scholarly journals Building Capacity for Action-Oriented Research in Arizona’s Helium Extraction Boom

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 33-55
Author(s):  
Kirk Jalbert ◽  
Katherine Ball ◽  
Noa Bruhis ◽  
Sakshi Hegde ◽  
Lisa Test

Northeast Arizona’s Holbrook Basin is an epicenter in the rush to secure new helium deposits in the U.S. While the helium boom has revealed unease amongst residents, significant knowledge and procedural gaps have prevented the public from making sense of the industry and its potential impacts. These gaps are produced by the opacity of critical minerals extraction, long-term regulatory neglect, and lack of commitments to public participation in environmental governance. However, we suggest that engaged STS scholarship can meaningfully assist at-risk communities in navigating these complexities. This is illustrated in a series of workshops developed by STS researchers and residents for the purpose of building local capacity for independent research and knowledge production. We detail the mutual affordances of these workshops and offer a potentially replicable framework: The Capabilities Model for Social Learning in Engaged STS. We conclude by arguing that this model is a useful lens for examining how STS critical thinking can be leveraged in collaborative research to pursue long-term social change.

Author(s):  
Ana Hofman

This chapter explores ethnomusicology as knowledge-production labor in contexts of neoliberal institutions. By discussing some important (and often silenced) aspects of knowledge production, it aims to demonstrate how the transformation of material conditions of academic labor, commodification, and precarization radically reconfigure a praxis of collaborative research. The chapter strives to demonstrate how the claims for alternative knowledge production cannot be made without addressing the structural mechanisms behind neoliberalization of academia, by addressing the following questions: How do current transformations of labor and material conditions for scholars reshape the public-oriented scholarship and the praxis of “applied ethnomusicology”? How can we discuss a more diverse, critical, and impactful future for ethnomusicology in the sense of the “self-transformation” and “self-emancipation” of the discipline as institutional practice and academic labor?


Water Policy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qi Ni ◽  
Yu Cai ◽  
Tao Xu ◽  
Minjuan Zhao

Abstract Clarifying the impact of psychological ownership on public participation in transboundary eco-compensation will contribute to compensation transforming from the current government-led economic incentive mode to the normative guidance of effective public participation, which is of great significance to transboundary management of water resources. From the perspective of social psychology, this paper uses a double hurdle model, empirically analyzes the impact of psychological ownership on public participation, and explores the internal laws and driving mechanisms of behavior. Results show the willingness to participate mainly depends on the public's judgment of self-ability and their own responsibility and values, while the degree of participation depends on the judgment and grasp of self-governance ability. The more they agree protecting the environment is the responsibility and obligation of citizens, the lower their willingness to pay. China's long-term ‘government-led environmental governance’ mode has led to the formation of a serious government dependence psychology among the public.


2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 168
Author(s):  
Md Mostafizur Rahman ◽  
Mahmud Uz Zaman

Pharmaceuticals agglomerations consistently use their brand image and versatile product portfolios to consolidate their position in the financial sector, which is evident in their continuous profit making and expansion in market share. This paper explores the short-term and long-term investment attractiveness through ‘consumer centric decision’ approach in two selected pharmaceutical companies, Renata Limited and Orion Pharma Limited, of Bangladesh over the last three years’ period. This research adopts a systematic approach which primarily addresses the various concerns of investors to illustrate the decision-making process of the existing and future investors. Using primarily domestic transaction data, this study explores how the leading pharmaceuticals companies of Bangladesh effectively use the wide array of drug portfolios mix with appropriate branding techniques to increase their financial profit and market share simultaneously. Both SWOT analysis and Porters Five Forces Model explore the business analysis of Renata Limited in compare to Orion Pharma Limited that provides a conclusion regarding investors’ decision to invest in Renata Limited. Considering the financial analysis, Renata’s financial liquidity is not very satisfactory and could have been improved further if management is prudent on financial strategy settings. Findings of the business analysis indicate that Renata Limited would be a good investment choice for existing and prospective shareholders based on its opportunities for long term and short term growth and further expansion in developing the market. The results suggest that even lower liquidity coupled with higher interest borrowings can be balanced by posing positive picture to the public shareholders by returning the positive dividend to them.


Author(s):  
Susobhan Goswami

In the last decade or so, strategic alliances and partnerships among pharmaceutical and biotech companies have doubled to around 700 per year per sector, although most of this increase came in the early years. Even though all big pharma companies have a good selling and marketing capacity, many alliances are created to optimise the commercialization of products, for example, through targeting different segments, marketing with synergistic products or in particular territories where a firm is stronger than the originator. Various forms of strategic partnerships such as collaborative research, contract research, co-production agreements, co-marketing arrangements, cross-distribution arrangements, and technology licensing are being utilized for capacity additions, brand acquisitions, marketing channel integration, and R&D integration, depending upon the focus of a firm. Indian firms are forking out contracts, alliances, and are entering into outsourcing deals where they lack strategic capabilities. But a few firms are looking to build long term capabilities and entering into Research and Development alliances.


Author(s):  
Inmaculada de Melo-Martín ◽  
Kristen Intemann

This chapter considers another factor that plays a role in eroding the public’s trust in science: concerns about the negative influence of nonepistemic values in science, particularly in controversial areas of inquiry with important effects on public policy. It shows that the credibility of scientists can be undermined when the public perceives that scientists have a political agenda or will be biased by their own personal or political values. However, to assume that the best way to address this problem is try to eliminate such values from science altogether would be a mistake. Ethical and social values are necessary and important to knowledge production. Consequently, the chapter explores alternative strategies to increase transparency and stakeholder involvement so as to address legitimate concerns about bias and sustain warranted trust in scientific communities.


This volume centres on a clock, known as Clock B, built in the mid-1970s that achieved considerable acclaim after an extraordinary performance in a 2015 peer-reviewed public trial at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. The clock was built according to an understanding of John Harrison’s unique theoretical approach to making precision pendulum clocks, which defies the standard approaches to making accurate clocks. The clock represents the culmination of over forty years of collaborative research into Harrison’s writing on the subject, which is scattered across a number of manuscripts and a book, printed shortly before his death. Ostensibly, Harrison set out to describe how to make his precision pendulum clock, but it is a mixture of his peripheral interests. Horological information is almost completely lost among vitriolic sentiments relating to his experiences with the Board of Longitude. However, as one reviewer surmised: ‘we are sorry to say that the public will be disappointed’ and another concluded that ‘it can only be excused by superannuated dotage’. The chapters provides contextual history and documentation of the analysis and decoding of the cryptic written descriptions. It presents this in parallel to the modern horological story of making, finishing, and adjusting Clock B; the process of testing, using electronic equipment to monitor the its performance and reaction to changes in environmental conditions, and, indeed, the mechanics behind the various compensating features of the design.


Author(s):  
Liesel Mack Filgueiras ◽  
Andreia Rabetim ◽  
Isabel Aché Pillar

Reflection about the role of community engagement and corporate social investment in Brazil, associated with the presence of a large economic enterprise, is the major stimulus of this chapter. It seeks to present how cross-sector governance can contribute to the social development of a city and how this process can be led by a partnership comprising a corporate foundation, government, and civil society. The concept of the public–private social partnership (PPSP) is explored: a strategy for building a series of inter-sectoral alliances aimed at promoting the sustainable development of territories where the company has large-scale enterprises, through joint efforts towards integrated long-term strategic planning, around a common agenda. To this end, the case of Canaã dos Carajás is introduced, a municipality in the State of Pará, in the Amazon region, where large-scale mining investment is being carried out by the mining company Vale SA.


2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anders Kärnä

AbstractIncomplete capital markets and credit constraints for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are often considered obstacles to economic growth, thus motivating government interventions in capital markets. While such policies are common, it is less clear to what extent these interventions result in firm growth or to which firms interventions should be targeted. Using a unique dataset with information about state bank loans targeting credit-constrained SMEs in Sweden with and without complementary private bank loans, this paper contributes to the literature by studying how these loans affect the targeted firms for several outcome variables. The results suggest that the loans create a one-off increase in investments, with long-term, positive effects for sales and labor productivity but only for firms with 10 or fewer employees. Increased access to capital by firms can therefore produce increases in economic output but only in a specific type of firm. This insight is of key importance in designing policy if the aim is to increase economic growth.


Diversity ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 339
Author(s):  
Louise I. Lynch-O’Brien ◽  
Wayne A. Babchuk ◽  
Jenny M. Dauer ◽  
Tiffany Heng-Moss ◽  
Doug Golick

Citizen science is known for increasing the geographic, spatial, and temporal scale from which scientists can gather data. It is championed for its potential to provide experiential learning opportunities to the public. Documentation of educational outcomes and benefits for citizen scientists continues to grow. This study proposes an added benefit of these collaborations: the transference of program impacts to individuals outside of the program. The experiences of fifteen citizen scientists in entomology citizen science programs were analyzed using a constructivist grounded theory methodology. We propose the substantive-level theory of transference to describe the social process by which the educational and attitudinal impacts intended by program leaders for the program participants are filtered by citizen scientists and transferred to others. This process involves individual and external phases, each with associated actions. Transference occurred in participants who had maintained a long-term interest in nature, joined a citizen science program, shared science knowledge and experiences, acquired an expert role to others, and influenced change in others. Transference has implications for how citizen scientists are perceived by professional communities, understanding of the broader impacts and contributions of citizen science to wicked problems, program evaluation, and the design of these programs as informal science education opportunities.


2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefano Ruzza ◽  
Giuseppe Gabusi ◽  
Davide Pellegrino

AbstractStarting from the imperfect nature of Myanmar's democracy, this paper aims to answer two questions. First, can Myanmar's transition be defined as a case of democratization, or is it, rather, a case of authoritarian resilience? To state this differently: is the progress enjoyed by Myanmar's polity the outcome of an ongoing process that is supposed to lead to a fully fledged democracy, or, rather, an attempt to enshrine elements of authoritarian governance under a democratic guise? Second, if the balance leans towards the latter instead of the former, how did authoritarian resilience work in Myanmar? The transition is analysed from a long-term perspective, moving from the 1988 pro-democracy uprising up to the most recent events. Data were collected from available published sources and from three fieldworks conducted by the authors in Myanmar. The paper concludes that Myanmar's transition is better understood as a case of authoritarian resilience than as democratization and highlights three core traits of Myanmar's authoritarian resilience: first, the very top-down nature of the political transformation; second, the incumbents’ ability to set the pace of political reform through the use of repression and political engineering; and third, the divide-and-rule strategy used as a means to keep contestations separated and local.


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