scholarly journals Building bridges between experts and the public: a comparison of two-way communication formats for flooding and air pollution risk

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Loroño-Leturiondo ◽  
Paul O'Hare ◽  
Simon J. Cook ◽  
Stephen R. Hoon ◽  
Sam Illingworth

Abstract. Urban centres worldwide are adversely affected by flooding and air pollution. Better prepared citizens are crucial to limiting the impacts of these hazards, and both lay knowledge and personal experiences are important in complementing and challenging expert opinion. For the first time, this study offers a critical comparison of how different two-way communication formats have been used worldwide between experts and the public in relation to flooding and air pollution risk. Through a systematic review, we analyse social media, educational programmes, serious games, citizen science, and forums in terms of their effectiveness in respect of communicating short-term incidents, long-term awareness, and long-term knowledge in the context of flooding and air pollution risk. We find that there is neither a one-size-fits-all, nor superior, format of communication. No single format is effective in fulfilling all three communication purposes. All five formats analysed appear to be successful under different circumstances and are never representative of all segments of the population. Communication between experts and the public is difficult and full of tensions, information alone is not enough. Our study shows different ways of incorporating strategies to build trust between experts and the public and make communication more fun and accessible, breaking down hierarchies and creating safe spaces for co-creation where everyone feels empowered to participate and benefits.

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Loroño-Leturiondo ◽  
Paul O'Hare ◽  
Simon J. Cook ◽  
Stephen R. Hoon ◽  
Sam Illingworth

Abstract. Urban centres worldwide are adversely affected by flooding and air pollution. Better-prepared citizens are crucial to limiting the impacts of these hazards, and both lay knowledge and personal experiences are important in complementing and challenging expert opinion. For the first time, this study offers a critical comparison of how different two-way communication formats have been used worldwide between experts and the public in relation to flooding and air pollution risk. Through a systematic review, we analyse social media, educational programmes, serious games, citizen science, and forums in terms of their effectiveness in respect of dealing with incidents, raising awareness, and promoting knowledge exchange in the context of flooding and air pollution risk. We find that there is neither a one-size-fits-all nor superior format of communication. No single format is effective in fulfilling all three communication purposes. All five formats analysed appear to be successful under different circumstances and are never suitable for all segments of the population. Communication between experts and the public is difficult and full of tensions; information alone is not enough. Our study shows different ways of incorporating strategies to build trust between experts and the public and make communication more fun and accessible, breaking down hierarchies and creating safe spaces for co-creation where everyone feels empowered to participate and everyone benefits.


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.


2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick D. M. C. Katoto ◽  
Amanda S. Brand ◽  
Buket Bakan ◽  
Paul Musa Obadia ◽  
Carsi Kuhangana ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Air pollution is one of the world’s leading mortality risk factors contributing to seven million deaths annually. COVID-19 pandemic has claimed about one million deaths in less than a year. However, it is unclear whether exposure to acute and chronic air pollution influences the COVID-19 epidemiologic curve. Methods We searched for relevant studies listed in six electronic databases between December 2019 and September 2020. We applied no language or publication status limits. Studies presented as original articles, studies that assessed risk, incidence, prevalence, or lethality of COVID-19 in relation with exposure to either short-term or long-term exposure to ambient air pollution were included. All patients regardless of age, sex and location diagnosed as having COVID-19 of any severity were taken into consideration. We synthesised results using harvest plots based on effect direction. Results Included studies were cross-sectional (n = 10), retrospective cohorts (n = 9), ecological (n = 6 of which two were time-series) and hypothesis (n = 1). Of these studies, 52 and 48% assessed the effect of short-term and long-term pollutant exposure, respectively and one evaluated both. Pollutants mostly studied were PM2.5 (64%), NO2 (50%), PM10 (43%) and O3 (29%) for acute effects and PM2.5 (85%), NO2 (39%) and O3 (23%) then PM10 (15%) for chronic effects. Most assessed COVID-19 outcomes were incidence and mortality rate. Acutely, pollutants independently associated with COVID-19 incidence and mortality were first PM2.5 then PM10, NO2 and O3 (only for incident cases). Chronically, similar relationships were found for PM2.5 and NO2. High overall risk of bias judgments (86 and 39% in short-term and long-term exposure studies, respectively) was predominantly due to a failure to adjust aggregated data for important confounders, and to a lesser extent because of a lack of comparative analysis. Conclusion The body of evidence indicates that both acute and chronic exposure to air pollution can affect COVID-19 epidemiology. The evidence is unclear for acute exposure due to a higher level of bias in existing studies as compared to moderate evidence with chronic exposure. Public health interventions that help minimize anthropogenic pollutant source and socio-economic injustice/disparities may reduce the planetary threat posed by both COVID-19 and air pollution pandemics.


2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 783-810
Author(s):  
Angélica Pott de Medeiros ◽  
Giulia Xisto de Oliveira ◽  
Reisoli Bender Filho

Resumo: O cenário de instabilidade política, a recessão econômica e as mudanças nas regras de concessão de crédito pautaram o objetivo de examinar o relacionamento do crédito consignado, por segmento de concessão, com variáveis macroeconômicas, caso do consumo, da produção industrial e do produto agregado, na última década (2007-2017). Os resultados foram obtidos por meio da estimação do vetor de correção de erros, funções de impulso-resposta e decomposição da variância, possibilitando a análise das relações de curto e de longo prazo entre as séries temporais e indicaram que as diferentes modalidades do crédito consignado implicam efeitos distintos sobre as variáveis econômicas em curto prazo. O segmento de aposentados e pensionistas impacta positivamente ambas as variáveis analisadas, com destaque para os bens de consumo das famílias. Já a concessão ao setor privado, embora represente a menor parcela do crédito consignado concedido, mostrou elevada sensibilidade a alterações na oferta dessa modalidade de crédito, enquanto que o crédito ao setor público, de maior participação, apresentou efeitos reduzidos e de curta duração.Palavras-chave: Crédito consignado. Segmentos. Economia brasileira. Payroll loans: segments and economic effects Abstract: The environment of political instability, economic recession and changes in the rules of granting credit were guiders to aim to examine the payroll loans relationship, by concession segment, with macroeconomic variables, case of consumption, industrial production and aggregate product, in the last decade (2007-2017). The results obtained by error correction vector estimation, and functions of impulse-response and variance decomposition, making it possible to analyze the short- and long-term relationships between the time series and indicated that the different modalities of payroll loans imply different effects on economic short-term variables. With retirees and pensioners segment positively impact on both analyzed variables, highlighting the household consumption goods. The concession to the private sector, although it represents the smallest portion of payroll loans granted, it showed high sensitivity to the changes of this modality. About credit to the public sector, which has the biggest portion, it showed reduced and short-term effects.Keywords: Payroll loans. Segments. Brazilian economy.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (19) ◽  
pp. 8880
Author(s):  
Bowen Guan ◽  
Cunbo Fan ◽  
Ning An ◽  
Ricardo Cesar Podesta ◽  
Dra Ana Pacheco ◽  
...  

As one of the major error sources, satellite signature effect should be reduced or even erased from the distribution of the post-fit residuals to improve the ranging precision. A simulation of satellite signature effect removal process for normal point algorithm is conducted based on a revised model of satellite response, which fully considers the structural and distribution characteristics of retroreflectors. In order to eliminate both long-term and short-term satellite signature effect, a clipping method for SLR data processing is proposed by defining the clipping location as 5.6 mm away from the mean value of the long-term fit residuals to select effective returns for normal points. The results indicate that, compared to normal points algorithm, the RMS per NP of LAGEOS-1 observation data processed by the clipping method is reduced from 62.90 ± 9.9 mm to 56.07 ± 4.69 mm, and the stability of RMS is improved 53%. This study improves the satellite signature effect model and simulates the fluctuation of normal points caused by satellite signature effect for the first time. The new method based on the simulation of satellite signature effect has stronger robustness and applicability, which can further minimize the influence of satellite signature effect on the SLR production and significantly improve the data property.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Clara Machado Campolim ◽  
Lais Weissmann ◽  
Clílton Kraüss de Oliveira Ferreira ◽  
Olivia Pizetta Zordão ◽  
Ana Paula Segantine Dornellas ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jong In Kim ◽  
Gukbin Kim ◽  
Yeonja Choi

Abstract Background Country-level inequality in life expectancy (ILE) and deaths of children under age five due to air pollution (DCAP) can be influenced by country-level income per capita, solid fuel, electrification, and natural resource depletion. The ILE and DCAP in the short-term are useful indicators that can help in developing ways to reduce environmental threats. This study confirms evidence for ILE and DCAP as the effects of environmental threats by country-level income, energy, and natural resource levels from a socioecological approach. Methods This study based on life expectancy and children data on 164 countries acquired from the United Nations Development Programme. We obtained the country-level socioecological data from the United Nations and the World Bank database. We assessed the associations between ILE, DCAP, and the country-level indicators applying correlations coefficient and the regression models. Results These study findings showed considerable correlations between ILE and country-level socioecological indicators: gross national income per capita (GNI), non-solid fuel (NSF), electrification rate (ER), and natural resource depletion (NRD). The DCAP in short-term predictors were low NSF and low ER (R2 = 0.552), and ILE predictors were low GNI, NSF, and ER and higher NRD (R2 = 0.816). Thus, the countries with higher incomes and electrification rates and more sustainable natural resources had lower expected DCAP in the short-term and ILE in the long-term. Conclusions Based on our results, we confirmed that country-level income, energy, and natural resource indicators had important effects on ILE in long-term and DCAP in short-term. We recommend that countries consider targeting high standards of living and national incomes, access to non-solid fuel and electricity as energy sources, and sustainable natural resources to reduce ILE and DCAP in short-term.


2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lionel Effiom ◽  
Peter Ubi

<p>It is common knowledge that Nigeria’s road infrastructure, and indeed the general infrastructure of sub-Saharan Africa, is in a most despicable condition. This paper formalises this observation by providing current data to support the hypothesis. By deploying descriptive and theoretical methodological approaches, it demonstrates that road infrastructure is not only deteriorating but also suffers from a twin evil of deficit and deprioritisation in the public sector’s preferential scale–a state of indifference of sorts. Long and short term policy choices have to be made to urgently address the issue. In the short term, infrastructure concessions, public private partnerships (PPP), pension funds, sovereign wealth fund, savings from reduction in fuel subsidies, leveraging on the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) mechanism–are part of the portfolio of choices that government can readily choose from. In the long term however, the paper recommends increase in the statutory allocation to the states and local governments which would ensure that component units of the federation control more resources to deploy and develop infrastructure in their immediate domain.</p>


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (10) ◽  
pp. e474-e482 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paolo Giani ◽  
Stefano Castruccio ◽  
Alessandro Anav ◽  
Don Howard ◽  
Wenjing Hu ◽  
...  

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