What Are Working Groups and Why Should Scientists Be Involved

1996 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 451-454 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tony J. Svejcar
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Natural Resource ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Policy Formulation ◽  
Public Image ◽  
The Public ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Working Groups ◽  
High Level ◽  
Effective Use

The conflicts over management of natural resources, especially on public lands, have resulted in a high level of frustration among many of the interested parties. There are many underlying causes of the conflicts, but I think several major societal trends must be considered. During the past several decades, there has been increased emphasis on participatory democracy, with the public seeking more involvement in decision making and policy formulation. A related trend is the decline in the public image of science and lack of trust in state and federal agencies. Individual members of society desire to be included in decision making, and may not necessarily view scientists as capable of providing the answers to natural resource issues. One response to natural resource conflicts is to form a group of interested individuals from diverse backgrounds to develop solutions. These groups may also work toward policy development. Coalitions or working groups may take many forms. There are two basic types of groups I will mention: 1) those formed to address a specific issue over a set time period, and 2) those formed to foster communication, interaction, and education. Many working groups have been formed over controversies, but effective use of the groups might also keep controversies from arising. In my opinion, scientists should be active participants in natural resource working groups. Participation provides the opportunity to incorporate science in decision-making and may also guide research efforts insuring that the results are of value to a wider cross-section of society.

scholarly journals Decision-making process for introduction of maternal vaccines in Kenya, 2017–2018

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy A. Otieno ◽  
Fauzia A. Malik ◽  
Stacy W. Nganga ◽  
Winnie N. Wairimu ◽  
Dominic O. Ouma ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Implementation Process ◽  
Policy Formulation ◽  
Advisory Group ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Maternal Immunization ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
High Level

Abstract Background Maternal immunization is a key strategy for reducing morbidity and mortality associated with infectious diseases in mothers and their newborns. Recent developments in the science and safety of maternal vaccinations have made possible development of new maternal vaccines ready for introduction in low- and middle-income countries. Decisions at the policy level remain the entry point for maternal immunization programs. We describe the policy and decision-making process in Kenya for the introduction of new vaccines, with particular emphasis on maternal vaccines, and identify opportunities to improve vaccine policy formulation and implementation process. Methods We conducted 29 formal interviews with government officials and policy makers, including high-level officials at the Kenya National Immunization Technical Advisory Group, and Ministry of Health officials at national and county levels. All interviews were recorded and transcribed. We analyzed the qualitative data using NVivo 11.0 software. Results All key informants understood the vaccine policy formulation and implementation processes, although national officials appeared more informed compared to county officials. County officials reported feeling left out of policy development. The recent health system decentralization had both positive and negative impacts on the policy process; however, the negative impacts outweighed the positive impacts. Other factors outside vaccine policy environment such as rumours, sociocultural practices, and anti-vaccine campaigns influenced the policy development and implementation process. Conclusions Public policy development process is complex and multifaceted by its nature. As Kenya prepares for introduction of other maternal vaccines, it is important that the identified policy gaps and challenges are addressed.

Radiological safety and assessment of the performance of X-ray systems in veterinary facilities

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Economides ◽  
C.J. Hourdakis ◽  
C. Pafilis ◽  
G. Simantirakis ◽  
P. Tritakis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Radiation Protection ◽  
Atomic Energy Commission ◽  
Atomic Energy ◽  
Regulatory Control ◽  
Continuous Training ◽  
X Ray ◽  
The Public ◽  
Radiological Safety ◽  
High Level

This paper concerns an analysis regarding the performance of X-ray equipment as well as the radiological safety in veterinary facilities. Data were collected from 380 X-ray veterinary facilities countrywide during the on-site regulatory inspections carried out by the Greek Atomic Energy Commission. The analysis of the results shows that the majority of the veterinary radiographic systems perform within the acceptable limits; moreover, the design and shielding of X-ray rooms as well as the applied procedures ensure a high level of radiological safety for the practitioners, operators and the members of the public. An issue that requires specific attention in the optimization process for the proper implementation of veterinary radiology practices in terms of radiological safety is the continuous training of the personnel. The above findings and the regulatory experience gained were valuable decision-making elements regarding the type of the regulatory control of veterinary radiology practices in the new radiation protection framework.

YOU ARE WHAT THEY SEE

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1977 ◽  
Vol 60 (3) ◽  
pp. 312-312
Author(s):  
P. H. Rhodes
Keyword(s):  
Education And Training ◽  
Public Image ◽  
Value Judgments ◽  
The Public ◽  
High Level ◽  
And Training ◽  
Better Than

The value judgments about medicine are contributed to by the public image. Formerly this has been one of a devoted, caring, self-sacrificing, somewhat unworldly group of people, dedicated to their work for the suffering and diseased. But the doctors are not separate from society and they are affected by its values. These have been adopted by the profession so that it is coming to be seen as no worse and no better than any other group of comparable education and training. Its status has diminished and this has called into question its compensation at a high level. Status cannot be maintained when its base has been eroded.

scholarly journals A Sociological Approach to Institutional Communication: The Public Image in Organizational Administration in Education

2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 79
Author(s):  
Sandro Serpa
Keyword(s):  
Public Image ◽  
The Public ◽  
News Stories ◽  
Disadvantaged Children ◽  
Sociological Approach ◽  
Documentary Analysis ◽  
Time Period ◽  
External Context ◽  
Institutional Communication ◽  
Organizational Administration

<p class="apa">Acknowledging that the external context visibly affects any organization, this investigation seeks to constitute a specific contribution to the study of the importance of public image in organizational administration. To that end, a collection and documentary analysis of news stories from the newspaper <em>O Fayalense</em> on the <em>Asylum for the Disadvantaged Children of Horta</em> [<em>Asilo de Infância Desvalida da Horta</em>], an institution located on Faial Island, Azores, Portugal, covering the time period of 1858 to 1895, is performed. In the presentation and discussion of the results, a comparison is made between two periods that involve a single president because they vary in the type of news stories published (at the level of sources and subjects). It is concluded that the news stories published cover three large types of references, which, given the period in question, vary substantially: factual information (on the celebrations occurring in the asylum, communications about donations received and appreciation of benefactors, or institutional information on the elections of the asylum directorate), praise (regarding the asylum’s mission, operation, or administration), and censures (including responses to external criticism, criticism of previous managements, and stories regarding the asylum’s precarious circumstances). The implication of the study is that the importance of a positive public image, especially a positive image that is supportive of the leadership, should not be overlooked for the organizational administration to have greater chances of success.</p>

scholarly journals The Role of Public Participation in Governance towards Achieving Sustainable Development. Part 1

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 395-404
Author(s):  
Maurice S. Nyarangaa ◽  
Chen Hao ◽  
Duncan O. Hongo
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Public Participation ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Policy Formulation ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Political Class ◽  
The Public ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
The Government

Public participation aimed at improving the effectiveness of governance by involving citizens in governance policy formulation and decision-making processes. It was designed to promote transparency, accountability and effectiveness of any modern government. Although Kenya has legally adopted public participation in day-to-day government activities, challenges still cripple its effectiveness as documented by several scholars. Instead of reducing conflicts between the government and the public, it has heightened witnessing so many petitions of government missing on priorities in terms of development and government policies. Results show that participation weakly relates with governance hence frictions sustainable development. Theoretically, public participation influences governance efficiency and development, directly and indirectly, thus sustainable development policy and implementation depends on Public participation and good governance. However, an effective public participation in governance is has been fractioned by the government. Instead of being a promoter/sponsor of public participation, the government of Kenya has failed to put structures that would spur participation of citizens in policy making and other days to activities. This has brought about wrong priority setting and misappropriation of public resources; The government officials and political class interference ultimately limit public opinion and input effects on decision-making and policy formulation, which might be an inner factor determining the failure of public participation in Kenya. The study suggests the need for strengthening public participation by establishing an independent institution to preside over public participation processes.

The public image of science in the Czech and Slovak Republics

1994 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adolf Filáčcek ◽  
Eva Křižová-Frýdová
Keyword(s):  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Associate Professor ◽  
Research Community ◽  
Public Image ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
Or Education ◽  
The Public ◽  
Czechoslovak Society ◽  
High Level ◽  
The Prestige

This paper summarizes the results of a survey into the prestige of various occupations in contemporary Czechoslovak society, which was carried out in November 1990 on a representative sample of 1400 respondents in the Czech and Slovak Republics. The results show a high level of prestige of scientific (research) professions. All the five representatives of the research community finished among the top 20 professions (a total of 49 different professions were evaluated). Out of these, associate professor was third in the scale of prestige, with scientist fourth and head of a research centre tenth. The prestige of scientists did not depend statistically on the age, sex or education of respondents. From factor analysis it follows that the group of professions connected with science or research forms a relatively independent subgroup of professions assessed by respondents in a similar manner. Finally, the prestige of scientific and research professions in Czechoslovak society is much higher than scientists think it is.

scholarly journals Public Sector Transformation in the Digital Age: Obstacles and Challenges for the Government of Indonesia

2019 ◽  
pp. 75
Author(s):  
Putri Hening ◽  
Gozali Harda Kumara
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Information Dissemination ◽  
Policy Formulation ◽  
The Public ◽  
Indonesian Government ◽  
Security Issues ◽  
Digital Era ◽  
Technological Developments ◽  
The Government ◽  
High Level

The world has now entered the digital era. Rapid technological developments spur the transformation from the manual era to the digital era. A series of trends in this era are present such as high-level usage of the internet, the birth of social networks, the development of various applications, and fast amount of information dissemination. This trend has brought a series of changes to various sector including the public sector. The presence of digital tools in this era has changed the way Indonesian government in providing public services. This era has also changed the community's approach to interact with the government through online platforms. The transformation into the digital era also influences the process of drafting public policies, from the agenda settings, policy formulation, implementation, until evaluation. Privacy and data security issues are also present in this era. This paper analyzes how the digital era has transformed the public sector in Indonesia and the obstacles and challenges faced by the Indonesian government. This paper will also provide recommendations to overcome these obstacles and challenges. This research is conducted by using qualitative and quantitative method. In analyzing data, researcher do three simultaneously activities based on Miles and Huberman model.  

A Case Study of a Data Warehouse in the Finnish Police

2011 ◽  
pp. 183-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arla Juntunen
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Public Management ◽  
Added Value ◽  
Public Value ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Sector Managers ◽  
The Government ◽  
High Level

The high level objectives of public authorities are to create value at minimal cost, and achieve ongoing support and commitment from its funding authority. Similar to the private sector, today’s government agencies face a rapidly changing operating environment and many challenges. Where public organizations differ is that they need to manage this environment while answering to demands for increased service, reduced costs, fewer resources and at the same time increased efficiency and accountability. Public organization must cope with changing expectations of multiple contact groups, emerging regulation, changes in politics, decentralization of organization, and centralization of certain functions providing similar services, and growing demand for better accountability. The aim of public management is to create public value. Public sector managers create value through their organization’s performance and demonstrated accomplishments. The public value is difficult to define: it is something that exists within each community. It is created and affected by the citizens, businesses and organizations of that community (cf. also Moore, 1995). This increased interest to questions of value is partly due to the adoption of values and value-related concepts taken from business, like value creation and added value. It is argued that the public sector adopts business-like techniques to increase efficiency (Khademian, 1995; cf. Turban et al. 2007; Chen et al. 2005). In addition, there is a growing concern to the non-tangible, political, and ethical aspects of the public sector governance and actions (See Berg, 2001) Decision making that turns the resources in to public value is a daily challenge in the government (Khademian, 1999; Flynn, 2007) and not only because of the social or political factors. Most of decision problems are no longer well-structured problems that are easy to be solved by experience. Even problems that used to be fairly simple to define and solve are now much more complex because of the globalization of the economy, and rapid pace of changes in the technology and political and social environment. Therefore, modern decision makers often need to integrate quickly and reliably knowledge from different areas of data sources to use it in their decision making process. Moreover, the tools and applications developed for knowledge representations in key application areas are extremely diversified, therefore knowledge and data modeling and integration is important (See also the decision support systems (DSS) modeling methods and paradigms: Ruan et al., 2001; Carlsson & Fuller, 2002; Fink, 2002; Makowski & Wierzbicki, 2003). The application s of real-world problems and the abundance of different software tools allow to integrate several methods, specifications and analysis and to apply them to new, arising, complex problems.

scholarly journals Ebola US Patient Zero: lessons on misdiagnosis and effective use of electronic health records

Diagnosis ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 283-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
Divvy K. Upadhyay ◽  
Dean F. Sittig ◽  
Hardeep Singh
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Disease Control ◽  
Diagnostic Errors ◽  
Health Records ◽  
The Public ◽  
Diagnostic Decision ◽  
Effective Use ◽  
Diagnostic Decision Making

AbstractOn September 30th, 2014, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed the first travel-associated case of US Ebola in Dallas, TX. This case exposed two of the greatest concerns in patient safety in the US outpatient health care system: misdiagnosis and ineffective use of electronic health records (EHRs). The case received widespread media attention highlighting failures in disaster management, infectious disease control, national security, and emergency department (ED) care. In addition, an error in making a correct and timely Ebola diagnosis on initial ED presentation brought diagnostic decision-making vulnerabilities in the EHR era into the public eye. In this paper, we use this defining “teachable moment” to highlight the public health challenge of diagnostic errors and discuss the effective use of EHRs in the diagnostic process. We analyze the case to discuss several missed opportunities and outline key challenges and opportunities facing diagnostic decision-making in EHR-enabled health care. It is important to recognize the reality that EHRs suffer from major usability and inter-operability issues, but also to acknowledge that they are only tools and not a replacement for basic history-taking, examination skills, and critical thinking. While physicians and health care organizations ultimately need to own the responsibility for addressing diagnostic errors, several national-level initiatives can help, including working with software developers to improve EHR usability. Multifaceted approaches that account for both technical and non-technical factors will be needed. Ebola US Patient Zero reminds us that in certain cases, a single misdiagnosis can have widespread and costly implications for public health.

Administrative Flexibility and Knowledge in Policy Delivery

2013 ◽  
pp. 260-276
Author(s):  
Nick Letch
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Information And Communications Technologies ◽  
The Public ◽  
Communications Technologies

Information and communications technologies are emerging as important drivers of reform in the public sector. This chapter explores both enabling and constraining aspects of the role that ICTs can play in transforming the development and delivery of public policy. Two issues are explored: the reduction in flexibility of decision making that frequently accompanies ICT-based initiatives, and the critical role of knowledge embedded in networks of stakeholders in policy development and delivery. A case study, which traces the knowledge embedded in networks of relationships of actors involved in developing and implementing operational policy in an Australian public sector agency, is presented to illustrate the unintended constraints on knowledge activities. A framework for analyzing socio-technical networks involved in integrating ICTs into the cycle of public policy is presented.

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