Identify, quantify, act: tackling the unused potential of ecological research

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marija Purgar ◽  
Tin Klanjscek ◽  
Antica Culina

‘Ignorance is expensive’. The statement also applies to ignorance of research inefficiencies that can generate huge waste: 85% of health research, amounting to $170 billion annually, is avoidably wasted. This alarming finding elicited a number of responses that have since reduced the waste in health research. Commonality of research and dissemination practices implies that other scientific fields could also benefit from identifying and quantifying waste and acting to reduce it. Yet, no estimate of research waste is available for other fields. Given that ecological issues interweave most of the UN sustainable development goals, we argue tackling research waste in ecology should be prioritized.Our study leads the way. We estimate components of waste in ecological research, based on a systematic review and a meta-analysis. Shockingly, our results suggest only 11%-18% of conducted ecological research reaches its full informative value. Our duty towards science, environment, organisms we study, and the public dictates that we should urgently act and reduce this considerable yet preventable loss, and harness the full potential of ecological research. We propose to achieve this through actions from researchers, funders, journals, and academic institutions. Finally, we call for other research fields to adopt our framework and derive comparable estimates across scientific disciplines.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matias Acosta ◽  
Zsofia Szlamka ◽  
Mohammed A. Mostajo-Radji

According to the United Nations (UN), 41% of the world’s population is under the age of 24 (United Nations Population Division). Despite being a considerably large group, the youth has been commonly underrepresented in decision-making in the public and private sectors. To combat this situation, the UN launched the Youth 2030 strategy in 2018 thereby recognizing the need to empower the youth to reach their full potential (Youth 2030: The UN Youth Strategy). In this contribution, we provide a brief description of some of the recent transnational youth networks (TYNs) and their features in order to discuss the role of such networks to empower the youth. We propose here that such networks constitute a novel and powerful form of public diplomacy (PD) because of their experiential educational aspects that they develop in their members. Moreover, these networks also offer a rather unique opportunity of building interpersonal relationships among global prominent individuals thereby influencing the international agenda. We further discuss how such networks can advance substantially the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agenda (Sustainable Development Goals).


2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (7) ◽  
pp. 3132-3135
Author(s):  
Bustami ◽  
Muhammad Fikry ◽  
Defry Hamdhana

This research is focused on evaluating the consistency of research conducted by lecturers on their scientific knowledge. With so many studies and diverse schemes, of course, it also produces varied research. Nevertheless, the quality of research is also the main focus of LPPM. To maintain this, one way to maintain the quality of research is to maintain the consistency of lecturers in researching following their scientific fields. Research that focuses on scientific fields will produce quality research. The products produced can also be accepted by the public and the market. in determining the consistency value of research conducted by lecturers on their scientific disciplines can be achieved with a text mining approach. Using mining and text analysis to gain insight into the topics of lecturer research, it can help writers detect the linear value of research with their field of science. TF-IDF algorithm can recognize the similarity of data in a query that has been stored as a data set. Big data sets greatly affect the success of the system in recognizing the consistency of lecturers’ research titles on their knowledge.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 2019
Author(s):  
Chiara Oppi ◽  
Caterina Cavicchi ◽  
Emidia Vagnoni

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Agenda includes gender equality as one of its 17 goals and emphasizes the importance of supporting women’s empowerment to meet the SDGs. Gender-responsive budgeting (GRB) can help achieve gender equality in organizations, but there continue to be limitations on exploiting its full potential. Further research is needed, especially in the public sector and at higher education institutions. This paper investigates the development of the GRB process and the related reporting practices, as well as the potential to fully integrate it into the university’s strategic policies at the University of Ferrara. The paper is based on a qualitative content analysis of annual GRB reports from 2011 to 2018. The results show that, during this period, GRB at the university changed from playing an accountability role to having a performance measurement role. Although GRB has become more relevant inside the organization, the extent of the integration with the university strategy and the budgeting cycle remains limited, which hampers the strategic relevance of GRB.


Author(s):  
Grigorii I. Nesmeyanov ◽  

The article formulates main questions related to the concept of context. The issue of context is considered as a current-day interdisciplinary field of research. There are many definitions of context in dictionaries and in various humanities (including scientific disciplines). In connection with that issue various methodological approaches arise in the humanities, which can be designated by the umbrella term “contextual”. By the example of one of such approaches to the sociological poetics of the “Bakhtin’s circle”, the author substantiates the possibility of creating an interdisciplinary classification of contextual approaches. That classification may include scientific developments of different years and research fields, including: philosophical hermeneutics, a number of approaches to the Russian and foreign literary theory (M.M. Bakhtin, Yu.M. Lotman, B.M. Eichenbaum, F. Moretti, A. Compagnon, etc.), intellectual history, discourse analysis, etc.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Lang ◽  
Sébastien Lemieux ◽  
Josée Hébert ◽  
Guy Sauvageau ◽  
Ma'n H. Zawati

BACKGROUND Medical care and health research are jointly undergoing significant changes brought about by the Internet [1,2,3]. New online tools, apps, and programs are helping to facilitate unprecedented levels of data sharing and collaboration, potentially enabling more precisely targeted treatment and rapid research translation [4,5,6]. Patient portals have been a significant part of this emerging online health ecosystem, providing patients a mechanism for accessing electronic health records, managing appointments and prescriptions, even communicating directly with care providers [7]. Much has been written about the technical and ethical challenges associated with the development and integration of patient portals into the clinic [8,9]. But portal technology might also be used to connect health researchers to clinicians, patients, and the public. Online systems could be a useful platform for broadly and rapidly disseminating research results while also promoting patient empowerment. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study is to assess the potential use of online portals that facilitate the sharing of health research findings among researchers, clinicians, patients, and the public. It will also summarize the potential legal, ethical, and policy implications associated with such tools for public use and in the management of patient care for complex disease. METHODS We systematically consulted three databases, PubMed, Scopus, and WestLaw Next for sources describing online portals for sharing health research findings among clinicians, researchers, and patients and their associated legal, ethical, and policy challenges. raised by the integration of online tools into patient care for complex disease. Of 719 source citations, we retained 22 for review. RESULTS We found a varied and inconsistent treatment of online portals for sharing health research findings among clinicians, researchers, and patients. While the literature supports the view that portals of this kind are potentially highly promising, they remain novel and are not yet being widely adopted. We also found a wide-ranging discussion on the legal, ethical, and policy issues related to the use of online tools for sharing research data. We identified five important policy challenges: privacy & confidentiality, health literacy & patient empowerment, equity, training, and decision making. Each of these, we contend, have meaningful implications for the increased integration of online tools into clinical care. CONCLUSIONS As online tools become increasingly important mechanisms for sharing health research with clinicians, patients, and the public, it is vital that these developments are met with ethical and conceptual scrutiny. Therapeutic portals as they are presented in this paper may become a more widespread feature of precision and translational medicine. Our findings suggest that online portals are already being used to disseminate research results among clinicians, patients, and the public. But much of the ethical and conceptual debate is framed in terms of the patient portal, a concept that does not adequately reflect the potentially broader scope of therapeutic portals. It may be useful to clarify this distinction in future research and to underscore the unique ethical, legal, and policy challenges raised when online systems are used as a platform for disseminating research to as wide an audience as possible. CLINICALTRIAL n/a


Climate justice requires sharing the burdens and benefits of climate change and its resolution equitably and fairly. It brings together justice between generations and justice within generations. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals summit in September 2015, and the Conference of Parties to the Framework Convention on Climate Change in Paris in December 2015, brought climate justice center stage in global discussions. In the run up to Paris, Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland and the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Climate Change, instituted the Climate Justice Dialogue. The editors of this volume, an economist and a philosopher, served on the High Level Advisory Committee of the Climate Justice Dialogue. They noted the overlap and mutual enforcement between the economic and philosophical discourses on climate justice. But they also noted the great need for these strands to come together to support the public and policy discourse. This volume is the result.


Author(s):  
Guangchao Charles Feng ◽  
Zhiliang Lin ◽  
Wanhua Ou ◽  
Xianglin Su ◽  
Qing Yan

Although early screening tests are beneficial for the detection and treatment of cancers, many people have failed to participate in screening tests. The present study aims to explore the theoretical underpinning of low participation in screening programs using the method of meta-analytic structural equation modeling. It was found that the health belief model is the most adopted theoretical framework. Moreover, the intended uptake of screening was positively predicted only by cues to action, health literacy, and perceived susceptibility. As a result, a health intention model, including the three significant variables, is proposed. The practical implications of the findings are that health communication campaigns should focus on enlightening and engaging the public through all necessary means to raise awareness and transfer knowledge in relation to screening procedures as well as cancers per se.


2017 ◽  
Vol 74 (8) ◽  
pp. 851
Author(s):  
Andre Russowsky Brunoni ◽  
Wagner Gattaz ◽  
Anna Chaimani

2009 ◽  
Vol 3 (S2) ◽  
pp. S160-S165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeanne S. Ringel ◽  
Melinda Moore ◽  
John Zambrano ◽  
Nicole Lurie

ABSTRACTObjective: To assess the extent to which the systems in place for prevention and control of routine annual influenza could provide the information and experience needed to manage a pandemic.Methods: The authors conducted a qualitative assessment based on key informant interviews and the review of relevant documents.Results: Although there are a number of systems in place that would likely serve the United States well in a pandemic, much of the information and experience needed to manage a pandemic optimally is not available.Conclusions: Systems in place for routine annual influenza prevention and control are necessary but not sufficient for managing a pandemic, nor are they used to their full potential for pandemic preparedness. Pandemic preparedness can be strengthened by building more explicitly upon routine influenza activities and the public health system’s response to the unique challenges that arise each influenza season (eg, vaccine supply issues, higher than normal rates of influenza-related deaths). (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2009;3(Suppl 2):S160–S165)


IMP Journal ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 390-408 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lars-Erik Gadde ◽  
Kajsa Hulthén

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyse how theories evolve within scientific fields: why they receive attention and why they eventually become less attractive. Design/methodology/approach The paper is based on a literature review and focusses on the theoretical structure developed by Wroe Alderson. His contributions were highly appreciated and generally considered as “the” marketing theory. However, in few years his broad perspective was more or less neglected within the field where it was developed. At the same time, Alderson’s basic thinking was adopted by the evolving IMP approach. The specific objective of the study is to analyse why researchers in marketing abandoned Alderson, while IMP adopted many of his ideas. Findings The paper illustrates significant aspects of the evolution of theories. First, the paper shows how well-established conceptualisations, like Alderson’s total systems approach, may lose impact when the focus of research shifts. Alderson’s holistic framing was found too broad and all-encompassing to be useful when research attention was directed to specific aspects of marketing management and the socio-behavioural approach to distribution. Second, the paper shows in what respect IMP found support in concepts and models presented by Alderson in the challenging of fragmented mainstream framings of the business landscape. Originality/value This paper relates the rise and fall of Alderson’s concepts and frameworks to the evolution of theories of other schools-of-thought. Furthermore, the study shows how Alderson’s ideas were adapted to other research fields than where it was originally developed.


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