scholarly journals Sciences education for connecting science, technology and the society

2009 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 461-476
Author(s):  
Jasminka Korolija ◽  
Jelena Stanisic

Connecting science, technology and the society is one of the important principles of contemporary education. The foundation of this principle is the idea that scientific and technological achievements should be useful and applicable in everyday life of an individual. The paper presents the main determinants of the STS project (Science, Technology and Society Project) which deals with studying the influence of scientific research and technological development on social, political and cultural values. The basic goal of education within the STS Project is to enable the students to understand and learn to incorporate the achievements of scientific and technological development in their own cultural, ecological, economic, political and social contexts. In addition to this, the paper presents the role of sciences in connecting science, technology and the society and describes the possibilities of incorporating a similar project in chemistry instruction in our school. Pilot study which was conducted refers to the proposal for applying the principles on which the STS project is based in chemistry instruction in our country. This pilot study can present the basis for future research and the guideline that can be used for promoting the process of education in primary and secondary school.

Crisis ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hui Chen ◽  
Brian L. Mishara ◽  
Xiao Xian Liu

Background: In China, where follow-up with hospitalized attempters is generally lacking, there is a great need for inexpensive and effective means of maintaining contact and decreasing recidivism. Aims: Our objective was to test whether mobile telephone message contacts after discharge would be feasible and acceptable to suicide attempters in China. Methods: Fifteen participants were recruited from suicide attempters seen in the Emergency Department in Wuhan, China, to participate in a pilot study to receive mobile telephone messages after discharge. All participants have access to a mobile telephone, and there is no charge for the user to receive text messages. Results: Most participants (12) considered the text message contacts an acceptable and useful form of help and would like to continue to receive them for a longer period of time. Conclusions: This suggests that, as a low-cost and quick method of intervention in areas where more intensive follow-up is not practical or available, telephone messages contacts are accessible, feasible, and acceptable to suicide attempters. We hope that this will inspire future research on regular and long-term message interventions to prevent recidivism in suicide attempters.


Crisis ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 55-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Hansen-Schwartz ◽  
G. Jessen ◽  
K. Andersen ◽  
H.O. Jørgensen

Summary: This pilot study looks at the frequency of suicide among Danish soldiers who took part in the UN mandated forces (UNMF) during the 1990's. In a contingent of nearly 4000 Danish UN soldiers four suicides were documented, two of whom committed suicide less than one month before deployment and two who committed suicide within a year after discharge from mission. Contributing factors, prevention strategies, and implications for future research are discussed.


2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silke Astrid Eisenbeiß ◽  
Steffen R. Giessner

The present paper gives a review of empirical research on ethical leadership and shows that still little is known known about the contextual antecedents of ethical leadership. To address this important issue, a conceptual framework is developed that analyzes the embeddedness of organizational ethical leadership. This framework identifies manifest and latent contextual factors on three different levels of analysis – society, industry, and organization – which can affect the development and maintenance of ethical leadership. In particular, propositions are offered about how (1) societal characteristics, notably the implementation and the spirit of human rights in a society and societal cultural values of responsibility, justice, humanity, and transparency; (2) industry characteristics such as environmental complexity, the content of the organizational mandate, and the interests of stakeholder networks; and (3) intra-organizational characteristics, including the organizational ethical infrastructure and the ethical leadership behavior of a leader’s peer group, influence the development and maintenance of ethical leadership in organizations. This list of factors is not exhaustive, but illustrates how the three levels may impact ethical leadership. Implications for managerial practice and future research are discussed.


2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-190
Author(s):  
Fethiye Tilbe

Bu makale, göçmen dövizi  akımlarında “düzensizlik” olarak ifade ettiğimiz, Türkiye’ye resmi kanallar dışında gönderilen enformel  göçmen dövizlerini, Birleşik Krallık’ta (özellikle Londra’da) yaşayan Türkiye kökenli göçmenler açısından incelemektedir. Her göçmen grubu, gerek ev sahibi ülkedeki düzenleyici çerçeve ve sosyo-ekonomik koşullar, gerek göçmen topluluğunun sosyo-kültürel değerleri tarafından belirlenen biçimde, farklı göçmen dövizi transfer biçimlerine eğilim sergilemektedir. Dolayısıyla farklı ülkelerdeki aynı kökenden göçmen toplulukları, ev sahibi ülkedeki dinamikler nedeniyle göçmen dövizlerinin formel ya da enformel (düzenli ya da düzensiz) gönderiminde farklılaşabilirken, aynı ülkedeki farklı ülke kökenli göçmen grupları da pek çok örüntünün etkisiyle farklı eğilim gösterebilmektedir. Nitel araştırma tasarımı kapsamında 27 göçmen ve 7 anahtar statüdeki katılımcıyla gerçekleştirilen yüz yüze görüşmelere dayalı olan bu çalışma, Birleşik Krallık’tan Türkiye’ye göçmen dövizi gönderimindeki düzensizlik olgusunu, her iki ülkenin sosyal, ekonomik ve kültürel dinamikleriyle ilişkilendirerek incelemeyi ve nedenlerini ortaya çıkarmayı amaç edinmektedir. Elde edilen sonuçlar, göçmenlik statüsü, gönderilen para miktar ve sıklığı ile geleneksel ilişki ağlarına olan güvenin yanında, Birleşik Krallık’taki sosyal yardım ve çalışma biçimine ilişkinin düzenleyici çerçevenin ve göçmenlerin sosyo-ekonomik durumlarının Türkiye’ye enformel göçmen dövizi gönderiminde temel belirleyici olduğunu ortaya koymaktadır.ABSTRACT IN ENGLISHA Qualitative Examination of Determinants of Remittances Sending Behaviour Among Immigrants from Turkey in the UKThis article examines the causes of irregularity in remittances flows from the United Kingdom (UK) to Turkey, from the perspective of migrants from Turkey living in the UK. Each group of migrants prefers different types of remittance sending methods, as determined by the regulatory framework and socio-economic conditions in the host country and the socio-cultural values of the migrant community. Therefore, migrant communities of the same origin in different countries may differ in using formal or informal sending methods of remittances due to the dynamics in the host country. Similarly, migrant groups of different nationalities in the same country may show different tendencies due to the influence of many patterns. Similarly, migrant groups of different nationalities in the same country may show different tendencies due to the influence of many patterns. This study aims to examine the phenomenon of irregularities in sending remittances by associating with the social, economic and cultural dynamics of both countries. For this purpose, face-to-face in-depth interviews were conducted with 27 immigrants and 7 key status participants by using qualitative research method. The obtained results reveal that the regulatory framework relating to social assistance and labour market in the UK, immigration status, the frequency and the amount of money sent and confidence in traditional relationship networks is the main determinants of informal money transfers to Turkey.


Author(s):  
Pankaj Musyuni ◽  
Geeta Aggarwal ◽  
Manju Nagpal ◽  
Ramesh K. Goyal

Background: Protecting intellectual property rights are important and particularly pertinent for inventions which are an outcome of rigorous research and development. While the grant of patents is subject to establishing novelty and inventive step, it further indicates the technological development and helpful for researchers working in the same technical domain. The aim of the present research work is to map the existing work through analysis of patent literature, in the field of Coronaviruses (CoV), particularly COVID-19 (2019-nCoV). CoV is a large family of viruses known to cause illness in human and animals, particularly known for causing respiratory infections as evidenced in earlier times such as in MERS i.e. Middle East Respiratory Syndrome; SRS i.e. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. A recently identified novel-coronavirus has known as COVID-19 which has currently caused pandemic situation across the globe. Objective: To expand analysis of patents related to CoV and 2019-nCoV. Evaluation has been conducted by patenting trends of particular strains of identified CoV diseases by present legal status, main concerned countries via earliest priority years and its assignee types and inventors of identified relevant patents. We analyzed the global patent documents to check the scope of claims along with focuses and trends of the published patent documents for the entire CoV family including 2019- nCoV through the present landscape. Methods: To extract the results, Derwent Innovation database is used by a combination of different key-strings. Approximately 3800 patents were obtained and further scrutinized and analyzed. The present write-up also discusses the recent progress of patent applications in a period of the year 2010 to 2020 (present) along with the recent developments in India for the treatment options for CoV and 2019-nCoV. Results: Present analysis showed that key areas of the inventions have been focused on vaccines and diagnostic kits apart from the composition for treatment of CoV. We also observed that no specific vaccine treatments is available for treatment of 2019-nCov, however, developing novel chemical or biological drugs and kits for early diagnosis, prevention and disease management is the primarily governing topic among the patented inventions. The present study also indicates potential research opportunities for the future, particularly to combat 2019-nCoV. Conclusion: The present paper analyzes the existing patents in the field of Coronaviruses and 2019-nCoV and suggests a way forward for the effective contribution in this upcoming research area. From the trend analysis, it was observed an increase in filing of the overall trend of patent families for a period of 2010 to the current year. This multifaceted analysis of identified patent literature provides an understanding of the focuses on present ongoing research and grey area in terms of the trends of technological innovations in disease management in patients with CoV and 2019-nCoV. Further, the findings and outcome of the present study offer insights for the proposed research and innovation opportunities and provide actionable information in order to facilitate policymakers, academia, research driven institutes and also investors to make better decisions regarding programmed steps for research and development for the diagnosis, treatment and taking preventive measures for CoV and 2019-nCoV. The present article also emphasizes on the need for future development and the role of academia and collaboration with industry for speedy research with a rationale.


Author(s):  
Veruscka Leso ◽  
Luca Fontana ◽  
Angela Caturano ◽  
Ilaria Vetrani ◽  
Mauro Fedele ◽  
...  

Particular working conditions and/or organization of working time may cause important sleep disturbances that have been proposed to be predictive of cognitive decline. In this regard, circadian rhythm misalignment induced by exposure to night work or long working hours would be responsible for cognitive impairment. Nevertheless, evidence supporting this correlation is limited and several issues still need to be elucidated. In this regard, we conducted a systematic review to evaluate the association between shift/night work and cognitive impairment and address its main determinants. Information provided by the reviewed studies suggested that night work might have serious immediate negative effects especially on cognitive domains related to attention, memory and response inhibition. Furthermore, cognitive performance would progressively worsen over consecutive night shifts or following exposure to very long work shifts. Otherwise, conflicting results emerged regarding the possible etiological role that night work chronic exposure would have on cognitive impairment. Therefore, circadian rhythm desynchronization, lack of sleep and fatigue resulting from night work may negatively impact worker’s cognitive efficiency. However, in light of the considerable methodological variability of the reviewed studies, we proposed to develop a standardized research and evaluation strategy in order to obtain a better and comprehensive understanding of this topic.


Author(s):  
Giorgia Gon ◽  
Abdunoor M. Kabanywanyi ◽  
Petri Blinkhoff ◽  
Simon Cousens ◽  
Stephanie J. Dancer ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Healthcare associated infections (HAI) are estimated to affect up to 15% of hospital inpatients in low-income countries (LICs). A critical but often neglected aspect of HAI prevention is basic environmental hygiene, particularly surface cleaning and linen management. TEACH CLEAN is an educational intervention aimed at improving environmental hygiene. We evaluated the effectiveness of this intervention in a pilot study in three high-volume maternity and newborn units in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Methods This study design prospectively evaluated the intervention as a whole, and offered a before-and-after comparison of the impact of the main training. We measured changes in microbiological cleanliness [Aerobic Colony Counts (ACC) and presence of Staphylococcus aureus] using dipslides, and physical cleaning action using gel dots. These were analysed with descriptive statistics and logistic regression models. We used qualitative (focus group discussions, in-depth interviews, and semi-structured observation) and quantitative (observation checklist) tools to measure why and how the intervention worked. We describe these findings across the themes of adaptation, fidelity, dose, reach and context. Results Microbiological cleanliness improved during the study period (ACC pre-training: 19%; post-training: 41%). The odds of cleanliness increased on average by 1.33 weekly during the pre-training period (CI = 1.11–1.60), and by 1.08 (CI = 1.03–1.13) during the post-training period. Cleaning action improved only in the pre-training period. Detection of S. aureus on hospital surfaces did not change substantially. The intervention was well received and considered feasible in this context. The major pitfalls in the implementation were the limited number of training sessions at the hospital level and the lack of supportive supervision. A systems barrier to implementation was lack of regular cleaning supplies. Conclusions The evaluation suggests that improvements in microbiological cleanliness are possible using this intervention and can be sustained. Improved microbiological cleanliness is a key step on the pathway to infection prevention in hospitals. Future research should assess whether this bundle is cost-effective in reducing bacterial and viral transmission and infection using a rigorous study design.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex F. Martin ◽  
Sarah Denford ◽  
Nicola Love ◽  
Derren Ready ◽  
Isabel Oliver ◽  
...  

Abstract Background In December 2020, Public Health England with NHS Test and Trace initiated a pilot study in which close contacts of people with confirmed COVID-19 were given the option to carryout lateral flow device antigen tests at home, as an alternative to self-isolation for 10–14 days. In this study, we evaluated engagement with daily testing, and assessed levels of adherence to the rules relating to behaviour following positive or negative test results. Methods We conducted a service evaluation of the pilot study, examining survey responses from a subset of those who responded to an evaluation questionnaire. We used an online cross-sectional survey offered to adult contacts of confirmed COVID-19 cases who consented to daily testing. We used a comparison group of contacts who were not offered testing and instead self-isolated. Results Acceptability of daily testing was lower among survey respondents who were not offered the option of testing and among people from ethnic minority groups. Overall, 52% of respondents reported being more likely to share details of people that they had been in contact with following a positive test result, if they knew that their contacts would be offered the option of daily testing. Only 2% reported that they would be less likely to provide details of their contacts. On the days that they were trying to self-isolate, 19% of participants reported that they left the house, with no significant group differences. Following a negative test, 13% of respondents reported that they increased their contacts, but most (58%) reported having fewer risky contacts. Conclusions Our data suggest that daily testing is potentially acceptable, may facilitate sharing contact details of close contacts among those who test positive for COVID-19, and promote adherence to self-isolation. A better understanding is needed of how to make this option more acceptable for all households. The impact of receiving a negative test on behaviour remains a risk that needs to be monitored and mitigated by appropriate messaging. Future research should examine attitudes and behaviour in a context where infection levels are lower, testing is more familiar, and restrictions on activity have been reduced.


2021 ◽  
pp. 082957352199895
Author(s):  
Lauren D. Goegan ◽  
Gabrielle N. Pelletier ◽  
Lia M. Daniels

Growth and fixed mindset messaging is gaining popularity. In our pilot study, we examine the mindsets of students with learning disabilities (LD) to determine how their self-beliefs relate to this messaging. Our results demonstrate that students with LD endorse growth mindsets more than fixed mindsets which is consistent with their peers without LD. Moreover, in their comments about being a student with LD, participants highlight important components of growth mindset messaging. However, some comments may reflect a false-growth mindset wherein students are only focused on effort and not the additional resources required for growth. We provide directions for future research.


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