When Should Scientists Become Public Activists? The Oxygen Depletion Crisis

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Gabriel Henderson ◽  
Roger Turner
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Oxygen Depletion ◽  
Mass Action ◽  
Public Concern ◽  
Potential Threat ◽  
The Public ◽  
Relevant Today ◽  
History Of ◽  
Earth Day

Scientists can be important public advocates in environmental issues. But scientific activism can take different forms, and deciding when and how to become an activist can be difficult for people who are trained to understand science as the objective pursuit of truth. This case study explores these issues through the history of the Oxygen Depletion Crisis. Between 1966 and 1970, it appeared that the global oxygen supply might be endangered by pesticides, industrial pollution, or the ongoing combustion of fossil fuels. The science was uncertain, but the potential threat was considerable. One response came from geophysicists Lloyd Berkner and Lauriston Marshall, who quietly initiated a research program and refrained from speaking publicly until the full scope of the crisis was better understood, in a conscious effort to avoid provoking public concern. We label this approach “public reticence.” Ecologist LaMont Cole instead made oxygen depletion a prominent talking point in his Congressional testimony and presentations across the country, so successfully stimulating the public concern that oxygen depletion became one of the multiple environmental anxieties motivating mass action on Earth Day in 1970. While the oxygen depletion crisis had a relatively clear scientific resolution, its legacy for environmental policy is interestingly complicated. This case uses historical perspective to help students to debate on scientific activism, an issue especially relevant today in light of climate change and events like the March for Science on Earth Day, 2017.

Europe's Path To Mars: The European Space Agency's Mars Express Mission

2011 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arturo Russo
Keyword(s):  
Selection Process ◽  
European Space Agency ◽  
Management Approach ◽  
Mars Exploration ◽  
Mars Express ◽  
The Public ◽  
Science Programme ◽  
Space Agency ◽  
History Of

Mars Express is the first planetary mission accomplished by the European Space Agency (ESA). Launched in early June 2003, the spacecraft entered Mars's orbit on Christmas day of that year, demonstrating the new European commitment to planetary exploration. Following a failed attempt in the mid-1980s, two valid proposals for a European mission to Mars were submitted to ESA's decision-making bodies in the early 1990s, in step with renewed international interest in Mars exploration. Both were rejected, however, in the competitive selection process for the agency's Science Programme. Eventually, the Mars Express proposal emerged during a severe budgetary crisis in the mid-1990s as an exemplar of a “flexible mission” that could reduce project costs and development time. Its successful maneuvering through financial difficulties and conflicting scientific interests was due to the new management approach as well as to the public appeal of Mars exploration. In addition to providing a case study in the functioning of the ESA's Science Programme, the story of Mars Express discussed in this paper provides a case study in the functioning of the European Space Agency's Science Programme and suggests some general considerations on the peculiar position of space research in the general field of the history of science and technology.

scholarly journals DIMENSÕES ORGANIZACIONAIS E O TRABALHO DO ADMINISTRADOR PÚBLICO: UM ESTUDO DE CASO EM UMA UNIVERSIDADE PÚBLICA

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-33
Author(s):  
Pedro Henrique de Oliveira ◽  
Ana Claudia Fernandes Terence ◽  
Marco Antonio Catussi Paschoalotto
Keyword(s):  
Continuous Improvement ◽  
Planning Process ◽  
Document Analysis ◽  
Medium Term ◽  
Science And Engineering ◽  
The Public ◽  
Relevant Today ◽  
Operational Plan

The study of the organizations and manager work is relevant today, while requiring continuous improvement and understanding. However, there are few studies on the organizational structure and the manager work in the public sector. Thus, the purpose of thispaper is to identify the role of the public administrator through administrative processes and management activities, with emphasis on the structure and strategies developed. As a methodology, the case study was adopted at the Universidade Estadual Paulista, Faculty of Science and Engineering of Tupã/SP, where the data were collected from free observation (3 months immersed), interviews and document analysis. Firsts results, there is a need for a formal and effective communication between administrative areas, which have their specific functions and are formalized in the organizational chart. Also, that the planning process is carried out from top to bottom and there is a greater participation of the executive coordination and of teachers than of technical-administrative servants and students, because of the Collegiate System Representation. It is also pointed out that, although strategic planning is formal and results in a formalized tactical and operational plan, the organization executes its activities based on short and medium-term demands, because of emerging actions that do not follow the established plan. Therefore, despite the existence of several unmapped processes, the unit administrators follow a logical and standardized flow of actions to achieve their goal.

scholarly journals Brownfield redevelopment : a case study of the Lakeview waterfront revitalization in Mississauga

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beata Palka
Keyword(s):  
Power Generation ◽  
Research Paper ◽  
Brownfield Redevelopment ◽  
The Public ◽  
History Of ◽  
Project Structure ◽  
The City

This research paper is a case study examining the development of the Vision for the Ontario Power Generation lands in Lakeview. The interests if stakeholders such as the City of Mississauga, the Lakeview residents, the Region of Peel, the Province of Ontario, Credit Valley Conservation, as well as the Toronto and Region Conservation will be discussed. The importance of the history of Lakeview, the public consulation process, the project structure, as well as the next steps will be critically talked about in detail. This purpose of this paper is t provide other municipalities with recommendations on brownfield redevelopment and thus give them a better understanding of things to consider and potential roadblocks and challenges that could arise.

In the Image of Pasteur

2020 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 633-666
Author(s):  
Aro Velmet
Keyword(s):  
Business Models ◽  
Microbial World ◽  
Shape Representations ◽  
The Public ◽  
Colonial Expansion ◽  
New Business ◽  
History Of ◽  
Lens Change ◽  
The Great War

Abstract How does an imperial lens change our view of capitalism and science in early twentieth-century France? Using the colonial expansion of the Pasteur Institutes as a case study, this article argues that French microbiologists developed both new business models and new values of masculine comportment during their time in the colonies. There the dynamic interaction between economic success and demonstration of scientific masculinity became particularly important in reshaping how Pastorians both saw the future of their institution and interpreted the meaning of its past. Against the image of the ascetic, nonprofit scientist, Pastorians in the colonies opposed an ambitious and entrepreneurial hero. After the Great War undermined the ascetic model and weakened the economic power of the metropolitan institute, colonial Pastorians were able to shape representations of the Pastorian network to the public and narrate the history of its founder as a heroic conqueror of the microbial world. Comment une optique impériale change-t-elle notre perspective sur le capitalisme et la science au début du vingtième siècle ? Prenant l'expansion coloniale des instituts Pasteur comme exemple, cet article avance que les microbiologistes français ont développé à la fois de nouveaux modèles économiques et de nouvelles valeurs du comportement masculin au cours de leur séjour dans les colonies. Ici, l'interaction dynamique entre le succès économique et la démonstration de la masculinité scientifique est devenue particulièrement importante pour remodeler à la fois la façon dont les pastoriens voyaient l'avenir de leur institution et interpretaient le sens de son passé. Contre l'image du scientifique ascétique, les pastoriens coloniaux opposaient un héros ambitieux et entreprenant. Après que la Grande Guerre a sapé le modèle ascétique et affaibli le pouvoir économique de l'Institut métropolitain, les pastoriens coloniaux ont pu façonner des représentations publiques du réseau pastorien et raconter l'histoire de son fondateur comme conquérant héroïque du monde microbien.

Contested framings: democratic conflict and the public university

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Sheldon
Keyword(s):  
British Society ◽  
British Imperialism ◽  
The Public ◽  
Policy Interventions ◽  
Public Role ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Media ◽  
Globalising World

This chapter provides a brief history of the campus politics of Palestine-Israel in Britain alongside a genealogical account of how the stakes, boundaries and grammars of these struggles have been represented in the media, policy interventions and research. Taking up Nancy Fraser’s emphasis on the injustices produced by framings of justice, I show how these public representations have made liberal, secular and nationalist assumptions so that they have been unable to account for the limits of consensus or attend to students’ complex investments in the Palestine-Israel conflict. In the process, I situate these campus struggles in relation to historically evolving relations within British society, the emergent geo-politics of the ‘War on Terror’, and the legacies of the Holocaust and British imperialism. Finally, I consider how public constructions of this as an ‘imported’, ‘ethno-religious’ conflict have failed to address the role played by the British university in shaping these dynamics. I discuss how, in a post-imperial, globalising world, universities in Britain have become conflicted in their public role, creating different challenges for institutions operating in a fragmented higher education field. I conclude by explaining my multi-sited approach in this study, describing my selection of case study institutions and introducing these field-sites.

How German Theologians Read and Edited Luther for the Public: Karl Gottlieb Bretschneider’s Luther for Our Time

2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 186-206
Author(s):  
Zachary Purvis
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Early Nineteenth Century ◽  
The Public ◽  
Critical History ◽  
Actual Use ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Creation ◽  
History Of Scholarship ◽  
Conservative Protestants

Abstract Dieser Beitrag untersucht die Entstehung und die Wirkung von Luther an unsere Zeit (1817), Karl Gottlieb Bretschneiders vielgelesenes Buch der Auszüge, als Fallstudie darüber, wie moderne wissenschaftliche Theologen und Herausgeber Luther gelesen, kommentiert und anderen Lesern vorgestellt haben: in diesem Beispiel als Rationalist. Das Buch war umstritten. Der Beitrag befasst sich auch mit zwei konkurrierenden Auswahlen von Luthers Schriften, die von den konservativeren Protestanten Friedrich Perthes und Hans Lorenz Andreas Vent sowie den ultramontanen Katholiken Nikolaus Weis und Andreas Räß als Antwort verfasst wurden. Es deutet darauf hin, dass eine stärkere Berücksichtigung solcher Zusammenstellungen und der Arbeitsmethoden der Compiler selbst – als Teil der kritischen Geschichte der Wissenschaft – sowohl unser Verständnis des tatsächlichen Einsatzes der Reformer und ihrer breiten Rezeption durch verschiedene Leser bereichern als auch neues Licht werfen wird über die Polemik des frühen neunzehnten Jahrhunderts. This article examines the creation and impact of Luther for Our Time (1817), Karl Gottlieb Bretschneider’s much-read book of excerpts, as a case study of how modern scientific theologians and editors read, annotated, and introduced Luther to other readers: in this instance as a rationalist. The book was controversial. The article also looks at two competing selections of Luther’s texts prepared in response by the more conservative Protestants Friedrich Perthes and Hans Lorenz Andreas Vent and the ultramontane Catholics Nikolaus Weis and Andreas Räß. It suggests that greater consideration of such compilations and the working methods of the compilers themselves – part of the critical history of scholarship – will both enrich our understanding of the actual use of reformers and their broad reception by various readers, as well as shed new light on the polemics of the early nineteenth century.

Boston

Urban Health ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 316-324
Author(s):  
Russ Lopez
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Public Policies ◽  
Careful Consideration ◽  
Urban Populations ◽  
History And Memory ◽  
The Public ◽  
New Development ◽  
History Of

Understanding the history of a place is essential for incorporating local concerns and values into decision-making. Most important, history is present whether we acknowledge it or not. Creating change and improving the lives and health of the public demands effective public policies. These policies must rest on the foundation of a city’s or neighborhood’s history. Channeling new development, preserving and protecting health, and meeting challenges posed by changing environmental conditions need the participation and support of thousands of people. These issues are never discussed in a vacuum, and no problems are solved without regard to history and memory. The Boston experience highlights the need for careful consideration of present conditions in order to prepare for the unknown future. This chapter discusses Boston as a case study, aiming to understand how history shapes cities and creates health in urban populations.

Not Modern-Day Body-Snatching: The Response of the Public

2002 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 66-70
Author(s):  
K. Lee ◽  
S. W. McDonald
Keyword(s):  
Medical Profession ◽  
Public Concern ◽  
The West ◽  
The Public ◽  
History Of ◽  
History Of Anatomy ◽  
Modern Form

At recent presentations on the history of anatomy in the West of Scotland, our group has been asked whether we would regard the revelations of 1999 – 2001 about organ retention as a modern form of body-snatching. We have compared newspaper reports of the Glasgow Herald from 1823 to 1832, the decade prior to the Anatomy Act of 1832, and the Herald, Sunday Herald and Evening Times from 1999 to 2001. Clearly body-snatchers appropriated whole corpses while the recent troubles concerned individual organs. Body-snatching was illegal while the crisis over organ retention arose from differing expectations between the medical profession and the public. Both practices caused huge public concern and distress to relatives. There are, however, interesting differences between the two sets of reports. The public had been aware of body-snatching for many years prior to the Anatomy Act, which regulated the supply of cadavers, whereas revelations about organ retention came as a shock. In the organ retention crisis, the parents of the children were more organised in supporting each other and in campaigning for change than were the public in the days of the resurrectionists.

scholarly journals The Rules of Medical Experimentation on People in the Light of the Polish Law and Administrative Solutions

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 32-44
Author(s):  
Justyna Kulikowska-Kulesza ◽  
Dominik Kościuk
Keyword(s):  
Point Of View ◽  
Biological Weapons ◽  
Legal Regulations ◽  
Legal Principles ◽  
The Public ◽  
Medical Experimentation ◽  
Medical Experiments ◽  
History Of ◽  
Polish Law

In the history of mankind there are known cases of conducting experiments with a goal against people. After all, there has  been eugenic research, or research leading to the creation of biological weapons. Such experiments are usually  hidden from the public and governed by the internal and classified regulations of particular states. That is why it is  important for the domestic legal orders world-wide to establish not only research methods and ways of conducting  experiments (from the point of view of medical art and effectiveness of research) but also – and perhaps even more  importantly – legal principles and rules limiting the conduct of medical experiments, and to establish rules of conduct with  the effect of saving and prolonging the life and health of the patient. This article will analyse the Polish legal  regulations and Polish doctrine in the field as a case study, describing an example of the national measures implemented  to provide control of the research and medical experiment procedures.

scholarly journals Impacts of Geographical Diversity of Ethnic Groups on Order and Security Case Study: Islamic Republic of Iran

2016 ◽  
Vol 68 ◽  
pp. 41-48
Author(s):  
Seid Mohamad Reza Mahmodpanahi ◽  
Mohamad Hasan Elahimanesh ◽  
Ali Namdar
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
Primary Source ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Islamic Republic ◽  
Ethnic Nationalism ◽  
The Public ◽  
History Of ◽  
Islamic Republic Of Iran ◽  
Using Data

Today, radicalism ethnocentrism has become a primary source of violent armed conflicts inside the country and in some parts of the world and has entailed an attrition of nation-state's power. On the other hand, ethnic nationalism in some countries has targeted national integrity and the very foundation of the society. This paper seeks to respond to the question: What impacts does this ethnic scatteredness and diversity have on the order and security of the Islamic Republic of Iran? What solutions are there for the national integrity? That which is certain is the existence of various ethnic groups in Iran which have rarely caused conflicts and engagements; from the issue of Turkmen Sahra and Azarbayjan in the early Revolution to the strikes by Kurdish people in May 2010 which are all issues that have been effective on the public order and security of Iran. Therefore, it is necessary for Iran to adopt effective steps in the direction of national integrity while relying on converging components of the Iranian ethnic groups including shared religion, shared land, and also the issue of shared security. Of course, looking upon the 37 year old history of Iran, this demonstrates that the country has made huge progress in this regard. The methodology is descriptive-analytical and by using data and information, some solutions have been offered.

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