Precaution, Prediction, Proof, and Policy Assessment

2002 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 281-296 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Dovers
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Policy Change ◽  
Policy Goals ◽  
The Status ◽  
National Competition ◽  
Policy Systems ◽  
Ecologically Sustainable ◽  
Near Future

The challenge of sustainable development—the ultimate goal of precaution—demands that we shift our focus away from individual environmental problems and toward long-term integration of environmental, social, and economic policy. It also elevates protection of ecosystem processes and biodiversity to the status of significant policy goals. In this article, the author argues for a new use of the precautionary principle, as a means to assess broad policy decisions to target indirect or systemic rather than direct threats to sustainability. He draws on a case study of two Australian policies: the National Strategy for Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD), and the National Competition Policy (NCP). While the proposals are ambitious and may not be achievable in the near future, nonetheless, it is in the nature of institutional and policy systems that it is difficult to predict when opportunities for policy change will arise. It is crucial to develop and articulate strategies now, to be promoted during brief windows of opportunity for policy change.

The Importance of Convention Status: A Case Study of the UK

2001 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alice Bloch
Keyword(s):  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Economic Rights ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Refugees And Asylum Seekers ◽  
Social And Economic Rights

Convention status accords refugees social and economic rights and security of residence in European countries of asylum. However, the trend in Europe has been to prevent asylum seekers reaching its borders, to reduce the rights of asylum seekers in countries of asylum and to use temporary protection as a means of circumventing the responsibility of long-term resettlement. This paper will provide a case study of the United Kingdom. It will examine the social and economic rights afforded to different statuses in the areas of social security, housing, employment and family reunion. It will explore the interaction of social and economic rights and security of residence on the experiences of those seeking protection. Drawing on responses to the crisis in Kosovo and on data from a survey of 180 refugees and asylum seekers in London it will show the importance of Convention status and the rights and security the status brings.

scholarly journals Perceptions of Final Beneficiaries about the Performance of Cross-sector Partnerships: A Case Study Applied to the 2008 Zaragoza International Exhibition on Water and Sustainable Development

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (14) ◽  
pp. 3860
Author(s):  
José María Agudo-Valiente ◽  
Pilar Gargallo-Valero ◽  
Manuel Salvador-Figueras
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
International Exhibition ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Increasing Demand ◽  
The City

Using the 2008 Zaragoza International Exhibition “Water and sustainable development” as a case study, this paper aims to respond to the increasing demand for measurements of the effects and the implications of the performance of cross-sector partnerships from the perspective of their intended final beneficiaries. A contingency framework for measuring the short-, medium- and long-term effects of the 2008 Zaragoza International Exhibition is developed based on a “results chain” or “logic model”. Our results highlight that there are positive long-term synergies between the two main purposes of the 2008 Zaragoza International Exhibition; first, to increase public awareness of and commitment to the problems of water and sustainable development and, second, to make the city of Zaragoza better known internationally and to modernize its infrastructures. Although respondents to our survey consider that the long-term effects on the city are greater, the main short- and medium-term effects are related to awareness of water problems, sustainable development and non-governmental organizations. These results are in tune with what has happened around the city in the last 10 years providing indirect validity both to our study and to the proposed methodology.

scholarly journals How to Make E-Commerce More Successful by Use of Kano’s Model to Assess Customer Satisfaction in Terms of Sustainable Development

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (18) ◽  
pp. 4830 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuela Ingaldi ◽  
Robert Ulewicz
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Customer Satisfaction ◽  
One Dimensional ◽  
Customer Expectations ◽  
Kano’S Model ◽  
Organic Products ◽  
Near Future ◽  
Online Shops ◽  
Potential Customers

Personalization, mobility, deliveries on the same day, and perhaps artificial intelligence—all of these elements will shape e-commerce in the near future. It is necessary to consider what features and standards online shops will have to meet in order to achieve success and to adapt to the changing preferences and requirements of the customer and their awareness of the perception of the environment through the prism of, for example, sustainable development. This means there is a need to specify a set of attributes that will influence the decision to use the services of a given e-shop. Despite all efforts, many online shops fail because they do not meet the expectations of customers. At the same time, meeting customer expectations is a big challenge for newly emerging e-shops. There are many studies on sustainable development in e-commerce, but there is no specific methodology for e-shop design, especially in the aspect of sustainable development. The authors propose a methodology based on Kano’s model and customer satisfaction to explore customers’ stated needs and unstated desires and to divided them into different groups with different impacts on customer satisfaction. In this paper, a case study on the attributes of customer satisfaction for a newly opened e-shop with organic products, which is to operate in the countries of Central Europe and takes into account selected assumptions of sustainable development, was presented. The research took the form of an original (authorial), universal survey that can be used in other similar research. A total of 1069 correctly completed surveys were taken into account for the analysis. Respondents indicated 16 must-have features for the e-shop in order to make customers benefit from its services and 11 one-dimensional features that will determine the level of customer satisfaction. Among the must-have features, there were those related to sustainable development, which indicates the environmental awareness of potential customers. The obtained results were given to the management of the research e-shop and were included during the design of its operation. After one to two years of e-shop operation, the results will be verified.

scholarly journals Cosmogenesis, Complexity, and Neo-Natural Faith in the Context of Astrobiology

Religions ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 659
Author(s):  
Kelly C. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Western World ◽  
Basic Question ◽  
Logical Space ◽  
Moral Good ◽  
The Status ◽  
Traditional Approaches ◽  
Near Future ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Potential Use

It is fair to say that religion, and in particular the ways in which some Christian and Islamic thinkers have again begun to encroach on the domain of science (e.g., global warming, the teaching of evolution), has caused a great deal of consternation within the scientific and philosophical communities. An understandable reaction to these developments is to reject out of hand even the slightest taint of religion in these fields—a position that has now attained the status of orthodoxy, at least in the western world. This is curious on its face, given the fact that religion has clearly provided a sense of meaning and purpose for most of our fellow humans as long as there have been humans pondering such things. Moreover, it is probably not necessary, provided one is very careful what sort of faith one endorses. Thus, the basic question I wish to address here, albeit in a very preliminary fashion, is whether it may be possible to delineate a form of faith that can inspire and guide humanity without the metaphysical baggage that causes conflict with epistemically conservative disciplines like science. To that end, I examine one recent thread within cosmology that views the universe as creative in the sense that it is biased towards the production of ever-increasing complexity at its edges. If that is true, it gives those so inclined permission, as it were, to view the creation of complexity (including human culture and its products) as a moral good (perhaps even an imperative) without the assumption of supernatural entities with mysterious motives and goals. After arguing that there is indeed logical space for such a faith that does not impinge on the essential commitments of either science or philosophy (properly conceived) I will examine its potential use in framing some of the emerging debates concerning space exploration. The prospect of humanity venturing beyond our homeworld in the near future offers an excellent case study of this “neo-naturalism” in action for two basic reasons. First, it seems likely that such a massive and complex undertaking needs a motivational source beyond mere discovery and expansion. Second, a neo-natural faith may influence how we go about this, and not always in ways those steeped in more traditional approaches to religion would predict.

scholarly journals A Case Study of the Impediments to the Commercialization of Research at the University of Kentucky

F1000Research ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan L. Vanderford ◽  
Elizabeth Marcinkowski
Keyword(s):  
Academic Research ◽  
Administrative Leadership ◽  
University Of Kentucky ◽  
Number Of Factors ◽  
Academic Researchers ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The University

The commercialization of university-based research occurs to varying degrees between academic institutions. Previous studies have found that multiple barriers can impede the effectiveness and efficiency by which academic research is commercialized. This case study was designed to analyze the status of the commercialization activity at the University of Kentucky via a survey and interview with a successful academic entrepreneur in order to determine the impediments the individual perceived during the commercialization process. The study also garnered insight from the individual as to how the commercialization process could be improved. Issues with infrastructure were highlighted as the most significant barrier faced by the individual. The research subject also suggested that commercialization activity may generally increase if a number of factors were mitigated. Such insight can be communicated to the administrative leadership of the commercialization process at the University of Kentucky. Long term, improving university-based research commercialization will allow academic researchers to be more active and successful entrepreneurs such that intellectual property will progress more freely to the marketplace for the benefit of inventors, universities, and society.

Education for sustainable development: an exploratory study in a Portuguese University

2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (6) ◽  
pp. 956-970 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ricardo Torres ◽  
Rui Marques Vieira ◽  
Ana V. Rodrigues ◽  
Patrícia Sá ◽  
Gillian Moreira
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Education For Sustainable Development ◽  
Educational Programme ◽  
Pedagogical Practices ◽  
Teaching Staff ◽  
Analysis Tool ◽  
Educational Approach ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Near Future

Purpose The research aims to evaluate whether this educational approach is being implemented in a Portuguese public university and looking for explicit references to education for sustainable development (ESD) in the online descriptions of course units (CU). Design/methodology/approach The research design adopted for this qualitative research follows the principles of a case study with exploratory, multiple and collective features. Findings It was possible to find direct matches with key ESD expressions in fifteen of CU. In addition, nine CU were identified in the second stage of analysis of the teacher training master programmes. Research limitations/implications One of the limitations of this study which the authors identified, and which was responsible for considerably reducing the probability of finding matches, was that only results in which the key expressions appeared in the description of the CU in exactly the same form as in the research instrument were recorded. Practical implications The need for an educational programme for teachers to be developed and implemented in the near future. Social implications A training workshop will be proposed with the main aim of supporting teaching staff in making the necessary shift in their pedagogical practices to include a ESD orientation in their CU. Originality/value The instrument eveloped that appears in Appendix - Analysis Tool with key ESD expressions.

III. Law and Environmental Governance in the EU

2002 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 996-1005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joe McMahon ◽  
Joanne Scott
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Development Strategy ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
White Paper ◽  
European Council ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Policy Guidance ◽  
Ecologically Sustainable ◽  
The Eu

In December 1999, in Helsinki, the European Council requested the Commission ‘to prepare a proposal for a long-term strategy dovetailing policies for economically, socially and ecologically sustainable development’. The Commission presented this proposal to the Gothenburg European Council in June 2001,1 resulting in the launch of the European Union's strategy for sustainable development.2 In keeping with the resolution that the annual spring European Council take on board responsibility for reviewing progress in developing and implementing the sustainable development strategy, and for offering further policy guidance to promote sustainable development, the Barcelona Presidency conclusions place emphasis upon the internal and external aspects of sustainable development, including the environmental dimension thereof.3 Looking at these documents,4 it is readily apparent that the political profile of sustainable development has been raised over the last year, with the European Council coming to play an important leadership function. Looking more closely at these, and other core documents, it is clear that the theme of environmental governance is very much to the fore, and that a number of strands emerge as crucial to European Union thinking in this respect. This short survey note will highlight a number of these strands, examining them within the framework of more general developments concerning ‘governance’ in the EU, and in particular in the light of the Commission's White Paper on governance issued in the summer of 2001.5 Four broad, and often overlapping, dimensions will be discussed in turn: integration, monitoring/evaluation, participation, and instruments for environmental protection.

Sustainable Development in Family Firms

2022 ◽  
pp. 565-582
Author(s):  
Angela Dettori ◽  
Michela Floris ◽  
Cinzia Dessì
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Natural Environments ◽  
Term Survival ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Firm Success ◽  
Sustainability Challenges

This chapter outlines the relevance of sustainable development as a key for family firm success and its ability to guarantee long-term survival and spread positive effects in social, economic, and natural environments. By particularly analyzing a single case study of a Sardinian family business, this work explores the intertwined relationships among sustainability, owner innovativeness, and firm success. Moreover, the importance of family businesses and the scarcity of the study conducted to date have suggested a focus on how these companies tackle sustainability challenges.

scholarly journals The Impact of Physiotherapy in the Water Assisted by Dolphins for Motor Skills of Patient after Haemorrhagic Stroke (Case Analysis)

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (20) ◽  
Author(s):  
Evelina Rimkutė ◽  
Eglė Radzevičienė ◽  
Brigita Kreivinienė
Keyword(s):  
Muscle Strength ◽  
Motor Skills ◽  
Haemorrhagic Stroke ◽  
The Status ◽  
Animal Interaction ◽  
Therapeutic Activities ◽  
The Impact

Background. Stroke is one of the leading causes of morbidity, mortality and long-term disability worldwide. In terms of innovative technologies which help to recover from stroke one of the newest and least researched methods is physiotherapy in the water assisted by dolphins. Such an innovative case study was conducted in Lithuania. A great variety of scientifc literature on animal assisted therapies and interventions can be found worldwide, however, concerning research on human-animal interaction mechanisms a scientifc gap is still existing as presented in various journals of different felds (Beetz et al., 2012). The aim of the study was to determine the effectiveness of healing exercises in the water assisted by dolphins for motor skills of patients with haemorrhagic stroke. Methods. The study was carried out at the Dolphin Therapy Centre of the Lithuanian Sea Museum. The study lasted two weeks. The sample was a man diagnosed with a haemorrhagic stroke. The research data was collected on motor skills in the water, leg muscle strength, coordination, balance and gait. The patient participated in ten therapeutic activities in the water, assisted by dolphins (length of one activity – 30 minutes). The physiotherapist working with the patient applied balance and coordination exercises in the water. The status of the patient was evaluated four times: before activities with dolphins, after fve activities with dolphins, after ten activities with dolphins, and follow up in three weeks after ending the activities with dolphins. Results. The muscle strength of legs increased signifcantly in the foot group and slightly in the lower limb muscle group. The greatest result in balance was registered after ten therapeutic activities with dolphins in the water. The greatest improvement in coordination and walking occurred later. Assessing motor skills in the water, a signifcant positive change in equilibrium was observed. Conclusions. The results of the study showed that physiotherapy exercises in the water assisted by dolphins might help to achieve improvements in motor skills.Keywords: haemorrhagic stroke, motor skills in the water, balance, gait, therapeutic activities for assisting dolphins, physiotherapy in water.

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