Colledge, Sue; Fuller, Dorian; Fyfe, Ralph; Shennan, Stephen; Stevens, Chris

2017-12-05

We consider the long-term relationship between human demography, food production, and Holocene climate via an archaeological radiocarbon date series of unprecedented sampling density and detail. There is striking consistency in the inferred human population dynamics across different regions of Britain and Ireland during the middle and later Holocene. Major cross-regional population downturns in population coincide with episodes of more abrupt change in North Atlantic climate and witness societal responses in food procurement as visible in directly dated plants and animals, often with moves toward hardier cereals, increased pastoralism, and/or gathered resources. For the Neolithic, this evidence questions existing models of wholly endogenous demographic boom-bust. For the wider Holocene, it demonstrates that climate-related disruptions have been quasi-periodic drivers of societal and subsistence change. Copyright © 2017 the Author(s). Published by PNAS.

Streamflow responses to past and projected future changes in climate at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, New Hampshire, USA

Treesearch

John L. Campbell; Charles T. Driscoll; Afshin Pourmokhtarian; Katharine Hayhoe

2011-01-01

Climate change has the potential to alter streamflow regimes, having ecological, economic, and societal implications. In the northeastern United States, it is unclear how climate change may affect surface water supply, which is of critical importance in this densely populated region. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of climate change on the timing...

The Measurement of Change in Longitudinal Youth Research: Continuity/Discontinuity, Stability/Instability, and Mean Differences in the Development of Individualism and Collectivism among East and West Berlin Youth between 1990 and 1992.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boehnke, Klaus

Studying the process of change becomes tricky from a methodological point of view if change has its origin in both the intrapersonal and societal spheres. This paper examines the problems which arise when discussions of change measure only changing means without considering the fact that constructs of change are continually redefined. For example,…

Behaviorism: part of the problem or part of the solution.

PubMed Central

Holland, J G

1978-01-01

The form frequently taken by behavior-modification programs is analyzed in terms of the parent science, Behaviorism. Whereas Behaviorism assumes that behavior is the result of contingencies, and that lasting behavior change involves changing the contingencies that give rise to and support the behavior, most behavior-modification programs merely arrange special contingencies in a special environment to eliminate the "problem" behavior. Even when the problem behavior is as widespread as alcoholism and crime, behavior modifiers focus on "fixing" the alcoholic and the criminal, not on changing the societal contingencies that prevail outside the therapeutic environment and continue to produce alcoholics and criminals. The contingencies that shape this method of dealing with behavioral problems are also analyzed, and this analysis leads to a criticism of the current social structure as a behavior control system. Although applied behaviorists have frequently focused on fixing individuals, the science of Behaviorism provides the means to analyze the structures, the system, and the forms of societal control that produce the "problems". PMID:649524

History meets palaeoscience: Consilience and collaboration in studying past societal responses to environmental change.

PubMed

Haldon, John; Mordechai, Lee; Newfield, Timothy P; Chase, Arlen F; Izdebski, Adam; Guzowski, Piotr; Labuhn, Inga; Roberts, Neil

2018-03-27

History and archaeology have a well-established engagement with issues of premodern societal development and the interaction between physical and cultural environments; together, they offer a holistic view that can generate insights into the nature of cultural resilience and adaptation, as well as responses to catastrophe. Grasping the challenges that climate change presents and evolving appropriate policies that promote and support mitigation and adaptation requires not only an understanding of the science and the contemporary politics, but also an understanding of the history of the societies affected and in particular of their cultural logic. But whereas archaeologists have developed productive links with the paleosciences, historians have, on the whole, remained muted voices in the debate until recently. Here, we suggest several ways in which a consilience between the historical sciences and the natural sciences, including attention to even distant historical pasts, can deepen contemporary understanding of environmental change and its effects on human societies.

Population Composition, Migration and Inequality: The Influence of Demographic Changes on Disaster Risk and Vulnerability

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Donner, William; Rodriguez, Havidan

2008-01-01

The changing demographic landscape of the United States calls for a reassessment of the societal impacts and consequences of so called "natural" and technological disasters. An increasing trend towards greater demographic and socio-economic diversity (in part due to high rates of international immigration), combined with mounting…

Impact of Changing Societal Pressures Affecting Mothers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tuma, June M.

This review examines the literature on the effect of marriage and motherhood on women's psychological well-being. The paper discusses the impact of child rearing on life satisfaction and feelings of stress and considers the special problems of the working mother. Changing social attitudes surrounding a woman's role as wife and marital dissolution…

Drawing Involves Caring: Fostering Relationship Building through Art Therapy for Social Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Potash, Jordan; Ho, Rainbow T. H.

2011-01-01

The art therapist's ability to foster the creative process in service of relationship can be a foundation for infusing a social change paradigm into existing practice. For clients affected by discrimination and stigma, art therapy can promote empathy and understanding of the societal forces involved. In this qualitative study, 46 people…

A Case Study in Organizational Change: Evaluation in Cooperative Extension

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rennekamp, Roger A.; Engle, Molly

2008-01-01

This chapter examines how factors both internal and external to Cooperative Extension have influenced its commitment and capability to assess the quality and impact of its programs. The authors begin by documenting how the nature of Extension programming has changed dramatically in response to societal needs over the course of the organization's…

The 12 Rules of Grandparenting: A New Look at Traditional Roles and How To Break Them.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kettmann, Susan M.

Tremendous social changes have left many grandparents unsure about what type of grandparent role is useful today. This book challenges grandparents to examine traditional grandparent beliefs to see if modifications might enhance their understanding and enjoyment of the role. The book's introductory chapter discusses societal changes influencing…

Climate ready urban trees for Central Valley cities

Treesearch

E.G. McPherson; A.M. Berry

2015-01-01

Urban forests provide many societal and ecological services to cities and their inhabitants. Many species of trees are under stress due to anthropogenic and natural climate changes. Projected climatic shifts will change temperature, precipitation, and the incidences of pest and disease outbreaks. The tolerance of urban trees to these stressors varies considerably among...

Old Skills and New Practices Mean Radical Change for Library Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Turner, Deborah; Gorichanaz, Tim

2016-01-01

Technological advances and other societal change have resulted in public libraries' increased reliance on online resources when providing access to information. However, a portion of those served by public libraries includes members of urban poor populations who may prefer to interact with information by talking. How can library educators ensure…

Seeking and Avoiding Information in a Risky World

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Choo, Chun Wei

2017-01-01

Introduction: In an era where collective action is necessary to confront societal level risks such as climate change and food safety, we need to better understand how people are motivated to seek risk information that would lead them to make choices and behavioural changes to mitigate those hazards. Method: We selectively review the research in…

Technology Transience and Distance Education in the Second Machine Age

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Swan, Karen

2015-01-01

In this article, the author explores how technological change is affecting most aspects of our society. In this vein, it is noted that even though education has historically been more resistant to technological change than other societal sectors, recent advances in distance education, specifically online learning, promise to radically disrupt…

Undergraduate Climate Education: Motivations, Strategies, Successes, and Support

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kirk, Karin B.; Gold, Anne U.; Ledley, Tamara Shapiro; Sullivan, Susan Buhr; Manduca, Cathryn A.; Mogk, David W.; Wiese, Katryn

2014-01-01

Climate literacy is an essential component of a strategy to comprehend and confront the grand challenge of global climate change. However, scientific complexity, societal implications, and political associations make climate change a difficult but important topic to teach. In this paper we report on the results of a survey of undergraduate faculty…

Preparing Teachers for Diversity: The Role of Initial Teacher Education. Final Report

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

European Commission, 2017

2017-01-01

Even though the diversity found in European societies is not a new phenomenon, its nature is rapidly changing. Europe is becoming increasingly diverse due to intra-European mobility, international migration and globalisation. These societal changes affect the educational landscape and organisation, and create both new opportunities and challenges…

The Shifting Gender Composition of Psychology. Trends and Implications for the Discipline.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pion, Georgine M.; And Others

1996-01-01

Summarizes results from a psychology case study conducted by a subcommittee of the American Psychological Association's Task Force on the Changing Gender Composition of Psychology to examine the discipline's changing gender composition and factors related to these shifts. Societal and disciplinary trends are also examined, along with the patterns…

Assessing societal vulnerability of U.S. Pacific Northwest communities to storm-induced coastal change

USGS Publications Warehouse

Baron, Heather M.; Wood, Nathan J.; Ruggerio, Peter; Allan, Jonathan; Corcoran, Patrick

2010-01-01

Progressive increases in storm intensities and extreme wave heights have been documented along the U.S. West Coast. Paired with global sea level rise and the potential for an increase in El Niño occurrences, these trends have substantial implications for the vulnerability of coastal communities to natural coastal hazards. Community vulnerability to hazards is characterized by the exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity of human-environmental systems that influence potential impacts. To demonstrate how societal vulnerability to coastal hazards varies with both physical and social factors, we compared community exposure and sensitivity to storm-induced coastal change scenarios in Tillamook (Oregon) and Pacific (Washington) Counties. While both are backed by low-lying coastal dunes, communities in these two counties have experienced different shoreline change histories and have chosen to use the adjacent land in different ways. Therefore, community vulnerability varies significantly between the two counties. Identifying the reasons for this variability can help land-use managers make decisions to increase community resilience and reduce vulnerability in spite of a changing climate.

Using a Social Justice and Health Framework to Assess European Climate Change Adaptation Strategies

PubMed Central

Boeckmann, Melanie; Zeeb, Hajo

2014-01-01

Climate change puts pressure on existing health vulnerabilities through higher frequency of extreme weather events, changes in disease vector distribution or exacerbated air pollution. Climate change adaptation policies may hold potential to reduce societal inequities. We assessed the role of public health and social justice in European climate change adaptation using a three-fold approach: a document analysis, a critical discourse analysis of a subgroup of strategies, and a ranking of strategies against our social justice framework. The ranking approach favored planning that includes various adaptation types, social issues and infrastructure changes. Themes on values identified in the five subgroup documents showed that risks are perceived as contradictory, technology is viewed as savior, responsibilities need to be negotiated, and social justice is advocated by only a few countries. Of 21 strategy documents assessed overall, those from Austria, England and Sweden received the highest scores in the ranking. Our qualitative assessment showed that in European adaptation planning, progress could still be made through community involvement into adaptation decisions, consistent consideration of social and demographic determinants, and a stronger link between infrastructural adaptation and the health sector. Overall, a social justice framework can serve as an evaluation guideline for adaptation policy documents. PMID:25464133

Why geriatrics? Academic geriatricians' perceptions of the positive, attractive aspects of geriatrics.

PubMed

Cravens, D D; Campbell, J D; Mehr, D R

2000-01-01

Recruitment of geriatrics trainees has been poor, and the current shortage of academic geriatricians is expected to worsen. Although barriers to entering geriatrics practice have been identified, a review of the literature found few studies about why people choose to enter geriatrics. We used qualitative methods to investigate the positive, attractive aspects of geriatrics. Long interviews with six academic geriatricians were taped and transcribed. Transcripts were entered into a textual database computer program and reviewed independently by two investigators. Six themes emerged: 1) traditional learning experiences, 2) value on personal relationships, 3) a perception of distinctive differences, 4) a desire to feel needed personally and societally, 5) prefer democracy versus autocracy, and 6) desire intellectual challenges. Academic geriatrics, therefore, is particularly attractive to people who value enduring relationships, see challenges in complexity, practice social responsibility, prefer working within a multidisciplinary team, and derive satisfaction from making seemingly small but nonetheless important changes in peoples' lives. If further studies validate these findings, they could promote geriatrics as a career, by, for example, identifying students and family practice and internal medicine residents who share these values, beliefs, and attitudes and encouraging them to consider this important field.

Sources of uncertainty in climate change impacts on groundwater recharge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Holman, I. P.

2007-12-01

This paper assesses the significance of the many sources of uncertainty in future groundwater recharge estimation, based on lessons learnt from an integrated approach to assessing the regional impacts of climate and socio-economic change on groundwater recharge in East Anglia, UK. Many factors affect simulations of future groundwater recharge including changed precipitation and temperature regimes, coastal flooding, urbanization, woodland establishment, and changes in cropping, rotations and management practices. Stochastic modelling of potential recharge showed median annual recharge decreasing under a High emissions future from 75 mm (1961-90) to 56 mm in the 2020s and 45 mm in the 2050s. However, the median values for individual simulations ranged from 46-75 mm (2020s) and 30-71 mm (2050s) highlighting a decreasing but uncertain trend. The impacts of (and uncertainty in) the climate scenarios are generally regionally more important than those of the socio-economic scenarios. However, locally, the impacts of the socio-economic scenarios can be significant, especially where there are large increases in urbanization, agricultural land cover, bioenergy production, or agricultural management practices. For example, management of soil conditions can increase potential groundwater recharge by around 5 %, but poor management can further reduce potential recharge by up to 15 %. The paper will demonstrate that to focus on the direct impacts of climate change is to neglect the potentially important role of policy, societal values and economic processes in shaping the landscape above aquifers. If the likely consequences of future changes of groundwater recharge, resulting from both climate and socio-economic change, are to be assessed, hydrogeologists must increasingly work with researchers from other disciplines, such as socio-economists, agricultural modellers and soil scientists

Finding Common Ground Between Earth Scientists and Evangelical Christians

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grant Ludwig, L.

2015-12-01

In recent decades there has been some tension between earth scientists and evangelical Christians in the U.S., and this tension has spilled over into the political arena and policymaking on important issues such as climate change. From my personal and professional experience engaging with both groups, I find there is much common ground for increasing understanding and communicating the societal relevance of earth science. Fruitful discussions can arise from shared values and principles, and common approaches to understanding the world. For example, scientists and Christians are engaged in the pursuit of truth, and they value moral/ethical decision-making based on established principles. Scientists emphasize the benefits of research "for the common good" while Christians emphasize the value of doing "good works". Both groups maintain a longterm perspective: Christians talk about "the eternal" and geologists discuss "deep time". Both groups understand the importance of placing new observations in context of prior understanding: scientists diligently reference "the literature" while Christians quote "chapter and verse". And members of each group engage with each other in "fellowship" or "meetings" to create a sense of community and reinforce shared values. From my perspective, earth scientists can learn to communicate the importance and relevance of science more effectively by engaging with Christians in areas of common ground, rather than by trying to win arguments or debates.

A comparison of cancer burden and research spending reveals discrepancies in the distribution of research funding

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Ideally, the distribution of research funding for different types of cancer should be equitable with respect to the societal burden each type of cancer imposes. These burdens can be estimated in a variety of ways; “Years of Life Lost” (YLL) measures the severity of death in regard to the age it occurs, "Disability-Adjusted Life-Years" (DALY) estimates the effects of non-lethal disabilities incurred by disease and economic metrics focus on the losses to tax revenue, productivity or direct medical expenses. We compared research funding from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to a variety of burden metrics for the most common types of cancer to identify mismatches between spending and societal burden. Methods Research funding levels were obtained from the NCI website and information for societal health and economic burdens were collected from government databases and published reports. We calculated the funding levels per unit burden for a wide range of different cancers and burden metrics and compared these values to identify discrepancies. Results Our analysis reveals a considerable mismatch between funding levels and burden. Some cancers are funded at levels far higher than their relative burden suggests (breast cancer, prostate cancer, and leukemia) while other cancers appear underfunded (bladder, esophageal, liver, oral, pancreatic, stomach, and uterine cancers). Conclusions These discrepancies indicate that an improved method of health care research funding allocation should be investigated to better match funding levels to societal burden. PMID:22800364

Impacts of National Decarbonization Targets for Subnational Societal Priorities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peng, W.; Iyer, G.

2017-12-01

Carbon mitigation has well-recognized linkages with other environmental and socioeconomic priorities, such as air pollution, economic development, employment, etc. While climate change is a global issue, many other societal priorities are local concerns. Since local efforts form the pillars of achieving co-benefits and avoiding dis-benefits at the national level, it is critical to go beyond national-level analyses and focus on the synergies and tradeoffs at the subnational level. Here we use the United States as an example to evaluate the impacts of mid-century national-level deep decarbonization target for state-level societal priorities. Based on the Global Change Assessment Model with state-level details for the US (GCAM-USA), we design two mid-century scenarios: A Reference scenario that assumes the U.S. undertakes no additional climate mitigation policy, and a Deep Decarbonization Scenario that assumes the U.S. achieves the NDC goal through 2025 (26-28% reduction relative to 2005 levels) and then follows a straight-line trajectory to 80% reductions in economy-wide GHG emissions by 2050 relative to 2005. We then compare these two scenarios for a variety of metrics of carbon mitigation and other societal priorities in 2050. We highlight two findings. First, the synergies and tradeoffs of carbon mitigation with other societal goals at the subnational level can be quite different from the national level. For example, while deep decarbonization could improve national energy security by reducing the overall dependence on energy imports, it may exacerbate energy independence goals for some states by increasing inter-state electricity imports. Second, achieving national-level decarbonization target could result in unequal regional impacts across states. We find uneven geographic impacts for air pollution (more co-reductions occur in the eastern states), economic costs (energy prices increase more in the northeastern states) and employment (jobs increase in the western states where renewable capacity scales up, and decrease in the northeast due to reduced mining activities). Therefore, local decision makers may find decarbonization in line or contradicting with the most urgent local priority to address, highlighting the importance of evaluating the synergies and tradeoffs at the subnational level.

Value of Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgery.

PubMed

Kocher, Mininder S

2015-01-01

Value has become the buzzword of contemporaneous health care reform. Value is defined as outcomes relative to costs. Orthopaedic surgery has come under increasing scrutiny due to high procedural costs. However, orthopaedic surgery may actually be a great value given the benefits of treatment. The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) Value Project team was tasked to develop a model for assessing the benefits of orthopaedic surgery including indirect costs related to productivity and health-related quality of life. This model was applied to 5 orthopaedic conditions demonstrating robust societal and economic value. In all cost-effectiveness models, younger patients demonstrated greater cost-effectiveness given increased lifespan and productivity. This has tremendous implications within the field of pediatric orthopedic surgery. Pediatric orthopaedics may be the best value in medicine!

Digital Dimension Disruption: A National Security Enterprise Response

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-12-21

societal institutions, methods of business, and fundamental ideas about national security. This realignment will, of necessity, change the frameworks...humans did calculations and searched for information. In the past quarter century, human use of computers has changed fundamentally , but com- mon...the nature of data is, itself, undergoing a fundamental change. The terms “bespoke data” (from the British term for cus- tom-tailored) and “by

Our Changing Planet: The U.S. Climate Change Science Program for Fiscal Years 2004 and 2005

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-07-01

physical, biological, social, and economic sciences. In February 2003, this committee reported its recommendations, which provided invaluable assistance...related environmental systems, and the options proposed to adapt to or mitigate these changes, may have substantial environmental, economic , and societal...adaptive management, and policymaking.The program also will encourage development of new methods, models, and other resources that facilitate economic

History of the child health and development book. Part 2: 1945-2000.

PubMed

Clendon, Jill; McBride-Henry, Karen

2014-07-01

This is the second part of a historical review of the New Zealand child health and development record book (also known as the Well Child/Tamariki Ora Health book or Plunket book). It focuses on the years between 1945 and 2000. The first article highlighted how the book documented the development of "scientific mothering", which marginalized women-generated mothering knowledge. The present article highlights how during the reviewed time period women began to challenge notions of "scientific mothering", these changes are signaled in the content of the Well Child/Tamariki Ora Health book over time. In addition, women's movements, such as LaLeche league and Parent Centre, reflected significant societal changes during this era in relation to mothering and child-rearing practices, the influence of which had a significant impact on the Plunket book's development. However, tensions between health professionals and women in relation to the value placed on types of knowledge continued to exist as evidenced by the language employed in the Plunket books throughout the time period reviewed. Being mindful of the tensions that exist between competing discourses and knowledge sources is important as they call us to engage with how we value and develop our relationships with women and mothers as health care professionals.

Why Geo-Humanities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Graells, Robert Casals i.; Sibilla, Anna; Bohle, Martin

2016-04-01

Anthropogenic global change is a composite process. It consists of societal processes (in the 'noosphere') and natural processes (in the 'bio-geosphere'). The 'noosphere' is the ensemble of social, cultural or political insights ('shared subjective mental concepts') of people. Understanding the composite of societal and natural processes ('human geo-biosphere intersections'), which shapes the features of anthropogenic global change, would benefit from a description that draws equally on natural sciences, social sciences and humanities. To that end it is suggested to develop a concept of 'geo-humanities': This essay presents some aspects of its scope, discussing "knowledge that is to manage", "intentions that are to shape", "choices that are to justify" and "complexity that is to handle". Managing knowledge: That people understand anthropogenic global change requires their insights into how 'human geosphere intersections' function. Insights are formed ('processed') in the noosphere by means of interactions between people. Understanding how 'human geosphere intersections' functions combines scientific, engineering and economic studies with studies of the dynamics of the noosphere. Shaping intentions: During the last century anthropogenic global change developed as the collateral outcome of humankind's accumulated actions. It is caused by the number of people, the patterns of their consumption of resources, and the alterations of their environments. Nowadays, anthropogenic global chance is either an intentional negligence or a conscious act. Justifying choices: Humanity has alternatives how to alter Earth at planetary scale consciously. For example, there is a choice to alter the geo-biosphere or to adjust the noosphere. Whatever the choice, it will depend on people's world-views, cultures and preferences. Thus beyond issues whether science and technology are 'sound' overarching societal issues are to tackle, such as: (i) how to appropriate and distribute natural resources for what cost, (ii) what are intended collateral effects, or (iii) what is the risk of non-intended collateral effects? Handling complexity: Consciously altering Earth at a planetary scale is ambitious, although it fits well into the historical development of industrialised societies and their paradigms how to handle change. Still, action at a planetary scale goes beyond any actual use-case that may serve as a reference. Furthermore, the available technological means, scientific understanding and resources impose limits, and, second, the noosphere is complex given the variety of interacting world-views, cultures and preferences. Summarizing, geo-humanities would study human geosphere intersections. Geo-humanities would address societal and natural process within one frame of reference to understand how attributes of the geo-biosphere and artefacts of the noosphere are aggregated to anthropogenic global change.

Politics, culture, and the legitimacy of disease: the case of Buerger's disease.

PubMed

Lockwood, Stephen J; Bresler, Scott C; Granter, Scott R

2016-09-01

Thromboangiitis obliterans (TAO) or Buerger's disease is a rare form of vasculitis with distinctive clinical and pathological features that carries significant morbidity, often leading to amputation, and is strongly associated with tobacco smoking. Despite its distinctive clinicopathological characteristics, the existence of TAO as an entity sui generis was challenged for many years as it languished in relative obscurity. Then, as societal attitudes towards smoking changed, TAO not only became accepted as a disease entity, it quite literally became a poster child to illustrate the ills of smoking. Herein, we examine the history of TAO to illustrate the power of societal attitudes and politics in shaping medicine.

Ambivalent Sexism and Religion: Connected Through Values.

PubMed

Mikołajczak, Małgorzata; Pietrzak, Janina

2014-01-01

Sexist attitudes do not exist in a limbo; they are embedded in larger belief systems associated with specific hierarchies of values. In particular, manifestations of benevolent sexism (Glick and Fiske 1996, 1997, 2001) can be perceived as a social boon, not a social ill, both because they are experienced as positive, and because they reward behaviors that maintain social stability. One of the strongest social institutions that create and justify specific hierarchies of values is religion. In this paper, we examine how the values inherent in religious beliefs (perhaps inadvertently) propagate an unequal status quo between men and women through endorsement of ideologies linked to benevolent sexism. In a survey with a convenience sample of train passengers in Southern and Eastern Poland ( N  = 180), we investigated the relationship between Catholic religiosity and sexist attitudes. In line with previous findings (Gaunt 2012; Glick et al. 2002a; Taşdemir and Sakallı-Uğurlu 2010), results suggest that religiosity can be linked to endorsement of benevolent sexism. This relationship was mediated in our study by the values of conservatism and openness to change (Schwartz 1992): religious individuals appear to value the societal status quo, tradition, and conformity, which leads them to perceive women through the lens of traditional social roles. Adhering to the teachings of a religion that promotes family values in general seems to have as its byproduct an espousal of prejudicial attitudes toward specific members of the family.

Commentary--Culture and Attachment during Middle Childhood

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Bin-Bin

2015-01-01

Culture has an important impact on attachment. This commentary highlights three aspects about culture and attachment in middle childhood: (1) the need to have a more sophisticated consideration of the implication of cultural values, (2) the need to incorporate the role of societal or political ecological contexts, and (3) the need to solve the…

From Qualitative Data to Instrument Development: The Women's Breast Conflict Scale

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thomas, Eileen

2011-01-01

The purpose of this article is to describe the initial development of the Women's Breast Conflict Scale, a predictive instrument designed to identify women who may be least likely to follow recommended mammography screening guidelines. This new instrument incorporates self/body image, teasing, family norms and values, and societal/media…

International Student Mobility in Hong Kong: Private Good, Public Good, or Trade in Services?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oleksiyenko, Anatoly; Cheng, Kai-Ming; Yip, Hak-Kwong

2013-01-01

International student mobility has emerged as a key source of societal and educational transformations in the booming economies of East Asia. International competencies are increasingly valued by employees and employers alike. Given the uneven distribution of international student flows, and the inequitable levels of benefit that they bring to…

Interpreting Foucault: An Evaluation of a Foucauldian Critique of Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Woermann, Minka

2012-01-01

The potential strengths and weaknesses of a Foucauldian critique of education are discussed and evaluated. The article focuses specifically on the value of Foucault's work for critiquing social and political ideologies prevalent in education, which is understood as a societal institution, and hence, as a modern regime of institutional power. In…

Classical Social Justice: A Philosophical Exploration of the Roots of Social and Economic Inequities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lucey, Thomas A.; Agnello, Mary Frances; Hawkins, Jeffrey M.

2010-01-01

For a socially just community to occur, decision-making must employ respectful procedures that value input from representatives of all economic contexts. By considering philosophical roots of Western societal development, it is possible to gain insight into the systemic processes underlying these circumstances. By understanding these bases,…

Adolescent Peer Relations and Socioemotional Development in Latin America: Translating International Theory into Local Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Berger, Christian; Lisboa, Carolina; Cuadros, Olga; de Tezanos-Pinto, Pablo

2016-01-01

Peer relations constitute a main developmental context for adolescents. Peers offer an instance for identity definition and set the norms of acceptable and valued characteristics, behaviors, and attitudes, representing a societal model that allows and restrains avenues for adolescents' socioemotional development. The present article departs from…

Attitudes toward Women as a Function of Subject's Experience with Family Violence.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stahly, Geraldine Butts

Evidence is accumulating that experiences of children within the violent family are fundamental causes of the continuing problem of family and societal violence. To examine attitudes and values as a function of experience with family violence, 114 male undergraduate students completed a questionnaire assessing general demographics, and several…

Gender Differences in Subjective Well-Being: Comparing Societies with Respect to Gender Equality

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tesch-Romer, Clemens; Motel-Klingebiel, Andreas; Tomasik, Martin J.

2008-01-01

These analyses explore the relationship between gender inequality and subjective well-being. The hypothesis was tested as to whether societal gender inequality is related to the size of gender differences in subjective well-being in various societies. Results come from comparative data sets (World Values Survey, involving 57 countries; OASIS…

"Quietly Stripping the Pastels": The Undergraduate Gender Gap

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yakaboski, Tamara

2011-01-01

The "new" gender gap refers to women as the majority of the undergraduate student population, and the national newspaper discourse on this trend represents a value system that translates into societal implications and potential policy. The media portrays a "boy crisis" with male students as the victims of female students' enrollment success. The…

Durability of Peace Education Effects in the Shadow of Conflict

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rosen, Yigal; Salomon, Gavriel

2011-01-01

Value-oriented instructional programs, such as anti-racism, may often face societal barriers. A case in point are peace education programs in conflictual contexts. Close analysis of peace education programs in regions of conflict and tension suggest that they face formidable barriers that would appear to prevent the attainment of their goals of…

Social Accountability of Medical Schools: Do Accreditation Standards Help Promote the Concept?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abdalla, Mohamed Elhassan

2014-01-01

The social accountability of medical schools is an emerging concept in medical education. This issue calls for the consideration of societal needs in all aspects of medical programmes, including the values of relevance, quality, cost-effectiveness and equity. Most importantly, these needs must be defined collaboratively with people themselves.…

Building Collaboration through Project-Based Theater Design

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Basarab, Heather

2012-01-01

With the economic collapse of 2008, there has been a dramatic increase in government emphasis on the value of science and technology-based study in the nation's high schools as a means for the United States to remain competitive in the world economic market. Financial, political and societal support for the hard sciences, coupled with…

An Analysis of the Proverbs the Yorubans Live By

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tunde Bolaji, Ezekiel; Kehinde, Taye A.

2017-01-01

In the Yoruba society, proverbs have been and still remain powerful and effective instruments of transmitting ideas, motive, knowledge and social morality from generation to generations. This is because proverbs reflect societal values of the people. Like any other group of people, the Yorubas are interested in the maintenance of personal health…

Forum: Learning Outcomes in Communication. Civic Engagement and a Communication Research Agenda

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ball, Timothy C.; Procopio, Claire H.; Goering, Beth; Dong, Qingwen; Bodary, David L.

2016-01-01

Civic engagement has long been a pedagogical and societal goal for communication scholars (Arnett & Arneson, 1999; Bennett, Wells, & Freelon, 2011). Kidd and Parry-Giles (2013) point out that belief in the "inherent civic value of speech to meaningful citizenship" is the "pedagogical core of the discipline" (n.p.).…

The Role of Adult Education and Learning Policy in Fostering Societal Sustainability

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Milana, Marcella; Rasmussen, Palle; Holford, John

2016-01-01

The idea of "sustainability" as a core value has slowly permeated policy and practice at governmental and institutional levels, in public and private policy. However, at times when social and economic crises have revealed the fragility of existing institutions and policies, it is important to consider how sustainability is -- and could…

Comments on Brandow's "Ideology, Myth, and Reality: Sex Equity in Israel."

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bar-Yosef, Rivka W.; Lieblich, Amia

1983-01-01

Criticizes Brandow's article on sex equality in Israel, discussing occupational status of women, women's education, women in the military, duality of religious and secular values and legislation, and role division between husbands and wives. Concludes that Israel's equality of the sexes is marked by gains in societal balance. (AOS)

Social Justice Praxis in Education: Towards Sustainable Management Strategies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van Deventer, Idilette; van der Westhuizen, Philip C.; Potgieter, Ferdinand J.

2015-01-01

Social justice, defined as an impetus towards a socially just educational world, is based on the assumption that all people, irrespective of belief or societal position, are entitled to be treated according to the values of human rights, human dignity and equality. Diverging from the classical positivist approach in social science research that…

Plant species' origin predicts dominance and response to nutrient enrichment and herbivores in global grasslands

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Exotic species currently dominate many communities, but it is unclear if the significance of a species’ origin merely reflects our societal values or if exotic species function differently from the native, resident species. The difficulty in separating these perspectives derives from a lack of syst...

An International Comparison of the Effects of HRM Practices and Organizational Commitment on Quality of Job Performances among European University Employees

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smeenk, Sanne; Teelken, Christine; Eisinga, Rob; Doorewaard, Hans

2008-01-01

Societal developments have forced universities all over Europe to replace their "professional" strategies, structures, and values by organizational characteristics that could be stereotyped as "private sector" features. This trend is known as "managerialism". Since university employees generally stick to professional…

Urban Forest Health Monitoring in the United States

Treesearch

David J. Nowak; Robert Hoehn; Jeffrey T. Walton; Daniel E. Crane; Jack C. Stevens; Daniel Twardus; Anne Cumming; Manfred Mielke; Bill Smith

2006-01-01

Trees in cities can contribute significantly to human health and environmental quality. Unfortunately, little is known about the urban forest resource and what it contributes to the local, regional, and national societal and economic interests. To help better understand the urban forest resource and its numerous values, the USDA Forest Service has initiated a pilot...

The Holistic Medicine Wheel: An Indigenous Model of Teaching and Learning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pewewardy, Cornel

1999-01-01

Based on the Medicine Wheel, a culturally relevant model for holistic teaching and curriculum development in indigenous education is centered on the self, then expands to four domains (mental, spiritual, physical, emotional) operationalized via eight multiple intelligences. Outer circles portray societal values and a global view of the world. A…

ArchiCamps: Exploring Architecture and a Sense of Place

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morris, Ronald V.; Stanis, Suzanne Rollins

2017-01-01

Lessons in community building and cultural understanding are important aspects of a 21st-century education. Through such lessons, students gain the keys to societal understanding as they gain knowledge about their cultural and historical contexts, and use that understanding as a setting for exploration of deeper values, emotional experiences, and…

Standards, Testing, and Accountability: Misguided Intentions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alexander, James

2011-01-01

There are many factors affecting student achievement. It is misguided and a waste of time and effort to pursue the failed policies of more standards, tests, and accountability. The primary problems relative to student achievement are mainly societal. Rather than more failed policies, what our nation needs is a discussion about national values,…

Organizing a Collaborative Development of Technological Design Requirements Using a Constructive Dialogue on Value Profiles: A Case in Automated Vehicle Development.

PubMed

Flipse, Steven M; Puylaert, Steven

2018-02-01

Following societal and policy pressures for responsible innovation, innovators are more and more expected to consider the broader socio-ethical context of their work, and more importantly, to integrate such considerations into their daily practices. This may require the involvement of 'outsiders' in innovation trajectories, including e.g. societal and governmental actors. However, methods on how to functionally organize such integration in light of responsible innovation have only recently started to emerge. We present an approach to do just that, in which we first develop value profiles of the involved actors, and second, design a workshop setting that allows innovators to develop design requirements in collaboration with representatives of parties that are not usually involved in such innovation design practices. Using a case study in automated vehicle development, we positively demonstrate the possibility and utility of our approach. We stress that in this study we wish to demonstrate the functionality of our developed method, and did not search for scientifically valid outcomes regarding this technical field.

A survey of of uses and value of space weather information

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schrijver, C. J.; Rabanal, J.

2013-12-01

We analyze some 2,800 responses to a survey among subscribers of NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center email services. Interest in, anticipated impacts from, and responses to solar flares, energetic particle events, and geomagnetic storms are quite uniform across societal sectors. Approximately 40% of the respondents expect serious to very serious impacts from space weather events if no action were taken to mitigate or in the absence of adequate space weather information. The impacts of space weather are deemed to be substantially reduced because of the availability of, and the response to, space-weather forecasts and alerts. Space weather information is primarily used as aid to understand anomalies, to implement mitigating strategies designed to avoid impacts on operations, and to prepare for potential contingencies related directly or indirectly to space weather. Current and near-future space-weather conditions are generally highly valued, considered useful, and generally, though not fully, adequate to avoid or mitigate societal impacts (related most frequently to human safety and reliability of operations). We conclude that even among those receiving space weather information, there is considerable uncertainty about how to act on the information provided.

Technology assessment: Some questions from a developing country perspective

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Goonatilake, S.

1994-01-01

The emergence of technology assessment did not occur in a societal or value vacuum; neither did its practice. Today`s TA expertise is the outcome of historically located concerns, still unique to a particular narrow space ({open_quotes}Euro America{close_quotes}) and a narrow time frame (post-1960s). There are wide cultural, economic, societal and historical variations in the developing world as compared to the developed Western nations. This variation limits the usefulness of the simple transfer of concepts developed in the West. There are also many different potential stakeholders in developing countries. These also include those outside the formal sectors who variously define desirablemore » and undesirable aspects of the social and other factors of technology. This results in different cultural definitions of ethics, different visions of gender equality, different attitudes to the environment, different contents and values in local knowledge systems, and different social organizations associated with a given technology. An effective TA should recognize this multiplicity. It requires cognition, action, and debate on these key factors. At times this becomes an unavoidable developmental debate. 45 refs.« less

Global agriculture and carbon trade-offs

PubMed Central

Johnson, Justin Andrew; Runge, Carlisle Ford; Senauer, Benjamin; Foley, Jonathan; Polasky, Stephen

2014-01-01

Feeding a growing and increasingly affluent world will require expanded agricultural production, which may require converting grasslands and forests into cropland. Such conversions can reduce carbon storage, habitat provision, and other ecosystem services, presenting difficult societal trade-offs. In this paper, we use spatially explicit data on agricultural productivity and carbon storage in a global analysis to find where agricultural extensification should occur to meet growing demand while minimizing carbon emissions from land use change. Selective extensification saves ∼6 billion metric tons of carbon compared with a business-as-usual approach, with a value of approximately $1 trillion (2012 US dollars) using recent estimates of the social cost of carbon. This type of spatially explicit geospatial analysis can be expanded to include other ecosystem services and other industries to analyze how to minimize conflicts between economic development and environmental sustainability. PMID:25114254

Women, men and public health-how the choice of normative theory affects resource allocation.

PubMed

Månsdotter, Anna; Lindholm, Lars; Ohman, Ann

2004-09-01

Women live longer than men in almost all countries, but men are more privileged in terms of power, influence, resources and probably morbidity. This investigation aims at illustrating how the choice of normative framework affects judgements about the fairness in these sex differences, and about desired societal change. The selected theories are welfare economics, health sector extra-welfarism, justice as fairness and feminist justice. By means of five Swedish proposals aiming at improving the population's health or "sex equity", facts and values are applied to resource allocation. Although we do not claim a specific ethical foundation, it seems to us that the feminist criterion has great potential in public health policy. The overall conclusion is that the normative framework must be explicitly discussed and stated in issues of women's and men's health.

Mergers and acquisitions in professional organizations: a complex adaptive systems approach.

PubMed

Walls, M E; McDaniel, R R

1999-09-01

Nurse managers face unique challenges as they cope with mergers and acquisitions among health care organizations. These challenges can be better understood if it is recognized that health care institutions are professional organizations and that the transformations required are extremely difficult. These difficulties are caused, in part, by the institutionalized nature of professional organizations, and this nature is explicated. Professional organizations are stubborn. They are repositories of expertise and values that are societal in origin and difficult to change. When professional organizations are understood as complex adaptive systems, complexity theory offers insight that provide strategies for managing mergers and acquisitions that may not be apparent when more traditional conceptualizations of professional organizations are used. Specific managerial techniques consistent with both the institutionalized characteristics and the complex adaptive systems characteristics of professional organizations are offered to nurse managers.

Global agriculture and carbon trade-offs.

PubMed

Johnson, Justin Andrew; Runge, Carlisle Ford; Senauer, Benjamin; Foley, Jonathan; Polasky, Stephen

2014-08-26

Feeding a growing and increasingly affluent world will require expanded agricultural production, which may require converting grasslands and forests into cropland. Such conversions can reduce carbon storage, habitat provision, and other ecosystem services, presenting difficult societal trade-offs. In this paper, we use spatially explicit data on agricultural productivity and carbon storage in a global analysis to find where agricultural extensification should occur to meet growing demand while minimizing carbon emissions from land use change. Selective extensification saves ∼ 6 billion metric tons of carbon compared with a business-as-usual approach, with a value of approximately $1 trillion (2012 US dollars) using recent estimates of the social cost of carbon. This type of spatially explicit geospatial analysis can be expanded to include other ecosystem services and other industries to analyze how to minimize conflicts between economic development and environmental sustainability.

Estimating the value of volunteer-assisted community-based aging services: a case example.

PubMed

Scharlach, Andrew E

2015-01-01

This study demonstrates the use of a social return on investment (SROI) approach in estimating the financial and social value created by volunteer-assisted community-based aging services. An expanded value added statement (EVAS) analysis found that the total value of outputs produced by the Concierge Club of San Diego substantially exceeded the cost of the program, after considering likely secondary and tertiary benefits for a range of affected stakeholders-including elderly service recipients, family members, volunteers, and societal institutions. Additional research is needed regarding the direct and indirect costs and benefits of volunteer support services for vulnerable older adults and their families.

Cultural differences in moral judgment and behavior, across and within societies.

PubMed

Graham, Jesse; Meindl, Peter; Beall, Erica; Johnson, Kate M; Zhang, Li

2016-04-01

We review contemporary work on cultural factors affecting moral judgments and values, and those affecting moral behaviors. In both cases, we highlight examples of within-societal cultural differences in morality, to show that these can be as substantial and important as cross-societal differences. Whether between or within nations and societies, cultures vary substantially in their promotion and transmission of a multitude of moral judgments and behaviors. Cultural factors contributing to this variation include religion, social ecology (weather, crop conditions, population density, pathogen prevalence, residential mobility), and regulatory social institutions such as kinship structures and economic markets. This variability raises questions for normative theories of morality, but also holds promise for future descriptive work on moral thought and behavior. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Societal and economic valuation of technology-transfer deals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Holmes, Joseph S., Jr.

2009-09-01

The industrial adoption of concepts such as open innovation brings new legitimacy to activities technology-transfer professionals have conducted for over 20 years. This movement highlights the need for an increased understanding of the valuation of intellectual property (IP) and technology-transfer deals. Valuation, though a centerpiece of corporate finance, is more challenging when applied to the inherent uncertainty surrounding innovation. Technology-transfer professionals are often overwhelmed by the complexity and data requirements of valuation techniques and skeptical of their applicability to and utility for technology transfer. The market longs for an approach which bridges the gap between valuation fundamentals and technology-transfer realities. This paper presents the foundations of a simple, flexible, precise/accurate, and useful framework for considering the valuation of technology-transfer deals. The approach is predicated on a 12-factor model—a 3×4 value matrix predicated on categories of economic, societal, and strategic value. Each of these three categories consists of three core subcategories followed by a fourth "other" category to facilitate inevitable special considerations. This 12-factor value matrix provides a framework for harvesting data during deals and for the application of best-of-breed valuation techniques which can be employed on a per-factor basis. Future work will include framework implementation within a database platform.

Hidden Costs: the ethics of cost-effectiveness analyses for health interventions in resource-limited settings

PubMed Central

Rutstein, Sarah E.; Price, Joan T.; Rosenberg, Nora E.; Rennie, Stuart M.; Biddle, Andrea K.; Miller, William C.

2017-01-01

Cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) is an increasingly appealing tool for evaluating and comparing health-related interventions in resource-limited settings. The goal is to inform decision-makers regarding the health benefits and associated costs of alternative interventions, helping guide allocation of limited resources by prioritizing interventions that offer the most health for the least money. Although only one component of a more complex decision-making process, CEAs influence the distribution of healthcare resources, directly influencing morbidity and mortality for the world’s most vulnerable populations. However, CEA-associated measures are frequently setting-specific valuations, and CEA outcomes may violate ethical principles of equity and distributive justice. We examine the assumptions and analytical tools used in CEAs that may conflict with societal values. We then evaluate contextual features unique to resource-limited settings, including the source of health-state utilities and disability weights; implications of CEA thresholds in light of economic uncertainty; and the role of external donors. Finally, we explore opportunities to help align interpretation of CEA outcomes with values and budgetary constraints in resource-limited settings. The ethical implications of CEAs in resource-limited settings are vast. It is imperative that CEA outcome summary measures and implementation thresholds adequately reflect societal values and ethical priorities in resource-limited settings. PMID:27141969

Hidden costs: The ethics of cost-effectiveness analyses for health interventions in resource-limited settings.

PubMed

Rutstein, Sarah E; Price, Joan T; Rosenberg, Nora E; Rennie, Stuart M; Biddle, Andrea K; Miller, William C

2017-10-01

Cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) is an increasingly appealing tool for evaluating and comparing health-related interventions in resource-limited settings. The goal is to inform decision-makers regarding the health benefits and associated costs of alternative interventions, helping guide allocation of limited resources by prioritising interventions that offer the most health for the least money. Although only one component of a more complex decision-making process, CEAs influence the distribution of health-care resources, directly influencing morbidity and mortality for the world's most vulnerable populations. However, CEA-associated measures are frequently setting-specific valuations, and CEA outcomes may violate ethical principles of equity and distributive justice. We examine the assumptions and analytical tools used in CEAs that may conflict with societal values. We then evaluate contextual features unique to resource-limited settings, including the source of health-state utilities and disability weights, implications of CEA thresholds in light of economic uncertainty, and the role of external donors. Finally, we explore opportunities to help align interpretation of CEA outcomes with values and budgetary constraints in resource-limited settings. The ethical implications of CEAs in resource-limited settings are vast. It is imperative that CEA outcome summary measures and implementation thresholds adequately reflect societal values and ethical priorities in resource-limited settings.

Thinking meta-theoretically about the role of internalization in the development of body dissatisfaction and body change behaviors.

PubMed

Karazsia, Bryan T; van Dulmen, Manfred H M; Wong, Kendal; Crowther, Janis H

2013-09-01

Internalization of societal standards of physical attractiveness (i.e., internalization of the thin ideal for women and internalization of the mesomorphic ideal for men) is a widely studied and robust risk factor for body dissatisfaction and maladaptive body change behaviors. Substantial empirical research supports internalization as both a mediator and a moderator of the relation between societal influences and body dissatisfaction. In this paper, a primer on mediation and moderation is followed by a review of literature and discussion of the extent to which internalization can theoretically fulfill the roles of both mediation and moderation. The literature review revealed a stark contrast in research design (experimental versus non-experimental design) when alternate conceptualizations of internalization are adopted. A meta-theoretical, moderated mediation model is presented. This model integrates previous research and can inform future empirical and clinical endeavors. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Reducing Societal Obesity: Establishing a Separate Exercise Model through Studies of Group Behavior.

PubMed

Puterbaugh, J S

2016-01-01

The past 50 years has brought attention to high and increasing levels of human obesity in most of the industrialized world. The medical profession has noticed, has evaluated, and has developed models for studying, preventing, and reversing obesity. The current model prescribes activity in specific quantities such as days, minutes, heart rates, and footfalls. Although decreased levels of activity have come from changes revolving around built environments and social networks, the existing medical model to lower body weights by increasing activity remains individually prescriptive. It is not working. The study of societal obesity precludes the individual and must involve group behavioral studies. Such studies necessitate acquiring separate tools and, therefore, require a significant change in the evaluation and treatment of obesity. Finding groups with common activities and lower levels of obesity would allow the development of new models of land use and encourage active lifestyles through shared interests.

The cost-effectiveness of New York City's Safe Routes to School Program.

PubMed

Muennig, Peter A; Epstein, Michael; Li, Guohua; DiMaggio, Charles

2014-07-01

We evaluated the cost-effectiveness of a package of roadway modifications in New York City funded under the Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program. We used a Markov model to estimate long-term impacts of SRTS on injury reduction and the associated savings in medical costs, lifelong disability, and death. Model inputs included societal costs (in 2013 US dollars) and observed spatiotemporal changes in injury rates associated with New York City's implementation of SRTS relative to control intersections. Structural changes to roadways were assumed to last 50 years before further investment is required. Therefore, costs were discounted over 50 consecutive cohorts of modified roadway users under SRTS. SRTS was associated with an overall net societal benefit of $230 million and 2055 quality-adjusted life years gained in New York City. SRTS reduces injuries and saves money over the long run.

Social participation: redesign of education, research, and practice in occupational therapy. Previously published in Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy 2013; 20: 2-8.

PubMed

Piškur, Barbara

2014-01-01

There is growing attention to participation and social participation in literature and policy reports. Occupational therapists strongly believe that creating coherence between the person's occupations and environment will facilitate participation of each individual. Nowadays, societal developments such as "health literacy and self-management", "Web 2.0 social media", "empowering communities", and "Nothing About Us Without Us" increase opportunities for people to interact on different levels of social participation. Social participation can be used as an outcome, though it can also be seen as a means to change society and to develop solutions for barriers experienced by people with chronic diseases or disabilities. Societal developments will have an impact on social participation in terms of supporting each other and contributing to society. Additionally, these changes will have a major influence on the way we educate, conduct research, and deliver occupational therapy practice.

Social participation: redesign of education, research, and practice in occupational therapy*.

PubMed

Piškur, Barbara

2013-01-01

There is growing attention to participation and social participation in literature and policy reports. Occupational therapists strongly believe that creating coherence between the person's occupations and environment will facilitate participation of each individual. Nowadays, societal developments such as "health literacy and self-management", "Web 2.0 social media", "empowering communities", and "Nothing About Us Without Us" increase opportunities for people to interact on different levels of social participation. Social participation can be used as an outcome, though it can also be seen as a means to change society and to develop solutions for barriers experienced by people with chronic diseases or disabilities. Societal developments will have an impact on social participation in terms of supporting each other and contributing to society. Additionally, these changes will have a major influence on the way we educate, conduct research, and deliver occupational therapy practice.

Ecohydrology and Its Relation to Integrated Groundwater Management

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hunt, Randall J.; Hayashi, Masaki; Batelaan, Okke

2016-01-01

In the twentieth century, groundwater characterization focused primarily on easily measured hydraulic metrics of water storage and flows. Twenty-first century concepts of groundwater availability, however, encompass other factors having societal value, such as ecological well-being. Effective ecohydrological science is a nexus of fundamental understanding derived from two scientific disciplines: (1) ecology, where scale, thresholds, feedbacks and tipping points for societal questions form the basis for the ecologic characterization, and (2) hydrology, where the characteristics, magnitude, and timing of water flows are characterized for a defined system of interest. In addition to ecohydrology itself, integrated groundwater management requires input from resource managers to understand which areas of the vast world of ecohydrology are important for decision making. Expectations of acceptable uncertainty, or even what ecohydrological outputs have utility, are often not well articulated within societal decision making frameworks, or within the science community itself. Similarly, “acceptable levels of impact” are difficult to define. Three examples are given to demonstrate the use of ecohydrological considerations for long-term sustainability of groundwater resources and their related ecosystem function. Such examples illustrate the importance of accommodating ecohydrogeological aspects into integrated groundwater management of the twenty-first century, regardless of society, climate, or setting.

Cost-effectiveness analysis of rotavirus vaccination among Libyan children using a simple economic model

PubMed Central

Alkoshi, Salem; Maimaiti, Namaitijiang; Dahlui, Maznah

2014-01-01

Background Rotavirus infection is a major cause of childhood diarrhea in Libya. The objective of this study is to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of rotavirus vaccination in that country. Methods We used a published decision tree model that has been adapted to the Libyan situation to analyze a birth cohort of 160,000 children. The evaluation of diarrhea events in three public hospitals helped to estimate the rotavirus burden. The economic analysis was done from two perspectives: health care provider and societal. Univariate sensitivity analyses were conducted to assess uncertainty in some values of the variables selected. Results The three hospitals received 545 diarrhea patients aged≤5 with 311 (57%) rotavirus positive test results during a 9-month period. The societal cost for treatment of a case of rotavirus diarrhea was estimated at US$ 661/event. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio with a vaccine price of US$ 27 per course was US$ 8,972 per quality-adjusted life year gained from the health care perspective. From a societal perspective, the analysis shows cost savings of around US$ 16 per child. Conclusion The model shows that rotavirus vaccination could be economically a very attractive intervention in Libya. PMID:25499622

Economic Analysis of Children’s Surgical Care in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review and Analysis

PubMed Central

Poenaru, Dan; Ozgediz, Doruk; Ameh, Emmanuel A.; Farmer, Diana; Smith, Emily R.; Rice, Henry E.

2016-01-01

Background Understanding the economic value of health interventions is essential for policy makers to make informed resource allocation decisions. The objective of this systematic review was to summarize available information on the economic impact of children’s surgical care in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Methods We searched MEDLINE (Pubmed), Embase, and Web of Science for relevant articles published between Jan. 1996 and Jan. 2015. We summarized reported cost information for individual interventions by country, including all costs, disability weights, health outcome measurements (most commonly disability-adjusted life years [DALYs] averted) and cost-effectiveness ratios (CERs). We calculated median CER as well as societal economic benefits (using a human capital approach) by procedure group across all studies. The methodological quality of each article was assessed using the Drummond checklist and the overall quality of evidence was summarized using a scale adapted from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Findings We identified 86 articles that met inclusion criteria, spanning 36 groups of surgical interventions. The procedure group with the lowest median CER was inguinal hernia repair ($15/DALY). The procedure group with the highest median societal economic benefit was neurosurgical procedures ($58,977). We found a wide range of study quality, with only 35% of studies having a Drummond score ≥ 7. Interpretation Our findings show that many areas of children’s surgical care are extremely cost-effective in LMICs, provide substantial societal benefits, and are an appropriate target for enhanced investment. Several areas, including inguinal hernia repair, trichiasis surgery, cleft lip and palate repair, circumcision, congenital heart surgery and orthopedic procedures, should be considered “Essential Pediatric Surgical Procedures” as they offer considerable economic value. However, there are major gaps in existing research quality and methodology which limit our current understanding of the economic value of surgical care. PMID:27792792

The comparative effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of ranibizumab for neovascular macular degeneration revisited.

PubMed

Brown, Gary C; Brown, Melissa M; Lieske, Heidi B; Turpcu, Adam; Rajput, Yamina

2017-01-01

To compare a near decade of follow-up, newer control cohort data, use of both the societal and third party insurer cost perspectives, and integration of unilateral/bilateral therapy on the comparative effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of intravitreal ranibizumab therapy for neovascular, age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Value-Based Medicine ® , 12-year, combined-eye model, cost-utility analysis employing MARINA and HORIZON clinical trial data. Preference-based comparative effectiveness outcomes were quantified in (1) QALY (quality-adjusted life-year) gain, and (2) percent improvement in quality-of-life, while cost-effectiveness outcomes were quantified in (3) the cost-utility ratio (CUR) and financial return-on-investment (ROI) to society. Using MARINA and HORIZON trial data and a meta-analysis control cohort after 24 months, ranibizumab therapy conferred a combined-eye patient value (quality-of-life) gain of 16.3%, versus 10.4% found in 2006. The two-year direct ophthalmic medical cost for ranibizumab therapy was $46,450, a 33.8% real dollar decrease from 2006. The societal cost perspective CUR was -$242,920/QALY, indicating a $282,517 financial return-on-investment (ROI), or 12.3%/year to society for direct ophthalmic medical costs expended. The 3rd party insurer CUR ranged from $21,199/QALY utilizing all direct, medical costs, to $69,591/QALY using direct ophthalmic medical costs. Ranibizumab therapy for neovascular AMD in 2015, considering treatment of both eyes, conferred greater patient value gain (comparative effectiveness) and improved cost-effectiveness than in 2006, as well as a large monetary return-on-investment to the Gross Domestic Product and nation's wealth. The model herein integrates important novel features for neovascular age-related macular degeneration, vitreoretinal cost effectiveness analyses, including: (1) treatment of both eyes, (2) a long-term, untreated control cohort, and (3) the use of societal costs.

Abortion as "Deviance"; Traditional Female Roles Vs. The Feminist Perspective.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rosen, R. A. Hudson; Martindale, Lois J.

The paper focuses on the relationship between changing societal norms and actual, emotional acceptance of them for oneself, with regard to changing norms toward women's roles as they relate to the areas of abortion and sexual behavior. Elective abortion still is regarded by many as a "deviant" activity. Such a view has sprung from an uncritical…

Societal Changes Affecting Primary School Education after the Second World War in Finland

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Paksuniemi, Merja; Niemisalo, Sari

2016-01-01

To demonstrate how changes in both foreign and domestic environments after the Second World War affected primary education and teacher training in Finland, the article presents a historical picture of the post-war reality of the school system, based on a review of sources that include laws, decrees, curricula, textbooks and previous research. The…

The National Status of the Preparation of School Psychologists in Estonia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kikas, Eve

2014-01-01

Estonia is a small republic that has undergone several big societal changes (from belonging to the Soviet Union to becoming a free republic, and the process of integrating into the European Union) during the last several decades. Psychology has been taught as a separate discipline starting from 1968, but its content has been changed from very…

Individualized Instruction as a Faculty Training Strategy for Technology Integration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Merritt, Jennifer L.

2017-01-01

It is inevitable that campus-based higher education will adopt some form of a hybrid learning approach. For schools and their faculty members, this means the acknowledgment and acceptance of these changes are required. Campus-based higher education faculty members wish to change how they teach courses due to societal demands to better suit the…

Change, Priorities, and the College English Department.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Farrell, Edmund J.

The functioning of the college English department during a period of rapid societal change is important. English programs can and have been interrupted by student activists. Such crises in formal education are small in comparison with the overriding issues of whether or not man can survive as a species past the turn of the next century and of what…

Sex Education for Physically, Emotionally, and Mentally Challenged Youth. From Research to Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Keshav, Dimple; Huberman, Barbara

2006-01-01

In recent years, important changes in public policies and attitudes have resulted in improved opportunities for people with physical and mental disabilities. Now, people living with disabilities assume their rightful place in society as the equals of non-disabled people. Unfortunately, societal attitudes have changed less in regard to "sexuality"…

Constructing Disability in Bhutan: Schools, Structures, Policies, and Global Discourses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schuelka, Matthew John

2014-01-01

Bhutan is a small country in the Himalaya that has experienced rapid societal changes in the past 60 years. Perhaps the most significant change in Bhutan has occurred in its educational system, which grew from a very limited presence in 1961 to now serving the entire youth population of Bhutan. With this massive increase in educational service…