scholarly journals A quick guide to effective grassroots advocacy for scientists

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (16) ◽  
pp. 2155-2158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kellyann N. Jones-Jamtgaard ◽  
Connie M. Lee
Keyword(s):  
Federal Government ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Local Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Scientific Data ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Political Climate ◽  
Scientific Training ◽  
Science Funding ◽  
Grassroots Advocacy

The current political climate in the United States has mobilized scientists to become more cognizant of the need to advocate for sustainable science funding from the federal government and for acceptance of evidence-based policy making that relies on the best available scientific data. Many scientists, however, do not learn about science policy or how to advocate in Washington, D.C., or at the local level as part of their scientific training. Here we explain why science advocacy is important and provide steps on how to get involved by communicating with elected officials and engaging in the local community.

Lack of Hospital Preparedness for Chemical Terrorism in a Major US City: 1996–2000

2003 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 193-199 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark E. Keim ◽  
Nicki Pesik ◽  
Nana A.Y. Twum-Danso
Keyword(s):  
Federal Government ◽  
Local Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Weapons Of Mass Destruction ◽  
Mass Casualties ◽  
Toxic Chemical ◽  
Mass Destruction ◽  
Hazardous Material ◽  
Chemical Agents ◽  
Hospital Preparedness

AbstractIntroduction:The [US] Nunn-Lugar-Domenici Defense Against Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) Act (the WMD Act of 1996) heralded a new wave of spending by the federal government on counter-terrorism efforts. Between 1996 and 2000, the United States of America (US) federal government allocated large sums of funding to the States for bioterrorism preparedness. Distribution of these funds between institutions involved in first-responder care (e.g., fire and safety departments) and hospitals was uneven. It is unknown whether these additional funds had an impact on the level of hospital preparedness for managing mass casualties involving hazardous materials at the local level, including potential terrorist attacks with chemical agents.Objectives:(1) To compare 1996 and 2000 measures of preparedness among hospitals of a major US metropolitan area for dealing with hazardous material casualties, including terrorism that involved the use of weapons of mass destruction; and (2) To provide guidance for the improvement of emergency preparedness and response in US hospitals.Methods:In July 1996 and again in July 2000, 21 hospitals in one major US city were surveyed by questionnaire. A survey was used to assess the amounts of antidote stocks held available for treatment of casualties caused by toxic chemical agents and institutional response capabilities including the number of showers for decontaminating patients, the level of worker protection, and the number of staff trained to decontaminate patients.Results:Hospital preparedness for treating and decontaminating patients exposed to toxic chemical agents was inadequate in 1996 and in 2000. From 1996 to 2000, there was no statistically significant change in the lack of hospital preparedness for stocking of nerve agent and cyanide antidotes. Capacity for decontamination of patients, which included appropriate hazardous material infrastructure and trained staff, generally was unimproved from 1996 to 2000 with the exception of an increase of nearly 30% in hospitals with at least one decontamination shower facility.Conclusion:Hospitals surveyed in this study were poorly prepared to manage chemical emergency incidents, including terrorism. This lack of hospital preparedness did not change significantly between 1996 and 2000 despite increased funds allocated to bioterrorism preparedness at the local level.

PUBLIC HEALTH ASPECTS OF PROBLEMS OF CURRENT INTEREST IN NEONATAL PEDIATRICS

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1953 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 489-501
Author(s):  
LEONA BAUMGARTNER
Keyword(s):  
Professional Education ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Large Population ◽  
Previous History ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mortality Rates ◽  
Community Action ◽  
Human Reproduction ◽  
Standards Of Care

The salient facts regarding fetal, neonatal and infant mortality in the United States are presented, using the most recent national figures available, or those from other large population groups. A plea is made for the use of perinatal mortality rates in order to obtain a better picture of the success of current programs designed to reduce infant loss. Six areas for future attack are suggested: 1. Development of several research institutes to study the problems of human reproduction from a multidiscipline approach. 2. An organized program to raise standards of care in all lying-in hospitals with particular emphasis on activities which can be carried on by nurses and doctors at the local level. 3. Further experimentation with and development of ways to supply better service or pay for medical care for certain groups. More attention could be paid to regional plans whereby services of large medical centers are brought to smaller, less well cared for areas; to hospitalizing women with previous history of or current complications of pregnancy, including labor; to providing expert pediatric and obstetric consultation more freely, to supplementing the prenatal diet, et cetera. 4. Acceleration of activities which bring about closer cooperation between obstetric and pediatric services with full cooperation of general practitioners, nurses, nutritionists and all those involved in the care of mother and baby. More local studies of neonatal deaths with the studies used as the basis for community action and professional education. 5. Development of better prenatal service for all mothers in the local community. 6. Continued experimentation with methods of solving the many social problems created by the low economic and social status of those families which contribute so heavily to fetal and neonatal mortality rates today.

The Effect of Casinos on Local Labor Markets: A County Level Analysis

2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 17-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chad Cotti
Keyword(s):  
Local Community ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Empirical Work ◽  
The United States ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Industrial Sectors ◽  
County Population ◽  
Population Sizes ◽  
Scott Adams ◽  
Changes Over Time

The economic outcomes surrounding the dramatic spread of “Las Vegas” style casinos in the United States has become a point of great interest and inquiry both politically and academically. Prior research has tended to focus on regional studies and provided uniform conclusions regardless of differences in the nature of the community. Moreover, much of the previous empirical work fails to account for local level trends during estimation. By using a comprehensive data set on employment and earnings from across the US, and by including county-specific trends, this research hopes to alleviate these earlier concerns, as well as help reconcile differences in the early literature surrounding casino effects on related industrial sectors. Basic findings suggest that counties experience an increase in employment after a casino opens, but there seems to be no measurable effect on average earnings. More detailed analysis reveals that the effect on industries related to casinos is somewhat mixed, but in general mildly positive, as casinos provide a positive employment and earnings spillovers into the surrounding local community. Intertemporal estimation suggests that the casino effect changes over time, but also finds that time effects vary across sectors. Estimates of how overall effects vary across different population sizes find that employment growth is inversely related to county population. Finally, additional estimation finds little impact on employment levels in neighboring counties, although there are some small effects in certain industries.I would like to thank Scott Adams, Scott Drewianka, John Heywood, James Peoples, McKinley Blackburn, Keith Bender, Don Siegel, Gary Anders, Doug Walker, and Mike Wentz for their helpful suggestions.  I would also thank David Mustard and Earl Grinols for their help with the data.  Dain Johnson provided valuable research assistance.

Are we better off? Emergency management policy implementation since September 11

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (6) ◽  
pp. 439-453
Author(s):  
Sean Hildebrand, PhD
Keyword(s):  
Policy Implementation ◽  
Emergency Management ◽  
Federal Government ◽  
Federal Policy ◽  
Local Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
September 11 ◽  
Management Policy ◽  
Federal State ◽  
Incident Management

As public policy continues its evolution, so do theories about policy implementation. One policy field that changed during the twenty-first century is emergency management and homeland security in the United States. Since the September 11 attacks, the federal government attempted to centralize the way government agencies at the federal, state, and local level prepare for and respond to natural, accidental, and terror-related disasters. However, research in the field is split about the effectiveness of this effort during the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations. While some feel federal actions taken to prepare for and respond to incidents of natural, accidental, or purposeful intent have been fruitful in preparing the nation for catastrophic events, others say it detracts from the core mission of emergency management. This study considers if the policy changes that occurred during those administrations created a disparity between the policy expectations of the federal government and the actions of local officials in emergency management. The findings show that local emergency management professionals generally reported the implementation of federal policy expectations, and that the odds of doing so increase where respondents report greater “clarity” in the federal policy language. However, differences exist in terms of how local managers view the requirements of the National Incident Management System (NIMS) versus other federal policy demands. This signals that experienced actors may nominally comply with federal policy demands by downplaying those requirements seen as useless in favor of functions that meet jurisdictional needs.

From a Nation of Farmers to a Nation of Homeowners

2019 ◽  
pp. 88-106
Author(s):  
Sarah L. Quinn
Keyword(s):  
Federal Government ◽  
Local Community ◽  
National Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Government Support ◽  
World War ◽  
Mortgage Credit ◽  
The First World War ◽  
Working Together ◽  
First World

This chapter demonstrates how, as the United States transitioned from an agricultural to an industrial nation, mortgage lenders promoted homeownership as the new measure of independence, success, and virtue. This vision was built into the deep logic of their lending structures, which brought into being a small local community of equals working together to lift themselves up. Lending cooperatives developed in the nation's towns and cities over much of the nineteenth century. On the national level, direct federal government support for urban mortgage credit was delayed until the First World War, when a set of housing crises led to national experiments in the building and financing of urban homes. These programs were temporary, but they helped change how many Americans thought about housing policy, introducing the idea that such policy was an integral part of economic growth and a potentially appropriate site of federal involvement, especially when organized through partnerships and credit support.

Assessing the post-occupancy performance of educational design/build: the thinking while doing initiative

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Verderber
Keyword(s):  
Design Research ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Behavioral Assessment ◽  
The United States ◽  
Community Context ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Educational Design ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Design Build

PurposeEducational design/build (e-d/b) curricula in university-level professional schools of architecture have flourished in recent years, internationally, as new programs are launched and the volume of built work increases dramatically. This growing body of built work, however, has typically not been subjected to rigorous behavioral assessment from the standpoint of what is actually built, as experienced through the eyes of user-recipients in the everyday milieu. The lack of rigor in this aspect of assessing the efficacy of what gets built continues to hinder evidence-based academic scholarship on this subject.Design/methodology/approachAn interdisciplinary research initiative titled Thinking While Doing, spanning the years 2013–2019, centered on exploring the inner profundities of e-d/b. As part of a multifaceted project involving seven universities in Canada and the United States, behaviorally focused post-occupancy assessments were conducted of three open-air pavilion structures from the viewpoint of 161 respondents' impressions, degree of satisfaction and everyday uses.FindingsFunctionality, community context, materiality and aesthetic factors were among the set of variables analyzed. Among the results, the three open air pavilions were viewed as tectonically sound and aesthetically iconic and were considered to be valued additions to their immediate physical contexts and local community.Research limitations/implicationsStudy limitations and directions for future research are discussed.Practical implicationsStudent learning objectives in relation to the design intent of the built structures are highlighted.Social implicationsThis evidence-based design research empowers stakeholders seeking campus-community partnership opportunities.Originality/valueThis is the first comparative, behaviorally focused appraisal of its type from the perspective of everyday user-recipients in the realm of e-d/b.

The Speech-Language Assessment of English Language Learning Students: A Non-Standardized Approach

2013 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 95-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Kraemer ◽  
Allison Coltisor ◽  
Meesha Kalra ◽  
Megan Martinez ◽  
Bailey Savage ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Assessment ◽  
The United States ◽  
English Language Learning ◽  
Assessment Practices ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
English Speaking

English language learning (ELL) children suspected of having specific-language impairment (SLI) should be assessed using the same methods as monolingual English-speaking children born and raised in the United States. In an effort to reduce over- and under-identification of ELL children as SLI, speech-language pathologists (SLP) must employ nonbiased assessment practices. This article presents several evidence-based, nonstandarized assessment practices SLPs can implement in place of standardized tools. As the number of ELL children SLPs come in contact with increases, the need for well-trained and knowledgeable SLPs grows. The goal of the authors is to present several well-establish, evidence-based assessment methods for assessing ELL children suspected of SLI.

440: Barriers to the Practice of Evidence Based Urology in the United States

2007 ◽  
Vol 177 (4S) ◽  
pp. 147-148
Author(s):  
Philipp Dahm ◽  
Hubert R. Kuebler ◽  
Susan F. Fesperman ◽  
Roger L. Sur ◽  
Charles D. Scales ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Evidence Based

Refining Evidence-Based Treatments for Late-Life Depression

GeroPsych ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 67-76
Author(s):  
Grace C. Niu ◽  
Patricia A. Arean
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Brain Plasticity ◽  
Late Life ◽  
Aging Population ◽  
The United States ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Late Life Depression ◽  
Evidence Based Treatments

The recent increase in the aging population, specifically in the United States, has raised concerns regarding treatment for mental illness among older adults. Late-life depression (LLD) is a complex condition that has become widespread among the aging population. Despite the availability of behavioral interventions and psychotherapies, few depressed older adults actually receive treatment. In this paper we review the research on refining treatments for LLD. We first identify evidence-based treatments (EBTs) for LLD and the problems associated with efficacy and dissemination, then review approaches to conceptualizing mental illness, specifically concepts related to brain plasticity and the Research Domain Criteria (RDoc). Finally, we introduce ENGAGE as a streamlined treatment for LLD and discuss implications for future research.

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