Design of Microplastics Citizen Science Kit

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachael Hughson-Gill
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Freshwater Ecosystems ◽  
Freshwater Systems ◽  
The Public ◽  
Plastic Bags ◽  
The Impact

<p>Microplastics are an ever-increasing problem. Every river that was tested in a recent study found the presence of microplastics, with 80% of all plastic in the ocean coming from upstream. Despite this, there is little understanding into the abundance of plastic, its characteristics and the full impact that is it having on marine, freshwater ecosystems and wider ecological systems.</p><p> </p><p>Current fresh water monitoring does not consider the fluid dynamics of rivers, is difficult to use and is inaccessible to the wider public. My project will focus on creating a product that allows for the large-scale data collection of microplastic through citizen science. Allowing groups of people to analyse their local natural environment for the presence and abundance of microplastics within the water. This method of data collection could provide information on a scale that is not possible with traditional methods and would allow for the comparison between freshwater systems. This comparison is fundamental to begin to fill the knowledge gaps around the understanding of microplastics.</p><p> </p><p>Inaccessibility of monitoring to the public is not just through tools but also through the current communication of data with research rarely breaking into the public domain. Citizen science offers not just an improvement in understanding but also offers an opportunity for engagement with the public body. Increasing awareness of the impact of habits round plastic through the sharing of monitoring data can generate the much-needed change on both an individual and policy level to address the problem from the source. This method of change through public opinion can be seen to have an effect on freshwater systems through microbeads ban, plastic bags, plastic straws and industrial pollution regulation.</p><p> </p><p>Through the creation of this product a multidisciplinary approach that blends engineering and design practices is implemented. The wholistic approach to creation is something that is fundamental in the success of tools and therefore the success of the research that is implemented through them. A tool such as this whose function is within the public engagement of its use - increased awareness, as well as the outcome of its use - microplastics data, is required to have an engaging user experience as well as data integrity implemented through engineering design.</p><p> </p><p>This project offers an opportunity to show the importance of the design process within research tools to aid the research process and the positive impact that can come from it.</p>

Evaluation of the impact of public investment programs on social and economic performance of territories

2019 ◽  
pp. 109-123
Author(s):  
I. E. Limonov ◽  
M. V. Nesena
Keyword(s):  
Bayesian Modeling ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Public Investment ◽  
Difference In Differences ◽  
The Public ◽  
Export Activity ◽  
Regional Investment ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Development Institution

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of public investment programs on the socio-economic development of territories. As a case, the federal target programs for the development of regions and investment programs of the financial development institution — Vnesheconombank, designed to solve the problems of regional development are considered. The impact of the public interventions were evaluated by the “difference in differences” method using Bayesian modeling. The results of the evaluation suggest the positive impact of federal target programs on the total factor productivity of regions and on innovation; and that regional investment programs of Vnesheconombank are improving the export activity. All of the investments considered are likely to have contributed to the reduction of unemployment, but their implementation has been accompanied by an increase in social inequality.

Public space of the trustworthiness of sociological knowledge: The case of electoral research

2020 ◽  
pp. 13-22
Author(s):  
OLEKSANDR STEGNII
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Negative Influence ◽  
Election Campaign ◽  
Sociological Research ◽  
Good Tool ◽  
Sociological Knowledge ◽  
The Public ◽  
Approval Ratings ◽  
The Impact

The paper analyses specific features of sociological data circulation in a public space during an election campaign. The basic components of this kind of space with regard to sociological research are political actors (who put themselves up for the election), voters and agents. The latter refer to professional groups whose corporate interests are directly related to the impact on the election process. Sociologists can also be seen as agents of the electoral process when experts in the field of electoral sociology are becoming intermingled with manipulators without a proper professional background and publications in this field. In a public space where an electoral race is unfolding, empirical sociological research becomes the main form of obtaining sociological knowledge, and it is primarily conducted to measure approval ratings. Electoral research serves as an example of combining the theoretical and empirical components of sociological knowledge, as well as its professional and public dimensions. Provided that sociologists meet all the professional requirements, electoral research can be used as a good tool for evaluating the trustworthiness of results reflecting the people’s expression of will. Being producers of sociological knowledge, sociologists act in two different capacities during an election campaign: as analysts and as pollsters. Therefore, it is essential that the duties and areas of responsibility for professional sociologists should be separated from those of pollsters. Another thing that needs to be noted is the negative influence that political strategists exert on the trustworthiness of survey findings which are going to be released to the public. Using the case of approval ratings as an illustration, the author analyses the most common techniques aimed at misrepresenting and distorting sociological data in the public space. Particular attention is given to the markers that can detect bogus polling companies, systemic violations during the research process and data falsification.

IMPACT OF GOVERNMENT DEBT ON FINANCIAL SECURITY OF UKRAINE

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olena Pikaliuk ◽  
◽  
Dmitry Kovalenko ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Public Debt ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
The State ◽  
Financial Security ◽  
State Budget ◽  
The Public ◽  
Debt Security ◽  
The Stability ◽  
The Impact

One of the main criteria for economic development is the size of the public debt and its dynamics. The article considers the impact of public debt on the financial security of Ukraine. The views of scientists on the essence of public debt and financial security of the state are substantiated. An analysis of the dynamics and structure of public debt of Ukraine for 2014-2019. It is proved that one of the main criteria for economic development is the size of public debt and its dynamics. State budget deficit, attracting and using loans to cover it have led to the formation and significant growth of public debt in Ukraine. The volume of public debt indicates an increase in the debt security of the state, which is a component of financial security. Therefore, the issue of the impact of public debt on the financial security of Ukraine is becoming increasingly relevant. The constant growth and large amounts of debt make it necessary to study it, which will have a positive impact on economic processes that will ensure the stability of the financial system and enhance its security.

scholarly journals FORMAÇÃO DO ENFERMEIRO: POLÍTICAS PÚBLICAS NA ATENÇÃO ONCOLÓGICA

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andresa Mendonça Oliveira ◽  
Katia Stancato ◽  
Eliete Maria Silva
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Nursing Education ◽  
Professional Practice ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Cancer Control ◽  
Nurse Training ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Impact

Objetivo: Refletir teoricamente sobre a Política Nacional (brasileira) para Prevenção e Controle do Câncer na Rede de Atenção à Saúde das Pessoas com Doenças Crônicas e articulações na formação do enfermeiro e na prática profissional. Metodologia: Reflexão teórica, por meio de questionamentos das pesquisadoras, discussões em grupo e busca na literatura. Resultados: Os trabalhadores que atuam no cuidado ao paciente oncológico possuem papel essencial na efetivação dessa política. Porém, para que sejam implementadas, é necessário que seus princípios estabelecidos façam sentido na formação e nas práticas profissionais. Conclusão: O ensino reflexivo sobre essa política na formação do enfermeiro contribui para melhorias em sua prática, assim como, práticas reflexivas e melhor qualificadas certamente impactam positivamente na formação profissional. O desenvolvimento de políticas públicas com ênfase nas demandas da população pressupõe articulação teórica e prática e transformações sociais.Descritores: Educação Superior; Educação em enfermagem; Políticas públicas de saúde; Prática profissional; Enfermagem Oncológica.NURSING EDUCATION : PUBLIC POLICY AT ONCOLOGI C ATTENTIONObjective: Reflect theoretically about the Public Policies on the Oncological Care, especially the National Policy(Brazilian) for Prevention and Cancer Control in Health Care Network of People with Chronic Diseases and the impact on nurse training and professional practice. Methodology: Theoretical speculation by means of interviews with researchers, group discussions and literature research. Results: Caregivers of oncological patients have an essential role on the effecting this Policy. However, in order to implement this policy, it is necessary that its established principles make sense for nursing education and professional practices. Conclusion: The reflective teaching about this policy in the formation of nurses contributes to improve its practice, as reflective and better qualified practices certainly have a positive impact on vocational education. The public policy development with emphasis on population demands assumes theoretical and practical articulation and social transformations.Descriptors: Education Higher; Education; Nursing; Public Health Policy; Professional Practice; Oncology Nursing.EDUCACIÓN EN ENFERMERÍA: POLÍTICA PÚBLICA EN ATEN CIÓN ONCOLÓGICAObjetivo: reflexionar teóricamente sobre las políticas públicas para atención oncológica, especialmente para la Política Nacional (brasileña) para Prevención y Control del Cáncer en la Red de Salud de Personas con Enfermedades Crónicas e articulaciones en la formación de enfermeras y en la práctica profesional. Metodología: Reflexión teórica por medio de cuestionamientos de los pesquisidores, discusiones en grupo y pesquisa en la literatura. Resultados: Los cuidadores de enfermos oncológicos tienen un papel esencial en la implementación de políticas. Sin embargo, para funcionar, es necesario que sus principios hagan sentido en la formación y en las prácticas profesionales. Conclusión: La enseñanza reflexiva sobre la política en la formación de enfermeros contribuye para mejoras en su práctica, como tal, prácticas reflexivas y más calificadas, sin duda, causan impacto positivo en las prácticas de formación profesional. El desarrollo de las políticas públicas con énfasis en las demandas de la población presupone la articulación teórica y práctica y la transformación social.Descriptores: Educación Superior; Educación en Enfermería; Políticas Públicas de Salud; Práctica Profesional; Enfermería Oncológica.

scholarly journals Designing Web Based Offering and Sales Information System (Case Study : PT. Daya Berkah Sentosa Nusantara)

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Siti Nurjanah Ramadhany ◽  
Ade Eviyanti
Keyword(s):  
Information System ◽  
Data Collection ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Literature Study ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Business World ◽  
The Public ◽  
To Come ◽  
Over Time

Technology is increasingly sophisticated with over time competition in the business world such as E-Commerce has a positive impact on entrepreneurs to advance their companies, namely by creating online websites so that offerings and sales are easy among the public. By accessing the website page of PT. Daya Berkah Sentosa Nusantara buyers do not have to come directly to the place or company, and send offers according to admin needs.The purpose of this study is to make it easier for researchers to solve supply and sales problems based on problems that arise in the company. The method used in this study is the Waterfall Method, with data collection techniques used using observation, interviews and literature study. The desired result of this research is to be able to create a website for the company, to be able to expand marketing reach, buyers can view products through the website.

Gender inequities in the online dissemination of scholars’ work

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (39) ◽  
pp. e2102945118
Author(s):  
Orsolya Vásárhelyi ◽  
Igor Zakhlebin ◽  
Staša Milojević ◽  
Emőke-Ágnes Horvát
Keyword(s):  
Gender Gap ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Gender Disparities ◽  
Female Representation ◽  
Scientific Impact ◽  
The Public ◽  
Research Areas ◽  
Coauthorship Networks ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

Unbiased science dissemination has the potential to alleviate some of the known gender disparities in academia by exposing female scholars’ work to other scientists and the public. And yet, we lack comprehensive understanding of the relationship between gender and science dissemination online. Our large-scale analyses, encompassing half a million scholars, revealed that female scholars’ work is mentioned less frequently than male scholars’ work in all research areas. When exploring the characteristics associated with online success, we found that the impact of prior work, social capital, and gendered tie formation in coauthorship networks are linked with online success for men, but not for women—even in the areas with the highest female representation. These results suggest that while men’s scientific impact and collaboration networks are associated with higher visibility online, there are no universally identifiable facets associated with success for women. Our comprehensive empirical evidence indicates that the gender gap in online science dissemination is coupled with a lack of understanding the characteristics that are linked with female scholars’ success, which might hinder efforts to close the gender gap in visibility.

scholarly journals Citizen as Sensors' Commitment in Urban Public Action

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 42-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gwendoline l'Her ◽  
Myriam Servières ◽  
Daniel Siret
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Urban Air Quality ◽  
Urban Air ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Action ◽  
Quality Issue ◽  
Data Analyses ◽  
The Impact

Based on a case study in Rennes, the article presents how a group of urban public actors re-uses methods and technology from citizen sciences to raise the urban air quality issue in the public debate. The project gives a group of inhabitants the opportunity to follow air quality training and proceed PM2.5µm measurements. The authors question the impact of the ongoing hybridisation between citizen science and urban public action on participants' commitment. The authors present how the use of PM2.5-sensors during 11 weeks led to a disengagement phenomenon, even if the authors observe a strong participation to workshops. These results come from an interdisciplinary methodology using observations, interviews, and data analyses.

scholarly journals Measuring Mental Effort for Creating Mobile Data Collection Applications

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 1649
Author(s):  
Johannes Schobel ◽  
Thomas Probst ◽  
Manfred Reichert ◽  
Winfried Schlee ◽  
Marc Schickler ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Prior Knowledge ◽  
Performance Measures ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Performance Metrics ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Mental Effort ◽  
The Self ◽  
Mobile Data ◽  
Mobile Data Collection

To deal with drawbacks of paper-based data collection procedures, the QuestionSys approach empowers researchers with none or little programming knowledge to flexibly configure mobile data collection applications on demand. The mobile application approach of QuestionSys mainly pursues the goal to mitigate existing drawbacks of paper-based collection procedures in mHealth scenarios. Importantly, researchers shall be enabled to gather data in an efficient way. To evaluate the applicability of QuestionSys, several studies have been carried out to measure the efforts when using the framework in practice. In this work, the results of a study that investigated psychological insights on the required mental effort to configure the mobile applications are presented. Specifically, the mental effort for creating data collection instruments is validated in a study with N = 80 participants across two sessions. Thereby, participants were categorized into novices and experts based on prior knowledge on process modeling, which is a fundamental pillar of the developed approach. Each participant modeled 10 instruments during the course of the study, while concurrently several performance measures are assessed (e.g., time needed or errors). The results of these measures are then compared to the self-reported mental effort with respect to the tasks that had to be modeled. On one hand, the obtained results reveal a strong correlation between mental effort and performance measures. On the other, the self-reported mental effort decreased significantly over the course of the study, and therefore had a positive impact on measured performance metrics. Altogether, this study indicates that novices with no prior knowledge gain enough experience over the short amount of time to successfully model data collection instruments on their own. Therefore, QuestionSys is a helpful instrument to properly deal with large-scale data collection scenarios like clinical trials.

Impact of Coupling with an Ice–Ocean Model on Global Medium-Range NWP Forecast Skill

2018 ◽  
Vol 146 (4) ◽  
pp. 1157-1180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory C. Smith ◽  
Jean-Marc Bélanger ◽  
François Roy ◽  
Pierre Pellerin ◽  
Hal Ritchie ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Standard Deviation ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Weather Forecasting ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Weather Prediction ◽  
Ocean Model ◽  
Forecast Skill ◽  
Medium Range ◽  
Forecasting System ◽  
The Impact

The importance of coupling between the atmosphere and the ocean for forecasting on time scales of hours to weeks has been demonstrated for a range of physical processes. Here, the authors evaluate the impact of an interactive air–sea coupling between an operational global deterministic medium-range weather forecasting system and an ice–ocean forecasting system. This system was developed in the context of an experimental forecasting system that is now running operationally at the Canadian Centre for Meteorological and Environmental Prediction. The authors show that the most significant impact is found to be associated with a decreased cyclone intensification, with a reduction in the tropical cyclone false alarm ratio. This results in a 15% decrease in standard deviation errors in geopotential height fields for 120-h forecasts in areas of active cyclone development, with commensurate benefits for wind, temperature, and humidity fields. Whereas impacts on surface fields are found locally in the vicinity of cyclone activity, large-scale improvements in the mid-to-upper troposphere are found with positive global implications for forecast skill. Moreover, coupling is found to produce fairly constant reductions in standard deviation error growth for forecast days 1–7 of about 5% over the northern extratropics in July and August and 15% over the tropics in January and February. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first time a statistically significant positive impact of coupling has been shown in an operational global medium-range deterministic numerical weather prediction framework.

scholarly journals A Source Like Any Other? Field and Survey Experiment Evidence on How Interest Groups Shape Public Opinion

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Jungherr ◽  
Alexander Wuttke ◽  
Matthias Mader ◽  
Harald Schoen
Keyword(s):  
Interest Groups ◽  
Interest Group ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Group Communication ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
Moderating Effects ◽  
The Public ◽  
High Profile ◽  
Low Profile ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Interest groups increasingly communicate with the public, yet we know little about how effective they are in shaping opinions. Since interest groups differ from other public communicators, we propose a theory of interest group persuasion. Interest groups typically have a low public profile, and so most people are unlikely to have strong attitudes regarding them. Source-related predispositions, such as credibility assessments, are therefore less relevant in moderating effects of persuasive appeals by interest groups than those of high-profile communicators. We test this argument in multiple large-scale studies. A parallel survey and field experiment (N = 4,659) establishes the persuasive potential of low-profile interest groups in both controlled and realistic settings. An observational study (N = 700) shows that substantial portions of the public are unable to assess interest group credibility. A survey experiment (N = 8,245) demonstrates that credibility assessments moderate the impact of party but not interest group communication.

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