WorldWideScience

Sample records for citizens advice bureaux

  1. Advising in austerity reflections on challenging times for advice agencies

    CERN Document Server

    Kirwan, Samuel

    2016-01-01

    Advising in austerity provides a lively and thought-provoking account of the conditions, consequences and challenges of advice work in the UK. It examines how advisors negotiate the private troubles of those who come to Citizens Advice Bureaux (CAB) and construct ways forward.

  2. Advice and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for Citizen-Science Environmental Health Assessments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barzyk, Timothy M; Huang, Hongtai; Williams, Ronald; Kaufman, Amanda; Essoka, Jonathan

    2018-05-11

    Citizen science provides quantitative results to support environmental health assessments (EHAs), but standardized approaches do not currently exist to translate findings into actionable solutions. The emergence of low-cost portable sensor technologies and proliferation of publicly available datasets provides unparalleled access to supporting evidence; yet data collection, analysis, interpretation, visualization, and communication are subjective approaches that must be tailored to a decision-making audience capable of improving environmental health. A decade of collaborative efforts and two citizen science projects contributed to three lessons learned and a set of frequently asked questions (FAQs) that address the complexities of environmental health and interpersonal relations often encountered in citizen science EHAs. Each project followed a structured step-by-step process in order to compare and contrast methods and approaches. These lessons and FAQs provide advice to translate citizen science research into actionable solutions in the context of a diverse range of environmental health issues and local stakeholders.

  3. For the sake of whom: conversation analysis of advice giving in offender counseling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jing-ying, Guo

    2013-08-01

    Regarded as beneficial and preferable to the clients, advice delivery has been an integral part of counseling; however, there are controversies over the suitability of giving advice in counseling services, including counseling conducted in the context of prisons. Based on conversation analysis, this article tries to explore when and how police counselors in two Chinese prisons give advice and how inmate clients respond to and seek advice in offender counseling. It is found that advice delivery, supposed to be for the inmate clients' sake, only serves a phatic function in the context of prisons in which security is a priority, and transforming inmates into law-abiding citizen is the overall goal of prison rehabilitation and correction. Hence, offender counselors, intending to alleviate depression and anxiety in inmate clients, are caught in a dilemma.

  4. Memory training with senior citizens

    OpenAIRE

    CHOVANCOVÁ, Lenka

    2014-01-01

    This is a theoretical work. It deals with the topics of senior citizens and the aging process in an abbreviated conception, periodization of old age, and active life of seniors. It describes forms of social work with seniors in medical facilities, home environments and communities, and in old people's homes. Further, it describes memory: its definition, types of memory, memory loss, reasons why people forget, work with memory and advice on memory improvement from the medical point of view. Th...

  5. Environmental protection belongs to the public: A vision for citizen science at EPA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parker, A.; Dosemagen, S.

    2017-12-01

    As a collaborative and open approach to science, citizen science has the potential make science more actionable, applicable, and usable, especially when designed with scientists, communities and decision-makers as partners. In response to recent interest in citizen science from the US Environmental Protection Agency, the National Advisory Council for Environmental Policy and Technology provided EPA with advice and recommendations on how to integrate citizen science into the core work of EPA. The Council's 28 members—representatives of academia; business and industry; nongovernmental organizations; and state, local and tribal governments—identifies citizen science as an invaluable opportunity for EPA to strengthen public support for EPA's mission and the best approach for the Agency to connect with the public on environmental protection. The report recommends that EPA embrace citizen science as a core tenet of environmental protection, invest in citizen science for communities, partners, and the Agency, enable the use of citizen science data at the Agency, integrate citizen science into the full range of work of EPA. This presentation will outline principles and strategy for integrating citizen science into science and policy at the national level, increasing the usability of citizen science data for decision-making and policy, and leveraging citizen science for environmental protection.

  6. [Geriatric health promotion and prevention for independently living senior citizens: programmes and target groups].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dapp, U; Anders, J; Meier-Baumgartner, H P; v Renteln-Kruse, W

    2007-08-01

    Nearly all diseases in old age that are epidemiologically important can be reduced or prevented successfully through consequent changes in individual lifestyle, a systematic provision of measures in primary prevention (i.e. vaccination programmes) and the creation of health promoting settings. However, at the moment the amount of potential for preventative interventions is neither systematically nor sufficiently utilised in Germany. Two different preventative approaches: a) multidimensional advice session in small groups through an interdisciplinary team at a geriatric centre (seniors come to seek advice offered at a centre) or b) multidimensional advice at the seniors home through one member of the interdisciplinary team from the geriatric centre (expert takes advice to seniors home) were tested simultaneously with a well-described study sample of 804 independent community-dwelling senior citizens aged 60 years or over, without need of care and cognitive impairments recruited from general practices. Information about target group specific approaches in health promotion and prevention for senior citizens were retrieved from analyses of sociodemographic, medical, psychological and spacial characteristics of this study sample. The majority of the study sample (580 out of 804 or 72.1%) decided to participate: a) 86.7% (503 out of 580) attended at the geriatric centre and sought advice in group sessions and b) 13.3% (77 out of 580) decided to receive advice in a preventive home visit. A total of 224 seniors (224 out of 804 or 27.9%) refused to participate at all. These three target groups were characterised on the basis of their age, gender, education, social background, health status, health behaviour, use of preventive care, self perceived health, functional disabilities, social net and social participation and distance or accessibility of preventative approaches. The 503 senior citizens who participated in small group sessions at the geriatric centre were

  7. Review of: Maurizio Viroli, How to Choose a Leader: Machiavelli’s Advice to Citizens,

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michalis Katsimitsis

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available Unlike other leadership books, How to Choose a Leader makes a shift of perspective, giving the point of view of the leader to the people. This is in itself interesting, since we rarely come across such an attempt to “teach” citizens so systematically.

  8. Citizen participation and citizen initiatives

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Matthoefer, H.

    1977-01-01

    Contents: Social conditions for citizen initiatives - technical change and employment - crisis behaviour - socio-psychological analysis of political planning; legitimation - presentation and criticism - conditions for citizen initiatives coming into being within the field of tension citizen : administration - legal problems of citizen initiatives - environmental protection in the energy discussion; participation; models. (HP) [de

  9. Implicit normativity in scientific advice

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Folker, Anna Paldam; Andersen, Hanne; Sandøe, Peter

    2008-01-01

    This paper focuses on implicit normative considerations underlying scientific advice-those normative questions, decisions, or issues that scientific advisers and the general public are not fully aware of but that nevertheless have implications for the character of the advice given. Using...... nutritional science as an example, we identify three such implicit normative issues. The first concerns the aim of scientific advice: whether it is about avoiding harm or promoting good. The second concerns the intended beneficiaries of the advice: whether advice should be framed to benefit the society...... as a whole or with special concern for the most vulnerable members of the population. The third consideration involves scientific advisers' attempts to balance the strengths of the scientific evidence with the expected consequences of scientific advice. We hope to promote more explicit discussion...

  10. Instructional Advice, Time Advice and Learning Questions in Computer Simulations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rey, Gunter Daniel

    2010-01-01

    Undergraduate students (N = 97) used an introductory text and a computer simulation to learn fundamental concepts about statistical analyses (e.g., analysis of variance, regression analysis and General Linear Model). Each learner was randomly assigned to one cell of a 2 (with or without instructional advice) x 2 (with or without time advice) x 2…

  11. Citizen science for water quality monitoring: Data implications of citizen perspectives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jollymore, Ashlee; Haines, Morgan J; Satterfield, Terre; Johnson, Mark S

    2017-09-15

    Citizen science, where citizens play an active role in the scientific process, is increasingly used to expand the reach and scope of scientific research while also achieving engagement and educational goals. Despite the emergence of studies exploring data outcomes of citizen science, the process and experience of engaging with citizens and citizen-lead groups through participatory science is less explored. This includes how citizen perspectives alter data outcomes, a critical upshot given prevalent mistrust of citizen versus scientist data. This study uses a citizen science campaign investigating watershed impacts on water quality to interrogate the nature and implications of citizen involvement in producing scientifically and societally relevant data. Data representing scientific outcomes are presented alongside a series of vignettes that offer context regarding how, why, and where citizens engaged with the project. From these vignettes, six specific lessons are examined towards understanding how integration of citizen participation alters data outcomes relative to 'professional' science. In particular, elements of participant social identity (e.g., their motivation for participation), and contextual knowledge (e.g., of the research program itself) can shape participation and resulting data outcomes. Such scientific outcomes are particularly relevant given continued concerns regarding the quality of citizen data, which could hinder scientific acceptance of citizen sciences. Importantly, the potential for meaningful engagement with citizen and participants within citizen groups - given significant capacity within the community - represents a substantial and under-realized opportunity. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Nutrition Advice and Recipes

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Sign-Up Home Patient Information Nutrition Advice & Recipes Nutrition Advice & Recipes This is a very important section ... information on all aspects of daily life, including nutrition, medical treatments, pain management, and practical tips. For ...

  13. Regulating household financial advice

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Benjamin F. Cummings

    2012-08-01

    Full Text Available This paper reviews economic theory related to investment advice. This theory explains 1 why financial advisors need to be carefully regulated for the benefit of both the investment advice industry and for consumers, 2 why principles-based regulation (e.g., a fiduciary standard is more efficient than rules-based regulation, 3 why dual regulation of financial professionals providing investment or insurance advice is inefficient and inequitable policy, and 4 why the application of a universal and uniform fiduciary standard will be difficult to implement.

  14. Breathing life into fisheries stock assessments with citizen science.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fairclough, D V; Brown, J I; Carlish, B J; Crisafulli, B M; Keay, I S

    2014-11-28

    Citizen science offers a potentially cost-effective way for researchers to obtain large data sets over large spatial scales. However, it is not used widely to support biological data collection for fisheries stock assessments. Overfishing of demersal fishes along 1,000 km of the west Australian coast led to restrictive management to recover stocks. This diminished opportunities for scientists to cost-effectively monitor stock recovery via fishery-dependent sampling, particularly of the recreational fishing sector. As fishery-independent methods would be too expensive and logistically-challenging to implement, a citizen science program, Send us your skeletons (SUYS), was developed. SUYS asks recreational fishers to voluntarily donate fish skeletons of important species from their catch to allow biological data extraction by scientists to produce age structures and conduct stock assessment analyses. During SUYS, recreational fisher involvement, sample sizes and spatial and temporal coverage of samples have dramatically increased, while the collection cost per skeleton has declined substantially. SUYS is ensuring sampling objectives for stock assessments are achieved via fishery-dependent collection and reliable and timely scientific advice can be provided to managers. The program is also encouraging public ownership through involvement in the monitoring process, which can lead to greater acceptance of management decisions.

  15. Project Citizen: Promoting Action-Oriented Citizen Science in the Classroom

    Science.gov (United States)

    Green, Carie; Medina-Jerez, William

    2012-01-01

    In recent years, citizen science projects have emerged as a means to involve students in scientific inquiry, particularly in the fields of ecology and environmental science. A citizen scientist is "a volunteer who collects and/or processes data as part of a scientific inquiry" (Silverton 2009, p. 467). Participation in citizen science…

  16. The Citizen Science Landscape: From Volunteers to Citizen Sensors and Beyond

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christina L. Catlin-Groves

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Within conservation and ecology, volunteer participation has always been an important component of research. Within the past two decades, this use of volunteers in research has proliferated and evolved into “citizen science.” Technologies are evolving rapidly. Mobile phone technologies and the emergence and uptake of high-speed Web-capable smart phones with GPS and data upload capabilities can allow instant collection and transmission of data. This is frequently used within everyday life particularly on social networking sites. Embedded sensors allow researchers to validate GPS and image data and are now affordable and regularly used by citizens. With the “perfect storm” of technology, data upload, and social networks, citizen science represents a powerful tool. This paper establishes the current state of citizen science within scientific literature, examines underlying themes, explores further possibilities for utilising citizen science within ecology, biodiversity, and biology, and identifies possible directions for further research. The paper highlights (1 lack of trust in the scientific community about the reliability of citizen science data, (2 the move from standardised data collection methods to data mining available datasets, and (3 the blurring of the line between citizen science and citizen sensors and the need to further explore online social networks for data collection.

  17. Advertising Citizen Science: A Trailer for the Citizen Sky Project

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wyatt, Ryan; Price, A.

    2012-01-01

    Citizen Sky is a multi-year, NSF funded citizen science project involving the bright and mysterious variable star epsilon Aurigae. The project was conceived by the IYA 2009 working group on Research Experiences for Students, Teachers, and Citizen-Scientists. Citizen Sky goes beyond simple observing to include a major data analysis component, introducing participants to the full scientific process from background research to paper writing for a peer-reviewed journal. As a means of generating interest in the project, the California Academy of Sciences produced a six-minute "trailer” formatted for both traditional and fulldome planetariums as well as HD and web applications. This talk will review the production process for the trailer as well as the methods of distribution via planetariums, social media, and other venues_along with an update on the Citizen Sky Project as a whole. We will show how to use a small, professionally-produced planetarium trailer to help spread word on a citizen science project. We will also show preliminary results on a study about how participation level/type in the project affects science learning.

  18. Actions and advice in coli

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Knoche, Hendrik; Jamadagni, HS; Rao, PR Sheshagiri

    2015-01-01

    To improve their agricultural output, farmers require timely and contextualized information and advice. Relevant information and advice provided by trusted peers represents a promising approach. We present the considerations for the design of coli, an agricultural information network on touch scr...

  19. Financial Literacy, Confidence and Financial Advice Seeking

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kramer, Marc M.

    2016-01-01

    We find that people with higher confidence in their own financial literacy are less likely to seek financial advice, but no relation between objective measures of literacy and advice seeking. The negative association between confidence and advice seeking is more pronounced among wealthy households.

  20. 32 CFR 776.10 - Informal ethics advice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 32 National Defense 5 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Informal ethics advice. 776.10 Section 776.10... § 776.10 Informal ethics advice. (a) Advisors. Covered attorneys may seek informal ethics advice either... of Director, JA Division, HQMC; and (5) Head, Standards of Conduct/Government Ethics Branch...

  1. Citizen Science for public health.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Den Broeder, Lea; Devilee, Jeroen; Van Oers, Hans; Schuit, A Jantine; Wagemakers, Annemarie

    2016-12-23

    Community engagement in public health policy is easier said than done. One reason is that public health policy is produced in a complex process resulting in policies that may appear not to link up to citizen perspectives. We therefore address the central question as to whether citizen engagement in knowledge production could enable inclusive health policy making. Building on non-health work fields, we describe different types of citizen engagement in scientific research, or 'Citizen Science'. We describe the challenges that Citizen Science poses for public health, and how these could be addressed. Despite these challenges, we expect that Citizen Science or similar approaches such as participatory action research and 'popular epidemiology' may yield better knowledge, empowered communities, and improved community health. We provide a draft framework to enable evaluation of Citizen Science in practice, consisting of a descriptive typology of different kinds of Citizen Science and a causal framework that shows how Citizen Science in public health might benefit both the knowledge produced as well as the 'Citizen Scientists' as active participants. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press.

  2. Advice dilemmas: Managing advice against the competing public ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Key to resolving this issue is an acknowledgement that, whether as counsellor or health adviser, persuasion and influence are central features of the VCT interaction. Clear practice guidelines and tools are required to assist counsellors to distinguish between advice, suggestion or mere confirmation of an intended client ...

  3. Development and feasibility of falls prevention advice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Harten-Krouwel, Diny; Schuurmans, Marieke; Emmelot-Vonk, Mariëlle; Pel-Littel, Ruth

    2011-10-01

    This study examined the feasibility of nursing falls prevention advice and factors influencing feasibility. The frequency and seriousness of falls in hospitalised patients are underestimated, and such falls should be preventable because of the presence of professionals. A best practice-based falls prevention advice was developed to decrease the incidence of secondary falls and the incidence of primary falls in the long term and to increase the knowledge of nurses about falls prevention and the seriousness of falls. A descriptive, explorative study. Feasibility of the advice for 30 patients was assessed 82 times (theoretically, three times per patient) by observation and by interviewing nurses, patients and their families. The falls prevention advice was used in 48% of the assessments. There was a difference in use between interventions. Interventions that required more knowledge, communication and extra activities were implemented the least. The absence of materials and knowledge about falls prevention were important determinants of the non-implementation of certain interventions. Before falls prevention advice is implemented, it is important to educate nurses about falls, communication skills and implementation of the advice. The falls prevention advice might help nurses to prevent falls and increase their knowledge about falls prevention. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  4. IMPLICATIONS OF CITIZEN PARTICIPATION IN LOCAL PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION UPON CITIZENS SATISFACTION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bente Florina Maria

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available The satisfaction of citizens considering public services depends on the way the authorities identify and offer solutions to fulfil citizens expectations, which are at least identical or even superior to the services offered in private domain. In addition, the worldwide governments are forced to adapt to the pressure exercised by the changes that appear in the demographic, technologic and economic environment, by the growing expectations of citizens and the necessity of lowering the taxes. As a consequence, the public system is starting to adopt the solutions that the citizens identified for the developing of the public policies, implying and making the community responsible in the act of governing.

  5. Pragmatic dietary advice for diabetes during Navratris

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lovely Gupta

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Navratri is one of the most common religious fasts observed among Hindus. A large number of people with diabetes follow Navratris fast irrespective of its health implications, often without proper education and medical advice. The quest for the scientific research on dietary advices for Hindu fasts including Navratris shows paucity of literature comparative to the dietary advices advocated during Ramadan. The eating and physical activity patterns during different fasts vary a lot depending up on social and cultural factors. Even eating pattern is not uniform among all persons following Navratris and is modified as per their region, local culture, and religious beliefs. Dietary advice during Navratris depends upon pattern of fasting, religious beliefs, and local sociocultural factors. In this review, efforts are made to provide pragmatic dietary advice for people with diabetes, modifications in the menus and cooking practices, and timings of the meals for successful blood glucose management during Navratris. This review will also help plan diet and physical activity advice for persons observing other fasts as well.

  6. Working in Law’s Borderlands: Translation and the Work of an Advice Office

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Morag McDermont

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Increasingly people in the UK are turning to voluntary sector advice organisations for help and support in dealing with everyday problems. Here we argue that advice organisations, who work in the borderlands of law, are nevertheless key players in legal arenas, focusing on local Citizens Advice offices supporting clients with employment problems. We look at the making of advisers as border-workers through programmes which turn volunteers into employment advisers; and the paid advisers who inhabit spaces on the edges of the profession. We examine the social practices of these advisers, the ways in which law-work becomes translation and advice-work becomes a process of co-production between adviser and client. In concluding, we consider how far into the legal arena it is possible to go with limited resources; and what happens when translating the technicalities of law no longer works. Translation comes to mean advisers turning to their activist-selves and adopting political tactics.Las autoras del artículo argumentamos que las organizaciones de asistencia, que operan en los límites de la legalidad, son no obstante actores claves en el campo jurídico. Nos centramos en las oficinas locales de Atención al Ciudadano, y nos fijamos en los asistentes como trabajadores en los límites, a través de programas que forman a los voluntarios para ser orientadores laborales; y los asesores pagados que habitan espacios en los márgenes de la profesión. Examinamos las prácticas sociales de estos asesores, las formas en que el trabajo jurídico se convierte en trabajo de interpretación y el trabajo de asesoramiento se convierte en un proceso de coproducción entre asesor y cliente. Para concluir, reflexionamos sobre cuán lejos se puede llegar en el campo jurídico con recursos limitados, y sobre qué sucede cuando ya no sirve la interpretación de los tecnicismos legales. La interpretación viene a significar que los asesores recurren a su papel de

  7. Caution required when relying on a colleague's advice; a comparison between professional advice and evidence from the literature

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hulshof Carel

    2005-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Occupational Physicians rely especially on advice from colleagues when answering their information demands. On the other hand, Evidence-based Medicine (EBM promotes the use of up-to-date research literature instead of experts. To find out if there was a difference between expert-based practice and EBM we compared professional advice on occupational health topics with best evidence from the literature. Methods We asked 14 occupational physicians to consult their usual information sources on 12 pre-conceived occupational health problems. The problems were presented in the form of case vignettes which contained sufficient clinical information to be used by the occupational physicians for the consultation of their experts. We had searched the literature for the best available evidence on the 12 problems, which made it possible to answer the clinical questions with a clear yes or no. Results The cases could be used by the occupational physicians as arising from their own practice. All together the occupational physicians consulted 75 different experts. Almost half of the consulted experts were near colleagues, 10% were industrial hygienists, 8% medical specialists and the rest had a varied background. Fifty three percent (95% confidence interval 42% to 65% of all professional advice was not in line with the research literature. In 18 cases (24% professional advice explicitly referred to up-to-date research literature as their used source. These cases were substantially less incorrect (17% than advice that had not mentioned the literature as a source (65% (difference 48%, 95% Confidence Interval from 27% to 69%. Conclusion Advice that occupational physicians routinely get in their daily practice differs substantially from best evidence from the literature. Occupational physicians who ask professional advice should always ask about the evidence of this advice.

  8. Caution required when relying on a colleague's advice; a comparison between professional advice and evidence from the literature

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schaafsma, Frederieke; Verbeek, Jos; Hulshof, Carel; van Dijk, Frank

    2005-01-01

    Background Occupational Physicians rely especially on advice from colleagues when answering their information demands. On the other hand, Evidence-based Medicine (EBM) promotes the use of up-to-date research literature instead of experts. To find out if there was a difference between expert-based practice and EBM we compared professional advice on occupational health topics with best evidence from the literature. Methods We asked 14 occupational physicians to consult their usual information sources on 12 pre-conceived occupational health problems. The problems were presented in the form of case vignettes which contained sufficient clinical information to be used by the occupational physicians for the consultation of their experts. We had searched the literature for the best available evidence on the 12 problems, which made it possible to answer the clinical questions with a clear yes or no. Results The cases could be used by the occupational physicians as arising from their own practice. All together the occupational physicians consulted 75 different experts. Almost half of the consulted experts were near colleagues, 10% were industrial hygienists, 8% medical specialists and the rest had a varied background. Fifty three percent (95% confidence interval 42% to 65%) of all professional advice was not in line with the research literature. In 18 cases (24%) professional advice explicitly referred to up-to-date research literature as their used source. These cases were substantially less incorrect (17%) than advice that had not mentioned the literature as a source (65%) (difference 48%, 95% Confidence Interval from 27% to 69%). Conclusion Advice that occupational physicians routinely get in their daily practice differs substantially from best evidence from the literature. Occupational physicians who ask professional advice should always ask about the evidence of this advice. PMID:16131405

  9. Who are the active citizens?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Agger, Annika

    group. This article argues that there are no `ordinary´ citizens, and claims that citizens are very different and participate in various ways. A criticism raised in relation to participatory processes is that these often tend to favour certain modes of communication based on an implicit ideal...... of the citizen as being resourceful, mastering political skills and know-how and time. However, many citizens do not `fit´ this stereotype, and thus there is a risk that many citizens are biased by the way the institutional settings for participation are designed. A characterization of active citizens...

  10. Professional advice

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ottaviani, Marco; Sørensen, Peter Norman

    2006-01-01

    on the basis of the advice given and the realized state of the world. In equilibrium of this reputational cheap-talk game, no more than two messages are effectively reported. The model is extended to consider sequential communication by experts with conditionally independent signals. In the long run, learning...

  11. KOMODIFIKASI WARGA DALAM RUANG CITIZEN JOURNALISM

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rulli Nasrullah

    2012-08-01

    Full Text Available The citizen journalism has been inuenced not only by organization culture of media and news criteria, but also the position of citizens. This entire time citizens are merely a consumers and their position is passive to information produced by traditional media. With the emergence of citizen journalism, now the citizens not only become news consumers but also act as news producers and consumers at the same time (produsage. The commodication of citizen journalism is a phenomenon of counter commidication done by the companies of traditional media. This shown that there are symptoms of attracting each other in the room (market of citizen journalism that the citizens do not always react passively to the exposure of media and become a commodity by traditional media companies or the advertiser, but they also commodify anything as whatever they want to reach. Thus, this research is a rebutting the denition of citizen journalism popularized by Curt Chandler and Jesse Hicks from Penn State University who said that citizen journalism is citizens activities in publishing a content because of their interest to a case without economic motive or personal gain.

  12. The best advice I ever got.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wademan, Daisy

    2005-01-01

    A young manager faces an impasse in his career. He goes to see his mentor at the company, who closes the office door, offers the young man a chair, recounts a few war stories, and serves up a few specific pointers about the problem at hand. Then, just as the young manager is getting up to leave, the elder executive adds one small kernel of avuncular wisdom--which the junior manager carries with him through the rest of his career. Such is the nature of business advice. Or is it? The six essays in this article suggest otherwise. Few of the leaders who tell their stories here got their best advice in stereotypical form, as an aphorism or a platitude. For Ogilvy & Mather chief Shelly Lazarus, profound insight came from a remark aimed at relieving the tension of the moment. For Novartis CEO Daniel Vasella, it was an apt comment, made on a snowy day, back when he was a medical resident. For publishing magnate Earl Graves and Starwood Hotels' Barry Sternlicht, advice they received about trust from early bosses took on ever deeper and more practical meaning as their careers progressed. For Goldman Sachs chairman Henry Paulson, Jr., it was as much his father's example as it was a specific piece of advice his father handed down to him. And fashion designer Liz Lange rejects the very notion that there's inherent wisdom in accepting other people's advice. As these stories demonstrate, people find wisdom when they least expect to, and they never really know what piece of advice will transcend the moment, profoundly affecting how they later make decisions, evaluate people, and examine--and reexamine--their own actions.

  13. Old citizens, new logics: Digital literacy and elderly citizens in Denmark

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Stald, Gitte Bang

    2016-01-01

    and The Danage Association. Theoretically, the article discusses definitions of digital literacy respectively digital citizenship; and it draws on theories on mediatization, media ecologies, and digital governance. REFERENCES (selected) Borchorst, D.S. et al (2016). ”Digitalisering af ældre menneskers hverdag......Old citizens, new logics: Digital literacy and elderly citizens in Denmark Many my age have problems with IT. We are now reasonably informed and we have had computers for many years but our competences are still not tiptop and that is definitely a problem. This 79-year old man talks about...... the challenges he encounters with mastering IT in general and NemID in particular. NemID is the Danish, digital system for interaction between public institutions and citizens. The system was implemented by law in December 2015. The paper focuses on the relation between age, digitization, and citizen self...

  14. 5 CFR 2635.107 - Ethics advice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 5 Administrative Personnel 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Ethics advice. 2635.107 Section 2635.107 Administrative Personnel OFFICE OF GOVERNMENT ETHICS GOVERNMENT ETHICS STANDARDS OF ETHICAL CONDUCT FOR EMPLOYEES OF THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH General Provisions § 2635.107 Ethics advice. (a) As required by §§ 2638.201...

  15. DEVELOPING CITIZEN SAFETY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    VRABIE Catalin

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Is it possible to involve citizens in the process of increasing public safety? Police used, even from its beginnings, the help of citizens, otherwise they would encounter problems in performing its duty - many of its successes were due to the unification of Police forces with the citizens. How citizens get involved? (1 They may be directly asked by the Police officers (a time consuming method because many police officers needs to go on the field to speak with the potential witnesses or (2 by using the mass-media channels (television can address to a large number of potential witnesses in a very short time. We still can see on TV portraits of missing persons, or some other kind of images with which the Police is trying to solve some of its cases (thieves, robbers or burglars surprised by surveillance cameras – why not Internet software application?!

  16. ICTs, Openness and Citizen Perceptions of Government: How Civic Technologies Can Facilitate External Citizen Efficacy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rebecca Rumbul

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available This article examines whether civic technologies deliver an effective technique for developing the political efficacy of citizens and altering their perceived accountability of governments. Employing a survey-based methodology, a quantitative analysis was performed on the users of civic technology sites in the USA, UK, Kenya and South Africa. The primary question posed is whether the specific citizen monitoring actions facilitated by these sites cause a related effect in altering the extent to which citizens believe that governments are responsive to citizen-audit. The results indicate an enhancement in citizen efficacy and perceptions of government accountability. Notable differences detected in the user demographics between the countries studied demonstrate a wide spectrum of citizen usage; however, with common confidence displayed by respondents in the efficacy of the ICT. The findings indicate that the publication and citizen-audit of government information through civic technologies in developed and developing countries increases feelings of external efficacy and perceived government accountability.

  17. The Financial Coaching Advice Model: An Exploration into how it Satisfies Expectations of Quality Advice

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Julie Knutsen

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available For 20 years, the financial planning sector in Australia has been transitioning from a sales-orientated force to aprofession of qualified and skilled practitioners. Today, the potential for professional financial planning adviceto benefit Australians financially, economically and psychologically is recognised by government. Financially,these benefits include increased savings, less interest expense through faster debt reduction, higher investmentreturns and appropriate levels of insurance. Economically, a more financially literate society has the potentialfor less reliance on an already burdened social security system. Psychologically, the benefits include the peaceof mind that comes from an individual being confident in financial matters. However, despite this level ofrecognition and development, national surveys have reported that only a small percentage of the populationactually seek professional financial advice. The factors attributing to these low percentages included the gapsin financial literacy limiting an individual’s engagement in financial matters and consumer’s current mistrust ofthe financial advice business models that remain dominated by commission-driven product sales. Thesedeficiencies have led some financial planning firms to break from financial product sales as the primary advicemodel and focus on financial coaching. Exploratory interviews with the practitioners and clients of a selectedfinancial planning firm have generated insightful discussion into how a financial coaching advice model isachieving the financial, economic and psychological benefits recognised by government as the potentialoutcomes of professional financial advice. The aim of this paper is to present the findings from that discussionand demonstrate the opportunities embedded within a financial coaching advice model. It is argued that thisdiscussion offers a foundation for future research direction in an area currently under researched in

  18. Stepwise Advice Negotiation in Writing Center Peer Tutoring

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, Innhwa

    2014-01-01

    While the delivery and reception of advice is a practice integral to a wide range of settings, little attention has been given to the detailed practices of advice resistance and how it leads to advice negotiation. Based on 7 hours of videotaped tutoring interactions among 6 tutors and 11 tutees, this conversation analytic study examines the…

  19. Citizen participation in public accountability

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Damgaard, Bodil; Lewis, Jenny

    2014-01-01

    In this chapter we offer an analytical framework sensitive to the quality of citizen participation, which is measured in terms of transferred power from the governors to the citizens, and in terms of the degree to which citizens have access to accountability measures. We do this by combining...... Arnstein’s (1969) classic ladder of participation with a focus on citizen participation in regard to bureaucratic accountability, centered on efficiency and learning (cf. Bovens et al. 2008)....

  20. A two-state citizen task force responds to Dept. of Energy on defense waste

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Peelle, E.

    1990-01-01

    Successes in public involvement efforts for nuclear waste management are so few that they deserve careful documentation and analysis. This paper chronicles the goals, process, problems and outcomes of one such success, the Northwest Defense Waste Citizens Forum (CF), created by the DOE-Richland manager in 1986 to advise DOE on its plans for nuclear waste disposal and cleanup of the Hanford site in eastern Washington state. DOE under-took an extensive multi-facted public involvement program to gain advice, understanding and support on heretofore neglected defense waste (DW) cleanup problems. DOE sought broad public input for a draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) at an early stage before all characterization data were complete and before a recommended alternative was formulated. In the evolving, often-controversial, highly-visible area of agency-public interactions, citizen task forces (TFs) have been shown to be useful in developing public policy at the local level. For DOE-Richland, the high-risk gamble in undertaking a public involvement program involving reversals of long-term DOE policies of secrecy and unresponsiveness to its host area paid off handsomely in an improved EIS, better relationships with state agencies and regional businesses, and unexpected political support for DW cleanup funding. The Hanford citizen forum was highly successful in both DOE's and participant views, with significant achievements, unusual process and technical findings of its own. By the authors' criteria discussed earlier for public participation efforts, the CF effort was successful in all 3 areas. The success of this approach suggests its use as a model for other federal cleanup activities

  1. Social Media as a Platform for a Citizen Science Community of Practice

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrea Liberatore

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available As citizen science inherently relies upon unpaid contributors, providing a positive experience for participants is critical. This case study describes the use of social media to support participants of the New Zealand Garden Bird Survey and examines the group’s interactions in its first year through the lens of a community of practice. Communities of practice can provide forums for learning, which is an important outcome of participation by environmental volunteers. Social media can provide the setting for an online community of practice that can support dispersed groups of volunteers and requires little daily input from administrators. While the NZ Garden Bird Survey runs for only nine days annually in June–July, this Facebook group continued to be active and attract new members throughout the year. In the first year of its existence, the group grew to 1,275 members who generated nearly 75,000 interactions (posts, comments, likes, and shares. The group was used to share enthusiasm, ideas, and knowledge about New Zealand’s garden birds. A wide range of birding expertise, from novice to expert, was displayed. The group’s interactions include shared interests, contributed stories, and collective learning. This paper documents our experiences setting up and administering this group and provides advice for citizen science programs that want to use social media to support a community of practice.

  2. Users and non-users of web-based health advice service among Finnish university students – chronic conditions and self-reported health status (a cross-sectional study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Castrén Johanna

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The Internet is increasingly used by citizens as source of health information. Young, highly educated adults use the Internet frequently to search for health-related information. Our study explores whether reported chronic conditions or self-reported health status differed among Finnish university students using the Finnish Student Health Services web-based health advice service compared with those not using the service. Methods Cross-sectional study performed by a national postal survey in 2004. Material: A random sample (n = 5 030 of a population of 101 805 undergraduate Finnish university students aged 19–35. The response rate: 63% (n = 3 153. Main outcome measures: Proportion of university students reporting use a of web-based health advice service, diagnosed chronic conditions, and self-reported health status of users and non-users of a web-based health advice service. Statistical methods: Data were presented with frequency distributions and cross-tabulations and the χ2 test was used. Results 12% (n = 370 of Finnish undergraduate students had used the web-based health advice service and were identified as 'users'. The proportion of male students reporting allergic rhinitis or conjunctivitis was greater among users than non-users (24%, n = 22 vs. 15%, n = 154, χ2, P = .03. The proportion of female students reporting chronic mental health problems was greater among users than non-users (12%, n = 34 vs. 8%, n = 140, χ2, P = .03. There was no statistical significance between the group differences of male or female users and non-users in self-reported health status (good or fairly good, average, rather poor or poor. Conclusion Among young, highly educated adults the use of a web-based health advice service is not associated with self-reported health status. However, a web-based health advice service could offer support for managing several specific chronic conditions. More research data is needed to evaluate the role of

  3. Safety advice sheets

    CERN Multimedia

    HSE Unit

    2013-01-01

    You never know when you might be faced with questions such as: when/how should I dispose of a gas canister? Where can I find an inspection report? How should I handle/store/dispose of a chemical substance…?   The SI section of the DGS/SEE Group is primarily responsible for safety inspections, evaluating the safety conditions of equipment items, premises and facilities. On top of this core task, it also regularly issues “Safety Advice Sheets” on various topics, designed to be of assistance to users but also to recall and reinforce safety rules and procedures. These clear and concise sheets, complete with illustrations, are easy to display in the appropriate areas. The following safety advice sheets have been issued so far: Other sheets will be published shortly. Suggestions are welcome and should be sent to the SI section of the DGS/SEE Group. Please send enquiries to general-safety-visits.service@cern.ch.

  4. Content and Style of Advice in Iran and Canada

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tavakoli, Mahin

    2013-01-01

    The content and nature of nonprofessional advice in Iran, a hierarchical and collectivist culture, was compared to the same type of advice in Canada, an egalitarian and individualist culture. A researcher developed a questionnaire that consisted of 10 letters, each describing a writer's problem and asking for advice. The responses of participants…

  5. Citizen Journalism as Conceptual Practice

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Blaagaard, Bolette

    itizen Journalism as Conceptual Practice provides a conceptualization of citizen journalism as a political practice developed through analyses of an historical and postcolonial case. Arguing that citizen journalism is first and foremost situated, embodied and political rather than networked...... and formulates a critical reading of citizens’ and subjects’ mediated political engagements then as well as now. The book discusses current approaches to citizen journalism before turning to The Herald, which is then read against the grain in an attempt to show the embodied politics of colonial history...... and cultural forms of citizen engagement as these politics evolve in this particular case of journalism...

  6. Explaining customer experience of digital financial advice

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Raaij, W.F.

    2017-01-01

    The goal of this paper is to analyze the customer experience of digital-driven financial advice systems. It is the objective of this study to develop a cross-cultural model for validating customer experiences of digital financial advice. In doing so, both objective and subjective system aspects have

  7. NEON Citizen Science: Planning and Prototyping

    Science.gov (United States)

    Newman, S. J.; Henderson, S.; Gardiner, L. S.; Ward, D.; Gram, W.

    2011-12-01

    The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) will be a national resource for ecological research and education. NEON citizen science projects are being designed to increase awareness and educate citizen scientists about the impacts of climate change, land-use change, and invasive species on continental-scale ecological processes as well as expand NEON data collection capacity by enabling laypersons to collect geographically distributed data. The citizen science area of the NEON web portal will enable citizen scientists to collect, contribute, interpret, and visualize scientific data, as well as access training modules, collection protocols and targeted learning experiences related to citizen science project topics. For NEON, citizen science projects are a means for interested people to interact with and contribute to NEON science. Investigations at vast spatial and temporal scales often require rapid acquisition of large amounts of data from a geographically distributed population of "human sensors." As a continental-scale ecological observatory, NEON is uniquely positioned to develop strategies to effectively integrate data collected by non-scientists into scientific databases. Ultimately, we plan to work collaboratively to transform the practice of science to include "citizens" or non-scientists in the process. Doing science is not limited to scientists, and breaking down the barriers between scientists and citizens will help people better understand the power of using science in their own decision making. In preparation for fully developing the NEON citizen science program, we are partnering with Project BudBurst (PBB), a citizen science project focused on monitoring plant phenology. The educational goals of PBB are to: (1) increase awareness of climate change, (2) educate citizen scientists about the impacts of climate change on plants and the environment, and (3) increase science literacy by engaging participants in the scientific process. Phenology was

  8. ADVICE--Educational System for Teaching Database Courses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cvetanovic, M.; Radivojevic, Z.; Blagojevic, V.; Bojovic, M.

    2011-01-01

    This paper presents a Web-based educational system, ADVICE, that helps students to bridge the gap between database management system (DBMS) theory and practice. The usage of ADVICE is presented through a set of laboratory exercises developed to teach students conceptual and logical modeling, SQL, formal query languages, and normalization. While…

  9. 19 CFR 111.39 - Advice to client.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 19 Customs Duties 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Advice to client. 111.39 Section 111.39 Customs... CUSTOMS BROKERS Duties and Responsibilities of Customs Brokers § 111.39 Advice to client. (a) Withheld or false information. A broker must not withhold information relative to any customs business from a client...

  10. The Management of the Citizen Oriented Applications

    OpenAIRE

    Ion IVAN; Bogdan VINTILĂ

    2010-01-01

    The context of the knowledge based society is presented. The new user requirements in the context of the new society are analyzed. Basic concepts regarding the citizen oriented applications are presented. Issues specific to the citizen oriented applications are presented. The development cycle of the citizen oriented applications is analyzed. The particular elements for developing citizen oriented applications are described. The quality concept for the citizen oriented applications is defined...

  11. Preconditions for Citizen Journalism: A Sociological Assessment

    OpenAIRE

    Hayley Watson

    2011-01-01

    The rise of the citizen journalist and increased attention to this phenomenon requires a sociological assessment that seeks to develop an understanding of how citizen journalism has emerged in contemporary society. This article makes a distinction between two different subcategories of citizen journalism, that is independent and dependent citizen journalism. The purpose of this article is to present four preconditions for citizen journalism to emerge in contemporary society: advanced technolo...

  12. The citizen as datasupplier in E-government

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Arleth, Mette; Schrøder, Anne Lise; Staunstrup, Jan K.

    2006-01-01

    This paper reports on an ongoing study of how to mobilise and utilize the citizen as data supplier in e-government. The role of the citizen is seen in the context of public participation, and a number of possible application areas for online tools where the citizen can serve the public administra......This paper reports on an ongoing study of how to mobilise and utilize the citizen as data supplier in e-government. The role of the citizen is seen in the context of public participation, and a number of possible application areas for online tools where the citizen can serve the public...

  13. Introducing citizen inquiry

    OpenAIRE

    Herodotou, Christothea; Sharples, Mike; Scanlon, Eileen

    2017-01-01

    The term ‘citizen inquiry’ was coined to describe ways that members of the public can learn by initiating or joining shared inquiry-led scientific investigations (Sharples et al., 2013). It merges learning through scientific investigation with mass collaborative participation exemplified in citizen science activities, altering the relationship most people have with research from being passive recipients to becoming actively engaged, and the relationship between scholarship and public understa...

  14. Advice Complexity of the Online Search Problem

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Clemente, Jhoirene; Hromkovič, Juraj; Komm, Dennis

    2016-01-01

    the minimum amount of information needed in order to achieve a certain competitive ratio. We design an algorithm that reads $b$ bits of advice and achieves a competitive ratio of (M/m)^{1/(2^b+1)} where M and m are the maximum and minimum price in the input. We also give a matching lower bound. Furthermore......The online search problem is a fundamental problem in finance. The numerous direct applications include searching for optimal prices for commodity trading and trading foreign currencies. In this paper, we analyze the advice complexity of this problem. In particular, we are interested in identifying......, we compare the power of advice and randomization for this problem....

  15. GYNOTEL: telephone advice to gynaecological surgical patients after discharge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Caljouw, Monique A A; Hogendorf-Burgers, Marja E H J

    2010-12-01

    To investigate in surgical gynaecological patients the types of health problems arising or persisting up to six weeks after discharge and the effectiveness of telephone advice. The decreasing length of hospital stay has increased the need for specific instructions about the postdischarge period. Telephone advice could be a valuable tool to address this problem. To our knowledge, postdischarge health problems and the value of telephone advice have not been investigated among gynaecological patients. Randomised controlled trial. Gynaecological patients expected to stay in the ward longer than 24 hour were invited to participate. A pilot study showed that wound healing, pain, mobility, urination, defecation and vaginal bleeding were the most common health problems postdischarge. Based on that information, guidelines were formulated that were used by trained nurses to give telephone advice to the intervention group (n=235), in addition to the usual care. The control group of gynaecological patients (n=233) received usual care only. Of all 468 participants, about 50% were operated for general gynaecology. At discharge, wound pain (56%), mobility problems (54%) and constipation (27%) were the most frequently mentioned problems in both groups. Participants who completely followed the advice with regard to wound healing (p=0.02), pain (p=0.01), vaginal bleeding (p=0.03) and mobility (p=0.04) experienced greater improvement than participants who did not follow, or only partly followed, the advice. The telephone advice appears to make a significant contribution to help gynaecological surgical patients to solve or reduce their postdischarge health problems. The positive effect of such advice can be interpreted as an improvement in the quality of life of the postoperative gynaecological patient. © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  16. Design processes of a citizen inquiry community

    OpenAIRE

    Aristeidou, Maria; Scanlon, Eileen; Sharples, Mike

    2017-01-01

    As with other online communities, it is important to design elements of citizen inquiry projects that will attract and engage members. This chapter describes the process of designing an online community for citizen inquiry. It builds on design principles of inquiry learning, citizen inquiry and other online communities. The ‘Weather-it’ citizen inquiry community is intended to engage and support people in initiating and joining sustainable citizen-led investigations. The findings indicate som...

  17. Citizen Satisfaction: Political Voice and Cognitive Biases

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Larsen, Morten Hjortskov

    in the first place? Do irrelevant influences affect the citizens’ evaluations of performance? Can we raise the representativeness of citizen satisfaction surveys by engaging citizens in the production of the public services? The dissertation addresses these questions using a wide range of experimental......Citizen satisfaction is increasingly being used as a measure of public service performance. It offers a performance measure that potentially encompasses many of the important attributes of the services that public managers would like to evaluate, some of which are not easily captured by other...... performance measures. At the same time, citizen satisfaction represents a citizen-centered approach to public management. But is citizen satisfaction in fact strongly related to performance and are satisfaction surveys representative of the citizens? By drawing on theories from classic public administration...

  18. Achieving Appropriate Gestational Weight Gain: The Role of Healthcare Provider Advice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deputy, Nicholas P; Sharma, Andrea J; Kim, Shin Y; Olson, Christine K

    2018-01-10

    The Institute of Medicine (IOM) revised gestational weight gain recommendations in 2009. We examined associations between healthcare provider advice about gestational weight gain and inadequate or excessive weight gain, stratified by prepregnancy body mass index category. We analyzed cross-sectional data from women delivering full-term (37-42 weeks of gestation), singleton infants from four states that participated in the 2010-2011 Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (unweighted n = 7125). Women reported the weight gain range (start and end values) advised by their healthcare provider; advice was categorized as follows: starting below recommendations, starting and ending within recommendations (IOM consistent), ending above recommendations, not remembered, or not received. We examined associations between healthcare provider advice and inadequate or excessive, compared with appropriate, gestational weight gain using adjusted prevalence ratios (aPR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Overall, 26.3% of women reported receiving IOM-consistent healthcare provider advice; 26.0% received no advice. Compared with IOM-consistent advice, advice below recommendations was associated with higher likelihood of inadequate weight gain among underweight (aPR 2.22, CI 1.29-3.82) and normal weight women (aPR 1.57, CI 1.23-2.02); advice above recommendations was associated with higher likelihood of excessive weight gain among all but underweight women (aPR range 1.36, CI 1.08-1.72 to aPR 1.42, CI 1.19-1.71). Not remembering or not receiving advice was associated with both inadequate and excessive weight gain. Few women reported receiving IOM-consistent advice; not receiving IOM-consistent advice put women at-risk for weight gain outside recommendations. Strategies that raise awareness of IOM recommendations and address barriers to providing advice are needed.

  19. Citizen participation in nuclear waste repository siting

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Howell, R.E.; Olsen, D.

    1982-12-01

    The following study presents a proposed strategy for citizen participation during the planning stages of nuclear waste repository siting. It discusses the issue from the general perspective of citizen participation in controversial issues and in community development. Second, rural institutions and attitudes toward energy development as the context for developing a citizen participation program are examined. Third, major citizen participation techniques and the advantages and disadvantages of each approach for resolving public policy issues are evaluated. Fourth, principles of successful citizen participation are presented. Finally, a proposal for stimulating and sustaining effective responsible citizen participation in nuclear waste repository siting and management is developed

  20. No Effect of Writing Advice on Reading Comprehension

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Balling, Laura Winther

    2018-01-01

    This article considers text comprehension through the integrated perspectives of language processing research and practical writing advice as expressed in writing guides and language policies. Such guides for instance include advice to use active constructions instead of passives and sentences...

  1. The Management of the Citizen Oriented Applications

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ion IVAN

    2010-04-01

    Full Text Available The context of the knowledge based society is presented. The new user requirements in the context of the new society are analyzed. Basic concepts regarding the citizen oriented applications are presented. Issues specific to the citizen oriented applications are presented. The development cycle of the citizen oriented applications is analyzed. The particular elements for developing citizen oriented applications are described. The quality concept for the citizen oriented applications is defined. Quality characteristics and the costs of quality are defined and analyzed. A system of indicators for the quantification of the quality of the citizen oriented applications is developed. Ways of increasing the quality of the applications are analyzed. Issues as improving the users’ training level, implementing new development techniques, advanced testing techniques and the requirement of audit are approached. The concept of optimization is defined. Optimum criteria are defined and analyzed. Ways of optimizing applications are described. Security requirements are enumerated and described. The particularities of the security requirements for the citizen oriented applications are analyzed. Measures for ensuring the security of the citizen oriented applications are described. A citizen oriented application for the analysis of the structured entities is developed. The application collects data regarding the behavior of the users. The collected data are used for verifying the hypotheses regarding the quality characteristics if the citizen oriented informatics applications.

  2. Academics and Citizens Working Together

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bogen, D., Jr.

    2017-12-01

    Traditionally Academics and citizens have contributed to each other lives but friction has always existed between the two. When there is a hostile relationship between community members and Academics, the collection of data suffers, which in returns hurts the potential solutions to community problems. Combining Community Based Participatory Research and the BISCO Community Organizing Model, {Listens, Identify, Research, offer solution}, these frictions can be limited, creating better working environments, and producing better data. Helping create and participating in workgroups, including NGO's, Academics and Citizens leaders, have produce better working environments. Using these methods within the work groups I observed, relationships being form between Academics and Citizens. Some of the relationships were both public and private. The workgroups that created space for professional and personal stories telling produced the most relationships. Listening and understand each other, before research have proven to be successful in producing trust between Academics and Citizens. When Academics and Citizens developed trust between themselves, each party respects the other limitation. Knowing each limitation is perhaps the most key element in working together, which eliminates over promises and culture hindrance within the community. It's amazing like getting the answers to the test before you take it. The project becomes richer in design, when there is trust in the process before it begins. Working together to eliminating potential road blocks ahead of time, enhance the project chances to produce, richer data.Academics cannot produce good data if citizens withhold information and citizens cannot solve their social ills if they do not have good data, in short we need each other.

  3. Citizen surveillance for environmental monitoring: combining the efforts of citizen science and crowdsourcing in a quantitative data framework.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Welvaert, Marijke; Caley, Peter

    2016-01-01

    Citizen science and crowdsourcing have been emerging as methods to collect data for surveillance and/or monitoring activities. They could be gathered under the overarching term citizen surveillance . The discipline, however, still struggles to be widely accepted in the scientific community, mainly because these activities are not embedded in a quantitative framework. This results in an ongoing discussion on how to analyze and make useful inference from these data. When considering the data collection process, we illustrate how citizen surveillance can be classified according to the nature of the underlying observation process measured in two dimensions-the degree of observer reporting intention and the control in observer detection effort. By classifying the observation process in these dimensions we distinguish between crowdsourcing, unstructured citizen science and structured citizen science. This classification helps the determine data processing and statistical treatment of these data for making inference. Using our framework, it is apparent that published studies are overwhelmingly associated with structured citizen science, and there are well developed statistical methods for the resulting data. In contrast, methods for making useful inference from purely crowd-sourced data remain under development, with the challenges of accounting for the unknown observation process considerable. Our quantitative framework for citizen surveillance calls for an integration of citizen science and crowdsourcing and provides a way forward to solve the statistical challenges inherent to citizen-sourced data.

  4. Climate change discourses and citizen participation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lassen, Inger; Horsbøl, Anders; Bonnen, Kersten

    2011-01-01

    of Denmark. We analyze how central actors are called upon to act, and how citizens are addressed in the call for action in the two sets of data. Paving the way for the empirical analysis, the first part of the article gives a review of contemporary literature on climate change typologies and discourses......Citizen participation is a recurrent and democratically important issue in the ongoing debate about climate change. However, different meanings are ascribed to citizen participation in different contexts and discourses, ranging from top-down involvement to bottom-up engagement. This article...... within different research fields, assessing how citizen participation is articulated within these discourses. Finally, we address some needs for increased citizen participation in the climate change debate....

  5. Citizen Expectations and Satisfaction Over Time

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hjortskov, Morten

    2018-01-01

    Expectations are thought to affect how citizens form their attitudes and behavior toward public services. Such attitudes may include citizen satisfaction, where expectations play a fundamental role, and relevant behaviors include choice of services and the decision to voice opinions about them....... However, there are few investigations into what drives citizen expectations and even fewer that consider these relationships across time. This article tests whether prior expectations, perceived performance, and citizen satisfaction influence future expectations, using a unique dataset that follows...... individual citizens across two subsequent school satisfaction surveys from 2011 and 2013. The results show that prior expectations have a large and consistent influence on future expectations, as predicted by the literature, whereas the influence from prior perceived performance seems less consistent. Prior...

  6. Citizen Sky, An Update on the AAVSO's New Citizen Science Project

    Science.gov (United States)

    Turner, Rebecca; Price, A.; Henden, A.; Stencel, R.; Kloppenborg, B.

    2011-01-01

    Citizen Sky is a multi-year, NSF-funded, citizen science project focusing on the bright variable star, epsilon Aurigae. Citizen Sky goes beyond simple observing to include a major data analysis component. The goal is to introduce the participant to the full scientific process from background research to paper writing for a peer-reviewed journal. The first year of the project, 2009-10, was dedicated to developing project infrastructure, educating participants about epsilon Aurigae, and training these participants to observe the star and report their data. Looking forward, years two and three of the project will focus on assembling teams of participants to work on their own analysis and research. Results will be published in a special issue of the peer-reviewed Journal of the AAVSO. This project has been made possible by the National Science Foundation.

  7. Shark Citizen Science

    OpenAIRE

    Bear, Michael

    2017-01-01

    Traditionally, academic science has used graduate students to collect data in many cases, but community science, the term by which citizen science is also known, has revolutionized the process by which large amounts of data can be collected accurately by large numbers of non-scientists under the training and mentorship of scientists. There has been some discussion in the scientific community about whether the data collected by citizen scientists is as scientifically valid as data collected by...

  8. The Development of Citizen Oriented Informatics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ion IVAN

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available We define the concept of citizen-oriented computer application. Quality characteristics are set for computer applications developed in the conditions of citizen-oriented computing and outline the development cycle for these applications. It defines the conditions of existence for citizen-oriented applications. Average and long-term strategies are elaborated.

  9. No Effect of Writing Advice on Reading Comprehension

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balling, Laura Winther

    2018-01-01

    This article considers text comprehension through the integrated perspectives of language processing research and practical writing advice as expressed in writing guides and language policies. Such guides for instance include advice to use active constructions instead of passives and sentences instead of nominalizations. These recommended and…

  10. Citizen Astronomy in China: An Overview

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ye, Quan-Zhi

    2018-01-01

    Citizen astronomers have benefited from technological advancements in the recent decades as they fill the scientific gaps left by professional astronomers, in the areas such as time domain observations, visual classification and data mining. Here I present an overview of the current status of citizen astronomy in China. Chinese citizen astronomers have made a visible contribution in the discoveries of new objects; however, comparing to their counterparts in the western world, they appear to be less interested in researches that do not involve making new discovery, such as visual classification, long-term monitoring of objects, and data mining. From a questionnaire survey that aimed to investigate the motivation of Chinese citizen astronomers, we find that this population is predominantly male (92%) who mostly reside in economically developed provinces. A large fraction (69%) of the respondents are students and young professionals younger than the age of 25, which differs significantly from the occupation and age distribution of typical Chinese Internet users as well as the user distribution of large international citizen science projects such as the Galaxy Zoo. This suggests that youth generation in China is more willing to participate citizen astronomy research than average generation. Additionally, we find that interests in astronomy, desire to learn new knowledges, have a fun experience and meet new friends in the community are all important driving factors for Chinese citizen astronomers to participate research. This also differs from their counterparts in western countries. With a large youth population that is interested in astronomy as well as a number of large astronomical facilities that are being planned or built, we believe that citizen astronomy in China has a vast potential. Timely and proper guidance from the professionals will be essential to help citizen astronomers to fulfill this potential.

  11. Developing Citizen Leaders through Action Learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Foley, Dolores

    2006-01-01

    This is an account of a programmer utilizing the application of action learning to the development of capacities of citizens. The Citizen Leadership for Democratic Governance is designed to equip citizens with the skills to get involved and handle the difficult tasks of governance in their communities in South Africa. After a history of apartheid…

  12. Citizen Sensing for Improved Urban Environmental Monitoring

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Qijun Jiang

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Citizen science is increasingly being used in diverse research domains. With the emergence and rapid development of sensor technologies, citizens potentially have more powerful tools to collect data and generate information to understand their living environment. Although sensor technologies are developing fast, citizen sensing has not been widely implemented yet and published studies are only a few. In this paper, we analyse the practical experiences from an implementation of citizen sensing for urban environment monitoring. A bottom-up model in which citizens develop and use sensors for environmental monitoring is described and assessed. The paper focuses on a case study of Amsterdam Smart Citizens Lab using NO2 sensors for air quality monitoring. We found that the bottom-up citizen sensing is still challenging but can be successful with open cooperation and effective use of online and offline facilities. Based on the assessment, suggestions are proposed for further implementations and research.

  13. Fiscal State-citizen Alignment

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Celik, Tim Holst

    2016-01-01

    The 2008 crisis ended the growth bubble of the 2000s, which Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) governments facilitated through the normative/political-regulatory promotion of household indebtedness. Historically contextualizing this state-citizen relationship, this arti......The 2008 crisis ended the growth bubble of the 2000s, which Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) governments facilitated through the normative/political-regulatory promotion of household indebtedness. Historically contextualizing this state-citizen relationship...... fiscal attentiveness to ordinary consumer-citizens. By uncovering the sociohistorical conditions governing the dominant precrisis regime, it not only nuances our understanding of the crisis but also of neoliberalism and suggests the implausibility of returning to “Golden Age” democratic capitalism....

  14. Advice-giving in the English lingua franca classroom

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    important pragmatic differences between the ways in which advice is given by native speakers and ... gender differences and that teacher modeling may have an effect on which available form of advice-giving a ... nation wishes to participate in global enterprises such as international finance, multi-national corporations, and ...

  15. Science experiences of citizen scientists in entomology research

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lynch, Louise I.

    Citizen science is an increasingly popular collaboration between members of the public and the scientific community to pursue current research questions. In addition to providing researchers with much needed volunteer support, it is a unique and promising form of informal science education that can counter declining public science literacy, including attitudes towards and understanding of science. However, the impacts of citizen science programs on participants' science literacy remains elusive. The purpose of this study was to balance the top-down approach to citizen science research by exploring how adult citizen scientists participate in entomology research based on their perceptions and pioneer mixed methods research to investigate and explain the impacts of citizen science programs. Transference, in which citizen scientists transfer program impacts to people around them, was uncovered in a grounded theory study focused on adults in a collaborative bumble bee research program. Most of the citizen scientists involved in entomology research shared their science experiences and knowledge with people around them. In certain cases, expertise was attributed to the individual by others. Citizen scientists then have the opportunity to acquire the role of expert to those around them and influence knowledge, attitudinal and behavioral changes in others. An intervention explanatory sequential mixed methods design assessed how entomology-based contributory citizen science affects science self-efficacy, self-efficacy for environmental action, nature relatedness and attitude towards insects in adults. However, no statistically significant impacts were evident. A qualitative follow-up uncovered a discrepancy between statistically measured changes and perceived influences reported by citizen scientists. The results have important implications for understanding how citizen scientists learn, the role of citizen scientists in entomology research, the broader program impacts and

  16. A phenomenologic investigation of pediatric residents' experiences being parented and giving parenting advice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bax, A C; Shawler, P M; Blackmon, D L; DeGrace, E W; Wolraich, M L

    2016-09-01

    Factors surrounding pediatricians' parenting advice and training on parenting during residency have not been well studied. The primary purpose of this study was to examine pediatric residents' self-reported experiences giving parenting advice and explore the relationship between parenting advice given and types of parenting residents received as children. Thirteen OUHSC pediatric residents were individually interviewed to examine experiences being parented and giving parenting advice. Phenomenological methods were used to explicate themes and secondary analyses explored relationships of findings based upon Baumrind's parenting styles (authoritative, authoritarian, permissive). While childhood experiences were not specifically correlated to the parenting advice style of pediatric residents interviewed, virtually all reported relying upon childhood experiences to generate their advice. Those describing authoritative parents reported giving more authoritative advice while others reported more variable advice. Core interview themes related to residents' parenting advice included anxiety about not being a parent, varying advice based on families' needs, and emphasis of positive interactions and consistency. Themes related to how residents were parented included discipline being a learning process for their parents and recalling that their parents always had expectations, yet always loved them. Pediatric residents interviewed reported giving family centered parenting advice with elements of positive interactions and consistency, but interviews highlighted many areas of apprehension residents have around giving parenting advice. Our study suggests that pediatric residents may benefit from more general educational opportunities to develop the content of their parenting advice, including reflecting on any impact from their own upbringing.

  17. From single-species advice to mixed-species management: taking the next step

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Vinther, Morten; Reeves, S.A.; Patterson, K.R.

    2004-01-01

    Fishery management advice has traditionally been given on a stock-by-stock basis. Recent problems in implementing this advice, particularly for the demersal fisheries of the North Sea, have highlighted the limitations of the approach. In the long term, it would be desirable to give advice...... that accounts for mixed-fishery effects, but in the short term there is a need for approaches to resolve the conflicting management advice for different species within the same fishery, and to generate catch or effort advice that accounts for the mixed-species nature of the fishery. This paper documents...... a recent approach used to address these problems. The approach takes the single-species advice for each species in the fishery as a starting point, then attempts to resolve it into consistent catch or effort advice using fleet-disaggregated catch forecasts in combination with explicitly stated management...

  18. Valuing future citizens' values regarding risk

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fleming, Patricia

    2006-01-01

    Valuing present citizen's values regarding the risks they face is an important aspect of risk assessment and risk acceptability. Conferences like VALDOR are held for this reason. Governments like Sweden have national referendums on various risk-prone enterprises. The results of these referendums can determine the future of these programs. In the United States, when guidelines are set for determining acceptable levels of risk, the relevant federal agencies are often required to provide a comment period regarding proposed guidelines in order to ascertain the judgments, including the weights place on certain values, of individual members of society as well as stakeholder groups. After the comment period ends, the agency decides on the acceptable level of risk, taking into account the comments from present citizens. Do we also have a duty to value the not-yet-existing values of future citizens, especially if the risks created by the activities of present citizens extend into the future to citizens not yet living? If so, are there any circumstances which entitle us to de-value those not-yet-existing values. In this paper, I ground my discussion of the question of valuing future citizens' values in one of the areas of focus of the VALDOR conference: nuclear waste management and specifically the question facing the United States' program regarding an acceptable dose standard associated with the release of radioactivity into the biosphere from an underground repository. The underlying conference theme to which this discussion may be attached is community environmental justice as it applies to future citizens. I focus on the role that uncertainty plays is providing justice between present and future citizens

  19. Valuing future citizens' values regarding risk

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fleming, Patricia [Creighton Univ., Omaha (United States). College of Arts and Sciences/Philosophy

    2006-09-15

    Valuing present citizen's values regarding the risks they face is an important aspect of risk assessment and risk acceptability. Conferences like VALDOR are held for this reason. Governments like Sweden have national referendums on various risk-prone enterprises. The results of these referendums can determine the future of these programs. In the United States, when guidelines are set for determining acceptable levels of risk, the relevant federal agencies are often required to provide a comment period regarding proposed guidelines in order to ascertain the judgments, including the weights place on certain values, of individual members of society as well as stakeholder groups. After the comment period ends, the agency decides on the acceptable level of risk, taking into account the comments from present citizens. Do we also have a duty to value the not-yet-existing values of future citizens, especially if the risks created by the activities of present citizens extend into the future to citizens not yet living? If so, are there any circumstances which entitle us to de-value those not-yet-existing values. In this paper, I ground my discussion of the question of valuing future citizens' values in one of the areas of focus of the VALDOR conference: nuclear waste management and specifically the question facing the United States' program regarding an acceptable dose standard associated with the release of radioactivity into the biosphere from an underground repository. The underlying conference theme to which this discussion may be attached is community environmental justice as it applies to future citizens. I focus on the role that uncertainty plays is providing justice between present and future citizens.

  20. Citizen Goals Online

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Catalin Vrabie

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to give to public institution Web designers a better understanding of the citizens’ objectives when accessing a Web page. Understanding citizen online goals is critical because it gets to the heart of what the public institution website should or could “do.” Approach: The challenge for e-marketers is that for most agencies/institutions, there are likely to be multiple goals that represent the “reason why” citizens could come to the website. For example, a national theatre website might be very effective for people who have already been there, they know effectively what place is the best, who are the actors, etc. Research limitations: The nature of a public institution activity almost dictates the different types of goals that consumers have when visiting the site. It is clear that a citizen has a different goal when accessing a theatre Web page or when he’s accessing a municipality Web page. This is the biggest impediment for drawing a good conceptual model for a public institution Web page. Practical implications: there are likely to be many other goals that could lead people to visit the site, like receiving customer service or leaving a remark. Value: Since citizen online goals represent the starting point for Web design efforts (for public institutions, this article has attempted to highlight the nature and types of goals that e-marketers might consider when planning what their website should do in order to create. Findings: The goal a site visitor has when arriving at a website tends to be very action oriented. If the visitor has never visited the site before, the goal may simply be to evaluate the website and figure out what the site is and if it will help him. On the other hand, if the visitor has reached the site as the result of a directed search or is a repeat visitor, the user goal is likely to be specific and functional. If important citizen goals are not supported by the website, the public

  1. Citizen Goals Online

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Catalin Vrabie

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to give to public institution Web designers a better understanding of the citizens’ objectives when accessing a Web page. Understanding citizen online goals is critical because it gets to the heart of what the public institution website should or could “do.”Approach: The challenge for e-marketers is that for most agencies/institutions, there are likely to be multiple goals that represent the “reason why” citizens could come to the website. For example, a national theatre website might be very effective for people who have already been there, they know effectively what place is the best, who are the actors, etc.Research limitations: The nature of a public institution activity almost dictates the different types of goals that consumers have when visiting the site. It is clear that a citizen has a different goal when accessing a theatre Web page or when he’s accessing a municipality Web page. This is the biggest impediment for drawing a good conceptual model for a public institution Web page.Practical implications: there are likely to be many other goals that could lead people to visit the site, like receiving customer service or leaving a remark.Value: Since citizen online goals represent the starting point for Web design efforts (for public institutions, this article has attempted to highlight the nature and types of goals that e-marketers might consider when planning what their website should do in order to create.Findings: The goal a site visitor has when arriving at a website tends to be very action oriented. If the visitor has never visited the site before, the goal may simply be to evaluate the website and figure out what the site is and if it will help him. On the other hand, if the visitor has reached the site as the result of a directed search or is a repeat visitor, the user goal is likely to be specific and functional. If important citizen goals are not supported by the website, the public

  2. Empowering citizens or mining resources? The contested domain of citizen engagement in professional care services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Glimmerveen, Ludo; Ybema, Sierk; Nies, Henk

    2018-04-01

    When studying individual attempts to foster citizen engagement, scholars have pointed to the coexistence of competing rationales. Thus far, however, current literature barely elaborates on the socio-political processes through which employees of professional organizations deal with such disparate considerations. To address this gap, this article builds on an ethnographic study, conducted in the Netherlands between 2013 and 2016, of a professional care organization's attempts to engage local citizens in one of its elderly care homes. To investigate how citizen engagement is 'done' in the context of daily organizing, we followed employees as they gradually created and demarcated the scope for such engagement by approaching citizens as either strategic partners (pursuing 'democratic' rationales) or as operational volunteers (pursuing 'instrumental' rationales). In order to deal with such potentially incongruent orientations, we found that employees used discursive strategies to influence the balance that was struck between competing rationales; either through depoliticization-i.e., the downplaying of incongruities and the framing of disparate considerations as being complementary within the pursuit of a shared, overarching goal-or through politicization, i.e., the active challenging of how their colleagues prioritized one consideration over another. By showing how the successful conveyance of such (de)politicized accounts helped employees either defend or redraw the boundaries of what citizen engagement was (not) about, we contribute to extant theorization by (1) developing a processual approach to studying citizen engagement that (2) is sensitive to organizational politics. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. Explaining customer experience of digital financial advice

    OpenAIRE

    van Raaij, W.F.

    2017-01-01

    The goal of this paper is to analyze the customer experience of digital-driven financial advice systems. It is the objective of this study to develop a cross-cultural model for validating customer experiences of digital financial advice. In doing so, both objective and subjective system aspects have been considered. It is found that experiential subjective system aspects are the most important. Surveys have been conducted in The United Kingdom and The Netherlands. In exploratory factor analys...

  4. The citizens in E-participation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Henning Sten; Reinau, Kristian Hegner

    2006-01-01

    focus on the citizens. Equal opportunities to express their opinions and an open debate between people are the basic foundation for democracy. Therefore the design of participatory processes must take outset in the citizens and their knowledge and commitment concerning the issue to be debated...

  5. Analysis and design of advice

    CERN Document Server

    Jureta, Ivan

    2011-01-01

    This innovative book offers a rigorous approach to the analysis and design of advice in real-world decision situations, in which the advisor must manage with variously imprecise, unclear, incomplete or conflicting qualitative information.

  6. Financial Advice: Who Pays

    Science.gov (United States)

    Finke, Michael S.; Huston, Sandra J.; Winchester, Danielle D.

    2011-01-01

    Using a cost-benefit framework for financial planning services and proprietary data collected in the summer of 2008, the client characteristics that are associated with the likelihood of paying for professional financial advice, as well as the type of financial services purchased, are identified. Results indicate that respondents who pay for…

  7. The design, purpose, and effects of voting advice applications

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Rosema, Martin; Anderson, Joel; Walgrave, Stefaan

    2014-01-01

    In recent electoral politics, one of the most striking internet-related developments is the increasingly widespread use of Voting Advice Applications (VAAs). In this introduction to the symposium devoted to analysing the design, purpose, and effects of voting advice applications, we briefly discuss

  8. Citizen's Report

    Data.gov (United States)

    Office of Personnel Management — The fiscal year (FY) 2008 Citizen's Report is a summary of performance and financial results for the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM). OPM chose to produce...

  9. Direct Citizen Participation: Building a Theory

    OpenAIRE

    Robert, Nancy C.

    2003-01-01

    The subject of citizen participation has a long lineage dating back to the Greek city-states. Two questions have been central to its history: Who is a citizen and how should the citizen participate in governance? Responses to these questions have varied depending on the political and administrative theory one champions. Those who value indirect citizenship participation, or representative democracy, cite the dangers, costs, and logistical difficulties of involving all members of a society. Th...

  10. Addressing the social dimensions of citizen observatories: The Ground Truth 2.0 socio-technical approach for sustainable implementation of citizen observatories

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wehn, Uta; Joshi, Somya; Pfeiffer, Ellen; Anema, Kim; Gharesifard, Mohammad; Momani, Abeer

    2017-04-01

    Owing to ICT-enabled citizen observatories, citizens can take on new roles in environmental monitoring, decision making and co-operative planning, and environmental stewardship. And yet implementing advanced citizen observatories for data collection, knowledge exchange and interactions to support policy objectives is neither always easy nor successful, given the required commitment, trust, and data reliability concerns. Many efforts are facing problems with the uptake and sustained engagement by citizens, limited scalability, unclear long-term sustainability and limited actual impact on governance processes. Similarly, to sustain the engagement of decision makers in citizen observatories, mechanisms are required from the start of the initiative in order to have them invest in and, hence, commit to and own the entire process. In order to implement sustainable citizen observatories, these social dimensions therefore need to be soundly managed. We provide empirical evidence of how the social dimensions of citizen observatories are being addressed in the Ground Truth 2.0 project, drawing on a range of relevant social science approaches. This project combines the social dimensions of citizen observatories with enabling technologies - via a socio-technical approach - so that their customisation and deployment is tailored to the envisaged societal and economic impacts of the observatories. The projects consists of the demonstration and validation of six scaled up citizen observatories in real operational conditions both in the EU and in Africa, with a specific focus on flora and fauna as well as water availability and water quality for land and natural resources management. The demonstration cases (4 EU and 2 African) cover the full 'spectrum' of citizen-sensed data usage and citizen engagement, and therefore allow testing and validation of the socio-technical concept for citizen observatories under a range of conditions.

  11. Citizen Science for public health

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Broeder, Den Lea; Devilee, Jeroen; Oers, Van Hans; Schuit, A.J.; Wagemakers, Annemarie

    2016-01-01

    Community engagement in public health policy is easier said than done. One reason is that public health policy is produced in a complex process resulting in policies that may appear not to link up to citizen perspectives. We therefore address the central question as to whether citizen engagement in

  12. Citizen Science for public health

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Den Broeder, Lea; Devilee, Jeroen; Van Oers, J.A.M.; Schuit, A.J.; Wagemakers, Annemarie

    2017-01-01

    Community engagement in public health policy is easier said than done. One reason is that public health policy is produced in a complex process resulting in policies that may appear not to link up to citizen perspectives. We therefore address the central question as to whether citizen engagement in

  13. 5 CFR 1304.4607 - Advice to former Government employees.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 5 Administrative Personnel 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Advice to former Government employees. 1304.4607 Section 1304.4607 Administrative Personnel OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES POST EMPLOYMENT CONFLICT OF INTEREST § 1304.4607 Advice to former Government employees. The Office...

  14. Associations for Citizen Science: Regional Knowledge, Global Collaboration

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Martin Storksdieck

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Since 2012, three organizations advancing the work of citizen science practitioners have arisen in different regions: The primarily US-based but globally open Citizen Science Association (CSA, the European Citizen Science Association (ECSA, and the Australian Citizen Science Association (ACSA. These associations are moving rapidly to establish themselves and to develop inter-association collaborations. We consider the factors driving this emergence and the significance of this trend for citizen science as a field of practice, as an area of scholarship, and for the culture of scientific research itself.

  15. The implementation of ergonomics advice and the stage of change approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rothmore, Paul; Aylward, Paul; Karnon, Jonathan

    2015-11-01

    This paper investigates the implementation of injury prevention advice tailored according to the Stage of Change (SOC) approach. The managers of 25 workgroups, drawn from medium to large companies across a wide range of occupational sectors were allocated to receive either standard ergonomics advice or ergonomics advice tailored according to the workgroup SOC. Twelve months after the advice was provided, semi-structured interviews were conducted with each manager. In a multivariate model, managers who had received tailored advice were found to have implemented significantly more of the recommended changes (IRR = 1.68, 95% CI 1.07-2.63) and more "additional" changes (IRR = 1.90, 95% CI 1.12-3.20). Qualitative analysis identified that the key barriers and facilitators to the implementation of changes were largely related to worker resistance to change and the attitudes of senior managers towards health and safety. The findings from this study suggest that the implementation of ergonomics recommendations may be improved by the tailoring of advice according to SOC principles. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

  16. On Advice Complexity of the k-server Problem under Sparse Metrics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gupta, S.; Kamali, S.; López-Ortiz, A.

    2013-01-01

    O (n(log μ +log logN)) bits of advice. Among other results, this gives a 3-competitive algorithm for planar graphs, provided with O (n log log N) bits of advice. On the other side, we show that an advice of size Ω (n) is required to obtain a 1-competitive algorithm for sequences of size n even......We consider the k-Server problem under the advice model of computation when the underlying metric space is sparse. On one side, we introduce Θ (1)-competitive algorithms for a wide range of sparse graphs, which require advice of (almost) linear size. Namely, we show that for graphs of size N...... and treewidth α, there is an online algorithm which receives O (n(log α +log log N))1 bits of advice and optimally serves a sequence of length n. With a different argument, we show that if a graph admits a system of μ collective tree (q, r)- spanners, then there is a (q + r)-competitive algorithm which receives...

  17. 21st-Century Citizen Science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nugent, Jill; Smith, Walter; Cook, Linda; Bell, Meredith

    2015-01-01

    With rapidly evolving technology, the world is more connected than ever, and citizens around the globe can contribute to science like never before (Dickinson and Bonney 2012). Reflecting the growing capacity of citizen science, this article presents a science education continuum that moves from global awareness to global contribution. At each…

  18. 29 CFR 1400.735-3 - Advice and counseling service.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 29 Labor 4 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Advice and counseling service. 1400.735-3 Section 1400.735-3 Labor Regulations Relating to Labor (Continued) FEDERAL MEDIATION AND CONCILIATION SERVICE STANDARDS OF CONDUCT, RESPONSIBILITIES, AND DISCIPLINE General § 1400.735-3 Advice and counseling service...

  19. The Citizen Cyberscience Lectures - 1) Mobile phones and Africa: a success story 2) Citizen Problem Solving

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN. Geneva; Bingham, Alpheus

    2009-01-01

    Dr. Alpheus Bingham, InnoCentive The Citizen Cyberscience Lectures are hosted by the partners of the Citizen Cyberscience Centre, CERN, The UN Institute of Training and Research and the University of Geneva. The goal of the Lectures is to provide an inspirational forum for participants from the various international organizations and academic institutions in Geneva to explore how information technology is enabling greater citizen participation in tackling global development challenges as well as global scientific research. The first Citizen Cyberscience Lectures will welcome two speakers who have both made major innovative contributions in this area. Dr. Mo Ibrahim, founder of Celtel International, one of Africa’s most successful mobile network operators, will talk about “Mobile phones and Africa: a success story”. Dr. Alpheus Bingham, founder of InnoCentive, a Web-based community that solves indus...

  20. Advice taking from humans and machines: an fMRI and effective connectivity study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kimberly Goodyear

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available With new technological advances, advice can come from different sources such as machines or humans, but how individuals respond to such advice and the neural correlates involved need to be better understood. We combined functional MRI and multivariate Granger causality analysis with an X-ray luggage-screening task to investigate the neural basis and corresponding effective connectivity involved with advice utilization from agents framed as experts. Participants were asked to accept or reject good or bad advice from a human or machine agent with low reliability (high false alarm rate. We showed that unreliable advice decreased performance overall and participants interacting with the human agent had a greater depreciation of advice utilization during bad advice compared to the machine agent. These differences in advice utilization can be perceivably due to reevaluation of expectations arising from association of dispositional credibility for each agent. We demonstrated that differences in advice utilization engaged brain regions that may be associated with evaluation of personal characteristics and traits (precuneus, posterior cingulate cortex, temporoparietal junction and interoception (posterior insula. We found that the right posterior insula and left precuneus were the drivers of the advice utilization network that were reciprocally connected to each other and also projected to all other regions. Our behavioral and neuroimaging results have significant implications for society because of progressions in technology and increased interactions with machines.

  1. Patient characteristics associated with receipt of lifestyle behavior advice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Corsino, Leonor; Svetkey, Laura P; Ayotte, Brian J; Bosworth, Hayden B

    2009-01-01

    Lifestyle behaviors such as reducing weight if overweight or obese, reducing salt intake, exercising, reducing alcohol intake, quitting smoking, and eating a healthy diet are related to the prevention and control of chronic diseases. However the amount of lifestyle advice provided by clinicians has been declining over the last decade. In 2002, a telephone survey was conducted to assess the quality of preventive care offered by health care providers. The study was a cross-sectional observational study of a randomly selected sample of 516 diverse individuals in Durham County, North Carolina. Information regarding age, sex, race, education, health conditions, and self-reported receipt of lifestyle advice was examined in the study. The odds of receiving advice to engage in preventive lifestyle behaviors were significantly higher for those with a pre-existing diagnosis of diabetes or hypertension and for participants reporting poor health status. For example, the odds of receiving advice to control or lose weight was 8.32 (95% CI, 2.65, 26.75) among individuals reporting a diagnosis of diabetes. Similarly, the odds of reporting "receiving advice to reduce salt intake" was 6.97 (95% CI, 3.74, 13.00) among subjects reporting a diagnosis of hypertension. The results are from a cross-sectional study of a sample of individuals in only one county. Additionally, the results are based on patient self-reported information, which could be subject to recall and social desirability bias. Patients with identified health problems were more likely than others to report being advised to adopt healthy lifestyle recommendations. Future research should examine methods to encourage health care providers to offer lifestyle advice to those without pre-existing illness.

  2. Citizen versus consumer: challenges in the UK green power market

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Batley, S.L.; Fleming, P.D.; Urwin, P.

    2001-01-01

    This paper investigates the potential advantages and disadvantages of green power products, as opposed to the traditional fossil fuel levy (which was the UK's chosen tax regime), as a means of developing renewable energy in the UK. Willingness to pay for electricity generated from renewables is investigated. Results indicate that willingness to pay varies with social status and income. However results demonstrate that there is a significant minority in full support of some sort of fiscal initiative. Electricity generated from renewables is a concept supported by the majority. However, given the stated willingness to pay it is unlikely that any new renewable capacity will result from green tariff schemes in the near term. It is concluded that the green citizen must continue to co-exist with the green power purchaser if the UK is to make any significant improvement in the contribution of renewable energy to electricity demand. The authors would like to acknowledge the support of Irene Lorenzoni and Jane Powell of the Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment, University of East Anglia; Leicester Energy Efficiency Advice Centre; and Leicester Energy Agency. (author)

  3. Citizen-science, Geoethics and Human Niche

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bohle, Martin

    2017-04-01

    The anthropogenic biogeosphere or 'human niche' is the intersection of the biogeosphere and the sphere of human activities of social, economic, cultural and political nature. The application case for geoethics, namely "appropriate behaviours and practices, wherever human activities interact with the Earth system" [1], is about niche building. Geoethics is about the conduct of people and geoscientists, respectively their ordinary lifestyles and professional activities. Geoscience professionals notice the diverse economic, social and cultural living conditions of people, and the application cases of geosciences mirror the diversity of the global social sphere. Subsequently it is argued: A) when considering the ethical dimensions of global niche building then geosciences should feature 'citizen geoscience'; and B) when considering the functioning of a knowledge-based society under conditions of anthropogenic global change then 'citizen geoscience' facilitates applying that knowledge base. (A) Regarding 'niche building': The design of production systems and consumption patterns embeds geoscience know-how and relates it to the everyday life. Any citizen's activities purposefully interconnect to the biogeosphere for well-being, care-taking, and reproduction, although habitually without involving a geoscientist in professional capacity. In that implicit manner the everyday behaviours and practices of people influence Earth system dynamic. This renders their inherent geoscience know-how a public good as it makes their ignorance a public risk. A comfortable human niche for billions of people requires a global biogeosphere that is disrupted little by citizens' activities and exposes them to hazards that can be tamed. Quite the reverse, anthropogenic global change will disturb living conditions for many citizen. Much geoscience know-how will have to be deployed to tame disturbances in a socially sustainable manner. Sustainability in turn needs involvement of citizens in

  4. Protecting Against Influenza (Flu): Advice for Caregivers of Young Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Avian Swine Variant Pandemic Other Protecting Against Influenza (Flu): Advice for Caregivers of Young Children Language: English ( ... from the flu. Advice on How to Prevent Flu for Caregivers of Young Children 1. Take Time ...

  5. NEON Citizen Science: Planning and Prototyping (Invited)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gram, W.

    2010-12-01

    The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) will be a national resource for ecological research and education. NEON citizen science projects are being designed to increase awareness and educate citizen scientists about the impacts of climate change, land-use change, and invasive species on continental-scale ecological processes as well as expand NEON data collection capacity by enabling laypersons to collect geographically distributed data. The citizen science area of the NEON web portal will enable citizen scientists to collect, contribute, interpret, and visualize scientific data, as well as access training modules, collection protocols and targeted learning experiences related to citizen science project topics. For NEON, citizen science projects are a means for interested people to interact with and contribute to NEON science. Investigations at vast spatial and temporal scales often require rapid acquisition of large amounts of data from a geographically distributed population of “human sensors.” As a continental-scale ecological observatory, NEON is uniquely positioned to develop strategies to effectively integrate data collected by non-scientists into scientific databases. Ultimately, we plan to work collaboratively to transform the practice of science to include “citizens” or non-scientists in the process. Doing science is not limited to scientists, and breaking down the barriers between scientists and citizens will help people better understand the power of using science in their own decision making. In preparation for fully developing the NEON citizen science program, we are partnering with Project BudBurst (PBB), a citizen science project focused on monitoring plant phenology. The educational goals of PBB are to: (1) increase awareness of climate change, (2) educate citizen scientists about the impacts of climate change on plants and the environment, and (3) increase science literacy by engaging participants in the scientific process

  6. Racial disparities in reported prenatal care advice from health care providers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kogan, M D; Kotelchuck, M; Alexander, G R; Johnson, W E

    1994-01-01

    OBJECTIVES. The relationship between certain maternal behaviors and adverse pregnancy outcomes has been well documented. One method to alter these behaviors is through the advice of women's health care providers. Advice from providers may be particularly important in minority populations, who have higher rates of infant mortality and prematurity. This study examines racial disparities according to women's self-report of advice received from health care providers during pregnancy in four areas: tobacco use, alcohol consumption, drug use, and breast-feeding. METHODS. Health care providers' advice to 8310 White non-Hispanic and Black women was obtained from the National Maternal and Infant Health Survey. RESULTS. After controlling for sociodemographic, utilization, and medical factors, Black women were more likely to report not receiving advice from their prenatal care providers about smoking cessation and alcohol use. The difference between Blacks and Whites also approached significance for breast-feeding. No overall difference was noted in advice regarding cessation of drug use, although there was a significant interaction between race and marital status. CONCLUSIONS. These data suggest that Black women may be at greater risk for not receiving information that could reduce their chances of having an adverse pregnancy outcome. PMID:8279618

  7. Why Citizen Science Without Usability Testing Will Underperform

    Science.gov (United States)

    Romano, C.; Gay, P.; Owens, R.; Burlea, G.

    2017-12-01

    Citizen science projects must undergo usability testing and optimization if they are to meet their stated goals. This presentation will include video of usability tests conducted upon citizen science websites. Usability testing is essential to the success of online interaction, however, citizen science projects have just begun to include this critical activity. Interaction standards in citizen science lag behind those of commercial interests, and published research on this topic is limited. Since online citizen science is by definition, an exchange of information, a clear understanding of how users experience an online project is essential to informed decision-making. Usability testing provides that insight. Usability testing collects data via direct observation of a person while she interacts with a digital product, such as a citizen science website. The test participant verbalizes her thoughts while using the website or application; the moderator follows the participant and captures quantitative measurement of the participant's confidence of success as she advances through the citizen science project. Over 15 years of usability testing, we have observed that users who do not report a consistent sense of progress are likely to abandon a website after as few as three unrewarding interactions. Since citizen science is also a voluntary activity, ensuring seamless interaction for users is mandatory. Usability studies conducted on citizen science websites demonstrate that project teams frequently underestimate a user's need for context and ease of use. Without usability testing, risks to online citizen science projects include high bounce rate (users leave the website without taking any action), abandonment (of the website, tutorials, registration), misunderstanding instructions (causing disorientation and erroneous conclusions), and ultimately, underperforming projects.

  8. A design-based study of Citizen Inquiry for geology

    OpenAIRE

    Aristeidou, Maria; Scanlon, Eileen; Sharples, Mike

    2013-01-01

    Citizen Inquiry forms a new method of informal science learning and aims to enable the engagement of citizens in online scientific investigations. Citizen Inquiry combines aspects from Citizen Science and Inquiry-based learning and is implemented through a community of practice where people having a shared interest interact and exchange knowledge and methods supported and guided by online systems and tools within a web-based inquiry environment. To explore the potential of Citizen Inquiry, a ...

  9. CitizenAID.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-01-25

    CitizenAID is an easy-to-use app that informs users how to provide care in mass casualty situations, including shootings, knife attacks and bomb incidents. The authors are well known and respected specialists in trauma care and disaster management.

  10. Telemedicine in Greenland: Citizens' Perspectives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nielsen, Lasse O; Krebs, Hans J; Albert, Nancy M; Anderson, Nick; Catz, Sheryl; Hale, Timothy M; Hansen, John; Hounsgaard, Lise; Kim, Tae Youn; Lindeman, David; Spindler, Helle; Marcin, James P; Nesbitt, Thomas; Young, Heather M; Dinesen, Birthe

    2017-05-01

    Telemedicine may have the possibility to provide better access to healthcare delivery for the citizens. Telemedicine in arctic remote areas must be tailored according to the needs of the local population. Therefore, we need more knowledge about their needs and their view of telemedicine. The aim of this study has been to explore how citizens living in the Greenlandic settlements experience the possibilities and challenges of telemedicine when receiving healthcare delivery in everyday life. Case study design was chosen as the overall research design. Qualitative interviews (n = 14) were performed and participant observations (n = 80 h) carried out in the local healthcare center in the settlements and towns. A logbook was kept and updated each day during the field research in Greenland. Observations were made of activities in the settlements. Data collected on citizens' views about the possibilities of using telemedicine in Greenland revealed the following findings: Greenlandic citizens are positive toward telemedicine, and telemedicine can help facilitate improved access to healthcare for residents in these Greenlandic settlements. Regarding challenges in using telemedicine in Greenland, the geographical and cultural context hinders accessibility to the Greenlandic healthcare system, and telemedicine equipment is not sufficiently mobile. Greenlandic citizens are positive toward telemedicine and regard telemedicine as a facilitator for improved access for healthcare in the Greenlandic settlements. We have identified challenges, such as geographical and cultural context, that hinder accessibility to the Greenlandic healthcare system.

  11. Valuing future citizens' values regarding risk

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fleming, Patricia [Creighton Univ., Omaha (United States). College of Arts and Sciences/Philosophy

    2006-09-15

    Valuing present citizen's values regarding the risks they face is an important aspect of risk assessment and risk acceptability. Conferences like VALDOR are held for this reason. Governments like Sweden have national referendums on various risk-prone enterprises. The results of these referendums can determine the future of these programs. In the United States, when guidelines are set for determining acceptable levels of risk, the relevant federal agencies are often required to provide a comment period regarding proposed guidelines in order to ascertain the judgments, including the weights place on certain values, of individual members of society as well as stakeholder groups. After the comment period ends, the agency decides on the acceptable level of risk, taking into account the comments from present citizens. Do we also have a duty to value the not-yet-existing values of future citizens, especially if the risks created by the activities of present citizens extend into the future to citizens not yet living? If so, are there any circumstances which entitle us to de-value those not-yet-existing values. In this paper, I ground my discussion of the question of valuing future citizens' values in one of the areas of focus of the VALDOR conference: nuclear waste management and specifically the question facing the United States' program regarding an acceptable dose standard associated with the release of radioactivity into the biosphere from an underground repository. The underlying conference theme to which this discussion may be attached is community environmental justice as it applies to future citizens. I focus on the role that uncertainty plays is providing justice between present and future citizens.

  12. The travel advice as an inhibiting factor of tourist movement

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mylonopoulos Dimitrios

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Tourism is significantly affected by unpredictable and uncertain factors such as the occurrence of a terrorist attack, an epidemic outbreak or a natural disaster, etc. The impact of these phenomena on the tourist movement of the country or the place where the event occurred is aggravated by the way it is presented by the media both locally and internationally. The adverse climate gets worse by the issuance of travel advice that usually accompanies such phenomena and has the effect of limiting or even halting tourist flows. In order to identify and study the different types of travel advice that have been issued during international tourism crisis incidents, an internet search was carried out using keywords. Moreover, a study on the travel advice issued by major tourists' origin states, as the USA, Australia, Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, etc. was carried out. Incidents (terrorist attacks, epidemics, natural disasters which had a great impact on tourism were then selected. In addition, the issuance of travel advice, their different issuing authorities, the classification level and the impact on the tourism of the country or the place in question were examined. An analysis of the reaction and the instructions of major international organizations (World Health Organization, World Tourism Organization concerning the management of such crises, directly or indirectly affecting tourism, were also analyzed. The study of the relevant websites, the international literature and the recorded incidents shows that the issuing of travel advice has negative effects on many sectors of tourism activity and is a bottleneck for tourism development. In fact, in many cases, travel advice is used by countries to exert pressure on other countries in order to achieve a desired result. Due to the enormous economic and social effects when issuing travel advice, the states proper management is necessary in order to minimize the negative consequences and avoid

  13. Behavior Modification of Studying Through Study Skills Advice and Self-Control Procedures

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richards, C. Steven

    1975-01-01

    Investigates the efficacy of two behavioral self-control procedures as additions to the typical treatment for college students' study behavior--study skills advice. Predicted self-monitoring would be an effective treatment addition to study skills advice and study skills advice would be superior to the control groups. Results supported…

  14. Dietary Advice on Prescription: A novel approach to dietary counseling

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gunnar Johansson

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available This article describes a novel approach to giving dietary advice, which is called “Dietary Advice on Prescription” (DAP; Matordning på Recept [MoR] in Swedish. It is the same principle as prescription on medicine and “Physical Activity on Prescription” (PAP; Fysisk aktivitet på Recept [FaR] in Swedish. The main idea is that a written prescription will strengthen the oral advice and emphasize certain aspects of the dietary recommendation. The DAP is on the brink of being tested in a planned study.

  15. [Citizens' participation in health: education and shared decision-making. SESPAS Report 2012].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ruiz-Azarola, Ainhoa; Perestelo-Pérez, Lilisbeth

    2012-03-01

    In recent decades, citizen's participation has become increasingly important in the field of public health, with the new role of the patient as an active agent, manager and producer of his or her own health, and the paradigm of patient-centered care. These changes have represented some of the most important milestones in the continuous improvement of healthcare. The involvement of patients is a new way of understanding the relationship between patients, health professionals and health systems, not only in terms of knowledge management and patients' control of their own health, individually or collectively, but also in terms of the influence that patients may have in health policy planning. Increased life expectancy and the consequent rise in the prevalence of chronic diseases, which already account for 80% of primary care consultations, is one of the key factors changing the role of patients. The place traditionally occupied by professional consultations given any symptoms or signs of alarm is beginning to be occupied by self-care and information and health education resources within the reach of patients and citizens. Internet access is an inexhaustible source of health information resources aimed at patients and provides participation tools. Social networks are places to exchange information and practical advice among patients, families and health professionals. Patients may be experts in their own illnesses and may thus take a more active role in decisions about their health, such as in shared decision making, as part of initiatives, and as part of evaluation of public health activities and health services. Copyright © 2011 SESPAS. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

  16. Let Me Give You a Piece of Advice: Empirical Papers about Advice Taking in Marketing

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    S.C. Tzioti (Stefanie)

    2010-01-01

    textabstractUsing advice in decision making is widespread for all sorts of important personal and professional decisions. Yet, traditional research on individual decision making has failed to systematically study the impact that social interactions about a decision problem can have on the decision

  17. Open data for citizens

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Götzen, Amalia De; Morelli, Nicola

    2016-01-01

    A large quantity of open data is now available to institutions, business and citizens. The potential of such new resource, though, has not been explored yet, also because of a lack of perspectives and scenarios on how open data can be used. The workshop aims at broadening the perspectives...... on the use of open data by investigating new scenarios for a wide use of open data, where citizens without any IT skills can be involved in a co-design session with the relevant stakeholders....

  18. Nutrigenomics-based personalised nutritional advice: in search of a business model?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ronteltap, Amber; van Trijp, Hans; Berezowska, Aleksandra; Goossens, Jo

    2013-03-01

    Nutritional advice has mainly focused on population-level recommendations. Recent developments in nutrition, communication, and marketing sciences have enabled potential deviations from this dominant business model in the direction of personalisation of nutrition advice. Such personalisation efforts can take on many forms, but these have in common that they can only be effective if they are supported by a viable business model. The present paper takes an inventory of approaches to personalised nutrition currently available in the market place as its starting point to arrive at an identification of their underlying business models. This analysis is presented as a unifying framework against which the potential of nutrigenomics-based personalised advice can be assessed. It has uncovered nine archetypical approaches to personalised nutrition advice in terms of their dominant underlying business models. Differentiating features among such business models are the type of information that is used as a basis for personalisation, the definition of the target group, the communication channels that are being adopted, and the partnerships that are built as a part of the business model. Future research should explore the consumer responses to the diversity of "archetypical" business models for personalised nutrition advice as a source of market information on which the delivery of nutrigenomics-based personalised nutrition advice may further build.

  19. Dreamers, Poets, Citizens, and Scientists: Motivations for Engaging in GalaxyZoo Citizen Science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Slater, S. J.; Mankowski, T.; Slater, T. F.; CenterAstronomy; Physics Education Research Caper Team

    2010-12-01

    A particularly successful effort to engage the public in science has been to move the nearly countless galaxies imaged by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey to citizen scientists in a project known widely as Galaxy Zoo (URL; http://www.galaxyzoo.org). To everyone’s surprise, the unexpectedly large participation in the website has caused the data set, numbering over a million images, to be classified multiple times, quicker than the project leader anticipated, and continues to boast a high hit count on the website (15 classifications per second). Within 24 hours of launch, the site was receiving 70,000 classifications an hour, and more than 50 million classifications were received by the project during its first year, from almost 150,000 people. In a parallel effort, the Galaxy Zoo forum was created to handle the flood of emails that occurred alongside the flood of classifications, the team hoping that it would encourage the participants to handle each others' questions. By examining the motivations, methods and appeal of Galaxy Zoo to the participating public, other models of citizen science might be purposefully formulated to take advantage of the success exhibited in Galaxy Zoo. In addition, we want to understand the reasons people engage in science in informal settings in order to better enhance teaching methods in formal settings. Although in the past citizen science has primarily been used as a data collection method, there are many new opportunities contained in citizen science motivations and methods that we can use in future applications. This new and innovative method of online citizen science creates data for researchers of galaxies, but there is a parallel set of underlying data that has not yet been deeply analyzed: the motivations and underlying themes within the population of citizen scientists that could lead us to improve future citizen science projects. To address this, we pursued an investigation of the underlying reasons for the success of Galaxy Zoo

  20. Amateur knowledge: public art and citizen science.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rogers, Hannah

    2011-01-01

    The science studies literatures on amateurs and citizen science have remained largely unconnected despite similarities between the two categories. The essay connects amateur knowledge and citizen science through examples from public art. Through an analysis of the use of the term "amateur" by contemporary artists working to engage the public in critiques of science, connections in the ideals of democratic knowledge making by amateurs and citizen scientists are further explored.

  1. Citizen Sky, IYA 2009 and What's To Come

    Science.gov (United States)

    Turner, Rebecca; Price, A.; Henden, A.

    2010-01-01

    Citizen Sky is a multi-year, NSF funded citizen science project involving the bright and mysterious variable star eps Aur. The project was conceived by the IYA 2009 working group on Research Experiences for Students, Teachers, and Citizen-Scientists. Citizen Sky is going beyond simple observing to include a major data analysis component. The goal is to introduce the participant to the full scientific process from background research to paper writing for a peer-reviewed journal. During IYA 2009 the Citizen Sky team was fully assembled, the website was developed and put online, and the first of two participant workshops was held. However, Citizen Sky does not stop or even slow down with the conclusion of IYA 2009. The project will continue to grow in the coming years. New participants are being recruited and trained as the observing phase of the project continues, a second participant workshop is planned for 2010, and the data analysis phase of the project will begin in earnest.

  2. Experienced discrimination amongst European old citizens

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van den Heuvel, Wim J. A.; van Santvoort, Marc M.

    2011-01-01

    This study analyses the experienced age discrimination of old European citizens and the factors related to this discrimination. Differences in experienced discrimination between old citizens of different European countries are explored. Data from the 2008 ESS survey are used. Old age is defined as

  3. Emotions in advice taking: the roles of agency and valence

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    de Hooge, I.E.; Verlegh, P.W.J.; Tzioti, S.C.

    2014-01-01

    Recently, advice taking has received attention in decision-making research, and some studies suggest that emotions may play a role in this process. Yet a clear account of how emotions influence advice taking is lacking. The current research introduces a parsimonious explanation by suggesting that

  4. Emotions in Advice Taking: The Roles of Agency and Valence

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hooge, de I.E.; Verlegh, P.W.J.; Tzioti, S.C.

    2014-01-01

    Recently, advice taking has received attention in decision-making research, and some studies suggest that emotions may play a role in this process. Yet a clear account of how emotions influence advice taking is lacking. The current research introduces a parsimonious explanation by suggesting that

  5. The present day relevance of Paul's advice to the family in the ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Many people and organizations have made several efforts to improve and enhance the survival of the family. An example is the advice of Saint Paul, the Apostle to the Christian family in Ephesians 5:22-25 and 6:1-9. This paper examines this advice and its relevance to the society today. Key Words: Paul, Apostle; Advice; ...

  6. Citizen involvement in green transition

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Horsbøl, Anders

    2017-01-01

    a deficit model of public communication towards participatory ambitions of engaging citizens in more open-ended decision making (Lassen et al. 2011, Phillips et. al, 2012). However, there is often a tension between the participatory ambitions on the one hand and predetermined environmental goal...... consumption, replacement of oil-fired boilers, higher distribution of electric cars, and installation of solar panels. These goals all affect private decisions of individual citizens or families, where the municipality has no legislative competence. In a series of 4 two-day workshops in 2016, representatives...... and discussions. The current paper will focus on the process of developing a common framework and will pay particular attention to the tension between the predetermined environmental goals and the ambition of citizen participation. Applying an emic discourse perspective and drawing on Critical Discourse Analysis...

  7. Citizen Participation in Deliberative Global Governance

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jæger, Birgit

    of the voting and the many recommendations were presented to the decision-makers at the summit as well as to the NGOs and other participants at the alternative forum running at the same time in Copenhagen. Unfortunately, the decision-makers did not listen to the ‘global citizen voice’ and in this way......The global event World Wide Views on Global Warming (WWViews), initiated by the Danish Board of Technology (DBT), took place on September 26, 2009, and was an attempt to gather a united citizen voice on a global scale. The purpose of WWViews was to pass on the opinions of ordinary citizens...... to political decision-makers at The United Nations Climate Summit, COP 15, in Copenhagen in December 2009. As such the WWViews was an innovative experiment with public engagement in science and technology, aiming to create a ‘global citizen voice’ on climate change. The deliberation took place at 44 different...

  8. Citizens' actions and environmental impact statements

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Waelde, T.

    1975-01-01

    Above all, two kinds of citizens' participation in environmental decisions are to be considered: on the one hand the suit for damages and compensation for the purpose of internalization of external effects, and on the other hand the actions with the aim to influence character and content of public final decision cases. This is where cooperation and contributions towards state activities with more concern for the environment come into it. This sphere is investigated. Combined are the possibility of judicially arranged citizens' participation and a modern instrument of public decision: environmental impact statements. At the moment these appear to become exclusively an instrument for internal administration management. However, it is possible - this can be confirmed in comparative law - to couple this for the purpose of administration created instrument of technology assessment with citizens' actions. Therefore, the article aims to point to a solution how modern administration management through judicial mediation can orientate itself according to citizens' interests. (orig./LN) [de

  9. A New Approach in Public Budgeting: Citizens' Budget

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bilge, Semih

    2015-01-01

    Change and transformation in the understanding and definition of citizenship has led to the emergence of citizen-oriented public service approach. This approach also raised a new term and concept in the field of public budgeting because of the transformation in the processes of public budgeting: citizens' budget. The citizens' budget which seeks…

  10. Targeting the robo-advice customer: the development of a psychographic segmentation model for financial advice robots

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Thiel, D.; van Raaij, W.F.

    2017-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to develop the world’s first psychographic market segmentation model that supports personalization, customer education, customer activation, and customer engagement strategies with financial advice robots. As traditional segmentation models in consumer finance primarily

  11. Making Waves: Marine Citizen Science for Impact

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marie-Lise Schläppy

    2017-05-01

    Demonstrating citizen science data quality through a precision study on data and analysis of 15 years of standardized Reef Check (RC reef health data in Queensland, Australia.Identifying and responding to data gaps through volunteer monitoring of sub-tropical rocky reefs in South East Queensland, Australia.Adapting citizen science protocols to enhance capacity building, partnerships and strategic natural resource management applications through reef habitat mapping.Tailoring new pathways for sharing citizen science findings and engaging volunteers with the community via a Reef Check Australia Ambassadors community outreach program.These case studies offer insights into considerations for developing targeted and flexible citizen science projects, showcasing the work of volunteers and project stakeholders, and collaborating with partners for applications beneficial to research, management and education.

  12. Advice Complexity of the Online Induced Subgraph Problem

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Komm, Dennis; Královič, Rastislav; Královič, Richard

    2016-01-01

    of the input can influence the solution quality. We evaluate the information in a quantitative way by considering the best possible advice of given size that describes the unknown input. Using a result from Boyar et al. we give a tight trade-off relationship stating that, for inputs of length n, roughly n...... subgraph problem, preemption does not significantly help by giving a lower bound of Omega(n/(c^2\\log c)) on the bits of advice that are needed to obtain competitive ratio c, where c is any increasing function bounded from above by \\sqrt{n/\\log n}. We also give a linear lower bound for c close to 1....... these problems by investigating a generalized problem: for an arbitrary but fixed hereditary property, find some maximal induced subgraph having the property. We investigate this problem from the point of view of advice complexity, i.e. we ask how some additional information about the yet unrevealed parts...

  13. Diagnostic medical exposures: advice on exposure to ionising radiation during pregnancy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1993-01-01

    The NRPB offers advice on exposure to ionizing radiation during pregnancy, based on data published since 1985. In providing this advice the Board has considered risks to the developing embryo and fetus of death, malformation, mental impairment, cancer (solid tumours and leukaemias) and genetic damage from irradiation after the first missed menstrual period. The possible risks from irradiation of the early (up to 3-4 weeks) conceptus and from gonodal irradiation of patients is also covered in the present advice. (Author)

  14. Franchise and Electoral Participation of Third Country Citizens Residing in the European Union and of European Union Citizens Residing in Third Countries

    OpenAIRE

    Arrighi, Jean-Thomas; Bauböck, Rainer; Collyer, Michael; Hutecheson, Derek; Moraru, Madalina; Khadar, Lamin; Shaw, Jo

    2013-01-01

    This Study analyses some key trans-border situations in which citizens may finddifficulties in exercising their electoral rights – both to vote in elections, and to stand as candidates. It focuses on the electoral rights of EU citizens when resident outside the state where they are citizens, and on the electoral rights of third country citizens resident in the EU Member States. It also covers several complementary issues by examining the consular representation of EU citizensoutside the terri...

  15. Determinants of physical activity frequency and provider advice during pregnancy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Santo, Eilann C; Forbes, Peter W; Oken, Emily; Belfort, Mandy B

    2017-09-05

    Our aims were to (1) describe the frequency of physical activity and prenatal healthcare provider advice about physical activity during pregnancy and (2) examine determinants and correlates of 3rd trimester physical activity and receipt of physical activity advice. We analyzed data from the 2008 Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System. We studied 2669 women from North Carolina and Colorado with data on physical activity frequency in the 3 months prior to pregnancy and during the 3rd trimester and 1584 women from Oklahoma with data on provider advice regarding physical activity during pregnancy. Respondents reported physical activity, defined as 30 min or more of exercise/physical activity (excluding vocationally related activity), in in these categories: pregnancy was strongly associated with low likelihood of ACOG guideline adherence in the 3rd trimester (aOR 0.10, 95% CU 0.04, 0.30 vs. 1-4 days/week). Underweight women were more likely to adhere to ACOG guidelines than normal weight women (aOR 2.27, 95% CI 1.36, 3.79). Overweight women were more likely to receive physical activity advice (aOR 2.9, 95% CI 1.3, 6.3 vs. normal weight), but obese women were not (aOR 0.65, 95% CI 0.4, 1.2). Few women meet ACOG guideline criteria for physical activity during pregnancy. Improving physical activity and weight status prior to pregnancy may improve activity levels during pregnancy. Nearly one third did not receive advice about physical activity during prenatal care. Obese women were no more likely to receive advice than their normal weight counterparts, indicating the need for targeted physical activity counseling in this population.

  16. Family planning advice and postpartum contraceptive use among low-income women in Mexico.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barber, Sarah L

    2007-03-01

    In Mexico, family planning advice has been incorporated into the clinical guidelines for prenatal care. However, the relationship between women's receipt of family planning advice during prenatal care and subsequent contraceptive use has not been evaluated. Data were collected in 2003 and 2004 in 17 Mexican states from 2,238 urban low-income women postpartum. Participating women reported on prenatal services received and contraceptive use. Logistic and multinomial logistic regression models evaluated whether receiving family planning advice during prenatal care predicted current contraceptive use, after quality of care in the community, service utilization, delivery characteristics, household socioeconomic characteristics, and maternal and infant characteristics were controlled for. Overall, 47% of women used a modern contraceptive method. Women who received family planning advice during prenatal care were more likely to use a contraceptive than were those who did not receive such advice (odds ratio, 2.2). Women who received family planning advice had a higher probability of using condoms (relative risk ratio, 2.3) and IUDs (5.2), and of undergoing sterilization (1.4), than of using no method. Integrating family planning advice into prenatal care may be an important strategy for reaching women when their demand for contraception is high.

  17. Creating Global Citizens through Study Abroad

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bellamy, Carol; Weinberg, Adam

    2006-01-01

    One of the greatest challenges for a student today is how to live as a responsible citizen in a globalizing world. Today's interconnected world cannot afford bystanders or passive participants. It demands confident, skilled citizens who will make responsible choices that take into consideration how educators allocate resources and what impact…

  18. CosmoQuest MoonMappers: Citizen Lunar Exploration

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gay, P. L.; Antonenko, I.; Robbins, S. J.; Bracey, G.; Lehan, C.; Moore, J.; Huang, D.

    2012-09-01

    The MoonMappers citizen science project is part of CosmoQuest, a virtual research facility designed for the public. CosmoQuest seeks to take the best aspects of a research center - research, seminars, journal clubs, and community discussions - and provide them to a community of citizen scientists through a virtual facility. MoonMappers was the first citizen science project within CosmoQuest, and is being used to define best practices in getting the public to effectively learn and do science.

  19. 21 CFR 312.41 - Comment and advice on an IND.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    .... Examples of such advice may include advice on the adequacy of technical data to support an investigational plan, on the design of a clinical trial, and on whether proposed investigations are likely to produce the data and information that is needed to meet requirements for a marketing application. (c) Unless...

  20. Researcher or Fellow Citizen?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pedersen, Alex Young; Caviglia, Francesco

    2018-01-01

    The idea of a team of researchers working at advancing knowledge represents a strong role model for STEM education. The article suggests that an alternative role model – a community of fellow citizens engaged in solving problems of how to better live together – can be an equally compelling model...... for the Humanities. Mode 1 knowledge building rooted in learning within the disciplines is compared with a mode 2 focusing on context-specific knowledge, transdisciplinarity and collaborative rationality as essential ingredients of a new role model for the humanities: The fellow citizen. Two cases – a collaborative...

  1. Citizen involvement in future drug R&D

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Møldrup, Claus; Morgall, Janine Marie; Almarsdóttir, Anna Birna

    2000-01-01

    This article adopts a prospective approach in an attempt to explore the potential benefit of citizen involvement in decision making concerning future drug R&D. This is one of the first Delphi studies to fully utilize internet technology to collect and process data. The results show an increasing...... individual autonomy among respondents, which also affects the drug R&D process in general. Human, liberal and ethical values are reported as crucial values to citizens. On this basis, respondents reported that patient organizations, representative citizen groups and ethical councils can contribute...... with important input to ensure these values in decision making concerning future drug R&D. Paying attention to citizen needs, demands and ideas may protect the research, development and eventual marketing of unacceptable drugs on a societal and ethical level....

  2. Sociality Mental Modes Modulate the Processing of Advice-Giving: An Event-Related Potentials Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jin Li

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available People have different motivations to get along with others in different sociality mental modes (i.e., communal mode and market mode, which might affect social decision-making. The present study examined how these two types of sociality mental modes affect the processing of advice-giving using the event-related potentials (ERPs. After primed with the communal mode and market mode, participants were instructed to decide whether or not give an advice (profitable or damnous to a stranger without any feedback. The behavioral results showed that participants preferred to give the profitable advice to the stranger more slowly compared with the damnous advice, but this difference was only observed in the market mode condition. The ERP results indicated that participants demonstrated more negative N1 amplitude for the damnous advice compared with the profitable advice, and larger P300 was elicited in the market mode relative to both the communal mode and the control group. More importantly, participants in the market mode demonstrated larger P300 for the profitable advice than the damnous advice, whereas this difference was not observed at the communal mode and the control group. These findings are consistent with the dual-process system during decision-making and suggest that market mode may lead to deliberate calculation for costs and benefits when giving the profitable advice to others.

  3. Nutrigenomics-based personalised nutritional advice: in search of a business model?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ronteltap, A.; Trijp, van J.C.M.; Berezowska, A.; Goossens, Jo

    2013-01-01

    Nutritional advice has mainly focused on population-level recommendations. Recent developments in nutrition, communication, and marketing sciences have enabled potential deviations from this dominant business model in the direction of personalisation of nutrition advice. Such personalisation efforts

  4. Uncertainty in Citizen Science observations: from measurement to user perception

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lahoz, William; Schneider, Philipp; Castell, Nuria

    2016-04-01

    Citizen Science activities concern general public engagement in scientific research activities when citizens actively contribute to science either with their intellectual effort or surrounding knowledge or with their tools and resources. The advent of technologies such as the Internet and smartphones, and the growth in their usage, has significantly increased the potential benefits from Citizen Science activities. Citizen Science observations from low-cost sensors, smartphones and Citizen Observatories, provide a novel and recent development in platforms for observing the Earth System, with the opportunity to extend the range of observational platforms available to society to spatio-temporal scales (10-100s m; 1 hr or less) highly relevant to citizen needs. The potential value of Citizen Science is high, with applications in science, education, social aspects, and policy aspects, but this potential, particularly for citizens and policymakers, remains largely untapped. Key areas where Citizen Science data start to have demonstrable benefits include GEOSS Societal Benefit Areas such as Health and Weather. Citizen Science observations have many challenges, including simulation of smaller spatial scales, noisy data, combination with traditional observational methods (satellite and in situ data), and assessment, representation and visualization of uncertainty. Within these challenges, that of the assessment and representation of uncertainty and its communication to users is fundamental, as it provides qualitative and/or quantitative information that influences the belief users will have in environmental information. This presentation will discuss the challenges in assessment and representation of uncertainty in Citizen Science observations, its communication to users, including the use of visualization, and the perception of this uncertainty information by users of Citizen Science observations.

  5. A quantitative analysis of the quality and content of the health advice in popular Australian magazines.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilson, Amanda; Smith, David; Peel, Roseanne; Robertson, Jane; Kypri, Kypros

    2017-06-01

    To examine how health advice is provided in popular magazines and the quality of that advice. A prospective quantitative analysis of the quality of health advice provided in Australian magazines between July and December 2011 was conducted. A rating instrument was adapted from the Media Doctor Australia rating tool used to assess quality of health news reporting. Criteria included: recommends seeing a doctor; advice based on reliable evidence; advice clear and easily applied; benefits presented meaningfully; potential harms mentioned; evidence of disease mongering; availability and cost of treatments; obvious advertising; vested interest, and anecdotal evidence. 163 health advice articles were rated showing a wide variation in the quality of advice presented between magazines. Magazines with 'health' in the title, rated most poorly with only 36% (26/73) of these articles presenting clear and meaningful advice and 52% (38/73) giving advice based on reliable evidence. Australian magazines, especially those with health in the title, generally presented poor quality, unreliable health advice. Teen magazine Dolly provided the highest quality advice. Consumers need to be aware of this when making health choices. © 2016 Public Health Association of Australia.

  6. Regulations and classification advice: transport safety

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Davies, M.; Owen, K.

    1990-01-01

    The packaging of radioactive material for transport must conform with the regulations of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). These regulations are extensive and complex and require specialist interpretation. Packaging must be designed to contain the material, to limit radiation to safe levels, and to maintain the material in a safe state under both normal and accident conditions. British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. (BNFL) developed the TRANAID expert system to provide automated expert advice on the subject. It is used at BNFL and by other users internationally. The system was produced to meet an internal BNFL emphasis on accurate consistent and reliable interpretation of the complex IAEA regulations; and to provide a commercial product which would meet an external need. TRANAID provides reliable and consistent advice on safe transport procedures which reduce the workload on scarce skilled personnel, and allows them to concentrate on their primary task of packaging design. TRANAID also avoids overclassifying radioactive shipments, which would lead to the use of more expensive packaging than strictly is required. The IAEA regulations are applied internationally, and so there is a large potential worldwide market. The indications from the initial response are that future sales and use are expected to more than cover the investment. Other non-quantifiable benefits include the provision of consistent advice within a uniform approach, the safe-guarding of knowledge of the IAEA regulations, training and improvement in the expertise of users, improved management control, and enhancement of the professional image of BNFL. (author)

  7. Citizen (Dis)satisfaction

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Olsen, Asmus Leth

    2015-01-01

    This article introduces the importance of equivalence framing for understanding how satisfaction measures affect citizens’ evaluation of public services. Does a 90 percent satisfaction rate have a different effect than a logically equivalent 10 percent dissatisfaction rate? Two experiments were...... conducted on citizens’ evaluations of hospital services in a large, nationally representative sample of Danish citizens. Both experiments found that exposing citizens to a patient dissatisfaction measure led to more negative views of public service than exposing them to a logically equivalent satisfaction...... metric. There is some support for part of the shift in evaluations being caused by a negativity bias: dissatisfaction has a larger negative impact than satisfaction has a positive impact. Both professional experience at a hospital and prior exposure to satisfaction rates reduced the negative response...

  8. General physical health advice for people with serious mental illness.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tosh, Graeme; Clifton, Andrew V; Xia, Jun; White, Margueritte M

    2014-03-28

    There is currently much focus on provision of general physical health advice to people with serious mental illness and there has been increasing pressure for services to take responsibility for providing this. To review the effects of general physical healthcare advice for people with serious mental illness. We searched the Cochrane Schizophrenia Group's Trials Register (last update search October 2012) which is based on regular searches of CINAHL, BIOSIS, AMED, EMBASE, PubMed, MEDLINE, PsycINFO and registries of Clinical Trials. There is no language, date, document type, or publication status limitations for inclusion of records in the register. All randomised clinical trials focusing on general physical health advice for people with serious mental illness.. We extracted data independently. For binary outcomes, we calculated risk ratio (RR) and its 95% confidence interval (CI), on an intention-to-treat basis. For continuous data, we estimated the mean difference (MD) between groups and its 95% CI. We employed a fixed-effect model for analyses. We assessed risk of bias for included studies and created 'Summary of findings' tables using GRADE. Seven studies are now included in this review. For the comparison of physical healthcare advice versus standard care we identified six studies (total n = 964) of limited quality. For measures of quality of life one trial found no difference (n = 54, 1 RCT, MD Lehman scale 0.20, CI -0.47 to 0.87, very low quality of evidence) but another two did for the Quality of Life Medical Outcomes Scale - mental component (n = 487, 2 RCTs, MD 3.70, CI 1.76 to 5.64). There was no difference between groups for the outcome of death (n = 487, 2 RCTs, RR 0.98, CI 0.27 to 3.56, low quality of evidence). For service use two studies presented favourable results for health advice, uptake of ill-health prevention services was significantly greater in the advice group (n = 363, 1 RCT, MD 36.90, CI 33.07 to 40.73) and service use: one or more primary

  9. The Internet and Increased Citizen Participation in Government

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael E. Milakovich

    2010-04-01

    Full Text Available What roles do communication systems, information technologies and the internet play in fostering citizen participation and influencing the electoral and administrative decisions of government? The internet is simultaneously a world-wide broadcasting network, a mechanism for information dissemination, and a medium for collaboration and interaction between individuals and their computers without regard for geographic boundaries or time zones. This article describes the origins of participatory democracy, discusses how modern concepts of democracy link to citizen participation, and describes the ways that newly-created spaces on the internet referred to as “polispheres” are being used by political activists and candidates to facilitate wider collaboration and citizen participation. The following questions are addressed: What role does the internet play in fostering and aiding citizen participation in government? Does increased involvement lead to greater trust and confidence in government? What role did the internet play in apparently reversing downward trends in citizen apathy and drawing 8 million new voters to the United States 2008 presidential election? The article suggests that information technology facilitates broader citizen participation and identifies the challenges facing governments in adopting internet-based ICT strategies.

  10. Innovative forms of citizen participation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nyseth, Torill; Ringholm, Toril; Agger, Annika

    in practice. Some scholars claim that a reason is due to rigid and formal procedures and that the ways citizen meetings are structured tend to appeal to a limited amount of the population. At the same time, we are witnessing a proliferation in novel and more experimental ways of how citizens and authorities...... interact within the field of urban governance. This is for example seen in urban regeneration projects in Denmark and planning experiments in Norway where we are witnessing more inclusive and bottom-up initiated interactions between public authorities and local actors. The key question in this paper is......: What characterises the new and innovative forms of citizen participation in urban planning in terms of innovation? And in what ways and to what degree is input from these processes fed into the formal planning processes? Theoretically, the paper is inspired by the concept of: ‘planning...

  11. Aplikasi Citizen Journalism di Era Konvergensi Media

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rahmat Edi Irawan

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available Citizen journalism has now become one of the most developed television program concepts. If the concept was initially more widely used in radio and online media, this time with easier and cheaper technology coverage and delivery of images, it is a concept that provides a place for people to become amateur journalist that can also be easily applied in the medium of television. Research raised the issue on how the concept and implementation of citizen journalism on television in the era of media convergence. The purpose of this study is to explain concepts and demonstrate the implementation of citizen journalism on television in the era of media convergence. Research used qualitative method in which data were obtained using literature study. Results of the study showed that the implementation of citizen journalism on television is also increasingly facilitated by the entry of the television in the era of media convergence, or different media mingle, such as television with printed, radio, and Internet media. The era of media convergence makes the concept of citizen journalism can be more developed, because the platform or media distribution is also increasingly varied for amateur journalist. However, the system equipment that must be provided, human resources that must be owned, as well as huge capital to be owned make a few television stations open a lot of platforms to provide space for amateur journalist in citizen journalism. 

  12. Citizen CATE: Evaluating Outcomes of a Solar Eclipse Citizen Science Project

    Science.gov (United States)

    Penn, M. J.; Haden, C.

    2017-12-01

    On August 21, 2017, a total solar eclipse will be visible along a path of totality from Oregon to South Carolina. The Citizen Continental-America Telescopic Eclipse Experiment (CATE) will use scientists, students and volunteers to take images of the solar corona using 68 identical telescopes, software and instrument packages along the 2,500-mile path of totality. CATE partners include National Solar Observatory scientists, university faculty and students, high school students, and professional and amateur astronomers. NASA funded CATE educational components including training undergraduates and volunteers on solar imaging software and equipment. The National Science Foundation and corporations including DayStar, MathWorks, Celestron and ColorMaker funded equipment. Undergraduates participated in summer research experiences to build their capacity for gathering eclipse data, and subsequently trained volunteers across the U.S. Aligned to NASA education goals, CATE goals range from providing an authentic research experience for students and lifelong learners, to making state-of-the-art solar coronal observations, to increasing scientific literacy of the public. While project investigators are examining the wealth of scientific data that will come from CATE, evaluators are examining impacts on participants. Through mixed methods, evaluators are examining outcomes related to changes in volunteers' knowledge, skills and attitudes. Additionally, the study will examine how citizen science astronomy using CATE equipment will continue after the eclipse to sustain project impacts. Preliminary findings for undergraduates indicate that they are gaining knowledge and skills related to studying solar coronal phenomena, conducting rigorous scientific research, and interfacing with the public to conduct outreach. Preliminary findings for citizen scientists indicate a high level of engagement in the research, and that they are gaining new knowledge and skills related to solar

  13. Unconditional lower bounds against advice

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Buhrman, H.; Fortnow, L.; Santhanam, R.

    2009-01-01

    We show several unconditional lower bounds for exponential time classes against polynomial time classes with advice, including: (1) For any constant c, NEXP not in P^{NP[n^c]} (2) For any constant c, MAEXP not in MA/n^c (3) BPEXP not in BPP/n^{o(1)}. It was previously unknown even whether NEXP in

  14. The binding study advice in medical education: a 2-year experience.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Eijsvogels, T.M.H.; Goorden, R.; Bosch, W.J.H.M. van den; Hopman, M.T.E.

    2015-01-01

    To improve the effectiveness of higher education, Dutch universities implemented the binding study advice at medical faculties. Accordingly, medicine students of Radboud University need to gain >/= 42 out of 60 European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) credits to obtain a positive binding study advice

  15. Visual truths of citizen reportage

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Allan, Stuart; Peters, Chris

    2015-01-01

    In striving to better understand issues associated with citizen contributions to newsmaking in crisis situations, this article identifies and elaborates four specific research problematics – bearing witness, technologies of truth-telling, mediating visualities and affectivities of othering...... – in order to recast more familiar modes of enquiry. Specifically, it provides an alternative heuristic to theorize the journalistic mediation of citizen imagery, and the myriad ways this process of negotiation maintains, repairs and at times disrupts the interstices of professional–amateur boundaries...

  16. Nuclear risk and citizen information

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Charbonneau, S.

    1999-01-01

    This issue studies the citizen information relative to the nuclear risk. If the regulation about the information and the participation of the citizen on the nuclear risk is relatively complete, the industrial and administrative practice is marked by the habits of information retention. The official caution has for motive the fact to provoke the unjustified anxiety of the populations. An opposite strategy is actually experimented with the operators of nuclear industry in informing the public opinion with the slightest technical incidents. (N.C.)

  17. Senior citizens retrofits

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    1985-02-01

    The Seniors' Residential Retrofitting Project was Yukon's most ambitious CREDA, funded demonstration with a total cost of $460,000. The project undertook to demonstrate energy-efficient retrofitting techniques in 38 homes and two apartment complexes for senior citizens. At the same time, the project strove to train Yukon tradesmen in retrofitting techniques, thus creating a local industry and employment within this industry. To this end, two training courses were given for local tradesmen and contractors, the first of their kind in Canada. The training part of the project was given equal importance as the actual demonstration part. Three levels of retrofit work were done on the homes of senior citizens. Level one included caulking, weatherstripping, furnace servicing, and installation of water flow restrictors, water heater blankets and timers. The level two retrofit included the treatment in level one, plus upgrading windows and the insulation levels in walls and ceilings. A level three retrofit involved a total rewrap of the building shell with some of the features in levels one and two incorporated. The demonstration program included the following steps: initial contact with senior citizens; energy audit on each house; determination of level of retrofit work based on individual audit results; contract packages drawn up and put to tender; monitoring of fuel records and air-tightness tests both before and after retrofit; and tabulation of data and information transfer. 10 figs., 4 tabs.

  18. A qualitative study of English community pharmacists' experiences of providing lifestyle advice to patients with cardiovascular disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morton, Kirsty; Pattison, Helen; Langley, Chris; Powell, Rachael

    2015-01-01

    Cardiovascular disease (CVD) progression is modifiable through lifestyle behaviors. Community pharmacists are ideally placed to facilitate self-management of cardiovascular health however research shows varied pharmacist engagement in providing lifestyle advice. This study explored community pharmacists' experiences and perceptions of providing lifestyle advice to patients with CVD. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with fifteen pharmacists (1 supermarket; 7 multiple; 7 independent) recruited through multiple methods from community pharmacies across the Midlands, England. A thematic analysis was conducted using a Framework approach. Pharmacists categorized patients according to their perceptions of the patients' ability to benefit from advice. Many barriers to providing lifestyle advice were identified. Confidence to provide lifestyle advice varied, with pharmacists most comfortable providing lifestyle advice in conjunction with conversations about medicines. Some pharmacists felt lifestyle advice was an integral part of their role whilst others questioned whether pharmacists should give lifestyle advice at all, particularly when receiving no remuneration for doing so. Pharmacists viewed providing lifestyle advice as important but identified many barriers to doing so. Lifestyle advice provision was influenced by pharmacists' perceptions of patients. Professional identity and associated role conflict appeared to underpin many of the barriers to pharmacists providing lifestyle advice. Pharmacists may benefit from enhanced training to: increase their confidence to provide lifestyle advice; integrate lifestyle advice with regular pharmaceutical practice and challenge their perceptions of some patients' receptiveness to lifestyle advice and behavior change. Changes to the way UK pharmacists are remunerated may increase the provision of lifestyle advice. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  19. Generating personalized advice for schizophrenia patients

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Emerencia, A.; van der Krieke, Lian; Sytema, S.; Petkov, N.; Aiello, M.

    The results of routine patient assessments in psychiatric healthcare in the Northern Netherlands are primarily used to support clinicians. We developed Wegweis, a web-based advice platform, to make this data accessible and understandable for patients. Objective: We show that a fully automated

  20. Citizen advisory groups: Improving their effectiveness

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Peelle, E.

    1990-01-01

    In an age of citizen distrust of government and intense not-in-my-backyard activity when waste management facilities are proposed, the potential of citizen advisory groups (CAGS) to aid the decision-making process is worth exploring. This paper reviews findings from case studies by the author and others to assess the various purposes, pitfalls, advantages and outcomes of CAGs in influencing decisions about controversial waste management actions and facilities. Advantages and disadvantages of the CAG are evaluated as one of several public participation mechanisms. The paper outlines ways in which CAGs can aid the waste management decision process and develop minimum requirements for the successful functioning of citizen advisory groups in decision processes with significant technical components, such as those involving nuclear and hazardous wastes

  1. Effective citizen advocacy of beneficial nuclear technologies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McKibben, J. Malvyn; Wood, Susan

    2007-01-01

    In 1991, a small group of citizens from communities near the Savannah River Site (SRS) formed a pro-nuclear education and advocacy group, Citizens for Nuclear Technology Awareness (CNTA). Their purpose was to: (1) counter nuclear misinformation that dominated the nation's news outlets, (2) provide education on nuclear subjects to area citizens, students, elected officials, and (3) provide informed citizen support for potential new missions for SRS when needed. To effectively accomplish these objectives it is also essential to establish and maintain good relations with community leaders and reporters that cover energy and nuclear subjects. The organization has grown considerably since its inception and has expanded its sphere of influence. We believe that our experiences over these fifteen years are a good model for effectively communicating nuclear subjects with the public. This paper describes the structure, operation and some of the results of CNTA. (authors)

  2. Watchful Waiting for Cases of Pediatric Otitis Media: Modeling Parental Response to Physician Advice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    MacGeorge, Erina L; Smith, Rachel A; Caldes, Emily P; Hackman, Nicole M

    2016-08-01

    Watchful waiting (WW) can reduce unnecessary antibiotic use in the treatment of pediatric otitis media (ear infection), but its utility is impaired by underutilization and noncompliance. Guided by advice response theory, the current study proposes advantage and capacity as factors that predict how caregivers evaluate and respond affectively to WW. Parents (N = 373) of at least 1 child age 5 years or younger completed questionnaires that assessed responses to hypothetical WW advice for their youngest child. Perceptions of advantage from WW and the capacity to monitor and manage symptoms predicted advice quality, physician trust, and future compliance both directly and indirectly through negative affect. The findings suggest the elaboration of advice response theory to include more aspects of advice content evaluation (e.g., advantage) and the influence of negative affect. The study also provides practical guidance for physicians seeking to improve caregiver reception of WW advice.

  3. Weight Management Advice for Clients with Overweight or Obesity: Allied Health Professional Survey

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Suzanne J. Snodgrass

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available The prevalence of obesity is increasing. The potential for allied health professionals to intervene through the provision of lifestyle advice is unknown. This study aimed to determine the knowledge, attitudes and practices of health professionals in the provision of dietary and physical activity advice for clients with overweight or obesity. Dietitians, exercise physiologists, nurses, occupational therapists, physiotherapists and psychologists (n = 296 working in New South Wales were surveyed using paper-based and online methods. The majority of health professionals (71% believed that providing weight management advice was within their scope of practice; 81% provided physical activity advice but only 57% provided dietary advice. Other than dietitians, few had received training in client weight management during their professional qualification (14% or continuing education (16%. Providing dietary advice was associated with: believing it was within their scope of practice (OR 3.9, 95% CI 1.9–7.9, p < 0.01, training during their entry-level qualification (OR 7.2, 3.2–16.4, p < 0.01 and having departmental guidelines (OR 4.7, 2.1–10.9, p < 0.01. Most health professionals are willing to provide lifestyle advice to clients with overweight or obesity but few have received required training. Developing guidelines and training for in client weight management may potentially impact on rising obesity levels.

  4. Can citizen science enhance public understanding of science?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bonney, Rick; Phillips, Tina B; Ballard, Heidi L; Enck, Jody W

    2016-01-01

    Over the past 20 years, thousands of citizen science projects engaging millions of participants in collecting and/or processing data have sprung up around the world. Here we review documented outcomes from four categories of citizen science projects which are defined by the nature of the activities in which their participants engage - Data Collection, Data Processing, Curriculum-based, and Community Science. We find strong evidence that scientific outcomes of citizen science are well documented, particularly for Data Collection and Data Processing projects. We find limited but growing evidence that citizen science projects achieve participant gains in knowledge about science knowledge and process, increase public awareness of the diversity of scientific research, and provide deeper meaning to participants' hobbies. We also find some evidence that citizen science can contribute positively to social well-being by influencing the questions that are being addressed and by giving people a voice in local environmental decision making. While not all citizen science projects are intended to achieve a greater degree of public understanding of science, social change, or improved science -society relationships, those projects that do require effort and resources in four main categories: (1) project design, (2) outcomes measurement, (3) engagement of new audiences, and (4) new directions for research. © The Author(s) 2015.

  5. Digital citizens Digital nations: the next agenda

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    A.W. (Bert) Mulder; M.W. (Martijn) Hartog

    2015-01-01

    DIGITAL CITIZENS CREATE A DIGITAL NATION Citizens will play the lead role as they – in the next phase of the information society – collectively create a digital nation. Personal adoption of information and communication technology will create a digital infrastructure that supports individual and

  6. Citizen science: a new direction in canine behavior research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hecht, Julie; Spicer Rice, Eleanor

    2015-01-01

    Researchers increasingly rely on members of the public to contribute to scientific projects-from collecting or identifying, to analyzing and disseminating data. The "citizen science" model proves useful to many thematically distinctive fields, like ornithology, astronomy, and phenology. The recent formalization of citizen science projects addresses technical issues related to volunteer participation--like data quality--so that citizen scientists can make longstanding, meaningful contributions to scientific projects. Since the late 1990s, canine science research has relied with greater frequency on the participation of the general public, particularly dog owners. These researchers do not typically consider the methods and technical issues that those conducting citizen science projects embrace and continue to investigate. As more canine science studies rely on public input, an in-depth knowledge of the benefits and challenges of citizen science can help produce relevant, high-quality data while increasing the general public's understanding of canine behavior and cognition as well as the scientific process. We examine the benefits and challenges of current citizen science models in an effort to enhance canine citizen science project preparation, execution, and dissemination. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Canine Behavior. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  7. Legal and institutional frameworks for government relations with citizens

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Caddy, J.

    2000-01-01

    Unacceptably low or declining confidence in public institutions in OECD Member countries has led governments to view the issue of government-citizen relations with growing concern and to take initiatives to strengthen this fundamental relationship. Governments have begun to realize that they can better anticipate citizens' evolving and multiple needs by pro-actively involving them in the policy-making process in order to develop solutions to issues as they first appear, and not when they become pressing problems. When government succeeds in anticipating citizens' needs and aspirations, it earns currency in the form of trust. The price of failure is a loss of legitimacy. The conditions for trust in government include a well-educated citizenry, transparent processes and accountability. Government needs to establish a 'level playing field' so that citizens can see that their interests are being treated fairly. Citizens, for their part, need to learn to value fairness in government over special favours for well-connected groups. Transparency in government helps to assure citizens that they are being treated fairly. Accountability helps ensure that government failures are corrected and that public services meet expectations. Governments increasingly realize that they will not be able to conduct and effectively implement policies, as good as they may be, if their citizens do not support them. (author)

  8. Parents’ professional sources of advice regarding child discipline and their use of corporal punishment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taylor, Catherine A.; Moeller, William; Hamvas, Lauren; Rice, Janet C.

    2014-01-01

    Parents (n=500) were surveyed about which professional groups they were most likely to seek and follow advice from regarding child discipline as well as their use of corporal punishment (CP). Nearly half of parents reported that they were most likely to seek child discipline advice from pediatricians (48%), followed by religious leaders (21%) and mental health professionals (18%). Parents that sought advice from religious leaders (vs. pediatricians) had nearly 4 times the odds of reporting use of CP. Parents reported they were more likely to follow the advice of pediatricians than any other professional; however, Black parents were as likely to follow the advice of religious leaders as that of pediatricians. Pediatricians play a central role in advising parents about child discipline. Efforts to engage pediatricians in providing violence prevention counseling should continue. Increased efforts are needed to engage other professionals, especially religious leaders, in providing such advice to parents. PMID:23185082

  9. Parents' professional sources of advice regarding child discipline and their use of corporal punishment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taylor, Catherine A; Moeller, William; Hamvas, Lauren; Rice, Janet C

    2013-02-01

    Parents (n = 500) were surveyed about which professional groups they were most likely to seek and follow advice from regarding child discipline as well as their use of corporal punishment (CP). Nearly half of the parents reported that they were most likely to seek child discipline advice from pediatricians (48%), followed by religious leaders (21%) and mental health professionals (18%). Parents who sought advice from religious leaders (vs pediatricians) had nearly 4 times the odds of reporting use of CP. Parents reported that they were more likely to follow the advice of pediatricians than any other professional; however, black parents were as likely to follow the advice of religious leaders as that of pediatricians. Pediatricians play a central role in advising parents about child discipline. Efforts to engage pediatricians in providing violence prevention counseling should continue. Increased efforts are needed to engage other professionals, especially religious leaders, in providing such advice to parents.

  10. Digital citizenship and neoliberalization: governing digital citizens in Denmark

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schou, Jannick; Hjelholt, Morten

    2018-01-01

    Digital citizenship is becoming increasingly normalized within advanced democratic states. As society and governmental institutions become reliant on digital technologies, citizens are expected to be and act digitally. This article examines the governance of digital citizens through a case study...... this case study, the article contributes to current critical perspectives on the digital citizen as a new political figure. It adds new insights into digital citizenship by connecting this figure to wider processes of neoliberalization and state restructuring, pushing for a more pronounced focus...... of digitalization efforts in Denmark. Drawing on multiple forms of data, the article showcases how digital citizens are governed through a combination of discursive, legal and institutional means. The article highlights the political, but also institutional work that goes into making citizens digital. Providing...

  11. Challenges of citizen science contributions to modelling hydrodynamics of floods

    Science.gov (United States)

    Assumpção, Thaine Herman; Popescu, Ioana; Jonoski, Andreja; Solomatine, Dimitri P.

    2017-04-01

    Citizen science is an established mechanism in many fields of science, including ecology, biology and astronomy. Citizen participation ranges from collecting and interpreting data towards designing experiments with scientists and cooperating with water management authorities. In the environmental sciences, its potential has begun to be explored in the past decades and many studies on the applicability to water resources have emerged. Citizen Observatories are at the core of several EU-funded projects such as WeSenseIt, GroundTruth, GroundTruth 2.0 and SCENT (Smart Toolbox for Engaging Citizens into a People-Centric Observation Web) that already resulted in valuable contributions to the field. Buytaert et al. (2014) has already reviewed the role of citizen science in hydrology. The work presented here aims to complement it, reporting and discussing the use of citizen science for modelling the hydrodynamics of floods in a variety of studies. Additionally, it highlights the challenges that lie ahead to utilize more fully the citizen science potential contribution. In this work, focus is given to each component of hydrodynamic models: water level, velocity, flood extent, roughness and topography. It is addressed how citizens have been contributing to each aspect, mainly considering citizens as sensors and citizens as data interpreters. We consider to which kind of model (1D or 2D) the discussed approaches contribute and what their limitations and potential uses are. We found that although certain mechanisms are well established (e.g. the use of Volunteer Geographic Information for soft validation of land-cover and land-use maps), the applications in a modelling context are rather modest. Also, most studies involving models are limited to replacing traditional data with citizen data. We recommend that citizen science continue to be explored in modelling frameworks, in different case studies, taking advantage of the discussed mechanisms and of new sensor technologies

  12. Citizen Science Terminology Matters: Exploring Key Terms

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Eitzel, M.V.; Cappadonna, Jessica L.; Santos-Lang, Chris; Duerr, Ruth Ellen; Virapongse, Arika; West, Sarah Elizabeth; Kyba, Christopher Conrad Maximillian; Bowser, Anne; Cooper, Caren Beth; Sforzi, Andrea; Metcalfe, Anya Nova; Harris, Edward S.; Thiel, Martin; Haklay, Mordechai; Ponciano, Lesandro; Roche, Joseph; Ceccaroni, Luigi; Shilling, Fraser Mark; Dörler, Daniel; Heigl, Florian; Kiessling, Tim; Davis, Brittany Y.; Jiang, Qijun

    2017-01-01

    Much can be at stake depending on the choice of words used to describe citizen science, because terminology impacts how knowledge is developed. Citizen science is a quickly evolving field that is mobilizing people’s involvement in information development, social action and justice, and large-scale

  13. Citizen, Science, Highways, and Wildlife: Using a Web-based GIS to Engage Citizens in Collecting Wildlife Information

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tracy Lee

    2006-06-01

    Full Text Available Road Watch in the Pass is a citizen-science project that engages local citizens in reporting wildlife observations along a 44-km stretch of Highway 3 through Crowsnest Pass in southwestern Alberta, Canada. The numbers of wildlife vehicle collisions and a recent proposal to expand the highway have raised concerns from both human safety and wildlife conservation perspectives. Through the use of a web-based GIS, interested citizens can contribute information that will be instrumental in making final decisions concerning measures to mitigate the effects of highway expansion. Currently, 58 people have contributed over 713 observations to Road Watch. We performed a preliminary comparison of 11 months of Road Watch observations and wildlife mortality data for the same time period to demonstrate that the use of citizen science not only augments more conventional approaches, but also results in the emergence of new knowledge and insights. A Kappa index of agreement of 14% indicates poor agreement between the data sets, highlighting that wildlife successfully cross the highway in areas not identified by the wildlife mortality data. This has important implications for design and mitigation efforts for Highway 3 and other roadways.

  14. Factors influencing compliance to tactical driver advice: an assessment using a think-aloud protocol

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Risto, Malte; Martens, Marieke Hendrikje

    2013-01-01

    Connected Cruise Control (CCC) is an in-car driver support systems that aims to improve throughput in dense motorway traffic by advising drivers how to drive. The system is currently under development within a HTAS project. It will integrate lane advice, headway advice and speed advice. CCC will not

  15. The Role Of New Media In Advancing Citizen Diplomacy Roundtable

    OpenAIRE

    Nassar, David; Tatevossian, Anoush Rima; U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy

    2010-01-01

    This Roundtable evaluates the importance of new media in citizen diplomacy.   Published in conjunction with the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy’s U.S. Summit & Initiative for Global Citizen Diplomacy November 16–19, 2010, Washington DC. Materials included in this document are the views of the roundtable authors and are meant to serve as a tool for discussion. © November 2010 | U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy

  16. Citizen advisory groups: Improving their effectiveness

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Peelle, E.

    1990-01-01

    In an age of citizen distrust of government and intense NIMBY (not-in-my-backyard) activity when waste management facilities are proposed, the potential of citizen advisory groups (CAGs) to aid the decision-making process is worth exploring. This paper reviews findings from case studies by the author and others to assess the various purposes, pitfalls, advantages and outcomes of CAGs in influencing decisions about controversial waste management actions and facilities. Advantages and disadvantages of the CAG are evaluated as one of several public participation mechanisms. We outline ways in which CAGs can aid the waste management decision process and develop minimum requirements for the successful functioning of citizen advisory groups in decision processes with significant technical components, such as those involving nuclear and hazardous wastes. 18 refs., 1 tab.

  17. Citizens Science for Sustainability (SuScit) Project Briefing

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Eames, Malcolm; Mortensen, Jonas Egmose; Adebowale, Maria

    This project briefing gives a short overview of the Citizens Science for Sustainability (SuScit) Project.......This project briefing gives a short overview of the Citizens Science for Sustainability (SuScit) Project....

  18. The Open Format and Citizen Participation in Transportation Planning

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Flyvbjerg, Bent

    1984-01-01

    Recent developments in transportation planning and policy indicate that citizen participation and openness may receive less emphasis in the future in favor of more closed methods of decision making and control. Have the merits and drawbacks of citizen participation and openness changed significan......Recent developments in transportation planning and policy indicate that citizen participation and openness may receive less emphasis in the future in favor of more closed methods of decision making and control. Have the merits and drawbacks of citizen participation and openness changed...... with the trend for considering social, environmental, and ethical issues in transportation planning and policy....

  19. SUPPORTING SENIOR CITIZENS TO LEARN IT SKILLS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shigeki Yokoi

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available Digital divide owing to age has become a major concern around the world, even in developed country, Japan. To combat the digital divide, a project named “e-namokun” aiming to help senior citizens use the Internet was started in Nagoya, Japan, which was a national first joint project run through government, universities, and NPO cooperation. In the project, nearly 2000 senior citizens have taken course of the software we developed. In relation with this project, we have been developing useful tools to support senior IT beginners. In the paper, we introduce the outline of the project and explain developed tools for senior citizens.

  20. Advice for salt, sugar and fat intake habits among adults: a national-based study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Suele Manjourany Silva

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available INTRODUCTION : A healthy diet is recognized as an important strategy for promoting health as an essential part of non-pharmacological therapy of various health problems. OBJECTIVE : To analyze the reported advice for the intake of salt, sugar and fat for the Brazilian adults living in urban areas. METHODOLOGY : National-based cross-sectional study with 12,402 adults interviewed in 100 Brazilian cities. RESULTS : The most prevalent advice was to low fat intake (38%, followed by the advice to low salt and sugar intake (36% and sugar (29%. The percentage of receiving different advice was similar and more common among women, older people, those with a partner, higher economic class, former smokers, active and in person with physician diagnoses of hypertension, diabetes and overweight. People with white skin color received more advice to eat healthy food, except for the orientation to low salt intake. CONCLUSION : The results show a low prevalence of advice, which configures a missed opportunity to prevent health problems. Although dietary counseling should not be understood only as the transmission of advice regarding some nutrients, it is important to develop actions in order to qualify services and health professionals, allowing the population to have access to qualified information about the benefits of having healthy lifestyles.

  1. global turbulence and nigeria's citizen diplomacy: 2007-2016

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    strategic diplomatic post as Nigeria's High ... envisaged to participate in the formulation and practice of 'citizen .... spread of epidemic diseases, financial instability, organized crime .... chapter of his book Nigeria's Citizen Diplomacy: ... Page 7 ...

  2. Evolution of local citizen participation schemes in the German wind market

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Enzenberger, N.; Fichtner, W.; Rentz, O.

    2003-01-01

    Local citizen participation schemes like the German 'Buergerwindparks' (citizen wind farm) have been an important vehicle to develop the wind energy business to its present state of market maturity. This article discusses ownership as an integrated part of the economic project design for renewable energy projects. Different forms of local citizen participation are differentiated and strategic aspects related to the entrepreneurial decision of involving local citizens are highlighted. Then, the focus will be on a description of different role models for local citizen-financed wind energy projects. The paper also explains the evolution of two new role models: the merger of existing project companies to larger citizen-owned project portfolio companies and the role of closed-end wind funds as a new equity provision approach. Finally, the role of local citizen participation schemes in different market phases is discussed. (author)

  3. MRSA Prevention Information and Advice for Athletes

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... and Team Healthcare Providers Prevention Information and Advice Posters for the Athletic Community General MRSA Information and ... site? Adobe PDF file Microsoft PowerPoint file Microsoft Word file Microsoft Excel file Audio/Video file Apple ...

  4. For a citizen energy transition

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Geze, Patrick; Bernon, Francoise; Alphandery, Claude; Albizzati, Amandine; Ballandras, Marc; Berland, Olivier; Peullemeulle, Justine; Causse, Laurent; Olivier, Dominique; Damerval, Francois; Lepage, Corinne; Dughera, Jacques; Bouchart, Christiane; Duracka, Nicolas; Ferrari, Albert; Noe, Julien; Soulias, Emmanuel; Gaspard, Albane; Greenwood, Marianne; Guy, Lionel; Kretzschmar, Cyril; Lalu, Delphine; Naett, Caroline; Raguet, Alex; Rouchon, Jean-Philippe; Ruedinger, Andreas; Sautter, Christian; Tudor, Ivan; Vaquie, Pierre-Francois; Vernier, Christophe; Youinou, Jean-Michel; Verny, Emmanuel; Claustre, Raphael; Leclercq, Michel

    2015-09-01

    This publication by a think tank specialised in social and solidarity economy first outlines that energy transition means a transition from the present energy model to a new model based on three pillars: a drastic reduction of energy consumption through sobriety (energy saving, struggle against wastage), an improvement of energy efficiency, and an energy mix based on renewable and sustainable resources. A first part proposes a discussion of what 'citizen' energy transition can be: general framework of energy transition, pioneering examples in Europe, citizen empowerment, importance of a decentralised model which is anchored in territories, general interest as a priority. Each of these issues and aspects is illustrated by examples. Then, as this evolution towards a citizen-based model requires a change of scale, the authors discuss how to involve public authorities and to adapt regulation, how to develop financing tools, how to support the emergence and development of projects, and how to be part of international dynamics. The author then discuss what their think tank can do to accelerate energy transition. Proposals made in the different chapters are then summarized

  5. Educating Citizens in Late Modern Societies

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christensen, Torben Spanget

    2011-01-01

    One way or the other democratic states need to take on the task of educating its rising generation in governmental affairs, societal matters and citizenship in order to sustain the democracy itself. This article presents a model for analysing civic education in late modern, globalised world....... The model is based on the fundamental belief that the overall aim of civic education in democratic, late modern and global societies is empowerment of the citizen in order to establish a self governing citizen who simultaneous is capable of managing and keeping together partly contradictory citizens tasks...... studies and evaluations of the Danish upper secondary school completed at my department at University of Southern Denmark in recent years, especially connected to a quite far reaching curriculum reform from 2005. It is assumed that this Danish development is an expression of a more general phenomenon...

  6. Who are the citizens in public participation GIS

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Henning Sten; Reinau, Kristian Hegner

    2006-01-01

    to face discussions between the citizens. Equal opportunities to express their opinions and an open debate between people are the basic foundation for democracy. Therefore the design of participatory processes must take outset in the citizens and their knowledge and commitment concerning the issue...... stakeholders among a broader group of citizens, and ask for their opinion. Especially women and younger generations are much more needed in the participatory process. Therefore the county administration must consider these findings to make the participation tools more targeted in the future....

  7. Revolutionising citizen journalism

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mollerup, Nina Grønlykke

    Citizen journalism has played a crucial role in the Egyptian revolution by providing documentation of events journalists were unable to document and by challenging and influencing the mainstream media. One of the most prominent examples of this is Rassd News Network (RNN). RNN is until now entirely...

  8. Tocqueville's Christian Citizen

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ossewaarde, Marinus R.R.

    2005-01-01

    Tocqueville's Christian Citizen Marinus Ossewaarde Introduction Alexis De Tocqueville is well known for his critique of democracy. A French statesman, he was left with the legacy of the French Revolution that had torn his fatherland and had changed the course of human history for good. Tocqueville,

  9. Citizen enforcement and the smoking gun

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Unterberger, G.L.

    1991-01-01

    This article addresses the provisions for private citizens to bring lawsuits in federal court against regulated parties violating federal air pollution-control laws and the steps that operators of facilities subject to air pollution-control laws need to take to help avoid significant enforcement liabilities. The topics of the article include a look at citizen enforcement since 1970, the 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act, construction and management with these regulations

  10. CITIZEN PROTECTION IN FRONT OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION. COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    POPESCU Maria

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to analyze the legal instruments available to the citizen to fight against government abuses. These tools, some of them published and recently developed, is a natural part of the evolution of government and the relationship between administration and citizens. Increasing citizen involvement in administration is reflected precisely by giving increasing importance in legal research to this phenomenon.

  11. Advice on drug safety in pregnancy: are there differences between commonly used sources of information?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frost Widnes, Sofia K; Schjøtt, Jan

    2008-01-01

    Safety regarding use in pregnancy is not established for many drugs. Inconsistencies between sources providing drug information can give rise to confusion with possible therapeutic consequences. Therefore, it is important to measure clinically important differences between drug information sources. The objective of this study was to compare two easily accessible Norwegian sources providing advice on drug safety in pregnancy - the product monographs in the Felleskatalog (FK), published by the pharmaceutical companies, and the five regional Drug Information Centres (DICs) in Norway - in addition to assessing the frequency of questions regarding drug safety in pregnancy made to the DICs according to the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) classification system. Advice on drug use in pregnancy provided by the DICs in 2003 and 2005 were compared with advice in the product monographs for the respective drugs in the FK. Comparison of advice was based on categorization to one of four categories: can be used, benefit-risk assessment, should not be used, or no available information. A total of 443 drug advice were categorized. Seven out of ten of drugs frequently enquired about, according to the ATC system, were drugs acting on the nervous system (group N). For 208 (47%) of the drugs, advice differed between the DICs and FK. Advice from the FK was significantly (p drugs that were newly introduced and those that had been on the market for a longer time, advice regarding use of drugs in the first trimester and advice regarding use of drugs in the second or third trimester, or between advice provided during 2003 and during 2005. The results of this study show considerable differences between two Norwegian sources providing advice on the use of drugs in pregnancy. Based on the knowledge that healthcare providers choose sources of information in a random manner, our results may be of clinical importance. We believe that the problem with heterogeneous drug information on this

  12. CosmoQuest: A Glance at Citizen Science Building

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richardson, Matthew; Grier, Jennifer; Gay, Pamela; Lehan, Cory; Buxner, Sanlyn; CosmoQuest Team

    2018-01-01

    CosmoQuest is a virtual research facility focused on engaging people - citizen scientists - from across the world in authentic research projects designed to enhance our knowledge of the cosmos around us. Using image data acquired by NASA missions, our citizen scientists are first trained to identify specific features within the data and then requested to identify those features across large datasets. Responses submitted by the citizen scientists are then stored in our database where they await for analysis and eventual publication by CosmoQuest staff and collaborating professional research scientists.While it is clear that the driving power behind our projects are the eyes and minds of our citizen scientists, it is CosmoQuest’s custom software, Citizen Science Builder (CSB), that enables citizen science to be accomplished. On the front end, CosmoQuest’s CSB software allows for the creation of web-interfaces that users can access to perform image annotation through both drawing tools and questions that can accompany images. These tools include: using geometric shapes to identify regions within an image, tracing image attributes using freeform line tools, and flagging features within images. Additionally, checkboxes, dropdowns, and free response boxes may be used to collect information. On the back end, this software is responsible for the proper storage of all data, which allows project staff to perform periodic data quality checks and track the progress of each project. In this poster we present these available tools and resources and seek potential collaborations.

  13. Empowering Girls through Sport? Sports Advice Books for Young Female Readers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heinecken, Dawn

    2016-01-01

    Advice books by female athletes are among the top selling sports books for young readers in the US. Though they have received little attention to date, sports advice books are important to examine because of how they function as a form of conduct manual instructing girls in specific understandings of female identity. Implying that girls face…

  14. Citizen science can improve conservation science, natural resource management, and environmental protection

    Science.gov (United States)

    McKinley, Duncan C.; Miller-Rushing, Abe J.; Ballard, Heidi L.; Bonney, Rick; Brown, Hutch; Cook-Patton, Susan; Evans, Daniel M.; French, Rebecca A.; Parrish, Julia; Phillips, Tina B.; Ryan, Sean F.; Shanley, Lea A.; Shirk, Jennifer L.; Stepenuck, Kristine F.; Weltzin, Jake F.; Wiggins, Andrea; Boyle, Owen D.; Briggs, Russell D.; Chapin, Stuart F.; Hewitt, David A.; Preuss, Peter W.; Soukup, Michael A.

    2017-01-01

    Citizen science has advanced science for hundreds of years, contributed to many peer-reviewed articles, and informed land management decisions and policies across the United States. Over the last 10 years, citizen science has grown immensely in the United States and many other countries. Here, we show how citizen science is a powerful tool for tackling many of the challenges faced in the field of conservation biology. We describe the two interwoven paths by which citizen science can improve conservation efforts, natural resource management, and environmental protection. The first path includes building scientific knowledge, while the other path involves informing policy and encouraging public action. We explore how citizen science is currently used and describe the investments needed to create a citizen science program. We find that:Citizen science already contributes substantially to many domains of science, including conservation, natural resource, and environmental science. Citizen science informs natural resource management, environmental protection, and policymaking and fosters public input and engagement.Many types of projects can benefit from citizen science, but one must be careful to match the needs for science and public involvement with the right type of citizen science project and the right method of public participation.Citizen science is a rigorous process of scientific discovery, indistinguishable from conventional science apart from the participation of volunteers. When properly designed, carried out, and evaluated, citizen science can provide sound science, efficiently generate high-quality data, and help solve problems.

  15. Citizen radiation monitoring program for the TMI area

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baratta, A.J.; Gricar, B.G.; Jester, W.A.

    1981-07-01

    The purpose of the program was to develop a system for citizens to independently measure radiation levels in and around their communities. This report describes the process by which the Program was developed and operated. It also presents the methods used to select and train the citizens in making and interpreting the measurements. The test procedures used to select the equipment for the program are described as are the results of the testing. Finally, the actual monitoring results are discussed along with the citizens' reactions to the program

  16. Citizen radiation monitoring program for the TMI area

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Baratta, A.J.; Gricar, B.G.; Jester, W.A.

    1981-07-01

    The purpose of the program was to develop a system for citizens to independently measure radiation levels in and around their communities. This report describes the process by which the Program was developed and operated. It also presents the methods used to select and train the citizens in making and interpreting the measurements. The test procedures used to select the equipment for the program are described as are the results of the testing. Finally, the actual monitoring results are discussed along with the citizens' reactions to the program.

  17. Maintaining clinical governance when giving telephone advice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alazawi, William; Agarwal, Kosh; Suddle, Abid; Aluvihare, Varuna; Heneghan, Michael A

    2013-10-01

    Delivering excellent healthcare depends on accurate communication between professionals who may be in different locations. Frequently, the first point of contact with the liver unit at King's College Hospital (KCH) is through a telephone call to a specialist registrar or liver fellow, for whom no case notes are available in which to record information. The aim of this study was to improve the clinical governance of telephone referrals and to generate contemporaneous records that could be easily retrieved and audited. An electronic database for telephone referrals and advice was designed and made securely available to registrars in our unit. Service development in a tertiary liver centre that receives referrals from across the UK and Europe. Demographic and clinical data were recorded prospectively and analysed retrospectively. Data from 350 calls were entered during 5 months. The information included the nature and origin of the call (200 from 75 different institutions), disease burden and severity of disease among the patients discussed with KCH, and outcome of the call. The majority of cases were discussed with consultants or arrangements were made for formal review at KCH. A telephone referrals and advice database provides clinical governance, serves as a quality indicator and forms a contemporaneous record at the referral centre. Activity data and knowledge of disease burden help to tailor services to the needs of referrers and commissioners. We recommend implementation of similar models in other centres that give extramural verbal advice.

  18. Advice letter on policy instruments renewable electricity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2011-01-01

    In a letter of July 2010 the Energy Council made recommendations for a policy framework with more obligations and fewer subsidies. This included the Energy Council's advice to investigate whether the introduction of a supplier obligation could play a major role in the realisation of the CO2 emission target of the Netherlands and increase the share of renewable energy in line with European agreements. This advice letter deals with one aspect of the broader considerations: the share of renewable electricity and the kind of incentive framework that is needed to achieve the target concerned. In this letter we will examine the possibilities of the SDE+ support (financial incentive for renewable energy) scheme and the supplier obligation, the effects on the market and the consequences for achieving the target. This letter closes with conclusions and recommendations. [nl

  19. Citizen observations contributing to flood modelling: opportunities and challenges

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    T. H. Assumpção

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Citizen contributions to science have been successfully implemented in many fields, and water resources is one of them. Through citizens, it is possible to collect data and obtain a more integrated decision-making process. Specifically, data scarcity has always been an issue in flood modelling, which has been addressed in the last decades by remote sensing and is already being discussed in the citizen science context. With this in mind, this article aims to review the literature on the topic and analyse the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead. The literature on monitoring, mapping and modelling, was evaluated according to the flood-related variable citizens contributed to. Pros and cons of the collection/analysis methods were summarised. Then, pertinent publications were mapped into the flood modelling cycle, considering how citizen data properties (spatial and temporal coverage, uncertainty and volume are related to its integration into modelling. It was clear that the number of studies in the area is rising. There are positive experiences reported in collection and analysis methods, for instance with velocity and land cover, and also when modelling is concerned, for example by using social media mining. However, matching the data properties necessary for each part of the modelling cycle with citizen-generated data is still challenging. Nevertheless, the concept that citizen contributions can be used for simulation and forecasting is proved and further work lies in continuing to develop and improve not only methods for collection and analysis, but certainly for integration into models as well. Finally, in view of recent automated sensors and satellite technologies, it is through studies as the ones analysed in this article that the value of citizen contributions, complementing such technologies, is demonstrated.

  20. Citizen observations contributing to flood modelling: opportunities and challenges

    Science.gov (United States)

    Assumpção, Thaine H.; Popescu, Ioana; Jonoski, Andreja; Solomatine, Dimitri P.

    2018-02-01

    Citizen contributions to science have been successfully implemented in many fields, and water resources is one of them. Through citizens, it is possible to collect data and obtain a more integrated decision-making process. Specifically, data scarcity has always been an issue in flood modelling, which has been addressed in the last decades by remote sensing and is already being discussed in the citizen science context. With this in mind, this article aims to review the literature on the topic and analyse the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead. The literature on monitoring, mapping and modelling, was evaluated according to the flood-related variable citizens contributed to. Pros and cons of the collection/analysis methods were summarised. Then, pertinent publications were mapped into the flood modelling cycle, considering how citizen data properties (spatial and temporal coverage, uncertainty and volume) are related to its integration into modelling. It was clear that the number of studies in the area is rising. There are positive experiences reported in collection and analysis methods, for instance with velocity and land cover, and also when modelling is concerned, for example by using social media mining. However, matching the data properties necessary for each part of the modelling cycle with citizen-generated data is still challenging. Nevertheless, the concept that citizen contributions can be used for simulation and forecasting is proved and further work lies in continuing to develop and improve not only methods for collection and analysis, but certainly for integration into models as well. Finally, in view of recent automated sensors and satellite technologies, it is through studies as the ones analysed in this article that the value of citizen contributions, complementing such technologies, is demonstrated.

  1. Citizen Science and the Modern Web

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN. Geneva

    2014-01-01

    Beginning as a research project to help scientists communicate, the Web has transformed into a ubiquitous medium. As the sciences continue to transform, new techniques are needed to analyze the vast amounts of data being produced by large experiments. The advent of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey increased throughput of astronomical data, giving rise to Citizen Science projects such as Galaxy Zoo. The Web is no longer exclusively used by researchers, but rather, a place where anyone can share information, or even, partake in citizen science projects. As the Web continues to evolve, new and open technologies enable web applications to become more sophisticated. Scientific toolsets may now target the Web as a platform, opening an application to a wider audience, and potentially citizen scientists. With the latest browser technologies, scientific data may be consumed and visualized, opening the browser as a new platform for scientific analysis.

  2. Reinforcement learning agents providing advice in complex video games

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taylor, Matthew E.; Carboni, Nicholas; Fachantidis, Anestis; Vlahavas, Ioannis; Torrey, Lisa

    2014-01-01

    This article introduces a teacher-student framework for reinforcement learning, synthesising and extending material that appeared in conference proceedings [Torrey, L., & Taylor, M. E. (2013)]. Teaching on a budget: Agents advising agents in reinforcement learning. {Proceedings of the international conference on autonomous agents and multiagent systems}] and in a non-archival workshop paper [Carboni, N., &Taylor, M. E. (2013, May)]. Preliminary results for 1 vs. 1 tactics in StarCraft. {Proceedings of the adaptive and learning agents workshop (at AAMAS-13)}]. In this framework, a teacher agent instructs a student agent by suggesting actions the student should take as it learns. However, the teacher may only give such advice a limited number of times. We present several novel algorithms that teachers can use to budget their advice effectively, and we evaluate them in two complex video games: StarCraft and Pac-Man. Our results show that the same amount of advice, given at different moments, can have different effects on student learning, and that teachers can significantly affect student learning even when students use different learning methods and state representations.

  3. Caution required when relying on a colleague's advice; a comparison between professional advice and evidence from the literature

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Schaafsma, Frederieke; Verbeek, Jos; Hulshof, Carel; van Dijk, Frank

    2005-01-01

    Background: Occupational Physicians rely especially on advice from colleagues when answering their information demands. On the other hand, Evidence-based Medicine (EBM) promotes the use of up-to-date research literature instead of experts. To find out if there was a difference between expert-based

  4. A survey of exercise advice and recommendations in United Kingdom paediatric cardiac clinics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Williams, Craig A; Gowing, Lucy; Horn, Richard; Stuart, Alan Graham

    2017-07-01

    Physical activity and exercise have important health benefits for children and adolescents with CHD. The objective of this study was to survey the provision of advice and recommendations in United Kingdom paediatric CHD clinics. A three-page questionnaire was sent out to paediatric cardiac consultants in the United Kingdom, paediatric consultants with expertise in cardiology, and nursing staff (Paediatricians with Expertise in Cardiology Special Interest Group), as well as all members of the British Congenital Cardiovascular Association. The aim of this questionnaire was to determine the extent and scope of current information provision and to assess the importance that clinicians place on this advice. There were 68 responses in total, and the data showed that, of these, 24 (36%) clinicians had never provided paediatric CHD patients with written advice about exercise. Only 27 (39%) clinicians provided physical activity advice at every appointment. Lack of time during consultation (n=39, 56.9%), lack of training (n=38, 55.2%), and uncertainty about appropriate recommendations (n=38, 55.2%) were identified as the main factors preventing clinicians from providing patients with advice about physical activity. Although healthcare providers consider physical activity to be very important, the provision of clear, specific advice and recommendations is underutilised; therefore, more education and provision of resources to support the promotion of exercise need to be provided to clinicians and their support teams.

  5. Educating Digital Citizens

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tan, Thomas

    2011-01-01

    Digital citizenship is how educators, citizens, and parents can teach where the lines of cyber safety and ethics are in the interconnected online world their students will inhabit. Aside from keeping technology users safe, digital citizenship also prepares students to survive and thrive in an environment embedded with information, communication,…

  6. Linked analysis for definition of nurse advice line syndrome groups, and comparison to encounters.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Magruder, Steven F; Henry, J; Snyde, M

    2005-08-26

    Nurse advice call centers are a potentially important source of data for syndromic surveillance purposes. For this reason, researchers at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and Kaiser Permanente of the Mid-Atlantic States (KPMAS) have been collaborating to develop methods to use this data within the ESSENCE II Syndromic Surveillance System in the National Capital Region. The objective of this report is to present a general method for finding syndrome groups in data sources that can be linked to physician encounters and to determine effective advice call syndrome groups for use with KPMAS advice data. Advice calls are linked to physician encounters and stratified by patient age. They are placed in groups according to a maximum positive predictive value criterion. The groups are evaluated by correlating the resulting syndrome time series against physician encounter data. Potentially useful advice syndrome groups are found for respiratory, lower gastrointestinal (GI), and total GI syndromes for each age stratum. The time series of the advice data for respiratory, lower GI, and upper GI syndromes accurately predict the physician encounter time series for the corresponding syndromes for each age stratum.

  7. The Effect of Customer Empowerment on Adherence to Expert Advice

    OpenAIRE

    Camacho, Nuno; Jong, Martijn; Stremersch, Stefan

    2014-01-01

    textabstractCustomers often receive expert advice related to their health, finances, taxes or legal procedures, to name just a few. A noble stance taken by some is that experts should empower customers to make their own decisions. In this article, we distinguish informational from decisional empowerment and study whether empowerment leads customers to adhere more or less to expert advice. We empirically test our model using a unique dataset involving 11,735 respondents in 17 countries on four...

  8. Active Citizens, Good Citizens, and Insouciant Bystanders: The Educational Implications of Chinese University Students' Civic Participation via Social Networking

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ke, Lin; Starkey, Hugh

    2014-01-01

    This virtual ethnographic study explores how Chinese university students use social network sites (SNSs) to participate in civic activities. An ideal of "active" citizens is contrasted with good citizens (Crick) and insouciant bystanders. We find that students engage with the civic issues embedded in everyday life; their online civic…

  9. Maternal perceptions of advice on sleep in young children: How, what, and when?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hatton, Rosalind E M; Gardani, Maria

    2018-05-01

    Parental knowledge on sleep hygiene in children may be a contributing factor for sleep difficulties in preschoolers. As sleep is crucial for healthy development, it is important to understand how parental knowledge can be improved. The aim of this qualitative study was to develop an understanding of advice available in the United Kingdom (UK) on sleep in young children. This study employed constructivist grounded theory methodology. Participants were recruited via social media and a previously constructed participant database. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and analysed. Fourteen mothers were interviewed independently, whilst one mother was interviewed together with her husband. Themes relating to how UK mothers wish advice on sleep to be formulated, what they believe it should include and when they would like to receive it, were identified from the data. Specifically, this study suggests that UK mothers value experience and thus recommends that advice be made through collaboration projects involving both professionals and parents. It also suggests that advice should be readily available and given to expecting parents prior to the arrival of their baby as well as at regular follow-ups. In addition, the participating mothers wanted advice to be balanced and non-judgemental. This study looks at the views of mainly White British mothers currently residing within the United Kingdom. Thus, it may not represent the views of everyone in the United Kingdom. Nevertheless, it still makes important recommendations for practice. For example, relationships between health professionals and parents need to be improved and information on different sleeping practices widely dispersed. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Poor sleep is common in young children. Young children's sleep quality can be affected by parental behaviours. Parents lack knowledge of sleep in young children. What does this study add? According to this study: It would

  10. Energy policy - dialogue with the citizen

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zillessen, H.

    1977-01-01

    The attempt made by the Federal government to enter a dialogne with the citizen on prerequisites and objectives of energy policy has met with a conflicting response. On the one hand a lot of citizens have welcomed the fact that the sector of energy policy being socially as relevant as that is being discussed in detail and in public. On the other hand, especially representatives of citizens' initiatives fear that the dialogne will be degradaded to a mere hearing unless it leads to a bitter participation of the citizen in the process of will formation concerning decisions being socially obligatory. The confrontations on energy policy have clearly shown that new forms of the formation of political will are being demanded with an increasing emphasis. In the meantime risks involved in industrial civilization are being recognized as being dangerous to their lives by many people, and doubts concerning the ability of traditional institutions and procedures to meet present and future challenges are increasing. Simultaneously there is resistance against bureaucratic patronizing as well as against party dependence being too strong and dependent interest of the state. Many of those who are affected by a faulty development and by unbearable things - due to the way in which governmental and private economic problems are tackled - demand new forms of will formation concerning the mediation of social needs and political responsibilities. (orig.) [de

  11. Citizens in sustainable transitions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hoffmann, Birgitte; Agger, Annika

    2013-01-01

    The paper explores how local public authorities can support and facilitate citizens’ participa-tion and learning in sustainable transition in urban neighbourhoods, by supporting local in-termediaries. The role of intermediaries can be performed by a variety of actors such as public housing...... associations; NGO´s, or semi public institutions. Our claim is that intermediary actors have the potential to facilitate new platforms for citizens’ participation in urban sustainable transition due to their particular role in between public authorities and civil society. The key question of the paper is how...... the intermediary actors facilitate citizens' participatory processes in sustainable urban transitions, and the paper explores the concept of institutional capacity building as a way to develop learning processes and new practises? The aim is to analyse approaches of creating platforms for involving citizens...

  12. Personalized nutrition advice : an everyday-life perspective

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bouwman, L.I.

    2009-01-01

    This thesis presents societal preconditions for Personalized Nutrition Advice (PNA) that result from an everyday-life perspective on this innovative approach. Generally, PNA is regarded as promising, because it provides users with highly specific information on individual health risks and benefits

  13. [Pharmaceutical advice concerning different pharmaceutical dosage forms].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Szakonyi, Gergely; Zelkó, Romána

    2010-01-01

    The present paper summarizes the commonly applied types of drug uptake and the pharmacists' advice concerning a certain dosage form. The manuscript also deals with the modified release dosage forms and their abbreviations in the name of the marketing authorized products.

  14. Linking Consumer Rights with Citizen Roles: An Opportunity for Consumer Educators.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stevens, Georgia L.

    1994-01-01

    Consumer educators can help students develop consumer/citizen roles through curricula linking consumer rights with citizen responsibilities. Dialogue about issues, community needs assessment, and community volunteer service enable students to practice citizen roles. (SK)

  15. Utilisation of Business Advice in Small Innovative Firms: the Role of Trust and Tacit Knowledge

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Katarzyna Łobacz

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Objective: The aim of this paper is to expand the understanding of the influence of trust relationship, as well as tacit knowledge on the process of business advice utilisation in small innovative firms. Research Design & Methods: The  analysis  is  based  on  empirical  research  conducted with the use of the explorative approach. The multiple case study methodology was used. Findings: Trust relationships as well as tacit knowledge were identified as factors essential to the process of utilisation of business advice in small innovative firms. It was recognised that the significance of both factors is related not only to the process of advice, but also as a purpose of activities happening prior to advice. They are referred to as the initial phase. Implications & Recommendations: The  findings  provide  implications  for  further  research of the structure of the process of business advice utilisation. It is related to the inclusion of the “initial phase”, as well as to the  necessity to include both factors in further research. The paper also provides implicationsrelated to the measurement of business advice output, and recommendations on the construction of public policy instruments. Contribution & Value Added: The originality of this work lies in using the process perspective and qualitative methodology in the field of the utilisation of business advice. It extends our understanding of the processes of business advice with regard to trust, as well as the use of tacit knowledge. The original contribution is to add the “initial phase” to the description of the business advice process.

  16. CIGEO public debate. Presentation of the Citizens' Conference - Press file. Presentation of the citizens panel opinion

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hermitte, Marie-Angele; Bedu, Clemence; Besnus, Francois; Brom, Jean-Marie; Grambow, Bernd; Ruedinger, Andreas; Fourniau, Jean-Michel; Bobbio, Luigi; Blatrix, Cecile

    2013-01-01

    After a presentation of the organisation and implementation of the Citizens' Conference, a presentation of the members of the steering committee and of the assessment committee of this conference, this document presents the opinion of the citizen panel in the framework of the public debate on the Cigeo project of deep underground disposal of radioactive wastes. This opinion notably outlines the waste issue as an inter-generational issue, comments the calendar and condition of the Cigeo project, states the panel opinion on risks which are specific to the Cigeo project, discusses the issue of recoverability and reversibility, discusses the issue of site memory, evokes the possibility of exploitation of geothermal energy, outlines the importance of health and environmental monitoring, comments opportunities for local development, and discusses cost and financing assessments. An appendix presents the different training programmes proposed during the citizens' conference

  17. 14 CFR 47.7 - United States citizens and resident aliens.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false United States citizens and resident aliens... AIRCRAFT AIRCRAFT REGISTRATION General § 47.7 United States citizens and resident aliens. (a) U.S. citizens... the application. (b) Resident aliens. An applicant for aircraft registration under 49 U.S.C. 44102 who...

  18. Assessing Motivations and Use of Online Citizen Science Astronomy Projects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nona Bakerman, Maya; Buxner, Sanlyn; Bracey, Georgia; Gugliucci, Nicole

    2018-01-01

    The exponential proliferation of astronomy data has resulted in the need to develop new ways to analyze data. Recent efforts to engage the public in the discussion of the importance of science has led to projects that are aimed at letting them have hands-on experiences. Citizen science in astronomy, which has followed the model of citizen science in other scientific fields, has increased in the number and type of projects in the last few years and poses captivating ways to engage the public in science.The primary feature of this study was citizen science users’ motivations and activities related to engaging in astronomy citizen science projects. We report on participants’ interview responses related to their motivations, length and frequency of engagement, and reasons for leaving the project. From May to October 2014, 32 adults were interviewed to assess their motivations and experiences with citizen science. In particular, we looked at if and how motivations have changed for those who have engaged in the projects in order to develop support for and understandparticipants of citizen science. The predominant reasons participants took part in citizen science were: interest, helping, learning or teaching, and being part of science. Everyone interviewed demonstrated an intrinsic motivation to do citizen science projects.Participants’ reasons for ending their engagement on any given day were: having to do other things, physical effects of the computer, scheduled event that ended, attention span or tired, computer or program issues. A small fraction of the participants also indicated experiencing negative feedback. Out of the participants who no longer took part in citizen science projects, some indicated that receiving negative feedback was their primary reason and others reported the program to be frustrating.Our work is helping us to understand participants who engage in online citizen science projects so that researchers can better design projects to meet their

  19. Using behavioural insights for citizen compliance and cooperation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jane Robb

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available In recent years, public agencies have frequently deployed behavioural insights to generate benefits for society, through encouraging citizens to comply with official requests, and more generally encouraging them to cooperate with public agencies to help deliver outcomes of collective benefit. In parallel, there has been a large increase in the amount and quality of the research evidence available on behavioural public policy. This review takes two contrasting areas where behavioural insights have been used: tax collection where government policy is compulsory (i.e. requiring compliance, and energy use where social objectives are non-compulsory, and achieved more by persuasion and encouragement. Processes of modifying and changing behaviour require different approaches whether the change is deemed necessary by the state or not. In taxes, the sole use of enforcement is rarely efficacious, whereas increasing the uncertainty of follow-up and audit increases compliance. Offering discounts for energy bills appears to be an effective method for achieving cooperation. However, the use of social norms and increased information and professional advice is effective for both compulsory and non-compulsory areas of compliance and cooperation. This has important implications for policymakers, who may be seeking effective methods of encouraging behaviour change. While there are differences in approaches for compulsory and non-compulsory areas of policy, there may be areas that move from non-statutory to statutory in the future. In this case, the development of desired social norms appears to be the most effective method of ensuring overall compliance.

  20. Citizen Science for Traffic Planning: A Practical Example

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rieke, Matthes; Stasch, Christoph; Autermann, Christian; de Wall, Arne; Remke, Albert; Wulffius, Herwig; Jirka, Simon

    2017-04-01

    Measures affecting traffic flows in urban areas, e.g. changing the configuration of traffic lights, are often causing emotional debates by citizens who are affected by these measures. Up to now, citizens are usually not involved in traffic planning and the evaluation of the decisions that were taken. The enviroCar project provides an open platform for collecting and analyzing car sensor data with GPS position data. On the hardware side, enviroCar relies on using Android smartphones and OBD-II Bluetooth adapters. A Web server component collects and aggregates the readings from the cars, anonymizes them and publishes the data as open data which scientists, public administrations or other third parties can utilize for further analysis. In this work, we provide a general overview on the enviroCar project and present a project in a mid-size city in Germany. The city's administration utilized the enviroCar platform with the help of a traffic system consultancy for including citizens in the evaluation process of different traffic light configurations along major traffic axes. Therefore, a public campaign was started including local workshops to engage the citizens. More than 150 citizens were actively collecting more about 9.500 tracks including about 2.5 million measurements. Dedicated evaluation results for the different traffic axes were computed based on the collected data set. Because the data is publicly available as open data, others may prove and reproduce the evaluation results contributing to an objective discussion of traffic planning measures. In summary, the project illustrates how Citizen Science methods and technologies improve traffic planning and related discussions.

  1. Gauging citizen support for a low carbon fuel standard

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rhodes, Ekaterina; Axsen, Jonn; Jaccard, Mark

    2015-01-01

    Since 2007, several variations of a low carbon fuel standard (LCFS) have been implemented around the world. While emerging research tends to focus on greenhouse gas emission reductions from an LCFS, no studies have assessed the policy's political acceptability—a critical component of implementation. We elicit public support for an existing LCFS in British Columbia and a hypothetical (proposed) LCFS for the rest of Canada using survey data collected from a representative sample of Canadian citizens (n=1306). Specifically, we assess: (1) citizen awareness of British Columbia's LCFS, (2) stated citizen support for the LCFS, and (3) how individual characteristics relate to levels of citizen support. We find that British Columbia's LCFS is almost unknown among British Columbia respondents, but once explained, 90% of respondents support it. We refer to this combination of low knowledge and high support as “passive support.” We find similarly broad support in all other Canadian provinces, implying that citizen opposition is unlikely in jurisdictions considering an LCFS. Statistical analysis identifies some individual characteristics associated with LCFS support, including attitudes, demographics, and contextual factors. Results indicate where policymakers might anticipate opposition if it arises due to increased policy stringency or media coverage. - Highlights: • Most citizens are unaware of British Columbia's low carbon fuel standard (LCFS). • We observe passive support: low awareness and high support of the policy. • An LCFS achieves broad support among British Columbia's and Canadian citizens. • Households relying on single occupancy vehicles are less likely to support an LCFS

  2. A natural user interface to integrate citizen science and physical exercise

    OpenAIRE

    Palermo, Eduardo; Laut, Jeffrey; Nov, Oded; Cappa, Paolo; Porfiri, Maurizio

    2017-01-01

    Citizen science enables volunteers to contribute to scientific projects, where massive data collection and analysis are often required. Volunteers participate in citizen science activities online from their homes or in the field and are motivated by both intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Here, we investigated the possibility of integrating citizen science tasks within physical exercises envisaged as part of a potential rehabilitation therapy session. The citizen science activity entailed envir...

  3. Citizens' action group

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Andritzky, W.

    1978-01-01

    For the first empirical study of citizens' action groups 331 such groups were consulted. Important information was collected on the following aspects of these groups: their self-image, areas and forms of activities, objectives and their extent, how long the group has existed, successes and failures and their forms of organisation. (orig.) [de

  4. Citizens and Handicaps.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thomas, Stanley B., Jr.

    In a speech delivered at the National Easter Seal Society's Annual Convention (1974), the author discusses progress toward full citizenship for the handicapped focusing on the roles of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (DHEW) and the Office for the Handicapped, Constitutional guarantees of equal rights for all citizens, and national…

  5. Mortgage risks, debt literacy and financial advice

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Ooijen, Raun; van Rooij, Maarten C.J.

    2016-01-01

    A limited understanding of mortgage contracts and the risks involved may have contributed to the outbreak of the 2007–2008 financial crisis. We developed a special questionnaire relating mortgage loan decisions to financial knowledge and financial advice. Our results demonstrate that homeowners

  6. Citizen Science Initiatives: Engaging the Public and Demystifying Science

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kim Van Vliet

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available The Internet and smart phone technologies have opened up new avenues for collaboration among scientists around the world. These technologies have also expanded citizen science opportunities and public participation in scientific research (PPSR. Here we discuss citizen science, what it is, who does it, and the variety of projects and methods used to increase scientific knowledge and scientific literacy. We describe a number of different types of citizen-science projects. These greatly increase the number of people involved, helping to speed the pace of data analysis and allowing science to advance more rapidly. As a result of the numerous advantages of citizen-science projects, these opportunities are likely to expand in the future and increase the rate of novel discoveries.

  7. Smoking cessation advice in consultations with health problems not related to smoking?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Guassora, Ann Dorrit Kristiane; Baarts, Charlotte

    2010-01-01

    and was primarily discussed if it posed a particular risk to a particular patient. Smoking cessation advice also occurred in conversations addressing the patient ’ s well-being. If occurring without any other readable frame, smoking cessation advice was apt to be perceived by patients as part of a public campaign...

  8. The visual advice centre Eindhoven, an experiment in Dutch low vision care

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Neve, J.J.; Jorritsma, F.F.; Kinds, G.F.; Kooijman, A.C.; Looijestijn, P.L.; Welling, J.A.; Wildt, van der G.J.

    1994-01-01

    The Visual Advice Centre Eindhoven (VAC-E) provides the partially sighted with advice and prescriptions for low vision aids and illumination on the basis of an examination of their individual needs and their residual visual abilities. In the Dutch context of low vision care the V AC-E can be

  9. Student Attitudes Towards and Impressions of Project Citizen

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sara Winstead FRY

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available Project Citizen is a civic education curriculum used across the United States and internationally, yet research about its impact on students is lacking in the literature. This article reports the results of a preliminary study designed to answer the following questions: What are students’ attitudes toward and perceptions of Project Citizen? How do their attitudes and perceptions compare to those of students who completed senior projects? Tenhigh school students and 23 first-year college students completed a questionnaire designed for this study. Our findings indicate that the high school students had positive perceptions of Project Citizen, and they self-reported anunderstanding and high levels of efficacy regarding civic responsibility. In contrast, the first-year college students had lower levels of efficacy regarding civic responsibility. Our findings suggest the importance of specific learning experiences to help students develop civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions, and indicate the need for further research into civic programs such as Project Citizen

  10. Citizen Science for Mining the Biomedical Literature

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ginger Tsueng

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Biomedical literature represents one of the largest and fastest growing collections of unstructured biomedical knowledge. Finding critical information buried in the literature can be challenging. To extract information from free-flowing text, researchers need to: 1. identify the entities in the text (named entity recognition, 2. apply a standardized vocabulary to these entities (normalization, and 3. identify how entities in the text are related to one another (relationship extraction. Researchers have primarily approached these information extraction tasks through manual expert curation and computational methods. We have previously demonstrated that named entity recognition (NER tasks can be crowdsourced to a group of non-experts via the paid microtask platform, Amazon Mechanical Turk (AMT, and can dramatically reduce the cost and increase the throughput of biocuration efforts. However, given the size of the biomedical literature, even information extraction via paid microtask platforms is not scalable. With our web-based application Mark2Cure (http://mark2cure.org, we demonstrate that NER tasks also can be performed by volunteer citizen scientists with high accuracy. We apply metrics from the Zooniverse Matrices of Citizen Science Success and provide the results here to serve as a basis of comparison for other citizen science projects. Further, we discuss design considerations, issues, and the application of analytics for successfully moving a crowdsourcing workflow from a paid microtask platform to a citizen science platform. To our knowledge, this study is the first application of citizen science to a natural language processing task.

  11. Following celebrities’ medical advice: meta-narrative analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tan, Charlie

    2013-01-01

    Objective To synthesise what is known about how celebrities influence people’s decisions on health. Design Meta-narrative analysis of economics, marketing, psychology, and sociology literatures. Data sources Systematic searches of electronic databases: BusinessSource Complete (1886-), Communication & Mass Media Complete (1915-), Humanities Abstracts (1984-), ProQuest Political Science (1985-), PsycINFO (1806-), PubMed (1966-), and Sociology Abstracts (1952-). Inclusion criteria Studies discussing mechanisms of celebrities’ influence on people in any context. Results Economics literature shows that celebrity endorsements act as signals of credibility that differentiate products or ideas from competitors and can catalyse herd behaviour. Marketing studies show that celebrities transfer their desirable attributes to products and use their success to boost their perceived credibility. Psychology shows that people are classically conditioned to react positively to the advice of celebrities, experience cognitive dissonance if they do not, and are influenced by congruencies with their self conceptions. Sociology helps explain the spread of celebrity medical advice as a contagion that diffuses through social networks and people’s desire to acquire celebrities’ social capital. Conclusions The influence of celebrity status is a deeply rooted process that can be harnessed for good or abused for harm. A better understanding of celebrity can empower health professionals to take this phenomenon seriously and use patient encounters to educate the public about sources of health information and their trustworthiness. Public health authorities can use these insights to implement regulations and restrictions on celebrity endorsements and design counter marketing initiatives—perhaps even partnering with celebrities—to discredit bogus medical advice while promoting evidence based practices.

  12. Citizen Observatories and the New Earth Observation Science

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alan Grainger

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available Earth observation is diversifying, and now includes new types of systems, such as citizen observatories, unmanned aerial vehicles and wireless sensor networks. However, the Copernicus Programme vision of a seamless chain from satellite data to usable information in the hands of decision makers is still largely unrealized, and remote sensing science lacks a conceptual framework to explain why. This paper reviews the literatures on citizen science, citizen observatories and conceptualization of remote sensing systems. It then proposes a Conceptual Framework for Earth Observation which can be used in a new Earth observation science to explain blockages in the chain from collecting data to disseminating information in any Earth observation system, including remote sensing systems. The framework differs from its predecessors by including social variables as well as technological and natural ones. It is used here, with evidence from successful citizen science projects, to compare the factors that are likely to influence the effectiveness of satellite remote sensing systems and citizen observatories. The paper finds that constraints on achieving the seamless “Copernicus Chain” are not solely technical, as assumed in the new Space Strategy for Europe, but include social constraints too. Achieving the Copernicus Chain will depend on the balance between: (a the ‘forward’ momentum generated by the repetitive functioning of each component in the system, as a result of automatic operation or human institutions, and by the efficiency of interfaces between components; and (b the ‘backward’ flow of information on the information needs of end users. Citizen observatories will face challenges in components which for satellite remote sensing systems are: (a automatic or straightforward, e.g., sensor design and launch, data collection, and data products; and (b also challenging, e.g., data processing. Since citizen observatories will rely even more on

  13. Evidence-based first aid advice for paediatric burns in the United Kingdom.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Varley, Alice; Sarginson, Julia; Young, Amber

    2016-05-01

    Burn and scald injuries are common in children. First aid advice for paediatric burns is offered by a range of health organisations and charities in the UK. Despite this, children still present to emergency departments and burn services having received little or inadequate first aid. A survey was undertaken regarding the content and consistency of the advice given by a cross-section of UK health organisations involved in first aid prevention and education. The advice was subsequently examined to determine if it was evidence-based. Our study has demonstrated inconsistencies in the content of the first aid advice provided by the 21 organisations included in the study. Seventy-one percent of the information was only available online. The temperature, method and duration of cooling varied substantially, as did the advice recommended for the removal of clothing and jewellery and methods for covering the burn immediately after injury. Results from the literature review concluded the following based on available evidence; cool the burn with running tap water for 20min, remove clothing and jewellery and cover the burn with cling film or a clean non-adhesive dressing. This study highlights the lack of consistency between first aid guidance provided by health organisations and charities in the UK. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd and ISBI. All rights reserved.

  14. Board advice following publication of the 1990 Recommendations of ICRP

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1991-11-01

    The International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) has published new Recommendations and the Board has a statutory duty to advise Government and those with responsibilities for radiation protection on the acceptability to and the applicability in the UK of those Recommendations. The Board wishes to consult widely before finalising the advice which is proposed in this document. In general, the Board endorses the conceptual framework for radiological protection recommended by ICRP. In particular, the distinction between practices and intervention is useful and is consistent with the way in which the Board has presented its recent advice. A major new concept is that of a constraint. The Board believes that the introduction of constraints provides a powerful method for improving protection against ionising radiation. The advice in this consultative document is for maximum generic values of dose constraints for both workers and the public. Finally the Board proposes to endorse the use of the radiological quantities recommended by ICRP. (author)

  15. Board advice following publication of the 1990 Recommendations of ICRP

    CERN Document Server

    United Kingdom. At. Energy Res. Establ. Nat. Radiolog. Protect. Board. Harwell

    1991-01-01

    The International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) has published new Recommendations and the board has a statutory duty to advise Government and those with responsibilities for radiation protection on the acceptability to and the applicability in the UK of those Recommendations. The Board wishes to consult widely before finalising the advice which is proposed in this document. In general, the Board endorses the conceptual framework for radiological protection recommended by ICRP. In particular, the distinction between practices and intervention is useful and is consistent with the way in which the Board has presented its recent advice. A major new concept is that of a constraint. The Board believes that the introduction of constraints provides a powerful method for improving protection against ionising radiation. The advice in this consultative document is for maximum generic values of dose constraints for both workers and the public. Finally the Board proposes to endorse the use of the radiologic...

  16. A Science Products Inventory for Citizen-Science Planning and Evaluation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wiggins, Andrea; Bonney, Rick; LeBuhn, Gretchen; Parrish, Julia K; Weltzin, Jake F

    2018-06-01

    Citizen science involves a range of practices involving public participation in scientific knowledge production, but outcomes evaluation is complicated by the diversity of the goals and forms of citizen science. Publications and citations are not adequate metrics to describe citizen-science productivity. We address this gap by contributing a science products inventory (SPI) tool, iteratively developed through an expert panel and case studies, intended to support general-purpose planning and evaluation of citizen-science projects with respect to science productivity. The SPI includes a collection of items for tracking the production of science outputs and data practices, which are described and illustrated with examples. Several opportunities for further development of the initial inventory are highlighted, as well as potential for using the inventory as a tool to guide project management, funding, and research on citizen science.

  17. Citizen voices performing public participation in science and environment communication

    CERN Document Server

    Carvalho, Anabela; Doyle, Julie

    2012-01-01

    How is "participation" ascribed meaning and practised in science and environment communication? And how are citizen voices articulated, invoked, heard, marginalised or silenced in those processes? Citizen Voices takes its starting point in the so-called dialogic or participatory turn in scientific and environmental governance in which practices claiming to be based on principles of participation, dialogue and citizen involvement have proliferated. The book goes beyond the buzzword of "participation" in order to give empirically rich, theoretically informed and critical accounts of how citizen participation is understood and enacted in mass mediation and public engagement practices. A diverse series of studies across Europe and the US are presented, providing readers with empirical insights into the articulation of citizen voices in different national, cultural and institutional contexts. Building bridges across media and communication studies, science and technology studies, environmental studies and urban pl...

  18. A science products inventory for citizen-science planning and evaluation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wiggins, Andrea; Bonney, Rick; LeBuhn, Gretchen; Parrish, Julia K.; Weltzin, Jake F.

    2018-01-01

    Citizen science involves a range of practices involving public participation in scientific knowledge production, but outcomes evaluation is complicated by the diversity of the goals and forms of citizen science. Publications and citations are not adequate metrics to describe citizen-science productivity. We address this gap by contributing a science products inventory (SPI) tool, iteratively developed through an expert panel and case studies, intended to support general-purpose planning and evaluation of citizen-science projects with respect to science productivity. The SPI includes a collection of items for tracking the production of science outputs and data practices, which are described and illustrated with examples. Several opportunities for further development of the initial inventory are highlighted, as well as potential for using the inventory as a tool to guide project management, funding, and research on citizen science.

  19. A Science Products Inventory for Citizen-Science Planning and Evaluation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wiggins, Andrea; Bonney, Rick; LeBuhn, Gretchen; Parrish, Julia K; Weltzin, Jake F

    2018-01-01

    Abstract Citizen science involves a range of practices involving public participation in scientific knowledge production, but outcomes evaluation is complicated by the diversity of the goals and forms of citizen science. Publications and citations are not adequate metrics to describe citizen-science productivity. We address this gap by contributing a science products inventory (SPI) tool, iteratively developed through an expert panel and case studies, intended to support general-purpose planning and evaluation of citizen-science projects with respect to science productivity. The SPI includes a collection of items for tracking the production of science outputs and data practices, which are described and illustrated with examples. Several opportunities for further development of the initial inventory are highlighted, as well as potential for using the inventory as a tool to guide project management, funding, and research on citizen science. PMID:29867254

  20. Destination image and crime in Mexico: An analysis of foreign government travel advice

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J. Carlos Monterrubio

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Destination image has been recognised as an influential component of travel decision processes. Although organic sources of information play an important role in shaping destination image, researchers have often ignored the types of sources and the information they deliver. In particular, official websites where government travel advice is given, especially in relation to crime, have been widely excluded from scholarly research. This paper analyses the relationship between crime-related travel advice given by foreign governments and Mexico’s destination image. Qualitative content analysis of official websites from the US, Canada, the UK and Spain reveals that the travel advice given relates largely to the violence and insecurity that Mexico is currently experiencing. “No advisory in effect”, “Exercise caution” and “Defer non-essential travel” are messages commonly found in the governments’ travel advice about Mexico.

  1. Targeting the robo-advice customer: the development of a psychographic segmentation model for financial advice robots

    OpenAIRE

    van Thiel, D.; van Raaij, W.F.

    2017-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to develop the world’s first psychographic market segmentation model that supports personalization, customer education, customer activation, and customer engagement strategies with financial advice robots. As traditional segmentation models in consumer finance primarily focus on externally observed demographics or economic criteria such as profession, age, income, or wealth, post-hoc psychographic segmentation further supports personalization in the digital adviso...

  2. A New Paradigm in Mortgage Loan Advice

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Otterstedt, Margrét Sesselja; Rasmussen, Kourosh Marjani; Kulahci, Murat

    2013-01-01

    The Danish mortgage market has undergone considerable changes during the last 15 years. New and more complex variations of loan products have been introduced. Nevertheless, mortgage loan advice has remained, by large, unchanged. This paper addresses a study where a number of new refinancing rules...

  3. Strengthening the Idea of “By Citizens, for Citizens” in the Context of the European Citizens' Initiative - Brief Analysis of Initiatives

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Oana - Măriuca Petrescu

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Regulation (EU No. 211 of 16 February 2011 on the European Citizens' Initiative (ECI, as one of the major innovations of the Treaty of Lisbon, represents the first supranational instrument of direct democracy that took effect on April 1, 2012, creating the direct legal link between the European Union citizens and the European institutions. Within the present paper we will give a general overview of the European Citizens’ Initiative instrument, trying also to analyse briefly certain citizens’ initiatives that have been already registered on the European Commission’s website where the online collection of a million signatures is still running, bearing in mind the important role of the citizens as “co-authors” of the law within the European decision-making process. From our point of view this participation will increase the responsibility of the citizens to be more active and to use their new right in the best conditions and without any obstacles.

  4. Disaster-related fatalities among US citizens traveling abroad.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Partridge, Robert; Bouslough, David; Proano, Lawrence

    2013-01-01

    To describe the locations and risk of death associated with natural disaster fatalities for US citizens traveling abroad. A retrospective database review of US citizen disaster deaths occurring worldwide. None. Information on fatalities due to disasters was abstracted from the US Department of State Web site reporting deaths of US citizens abroad by non-natural causes from October 2002 through June 2012. The main outcome measures were the frequency of disaster deaths and countries where disasters occurred. Descriptive statistics and rates were used to evaluate the study data. There were 7,963 total non-natural deaths of US citizens traveling abroad during the study period. Of these, 163 (2.0 percent) were disaster-related deaths, involving 19 disaster events in 15 countries. Only two disaster-related events resulted in more than two deaths of US travelers-the 2010 earthquake in Haiti causing 121 fatalities (74.2 percent of disaster deaths), and the 2004 tsunami in Thailand causing 22 fatalities (13.5 percent of disaster deaths). The approximate annual mean death rate for US citizen travelers as a result of disaster events is 0.27 deaths/1 million travelers, compared with 1.4 deaths/1 million residents due to disaster annually within the United States. The risk of disaster-related fatality is low for US citizens traveling abroad. Although disaster-related death among travelers is unpredictable, during a period of almost 10 years, there was only one reported death due to disaster in the five countries most frequently visited by US travelers. Further investigation may identify population-, seasonal-, country-, or location-specific risks from which prevention strategies can be developed.

  5. Inequalities in advice provided by public health workers to women during antenatal sessions in rural India.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singh, Abhishek; Pallikadavath, Saseendran; Ram, Faujdar; Ogollah, Reuben

    2012-01-01

    Studies have widely documented the socioeconomic inequalities in maternal and child health related outcomes in developing countries including India. However, there is limited research on the inequalities in advice provided by public health workers on maternal and child health during antenatal visits. This paper investigates the inequalities in advice provided by public health workers to women during antenatal visits in rural India. The District Level Household Survey (2007-08) was used to compute rich-poor ratios and concentration indices. Binary logistic regressions were used to investigate inequalities in advice provided by public health workers. The dependent variables comprised the advice provided on seven essential components of maternal and child health care. A significant proportion of pregnant women who attended at least four ANC sessions were not advised on these components during their antenatal sessions. Only 51%-72% of the pregnant women were advised on at least one of the components. Moreover, socioeconomic inequalities in providing advice were significant and the provision of advice concentrated disproportionately among the rich. Inequalities were highest in the case of advice on family planning methods. Advice on breastfeeding was least unequal. Public health workers working in lower level health facilities were significantly less likely than their counterparts in the higher level health facilities to provide specific advice. A significant proportion of women were not advised on recommended components of maternal and child health in rural India. Moreover, there were enormous socioeconomic inequalities. The findings of this study raise questions about the capacity of the public health care system in providing equitable services in India. The Government of India must focus on training and capacity building of the public health workers in communication skills so that they can deliver appropriate and recommended advice to all clients, irrespective of

  6. Inequalities in advice provided by public health workers to women during antenatal sessions in rural India.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Abhishek Singh

    Full Text Available Studies have widely documented the socioeconomic inequalities in maternal and child health related outcomes in developing countries including India. However, there is limited research on the inequalities in advice provided by public health workers on maternal and child health during antenatal visits. This paper investigates the inequalities in advice provided by public health workers to women during antenatal visits in rural India.The District Level Household Survey (2007-08 was used to compute rich-poor ratios and concentration indices. Binary logistic regressions were used to investigate inequalities in advice provided by public health workers. The dependent variables comprised the advice provided on seven essential components of maternal and child health care. A significant proportion of pregnant women who attended at least four ANC sessions were not advised on these components during their antenatal sessions. Only 51%-72% of the pregnant women were advised on at least one of the components. Moreover, socioeconomic inequalities in providing advice were significant and the provision of advice concentrated disproportionately among the rich. Inequalities were highest in the case of advice on family planning methods. Advice on breastfeeding was least unequal. Public health workers working in lower level health facilities were significantly less likely than their counterparts in the higher level health facilities to provide specific advice.A significant proportion of women were not advised on recommended components of maternal and child health in rural India. Moreover, there were enormous socioeconomic inequalities. The findings of this study raise questions about the capacity of the public health care system in providing equitable services in India. The Government of India must focus on training and capacity building of the public health workers in communication skills so that they can deliver appropriate and recommended advice to all clients

  7. Inspiring Glocal Citizens

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tichnor-Wagner, Ariel

    2017-01-01

    In an era when overlapping, intersecting national and cultural identities are a reality for many K-12 students in the United States, it is schools' responsibility to nurture skills and attitudes that help students feel empowered as citizens of their local area or country as well as of other cultural groups they identify with--and of the world.…

  8. Health behaviour advice from health professionals to Canadian adults with hypertension: results from a national survey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walker, Robin L; Gee, Marianne E; Bancej, Christina; Nolan, Robert P; Kaczorowski, Janusz; Joffres, Michel; Bienek, Asako; Gwadry-Sridhar, Femida; Campbell, Norman R C

    2011-01-01

    Health professionals play an important role in providing health information to patients. The objectives of this study were to examine the type of advice that Canadians with hypertension recall receiving from health professionals to manage their condition, and to assess if there is an association between health behaviour advice provided by health professionals and self-reported engagement in health behaviour modification. Respondents of the 2009 Survey on Living with Chronic Diseases in Canada (N = 6142) were asked about sociodemographic characteristics, health care utilization, and health behaviour modification to control hypertension. Association between receipt of advice from health professional and ever engaging, continuing to engage, and not engaging in health behaviour modification was quantified by prevalence rate ratios. Most participants (90.9%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 89.6-92.2) reported that the health professional most responsible for treating their high blood pressure was their general practitioner. Approximately 9% reported that they had not received or do not recall receiving any advice for blood pressure control. The most commonly reported advice received from a health professional was to participate in physical activity or exercise (70.0%). Respondents who had received advice on health behaviour change to manage their high blood pressure were more likely to report engaging in the behaviour compared with those who did not receive such advice. Many Canadians with hypertension receive health behaviour change advice from their health professionals. Receiving this advice was associated with a greater likelihood of attempting health behaviour change and attempting to sustain that change. Copyright © 2011 Canadian Cardiovascular Society. All rights reserved.

  9. The political constitution of the EU citizen rights regime

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Olsen, Tore Vincents

    2011-01-01

    Reactions to decisions by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) demonstrate that the political institutions in the Union should take responsibility for the development of the structure of the European Union's (EU) citizen rights regime. This article analyses different political views on the EU...... communities and institutions to the good life of citizens, both individually and collectively. Taking the contestation between the different views seriously, the article argues in favour of political constitutionalism, according to which the development of the EU citizen rights regime is the responsibility...... citizen rights regime. It argues that the disagreement between them is largely a disagreement between ‘reasonable views’. The disagreement is mainly based on different views about the levels (European, national) at which individuals are to be seen as equals and about the contribution of different...

  10. Mobilizing Senior Citizens in Co-Design of Mobile Technology

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Malmborg, Lone; Gronvall, Erik; Messeter, Jörn

    2016-01-01

    . Based on the notions of design culture, communities of everyday practice and situated elderliness we present accounts from two European countries, and discuss methodological issues related to mobilizing senior citizens in co-design work as they have manifested themselves and influenced the Give......This paper disseminates work from the European Give&Take project, which aims at co-designing service sharing among senior citizens based on a mobile and distributed platform. With this project as a frame, our paper addresses methodological considerations of participation in co-design for ageing......&Take project. Challenges for mobilization are identified, based on an analysis of attitudes and values among design researchers and senior citizens. This analysis lead us to identify and discuss three strategies for mobilizing senior citizens in co-design of mobile technology: 1) Understanding being ‘elderly...

  11. Citizen Science and the Urban Ecology of Birds and Butterflies - A Systematic Review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang Wei, James; Lee, Benjamin P Y-H; Bing Wen, Low

    2016-01-01

    Citizen science has gained widespread currency as a tool for ecological research over the past decade. However, in the discipline of urban ecology, the existing contributions and future potential of citizen science engagement, specifically in terms of knowledge gain, have not yet been comprehensively explored. Here, we present a systematic review of published work on the urban ecology of birds and butterflies in relation to their use of citizen science data between 2005 and 2014. We compared the number of studies that used citizen science data to the number of studies that could potentially have employed data derived from citizen science. The take-up rates of citizen science data were 21% and 26% for birds and butterflies respectively. Most studies that employed citizen science used volunteer-derived data as primary data, and adopted Collegial, Collaborative and Contributional engagement modes to the exclusion of Contractual and Co-created arrangements. There was no evidence that citizen science studies investigated a different organismal scale (community vs. species) compared to the urban ecology literature. For both taxa, citizen science contributions were lower than expected compared to their representation in the urban ecology literature for studies on species-environment relationships at landscape and micro-environment scales, as well as behavioural ecology in general. Other research topics that could benefit from further citizen science involvement include breeding studies and guild analyses for birds, and multi-taxa studies for butterflies. Promising models of citizen science engagement for urban ecology are highlighted in relation to their thematic foci and methodological detail, and a number of research questions that could be productively addressed using citizen science are identified. The dynamics of contemporary engagement between citizen science and urban ecology described by this review could inform the design and refinement of urban ecology-citizen

  12. 77 FR 48169 - The Information Technology Agreement: Advice and Information on the Proposed Expansion: Part 1...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-08-13

    ... Information Technology Agreement: Advice and Information on the Proposed Expansion: Part 1; The Information Technology Agreement: Advice and Information on the Proposed Expansion: Part 2 AGENCY: United States... Technology Agreement: Advice and Information on the Proposed Expansion: Part 1, and investigation No. 332-536...

  13. Inventing Citizens During World War I: Suffrage Cartoons in "The Woman Citizen."

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ramsey, E. Michele

    2000-01-01

    Contributes to scholarship advancing the understanding of human communication by examining the rhetorical invention strategies of suffrage rhetoric in the cultural context of World War I. Shows how the political cartoons published in the mainstream Suffrage Movement's "The Woman Citizen" constructed women as strong, competent, and…

  14. factors associated with discharge against medical advice among

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Hospital environmental factors have a significant relationship with discharge against medical advice. A similar study ..... contractors, and by reinforcing the infection control committee this will .... Sources: Field survey, 2015. The results in Table ...

  15. Active Life of the Senior Citizens through Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taziev, Saljakhutdin Fardievich

    2015-01-01

    The paper presents reasons for including the senior citizens into educational process, as well as active age model. Education, communication and leisure system for the senior citizens, implemented by Yelabuga municipal district, is presented as a requirement for model realization. A core of the paper is the Active Age Institute. Its program…

  16. The role of financial literacy and advice in fi nancial decision making ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    A growing body of research is focused on determining to what extent fi nancial advice can act as a substitute for low levels of fi nancial literacy. To date, studies have found confl icting results. This study used data from a national survey of South Africans to determine whether advice could substitute for low levels of fi nancial ...

  17. Advice networks in teams: the role of transformational leadership and members' core self-evaluations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Zhen; Peterson, Suzanne J

    2011-09-01

    This article examines the team-level factors promoting advice exchange networks in teams. Drawing upon theory and research on transformational leadership, team diversity, and social networks, we hypothesized that transformational leadership positively influences advice network density in teams and that advice network density serves as a mediating mechanism linking transformational leadership to team performance. We further hypothesized a 3-way interaction in which members' mean core self-evaluation (CSE) and diversity in CSE jointly moderate the transformational leadership-advice network density relationship, such that the relationship is positive and stronger for teams with low diversity in CSE and high mean CSE. In addition, we expected that advice network centralization attenuates the positive influence of network density on team performance. Results based on multisource data from 79 business unit management teams showed support for these hypotheses. The results highlight the pivotal role played by transformational leadership and team members' CSEs in enhancing team social networks and, ultimately, team effectiveness. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved

  18. Your Comments Here: Contextualizing Technologies, Seeking Records and Supporting Transparency for Citizen Engagement

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Grant Hurley

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available Today, governments the world over are opening decision-making processes to citizen engagement as an aspect of open government. Citizen engagement initiatives may range from making information available and seeking feedback, to highly dynamic processes that transfer authority to communities and individuals. As part of these initiatives, governments are actively using digital technologies to gather, analyze, and store citizen input; activities that in turn create an array of records. My paper surveys a range of digital technologies used by Canadian citizen engagement case initiatives. In linking technologies, recordkeeping and citizen engagement, I present the combined frameworks of the IAP2 Spectrum and archival diplomatics as one method of understanding how recordkeeping and citizen engagement frameworks may be joined. I conclude with a discussion on defining and locating the records of citizen engagement initiatives and how records and recordkeeping may support transparency and trust in citizen engagement.

  19. Antimalarial measures - type, sources of advice and compliance ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    1994-06-01

    Jun 1, 1994 ... pharmacies as well as actual behaviour in this regard and sources of advice accessed ... pharmacies and 53 'care providers' (members of travel parties). Doctors ... TPS Drug Information Services, Johannesburg. L Baker, DIP.

  20. Multichannel marketing: an experiment on guiding citizens to the electronic channels

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Teerling, Marije L.; Pieterson, Willem Jan

    2010-01-01

    Governments have a variety of channels at their disposal to help them interact with their citizens. Having realized that citizens still prefer the traditional channels, governments are now focusing on ways to lead them to the web. Previously, we have shown that citizens prefer the use of soft

  1. Advice under uncertainty in the marine system

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dankel, Dorothy J.; Aps, Robert; Padda, Gurpreet

    2012-01-01

    lacking. Fisheries science that gives advice to policy-making is plagued by uncertainties; the stakes of the policies are high and value-laden and need therefore to be treated as an example of “post-normal science” (PNS). To achieve robust governance, understanding of the characteristics and implications...

  2. Citizen Journalism & Public Interfaces

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Brynskov, Martin; Strøbech, Kristian; Bang, Jørgen

    2011-01-01

    of views or plain information dissemination. Form the media institution’s point of view the goal was to create a platform for hyper local journalism as a source for journalistic coverage in commercial media. The group investigating civic communication within the Digital Urban Living project...... followed the upstart of Dinby.dk in 2008 and has returned to the experiment in 2010. Our main interest is to explore the condition in which it is possible to create hyper local citizens produced digital content. And, furthermore, to understand which incitements are needed to make local actors or groups act...... as digital providers of their own activities. In the paper we present our findings and reflect them in relation to the design of the web-portal and the profile of the users. Finally we discuss the further perspectives of this form of user/citizens involvement in public communication....

  3. Advice for acute low back pain: a comparison of what research supports and what guidelines recommend.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stevens, Matthew L; Lin, Chung-Wei C; de Carvalho, Flavia A; Phan, Kevin; Koes, Bart; Maher, Chris G

    2017-10-01

    Advice is widely considered an effective treatment for acute low back pain (LBP); however, details on what and how to deliver this intervention is less clear. We assessed and compared clinical trials that test advice for acute LBP with practice guidelines for their completeness of reporting and concordance on the content, method of delivery, and treatment regimen of advice interventions. Systematic review. Advice randomized controlled trials were identified through a systematic search. Guidelines were taken from recent overviews of guidelines for LBP. Completeness of reporting was assessed using the Template for Intervention Description and Replication checklist. Thematic analysis was used to characterize advice interventions into topics across the aspects of content, method of delivery, and regimen. Concordance between clinical trials and guidelines was assessed by comparing the number of trials that found a statistically significant treatment effect for an intervention that included a specific advice topic with the number of guidelines recommending that topic. The median (interquartile range) completeness of reporting for clinical trials and guidelines was 8 (7-9) and 3 (2-4) out of nine items on the Template for Intervention Description and Replication checklist, respectively. Guideline recommendations were discordant with clinical trials for 50% of the advice topics identified. Completeness of reporting was less than ideal for randomized controlled trials and extremely poor for guidelines. The recommendations made in guidelines of advice for acute LBP were often not concordant with the results of clinical trials. Taken together, these findings mean that the potential clinical value of advice interventions for patients with acute LBP is probably not being realized. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  4. Quiet living. Challenges of citizen participation in digitized society

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Stald, Gitte Bang

    Quiet living. Challenges of citizen participation in digitized society The aim of this paper is to present and address challenges that citizens may encounter in the intersecting questions of democracy, digitization, and participation. Empirically, the paper draws on findings from an extensive study......, and perceptions of citizenship. From 2011 and forwards a new digitization strategy for public systems has been implemented in Denmark. According to the strategy, all interactions between the system and the citizen in its multiple contexts are now by default digital and online. The logic is that Denmark is among...... media and media content from their private sphere as well as from their work or education. Denmark can therefore be characterized as a digital society. The following quotes from the media literacy study illustrate two different situations and experiences with digitization of citizen life: “Before .. You...

  5. Chapter 8: The "Citizen" in Youth Civic Engagement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roholt, Ross VeLure; Hildreth, R. W.; Baizerman, Michael

    2007-01-01

    The concept of citizenship is a central, necessary, and defining feature of youth civic engagement. Any effort to educate young people for citizenship entails an implicit idea of what a "good citizen" is. There are a number of different and sometimes competing versions of what is a "good citizen." This chapter reviews "standard" accounts of…

  6. The diversity and evolution of ecological and environmental citizen science.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael J O Pocock

    Full Text Available Citizen science-the involvement of volunteers in data collection, analysis and interpretation-simultaneously supports research and public engagement with science, and its profile is rapidly rising. Citizen science represents a diverse range of approaches, but until now this diversity has not been quantitatively explored. We conducted a systematic internet search and discovered 509 environmental and ecological citizen science projects. We scored each project for 32 attributes based on publicly obtainable information and used multiple factor analysis to summarise this variation to assess citizen science approaches. We found that projects varied according to their methodological approach from 'mass participation' (e.g. easy participation by anyone anywhere to 'systematic monitoring' (e.g. trained volunteers repeatedly sampling at specific locations. They also varied in complexity from approaches that are 'simple' to those that are 'elaborate' (e.g. provide lots of support to gather rich, detailed datasets. There was a separate cluster of entirely computer-based projects but, in general, we found that the range of citizen science projects in ecology and the environment showed continuous variation and cannot be neatly categorised into distinct types of activity. While the diversity of projects begun in each time period (pre 1990, 1990-99, 2000-09 and 2010-13 has not increased, we found that projects tended to have become increasingly different from each other as time progressed (possibly due to changing opportunities, including technological innovation. Most projects were still active so consequently we found that the overall diversity of active projects (available for participation increased as time progressed. Overall, understanding the landscape of citizen science in ecology and the environment (and its change over time is valuable because it informs the comparative evaluation of the 'success' of different citizen science approaches. Comparative

  7. Decisions and advice about infant feeding: findings from ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Decisions and advice about infant feeding: findings from sociological work in ... element were used to probe women's decision-making concerning infant feeding. ... Scant attention has been paid to the results of studies undertaken in other ...

  8. Communication of Science Advice to Government.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hutchings, Jeffrey A; Stenseth, Nils Chr

    2016-01-01

    There are various ways to construct good processes for soliciting and understanding science. Our critique of advisory models finds that a well-supported chief science advisor (CSA) best ensures the provision of deliberative, informal, and emergency advice to government. Alternatively, bias, increasingly manifest as science-based advocacy, can hinder communication, diminish credibility, and distort scientific evidence. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. Fictional citizens and real effects: accountability to citizens in competitive and monopolistic markets

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Meijer, A.J.; Schillemans, T.

    2009-01-01

    This paper evaluates the influence of market conditions – (semi) competitive versus monopolistic markets –on (the effects of) citizen accountability on public sector organisations. Empirical material from case studies in education, healthcare, social security and land registry in the Netherlands is

  10. Innovation in Citizen Science – Perspectives on Science-Policy Advances

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Susanne Hecker

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Citizen science is growing as a field of research with contributions from diverse disciplines, promoting innovation in science, society, and policy. Inter- and transdisciplinary discussions and critical analyses are needed to use the current momentum to evaluate, demonstrate, and build on the advances that have been made in the past few years. This paper synthesizes results of discussions at the first international citizen science conference of the European Citizen Science Association (ECSA in 2016 in Berlin, Germany, and distills major points of the discourse into key recommendations. To enhance innovation in science, citizen science needs to clearly demonstrate its scientific benefit, branch out across disciplines, and foster active networking and new formats of collaboration, including true co-design with participants. For fostering policy advances, it is important to embrace opportunities for policy-relevant monitoring and policy development and to work with science funders to find adequate avenues and evaluation tools to support citizen science. From a society angle it is crucial to engage with societal actors in various formats that suit participants and to evaluate two-way learning outcomes as well as to develop the transformative role of science communication. We hope that these key perspectives will promote citizen science progress at the science-society-policy interface.

  11. Aurorasaurus: A citizen science platform for viewing and reporting the aurora

    Science.gov (United States)

    MacDonald, E. A.; Case, N. A.; Clayton, J. H.; Hall, M. K.; Heavner, M.; Lalone, N.; Patel, K. G.; Tapia, A.

    2015-09-01

    A new, citizen science-based, aurora observing and reporting platform has been developed with the primary aim of collecting auroral observations made by the general public to further improve the modeling of the aurora. In addition, the real-time ability of this platform facilitates the combination of citizen science observations with auroral oval models to improve auroral visibility nowcasting. Aurorasaurus provides easily understandable aurora information, basic gamification, and real-time location-based notification of verified aurora activity to engage citizen scientists. The Aurorasaurus project is one of only a handful of space weather citizen science projects and can provide useful results for the space weather and citizen science communities. Early results are promising with over 2000 registered users submitting over 1000 aurora observations and verifying over 1700 aurora sightings posted on Twitter.

  12. Citizen-based environmental radiation monitoring network

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Alemayehu, B.; Mckinzie, M.; Cochran, T.; Sythe, D.; Randrup, R.; Lafargue, E.

    2017-01-01

    This paper discusses a Citizen Radiation Monitoring project designed and implemented by the Natural Resources Defense Council . The goal of the project was to implement a radiation monitoring system that provides radiation data accessible to the public. The monitoring system consisted of usage of a radiation detector integrated with near real-time data collection and visualization. The monitoring systems were installed at five different locations and background radiation measurements were taken. The developed monitoring system demonstrated that citizen-based monitoring system could provide accessible radiation data to the general public and relevant to the area where they live. (author)

  13. Examining citizen participation: local participatory policymaking and democracy revisited

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Michels, A.M.B.; de Graaf, Laurens

    2017-01-01

    This article discusses developments in citizen participation and its contribution to democracy since the publication of the original article. It evaluates the continued relevance of the use of a normative framework to assess different forms of citizen participation, nuances some of the conclusions

  14. Examining Citizen Participation: Local Participatory Policy Making and Democracy

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Michels, A.M.B.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/11124501X; de Graaf, L.J.

    2010-01-01

    Citizen participation is usually seen as a vital aspect of democracy. Many theorists claim that citizen participation has positive effects on the quality of democracy. This article examines the probability of these claims for local participatory policymaking projects in two municipalities in the

  15. Examining Citizen Participation : Local participatory Policymaking and Democracy revisted

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ank Michels; Laurens de Graaf

    2017-01-01

    This article discusses developments in citizen participation and its contribution to democracy since the publication of the original article. It evaluates the continued relevance of the use of a normative framework to assess different forms of citizen participation, nuances some of the conclusions

  16. Influencing citizen behavior: experiences from multichannel marketing pilot projects

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van de Wijngaert, Lidwien; Pieterson, Willem Jan; Teerling, Marije L.

    2011-01-01

    Information technology allows national and local governments to satisfy the needs of citizens in a cost effective way. Unfortunately, citizens still tend to prefer traditional, more costly channels, such as the front desk, phone and mail. Through pilot projects government agencies attempt to

  17. CULTURAL ADAPTATION OF CZECH CITIZENS IN THE REPUBLIC OF TURKEY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jiří Čeněk

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available This article relates to the process of adaptation of Czech citizens to Turkish culture. The article explores the perception of Turkish culture by Czech citizens, problems they encounter in the Turkish society and the ways of their adjustment to the host culture. The empirical research on 10 Czech citizens was conducted using the method of semi-structured interviews. The article addresses the most important issues connected with the process of cultural adaptation.

  18. Logistics and logistics support in crisis management and citizen protection

    OpenAIRE

    HOLEJŠOVSKÝ, Jan

    2010-01-01

    ABSTRAKT LOGISTICS AND LOGISTICS SUPPORT IN CRISIS MANAGEMENT AND CITIZEN PROTECTION The graduation thesis on topic "Logistics and logistics support in crisis management and citizen protection" is divided into several chapters, which in summary are a material presenting information about logistics and logistics support in crisis management and citizen protection. This was one of the aims at this work. Chapters I., II., III., IV. describe logistics and logistics support, crisis management, cit...

  19. Leaving the Hospital Against Medical Advice Among People Who Use Illicit Drugs: A Systematic Review

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ti, Lianlian

    2015-01-01

    Background. Leaving the hospital against medical advice is an increasing problem in acute care settings and is associated with an array of negative health consequences that may lead to readmission for a worsened health outcome or mortality. Leaving the hospital against medical advice is particularly common among people who use illicit drugs (PWUD) and has been linked to a number of complex issues; however, few studies have focused specifically on this population beyond identifying them as being at an increased risk of leaving the hospital prematurely. Furthermore, programs and interventions for reducing the rate of leaving the hospital against medical advice among PWUD in acute care settings have not been well studied. Objectives. We systematically assessed the literature examining hospital discharge against medical advice from acute care among this population and identified potential methods to minimize the occurrence of this phenomenon. Search methods. We searched 5 electronic databases (from database inception to August 2014) and article reference lists for articles investigating hospital discharge from acute care against medical advice among PWUD. Search terms consistent across databases included “patient discharge,” “hospital discharge,” “against medical advice,” “drug user,” “substance-related disorders,” and “intravenous substance abuse.” Selection criteria. Studies were eligible for inclusion if they were published in a peer-reviewed journal as an original research article in English. We excluded gray literature, case reports, case series, reviews, and editorials. We retained original studies that reported illicit drug use as a predictor of leaving the hospital against medical advice and studies of discharge against medical advice that included PWUD as a population of interest, and we assessed significance through appropriate statistical tests. We excluded studies that reported patients leaving the hospital against medical advice

  20. 19 CFR 148.54 - Exemption for effects of citizens dying abroad.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 19 Customs Duties 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Exemption for effects of citizens dying abroad... § 148.54 Exemption for effects of citizens dying abroad. (a) Exemption. Articles claimed to be personal and household effects, not stock in trade, the title to which is in the estate of a citizen of the...

  1. Enhancing citizen engagement in cancer screening through deliberative democracy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rychetnik, Lucie; Carter, Stacy M; Abelson, Julia; Thornton, Hazel; Barratt, Alexandra; Entwistle, Vikki A; Mackenzie, Geraldine; Salkeld, Glenn; Glasziou, Paul

    2013-03-20

    Cancer screening is widely practiced and participation is promoted by various social, technical, and commercial drivers, but there are growing concerns about the emerging harms, risks, and costs of cancer screening. Deliberative democracy methods engage citizens in dialogue on substantial and complex problems: especially when evidence and values are important and people need time to understand and consider the relevant issues. Information derived from such deliberations can provide important guidance to cancer screening policies: citizens' values are made explicit, revealing what really matters to people and why. Policy makers can see what informed, rather than uninformed, citizens would decide on the provision of services and information on cancer screening. Caveats can be elicited to guide changes to existing policies and practices. Policies that take account of citizens' opinions through a deliberative democracy process can be considered more legitimate, justifiable, and feasible than those that don't.

  2. Citizen science on a smartphone: Participants' motivations and learning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Land-Zandstra, Anne M; Devilee, Jeroen L A; Snik, Frans; Buurmeijer, Franka; van den Broek, Jos M

    2016-01-01

    Citizen science provides researchers means to gather or analyse large datasets. At the same time, citizen science projects offer an opportunity for non-scientists to be part of and learn from the scientific process. In the Dutch iSPEX project, a large number of citizens turned their smartphones into actual measurement devices to measure aerosols. This study examined participants' motivation and perceived learning impacts of this unique project. Most respondents joined iSPEX because they wanted to contribute to the scientific goals of the project or because they were interested in the project topics (health and environmental impact of aerosols). In terms of learning impact, respondents reported a gain in knowledge about citizen science and the topics of the project. However, many respondents had an incomplete understanding of the science behind the project, possibly caused by the complexity of the measurements. © The Author(s) 2015.

  3. A natural user interface to integrate citizen science and physical exercise.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palermo, Eduardo; Laut, Jeffrey; Nov, Oded; Cappa, Paolo; Porfiri, Maurizio

    2017-01-01

    Citizen science enables volunteers to contribute to scientific projects, where massive data collection and analysis are often required. Volunteers participate in citizen science activities online from their homes or in the field and are motivated by both intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Here, we investigated the possibility of integrating citizen science tasks within physical exercises envisaged as part of a potential rehabilitation therapy session. The citizen science activity entailed environmental mapping of a polluted body of water using a miniature instrumented boat, which was remotely controlled by the participants through their physical gesture tracked by a low-cost markerless motion capture system. Our findings demonstrate that the natural user interface offers an engaging and effective means for performing environmental monitoring tasks. At the same time, the citizen science activity increases the commitment of the participants, leading to a better motion performance, quantified through an array of objective indices. The study constitutes a first and necessary step toward rehabilitative treatments of the upper limb through citizen science and low-cost markerless optical systems.

  4. A natural user interface to integrate citizen science and physical exercise.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eduardo Palermo

    Full Text Available Citizen science enables volunteers to contribute to scientific projects, where massive data collection and analysis are often required. Volunteers participate in citizen science activities online from their homes or in the field and are motivated by both intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Here, we investigated the possibility of integrating citizen science tasks within physical exercises envisaged as part of a potential rehabilitation therapy session. The citizen science activity entailed environmental mapping of a polluted body of water using a miniature instrumented boat, which was remotely controlled by the participants through their physical gesture tracked by a low-cost markerless motion capture system. Our findings demonstrate that the natural user interface offers an engaging and effective means for performing environmental monitoring tasks. At the same time, the citizen science activity increases the commitment of the participants, leading to a better motion performance, quantified through an array of objective indices. The study constitutes a first and necessary step toward rehabilitative treatments of the upper limb through citizen science and low-cost markerless optical systems.

  5. PERAN COMMUNITY ADVICE SEBAGAI PEMODERASI DALAM KEPUTUSAN PEMBELIAN

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pristiana Widyastuti

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available This study aims to analyze the influence of rational motives and emotional motives on purchasing decisions with community advice as a moderating variable. This study was conducted on biker as community adviser in Jakarta. The number of samples is 75 data, obtained from the questionaire filled by the respondents. Data analysis uses Structural Equation Modeling (SEM with Partial Least Square (PLS test equipment. The results of statistical tests revealed that the rational motives and emotional motives have positive effect on purchasing decisions, whereas community advice has no positive effect on purchasing decisions, it is not able to moderate the relationship among variables. Producer and distributors are important to maintain the quality and reliability of products that rationally influence consumers to buy. In addition, efforts to maintain the credibility of the brand are also important to emphasize the consumer’s pride.

  6. Citizen Journalism in Cyber Media: Protection and Legal Responsibility Under Indonesian Press Law

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vidya Prahassacitta

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Phenomena of citizen journalism had accepted and become part of cyber media. Cyber media owned and managed by press companies had featured citizen journalists’ information, critics, opinions, and news. Citizen journalism was part of freedom of expression. However, in Indonesia’s press law concept, it was not part of the national press. This created legal issues regarding protection and legal responsibility aspects for both parties. A qualitative research was conducting to solving these issues. Using secondary data from literature study and observation on several cyber media websites, this discovers two conclusions. First, the citizen journalist is part of freedom of the press; it means that a citizen journalist’s creation has protected form censor and bans. However, a citizen journalist still has a limitation which shall be complied videlicet Civil Code and Law No. 11 The year 2008 concerning Information and Electronic Transaction. Violation of both regulations means that a citizen journalist shall be legally responsible. Second, protection and responsibility border between a citizen journalist and press company are based on an agreement. Approval of term and condition of general user content in a website from a citizen journalist means that both parties have agreed to enter into an agreement. A press company might be freed of its legal responsibility as long as conducted its obligation to control and manage contents that have been uploaded and published by a citizen journalist. If the company does not take proportional action against citizen journalist’ contents that violating the law, the press company shall be requested its civil or criminal legal responsibility.

  7. 75 FR 33824 - Pharmaceutical Products and Chemical Intermediates, Fourth Review: Advice Concerning the Addition...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-06-15

    ... INTERNATIONAL TRADE COMMISSION [Investigation No. 332-520] Pharmaceutical Products and Chemical Intermediates, Fourth Review: Advice Concerning the Addition of Certain Products to the Pharmaceutical Appendix..., Pharmaceutical Products and Chemical Intermediates, Fourth Review: Advice Concerning the Addition of Certain...

  8. How can a society make its citizens just? | Lotter | South African ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    How can citizens be made just? I focus on how modern constitutional democracies can entice, convince, and guide their citizens to become just. I rely chiefly on Rawls's theory of justice (1971), as well as the work of sociologist Derek L. Phillips. I argue that internal control by citizens them selves is the best option. This view ...

  9. Experience of dietary advice among Pakistani-born persons with type 2 diabetes in Oslo.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fagerli, Rønnaug Aa; Lien, Marianne E; Wandel, Margareta

    2005-12-01

    Experience and implementation of dietary advice are influenced by various factors including ethnic, cultural and religious background. The aim is to explore how ethnic minority persons with diabetes experience dietary advice given by Norwegian health-workers, which strategies they have in response to the advice and how they explain their actions. In-depth interviews were performed with 15 Pakistani-born persons with type 2 diabetes living in Oslo. The analyses are based on the principles of Giorgi's interpretation of phenomenology. The participants expressed great concern to follow the advice. However, narratives about constraints were numerous. These concerned different life-situational factors, but more importantly they were related to communication problems arising from discontinuities between universalising medical knowledge and lay knowledge, as well as between different types of culturally defined lay knowledge. As a consequence, advice was generally experienced as inadequately based on the participant's food-cultural background, leaving the person with diabetes to do the translation between different levels of knowledge. In general health-workers would benefit from expanding their knowledge of the many positive aspects of their patients' cultural background, and apply their knowledge thereafter, whether it concerns (food)-culture or the impact of religion in everyday life.

  10. Attitudes of Brazilian citizens towards pig production systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    de Barcellos, Marcia Dutra; Kügler, Jens Oliver; Saab, Maria Stella Melo

    to identify Brazilian citizen clusters. Respondents' socio-demographic profile, attitudes towards issues that are expected to influence the way how people evaluate pig meat production systems, and consumption frequency of various pork products were used as background information for profiling. Three clusters...... and consumption behaviour was found to be weak. As it was suggested for Europe (Krystallis et al., 2009), what people think in their role as citizens related to pig production does not appear to significantly influence their pork consumption choices.......The objective of this study is to map Brazilian citizen attitudes towards pig meat production systems and to investigate whether these attitudes associate with pork and pork product consumption. A conjoint experiment was carried out with empirical data collected from 475 respondents interviewed...

  11. Knowledge, attitudes, and practices of US practitioners who provide pre-travel advice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kogelman, Laura; Barnett, Elizabeth D; Chen, Lin H; Quinn, Emily; Yanni, Emad; Wilson, Mary E; Benoit, Christine; Karchmer, Adolf W; Ooi, Winnie W; Jentes, Emily S; Hamer, Davidson H

    2014-01-01

    As international travel increases, many health care professionals are being asked to provide pre-travel advice. We designed an anonymous web-based survey to assess the extent to which primary care providers (PCPs) provide travel medicine advice and how their understanding and delivery of itinerary-specific advice and management compare with that of travel medicine specialists. We surveyed randomly selected US PCPs registered in the Pri-Med Institute (now pmiCME) database and US travel medicine specialists from the International Society of Travel Medicine (ISTM), American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH), and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) yellow fever (YF) vaccine provider mailing lists. SAS software (SAS Institute, Cary, NC, USA) was used for all analyses. Of 14,932 e-mails sent to valid e-mail addresses, 902 yielded complete or partially completed surveys (6.0% response rate). Eighty percent of respondents personally provided pre-travel advice (95% of travel medicine specialists versus 73% of PCPs). About two thirds of PCPs (68%) providing pre-travel consultations saw travelers per year whereas 30% of travel medicine specialists saw travelers per year. More travel medicine specialists (59%) than PCPs (18%) saw >500 travelers per year. Familiarity with travel-specific vaccines (YF, Japanese encephalitis) and provision of written educational materials increased as volume of travelers increased. Familiarity with antimalarial side effects and malaria resistance patterns, and knowledge scores based on brief pre-travel scenarios were higher in travel medicine specialists, ASTMH or ISTM certificate holders, and respondents who saw more pre-travel patients. Many PCP survey participants provided pre-travel advice, but most saw few travelers. Volume of travelers and holding an ASTMH or ISTM certificate had the greatest influence on knowledge of travel medicine and provision of appropriate advice and recommendations. Creating easily

  12. Citizen Complaints about Environmental Pollution: A Survey Study in Suzhou, China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xianbing Liu

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper discusses environmental complaints made by citizens living close to industrial polluters in China. Data collected from a questionnaire survey in Suzhou City is used for the analysis. The results confirm a marginal level of citizen environmental complaints in the study area at present. Meaningful findings include the fact that citizens have a tendency to complain collectively, and that perception of the level of environmental information provided by companies significantly determines a citizen’s likelihood of lodging environmental complaints. Therefore, the disclosure of corporate environmental information must be emphasized continuously; citizens must be encouraged to correctly understand the environmental performance of companies so that they might make appropriate complaints. Governments need to show their support for citizen-led environmental complaint initiatives. The successful cases would convince them to keep a closer eye on their neighbouring polluters.

  13. A conceptual approach to a citizens' observatory--supporting community-based environmental governance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Hai-Ying; Kobernus, Mike; Broday, David; Bartonova, Alena

    2014-12-12

    In recent years there has been a trend to view the Citizens' Observatory as an increasingly essential tool that provides an approach for better observing, understanding, protecting and enhancing our environment. However, there is no consensus on how to develop such a system, nor is there any agreement on what a Citizens' Observatory is and what results it could produce. The increase in the prevalence of Citizens' Observatories globally has been mirrored by an increase in the number of variables that are monitored, the number of monitoring locations and the types of participating citizens. This calls for a more integrated approach to handle the emerging complexities involved in this field, but before this can be achieved, it is essential to establish a common foundation for Citizens' Observatories and their usage. There are many aspects to a Citizens' Observatory. One view is that its essence is a process that involves environmental monitoring, information gathering, data management and analysis, assessment and reporting systems. Hence, it requires the development of novel monitoring technologies and of advanced data management strategies to capture, analyse and survey the data, thus facilitating their exploitation for policy and society. Practically, there are many challenges in implementing the Citizens' Observatory approach, such as ensuring effective citizens' participation, dealing with data privacy, accounting for ethical and security requirements, and taking into account data standards, quality and reliability. These concerns all need to be addressed in a concerted way to provide a stable, reliable and scalable Citizens' Observatory programme. On the other hand, the Citizens' Observatory approach carries the promise of increasing the public's awareness to risks in their environment, which has a corollary economic value, and enhancing data acquisition at low or no cost. In this paper, we first propose a conceptual framework for a Citizens' Observatory

  14. Citizen Science and the Urban Ecology of Birds and Butterflies — A Systematic Review

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang Wei, James; Lee, Benjamin P. Y-H.; Bing Wen, Low

    2016-01-01

    Citizen science has gained widespread currency as a tool for ecological research over the past decade. However, in the discipline of urban ecology, the existing contributions and future potential of citizen science engagement, specifically in terms of knowledge gain, have not yet been comprehensively explored. Here, we present a systematic review of published work on the urban ecology of birds and butterflies in relation to their use of citizen science data between 2005 and 2014. We compared the number of studies that used citizen science data to the number of studies that could potentially have employed data derived from citizen science. The take-up rates of citizen science data were 21% and 26% for birds and butterflies respectively. Most studies that employed citizen science used volunteer-derived data as primary data, and adopted Collegial, Collaborative and Contributional engagement modes to the exclusion of Contractual and Co-created arrangements. There was no evidence that citizen science studies investigated a different organismal scale (community vs. species) compared to the urban ecology literature. For both taxa, citizen science contributions were lower than expected compared to their representation in the urban ecology literature for studies on species-environment relationships at landscape and micro-environment scales, as well as behavioural ecology in general. Other research topics that could benefit from further citizen science involvement include breeding studies and guild analyses for birds, and multi-taxa studies for butterflies. Promising models of citizen science engagement for urban ecology are highlighted in relation to their thematic foci and methodological detail, and a number of research questions that could be productively addressed using citizen science are identified. The dynamics of contemporary engagement between citizen science and urban ecology described by this review could inform the design and refinement of urban ecology–citizen

  15. Group dynamics in the Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Jongh, M.S. de

    2013-01-01

    In 2006, the Dutch Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations set up a national citizen assembly on electoral reform. One hundred and forty Dutch citizens were asked to work together for nine months to investigate various electoral systems for choosing members of the Parliament, and eventually

  16. Energy revolution and citizens' protests. A study of the communication of citizens' initiatives concerning grid expension

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Braeuer, Marco

    2017-01-01

    The extension of the German high voltage power grid has recently caused intense resistance in the affected regions. Publicly visible protests are mainly organised by citizen action groups. These groups act from the position of the periphery of the political system. Hence, they need to communicate their concerns and aims in order to influence the political and administrative decision-making system. In general they have the option to gain access to the mass media agenda. In addition protest groups can also create own media products (from leaflets to social media represenations). The theoretical points of departure of this study are social movement theories and the theory of the public sphere. An inclusive theoretical model, explaining the choice of protest repertories by citizen action groups, is developed. Furthermore, eight comprehensive case studies of citizen action groups in the conflict field of the extension of the German high voltage power grid were conducted. The results of the case studies reveal that the citizen action groups act strategically. They observe and assess the political and mass-mediated discourses and respectively develop their own frames. Although critical and sceptical towards the institutional practices and the actions of political representatives, the political system is perceived as legitimate and remains the main addressee. In addition, the mass media system is in general accepted, even though a (at least partially deliberate) negative bias and sometimes oven hostility against their own position is perceived. The creation of alternative media products is not a mere reaction with regard to the perceived mass media bias. It can be better understood as a result of the integration of the protest groups in local and regional communication structures (neighbourhoods, hobby networks, professional networks etc.). The study closes with recommendations for the improvement of consultation processes in the field of infrastructure protests.

  17. The pattern of clinical advice sought by general practitioners from a medical consultant in clinical biochemistry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bhatnagar, D

    1997-01-01

    Clinical biochemistry departments can be a valuable source of clinical advice for further investigations and the need for referral to specialist clinics. This paper outlines the pattern of clinical advice sought by general practitioners in a district hospital setting, and addresses some of the issues regarding seeking such advice and the implications for continuing medical education and training. PMID:9196966

  18. Citizen Sensors for SHM: Towards a Crowdsourcing Platform

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ozer, Ekin; Feng, Maria Q.; Feng, Dongming

    2015-01-01

    This paper presents an innovative structural health monitoring (SHM) platform in terms of how it integrates smartphone sensors, the web, and crowdsourcing. The ubiquity of smartphones has provided an opportunity to create low-cost sensor networks for SHM. Crowdsourcing has given rise to citizen initiatives becoming a vast source of inexpensive, valuable but heterogeneous data. Previously, the authors have investigated the reliability of smartphone accelerometers for vibration-based SHM. This paper takes a step further to integrate mobile sensing and web-based computing for a prospective crowdsourcing-based SHM platform. An iOS application was developed to enable citizens to measure structural vibration and upload the data to a server with smartphones. A web-based platform was developed to collect and process the data automatically and store the processed data, such as modal properties of the structure, for long-term SHM purposes. Finally, the integrated mobile and web-based platforms were tested to collect the low-amplitude ambient vibration data of a bridge structure. Possible sources of uncertainties related to citizens were investigated, including the phone location, coupling conditions, and sampling duration. The field test results showed that the vibration data acquired by smartphones operated by citizens without expertise are useful for identifying structural modal properties with high accuracy. This platform can be further developed into an automated, smart, sustainable, cost-free system for long-term monitoring of structural integrity of spatially distributed urban infrastructure. Citizen Sensors for SHM will be a novel participatory sensing platform in the way that it offers hybrid solutions to transitional crowdsourcing parameters. PMID:26102490

  19. Citizen Sensors for SHM: Towards a Crowdsourcing Platform

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ekin Ozer

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents an innovative structural health monitoring (SHM platform in terms of how it integrates smartphone sensors, the web, and crowdsourcing. The ubiquity of smartphones has provided an opportunity to create low-cost sensor networks for SHM. Crowdsourcing has given rise to citizen initiatives becoming a vast source of inexpensive, valuable but heterogeneous data. Previously, the authors have investigated the reliability of smartphone accelerometers for vibration-based SHM. This paper takes a step further to integrate mobile sensing and web-based computing for a prospective crowdsourcing-based SHM platform. An iOS application was developed to enable citizens to measure structural vibration and upload the data to a server with smartphones. A web-based platform was developed to collect and process the data automatically and store the processed data, such as modal properties of the structure, for long-term SHM purposes. Finally, the integrated mobile and web-based platforms were tested to collect the low-amplitude ambient vibration data of a bridge structure. Possible sources of uncertainties related to citizens were investigated, including the phone location, coupling conditions, and sampling duration. The field test results showed that the vibration data acquired by smartphones operated by citizens without expertise are useful for identifying structural modal properties with high accuracy. This platform can be further developed into an automated, smart, sustainable, cost-free system for long-term monitoring of structural integrity of spatially distributed urban infrastructure. Citizen Sensors for SHM will be a novel participatory sensing platform in the way that it offers hybrid solutions to transitional crowdsourcing parameters.

  20. Energy in Solid Waste: A Citizen Guide to Saving.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Citizens Advisory Committee on Environmental Quality.

    This booklet contains information for citizens on solid wastes. It discusses the possible energy available in combustible and noncombustible trash. It suggests how citizens can reduce waste at home through discriminating buying practices and through recycling and reuse of resources. Recommendations are given for community action along with state…

  1. How do marine and coastal citizen science experiences foster environmental engagement?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dean, Angela J; Church, Emma K; Loder, Jenn; Fielding, Kelly S; Wilson, Kerrie A

    2018-05-01

    Citizen science programs enable community involvement in scientific research. In addition to fostering greater science literacy, some citizen science programs aim to foster engagement in environmental issues. However, few data are available to indicate whether and how citizen science programs can achieve greater environmental engagement. We survey individuals choosing to attend one of seventeen reef citizen science events and examine the extent to which attendees reported three indicators of greater environmental engagement: (i) willingness to share information, (ii) increased support for marine conservation and citizen science, and (iii) intentions to adopt a new behavior. Most participants reported being willing to share information about reef conservation (91%) and described increased support for marine science and conservation (87%). Half of participants (51%) reported intentions to adopt a new conservation behavior. We found that key elements of the citizen science experience associated with these outcomes were learning about actions to protect reefs and coasts (procedural learning), experiencing surprise, and experiencing negative emotions about environmental problems. Excitement was also associated with positive outcomes, but only in participants who were less likely to see themselves as environmental, or were less frequent visitors to reefs and coasts. Importantly, the association between factual learning and environmental engagement outcomes was limited or negative. These findings suggest that the way citizen science experiences make people feel, may be more important for fostering future environmental engagement than factual-based learning. When designing citizen science programs for community members, these findings provide a reminder to not focus on provision of factual information alone, but to highlight environmental impacts while providing meaningful experiences and building environmental skills. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. Citizen Preparedness Campaign: Information Campaigns Increasing Citizen Preparedness to Support Creating a ̀Culture of Preparedness

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Bloom, Paula

    2007-01-01

    .... There are currently readiness programs being conducted through the Citizen Corps, Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency but they are not coordinated across...

  3. FRIENDSHIP OF CITIZENS

    OpenAIRE

    Ottmann, Henning

    2011-01-01

    The author advocates a modernization of the antique doctrine of friendship. Friendship understood in the political sense is the friendship of citizens, as a regulative idea of ideal political community. Such friendship is above justice, it implies a permanent and stable mutual benevolence, living together, harmony, mutuality and equality, involvement and compassion, mutual openness in words and deeds, a culture of voluntary cooperation and a spirit of selfaware and self-resp...

  4. Changes in Patient-Reported Alcohol-Related Advice Following Veterans Health Administration Implementation of Brief Alcohol Interventions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chavez, Laura J; Williams, Emily C; Lapham, Gwen T; Rubinsky, Anna D; Kivlahan, Daniel R; Bradley, Katharine A

    2016-05-01

    Brief alcohol interventions are recommended for primary care patients who screen positive for alcohol misuse, but implementation is challenging. The U.S. Veterans Health Administration (Veterans Affairs [VA]) implemented brief interventions for patients with alcohol misuse in 2008, and rates of brief interventions documented in the electronic medical record increased from 24% to 78% (2008-2011). This study examined whether an independent measure of brief interventions-patient-reported alcohol-related advice-also increased among VA outpatients who screened positive for alcohol misuse on a mailed survey. This retrospective cross-sectional study included VA outpatient respondents to the VA's Survey of Healthcare Experiences of Patients (SHEP; 2007-2011) who reported past-year alcohol use and answered a question about alcohol-related advice. Alcohol-related advice was defined as a report of past-year advice from a VA clinician to abstain from or reduce drinking. The adjusted prevalence of alcoholrelated advice among patients who screened positive for alcohol misuse (SHEP AUDIT-C ≥ 5) was estimated for each year. Among patients with alcohol misuse (n = 61,843), the adjusted prevalence of alcohol-related advice increased from 40.4% (95% CI [39.3%, 41.5%]) in 2007 to 55.5% (95% CI [53.3%, 57.8%]) in 2011. Rates of alcoholrelated advice increased significantly each year except the last. The VA's efforts to implement brief interventions were associated with increased patient-reported alcohol-related advice over time, with a majority of patients with alcohol misuse reporting its receipt. Other systems considering similar approaches to implementation may benefit from collecting patient-reported measures of brief interventions for an additional perspective on implementation.

  5. [The role of science in policy making--EuSANH-ISA project, framework for science advice for health].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cianciara, Dorota; Piotrowicz, Maria; Bielska-Lasota, Magdalena; Wysocki, Mirosław J

    2012-01-01

    Governments and other authorities (including MPs) should be well informed on issues of science and technology. This is particularly important in the era of evidence-based practice. This implies the need to get expert advice. The process by which scientific knowledge is transmitted, along with proposals how to solve the problem, is called science advice. The main aim of the article is to discuss the issue of science advice--definitions, interaction between science and policymaking, and its position in contemporary policies. The second aim is to present European Science Advisory Network for Health (EuSANH), EuSANH-ISA project, and framework for science advice for health which was developed by participants. Furthermore, the role of civil society in decision-making process and science advice is also discussed. Interaction between scientists and policy-makers are described in terms of science-push approach (technocratic model), policy-pull (decisionistic) and simultaneous push-pull approach (pragmatic). The position of science advice is described in historical perspective from the 50s, especially in the last two decades. Description relies to USA, Canada and UK. Principles of scientific advice to government (Government Office for Science, UK) are quoted. Some important documents related to science advice in EU and UN are mentioned. EuSANH network is described as well as EuSANH-ISA project, with its objectives and outcomes. According to findings of this project, the process of science advice for health should follow some steps: framing the issue to be covered; planning entire process leading to the conclusion; drafting the report; reviewing the report and revision; publishing report and assessing the impact on policy.

  6. Financial Advice: An Improvement for Worse?

    OpenAIRE

    Karabulut, Yigitcan

    2010-01-01

    Using a unique administrative data set from a large German commercial bank, this paper aims to ascertain the role of financial advisors in individual portfolios. Following on the heels of the ongoing regulatory and political debate as to the merits of financial advice, we focus in this paper on three key issues. First, we examine whether collaboration with financial advisors attains to better performing portfolios. Second, we investigate whether the involvement of financial advisors mitigates...

  7. Priming and Context Effects in Citizen Satisfaction Surveys

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hjortskov, Morten

    2017-01-01

    Citizen satisfaction surveys are used extensively throughout the public sector to assess the performance of public services and to inform decision-makers. Recent research points to cognitive biases that may occur in citizens’ perceptions of performance of public services, but we know little about...... possible biases in the collection of these data. This shortcoming is addressed by investigating the priming and context effects that can arise from the structure of citizen surveys—for example from the question order in the survey. Two independent experimental studies find that prior positively framed...... questions about police services affect subsequent satisfaction evaluations of other local public services. However, an informational prime about crime and unrelated questions about family-life satisfaction have little effect on the subsequent satisfaction evaluations. The results show that citizen...

  8. What can Citizen Science do for Ocean Science and Ocean Scientists?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Best, M.; Hoeberechts, M.; Mangin, A.; Oggioni, A.; Orcutt, J. A.; Parrish, J.; Pearlman, J.; Piera, J.; Tagliolato, P.

    2016-12-01

    The ocean represents over 70% of our planet's surface area, over 90% of the living space. Humans are not marine creatures, we therefore have fundamentally not built up knowledge of the ocean in the same way we have on land. The more we learn about the ocean, the more we understand it is the regulatory engine of our planet…How do we catch up? Answers to this question will need to come from many quarters; A powerful and strategic option to complement existing observation programs and infrastructure is Citizen Science. There has been significant and relevant discussion of the importance of Citizen Science to citizens and stakeholders. The missing effective question is sometimes what is the potential of citizen science for scientists? The answers for both scientists and society are: spatial coverage, remote locations, temporal coverage, event response, early detection of harmful processes, sufficient data volume for statistical analysis and identification of outliers, integrating local knowledge, data access in exchange for analysis (e.g. with industry) and cost-effective monitoring systems. Citizens can be involved in: instrument manufacture and maintenance, instrument deployment/sample collection, data collection and transmission, data analysis, data validation/verification, and proposals of new topics of research. Such opportunities are balanced by concern on the part of scientists about the quality, the consistency and the reliability of citizen observations and analyses. Experience working with citizen science groups continues to suggest that with proper training and mentoring, these issues can be addressed, understanding both benefits and limitations. How to do it- implementation and maintenance of citizen science: How to recruit, engage, train, and maintain Citizen Scientists. Data systems for acquisition, assessment, access, analysis, and visualisation of distributed data sources. Tools/methods for acquiring observations: Simple instruments, Smartphone Apps

  9. Floating Forests: Validation of a Citizen Science Effort to Answer Global Ecological Questions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rosenthal, I.; Byrnes, J.; Cavanaugh, K. C.; Haupt, A. J.; Trouille, L.; Bell, T. W.; Rassweiler, A.; Pérez-Matus, A.; Assis, J.

    2017-12-01

    Researchers undertaking long term, large-scale ecological analyses face significant challenges for data collection and processing. Crowdsourcing via citizen science can provide an efficient method for analyzing large data sets. However, many scientists have raised questions about the quality of data collected by citizen scientists. Here we use Floating-Forests (http://floatingforests.org), a citizen science platform for creating a global time series of giant kelp abundance, to show that ensemble classifications of satellite data can ensure data quality. Citizen scientists view satellite images of coastlines and classify kelp forests by tracing all visible patches of kelp. Each image is classified by fifteen citizen scientists before being retired. To validate citizen science results, all fifteen classifications are converted to a raster and overlaid on a calibration dataset generated from previous studies. Results show that ensemble classifications from citizen scientists are consistently accurate when compared to calibration data. Given that all source images were acquired by Landsat satellites, we expect this consistency to hold across all regions. At present, we have over 6000 web-based citizen scientists' classifications of almost 2.5 million images of kelp forests in California and Tasmania. These results are not only useful for remote sensing of kelp forests, but also for a wide array of applications that combine citizen science with remote sensing.

  10. [Scientific advice by the national and European approval authorities concerning advanced therapy medicinal products].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jost, Nils; Schüssler-Lenz, Martina; Ziegele, Bettina; Reinhardt, Jens

    2015-11-01

    The aim of scientific advice is to support pharmaceutical developers in regulatory and scientific questions, thus facilitating the development of safe and efficacious new medicinal products. Recent years have shown that the development of advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs) in particular needs a high degree of regulatory support. On one hand, this is related to the complexity and heterogeneity of this group of medicinal products and on the other hand due to the fact that mainly academic research institutions and small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are developing ATMPs. These often have limited regulatory experience and resources. In 2009 the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut (PEI) initiated the Innovation Office as a contact point for applicants developing ATMPs. The mandate of the Innovation Office is to provide support on regulatory questions and to coordinate national scientific advice meetings concerning ATMPs for every phase in drug development and especially with view to the preparation of clinical trial applications. On the European level, the Scientific Advice Working Party (SAWP) of the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicinal Agency (EMA) offers scientific advice. This article describes the concepts of national and EMA scientific advice concerning ATMPs and summarizes the experience of the last six years.

  11. Survey of Spread and Reasons of Turning into Alternative Therapies to Current Medicine: (Case Study of Tehran

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Reihaneh Ramezani

    2017-09-01

    Conclusions: Although the reasons of citizens for using alternative therapies was more pragmatic, but statistical analysis showed that near 40% of the variance of using Herbal treatment among citizens interested by awareness about benefits of this therapy in advices of religious leaders.

  12. Citizens Integrity Pledge ######################### I believe

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Administrator

    I believe that all stakeholders such as governrnent , citizens and the private sector need to work together to eradicate corruption. I realise that ... maintaining highest standards of integrity, transparency and good governance in all aspects of our.

  13. Benefits and challenges of incorporating citizen science into university education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mitchell, Nicola; Triska, Maggie; Liberatore, Andrea; Ashcroft, Linden; Weatherill, Richard; Longnecker, Nancy

    2017-01-01

    A common feature of many citizen science projects is the collection of data by unpaid contributors with the expectation that the data will be used in research. Here we report a teaching strategy that combined citizen science with inquiry-based learning to offer first year university students an authentic research experience. A six-year partnership with the Australian phenology citizen science program ClimateWatch has enabled biology students from the University of Western Australia to contribute phenological data on plants and animals, and to conduct the first research on unvalidated species datasets contributed by public and university participants. Students wrote scientific articles on their findings, peer-reviewed each other's work and the best articles were published online in a student journal. Surveys of more than 1500 students showed that their environmental engagement increased significantly after participating in data collection and data analysis. However, only 31% of students agreed with the statement that "data collected by citizen scientists are reliable" at the end of the project, whereas the rate of agreement was initially 79%. This change in perception was likely due to students discovering erroneous records when they mapped data points and analysed submitted photographs. A positive consequence was that students subsequently reported being more careful to avoid errors in their own data collection, and making greater efforts to contribute records that were useful for future scientific research. Evaluation of our project has shown that by embedding a research process within citizen science participation, university students are given cause to improve their contributions to environmental datasets. If true for citizen scientists in general, enabling participants as well as scientists to analyse data could enhance data quality, and so address a key constraint of broad-scale citizen science programs.

  14. Why do women not adhere to advice on maternal referral in rural Tanzania? Narratives of women and their family members.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pembe, Andrea B; Mbekenga, Columba K; Olsson, Pia; Darj, Elisabeth

    2017-01-01

    In most low-income countries, many women with high-risk pregnancies and complications do not reach the referral hospitals despite the provision of referral advice. To explore how antenatal maternal referral advice is understood and handled in a rural Tanzanian community. Individual in-depth interviews were conducted with six women who did not go to hospital and 13 people who were involved in the referral advice. Narrative analysis was used to describe and create meanings out of the decision-making process. In all interviews, not following the referral advice was greatly influenced by close family members. Three main traits of how referral advice was understood emerged: convinced referral is not necessary, accepting referral advice but delayed by others, and passive and moving with the wind. The main reasons given for declining the referral advice included discrediting midwives' advice, citing previous successful deliveries despite referral advice; being afraid of undergoing surgery; lack of support for care of siblings at home; and high costs incurred during referral. Declining maternal referral advice centred around the pregnant women's position and their dependence on the family members around them, with a decreased ability to show autonomy. If they were socially and economically empowered, women could positively influence decision making during maternal referrals.

  15. Evaluation of a telephone advice nurse in a nursing faculty managed pediatric community clinic.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beaulieu, Richard; Humphreys, Janice

    2008-01-01

    Nurse-managed health centers face increasing obstacles to financial viability. Efficient use of clinic resources and timely and appropriate patient care are necessary for sustainability. A registered nurse with adequate education and support can provide high-quality triage and advice in community-based practice sites. The purpose of this program evaluation was to examine the effect of a telephone advice nurse service on parent/caregiver satisfaction and access to care. A quasi-experimental separate pre-post sample design study investigated parent/caregiver satisfaction with a telephone advice nurse in an urban pediatric nurse-managed health center. The clinic medical information system was used to retrieve client visit data prior to the service and in the first year of the program. Statistically significant differences were found on two items from the satisfaction with the advice nurse survey: the reason for calling (P decision making (P nurse may increase both parent/caregiver and provider satisfaction and access to care.

  16. Friends with benefits, but without the sex: straight women and gay men exchange trustworthy mating advice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Russell, Eric M; DelPriore, Danielle J; Butterfield, Max E; Hill, Sarah E

    2013-02-09

    Although research has made progress in elucidating the benefits exchanged within same- and opposite-sex friendships formed between heterosexual men and women, it is less clear why straight women and gay men form close relationships with one another. The current experiments begin to address this question by exploring a potential benefit hypothesized to be uniquely available to straight women and gay men in the context of these friendships: trustworthy mating advice. Experiment 1 revealed that straight women perceive mating-relevant advice from a gay man to be more trustworthy than similar advice offered by a straight man or woman. Experiment 2 demonstrated that gay men perceive mating advice offered by a straight woman to be more trustworthy than advice offered by a lesbian woman or another gay man. Overall, the results provide initial experimental evidence that relationships between gay men and straight women may be characterized by a mutual exchange of mating-relevant benefits in the absence of sexual interest or competition.

  17. Friends with Benefits, but without the Sex: Straight Women and Gay Men Exchange Trustworthy Mating Advice

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eric M. Russell

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Although research has made progress in elucidating the benefits exchanged within same- and opposite-sex friendships formed between heterosexual men and women, it is less clear why straight women and gay men form close relationships with one another. The current experiments begin to address this question by exploring a potential benefit hypothesized to be uniquely available to straight women and gay men in the context of these friendships: trustworthy mating advice. Experiment 1 revealed that straight women perceive mating-relevant advice from a gay man to be more trustworthy than similar advice offered by a straight man or woman. Experiment 2 demonstrated that gay men perceive mating advice offered by a straight woman to be more trustworthy than advice offered by a lesbian woman or another gay man. Overall, the results provide initial experimental evidence that relationships between gay men and straight women may be characterized by a mutual exchange of mating-relevant benefits in the absence of sexual interest or competition.

  18. Adoption Patterns for the Digital Post System by Danish Municipalities and Citizens

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Berger, Jesper B.; Hertzum, Morten

    2014-01-01

    The value of e-government, services to citizens by public institutions through the internet, is dependent on the mutual adoption of e-government by both the public institution and the citizens. This paper describes a longitudinal study of e-government adoption by municipalities and citizens...... Post. The adoption patterns among citizens were less distinct. We calculated the realized savings to only 20% of the anticipated savings, leading to a deficit of nearly €5 million in 2013. Municipal funding was reduced according to the anticipated savings. In addition, the variation in adoption...

  19. CitRec 2017 : International Workshop on Recommender Systems for Citizens

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Yang, J.; Sun, Zhu; Bozzon, A.; Zhang, J.; Larson, M.A.

    2017-01-01

    The "International Workshop on Recommender Systems for Citizens" (CitRec) is focused on a novel type of recommender systems both in terms of ownership and purpose: recommender systems run by citizens and serving society as a whole.

  20. 77 FR 47880 - U.S.-Trans-Pacific Partnership Free Trade Agreement Including Canada and Mexico: Advice on the...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-08-10

    ....S.-Trans-Pacific Partnership Free Trade Agreement Including Malaysia: Advice on Probable Economic... Partnership Free Trade Agreement Including Canada and Mexico: Advice on the Probable Economic Effect of... Mexico: Advice on the Probable Economic Effect of Providing Duty-Free Treatment for Imports. DATES...

  1. Towards a Citizen-Centered E-Government: Exploring Citizens' Satisfaction with E-Government in China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Jianchuan

    2013-01-01

    E-government research has been practical and utilitarian, lacking theoretical concerns. Based on the literature of customer satisfaction with private-sector services, citizen/user satisfaction with public services, and information systems management, this study systematically investigates the following factors and their effects on citizen…

  2. Citizen Sky, Solving the Mystery of epsilon Aurigae

    Science.gov (United States)

    Turner, Rebecca; Price, A.; Kloppenborg, B.; Henden, A.

    2010-01-01

    Citizen Sky is a multi-year, NSF funded citizen science project involving the bright star eps Aur. The project was conceived by the IYA 2009 working group on Research Experiences for Students, Teachers, and Citizen-Scientists. Citizen Sky goes beyond simple observing to include a major data analysis component. The goal is to introduce the participant to the full scientific process from background research to paper writing for a peer-reviewed journal. It begins with a 10 Star Training Program of several types of binary and transient variable stars that are easy to observe from suburban locations with the naked eye. Participants then move on to monitoring the rare and mysterious 2009-2011 eclipse (already underway) of epsilon Aurigae. This object undergoes eclipses only every 27.1 years and each eclipse lasts nearly two years. The star is bright enough to be seen with the naked eye from most urban areas. Training will be provided in observing techniques as well as basic data analysis of photometric and visual datasets (light curve and period analysis). The project also involves two public workshops, one on observing (already held in August of 2009) and one on data analysis and scientific paper writing (to be held in 2010.) This project has been made possible by the National Science Foundation.

  3. Ignoring Ignorance: Notes on Pedagogical Relationships in Citizen Science

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael Scroggins

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available Theoretically, this article seeks to broaden the conceptualization of ignorance within STS by drawing on a line of theory developed in the philosophy and anthropology of education to argue that ignorance can be productively conceptualized as a state of possibility and that doing so can enable more democratic forms of citizen science. In contrast to conceptualizations of ignorance as a lack, lag, or manufactured product, ignorance is developed here as both the opening move in scientific inquiry and the common ground over which that inquiry proceeds. Empirically, the argument is developed through an ethnographic description of Scroggins' participation in a failed citizen science project at a DIYbio laboratory. Supporting the empirical case are a review of the STS literature on expertise and a critical examination of the structures of participation within two canonical citizen science projects. Though onerous, through close attention to how people transform one another during inquiry, increasingly democratic forms of citizen science, grounded in the commonness of ignorance, can be put into practice.

  4. Safari Science: Assessing the reliability of citizen science data for wildlife surveys

    Science.gov (United States)

    Steger, Cara; Butt, Bilal; Hooten, Mevin B.

    2017-01-01

    Protected areas are the cornerstone of global conservation, yet financial support for basic monitoring infrastructure is lacking in 60% of them. Citizen science holds potential to address these shortcomings in wildlife monitoring, particularly for resource-limited conservation initiatives in developing countries – if we can account for the reliability of data produced by volunteer citizen scientists (VCS).This study tests the reliability of VCS data vs. data produced by trained ecologists, presenting a hierarchical framework for integrating diverse datasets to assess extra variability from VCS data.Our results show that while VCS data are likely to be overdispersed for our system, the overdispersion varies widely by species. We contend that citizen science methods, within the context of East African drylands, may be more appropriate for species with large body sizes, which are relatively rare, or those that form small herds. VCS perceptions of the charisma of a species may also influence their enthusiasm for recording it.Tailored programme design (such as incentives for VCS) may mitigate the biases in citizen science data and improve overall participation. However, the cost of designing and implementing high-quality citizen science programmes may be prohibitive for the small protected areas that would most benefit from these approaches.Synthesis and applications. As citizen science methods continue to gain momentum, it is critical that managers remain cautious in their implementation of these programmes while working to ensure methods match data purpose. Context-specific tests of citizen science data quality can improve programme implementation, and separate data models should be used when volunteer citizen scientists' variability differs from trained ecologists' data. Partnerships across protected areas and between protected areas and other conservation institutions could help to cover the costs of citizen science programme design and implementation.

  5. Mapping epistemic cultures and learning potential of participants in citizen science projects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vallabh, Priya; Lotz-Sisitka, Heila; O'Donoghue, Rob; Schudel, Ingrid

    2016-06-01

    The ever-widening scope and range of global change and interconnected systemic risks arising from people-environment relationships (social-ecological risks) appears to be increasing concern among, and involvement of, citizens in an increasingly diversified number of citizen science projects responding to these risks. We examined the relationship between epistemic cultures in citizen science projects and learning potential related to matters of concern. We then developed a typology of purposes and a citizen science epistemic-cultures heuristic and mapped 56 projects in southern Africa using this framework. The purpose typology represents the range of knowledge-production purposes, ranging from laboratory science to social learning, whereas the epistemic-cultures typology is a relational representation of scientist and citizen participation and their approach to knowledge production. Results showed an iterative relationship between matters of fact and matters of concern across the projects; the nexus of citizens' engagement in knowledge-production activities varied. The knowledge-production purposes informed and shaped the epistemic cultures of all the sampled citizen science projects, which in turn influenced the potential for learning within each project. Through a historical review of 3 phases in a long-term river health-monitoring project, we found that it is possible to evolve the learning curve of citizen science projects. This evolution involved the development of scientific water monitoring tools, the parallel development of pedagogic practices supporting monitoring activities, and situated engagement around matters of concern within social activism leading to learning-led change. We conclude that such evolutionary processes serve to increase potential for learning and are necessary if citizen science is to contribute to wider restructuring of the epistemic culture of science under conditions of expanding social-ecological risk. © 2016 Society for

  6. (Un)taming Citizen Science – Policies, Practices, People

    OpenAIRE

    Van Oudheusden, Michiel; Van Hoyweghen, Ine

    2017-01-01

    We are presently witnessing a global explosion of citizen science initiatives covering a wide range of topics, from counting hummingbirds to actively researching new medical treatments, to the use of smartphones to measuring radioactivity in the environment. European policymakers and societal stakeholders hail citizen science as a means of (re)building trust in science, which may in turn lead to “more democratic research based on evidence and informed decision-making” and more responsible inn...

  7. Masked or Informed Citizens?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersen, Kim Normann; Medaglia, Rony

    2012-01-01

    The diffusion of social media is having profound impacts on the relationship between government and citizens in many areas of government service provision. In the area of healthcare the emergence of new venues of interaction between patients and between patients and doctors is challenging the gov....... In the conclusion, we suggest venues of future research on this emerging trend....

  8. A Coastal Citizen Science Project - How to run an international Citizen Science Project?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kruse, K.; Knickmeier, K.; Thiel, M.; Gatta, M.

    2016-02-01

    "Searching for plastic garbage" is an international Citizen Science project that aims to participate school students in the public discussion on the topic "plastic pollution in the ocean". For this, young people apply various research methods, evaluate their data, communicate and publish their results and investigate solutions solving this problem. The project will be carried out in Chile and Germany at the same time, which allows the participating students to share and compare their results and discuss their ideas with an international partner. This takes place on the website www.save-ocean.org. The project promotes intercultural and scientific skills of the students. They get insights into scientific research, get into another culture and experiences plastic pollution as an important global problem. Since May 2015, 450 pupils aged 10 to 15 years and 20 teachers in Germany and Chile have explored the plastic garbage on beaches. Where are the largest plastic garbage deposits? Which items of plastic are mostly found in Germany and Chile? Or where does this garbage comes from? These and other research questions are being answered by an international network between students, teachers and scientists. After completing the first Citizen Science pilot study successfully in summer 2015, the entire German and Chilean coast will be explored in spring 2016 by around 2500 participating school students. The project "Searching for plastic garbage" is the first international Citizen Science project that is a cooperation between the ocean:lab of Kiel Science Factory and the "Cientificos de la Basura", a project of the department of marine biology at University Catolica del Norte in Coquimbo, Chile. The project is supported by the Cluster of Excellence "The Future Ocean", the Leibniz Institute for Science Education and Mathematics (IPN), the Ministry of School and Professional Education of Land Schleswig-Holstein and the University Catolica del Norte in Coquimbo, Chile

  9. Discharge Against Medical Advice in the Pediatric Wards in Boo-ali Sina Hospital, Sari, Iran 2010.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mohseni Saravi, Benyamin; Reza Zadeh, Esmaeil; Siamian, Hasan; Yahghoobian, Mahboobeh

    2013-12-01

    Since children neither comprehended nor contribute to the decision, discharge against medical advice is a challenge of health care systems in the world. Therefore, the current study was designed to determine the rate and causes of discharge against medical advice. This descriptive cross-sectional study was done by reviewing the medical records by census method. Data was analyzed using SPSS software and x(2) statistics was used to determine the relationship between variables. The value of P<0.05 was considered significant. Rate of discharged against medical advice was 108 (2.2%). Mean of age and length of stay were 2.8±4 (SD).3 years old and 3.7±5.4 (SD) days, respectively. Totally, 95 patients (88.7%) had health insurance and 65 (60.2%) patients lived in urban areas. History of psychiatric disease and addiction in 22 (20.6%) of the parents were negative. In addition, 100 (92.3%) patients admitted for medical treatment and the others for surgery. The relationship of the signatory with patients (72.3%) was father. Of 108 patients discharged against medical advice, 20 (12%) were readmitted. The relationship between the day of discharge and discharge against medical advice was significant (ρ =0/03). Rate of discharge against medical advice in Boo-ali hospital is the same as the other studies in the same range. The form which is used for this purpose did not have suitable data elements about description of consequence of such discharge, and it has not shown the real causes of discharge against medical advice.

  10. Discharge from hospital against medical advice among paediatric ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Twenty eight (87.5%) of the 32 children whose social class were available came from low social class. Conclusions: Discharge against medical advice is not infrequent in the study population. We recommend health education and free medical care for under-five children and comprehensive implementation of National ...

  11. Citizen Observatories: A Standards Based Architecture

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simonis, Ingo

    2015-04-01

    A number of large-scale research projects are currently under way exploring the various components of citizen observatories, e.g. CITI-SENSE (http://www.citi-sense.eu), Citclops (http://citclops.eu), COBWEB (http://cobwebproject.eu), OMNISCIENTIS (http://www.omniscientis.eu), and WeSenseIt (http://www.wesenseit.eu). Common to all projects is the motivation to develop a platform enabling effective participation by citizens in environmental projects, while considering important aspects such as security, privacy, long-term storage and availability, accessibility of raw and processed data and its proper integration into catalogues and international exchange and collaboration systems such as GEOSS or INSPIRE. This paper describes the software architecture implemented for setting up crowdsourcing campaigns using standardized components, interfaces, security features, and distribution capabilities. It illustrates the Citizen Observatory Toolkit, a software suite that allows defining crowdsourcing campaigns, to invite registered and unregistered participants to participate in crowdsourcing campaigns, and to analyze, process, and visualize raw and quality enhanced crowd sourcing data and derived products. The Citizen Observatory Toolkit is not a single software product. Instead, it is a framework of components that are built using internationally adopted standards wherever possible (e.g. OGC standards from Sensor Web Enablement, GeoPackage, and Web Mapping and Processing Services, as well as security and metadata/cataloguing standards), defines profiles of those standards where necessary (e.g. SWE O&M profile, SensorML profile), and implements design decisions based on the motivation to maximize interoperability and reusability of all components. The toolkit contains tools to set up, manage and maintain crowdsourcing campaigns, allows building on-demand apps optimized for the specific sampling focus, supports offline and online sampling modes using modern cell phones with

  12. The V in VGI: Citizens or Civic Data Sources

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Suthee Sangiambut

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Volunteered geographic information (VGI, delivered via mobile and web apps, offers new potentials for civic engagement. If framed in the context of open, transparent and accountable governance then presumably VGI should advance dialogue and consultation between citizen and government. If governments perceive citizens as consumers of services then arguably such democratic intent elide when municipalities use VGI. Our empirical research shows how assumptions embedded in VGI drive the interaction between citizens and government. We created a typology that operationalises VGI as a potential act of citizenship and an instance of consumption. We then selected civic apps from Canadian cities that appeared to invoke these VGI types. We conducted interviews with developers of the apps; they were from government, private sector, and civil society. Results from qualitative semi-structured interviews indicate a blurring of consumer and citizen-centric orientations among respondents, which depended on motivations for data use, engagement and communication objectives, and sector of the respondent. Citizen engagement, an analogue for citizenship, was interpreted multiple ways. Overall, we found that government and developers may increase choice by creating consumer-friendly apps but this does not ensure VGI offers an act of civic participation. The burden is placed on the contributor to make it so. Apps and VGI could potentially further a data-driven and neoliberal government. Planners should be mindful of the dominance of a consumer-centric view even as they assume VGI invariably improves democratic participation.

  13. Integrating citizen advisory boards in public participation: Lessons from the field

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Snyder, S.

    1995-01-01

    Citizen advisory boards have been used successfully, particularly by the chemical industry, as programs for public participation. Now the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has responded to a growing demand for more direct citizen involvement in environmental restoration decision making. The experience of the site-specific advisory board at the department's Fernald Environmental Management Project near Cincinnati provides lessons that contribute to the development of a model for the most efficient use of citizen advisory boards

  14. Evaluating Health Advice in a Web 2.0 Environment: The Impact of Multiple User-Generated Factors on HIV Advice Perceptions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walther, Joseph B; Jang, Jeong-Woo; Hanna Edwards, Ashley A

    2018-01-01

    Unlike traditional media, social media systems often present information of different types from different kinds of contributors within a single message pane, a juxtaposition of potential influences that challenges traditional health communication processing. One type of social media system, question-and-answer advice systems, provides peers' answers to health-related questions, which yet other peers read and rate. Responses may appear good or bad, responders may claim expertise, and others' aggregated evaluations of an answer's usefulness may affect readers' judgments. An experiment explored how answer feasibility, expertise claims, and user-generated ratings affected readers' assessments of advice about anonymous HIV testing. Results extend the heuristic-systematic model of persuasion (Chaiken, 1980) and warranting theory (Walther & Parks, 2002). Information that is generally associated with both systematic and heuristic processes influenced readers' evaluations. Moreover, content-level cues affected judgments about message sources unexpectedly. When conflicting cues were present, cues with greater warranting value (consensus user-generated ratings) had greater influence on outcomes than less warranted cues (self-promoted expertise). Findings present a challenge to health professionals' concerns about the reliability of online health information systems.

  15. Righting Wrongs: Citizen Journalism and Miscarriages of Justice

    OpenAIRE

    Greer, C.; McLaughlin, E.

    2014-01-01

    This chapter demonstrates the agenda-setting power of citizen journalism in a context of miscarriages of justice. Our empirical analysis focuses on the interaction of media, political and judicial forces following the death of newspaper vendor, Ian Tomlinson, shortly after being struck by a police officer at the G20 Protests in London 2009. We examine the rise of citizen journalism as a key challenge to those institutions that traditionally have been able to control the information environmen...

  16. Crisis Communication Competence in Co-Producing Safety with Citizen Groups

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anne Laajalahti

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this article is to explore interpersonal communication competence needed by crisis communication and management experts when co-operating with citizen groups in response to emergencies. Moreover, the purpose is to understand how response organizations can further develop this crisis communication competence and so contribute to the functioning of response networks. The research task is approached qualitatively by eliciting crisis communication and management experts’ (n = 33 perceptions of the interpersonal communication competence response organizations needs when co-operating with citizen groups. The data were gathered via an international online questionnaire using a method referred to as “thematic writing” and consist of written responses to open-ended questions on what constitutes the core of crisis communication competence and what aspects of it need more attention. The research findings indicate that co-producing safety with citizen groups demands crisis communication competence related to message production, message reception, and interaction between experts and citizen groups. In addition, the findings clarify what areas of crisis communication competence need to be further developed to facilitate co-operation between experts and citizen groups. However, the authors suggest that crisis communication competence should not be seen solely as a characteristic of individual crisis communicators but approached as a networked and co-created area of competence.

  17. Do citizens have minimum medical knowledge? A survey

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Steurer-Stey Claudia

    2007-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Experts defined a "minimum medical knowledge" (MMK that people need for understanding typical signs and/or risk factors of four relevant clinical conditions: myocardial infarction, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and HIV/AIDS. We tested to what degree Swiss adult citizens satisfy this criterion for MMK and whether people with medical experience have acquired better knowledge than those without. Methods Questionnaire interview in a Swiss urban area with 185 Swiss citizens (median age 29 years, interquartile range 23 to 49, 52% male. We obtained context information on age, gender, highest educational level, (paramedical background and specific health experience with one of the conditions in the social surrounding. We calculated the proportion of MMK and examined whether citizens with medical background (personal or professional would perform better compared to other groups. Results No single citizen reached the full MMK (100%. The mean MMK was as low as 32% and the range was 0 -72%. Surprisingly, multivariable analysis showed that participants with a university degree (n = 84; β (95% CI +3.7% MMK (0.4–7.1 p = 0.03, (paramedical background (n = 34; +6.2% MMK (2.0–10.4, p = 0.004 and personal illness experience (n = 96; +4.9% MMK (1.5–8.2, p = 0.004 had only a moderately higher MMK than those without, while age and sex had no effect on the level of MMK. Interaction between university degree and clinical experience (personal or professional showed no effect suggesting that higher education lacks synergistic effect. Conclusion This sample of Swiss citizens did not know more than a third of the MMK. We found little difference within groups with medical experience (personal or professional, suggesting that there is a consistent and dramatic lack of knowledge in the general public about the typical signs and risk factors of relevant clinical conditions.

  18. [Can tobacco companies be good corporate citizens?].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palazzo, G; Mena, S

    2009-07-01

    Tobacco companies have jumped on the Corporate social responsibility (CSR) bandwagon as a tentative to be societally accepted as responsible actors and good corporate citizens. This is however not possible for two reasons. First, the product they sell is lethal and thus not compatible with the precondition of doing no harm to be a good corporate citizen. Second, the behavior of tobacco firms is not responsible, being illustrated by four examples: junk science versus sound science strategy, seducing young smokers, political lobbying and getting customers on new markets. To conclude, three implications for regulating the activities of the tobacco industry are given.

  19. Emerging ICT for Citizens' Veillance: Theoretical and Practical Insights.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boucher, Philip; Nascimento, Susana; Tallacchini, Mariachiara

    2018-02-28

    In ubiquitous surveillance societies, individuals are subjected to observation and control by authorities, institutions, and corporations. Sometimes, citizens contribute their own knowledge and other resources to their own surveillance. In addition, some of "the watched" observe "the watchers" "through" sous-veillant activities, and various forms of self-surveillance for different purposes. However, information and communication technologies are also increasingly used for social initiatives with a bottom up structure where citizens themselves define the goals, shape the outcomes and profit from the benefits of watching activities. This model, which we define as citizens' veillance and explore in this special issue, may present opportunities for individuals and collectives to be more prepared to meet the challenges they face in various domains including environment, health, planning and emergency response.

  20. Putting citizens at the heart of food system governance

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pimbert, Michel

    2012-05-15

    Establishing inclusive governance of food systems — where farmers and other citizens play an active role in designing and implementing food and agricultural policies — is not just a matter of equity or social justice. Evidence shows that it can also lead to more sustainable livelihoods and environments. And yet, across the world, food system governance is marked by exclusionary processes that favour the values and interests of more powerful corporations, investors, big farmers and large research institutes. How can we tip the balance and amplify the voice and influence of marginalised citizens in setting the food and agricultural policies that affect them? Research points to six tried and tested ways that, when combined, can empower citizens in the governance of food systems.

  1. Citizens for new Europe / Erkki Vedder

    Index Scriptorium Estoniae

    Vedder, Erkki

    2004-01-01

    Peipsi Koostöö Keskus osales partnerina Aktiivsete Kodanike Võrgustiku (Active Citizens Network) algatatud üleeuroopalises projektis, kus uuriti kodanikeühenduste olukorda ning kolmandat sektorit puudutavat seadusandlust erinevates riikides

  2. Cell broadcast trials in The Netherlands: Using mobile phone technology for citizens' alarming

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jagtman, H.M.

    2010-01-01

    In emergency situations authorities need to warn the public. The conventionally used method for warning citizens in The Netherlands is the use of a siren. Modern telecommunication technologies, especially the use of text-based features of mobile phones, have great potential for warning the public. In the years 2005-2007 cell broadcast was tested during several large-scale field trials with citizens in The Netherlands. One of the questions was to determine the penetration of cell broadcast for citizens' alarming. This article argues that the definition of penetration in the light of warning citizens in case of emergencies should include the citizens' responses to warning messages. In addition, the approach to determining the penetration, the data and validity issues regarding these data is discussed. The trials have shown cell broadcast has potential to become an effective citizens' alarming technology. This however requires the entire technological and organisational chain of the warning system to function correctly. Attention is required to network management, handset improvements and correct communication to the public about the conditions under which a cell broadcast message can be received. The latter includes managing realistic expectations including circumstances in which cell broadcast will not reach a citizen.

  3. The effect of pre-travel advice on sexual risk behavior abroad: a systematic review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Croughs, Mieke; Remmen, Roy; Van den Ende, Jef

    2014-01-01

    Travelers often have casual sex abroad and the risk of acquiring a sexually transmitted infection (STI) associated with casual travel sex is considered to be threefold higher compared to the risk of casual sex in the home country. Consequently, international guidelines recommend including STI advice in the pre-travel consultation. We performed a systematic review on the effect of a pre-travel STI intervention on sexual risk behavior abroad. In September 2012, a systematic analysis and meta-analysis of peer reviewed literature were performed on the relation between pre-travel STI advice for travelers and sexual risk behavior abroad. Primary outcome measure consisted of the number of travelers with a new sexual partner abroad; secondary outcome measure entailed the proportion of consistent condom use. Six studies were identified for inclusion in the review, of which three clinical trials on the effect of a motivational intervention compared to standard pre-travel STI advice qualified for the meta-analysis. Two of these trials were performed in US marines deployed abroad and one in visitors of a travel clinic. The extensive motivational training program of the marines led to a reduction in sexual risk behavior, while the brief motivational intervention in the travel clinic was not superior to standard advice. The meta-analysis established no overall effect on risk behavior abroad. No clinical trials on the effect of a standard pre-travel STI discussion were found, but a cohort study reported that no relation was found between the recall of a nonstructured pre-travel STI discussion and sexual risk behavior, while the recall of reading the STI information appeared to be related to more consistent condom use. Motivational pre-travel STI intervention was not found to be superior to standard STI advice, while no clinical trials on the effect of standard pre-travel STI advice were found. © 2013 International Society of Travel Medicine.

  4. Effects of yoga, strength training and advice on back pain: a randomized controlled trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brämberg, Elisabeth Björk; Bergström, Gunnar; Jensen, Irene; Hagberg, Jan; Kwak, Lydia

    2017-03-29

    Among the working population, non-specific low-back pain and neck pain are one of the most common reasons for sickness absenteeism. The aim was to evaluate the effects of an early intervention of yoga - compared with strength training or evidence-based advice - on sickness absenteeism, sickness presenteeism, back and neck pain and disability among a working population. A randomized controlled trial was conducted on 159 participants with predominantly (90%) chronic back and neck pain. After screening, the participants were randomized to kundalini yoga, strength training or evidence-based advice. Primary outcome was sickness absenteeism. Secondary outcomes were sickness presenteeism, back and neck pain and disability. Self-reported questionnaires and SMS text messages were completed at baseline, 6 weeks, 6 and 12 months. The results did not indicate that kundalini yoga and strength training had any statistically significant effects on the primary outcome compared with evidence-based advice. An interaction effect was found between adherence to recommendations and sickness absenteeism, indicating larger significant effects among the adherers to kundalini yoga versus evidence-based advice: RR = 0.47 (CI 0.30; 0.74, p = 0.001), strength training versus evidence-based advice: RR = 0.60 (CI 0.38; 0.96, p = 0.032). Some significant differences were also found for the secondary outcomes to the advantage of kundalini yoga and strength training. Guided exercise in the forms of kundalini yoga or strength training does not reduce sickness absenteeism more than evidence-based advice alone. However, secondary analyses reveal that among those who pursue kundalini yoga or strength training at least two times a week, a significantly reduction in sickness absenteeism was found. Methods to increase adherence to treatment recommendations should be further developed and applied in exercise interventions. Clinicaltrials.gov NCT01653782, date of registration: June, 28

  5. Educating Global Citizens: A Good "Idea" or an Organisational Practice?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lilley, Kathleen; Barker, Michelle; Harris, Neil

    2015-01-01

    Higher education emphasises training and skills for employment, yet while the "idea" of educating global citizens appears in university discourse, there is limited evidence demonstrating how the "idea" of the global citizen translates into practice. Recent research emphasises a desire for graduates to be local and global…

  6. Engagement in smartcities. Design of a framework of Theoretical analysis applied to citizen participation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    María E. Cortés-Cediel

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available Engagement can be defined as a psychological state in which an individual focuses all her attention and enjoys the activity she is doing. The literature highlights the importance of improving this in citizen participation by governments and administrations. However, to the best of our knowledge, the literature does not offer clues about how engagement in citizen participation can be improved. This paper aims to develop a theoretical framework of citizen engagement for citizen participation in the context of smart cities. To this end, we first provide a definition of engagement, and describe some of its main characteristics. Next, we present a review of the literature on citizen participation tools in smart cities, analyzing if such tools do influence engagement attributes. The main outcomes of the study are the elaboration of a theoretical framework that integrates characteristic attributes of engagement in the field of citizen participation, and the identification of participation tools analyzing whether they can be designed to increase citizen engagement levels.

  7. Facebooking Citizen Science with the Zooniverse

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moore, Joseph; Gay, P. L.; Hogan, K.; Lintott, C.; Impey, C.; Watson, C.

    2011-01-01

    While fully online citizen science projects like Galaxy Zoo and Moon Zoo are able to garner participation by tens to hundreds of thousands of people, this success pales next to the number of people who use Facebook. With a population well over half a billion, Facebook is, at the time of this writing, the largest single online community. As an experiment in social science-engagement, we have created Facebook fan pages for Zooniverse science tasks, social-sharing apps for Moon Zoo and Galaxy Zoo, and a novel galaxy-related citizen science project all within Facebook. In this poster we present early analysis on how these engagements attract both old and new users, and how users choose to share and interact through these pages.

  8. User interaction in smart ambient environment targeted for senior citizen.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pulli, Petri; Hyry, Jaakko; Pouke, Matti; Yamamoto, Goshiro

    2012-11-01

    Many countries are facing a problem when the age-structure of the society is changing. The numbers of senior citizen are rising rapidly, and caretaking personnel numbers cannot match the problems and needs of these citizens. Using smart, ubiquitous technologies can offer ways in coping with the need of more nursing staff and the rising costs of taking care of senior citizens for the society. Helping senior citizens with a novel, easy to use interface that guides and helps, could improve their quality of living and make them participate more in daily activities. This paper presents a projection-based display system for elderly people with memory impairments and the proposed user interface for the system. The user's process recognition based on a sensor network is also described. Elderly people wearing the system can interact the projected user interface by tapping physical surfaces (such as walls, tables, or doors) using them as a natural, haptic feedback input surface.

  9. Democratizing Process Innovation? On Citizen Involvement in Public Sector BPM

    Science.gov (United States)

    Niehaves, Björn; Malsch, Robert

    ‘Open Innovation’ has been heavily discussed for product innovations; however, an information systems (IS) perspective on ‘process innovation’ has not yet been taken. Analyzing the example of the public sector in Germany, the paper seeks to investigate the factors that hinder and support ‘open process innovation’, a concept we define as the involvement of citizens in business process management (BPM) activities. With the help of a quantitative study (n=358), six factors are examined for their impact on citizen involvement in local government BPM initiatives. The results show that citizen involvement in reform processes is not primarily motivated by the aim of cost reduction, but rather related to legitimacy reasons and the intent to increase employee motivation. Based on these findings, implications for (design) theory and practice are discussed: Instead of detailed collaborative business processes modeling, the key of citizen involvement in public sector BPM lies in communication and mutual understanding.

  10. How training citizen scientists affects the accuracy and precision of phenological data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feldman, Richard E.; Žemaitė, Irma; Miller-Rushing, Abraham J.

    2018-05-01

    Monitoring plant and animal phenology is a critical step to anticipating and predicting changes in species interactions and biodiversity. Because phenology necessarily involves frequent and repeated observations over time, citizen scientists have become a vital part of collecting phenological data. However, there is still concern over the accuracy and precision of citizen science data. It is possible that training citizen scientists can improve data quality though there are few comparisons of trained and untrained citizen scientists in the ability of each to accurately and precisely measure phenology. We assessed how three types of observers—experts, trained citizen scientists that make repeated observations, and untrained citizen scientists making once-per-year observations—differ in quantifying temporal change in flower and fruit abundance of American mountain ash trees (Sorbus americana Marsh.) and arthropods in Acadia National Park, Maine, USA. We found that trained more so than untrained citizen science observers over- or under-estimated abundances leading to precise but inaccurate characterizations of phenological patterns. Our results suggest a new type of bias induced by repeated observations: A type of learning takes place that reduces the independence of observations taken on different trees or different dates. Thus, in this and many other cases, having individuals make one-off observations of marked plants may produce data as good if not better than individuals making repeated observations. For citizen science programs related to phenology, our results underscore the importance of (a) attracting the most number of observers possible even if they only make one observation, (b) producing easy-to-use and informative data sheets, and (c) carefully planning effective training programs that are, perhaps, repeated at different points during the data collection period.

  11. Parents’ Primary Professional Sources of Parenting Advice Moderate Predictors of Parental Attitudes toward Corporal Punishment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taylor, Catherine A.; McKasson, Sarah; Hoy, Guenevere; DeJong, William

    2016-01-01

    Despite the risk it poses to children’s mental and physical health, approval and use of corporal punishment (CP) remains high in the United States. Informed by the Theory of Planned Behavior, we examined potential predictors of attitudes supportive of CP while assessing the moderating effects of parents’ (N=500) chosen primary professional source of advice regarding child discipline: pediatricians (47.8%), religious leaders (20.8%), mental health professionals (MHPs) (n=18.4%), or other identified professionals (13.0%). We conducted a random-digit-dial telephone survey among parents ages 18 and over within New Orleans, LA. The main outcome measure was derived from the Attitudes Toward Spanking scale (ATS). The main “predictors” were: perceived injunctive norms (i.e., perceived approval of CP by professionals; and by family and friends), perceived descriptive norms of family and friends regarding CP, and expected outcomes of CP use. We used multivariate OLS models to regress ATS scores on the predictor variables for each subset of parents based on their chosen professional source of advice. Perceived approval of CP by professionals was the strongest predictor of parental attitudes supportive of CP, except for those seeking advice from MHPs. Perceived injunctive and descriptive norms of family and friends were important, but only for those seeking advice from pediatricians or religious leaders. Positive expected outcomes of CP mattered, but only for those seeking advice from religious leaders or MHPs. In conclusion, the strength and relevance of variables predicting attitudes toward CP varied according to the professional from which the parent was most likely to seek advice. PMID:28529440

  12. Parents' Primary Professional Sources of Parenting Advice Moderate Predictors of Parental Attitudes toward Corporal Punishment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taylor, Catherine A; McKasson, Sarah; Hoy, Guenevere; DeJong, William

    2017-02-01

    Despite the risk it poses to children's mental and physical health, approval and use of corporal punishment (CP) remains high in the United States. Informed by the Theory of Planned Behavior, we examined potential predictors of attitudes supportive of CP while assessing the moderating effects of parents' (N=500) chosen primary professional source of advice regarding child discipline: pediatricians (47.8%), religious leaders (20.8%), mental health professionals (MHPs) (n=18.4%), or other identified professionals (13.0%). We conducted a random-digit-dial telephone survey among parents ages 18 and over within New Orleans, LA. The main outcome measure was derived from the Attitudes Toward Spanking scale (ATS). The main "predictors" were: perceived injunctive norms (i.e., perceived approval of CP by professionals; and by family and friends), perceived descriptive norms of family and friends regarding CP, and expected outcomes of CP use. We used multivariate OLS models to regress ATS scores on the predictor variables for each subset of parents based on their chosen professional source of advice. Perceived approval of CP by professionals was the strongest predictor of parental attitudes supportive of CP, except for those seeking advice from MHPs. Perceived injunctive and descriptive norms of family and friends were important, but only for those seeking advice from pediatricians or religious leaders. Positive expected outcomes of CP mattered, but only for those seeking advice from religious leaders or MHPs. In conclusion, the strength and relevance of variables predicting attitudes toward CP varied according to the professional from which the parent was most likely to seek advice.

  13. Operation Atalanta and the Protection of EU Citizens: Civis Europaeus unheeded?

    OpenAIRE

    LARIK, Joris

    2011-01-01

    This paper critically assesses the EU’s anti-piracy operation Atalanta in the light of the protection of Union citizens. The main question is to which extent a Union citizen threatened by pirates off the coast of Somalia could rely on the promise of civis europaeus sum. The paper discusses the various legal aspects pertaining to the forceful protection of EU citizens in international law, EU constitutional law and the operational parameters of Atalanta. It argues that within the particular fr...

  14. Investing in citizen science can improve natural resource management and environmental protection

    Science.gov (United States)

    McKinley, Duncan C.; Miller-Rushing, Abraham J.; Ballard, Heidi L.; Bonney, Rick; Brown, Hutch; Evans, Daniel M.; French, Rebecca A.; Parrish, Julia K.; Phillips, Tina B.; Ryan, Sean F.; Shanley, Lea A.; Shirk, Jennifer L.; Stepenuck, Kristine F.; Weltzin, Jake F.; Wiggins, Andrea; Boyle, Owen D.; Briggs, Russell D.; Chapin, Stuart F.; Hewitt, David A.; Preuss, Peter W.; Soukup, Michael A.

    2015-01-01

    Citizen science has made substantive contributions to science for hundreds of years. More recently, it has contributed to many articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals and has influenced natural resource management and environmental protection decisions and policies across the nation. Over the last 10 years, citizen science—participation by the public in a scientific project—has seen explosive growth in the United States, particularly in ecology, the environmental sciences, and related fields of inquiry. In this report, we explore the current use of citizen science in natural resource and environmental science and decision making in the United States and describe the investments organizations might make to benefit from citizen science.

  15. European citizen and consumer attitudes and preferences regarding beef and pork

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Verbeke, Wim; Pérez-Cueto, Federico J. A.; de Barcellos, Marcia Dutra

    2010-01-01

    sample. This paper draws together the main findings of both projects and provides a comprehensive overview of European citizens' and consumers' attitudes towards and preferences regarding beef and pork. In general, consumers consider meat to be a healthy and important component of the diet. Consumers...... consumer and citizen segments are identified and profiled. Consumer segments were built upon the frequency and variety of pork consumption. The citizen segments were built upon their attitudes towards pig production systems. Overall, the relationship between individuals' views as citizens...... and their behaviour as consumers was found to be quite weak and did not appear to greatly or systematically influence meat-buying habits. Future studies in both projects will concentrate on consumers' acceptance of innovative meat product concepts and products, with the aim of boosting consumer trust and invigorating...

  16. Women and Heart Disease: Sharing Advice from the Heart

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... page please turn JavaScript on. Feature: Women and Heart Disease Sharing Advice From The Heart Past Issues / Spring 2016 Table of Contents This ... inspired you to get involved in the American Heart Association's Go Red For Women movement and Red ...

  17. Advice to stay active or structured exercise in the management of sciatica

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fernandez, Matt; Hartvigsen, Jan; Ferreira, Manuela L

    2015-01-01

    STUDY DESIGN: A systematic review and meta-analysis. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the evidence on comparative effectiveness of advice to stay active versus supervised structured exercise in the management of sciatica. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Conservative management of sciatica usually includes...... comparing advice with exercise. Two independent reviewers extracted data and assessed methodological quality using the PEDro scale. Pain and disability data were extracted for all time points and converted to a common 0 to 100 scale. Data were pooled with a random effects model for short; intermediate...

  18. Initiating and continuing participation in citizen science for natural history.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Everett, Glyn; Geoghegan, Hilary

    2016-07-22

    Natural history has a long tradition in the UK, dating back to before Charles Darwin. Developing from a principally amateur pursuit, natural history continues to attract both amateur and professional involvement. Within the context of citizen science and public engagement, we examine the motivations behind citizen participation in the national survey activities of the Open Air Laboratories (OPAL) programme, looking at: people's experiences of the surveys as 'project-based leisure'; their motivations for taking part and barriers to continued participation; where they feature on our continuum of engagement; and whether participation in an OPAL survey facilitated their movement between categories along this continuum. The paper focuses on a less-expected but very significant outcome regarding the participation of already-engaged amateur naturalists in citizen science. Our main findings relate to: first, how committed amateur naturalists (already-engaged) have also enjoyed contributing to OPAL and the need to respect and work with their interest to encourage broader and deeper involvement; and second, how new (previously-unengaged) and relatively new participants (casually-engaged) have gained confidence, renewed their interests, refocussed their activities and/or gained validation from participation in OPAL. Overall, we argue that engagement with and enthusiasm for the scientific process is a motivation shared by citizens who, prior to participating in the OPAL surveys, were previously-unengaged, casually-engaged or already-engaged in natural history activities. Citizen science has largely been written about by professional scientists for professional scientists interested in developing a project of their own. This study offers a qualitative example of how citizen science can be meaningful to participants beyond what might appear to be a public engagement data collection exercise.

  19. How Participation Creates Citizens: Participatory Governance as Performative Practice

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Esther Turnhout

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available Participation is a prominent feature of many decision-making and planning processes. Among its proclaimed benefits is its potential to strengthen public support and involvement. However, participation is also known for having unintended consequences which lead to failures in meeting its objectives. This article takes a critical perspective on participation by discussing how participation may influence the ways in which citizens can become involved. Participation unavoidably involves (1 restrictions about who should be involved and about the space for negotiation, (2 assumptions about what the issue at stake is, and (3 expectations about what the outcome of participation should be and how the participants are expected to behave. This is illustrated by a case study about the Dutch nature area, the Drentsche Aa. The case study demonstrates how the participatory process that took place and the restrictions, assumptions, and expectations that were involved resulted in six forms of citizen involvement, both intended and unintended, which ranged between creativity, passivity, and entrenchment. Based on these findings, the article argues that participation does not merely serve as a neutral place in which citizens are represented, but instead creates different categories of citizens. Recognizing this means reconceiving participation as performative practice. Such a perspective goes beyond overly optimistic views of participation as a technique whose application can be perfected, as well as pessimistic views of participation as repression or domination. Instead, it appreciates both intended and unintended forms of citizen involvement as meaningful and legitimate, and recognizes citizenship as being constituted in interaction in the context of participation.

  20. Genetic test feedback with weight control advice: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Meisel Susanne F

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Genetic testing for risk of weight gain is already available over the internet despite uncertain benefits and concerns about adverse emotional or behavioral effects. Few studies have assessed the effect of adding genetic test feedback to weight control advice, even though one of the proposed applications of genetic testing is to stimulate preventive action. This study will investigate the motivational effect of adding genetic test feedback to simple weight control advice in a situation where weight gain is relatively common. Methods/design First-year university students (n = 800 will be randomized to receive either 1 their personal genetic test result for a gene (FTO related to weight gain susceptibility in addition to a leaflet with simple weight control advice (‘Feedback + Advice’ group, FA, or 2 only the leaflet containing simple weight control advice (‘Advice Only’ group, AO. Motivation to avoid weight gain and active use of weight control strategies will be assessed one month after receipt of the leaflet with or without genetic test feedback. Weight and body fat will be measured at baseline and eight months follow-up. We will also assess short-term psychological reactions to the genetic test result. In addition, we will explore interactions between feedback condition and gene test status. Discussion We hope to provide a first indication of the clinical utility of weight-related genetic test feedback in the prevention context. Trial registration Current controlled trials ISRCTN91178663

  1. Discharge against medical advice in a pediatric emergency center in the State of Qatar

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hala Abdulateef

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available Objective: The objective of this study was to analyze cases that had left the Pediatric Emergency Center Al Sadd, Doha (PEC against medical advice, with the aim of developing policies to help reduce this occurrence. Methodology: All patients that were admitted to the main PEC observation room for treatment and/or investigation and subsequently left against medical advice from February 18, 2007 to June 18, 2007, were followed by a phone call, and a questionnaire, which was completed by the departmental patient representative. Results: 99,133 patients attended the facility during the study period. Of those, 106 left the facility against medical advice. Ninety-four guardians were successfully contacted. 90% of the cases were in children below 2 years of age. In 87% of the cases the mother was the main decision maker for leaving against medical advice. Domestic obligations were the leading cause of DAMA (discharge against medical advice, reported in 45% of the cases. Respondents reported that the consequences of DAMA were well explained by medical staff before they left the facility however, they had not met with the departmental patient representative during their stay. Conclusion:As the majority of DAMA cases occurred in infants, medical staff should address the concerns of this group early on in the course of treatment. Maintaining communication and providing support, in particular for mothers of higher risk groups may help to reduce the rate of DAMA cases.

  2. A self-help book is better than sleep hygiene advice for insomnia: a randomized controlled comparative study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bjorvatn, Bjørn; Fiske, Eldbjørg; Pallesen, Ståle

    2011-12-01

    The objective was to compare the effects of two types of written material for insomnia in a randomized trial with follow-up after three months. Insomniacs were recruited through newspaper advertisements to a web-based survey with validated questionnaires about sleep, anxiety, depression, and use of sleep medications. A self-help book focusing on cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia was compared to standard sleep hygiene advice; 77 and 78 participants were randomized to self-help book or sleep hygiene advice, respectively. The response rate was 81.9%. The self-help book gave significantly better scores on the sleep questionnaires compared to sleep hygiene advice. The proportion using sleep medications was reduced in the self-help book group, whereas it was increased in the sleep hygiene group. Compared to pre-treatment, the self-help book improved scores on the sleep (effect sizes 0.61-0.62) and depression (effect size 0.18) scales, whereas the sleep hygiene advice improved scores on some sleep scales (effect sizes 0.24-0.28), but worsened another (effect size -0.36). In addition, sleep hygiene advice increased the number of days per week where they took sleep medications (effect size -0.50). To conclude, in this randomized controlled trial, the self-help book improved sleep and reduced the proportion using sleep medications compared to sleep hygiene advice. The self-help book is an efficient low-threshold intervention, which is cheap and easily available for patients suffering from insomnia. Sleep hygiene advice also improved sleep at follow-up, but increased sleep medication use. Thus, caution is warranted when sleep hygiene advice are given as a single treatment. © 2011 The Authors. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology © 2011 The Scandinavian Psychological Associations.

  3. Energy Design Advice Scheme (EDAS): operations and achievements 1992-1998

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1998-09-01

    The Energy Design Advice Scheme (EDAS) was launched in 1992 under the DTI's Passive Solar Programme to help improve the energy performance of the UK's building stock. It aimed to do this through direct advice and guidance on passive solar design and energy efficient technologies and processes given to the designers of real building projects. Furthermore, the scheme aimed to raise the awareness and take-up of definitive guidance produced under government programmes such as the Passive Solar programme and the Energy Efficiency Best Practice programme. A target energy saving worth Pound 19.3m was set to be achieved by the end of the scheme. This energy saving is equivalent to a reduction in carbon dioxide emission of 220,000 tonnes per year. (author)

  4. How MESSENGER Meshes Simulations and Games with Citizen Science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hirshon, B.; Chapman, C. R.; Edmonds, J.; Goldstein, J.; Hallau, K. G.; Solomon, S. C.; Vanhala, H.; Weir, H. M.; Messenger Education; Public Outreach (Epo) Team

    2010-12-01

    How MESSENGER Meshes Simulations and Games with Citizen Science In the film The Last Starfighter, an alien civilization grooms their future champion—a kid on Earth—using a video game. As he gains proficiency in the game, he masters the skills he needs to pilot a starship and save their civilization. The NASA MESSENGER Education and Public Outreach (EPO) Team is using the same tactic to train citizen scientists to help the Science Team explore the planet Mercury. We are building a new series of games that appear to be designed primarily for fun, but that guide players through a knowledge and skill set that they will need for future science missions in support of MESSENGER mission scientists. As players score points, they gain expertise. Once they achieve a sufficiently high score, they will be invited to become participants in Mercury Zoo, a new program being designed by Zooniverse. Zooniverse created Galaxy Zoo and Moon Zoo, programs that allow interested citizens to participate in the exploration and interpretation of galaxy and lunar data. Scientists use the citizen interpretations to further refine their exploration of the same data, thereby narrowing their focus and saving precious time. Mercury Zoo will be designed with input from the MESSENGER Science Team. This project will not only support the MESSENGER mission, but it will also add to the growing cadre of informed members of the public available to help with other citizen science projects—building on the concept that engaged, informed citizens can help scientists make new discoveries. The MESSENGER EPO Team comprises individuals from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS); Carnegie Academy for Science Education (CASE); Center for Educational Resources (CERES) at Montana State University (MSU) - Bozeman; National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESSE); Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL); National Air and Space Museum (NASM); Science

  5. 8 CFR 319.2 - Person whose United States citizen spouse is employed abroad.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... NATIONALITY REGULATIONS SPECIAL CLASSES OF PERSONS WHO MAY BE NATURALIZED: SPOUSES OF UNITED STATES CITIZENS...) To reside abroad with the citizen spouse; and (ii) To take up residence within the United States...; and (3) Notify the Service immediately if he or she is unable to reside with the citizen spouse...

  6. The Fabrication of Qualified Citizens

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andrade-Molina, Melissa

    2017-01-01

    a rhizomatic analytical move, a historization of the present is deployed to map the fabrication of the desired qualified citizen in Chile. The analysis evidences the (re)production of dominant narratives about the “qualified citizen” are and have been entangled with the functioning of school geometry...

  7. Consumer's Negative emotions, Financial Decisions, Financial Advice

    OpenAIRE

    Konstantaki, Violetta

    2007-01-01

    Abstract The purpose of this study is to explore the consumers decision making process. In particular, this study attempts to examine consumers negative emotions, which elicit during a decision processing. Especially, the case of a financial decision will be examined. Moreover, consumers negative emotion will be investigated in relation with consumers coping behaviour. To be more specific, the option of seeking advice as a successful consumers coping behaviour will be explor...

  8. CITIZEN JOURNALISM MELAWAN MAINSTREAM MEDIA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Senja Yustitia

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available The importance of mass media tend to described as the fourth pillar of a nation, that represents democration, after the existence of nation sets of government forces. In line with teori agenda setting thesis emphasize media force to influence society agenda, and in the end will brought particular change towards. Post-reformation, media tend to isolate themselves from society needs although society is their biggest and the most loyal audiences. Thus called mainstream media consider economic importance as the most important aspect, this fact encouraging media to deviate from their main purpose as the provider of idea and knowledge, whether to give out information or to accomodate various needs and interest. This condition known as ”the end of media”, related with this condition the emergence an alternate known as citizen journalism really needed to balance out information current. The existence of citizen journalism encourage audience to participate as subject and object to control journalistic mechanism.

  9. Ostracism Reduces Reliance on Poor Advice from Others during Decision Making.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Byrne, Kaileigh A; Tibbett, Thomas P; Laserna, Lauren N; Carter-Sowell, Adrienne R; Worthy, Darrell A

    2016-10-01

    Decision-making is rarely context-free, and often both social information and non-social information are weighed into one's decisions. Incorporating information into a decision can be influenced by previous experiences. Ostracism has extensive effects, including taxing cognitive resources and increasing social monitoring. In decision-making situations, individuals are often faced with both objective and social information and must choose which information to include or filter out. How will ostracism affect the reliance on objective and social information during decision-making? Participants ( N =245) in Experiment 1 were randomly assigned to be included or ostracized in a standardized, group task. They then performed a dynamic decision-making task that involved the presentation of either non-social (i.e. biased reward feedback) or social (i.e., poor advice from a previous participant) misleading information. In Experiment 2, participants ( N =105) completed either the ostracism non-social condition or social misleading information condition with explicit instructions stating that the advice given was from an individual who did not partake in the group task. Ostracized individuals relied more on non-social misleading information and performed worse than included individuals. However, ostracized individuals discounted misleading social information and outperformed included individuals. Results of Experiment 2 replicated the findings of Experiment 1. Across two experiments, ostracized individuals were more critical of advice from others, both individuals who may have ostracized them and unrelated individuals. In other words, compared to included individuals, ostracized individuals underweighted advice from another individual, but overweighted non-social information during decision-making. We conclude that when deceptive objective information is present, ostracism results in disadvantageous decision-making.

  10. A Citizen Science Program for Monitoring Lake Stages in Northern Wisconsin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kretschmann, A.; Drum, A.; Rubsam, J.; Watras, C. J.; Cellar-Rossler, A.

    2011-12-01

    Historical data indicate that surface water levels in northern Wisconsin are fluctuating more now than they did in the recent past. In the northern highland lake district of Vilas County, Wisconsin, concern about record low lake levels in 2008 spurred local citizens and lake associations to form a lake level monitoring network comprising citizen scientists. The network is administered by the North Lakeland Discovery Center (NLDC, a local NGO) and is supported by a grant from the Citizen Science Monitoring Program of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR). With technical guidance from limnologists at neighboring UW-Madison Trout Lake Research Station, citizen scientists have installed geographic benchmarks and staff gauges on 26 area lakes. The project engages citizen and student science participants including homeowners, non-profit organization member-participants, and local schools. Each spring, staff gauges are installed and referenced to fixed benchmarks after ice off by NLDC and dedicated volunteers. Volunteers read and record staff gauges on a weekly basis during the ice-free season; and maintain log books recording lake levels to the nearest 0.5 cm. At the end of the season, before ice on, gauges are removed and log books are collected by the NLDC coordinator. Data is compiled and submitted to a database management system, coordinated within the Wisconsin Surface Water Integrated Monitoring System (SWIMS), a statewide information system managed by the WDNR in Madison. Furthermore, NLDC is collaborating with the SWIMS database manager to develop data entry screens based on records collected by citizen scientists. This program is the first of its kind in Wisconsin to utilize citizen scientists to collect lake level data. The retention rate for volunteers has been 100% over the three years since inception, and the program has expanded from four lakes in 2008 to twenty-six lakes in 2011. NLDC stresses the importance of long-term monitoring and the

  11. Should the regulator allow citizens to participate in tradable permits markets?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rousse, Olivier

    2008-01-01

    Since the seminal paper written by Weitzman (1974), the 'prices vs. quantities' debate regarding choice of policy instrument under imperfect information and uncertainty has been an ongoing concern for economists, especially in the field of the environment. In this debate, several papers have recommended that the regulator allow pollution victims (citizens) to participate in tradable permits markets. According to this literature, when pollution victims purchase and withhold (i.e. destroy) emission rights from polluting firms, this means that the overall quota is not efficient and that welfare gains will be realised. In this paper, we present further theoretical results showing that citizen participation in tradable quotas markets may become welfare decreasing. Indeed, citizens can aggravate the first error made by the regulator if they are also under uncertainty about the marginal benefit curve or if they exhibit strong enough risk aversion. Therefore, we recommend that the regulator limit citizen participation to a certain percentage of permits. In doing so, we extend the 'prices versus quantities' debate to simultaneous uncertainty and risk aversion by showing that a marketable permits system offers the regulator an opportunity to control the negative effects of agents' (citizens' and firms') risk aversion on welfare. (author)

  12. Safeguards for informed citizens

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Augustin, Bernard

    1980-01-01

    The author runs through the regulations and procedures to which the construction of nuclear facilities are subjected in France. Concurrently with this technical and administrative control, an 'evident and difficult' objective must be achieved, namely that of informing the citizens. After discussing the difficulties lying in the path of such an undertaking, the author considers the major operations and approaches undertaken in this respect [fr

  13. The Readability of Electronic Cigarette Health Information and Advice: A Quantitative Analysis of Web-Based Information.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, Albert; Zhu, Shu-Hong; Conway, Mike

    2017-01-06

    The popularity and use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) has increased across all demographic groups in recent years. However, little is currently known about the readability of health information and advice aimed at the general public regarding the use of e-cigarettes. The objective of our study was to examine the readability of publicly available health information as well as advice on e-cigarettes. We compared information and advice available from US government agencies, nongovernment organizations, English speaking government agencies outside the United States, and for-profit entities. A systematic search for health information and advice on e-cigarettes was conducted using search engines. We manually verified search results and converted to plain text for analysis. We then assessed readability of the collected documents using 4 readability metrics followed by pairwise comparisons of groups with adjustment for multiple comparisons. A total of 54 documents were collected for this study. All 4 readability metrics indicate that all information and advice on e-cigarette use is written at a level higher than that recommended for the general public by National Institutes of Health (NIH) communication guidelines. However, health information and advice written by for-profit entities, many of which were promoting e-cigarettes, were significantly easier to read. A substantial proportion of potential and current e-cigarette users are likely to have difficulty in fully comprehending Web-based health information regarding e-cigarettes, potentially hindering effective health-seeking behaviors. To comply with NIH communication guidelines, government entities and nongovernment organizations would benefit from improving the readability of e-cigarettes information and advice. ©Albert Park, Shu-Hong Zhu, Mike Conway. Originally published in JMIR Public Health and Surveillance (http://publichealth.jmir.org), 06.01.2017.

  14. Governments and citizens before nuclear energy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ballestero, F.

    2008-01-01

    The citizens fear to anything labelled as nuclear and the potential that the different positions on the use of nuclear energy have as electoral tools have prevented some of these countries from engaging in a real public debate. Citizens are as reluctant to tolerate the accumulation of residues or operation of nuclear plants in their territory as they are to reduce the use of energy for domestic purposes or assume an increase in the cost of fuel or electricity. We are immersed in a political and economical dilemma for which an optimal solution is not yet available. In the short term, it is compelling that we opt for a second best choice that allows us to respond to the challenges that the world, and our country in particular, will face in the next decade. (Author)

  15. Active audiencies and journalism: Involved citizens or motivated consumers?

    OpenAIRE

    Masip, Pere; Guallar, Javier; Peralta, Miquel; Ruiz-Caballero, Carlos; Suau, Jaume

    2015-01-01

    Audience participation, in any of its forms and names (public journalism, citizen journalism, participatory journalism, UGC), appears to revitalise democracy, thanks to the opportunities for public debate opened up by information and communications technology. On the other hand, however, there are many authors who question whether interactive technologies really encourage democracy or the market, empower the citizen or strengthen the consumer. In this context, we still have little information...

  16. Active audiences and journalism: Involved citizens or motivated consumers?

    OpenAIRE

    Masip, Pere; Guallar, Javier; Peralta, Miquel; Ruiz, Carles; Suau, Jaume

    2015-01-01

    Audience participation, in any of its forms and names (public journalism, citizen journalism, participatory journalism, UGC), appears to revitalise democracy, thanks to the opportunities for public debate opened up by information and communications technology. On the other hand, however, there are many authors who question whether interactive technologies really encourage democracy or the market, empower the citizen or strengthen the consumer. In this context, we still have little information...

  17. An Evaluation of an Occupational Health Advice Service

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shearn, P.; Ford, Norma J.; Murphy, R. G.

    2010-01-01

    Objective: The objective of this article is to identify the profile of service users of an occupational health (OH) support service and establish areas of need, and to gather client feedback on the experience of participating in the support service and perceived outcomes and the impact of the advice received. Design and Setting: We carried out…

  18. Lay Evaluation of Financial Experts: The Action Advice Effect and Confirmation Bias.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zaleskiewicz, Tomasz; Gasiorowska, Agata; Stasiuk, Katarzyna; Maksymiuk, Renata; Bar-Tal, Yoram

    2016-01-01

    The goal of this experimental project was to investigate lay peoples' perceptions of epistemic authority (EA) in the field of finance. EA is defined as the extent to which a source of information is treated as evidence for judgments independently of its objective expertise and based on subjective beliefs. Previous research suggested that EA evaluations are biased and that lay people tend to ascribe higher EA to experts who advise action (in the case of medical experts) or confirm clients' expectations (in the case of politicians). However, there has been no research into biases in lay evaluations of financial experts and this project is aimed to fill this gap. Experiment 1 showed that lay people tended to ascribe greater authority to financial consultants who gave more active advice to clients considering taking out a mortgage. Experiment 2 confirmed the action advice effect found in Experiment 1. However, the outcomes of Experiments 2 and - particularly - 3 suggested that this bias might also be due to clients' desire to confirm their own opinions. Experiment 2 showed that the action advice effect was moderated by clients' own opinions on taking loans. Lay people ascribed the greatest EA to the advisor in the scenario in which he advised taking action and where this coincided with the client's positive opinion on the advisability of taking out a loan. In Experiment 3 only participants with a positive opinion on the financial product ascribed greater authority to experts who recommended it; participants whose opinion was negative tended to rate consultants who advised rejecting the product more highly. To conclude, these three experiments revealed that lay people ascribe higher EA to financial consultants who advise action rather than maintenance of the status quo , but this effect is limited by confirmation bias: when the client's a priori opinion is salient, greater authority is ascribed to experts whose advice confirms it. In this sense, results presented in the

  19. Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF) – Opinion by written procedure – Review of scientific advice for 2013- part I – Advice on stocks in the Baltic Sea

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    The scientific advice on the stocks and fisheries in the Baltic Sea in 2013 evaluated and endorsed by the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF) by written procedure in June 2012 on a request by the European Commission......The scientific advice on the stocks and fisheries in the Baltic Sea in 2013 evaluated and endorsed by the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF) by written procedure in June 2012 on a request by the European Commission...

  20. Use and preference of advice on small children's food

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Annemette Ljungdalh; Krasnik, Allan; Vassard, Ditte

    2015-01-01

    The authors analyzed the influence of acculturation on parental attitudes to, and use of, different sources of health advice about young children's food in Denmark. Using combined ethnic position of the children's parents as a proxy for household acculturation, the authors conducted a postal survey...

  1. Citizen Science: Data Sharing For, By, and With the Public

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wiggins, A.

    2017-12-01

    Data sharing in citizen science is just as challenging as it is for any other type of science, except that there are more parties involved, with more diverse needs and interests. This talk provides an overview of the challenges and current efforts to advance data sharing in citizen science, and suggests refocusing data management activities on supporting the needs of multiple audiences. Early work on data sharing in citizen science advocated applying the standards and practices of academia, which can only address the needs of one of several audiences for citizen science data, and academics are not always the primary audience. Practitioners still need guidance on how to better share data other key parties, such as participants and policymakers, and which data management practices to prioritize for addressing the needs of multiple audiences. The benefits to the project of investing scarce resources into data products and dissemination strategies for each target audience still remain variable, unclear, or unpredictable. And as projects mature and change, the importance of data sharing activities and audiences are likely to change as well. This combination of multiple diverse audiences, shifting priorities, limited resources, and unclear benefits creates a perfect storm of conditions to suppress data sharing. Nonetheless, many citizen science projects make the effort, with exemplars showing substantial returns on data stewardship investments, and international initiatives are underway to bolster the data sharing capacity of the field. To improve the state of data sharing in citizen science, strategic use of limited resources suggests prioritizing data management activities that support the needs of multiple audiences. These may include better transparency about data access and usage, and standardized reporting of broader impacts from secondary data users, to both reward projects and incentivize further data sharing.

  2. Citizen Review Panels for Child Protective Services: A National Profile

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, Blake L.; Royse, David

    2008-01-01

    Citizen Review Panels (CRPs) for Child Protective Services are groups of citizen-volunteers throughout the United States who are federally mandated to evaluate local and state child protection systems. This study presents a profile of 332 CRP members in 20 states with regards to their demographic information, length of time on the panel, and …

  3. I-space: Designing for and with Citizens with Special Needs

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Helms, Niels Henrik; Tellerup, Susanne; Jensen Bryderup, Karin

    This paper presents I-Space. The purpose of this project is to improve the wellbeing and life quality of mentally impaired citizens through the development of new technologies, which could enhance learning and motivation. The project is used as reference to a discussion on structures within design...... and innovation processes for citizens with special needs....

  4. Critical Thinking of Young Citizens towards News Headlines in Chile

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vernier, Matthieu; Cárcamo, Luis; Scheihing, Eliana

    2018-01-01

    Strengthening critical thinking abilities of citizens in the face of news published on the web represents a key challenge for education. Young citizens appear to be vulnerable in the face of poor quality news or those containing non-explicit ideologies. In the field of data science, computational and statistical techniques have been developed to…

  5. 76 FR 1187 - Application for Recertification of Prince William Sound Regional Citizens' Advisory Council

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-01-07

    ... Prince William Sound Regional Citizens' Advisory Council AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS. ACTION: Notice of... on, the application for recertification submitted by the Prince William Sound Regional Citizen's... advisory group in lieu of a Regional Citizens' Advisory Council for Prince William Sound, Alaska. This...

  6. [Citizens' veillance on environmental health through ICT and Genomics].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tallacchini, Mariachiara; Biggeri, Annibale

    2014-01-01

    In the last decade three different phenomena have merged: the widespread use of ICT devices to collect and potentially share personal and scientific data, and to build networked communities; biobanking for genomics, namely the organized storage of human biological samples and information; and the collaboration between scientists and citizens in creating knowledge, namely peer-production of knowledge, for shared social goals. These different forms of knowledge, technical tools, and skills have merged in community based scientific and social, as well as legal, initiatives, where scientists and citizens use genetic information and ICT as powerful ways to gain more control over their health and the environment. These activities can no longer be simply qualified as epidemiological research and surveillance. Instead, they can be framed as new forms of citizens' participatory "veillance:" an attitude of cognitive proactive alertness towards the protection of common goods. This paper illustrates two Italian case-studies where citizens and scientists, by making use of both ICT and biobanking, have joined with the goal of protecting environmental health in highly polluted contexts. The statute of these initiatives still needs to be defined as to both the validity of the underlying citizen science and the lack of adequate legal tools for structuring them. However, as to their scientific quality and use of sophisticated technologies, these activities cannot be compared to previous experiences, such as those inspired by so-called popular epidemiology. Moreover, the deep awareness towards the data to be transparent, reliable, and accessible, as well as towards funding mechanisms to be crowdsourced, allows these experiences to go beyond the mere confrontation with institutional knowledge, and to represent a potential model for knowledge production for institutional implementation.

  7. PubliForum 'Electricity and Society'. Citizen Panel Report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1998-06-01

    In the Citizen Panel's Report on 'Electricity and Society' we present the first results of three intensive week-ends. In this document, 27 Swiss citizens have recorded their opinions on the future of our electricity supply system. Solutions are sought without making claims on having found the ultimate recipe. The recommendations are the result of an assessment made by a representative cross-section of the public - one could almost say 'the voice of the people'. They reflect not only the public's apprehensions and worries, but also their ideas and desires. (authors)

  8. Citizen Dialogues on Public Acceptance of Innovative Cars

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lienin, S.F.; Kasemir, B. [PSI and sustainserv GmbH (Switzerland); Gassmann, F.; Wokaun, A.

    2004-03-01

    Studying acceptance of citizens concerning innovative technology is a central element in developing effective strategies to attain a more sustainable future. To this aim, a method based on discussions in small focus groups has been developed. In the framework of the programme '2000-Watt-Society: Pilot Region Basel' and the novatlantis project 'Mobility Module', this method was used to assess public attitudes to-wards natural gas, biogas , and hydrogen as alternative fuels for cars. The setup of respective citizen dialogues and some results are presented. (author)

  9. Attitudinal Change in Elderly Citizens Toward Social Robots

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Damholdt, Malene Flensborg; Nørskov, Marco; Yamazaki, Ryuji

    2015-01-01

    Attitudes toward robots influence the tendency to accept or reject robotic devices. Thus it is important to investigate whether and how attitudes toward robots can change. In this pilot study we investigate attitudinal changes in elderly citizens toward a tele-operated robot in relation to three...... relatedness (r = 0.581) whilst Neuroticism correlated negatively (r = -0.582) with mental relatedness with the robot. The results tentatively suggest that neither information about functionality nor direct repeated encounters are pivotal in changing attitudes toward robots in elderly citizens. This may...

  10. Citizen and consumer influence on future pork production

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sørensen, Bjarne Taulo; Stacey, Julia Rolsted; Poulsen, Louise Vestergaard Skøtt

    2008-01-01

    The development on the world market for pigs may challenge the European production and export of pork, and can hit the EU countries' economy hard. To meet the changes it is essential that the pork producing sector understands the demanding and powerful citizens and consumers.......The development on the world market for pigs may challenge the European production and export of pork, and can hit the EU countries' economy hard. To meet the changes it is essential that the pork producing sector understands the demanding and powerful citizens and consumers....

  11. The citizens in E-participation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Henning Sten; Reinau, Kristian Hegner

    2006-01-01

    . The current paper presents the results of a survey among actively involved citizens in Northern Jutland County. Our analysis shows a high degree of involvement among middle-age well-educated males with a higher education and income above average. It seems that contrary to the planner's vision of an open...

  12. Place Branding and Citizen Involvement: Participatory Approach to Building and Managing City Brands

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hereźniak Marta

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available This article examines the role of citizens in the process of building and managing city brands. A multidisciplinary approach is applied to explain the multifaceted nature of territorial brands and citizen involvement. To this end, theoretical concepts from marketing and corporate branding, public management, and human geography are applied. By conceptualising place branding as a public policy and a governance process, and drawing from the concept of participatory place branding, the author discusses a variety of methods and instruments used to involve citizens. Special attention is given to the importance of modern technologies for effective citizen involvement.

  13. Partnering for science: proceedings of the USGS Workshop on Citizen Science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hines, Megan; Benson, Abigail; Govoni, David; Masaki, Derek; Poore, Barbara; Simpson, Annie; Tessler, Steven

    2013-01-01

    What U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) programs use citizen science? How can projects be best designed while meeting policy requirements? What are the most effective volunteer recruitment methods? What data should be collected to ensure validation and how should data be stored? What standard protocols are most easily used by volunteers? Can data from multiple projects be integrated to support new research or existing science questions? To help answer these and other questions, the USGS Community of Data Integration (CDI) supported the development of the Citizen Science Working Group (CSWG) in August 2011 and funded the working group’s proposal to hold a USGS Citizen Science Workshop in fiscal year 2012. The stated goals for our workshop were: raise awareness of programs and projects in the USGS that incorporate citizen science, create a community of practice for the sharing of knowledge and experiences, provide a forum to discuss the challenges of—and opportunities for—incorporating citizen science into USGS projects, and educate and support scientists and managers whose projects may benefit from public participation in science.To meet these goals, the workshop brought together 50 attendees (see appendix A for participant details) representing the USGS, partners, and external citizen science practitioners from diverse backgrounds (including scientists, managers, project coordinators, and technical developers, for example) to discuss these topics at the Denver Federal Center in Colorado on September 11–12, 2012. Over two and a half days, attendees participated in four major plenary sessions (Citizen Science Policy and Challenges, Engaging the Public in Scientific Research, Data Collection and Management, and Technology and Tools) comprised of 25 invited presentations and followed by structured discussions for each session designed to address both prepared and ad hoc "big questions." A number of important community support and infrastructure needs were identified

  14. Active audiences and journalism: Involved citizens or motivated consumers?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pere Masip

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available Audience participation, in any of its forms and names (public journalism, citizen journalism, participatory journalism, UGC, appears to revitalise democracy, thanks to the opportunities for public debate opened up by information and communications technology. On the other hand, however, there are many authors who question whether interactive technologies really encourage democracy or the market, empower the citizen or strengthen the consumer. In this context, we still have little information on the motivations that drive citizens to actively participate through the mechanisms that the media make available to them on their own websites or through social networks. There is a similar lack of information on the role that users attribute to their involvement in the functioning of the media and whether it contributes to improving their democratic function. This article aims to shed some light on this subject.

  15. Development and evaluation of low-cost walker with trunk support for senior citizen.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Poier, Paloma Hohmann; Godke, Francisco; Foggiatto, José Aguiomar; Ulbricht, Leandra

    2017-10-09

    Develop and evaluate a low-cost walker with trunk support for senior citizens. Two-stage descriptive study: development of a walker with trunk support and evaluation with fourth age senior citizens. Twenty-three fourth age senior citizens were selected. The evaluated criteria were the immediate influence of the walker on the static stabilometry with baropodometer and the evaluation of gait with accelerometers monitoring time and amplitude of the hip movement. There was a significant decrease in the body oscillation of senior citizens with the use of the developed walker, and there were changes in the joint amplitudes of the hip, but they were not significant. Using low-cost materials, it was possible to develop and equipment that met resistance and effectiveness requirements. The walker interfered in the balance of the senior citizens, reducing significantly the static body oscillation.

  16. Can Citizen Science Assist in Determining Koala (Phascolarctos cinereus Presence in a Declining Population?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Emily Flower

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available The acceptance and application of citizen science has risen over the last 10 years, with this rise likely attributed to an increase in public awareness surrounding anthropogenic impacts affecting urban ecosystems. Citizen science projects have the potential to expand upon data collected by specialist researchers as they are able to gain access to previously unattainable information, consequently increasing the likelihood of an effective management program. The primary objective of this research was to develop guidelines for a successful regional-scale citizen science project following a critical analysis of 12 existing citizen science case studies. Secondly, the effectiveness of these guidelines was measured through the implementation of a citizen science project, Koala Quest, for the purpose of estimating the presence of koalas in a fragmented landscape. Consequently, this research aimed to determine whether citizen-collected data can augment traditional science research methods, by comparing and contrasting the abundance of koala sightings gathered by citizen scientists and professional researchers. Based upon the guidelines developed, Koala Quest methodologies were designed, the study conducted, and the efficacy of the project assessed. To combat the high variability of estimated koala populations due to differences in counting techniques, a national monitoring and evaluation program is required, in addition to a standardised method for conducting koala population estimates. Citizen science is a useful method for monitoring animals such as the koala, which are sparsely distributed throughout a vast geographical area, as the large numbers of volunteers recruited by a citizen science project are capable of monitoring a similarly broad spatial range.

  17. Can Citizen Science Assist in Determining Koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) Presence in a Declining Population?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Flower, Emily; Jones, Darryl; Bernede, Lilia

    2016-07-14

    The acceptance and application of citizen science has risen over the last 10 years, with this rise likely attributed to an increase in public awareness surrounding anthropogenic impacts affecting urban ecosystems. Citizen science projects have the potential to expand upon data collected by specialist researchers as they are able to gain access to previously unattainable information, consequently increasing the likelihood of an effective management program. The primary objective of this research was to develop guidelines for a successful regional-scale citizen science project following a critical analysis of 12 existing citizen science case studies. Secondly, the effectiveness of these guidelines was measured through the implementation of a citizen science project, Koala Quest, for the purpose of estimating the presence of koalas in a fragmented landscape. Consequently, this research aimed to determine whether citizen-collected data can augment traditional science research methods, by comparing and contrasting the abundance of koala sightings gathered by citizen scientists and professional researchers. Based upon the guidelines developed, Koala Quest methodologies were designed, the study conducted, and the efficacy of the project assessed. To combat the high variability of estimated koala populations due to differences in counting techniques, a national monitoring and evaluation program is required, in addition to a standardised method for conducting koala population estimates. Citizen science is a useful method for monitoring animals such as the koala, which are sparsely distributed throughout a vast geographical area, as the large numbers of volunteers recruited by a citizen science project are capable of monitoring a similarly broad spatial range.

  18. Energy Design Advice Scheme (EDAS): operations and achievements 1992-1998

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1998-09-01

    The Energy Design Advice Scheme (EDAS) was launched in 1992 under the DTI's Passive Solar Programme to help improve the energy performance of the UK's building stock. It aimed to do this through direct advice and guidance on passive solar design and energy efficient technologies and processes given to the designers of real building projects. Furthermore, the scheme aimed to raise the awareness and take-up of definitive guidance produced under government programmes such as the Passive Solar programme and the Energy Efficiency Best Practice programme. A target energy saving worth Pound 19.3m was set to be achieved by the end of the scheme. This energy saving is equivalent to a reduction in carbon dioxide emission of 220,000 tonnes per year. (author)

  19. How Technology Transforms Journalism Business through Citizen-Reporters in Nigeria

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aborisade, Olubunmi P.

    2010-01-01

    The use of technology and media modalities in digital technologies in today's media has created a new form of journalism. While some call it citizen-reporting, some dub it we media, or participatory news reporting. The new press evolves with the engagement of ordinary citizens in news gathering and distribution. Apart from helping to enhance the…

  20. 'How to stop a nosebleed': an assessment of the quality of epistaxis treatment advice on YouTube.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haymes, A T; Harries, V

    2016-08-01

    Video hosting websites are increasingly being used to disseminate health education messages. This study aimed to assess the quality of advice contained within YouTube videos on the conservative management of epistaxis. YouTube.com was searched using the phrase 'how to stop a nosebleed'. The first 50 videos were screened. Objective advice scores and subjective production quality scores were attributed by independent raters. Forty-five videos were analysed. The mean advice score was 2.0 out of 8 and the mean production quality score was 1.6 out of 3. There were no correlations between a video's advice score and its search results rank (ρ = -0.28, p = 0.068), its view count (ρ = 0.20, p = 0.19) or its number of 'likes' (ρ = 0.21, p = 0.18). The quality of information on conservative epistaxis management within YouTube videos is extremely variable. A high search rank is no indication of video quality. Many videos proffer inappropriate and dangerous 'alternative' advice. We do not recommend YouTube as a source for patient information.

  1. Crowdsourcing Scientific Work: A Comparative Study of Technologies, Processes, and Outcomes in Citizen Science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wiggins, Andrea

    2012-01-01

    Citizen science projects involve the public with scientists in collaborative research. Information and communication technologies for citizen science can enable massive virtual collaborations based on voluntary contributions by diverse participants. As the popularity of citizen science increases, scientists need a more thorough understanding of…

  2. Does local government staff perceive digital communication with citizens as improved service?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Berger, Jesper Bull; Hertzum, Morten; Schreiber, Trine

    2016-01-01

    Digital communication between government and citizens is pivotal to e-government. The Danish e-government initiative Digital Post aims to digitize all communications between government and citizens. We surveyed local government staff about how Digital Post affects the service delivered to citizens....... As much as 82% of the 448 respondents considered digital communication with citizens using Digital Post a good idea, yet 47% reported concrete incidents in which they perceived a decrease in service with Digital Post. This result shows the importance of distinguishing between the overall service...... relationship and the concrete incidents of which the service consists. We discuss interactions between the relationship level and the incident level of Digital Post on the basis of a content analysis of the respondents' incident descriptions....

  3. Birth characteristics of Syrian refugees and Turkish citizens in Turkey in 2015.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Demirci, Hakan; Yildirim Topak, Nevruz; Ocakoglu, Gokhan; Karakulak Gomleksiz, Mehtap; Ustunyurt, Emin; Ulku Turker, Ayse

    2017-04-01

    To compare the birth characteristics of Syrian refugees with those of Turkish citizens. In a retrospective study, data were obtained for singleton live births that occurred at a hospital in Bursa, Turkey, between June 1 and December 31, 2015. All Syrian refugees were eligible for inclusion; one Turkish citizen was included for each refugee. Overall, 545 Syrian refugees and 545 Turkish citizens were included. Cesarean delivery was undertaken for 176 (32.3%) Syrians and 235 (43.1%) Turks (PSyrian refugees (3110 g, range 540-4790; PSyrian refugees (PSyrians (P=0.014). Cesarean delivery is more common among pregnant Turkish citizens than among Syrian refugees. Other notable differences between the groups were recorded. © 2016 International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics.

  4. Leveraging Citizen Science and Information Technology for Population Physical Activity Promotion

    Science.gov (United States)

    King, Abby C.; Winter, Sandra J.; Sheats, Jylana L.; Rosas, Lisa G.; Buman, Matthew P.; Salvo, Deborah; Rodriguez, Nicole M.; Seguin, Rebecca A.; Moran, Mika; Garber, Randi; Broderick, Bonnie; Zieff, Susan G.; Sarmiento, Olga Lucia; Gonzalez, Silvia A.; Banchoff, Ann; Dommarco, Juan Rivera

    2016-01-01

    PURPOSE While technology is a major driver of many of society’s comforts, conveniences, and advances, it has been responsible, in a significant way, for engineering regular physical activity and a number of other positive health behaviors out of people’s daily lives. A key question concerns how to harness information and communication technologies (ICT) to bring about positive changes in the health promotion field. One such approach involves community-engaged “citizen science,” in which local residents leverage the potential of ICT to foster data-driven consensus-building and mobilization efforts that advance physical activity at the individual, social, built environment, and policy levels. METHOD The history of citizen science in the research arena is briefly described and an evidence-based method that embeds citizen science in a multi-level, multi-sectoral community-based participatory research framework for physical activity promotion is presented. RESULTS Several examples of this citizen science-driven community engagement framework for promoting active lifestyles, called “Our Voice”, are discussed, including pilot projects from diverse communities in the U.S. as well as internationally. CONCLUSIONS The opportunities and challenges involved in leveraging citizen science activities as part of a broader population approach to promoting regular physical activity are explored. The strategic engagement of citizen scientists from socio-demographically diverse communities across the globe as both assessment as well as change agents provides a promising, potentially low-cost and scalable strategy for creating more active, healthful, and equitable neighborhoods and communities worldwide. PMID:27525309

  5. Developing a Better Interaction between Citizens and the Municipality. Study Case

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cătălin I. Vrabie

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available Understanding citizen online goals is critical because it gets at the heart of what the public institution web site should or could “do”. The challenge is that for most agencies/institutions, there are likely to be multiple goals that represent the “reason why” citizen could come to the web site. Unfortunately many public institution feel that it should have an online presence only, so, many web sites are created to offer a little more than online reproductions of its services. The purpose of this article is to provide an example of a public institution Web site, developed for a better interaction with citizens so that they may add value to their Web site. This article shows the initiative of the Brasov City Hall (central Romania to develop an online technical dispatcher. The project is consistent with initiatives undertaken at EU level - eEurope 2005, eEurope +, i2010 by adhering to the principles of interoperability, interactivity public services, trust, security, privacy, and is fully consistent with the Romanian Government strategy regarding the informatisation of the public administration. Creating a dynamic Web site that contains a dispatcher component through which citizens can address in order to provide information about a specific problem encountered in the city and by that the responsible institutions to be mobilized timely. Brasov City Hall Web site can be used as a frame of reference for this type of interaction because its providing to the citizens a wide range of electronic services, extended availability and increased efficiency in handling the citizens demands.

  6. Conference: photovoltaic energy - local authorities - Citizen

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Belon, Daniel; Witte, Sonja; Simonet, Luc; Waldmann, Lars; Fouquet, Doerte; Dupassieux, Henri; Longo, Fabio; Brunel, Arnaud; Kruppert, Andreas; Vachette, Philippe

    2012-01-01

    The French-German office for Renewable energies (OFAEnR) organised a conference on the role of photovoltaic energy, local authorities and Citizens as pillars of the energy transition. In the framework of this French-German exchange of experience, about 100 participants exchanged views on the role of local authorities and Citizens in the implementation of the energy transition. This document brings together the available presentations (slides) made during this event: 1 - Solar photovoltaics, local communities and citizens - Cornerstones of the energy revolution. Franco-German viewpoints (Daniel Belon); 2 - Structure and management of the distribution system operators in Germany. efficient, innovative and reliable: Local public enterprises in Germany (Sonja Witte); 3 - Photovoltaic energy: technical challenges for power grids - A distribution network operator's (DNO) point-of-view (Luc Simonet); 4 - The sun and the grid - challenges of the energy transition (Lars Waldmann); 5 - The role of local public authorities in the networks management: legal situation in France, Germany and in the EU (Doerte Fouquet); 6 - Towards energy transition: challenges for renewable energies - Urban solar planning tools (Henri Dupassieux); 7 - The local energy supply as a municipal task - solar land-use planning in practice in Germany (Fabio Longo); 8 - Supporting and facilitating the financing of photovoltaic projects at a community level (Arnaud Brunel); 9 - Photovoltaics in the municipality VG Arzfeld (Andreas Kruppert); 10 - For the energy revolution to be a success: Invest into renewable energy. Local, controllable and renewable 'shared energy' that is grassroots (Philippe Vachette)

  7. Citizen utilities: The emerging power paradigm

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Green, Jemma; Newman, Peter

    2017-01-01

    The emergence of citizen-based power systems in an integrated grid has been anticipated for decades. We can reveal how this is emerging in practice due to the significant uptake of solar photovoltaics (solar PV) and now battery storage in Perth, Australia. The high cost of electricity, high radiant energy levels and easy access to cheap Chinese technology, has led to dramatic buying during Perth's recent boomtown years. The traditional uni-directional power system is rapidly disrupting and this paper assesses where this may lead and what it means for the grid. Results of detailed monitoring in a solar powered house along with the impact of a battery storage system show the impact on the traditional grid is substantial but it will still be needed and must therefore adapt to the new distributed, bi-directional energy system. Surveys and price trajectories reveal how the trends to solar power storage will continue and how a citizen utility paradigm will emerge as the future grid building block using new blockchain support systems. Responses from utilities are then see to be fight, flight or innovate. - Highlights: • Citizen based power systems are emerging in Perth, Western Australia. • Solar power and battery storage systems are disrupting traditional utilities. • The grid will still have a role in the new, distributed power system. • The new system will lead to economic localism and the democratisation of power.

  8. Citizen sources in the news: Above and beyond the vox pop?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kleemans, M.; Schaap, G.J.; Hermans, E.A.H.M.

    2017-01-01

    Both within journalism and academia it is argued that citizen voices should have a greater prominence in news to counterbalance the virtual monopoly of elite sources. This study extends previous studies – showing increased presence of citizens in news – by investigating relevant but unanswered

  9. Associations - Communities - Residents. Building together a citizen-based project of renewable energies - Methodological guide

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ramard, Dominique; Fleury, Laurianne; Peyret, Albert; Ghesquiere, Christine; Kauber, Markus; Jourdain, Pierre

    2012-11-01

    This guide first outlines the challenges and stakes of citizen-based renewable energies: example of a necessary energy transition in Brittany, interest of a local production of renewable energies, examples in other European countries, and emergence of a citizen-based energy movement in France. The second part presents the four main phases of such a project (diagnosis, development, construction, and exploitation), the main issues to be addressed, and the main steps of a citizen-based renewable energy project (technical, legal and financial, and citizen-related aspects during the different phases). The third part describes how to elaborate a citizen-based project: by addressing the project dimensions, by defining a legal specification, by performing a provisional business model, by choosing an appropriate legal structure, by creating a project company, and by mobilizing local actors). The last part addresses how to finance the project: by building up own funds, by asking banks for support, and by citizen participation to investment

  10. Advice : virtual sales assistant for the complete customer service process in digital markets

    OpenAIRE

    García Serrano, Ana María; Rodrigo Aguado, Luis; Hernández Diego, Josefa; Martínez Fernández, Paloma; Calle Gómez, Francisco Javier

    2002-01-01

    El trabajo presenta las principales características del proyecto ADVICE (IST 1999-11305), un proyecto de investigación cuyo principal objetivo es el desarrollo de un asistente virtual para las tiendas electrónicas que imite el comportamiento de un vendedor humano. This work present the main features of the ADVICE (IST 1999-11305) project, a research project whose main aim is to develop a virtual assistant for e-shops that imitates the behaviour of a human vendor.

  11. Report of the Fermilab ILC Citizens' Task Force

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    None

    2008-06-01

    Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory convened the ILC Citizens' Task Force to provide guidance and advice to the laboratory to ensure that community concerns and ideas are included in all public aspects of planning and design for a proposed future accelerator, the International Linear Collider. In this report, the members of the Task Force describe the process they used to gather and analyze information on all aspects of the proposed accelerator and its potential location at Fermilab in northern Illinois. They present the conclusions and recommendations they reached as a result of the learning process and their subsequent discussions and deliberations. While the Task Force was charged to provide guidance on the ILC, it became clear during the process that the high cost of the proposed accelerator made a near-term start for the project at Fermilab unlikely. Nevertheless, based on a year of extensive learning and dialogue, the Task Force developed a series of recommendations for Fermilab to consider as the laboratory develops all successor projects to the Tevatron. The Task Force recognizes that bringing a next-generation particle physics project to Fermilab will require both a large international effort and the support of the local community. While the Task Force developed its recommendations in response to the parameters of a future ILC, the principles they set forth apply directly to any large project that may be conceived at Fermilab, or at other laboratories, in the future. With this report, the Task Force fulfills its task of guiding Fermilab from the perspective of the local community on how to move forward with a large-scale project while building positive relationships with surrounding communities. The report summarizes the benefits, concerns and potential impacts of bringing a large-scale scientific project to northern Illinois.

  12. How do stroke survivors and their carers use practitioners' advice on secondary prevention medications? Qualitative study of an online forum.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Izuka, Nkeonye J; Alexander, Matthew A W; Balasooriya-Smeekens, Chantal; Mant, Jonathan; De Simoni, Anna

    2017-09-01

    Secondary prevention medications reduce risk of stroke recurrence, yet many people do not receive recommended treatment, nor take medications optimally. Exploring how patients report making use of practitioners' advice on secondary prevention medicines on an online forum and what feedback was received from other participants. Thematic analysis of the archive of Talkstroke (2004-2011), UK. Posts including any secondary prevention medication terms, General Practitioner (GP) and their replies were identified. Fifity participants talked about practitioners' advice on secondary prevention medications in 43 discussion threads. Patients consulted practitioners for reassurance and dealing with side effects. Practitioners' advice varied from altering to maintaining current treatment. Three main themes emerged from the use of practitioners' advice: patients following advice (reassured, happy when side effects made tolerable, or still retaining anxiety about treatment); patients not following advice (admitting adherence on-off or stopping medications as side effects still not tolerable); asking other participants for feedback on advice received. Practitioners' advice was disregarded mainly when related to dealing with statin side effects, after one or two consultations. Themes for feedback involved sharing experience, directing back to practitioners, or to external evidence. Side effects of secondary prevention medications and statins in particular, cause anxiety and resentment in some patients, and their concerns are not always addressed by practitioners. Practitioners could consider more proactive strategies to manage such side effects. Forum feedback was appropriate and supportive of the practitioners' advice received. Our findings from peer-to-peer online conversations confirm and widen previous research. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press.

  13. Embedded Assessment as an Essential Method for Understanding Public Engagement in Citizen Science

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rachel Becker-Klein

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available Citizen science is an important way of engaging a broad range of audiences in science inquiry by participating in research that asks novel questions and unearths new knowledge and new questioning. Though citizen science projects are quite diverse in their scientific pursuits, all projects share the common element of involving volunteers directly in some aspect of science inquiry. Thus, it is essential for citizen science projects to determine their participants’ capacity to learn and successfully perform science inquiry skills, such as making scientific observations, collecting and analyzing data, and sharing findings. Such skill gains are essential to (a ensure high quality data that can be used in meaningful scientific research, and (b achieve broader goals such as developing a participant’s identity as a contributor to science. However, we do not yet fully understand how improvement in participants’ inquiry skills through citizen science advances our knowledge of public engagement with science. In this essay, we offer embedded assessment as an effective method to capture participant skill gains, and encourage citizen science leaders, evaluators, and researchers to develop authentic methods that address the complexities of measuring skill development within the context of citizen science.

  14. Citizen empowerment using healthcare and welfare cards.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheshire, Paul

    2006-01-01

    Cards are used in health and welfare to establish the identity of the person presenting the card; to prove their entitlement to a welfare or healthcare service; to store data needed within the care process; and to store data to use in the administration process. There is a desire to empower citizens - to give them greater control over their lives, their health and wellbeing. How can a healthcare and welfare card support this aim? Does having a card empower the citizen? What can a citizen do more easily, reliably, securely or cost-effectively because they have a card? A number of possibilities include: Choice of service provider; Mobility across regional and national boundaries; Privacy; and Anonymity. But in all of these possibilities a card is just one component of a total system and process, and there may be other solutions--technological and manual. There are risks and problems from relying on a card; and issues of Inclusion for people who are unable use a card. The article concludes that: cards need to be viewed in the context of the whole solution; cards are not the only technological mechanism; cards are not the best mechanism in all circumstances; but cards are very convenient method in very many situations.

  15. Lessons learned and advice from Vietnam war nurses: a qualitative study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scannell-Desch, Elizabeth A

    2005-03-01

    The aim of this paper is to describe guidance for nurses today from the lessons learned by nurses who served in the Vietnam War. There is little research focusing on nurses' experiences in the Vietnam War. Lessons learned and subsequent advice from nurses who served in Vietnam may be helpful to those serving in current and future wars. A Husserlian phenomenological approach was taken, using interviews with a purposive sample of Registered Nurses who were female, and had served in the United States of America armed forces in Vietnam during the war. Seven theme clusters described the lesson learned and guidance offered by the Vietnam War nurses: advice about journaling, training, caring for yourself, use of support systems, talking about your experiences, understanding the mission, and lack of preparation for war. Much can be learned from the lessons learned and advice given by Vietnam War nurses. These lessons stress that nurses need to take a pro-active role in preparing themselves for deployment to a war zone, and that institutional training for war needs to be intensive and realistic. The environmental, cultural, technological, clinical and psychosocial demands of war nursing need to be comprehensively addressed before nurses deploy to a war.

  16. Nurse provision of healthy lifestyle advice to people who are overweight or obese.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kable, Ashley; James, Carole; Snodgrass, Suzanne; Plotnikoff, Ronald; Guest, Maya; Ashby, Samantha; Oldmeadow, Christopher; Collins, Clare

    2015-12-01

    A cross-sectional survey was conducted in a regional area in Australia to measure nurses' perceptions, practices, and knowledge in regard to providing healthy lifestyle advice to people who are overweight or obese. Responses were compared between geographic regions. Participation was voluntary and anonymous. Of the 79 nurse participants, 68% considered that provision of healthy lifestyle advice was within their scope of practice. Only 28% reported frequently estimating body mass index in the practice setting. Nurses often recommended increasing activity levels (44%), but recommended reducing daily caloric intake less often (25%). Nurses' knowledge about weight management was variable and the proportion of correct answers to knowledge items ranged from 33-99%. Nurses have many opportunities to deliver healthy lifestyle advice in a range of practice settings. The variation in practices and knowledge of nurses indicates a need for improved healthy lifestyle education for undergraduate and practicing nurses. © 2015 Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.

  17. Public services between the citizen need and administration potential

    OpenAIRE

    Grigorescu, Adriana

    2010-01-01

    This paper aims at the balance between the citizen and the public authorities with public services as an interface. Public services place themselves at the crossroads of many elements such as: needs of the citizen, social need, public will, public resources, private availability, and civic sense. Without claiming to have identified all factors that converge to defining / structuring the SP / GIS, the paper tried to highlight some of the most important. The social need is covered at the macro ...

  18. #BritainBreathing: Codesigned citizen science to map seasonal allergy symptoms across the UK

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lamiece Hassan

    2017-04-01

    Citizen science can be more than simply crowdsourcing data. We demonstrated that paper prototyping was a feasible and useful technique for codesigning an application with members of the public. Furthermore, workshop feedback indicated a high level of support for citizen science, provided users gained simple, personalised feedback. Further research is required to determine how codesign processes influence subsequent participant recruitment and engagement in citizen science projects.

  19. Citizen Science International Pellet Watch

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dohrenwend, Peter

    2012-01-01

    Like Tokyo, other cities, both small and large, typically have numerous universities with dedicated faculties of scientists. By using portals such as Citizen Science and SciStarter, teachers can reach beyond the four walls of their classroom. The incredible experience of forging a relationship with a local scientist can easily begin via a cordial…

  20. Involvement. Senior citizens' recreational activities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gregersen, U B

    1992-06-01

    During the last 18 years, senior citizens in Viborg, Denmark, have participated in study circles based on the theory of impression pedagogy and socially relevant activities. They arrange excursions at home and abroad and make films about the trips. They teach schoolchildren, students at folk high schools, and nurses, as well as occupational therapists and physiotherapists. They publish poems and books, write role plays, stage musicals, sing in choirs, and function as tour guides in town. They set up educational color slide programmes on preventing bone fractures, dealing with the problem of reduced hearing, and the importance of healthy food and exercise. They travel abroad and talk about Denmark and the conditions for senior citizens in our country. With the support of the Danish Ministry for Social Affairs, they produce videos about their activities as a source of inspiration to others. The use of drugs by the participants in the study circles has declined, while the level of activities has increased, and none of the participants has ever had to enter residential care.

  1. Comparing Road-Kill Datasets from Hunters and Citizen Scientists in a Landscape Context

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Florian Heigl

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available Road traffic has severe effects on animals, especially when road-kills are involved. In many countries, official road-kill data are provided by hunters or police; there are also road-kill observations reported by citizen scientists. The aim of the current study was to test whether road-kill reports by hunters stem from similar landscapes than those reported by citizen scientists. We analysed the surrounding landscapes of 712 road-kill reportings of European hares in the province of Lower Austria. Our data showed that road-killed hares reported both by hunters and citizens are predominantly surrounded by arable land. No difference of hedges and solitary trees could be found between the two datasets. However, significant differences in landcover classes and surrounding road networks indicate that hunters’ and citizen scientists’ data are different. Hunters reported hares from landscapes with significantly higher percentages of arable land, and greater lengths of secondary roads. In contrast, citizens reported hares from landscapes with significantly higher percentages of urban or industrial areas and greater lengths of motorways, primary roads, and residential roads. From this we argue that hunters tend to report data mainly from their hunting areas, whereas citizens report data during their daily routine on the way to/from work. We conclude that a citizen science approach is an important source for road-kill data when used in addition to official data with the aim of obtaining an overview of road-kill events on a landscape scale.

  2. Participatory democracy in health care: the role of the responsible citizen.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barber, B R

    1994-07-01

    Health care reform is not just about finding solutions to health care, but about creating, or recreating, a vigorous and resonant sense of what it means to be an American citizen. The first step in health care reform is to create citizens, and you will have everything you need.

  3. The Psychological Competence of Police Officers in Confidential Cooperation with Citizens

    Science.gov (United States)

    Uspanov, Zholdybai T.; Turabayeva, Dana S.; Ermolovich, Vladimir F.

    2016-01-01

    This research studied the psychological aspects of citizens' assistance to law enforcement agencies on a confidential basis. The comprehensive observance of the psychological norms of cooperation is determined by the professional ethics of police officers, the necessity of nondisclosure of investigation secrets by citizens, and the security of the…

  4. Citizens and the planning of sustainability of mining

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hoffmann, Birgitte

    2014-01-01

    will have a large impact on the citizen’s everyday life through the ongoing changes of settlement patterns and livelihoods. The key question of this paper is how the citizens may inform and influence the sustainability of planning and implementation of local raw material projects and urban planning. Further...... that the social, economic and environmental sustainability will depend on the degree to which the citizens are engaged in both local developments of specific mining projects, as well as in societal planning where multiple and complex issues are at stake such as urban settlement patterns, cultures, livelihood...

  5. Who Do Hospital Physicians and Nurses Go to for Advice About Medications? A Social Network Analysis and Examination of Prescribing Error Rates.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Creswick, Nerida; Westbrook, Johanna Irene

    2015-09-01

    To measure the weekly medication advice-seeking networks of hospital staff, to compare patterns across professional groups, and to examine these in the context of prescribing error rates. A social network analysis was conducted. All 101 staff in 2 wards in a large, academic teaching hospital in Sydney, Australia, were surveyed (response rate, 90%) using a detailed social network questionnaire. The extent of weekly medication advice seeking was measured by density of connections, proportion of reciprocal relationships by reciprocity, number of colleagues to whom each person provided advice by in-degree, and perceptions of amount and impact of advice seeking between physicians and nurses. Data on prescribing error rates from the 2 wards were compared. Weekly medication advice-seeking networks were sparse (density: 7% ward A and 12% ward B). Information sharing across professional groups was modest, and rates of reciprocation of advice were low (9% ward A, 14% ward B). Pharmacists provided advice to most people, and junior physicians also played central roles. Senior physicians provided medication advice to few people. Many staff perceived that physicians rarely sought advice from nurses when prescribing, but almost all believed that an increase in communication between physicians and nurses about medications would improve patient safety. The medication networks in ward B had higher measures for density, reciprocation, and fewer senior physicians who were isolates. Ward B had a significantly lower rate of both procedural and clinical prescribing errors than ward A (0.63 clinical prescribing errors per admission [95%CI, 0.47-0.79] versus 1.81/ admission [95%CI, 1.49-2.13]). Medication advice-seeking networks among staff on hospital wards are limited. Hubs of advice provision include pharmacists, junior physicians, and senior nurses. Senior physicians are poorly integrated into medication advice networks. Strategies to improve the advice-giving networks between senior

  6. Sense about Sex: Media, Sex Advice, Education and Learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Attwood, Feona; Barker, Meg John; Boynton, Petra; Hancock, Justin

    2015-01-01

    The media are widely acknowledged as important in sex and relationship education, but they are usually associated with "bad" effects on young people in contrast to the "good" knowledge represented by more informational and educational formats. In this paper we look at sex advice giving in newspapers, magazines and television in…

  7. 18 CFR 388.104 - Informal advice from Commission staff.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... Commission staff. 388.104 Section 388.104 Conservation of Power and Water Resources FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY... Commission staff. (a) The Commission staff provides informal advice and assistance to the general public and... expressed by the staff do not represent the official views of the Commission, but are designed to aid the...

  8. Millennials at Work: The Advice of Great Leaders

    Science.gov (United States)

    2015-04-01

    Millennials at Work The Advice of Great Leaders Carol Axten Axten has more than 30 years of experience in Defense Department engineering, program...management, and policy development. She has graduate degrees in business , engineering, international relations, and national security resource strategy...million members of the millennial generation will enter the workforce and by 2030 will make up 75 percent of all working professionals. As managers in the

  9. A study on the re-identifiability of Dutch citizens

    OpenAIRE

    Koot, M.R.; van 't Noordende, G.; de Laat, C.; Serjantov, A.; Troncoso, C.

    2010-01-01

    This paper analyses the re-identifiability of Dutch citizens by various demographics. Our analysis is based on registry office data of 2.7 million Dutch citizens, ~16% of the total population. We provide overall statistics on re-identifiability for a range of quasi-identifiers, and present an in-depth analysis of quasi-identifiers found in two de-identified data sets. We found that 67.0% of the sampled population is unambiguously identifiable by date of birth and four-digit postal code alone,...

  10. Democratic innovations: designing institutions for citizen participation

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Smith, Graham

    2009-01-01

    At a time when there is growing disillusionment with the institutions of advanced industrial democracies, there is also increasing interest in new ways of involving citizens in the democratic process...

  11. Activating social strategies: Face-to-face interaction in technology-mediated citizen science.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cappa, Francesco; Laut, Jeffrey; Nov, Oded; Giustiniano, Luca; Porfiri, Maurizio

    2016-11-01

    The use of crowds in research activities by public and private organizations is growing under different forms. Citizen science is a popular means of engaging the general public in research activities led by professional scientists. By involving a large number of amateur scientists, citizen science enables distributed data collection and analysis on a scale that would be otherwise difficult and costly to achieve. While advancements in information technology in the past few decades have fostered the growth of citizen science through online participation, several projects continue to fail due to limited participation. Such web-based projects may isolate the citizen scientists from the researchers. By adopting the perspective of social strategy, we investigate within a measure-manipulate-measure experiment if motivations to participate in a citizen science project can be positively influenced by a face-to-face interaction with the scientists leading the project. Such an interaction provides the participants with the possibility of asking questions on the spot and obtaining a detailed explanation of the citizen science project, its scientific merit, and environmental relevance. Social and cultural factors that moderate the effect brought about by face-to-face interactions on the motivations are also dissected and analyzed. Our findings provide an exploratory insight into a means for motivating crowds to participate in online environmental monitoring projects, also offering possible selection criteria of target audience. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. The Citizens' Exhibition: A Combination of Socio-scientific, Participative and Artistic Elements

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Birgit Böhm

    2008-05-01

    Full Text Available Through its incorporation of socio-scientific, participative and artistic elements, the "Citizens' Exhibition" is an example of how applied performative social science can be implemented. The method was created by teaching qualitative methods and community psychology approaches in courses for students of psychology in the 1990's. The Citizens' Exhibition combines qualitative methods, such as interview and text interpretation, with artistic-aesthetic methods, such as photography and film, to form an integrated concept. In the tradition of action research, the practice is applied in the exploration of societal issues. The Citizens' Exhibition supports dialogue and furthering communication processes between the stakeholders through the presentation of diverse perspectives. In this regard, the staging of the exhibition opening has a particular importance. The following article about the Citizens' Exhibition presents the practice's origin and history in the first section and, in the second section, offers an introduction to the individual methodological steps. In the third section, various Citizens' Exhibitions are described as illustrations of the method. The last section discusses the vision of the Citizens' Exhibition, its performative component, strengths and limitations, considers the results of an existing evaluation study and looks at the future uses of the practice. Particular regard should be paid here to a combination of methods that enable a long-term participation effect, the expansion of participatory possibilities for the research subjects, and experimentation with additional artistic methods. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0802337

  13. Giving advice to agents with hidden goals

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Rosman, Benjamin S

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available than it would have otherwise. Similarly, advice can be a boost to 1Benjamin Rosman is with the Institute of Perception, Action and Behaviour in the School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh, UK, and Mobile Intelligent Autonomous Systems (MIAS...), CSIR, South Africa benjros@gmail.com 2Subramanian Ramamoorthy is with the Institute of Perception, Action and Behaviour in the School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh, UK s.ramamoorthy@ed.ac.uk Fig. 1. The envisaged scene: an agent (the human...

  14. Lay Evaluation of Financial Experts: The Action Advice Effect and Confirmation Bias

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tomasz Zaleskiewicz

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available The goal of this experimental project was to investigate lay peoples’ perceptions of epistemic authority (EA in the field of finance. EA is defined as the extent to which a source of information is treated as evidence for judgments independently of its objective expertise and based on subjective beliefs. Previous research suggested that EA evaluations are biased and that lay people tend to ascribe higher EA to experts who advise action (in the case of medical experts or confirm clients’ expectations (in the case of politicians. However, there has been no research into biases in lay evaluations of financial experts and this project is aimed to fill this gap. Experiment 1 showed that lay people tended to ascribe greater authority to financial consultants who gave more active advice to clients considering taking out a mortgage. Experiment 2 confirmed the action advice effect found in Experiment 1. However, the outcomes of Experiments 2 and – particularly – 3 suggested that this bias might also be due to clients’ desire to confirm their own opinions. Experiment 2 showed that the action advice effect was moderated by clients’ own opinions on taking loans. Lay people ascribed the greatest EA to the advisor in the scenario in which he advised taking action and where this coincided with the client’s positive opinion on the advisability of taking out a loan. In Experiment 3 only participants with a positive opinion on the financial product ascribed greater authority to experts who recommended it; participants whose opinion was negative tended to rate consultants who advised rejecting the product more highly. To conclude, these three experiments revealed that lay people ascribe higher EA to financial consultants who advise action rather than maintenance of the status quo, but this effect is limited by confirmation bias: when the client’s a priori opinion is salient, greater authority is ascribed to experts whose advice confirms it. In this

  15. Danish Citizens and General Practitioners' Use of ICT for their Mutual Communication.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bertelsen, Pernille; Stub Petersen, Lone

    2015-01-01

    This paper reports on selected findings from a Danish national survey of citizens' perception and use of information and communication technology (ICT) for their health care [1]. Focus is on citizens' use of ICT and on communication with their General Practitioner (GP). It also focuses on citizens' experience of their GPs' ICT use and no use during medical consultations. The responsibility for medical service in Denmark is to a large extent handed over to the primary sector where the GP is the gatekeeper. Our data display that 65% of the adult citizens or their relatives have been using ICT to communicate with their GP. Twenty-two percent have experienced their GP use a computer screen to actively show them something while they have a consultation. Further, our data supports the assumption that the higher the education people have, the more likely they are to use ICT for their health care. The understanding of the use of ICT in communication with the GP is central to monitoring and developing an ICT that supports all citizens and considers new ways in which to enhance quality of care.

  16. Sickness certification for common mental disorders and GP return-to-work advice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gabbay, Mark; Shiels, Chris; Hillage, Jim

    2016-09-01

    Aim To report the types and duration of sickness certification for different common mental disorders (CMDs) and the prevalence of GP advice aimed at returning the patient to work. In the United Kingdom, common mental health problems, such and depression and stress, have become the main reasons for patients requesting a sickness certificate to abstain from usual employment. Increasing attention is being paid to mental health and its impact on employability and work capacity in all parts of the welfare system. However, relatively little is known about the extent to which different mental health diagnoses impact upon sickness certification outcomes, and how the GP has used the new fit note (introduced in 2010) to support a return to work for patients with mental health diagnoses. Sickness certification data was collected from 68 UK-based general practices for a period of 12 months. Findings The study found a large part of all sickness absence certified by GPs was due to CMDs (29% of all sickness absence episodes). Females, younger patients and those living in deprived areas were more likely to receive a fit note for a CMD (compared with one for a physical health problem). The highest proportion of CMD fit notes were issued for 'stress'. However, sickness certification for depression contributed nearly half of all weeks certified for mental health problems. Only 7% of CMD fit notes included any 'may be fit' advice from the GP, with type of advice varying by mental health diagnostic category. Patients living in the most socially deprived neighbourhoods were less likely to receive 'may be fit' advice on their CMD fit notes.

  17. Creating informed public opinion: citizen deliberation about nanotechnologies for human enhancements

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cobb, Michael D.

    2011-01-01

    Many people believe that ordinary citizens should influence scientific and technological developments, but the American public is routinely uninformed about these issues. As a solution, some scholars advocate creating informed public opinions by encouraging citizens to deliberate about the issues. Although this idea is currently widely applauded in the science and technology literature, deliberative outcomes are infrequently measured and the practice of deliberation is routinely criticized in other disciplines. This research contributes to our understanding of the effectiveness of citizen deliberation as a method for increasing public engagement with science. I report data measuring results of deliberation in a national citizens’ technology forum (NCTF) about nanotechnologies for human enhancement. The NCTF was a month-long process involving six groups of 9–15 ordinary citizens who deliberated in different locations across the United States with the goal of reaching consensus about policy recommendations within their groups. I find that structured deliberation generated informed opinions, sometimes meaningful shifts in preferences, and increased trust and internal efficacy among the participants. Nevertheless, the NCTF has important shortcomings, and it is not obvious that consensus conferences should be preferred over other mechanisms for creating informed opinions. Future research is needed to corroborate the findings of this study and to systematically compare outcomes of structured citizen deliberation to other less resource intensive forms of engagement.

  18. Web-Gis Solutions Development for Citizens and Water Companies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Şercăianu, M.

    2013-05-01

    This paper describes the development of a web-GIS solution in which urban residents, from Buzau City, could be involved in decision-support process of water companies, in order to reduce water losses, by collecting information directly from citizens. In recent years, reducing material and economic losses, recorded in the entire municipal networks management process has become the main focus of public companies in Romania. Due to problems complexity that arise in collecting information from citizens and issues identified in urban areas, more analyzes were required related to web-GIS solutions used in areas such as local government, public utilities, environmental protection or financial management. Another important problem is the poor infrastructure development of spatial databases founded in public companies, and connection to web platforms. Developing the entire communication process between residents and municipal companies has required the use of concept "citizen-sensor" in the entire reporting process. Reported problems are related to water distribution networks with the possibility of covering the entire public utilities infrastructure.

  19. Bridging Identity Gaps : Supporting Identity Performance in Citizen Service Encounters

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Borchorst, Nikolaj Gandrup; McPhail, Brenda; Smith, Karen Louise

    2012-01-01

    administrative processes and the quality and swiftness of the service they receive. As we bring to light in this paper, this “fitting in” with rigid bureaucratic procedures and IT systems interestingly requires a substantial collaborative effort between the receiver(s) of the service and a complex constellation...... of surrounding stakeholders and intermediaries. This collaboration and the performing of multiple identities raises challenges for the design of e-government systems aimed at supporting physical and digital citizen service provision, as well as issues regarding privacy, citizenship, and public service quality......This paper explores in situ citizen service encounters in government offices. Drawing upon ethnographically informed fieldwork in Canada and Denmark, we discuss the challenges to supporting citizens in constructing and performing identities in public service settings. Our data suggests...

  20. What is the possibility of citizens to achieve influence on practical policymaking?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Didde Cramer

    What is the possibility of citizens to achieve influence on practical policymaking? The purpose of my thesis is to examine the relationship between the front line employees and the citizens in the practical policy making. The study aims to have it out with an almost one-sided focus on front...... employees and their power to introduce policy rather than to study the possibilities of the citizens to exert influence on bureaucratic discretion in street-level bureaucracies. I den konkrete interaktion mellem borger og frontmedarbejder vil borgeren handle i forhold til frontmedarbejderen, der handler i...

  1. Inclusive governance: the role of knowledge in fulfilling the obligations of citizens

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Karar, E

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Inclusive governance and citizen engagement in governing water is important in enhancing service delivery. Good citizens endorse their obligations alongside their respective rights. To date, much focus has been on the rights approach to fulfil basic...

  2. Butterflies & Wild Bees: Biology Teachers' PCK Development through Citizen Science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scheuch, Martin; Panhuber, Tanja; Winter, Silvia; Kelemen-Finan, Julia; Bardy-Durchhalter, Manfred; Kapelari, Suzanne

    2018-01-01

    Citizen science is a rapidly growing emerging field in science and it is gaining importance in education. Therefore, this study was conducted to document the pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) of biology teachers who participated in a citizen science project involving observation of wild bees and identification of butterflies. In this paper,…

  3. Advancing Theory in Developing the Practice of Becoming a Citizen Leader

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCoy, Craig; Schubert, Carol

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to examine the literature from key contemporary authors in the study of leadership who offer insights on the phenomenon of citizen leadership. Additionally, this paper examines two real world examples in which citizen leadership is being demonstrated with regard to strengths and weaknesses, as well as personality…

  4. An Experimental Test of the Expectancy-Disconfirmation Theory of Citizen Satisfaction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van Ryzin, Gregg G.

    2013-01-01

    A number of prior studies have found evidence for the expectancy-disconfirmation theory of citizen satisfaction with public services, which holds that citizens judge public services not only on experienced service quality but also on an implicit comparison of service quality with prior expectations. But the evidence to date has been based on…

  5. Citizen Journalism in Cyber Media: Protection and Legal Responsibility Under Indonesian Press Law

    OpenAIRE

    Prahassacitta, Vidya

    2017-01-01

    Phenomena of citizen journalism had accepted and become part of cyber media. Cyber media owned and managed by press companies had featured citizen journalists’ information, critics, opinions, and news. Citizen journalism was part of freedom of expression. However, in Indonesia’s press law concept, it was not part of the national press. This created legal issues regarding protection and legal responsibility aspects for both parties. A qualitative research was conducting to solving these issues...

  6. The formation of citizens: the pediatrician's role

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dioclécio Campos Júnior

    2016-05-01

    Conclusion: In the light of the disclosed scientific evidence, the pediatrician emerges as the most differentiated professional to provide preventive and curative care indispensable to the skilled formation of a healthy citizen.

  7. 41 CFR 105-50.202-7 - Technical information and advice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 41 Public Contracts and Property Management 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Technical information... Property Management Regulations System (Continued) GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION 50-PROVISION OF SPECIAL... Services Administration § 105-50.202-7 Technical information and advice. GSA will provide technical...

  8. Advice about Work-Related Issues to Peers and Employers from Head and Neck Cancer Survivors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dewa, Carolyn S; Trojanowski, Lucy; Tamminga, Sietske J; Ringash, Jolie; McQuestion, Maurene; Hoch, Jeffrey S

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of this exploratory and descriptive study is to contribute to the sparse return-to-work literature on head and neck cancer (HNC) survivors. Interview participants were asked to reflect upon their work-related experience with cancer by answering two specific questions: (1) What advice would you give someone who has been newly diagnosed with head and neck cancer? (2) What advice would you give to employers of these people? Data were gathered through 10 individual semi-structured in-depth interviews with HNC clinic patients at a regional cancer center's head and neck clinic in Ontario, Canada. A constant comparative method of theme development was used. Codes identified in and derived from the data were discussed by research team members until consensus was reached. Codes with similar characteristics were grouped together and used to develop overarching themes. Work-related advice for peers focused on personal self-care and interactions within workplaces. Work-related advice to employers focused on demonstrating basic human values as well as the importance of communication. The study results suggest HNC clinic patients should be proactive with employers and help to set reasonable expectations and provide a realistic plan for work to be successfully completed. HNC clinic patients should develop communication skills to effectively disclose their cancer and treatment to employers. In this exploratory study, HNC clinic patients' advice was solution-focused underscoring the importance of self-care and pro-active communication and planning with employers. Employers were advised to demonstrate core human values throughout all phases of the work disability episode beginning at diagnosis.

  9. Advice on malaria and yellow fever prevention provided at travel agencies in Cuzco, Peru.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Villanueva-Meyer, Pablo G; Garcia-Jasso, Carlos A; Springer, Chelsea A; Lane, Jenna K; Su, Bonny S; Hidalgo, Idania S; Goodrich, Mary R; Deichsel, Emily L; White, A C; Cabada, Miguel M

    2015-01-01

    Travelers receive medical advice from a variety of sources, including travel agencies. The aim of this study is to describe the quality of pre-travel advice provided by travel agencies in Cuzco to travelers interested in visiting malaria and yellow fever endemic areas. Trained medical students posed as tourists and visited travel agencies in Cuzco requesting travel advice for a trip to the southern Amazon of Peru, recording advice regarding risk and prevention of malaria and yellow fever. A total of 163 registered travel agencies were included in the study. The mean proposed tour duration was 6.8 days (±1.4 days) with a median time to departure of 3 days and a median tour cost of 805 US dollars (USD) [interquartile range (IQR) 580-1,095]. Overall, 45% employees failed to mention the risk for any illness. Eighteen percent of the employees acknowledged risk of malaria and 53% risk of yellow fever. However, 36% denied malaria risk and 2% denied risk of yellow fever in the region. The price of tours from travel agencies that did not mention any health risk was significantly lower [1,009.6 ± 500.5 vs 783.9 ± 402 USD, t (152) = 3, p yellow fever (100%) were able to provide at least one recommendation for prevention. However, advice was not always accurate or spontaneously volunteered. Only 7% of the employees provided both correct scheduling and location information for administration of the yellow fever vaccine. The majority of registered travel agencies in Cuzco did not provide sufficient and accurate information regarding risk and prevention of malaria and yellow fever to travelers inquiring about trips to the southern Amazon of Peru. © 2014 International Society of Travel Medicine.

  10. A survey of footwear advice, beliefs and wear habits in people with knee osteoarthritis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paterson, Kade L; Wrigley, Tim V; Bennell, Kim L; Hinman, Rana S

    2014-01-01

    Expert opinion recommends cushioned and supportive footwear for people with knee osteoarthritis (OA). However, little is known about the footwear advice people receive from healthcare professionals, or the beliefs and footwear habits of people with knee OA. This study aimed to determine i) what types of shoes people are advised to wear for their knee OA and by whom; ii) establish which types of shoes people with knee OA believe are best for managing their knee OA symptoms and (iii) which shoes they wear most often. 204 people with symptomatic knee OA completed an online survey. The survey comprised 14 questions asking what footwear advice people had received for their knee OA and who they received it from, individual beliefs about optimal footwear styles for their knee OA symptoms and the types of footwear usually worn. Only one third (n = 69, 34%) of participants reported receiving footwear advice for their knee OA, and this was most frequently received from a podiatrist (n = 47, 68%). The most common advice was to wear sturdy/supportive shoes (n = 96, 47%) or shoes with arch supports (n = 84, 41%). These were also amongst the shoe styles that participants believed were best for their knee OA (n = 157 (77%) and n = 138 (68%) respectively). The type of shoes most frequently worn were athletic (n = 131, 64%) and sturdy/supportive shoes (n = 116, 57%). Most people with knee OA who completed our survey had not received advice about footwear for their knee OA symptoms. Our participants typically believed that sturdy/supportive shoes were best for their knee OA and this shoe style was most frequently worn, which is reflective of expert opinion. Future research is needed to confirm whether sturdy/supportive shoes are indeed optimal for managing symptoms of knee OA.

  11. Advice to Stay Active or Structured Exercise in the Management of Sciatica: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fernandez, Matt; Hartvigsen, Jan; Ferreira, Manuela L; Refshauge, Kathryn M; Machado, Aryane F; Lemes, Ítalo R; Maher, Chris G; Ferreira, Paulo H

    2015-09-15

    A systematic review and meta-analysis. To evaluate the evidence on comparative effectiveness of advice to stay active versus supervised structured exercise in the management of sciatica. Conservative management of sciatica usually includes interventions to promote physical activity in the form of advice to stay active or exercise, but there has been no systematic review directly comparing the effectiveness of these 2 approaches. Data Sources included MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMBASE, and PEDro databases. Studies were randomized controlled trials comparing advice with exercise. Two independent reviewers extracted data and assessed methodological quality using the PEDro scale. Pain and disability data were extracted for all time points and converted to a common 0 to 100 scale. Data were pooled with a random effects model for short, intermediate, and long-term follow-ups. The GRADE approach was used to summarize the strength of evidence. Five trials were included in the meta-analysis, which showed a significant, although small effect favoring exercise over advice for reducing leg pain intensity in the short term (weighted mean difference: 11.43 [95% confidence interval, 0.71-22.16]) but no difference for disability (weighted mean difference: 1.45 [95% confidence interval, -2.86 to 5.76]). Furthermore, there was no difference at intermediate and long-term follow-ups between advice and exercise for patient-relevant outcomes. There is low-quality evidence (GRADE) that exercise provides small, superior effects compared with advice to stay active on leg pain in the short term for patients experiencing sciatica. However, there is moderate-quality evidence showing no difference between advice to stay active and exercise on leg pain and disability status in people with sciatica in the long term. 1.

  12. Study of Citizen Scientist Motivations and Effectiveness of Social Media Campaigns

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gugliucci, Nicole E.; Gay, P. L.; Bracey, G.; Lehan, C.; Lewis, S.; Moore, J.; Rhea, J.

    2013-01-01

    CosmoQuest is an online citizen science and astronomy education portal that invites users to explore the universe. Since its launch in January 2012, several thousand citizen scientists have participated in mapping and discovery projects involving the Moon, the Kuiper Belt, and asteroid Vesta. Since our goal is to support community building as well as involving users with citizen science tasks, we are interested in what motivates users to join the site, participate in the science, participate in the forums, and come back to the site over a period of time. We would also like to efficiently target our social media interactions towards activities that are more likely to bring new and existing users to the site. With those goals in mind, we analyze site usage statistics and correlate them with specific, targeted social media campaigns to highlight events or projects that CosmoQuest has hosted in its first year. We also survey our users to get a more detailed look at citizen scientist motivations and the efficacy of our community building activities.

  13. Summary report and strategy recommendations for EU citizen science gateway for biodiversity data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Veljo Runnel

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Citizen science is an approach of public participation in scientific research which has gained significant momentum in recent years. This is particularly evident in biology and environmental sciences where input from citizen scientists has greatly increased the number of publicly available observation data. However, there are still challenges in effective networking, data sharing and securing data quality. EU BON project has analyzed the citizen science landscape in Europe with regards to biodiversity research and proposes several policy recommendations. One of the recommendations is a Pan-European citizen science gateway for biodiversity data with dedicated tools for data collection and management. The prototypes of the gateway components are part of the EU BON biodiversity portal and described in current report.

  14. Caught in the middle? How women deal with conflicting pregnancy-advice from health professionals and their social networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schölmerich, Vera L N; Ghorashi, Halleh; Denktaş, Semiha; Groenewegen, Peter

    2016-04-01

    to investigate how pregnant women deal with conflicting advice from their social networks and their caregivers and how this influenced their pregnancy-related behaviours. a qualitative study based on face-to-face interviews and focus-groups. We applied an inductive analysis technique closely following the 'Gioia method'. impoverished neighbourhoods in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. 40 women who were pregnant, or had given birth within the last 12 months. 12 women were Native Dutch, 16 had a Moroccan background, and 12 had a Turkish background. all women faced a misalignment of advice by health professionals and social networks. For the native Dutch respondents, this misalignment did not seem to present a challenge. They had a strongly articulated preference for the advice of health professionals, and did not fear any social consequences for openly following their advice. For the women with a Turkish/Moroccan background, however, this discrepancy in advice presented a dilemma. Following one piece of advice seemed to exclude also following the other one, which would possibly entail social consequences. These women employed one of the three strategies to deal with this dilemma: a) avoiding the dilemma (secretly not following the advice of one side), b) embracing the dilemma (combining conflicting advice), and c) resolving the dilemma (communicating between both sides). we argue that the currently popular interventions geared towards increasing the health literacy of non-Western ethnic minority pregnant women and improving communication between ethnic minority clients and caregivers are not sufficient, and might even exacerbate the dilemma some pregnant women face. As an alternative, we recommend involving not only caregivers but also women's social network in intervention efforts. Interventions could aim to increase the negotiation capacity of the target group, but also to increase the health literacy of the members of their social network to enable the circulation of

  15. THE CITIZEN CLIENT PROFILE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ângela Cristina Bueno Vieira

    2006-12-01

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT: In our experience and work in the Medical Clinic at the Federal University of Goiás Clinical Hospital (HC/UFG, we observe that in despite of the most patients get orientations about their pathology by the health team, they don’t accomplish these orientations. For the continuous self-care promotion was implanted project "Citizen Client", with intention to contribute to patient citizenship rescue, guiding and strengthening its rights and duties while carrying on pathology. This article is an experience related by a qualitative approach with a group of patients interned in the Medical Clinic of the HC/UFG that rambles, their familiars and that ones who participates in the project Citizen Client during their internment in the year of 2003. On the meeting we work with lectures, workshops and groups by the multi-professional team and coordinated by a Nurse. The subjects had been diverse, approaching some pathology and its cares, social and spiritual assistance. The client participation in its recovery has extreme importance and, so that this occurs, it is necessary health education understood in its extended form, recognizing the client’s life reality, their day-by-day, providing mechanisms for them to become an asset subject with autonomy to act in favor of own health. KEYWORDS: Health Education; Self Care; Quality of Life.

  16. Drought Information Supported by Citizen Scientists (DISCS)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Molthan, A.; Maskey, M.; Hain, C.; Meyer, P.; Nair, U. S.; Handyside, C. T.; White, K.; Amin, M.

    2017-12-01

    Each year, drought impacts various regions of the United States on time scales of weeks, months, seasons, or years, which in turn leads to a need to document these impacts and inform key decisions on land management, use of water resources, and disaster response. Mapping impacts allows decision-makers to understand potential damage to agriculture and loss of production, to communicate and document drought impacts on crop yields, and to inform water management decisions. Current efforts to collect this information includes parsing of media reports, collaborations with local extension offices, and partnerships with the National Weather Service cooperative observer network. As part of a NASA Citizen Science for Earth Systems proposal award, a research and applications team from Marshall Space Flight Center, the University of Alabama in Huntsville, and collaborators within the NWS have developed a prototype smartphone application focused on the collection of citizen science observations of crop health and drought impacts, along with development of innovative low-cost soil moisture sensors to supplement subjective assessments of local soil moisture conditions. Observations provided by citizen scientists include crop type and health, phase of growth, soil moisture conditions, irrigation status, along with an optional photo and comment to provide visual confirmation and other details. In exchange for their participation, users of the app also have access to unique land surface modeling data sets produced at MSFC such as the NASA Land Information System soil moisture and climatology/percentile products from the Short-term Prediction Research and Transition (SPoRT) Center, assessments of vegetation health and stress from NASA and NOAA remote sensing platforms (e.g. MODIS/VIIRS), outputs from a crop stress model developed at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, recent rainfall estimates from the NOAA/NWS network of ground-based weather radars, and other observations made

  17. Do not shoot the messenger: ICES advice for an ecosystem approach to fisheries management in the European Union

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ballesteros, Marta; Chapela, Rosa; Monsalve, Maria Paulina Ramirez

    2017-01-01

    in the ICES’ capacity to produce and evaluate ecosystem knowledge, which is integrated into operational products. However, the results also indicate shortcomings related to content, process, resources and policies coherence. Our findings support the following conclusions: (i) ICES has taken a leading role...... in generating the EAFM framework in which management decisions could operate; (ii) advice suppliers and advice users agree on the capability of using existing knowledge to “do EAFM now”; (iii) some shortcomings can be addressed in-house, but other require concerted action in both the advisory system...... provide. First, we summarize the policy context shaping advisory demands and analyse the advice that is currently being provided. Second, we present the stakeholders’ advice needs for putting the EAFM into practice, elucidated through structured dialogues in 22 events. The results show advances...

  18. 75 FR 65031 - U.S.-Trans-Pacific Partnership Free Trade Agreement Including Malaysia: Advice on the Probable...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-21

    ... Partnership Free Trade Agreement Including Malaysia: Advice on the Probable Economic Effect of Providing Duty...-2104-027, U.S.-Trans-Pacific Partnership Free Trade Agreement Including Malaysia: Advice on the Probable Economic Effect of Providing Duty-Free Treatment for Imports. DATES: November 10, 2010: Deadline...

  19. Can Observation Skills of Citizen Scientists Be Estimated Using Species Accumulation Curves?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Steve Kelling

    Full Text Available Volunteers are increasingly being recruited into citizen science projects to collect observations for scientific studies. An additional goal of these projects is to engage and educate these volunteers. Thus, there are few barriers to participation resulting in volunteer observers with varying ability to complete the project's tasks. To improve the quality of a citizen science project's outcomes it would be useful to account for inter-observer variation, and to assess the rarely tested presumption that participating in a citizen science projects results in volunteers becoming better observers. Here we present a method for indexing observer variability based on the data routinely submitted by observers participating in the citizen science project eBird, a broad-scale monitoring project in which observers collect and submit lists of the bird species observed while birding. Our method for indexing observer variability uses species accumulation curves, lines that describe how the total number of species reported increase with increasing time spent in collecting observations. We find that differences in species accumulation curves among observers equates to higher rates of species accumulation, particularly for harder-to-identify species, and reveals increased species accumulation rates with continued participation. We suggest that these properties of our analysis provide a measure of observer skill, and that the potential to derive post-hoc data-derived measurements of participant ability should be more widely explored by analysts of data from citizen science projects. We see the potential for inferential results from analyses of citizen science data to be improved by accounting for observer skill.

  20. Advice on Writing a Scientific Paper

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sterken, C.

    2006-04-01

    What makes one author a good communicator and another a poor one? What turns out one manuscript a swift editorial task, and another an editorial nightmare? Based on direct experience from the manuscripts of the lectures and papers presented during this school, advice is given on what to do and on what to avoid when writing a scientific paper. Some feedback recommendation is also provided on how to prepare manuscripts, handle copyright and permissions to reproduce, how to anticipate plagiarism, how to deal with editors and referees, and how to avoid common errors. A few illustrations of English grammar and style for the foreign author are given.

  1. The Effect of Customer Empowerment on Adherence to Expert Advice

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    N.M.A. Camacho (Nuno); M.G. de Jong (Martijn); S. Stremersch (Stefan)

    2014-01-01

    textabstractCustomers often receive expert advice related to their health, finances, taxes or legal procedures, to name just a few. A noble stance taken by some is that experts should empower customers to make their own decisions. In this article, we distinguish informational from decisional

  2. GoPros™ as an underwater photogrammetry tool for citizen science.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Raoult, Vincent; David, Peter A; Dupont, Sally F; Mathewson, Ciaran P; O'Neill, Samuel J; Powell, Nicholas N; Williamson, Jane E

    2016-01-01

    Citizen science can increase the scope of research in the marine environment; however, it suffers from necessitating specialized training and simplified methodologies that reduce research output. This paper presents a simplified, novel survey methodology for citizen scientists, which combines GoPro imagery and structure from motion to construct an ortho-corrected 3D model of habitats for analysis. Results using a coral reef habitat were compared to surveys conducted with traditional snorkelling methods for benthic cover, holothurian counts, and coral health. Results were comparable between the two methods, and structure from motion allows the results to be analysed off-site for any chosen visual analysis. The GoPro method outlined in this study is thus an effective tool for citizen science in the marine environment, especially for comparing changes in coral cover or volume over time.

  3. GoPros™ as an underwater photogrammetry tool for citizen science

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vincent Raoult

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available Citizen science can increase the scope of research in the marine environment; however, it suffers from necessitating specialized training and simplified methodologies that reduce research output. This paper presents a simplified, novel survey methodology for citizen scientists, which combines GoPro imagery and structure from motion to construct an ortho-corrected 3D model of habitats for analysis. Results using a coral reef habitat were compared to surveys conducted with traditional snorkelling methods for benthic cover, holothurian counts, and coral health. Results were comparable between the two methods, and structure from motion allows the results to be analysed off-site for any chosen visual analysis. The GoPro method outlined in this study is thus an effective tool for citizen science in the marine environment, especially for comparing changes in coral cover or volume over time.

  4. Towards an 'energ'ethic' transition. Renewable energies, a citizen concern?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jegoux, Coline

    2013-01-01

    As Germany has decided to massively invest in renewable energies, many local projects of sustainable development emerge in this country, and as, in the meanwhile, local energy governance is still in its infancy in France due to a later opening of the energy market, this academic research proposes a comparison of cooperative projects aimed at the financing of renewable energies in France and in Germany, and thus aims at highlighting the conditions needed for the emergence of citizen-based and renewable energy networks. The first part discusses the development of renewable energies as a process included in national political and economic trajectories. The author then presents and discusses the participative operation as a new mode of governance and financing which could promote the commitment of citizens in energy transition. The last part discusses a new form of citizen participation: the consum'action

  5. GoPros™ as an underwater photogrammetry tool for citizen science

    Science.gov (United States)

    David, Peter A.; Dupont, Sally F.; Mathewson, Ciaran P.; O’Neill, Samuel J.; Powell, Nicholas N.; Williamson, Jane E.

    2016-01-01

    Citizen science can increase the scope of research in the marine environment; however, it suffers from necessitating specialized training and simplified methodologies that reduce research output. This paper presents a simplified, novel survey methodology for citizen scientists, which combines GoPro imagery and structure from motion to construct an ortho-corrected 3D model of habitats for analysis. Results using a coral reef habitat were compared to surveys conducted with traditional snorkelling methods for benthic cover, holothurian counts, and coral health. Results were comparable between the two methods, and structure from motion allows the results to be analysed off-site for any chosen visual analysis. The GoPro method outlined in this study is thus an effective tool for citizen science in the marine environment, especially for comparing changes in coral cover or volume over time. PMID:27168973

  6. 21 CFR 14.174 - Advice and recommendations in writing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... specific drug or a class of drugs are ordinarily in the form of a written report. The report may consist of the approved minutes of the meeting or a separate written report. The report responds to the specific... 21 Food and Drugs 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Advice and recommendations in writing. 14.174...

  7. Citizen Candidates Under Uncertainty

    OpenAIRE

    Eguia, Jon X.

    2005-01-01

    In this paper we make two contributions to the growing literature on "citizen-candidate" models of representative democracy. First, we add uncertainty about the total vote count. We show that in a society with a large electorate, where the outcome of the election is uncertain and where winning candidates receive a large reward from holding office, there will be a two-candidate equilibrium and no equilibria with a single candidate. Second, we introduce a new concept of equilibrium, which we te...

  8. The role of cystovaginoscopy and hygienic advice in girls referred for symptoms of vulvovaginitis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ram, Ashok Daya; Hurst, Katherine Victoria; Steinbrecher, Henrik

    2012-05-01

    Vulvovaginitis is a common presenting symptom referred to a paediatric urology clinic. Some of these patients undergo diagnostic cystovaginoscopy to determine whether there is any underlying anatomical cause for the persistent infection. However, in the majority of the patients, no underlying abnormality is found and they are given hygienic advice and prescribed bio yoghurt postoperatively. This study examines the outcome in these patients after hygienic advice is given: determining whether cystovaginoscopy was really necessary and whether it changed the management of vulvovaginitis.

  9. Caregivers' compliance with referral advice

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lal, Sham; Ndyomugenyi, Richard; Paintain, Lucy

    2018-01-01

    BACKGROUND: Several malaria endemic countries have implemented community health worker (CHW) programmes to increase access to populations underserved by health care. There is considerable evidence on CHW adherence to case management guidelines, however, there is limited evidence on the compliance...... in the control arm were trained to treat malaria with ACTs based on fever symptoms. Caregivers' referral forms were linked with CHW treatment forms to determine whether caregivers complied with the referral advice. Factors associated with compliance were examined with logistic regression. RESULTS: CHW saw 18......,497 child visits in the moderate-to-high transmission setting and referred 15.2% (2815/18,497) of all visits; in the low-transmission setting, 35.0% (1135/3223) of all visits were referred. Compliance to referral was low, in both settings

  10. Transfer of Knowledge on Agroforestry Management Practices: the Structure of Farmer Advice Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marney E. Isaac

    2007-12-01

    Full Text Available Access to knowledge on farm management practices is essential for the maintenance of productive agroforestry systems. Farmers who lack the means to acquire farming knowledge from formal sources often rely on information within their informal social networks. However, little research has explored the explicit structure of farmer communication patterns. We examined advice network structures by using farmer attributes, i.e., kin relationships, community involvement, and imitation, to characterize structural positions and investigated the consequences of such structure on farming practices in cocoa agroforestry systems in Ghana, West Africa. Furthermore, we used a multicommunity approach; we constructed networks for four communities to increase replication and enhance the generality of our conclusions. A high density of advice ties occurred among a small group of farmers, indicating a core-periphery structure. Settler farmers composed 73% of core position members, suggesting that social proximity did not control the formation of informal advice structures. Because core farmers were highly participative in community activities, the promotion of community involvement may facilitate the movement of knowledge and social exchange to strengthen informal networks. Farmers in both core and peripheral structural positions indicated that they observed fellow farmers and subsequently adopted their practices. Of highly sought farmers, 84% used external information, predominately from government institutions, thus functioning as bridging links between formal and informal networks. Both external and farmer-derived sources of knowledge of agroforestry practices were transferred through informal advice networks, providing available information throughout the farming community, as well as a foundation for community-based adaptive management.

  11. Involving citizens in priority setting for public health research: Implementation in infection research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rawson, Timothy M; Castro-Sánchez, Enrique; Charani, Esmita; Husson, Fran; Moore, Luke S P; Holmes, Alison H; Ahmad, Raheelah

    2018-02-01

    Public sources fund the majority of UK infection research, but citizens currently have no formal role in resource allocation. To explore the feasibility and willingness of citizens to engage in strategic decision making, we developed and tested a practical tool to capture public priorities for research. A scenario including six infection themes for funding was developed to assess citizen priorities for research funding. This was tested over two days at a university public festival. Votes were cast anonymously along with rationale for selection. The scenario was then implemented during a three-hour focus group exploring views on engagement in strategic decisions and in-depth evaluation of the tool. 188/491(38%) prioritized funding research into drug-resistant infections followed by emerging infections(18%). Results were similar between both days. Focus groups contained a total of 20 citizens with an equal gender split, range of ethnicities and ages ranging from 18 to >70 years. The tool was perceived as clear with participants able to make informed comparisons. Rationale for funding choices provided by voters and focus group participants are grouped into three major themes: (i) Information processing; (ii) Knowledge of the problem; (iii) Responsibility; and a unique theme within the focus groups (iv) The potential role of citizens in decision making. Divergent perceptions of relevance and confidence of "non-experts" as decision makers were expressed. Voting scenarios can be used to collect, en-masse, citizens' choices and rationale for research priorities. Ensuring adequate levels of citizen information and confidence is important to allow deployment in other formats. © 2017 The Authors Health Expectations Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  12. Maui Citizen Science Coastal Water Quality Data

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — A network of citizen science volunteers periodically monitors water quality at several beaches across the island of Maui in the State of Hawaii. This community-based...

  13. 78 FR 23954 - U.S.-EU Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Agreement: Advice on the Probable Economic...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-04-23

    ... INTERNATIONAL TRADE COMMISSION [Investigation Nos. TA-131-037 and TA-2104-029] U.S.-EU Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Agreement: Advice on the Probable Economic Effect of Providing.... TA-131-037 and TA-2104-029, U.S.-EU Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Agreement: Advice...

  14. Using a Non-Fit Message Helps to De-Intensify Negative Reactions to Tough Advice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fridman, Ilona; Scherr, Karen; Glare, Paul; Higgins, E. Tory

    2017-01-01

    Sometimes physicians need to provide patients with potentially upsetting advice. For example, physicians may recommend hospice for a terminally ill patient because it best meets their needs, but the patient and their family dislike this advised option. We explore whether regulatory non-fit could be used to improve these types of situations. Across five studies in which participants imagined receiving upsetting advice from a physician, we demonstrate that regulatory non-fit between the form of the physician’s advice (emphasizing gains vs. avoiding losses) and the participants’ motivational orientation (promotion vs. prevention) improves participants’ evaluation of an initially disliked option. Regulatory non-fit de-intensifies participants’ initial attitudes by making them less confident in their initial judgments and motivating them to think more thoroughly about the arguments presented. Furthermore, consistent with previous research on regulatory fit, we showed that the mechanism of regulatory non-fit differs as a function of participants’ cognitive involvement in the evaluation of the option. PMID:27341845

  15. Sistem Advice Planing Online Dengan Framework Codeigniter Berbasis Web Bootstrap (Studi Kasus: Kabupaten Probolinggo

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Moh Ainol Yaqin

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available The information system in the form of Integrated Advice Planning by using CodeIgniter Framework and based on  Framework Bootstrap one of system which gives responsive form. The system is a service as one of solution for e-Government. Advice Planning service is the optimization of public services in the licensing sector and the optimization of agency management. The licensing service is in the form of design consultation and the location of the building in accordance with the Spatial and Regional Plan within a Local Government. Licensing process that must be fulfilled by prospective investors either individually or on behalf of the company and supporting infrastructure around the investment location. The services provided by the Information System have provided Advice Planning application submission online. The system is expected to provide convenience for the community in the region and create a friendly, the comfortable, the transparent and cheap of interaction between the government and the community.

  16. Citizen-sensor-networks to confront government decision-makers: Two lessons from the Netherlands.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carton, Linda; Ache, Peter

    2017-07-01

    This paper presents one emerging social-technical innovation: The evolution of citizen-sensor-networks where citizens organize themselves from the 'bottom up', for the sake of confronting governance officials with measured information about environmental qualities. We have observed how citizen-sensor-networks have been initiated in the Netherlands in cases where official government monitoring and business organizations leave gaps. The formed citizen-sensor-networks collect information about issues that affect the local community in their quality-of-living. In particular, two community initiatives are described where the sensed environmental information, on noise pollution and gas-extraction induced earthquakes respectively, is published through networked geographic information methods. Both community initiatives pioneered in developing an approach that comprises the combined setting-up of sensor data flows, real-time map portals and community organization. Two particular cases are analyzed to trace the emergence and network operation of such 'networked geo-information tools' in practice: (1) The Groningen earthquake monitor, and (2) The Airplane Monitor Schiphol. In both cases, environmental 'externalities' of spatial-economic activities play an important role, having economic dimensions of national importance (e.g. gas extraction and national airport development) while simultaneously affecting the regional community with environmental consequences. The monitoring systems analyzed in this paper are established bottom-up, by citizens for citizens, to serve as 'information power' in dialogue with government institutions. The goal of this paper is to gain insight in how these citizen-sensor-networks come about: how the idea for establishing a sensor network originated, how their value gets recognized and adopted in the overall 'system of governance'; to what extent they bring countervailing power against vested interests and established discourses to the table and

  17. Unveiling the Effects of Citizen Journalism Practice on College Students' Social Capital

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nah, Seungahn; Namkoong, Kang; Van Stee, Stephanie K.; Record, Rachael A.

    2014-01-01

    This study examined the effects of citizen journalism practices on social capital concerning nonprofit and voluntary organizations (i.e., satisfaction, trust, and engagement). Through a quasi-experimental design, the analyses revealed that students in the treatment group, in which participants engaged in citizen journalism practice, had greater…

  18. Factors influencing adherence to referral advice following pre-referral treatment with artesunate suppositories in children in rural Tanzania.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simba, Daudi O; Warsame, Marian; Kimbute, Omari; Kakoko, Deodatus; Petzold, Max; Tomson, Goran; Premji, Zul; Gomes, Melba

    2009-07-01

    WHO recommends artemisinin suppository formulations as pre-referral treatment for children who are unable to take oral medication and cannot rapidly reach a facility for parenteral treatment. We investigated factors influencing caretakers' adherence to referral advice following pre-referral treatment of their children with rectal artesunate suppositories. The study was nested within an intervention study that involved pre-referral treatment of all children who came to a community dispenser for treatment because they were unable to take oral medications because of repeated vomiting, lethargy, convulsions or altered consciousness. All patients who did not comply with referral advice were stratified by actions taken post-referral: taking their children to a drug shop, a traditional healer, or not seeking further treatment, and added to a random selection of patients who complied with referral advice. Caretakers of the children were interviewed about their socio-economic status (SES), knowledge about malaria, referral advice given and actions they took following pre-referral treatment. Interview data for 587 caretakers were matched with symptoms of the children, the time of treatment, arrival at a health facility or other actions taken post-pre-referral treatment. The majority (93.5%) of caretakers reported being given referral advice by the community drug dispenser. The odds of adherence with this advice were three times greater for children with altered consciousness and/or convulsions than for children with other symptoms [odds ratio (OR) 3.47, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.32-5.17, P < 0.001]. When questioned, caretakers who remembered when (OR 2.19, 95% CI 1.48-3.23, P < 0.001) and why (OR 1.77, 95% CI 1.07-2.95, P = 0.026) they were advised to proceed to health facility - were more likely to follow referral advice. Cost did not influence adherence except within a catchment area of facilities that charged for services. In these areas, costs deterred adherence by

  19. Formation in Citizen Culture, Space for the Social Responsibility of Business Organizations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elita Marina Méndez Jiménez

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available In Venezuela, we live together in a time of thirst for peace, commitment and social coexistence, social equality, every day we hear that there is a social crisis, a crisis of values. At this juncture, the education imparted is the central factor in reflecting, inculcating, strengthening and consolidating in the citizens, values, personal formation, ethical training and other binding issues, in short, citizen culture. It is the purpose of this essay to generate reflections around the citizen's culture, for it mentions some roles, that as managerial actions of social co-responsibility, can realize the private business organizations, to strengthen the social action of the individual in order to promote the necessary stimuli to reach the status of a good citizen, for whom the idea of ​​living in a prosperous and participatory community is represented in a space where education, good treatment, equality in opportunities and respect for their fellow human beings, habitat and life in any of its expressions are the norm.

  20. Newly qualified doctors' views on the significance and accessibility of career advice during medical training in Saudi Arabia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mehmood, Syed Imran; Norcini, John J; Borleffs, Jan C C

    2013-01-01

    Career advice is an important instrument to help students with the proper specialty selection. The study aims (1) to explore the views of newly graduated doctors in Saudi Arabia about their experience with the current status of career support system during medical training and (2) to identify cross-cultural similarities and differences. A cross-sectional design study was conducted using a questionnaire to elicit the responses of participants from newly qualified doctors concerning the availability and significance of career advice. SPSS (version 11.0; Chicago, IL) was used to analyze the data and statistical tests, such as chi-square and unpaired t tests, were used to analyze the observations. A response rate of 94.7% was obtained. Among this group, 102 were males and 78 were females. Only 53% did receive career advice. The majority of men felt that career advice during medical studies was inadequate, while women were less negative (69% versus 32%; p = 0.0001). Furthermore, men were more disappointed about the possibilities for career advice after graduating than women (34% versus 13%, p = 0.0001). The results show that only half of newly graduated doctors had received any career advice during medical training. As the health care system cannot afford the potential waste of time and resources for doctors, career guidance should begin in undergraduate training so that the process of thinking about their future career starts longtime before they make their career choice.

  1. Policy Advice to Alberta’s New Premier

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jack M. Mintz

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available On September 6th, 2014, members of the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta elected Jim Prentice as leader of their party, and Premier of Alberta. The School of Public Policy assembled its key thinkers in economic, taxation, energy and natural resource policy to provide unsolicited but important advice to Premier Prentice on some areas of policy that matter most to Alberta, and that will demand the Premier’s attention as he takes office. These are opinion pieces, are not peer reviewed, and reflect the views of their authors alone.

  2. g4c2c: A Model for Citizen Engagement at Arms’ Length from Government

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Axel Bruns

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available Normal 0 false false false EN-AU X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} The recognition that Web 2.0 applications and social media sites will strengthen and improve interaction between governments and citizens has resulted in a global push into new e-democracy or Government 2.0 spaces. These typically follow government-to-citizen (g2c or citizen-to-citizen (c2c models, but both these approaches are problematic: g2c is often concerned more with service delivery to citizens as clients, or exists to make a show of ‘listening to the public’ rather than to genuinely source citizen ideas for government policy, while c2c often takes place without direct government participation and therefore cannot ensure that the outcomes of citizen deliberations are accepted into the government policy-making process. Building on recent examples of Australian Government 2.0 initiatives, we suggest a new approach based on government support for citizen-to-citizen engagement, or g4c2c, as a workable compromise, and suggest that public service broadcasters should play a key role in facilitating this model of citizen engagement.

  3. Regulating Robo Advice across the Financial Services Industry

    OpenAIRE

    Baker, Tom; Dellaert, Benedict

    2017-01-01

    textabstractAutomated financial product advisors – “robo advisors” – are emerging across the financial services industry, helping consumers choose investments, banking products, and insurance policies. Robo advisors have the potential to lower the cost and increase the quality and transparency of financial advice for consumers. But they also pose significant new challenges for regulators who are accustomed to assessing human intermediaries. A well-designed robo advisor will be honest and comp...

  4. Why Financial Advice Cannot Substitute for Financial Literacy?

    OpenAIRE

    M. Debbich

    2015-01-01

    This paper examines the ability of financial advice provided by sellers of financial services to substitute for financial literacy of customers. I set up a simple theoretical model in which an informed financial advisor communicates with a less informed customer of financial services. Given the existence of a conflict of interest from the advisor's perspective, the model predicts that only well financially sophisticated customers receive relevant information from the advisor. This fact tends ...

  5. Joint influence of individual choices, parenting practices, and physician advice on adolescent obesity, Nebraska, 2008.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Hongmei; Kim, Jungyoon; Su, Dejun; Xu, Liyan; Chen, Li-Wu; Huang, Terry T-K

    2014-10-09

    Reducing childhood obesity remains a public health priority given its high prevalence and its association with increased risk of adult obesity and chronic diseases. The objective of this study was to examine the joint influence of multiple risk factors on adolescent overweight status. We conducted a random-digit-dialed telephone survey of adolescents aged 12 to 19 years in fall 2008 in a Midwestern city in Nebraska. On the basis of survey data for 791 youths aged 12 to 18 years, we conducted latent class analysis to group youths by the joint occurrence of dietary behavior, physical activity, parenting practices, and physician advice. We then examined the association between the groups and overweight status by using logistic regression, controlling for age, sex, race/ethnicity, and parent and family information. Youths were clustered into 3 groups. Group I (52%) were youths with healthy dietary behavior and physical activity, less permissive parenting practices, and physician advice; Group II (30%) were youths with moderately healthy dietary behavior and physical activity, less permissive parenting practices, and no physician advice; and Group III (18%) were youths with unhealthy dietary behavior and physical activity, permissive parenting practices, and physician advice. Youths in Groups I and II were less likely to be overweight than youths in Group III. Youths with healthier behavior and less permissive parenting practices were less likely to be overweight. Study findings highlight the need to address obesity risk factors among youths with unhealthy dietary behavior, inadequate exercise, permissive parenting practices, and some physician advice. Tailored interventions should be used to target youths with different obesity risk factors.

  6. Bounds on the power of proofs and advice in general physical theories.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Ciarán M; Hoban, Matty J

    2016-06-01

    Quantum theory presents us with the tools for computational and communication advantages over classical theory. One approach to uncovering the source of these advantages is to determine how computation and communication power vary as quantum theory is replaced by other operationally defined theories from a broad framework of such theories. Such investigations may reveal some of the key physical features required for powerful computation and communication. In this paper, we investigate how simple physical principles bound the power of two different computational paradigms which combine computation and communication in a non-trivial fashion: computation with advice and interactive proof systems. We show that the existence of non-trivial dynamics in a theory implies a bound on the power of computation with advice. Moreover, we provide an explicit example of a theory with no non-trivial dynamics in which the power of computation with advice is unbounded. Finally, we show that the power of simple interactive proof systems in theories where local measurements suffice for tomography is non-trivially bounded. This result provides a proof that [Formula: see text] is contained in [Formula: see text], which does not make use of any uniquely quantum structure-such as the fact that observables correspond to self-adjoint operators-and thus may be of independent interest.

  7. MedMinify: An Advice-giving System for Simplifying the Schedules of Daily Home Medication Regimens Used to Treat Chronic Conditions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Flynn, Allen J; Klasnja, Predrag; Friedman, Charles P

    2014-01-01

    For those with high blood pressure, diabetes, or high cholesterol, adherence to a home medication regimen is important for health. Reductions in the number of daily medication-taking events or daily pill burden improve adherence. A novel advice-giving computer application was developed using the SMART platform to generate advice on how to potentially simplify home medication regimens. MedMinify generated advice for 41.3% of 1,500 home medication regimens for adults age 60 years and older with chronic medical conditions. If the advice given by MedMinify were implemented, 320 regimen changes would have reduced daily medication-taking events while an additional 295 changes would have decreased the daily pill burden. The application identified four serious drug-drug interactions and so advised against taking two pairs of medications simultaneously. MedMinify can give advice to change home medication regimens that could result in simpler home medication-taking schedules.

  8. WEB-GIS SOLUTIONS DEVELOPMENT FOR CITIZENS AND WATER COMPANIES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Şercăianu

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available This paper describes the development of a web-GIS solution in which urban residents, from Buzau City, could be involved in decision-support process of water companies, in order to reduce water losses, by collecting information directly from citizens. In recent years, reducing material and economic losses, recorded in the entire municipal networks management process has become the main focus of public companies in Romania. Due to problems complexity that arise in collecting information from citizens and issues identified in urban areas, more analyzes were required related to web-GIS solutions used in areas such as local government, public utilities, environmental protection or financial management. Another important problem is the poor infrastructure development of spatial databases founded in public companies, and connection to web platforms. Developing the entire communication process between residents and municipal companies has required the use of concept "citizen-sensor" in the entire reporting process. Reported problems are related to water distribution networks with the possibility of covering the entire public utilities infrastructure.

  9. Should EU Citizens Living in other Member States Vote there in National Elections?

    OpenAIRE

    CAYALA, Philippe; SETH, Catriona; BAUBÖCK, Rainer

    2012-01-01

    The core right of EU citizenship is freedom of movement within the territory of the Union. But EU citizens who live in a member state other than their homeland cannot vote in the national elections of that country unless they first acquire its citizenship through naturalisation. In several member states they also lose their right to vote in national elections of their country of origin when they have lived abroad for too long. A group of EU citizens has started a European Citizens' Initiative...

  10. Justice on the line? A comparison of telephone and face-to-face \\ud advice in social welfare legal aid

    OpenAIRE

    Burton, Marie

    2018-01-01

    This paper investigates the impact on legal advice of the major shift to telephone-only services in social welfare legal aid, which took place in April 2013. An empirical study comparing telephone and face-to-face advice reveals that face-to-face contact has considerable advantages in the advice interview. Based on interviews and observations with housing law clients, their lawyers and advisers, the findings of this qualitative study demonstrate that clients and lawyers often find it easier t...

  11. Coproduction as an Approach to Technology-Mediated Citizen Participation in Emergency Management

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paloma Díaz

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Social and mobile computing open up new possibilities for integrating citizens’ information, knowledge, and social capital in emergency management (EM. This participation can improve the capacity of local agencies to respond to unexpected events by involving citizens not only as first line informants, but also as first responders. This participation could contribute to build resilient communities aware of the risks they are threatened by and able to mobilize their social capital to cope with them and, in turn, decrease the impact of threats and hazards. However for this participation to be possible organizations in charge of EM need to realize that involving citizens does not interfere with their protocols and that citizens are a valuable asset that can contribute to the EM process with specific skills and capabilities. In this paper we discuss the design challenges of using social and mobile computing to move to a more participatory EM process that starts by empowering both citizens and organizations in a coproduction service envisioned as a partnership effort. As an example, we describe a case study of a participatory design approach that involved professional EM workers and decision makers in an effort to understand the challenges of using technology-based solutions to integrate citizen skills and capabilities in their operation protocols. The case study made it possible to identify specific roles that citizens might play in a crisis or disaster and to envision scenarios were technologies could be used to integrate their skills into the EM process. In this way the paper contributes to the roles and the scenarios of theory-building about coproduction in EM services.

  12. Using citizen science butterfly counts to predict species population trends.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dennis, Emily B; Morgan, Byron J T; Brereton, Tom M; Roy, David B; Fox, Richard

    2017-12-01

    Citizen scientists are increasingly engaged in gathering biodiversity information, but trade-offs are often required between public engagement goals and reliable data collection. We compared population estimates for 18 widespread butterfly species derived from the first 4 years (2011-2014) of a short-duration citizen science project (Big Butterfly Count [BBC]) with those from long-running, standardized monitoring data collected by experienced observers (U.K. Butterfly Monitoring Scheme [UKBMS]). BBC data are gathered during an annual 3-week period, whereas UKBMS sampling takes place over 6 months each year. An initial comparison with UKBMS data restricted to the 3-week BBC period revealed that species population changes were significantly correlated between the 2 sources. The short-duration sampling season rendered BBC counts susceptible to bias caused by interannual phenological variation in the timing of species' flight periods. The BBC counts were positively related to butterfly phenology and sampling effort. Annual estimates of species abundance and population trends predicted from models including BBC data and weather covariates as a proxy for phenology correlated significantly with those derived from UKBMS data. Overall, citizen science data obtained using a simple sampling protocol produced comparable estimates of butterfly species abundance to data collected through standardized monitoring methods. Although caution is urged in extrapolating from this U.K. study of a small number of common, conspicuous insects, we found that mass-participation citizen science can simultaneously contribute to public engagement and biodiversity monitoring. Mass-participation citizen science is not an adequate replacement for standardized biodiversity monitoring but may extend and complement it (e.g., through sampling different land-use types), as well as serving to reconnect an increasingly urban human population with nature. © 2017 The Authors. Conservation Biology published

  13. 77 FR 76003 - Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request-Safety Standard for Omnidirectional Citizens Band Base...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-12-26

    ... Request--Safety Standard for Omnidirectional Citizens Band Base Station Antennas AGENCY: Consumer Product... information associated with the Commission's safety standard for omnidirectional citizens band base station... information required in the Safety Standard for Omnidirectional Citizens Band Base Station (16 CFR Part 1204...

  14. A Career Advice Helpline: A Case Study from South Africa

    Science.gov (United States)

    Flederman, Patricia

    2011-01-01

    This case study presents the new career guidance helpline managed by the South African Qualifications Authority in South Africa, a middle-income country. The National Qualifications Framework and Career Advice Helpline represent a national equity-driven initiative using technology to expand access. The model has drawn on contemporary international…

  15. How citizen advisory boards provide input into major waste policy decisions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rogers, E.; Murakami, L.; Hanson, L.

    1995-01-01

    Volunteer citizen boards, such as Site Specific Advisory Boards, can be a very important key to success for the Department of Energy's (DOE's) Waste Management program. These boards can provide informed, independent recommendations reflecting the diversity of the community and its values. A successful volunteer process requires collaboration among regulators, DOE and other Boards; knowing how and when to interface with the broader public; understanding the diversity and representational issues of a citizens group; knowing the open-quotes ins and outsclose quotes of working with volunteers; education and training and most importantly, planning. Volunteers on a citizens board were created to tackle the big picture, policy decisions. The chair of the Rocky Flats Citizens Advisory Board will describe her Board's successes, including the challenges in reaching consensus agreements, as well as the need for integration with other boards and the sites' on-going public involvement programs to provide the input the department is seeking. Finally, one of the greatest challenges for the boards is interfacing with the greater public-at-large, seeing how the CAB has overcome this challenge and integrating broader public input into its decisions

  16. How citizen advisory boards provide input into major waste policy decisions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rogers, E.; Murakami, L.; Hanson, L. [Rocky Flats Citizen Advisory Board, Westminster, CO (United States)

    1995-12-31

    Volunteer citizen boards, such as Site Specific Advisory Boards, can be a very important key to success for the Department of Energy`s (DOE`s) Waste Management program. These boards can provide informed, independent recommendations reflecting the diversity of the community and its values. A successful volunteer process requires collaboration among regulators, DOE and other Boards; knowing how and when to interface with the broader public; understanding the diversity and representational issues of a citizens group; knowing the {open_quotes}ins and outs{close_quotes} of working with volunteers; education and training and most importantly, planning. Volunteers on a citizens board were created to tackle the big picture, policy decisions. The chair of the Rocky Flats Citizens Advisory Board will describe her Board`s successes, including the challenges in reaching consensus agreements, as well as the need for integration with other boards and the sites` on-going public involvement programs to provide the input the department is seeking. Finally, one of the greatest challenges for the boards is interfacing with the greater public-at-large, seeing how the CAB has overcome this challenge and integrating broader public input into its decisions.

  17. eParticipation for Adolescent Citizens (in Austria)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Edelmann, Noella; Hoechtl, Johann; Parycek, Peter

    In Austria, two recent eParticipation projects focused on adolescent citizens. The first project, “mitmachen.at - move your future” was to provide initial experiences with an eParticipation tool. The second project, “Jugend2help”, applied the lessons learned from the “mitmachen.at” project to improve the Austrian public administration web portal for adolescent citizens. In both projects, the results indicate that web portals and eParticpation seems to suit the adolescents’ information and communication needs. Involving the users is central to the development of an eParticipation process or platform so that the users’ specific characteristics (age, skills), needs and interests are included appropriately. The target users’ characteristics are also important for developing a marketing strategy which is able to reach them. Other issues which must also be considered in eParticipation are accessibility, inclusion and possibly gender.

  18. Interpreting Community Accountability: Citizen Views of Responding to Domestic Violence (or Not)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hess, Jacob Z.; Allen, Nicole E.; Todd, Nathan R.

    2011-01-01

    In spite of common public condemnations of domestic violence, survey research suggests that citizens aware of actual abuse often believe they cannot or should not personally respond. Through in-depth interviews with 20 local citizens across the political spectrum, we sought to explore this dynamic more carefully by better understanding community…

  19. Competing infant feeding information in mothers' networks: advice that supports v. undermines clinical recommendations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ashida, Sato; Lynn, Freda B; Williams, Natalie A; Schafer, Ellen J

    2016-05-01

    To identify the social contextual factors, specifically the presence of information that supports v. undermines clinical recommendations, associated with infant feeding behaviours among mothers in low-income areas. Cross-sectional survey evaluating social support networks and social relationships involved in providing care to the infant along with feeding beliefs and practices. Out-patient paediatric and government-funded (Women, Infants, and Children) clinics in an urban, low-income area of the south-eastern USA. Eighty-one low-income mothers of infants between 0 and 12 months old. Most mothers reported receiving both supportive and undermining advice. The presence of breast-feeding advice that supports clinical recommendations was associated with two infant feeding practices that are considered beneficial to infant health: ever breast-feeding (OR=6·7; 95% CI 1·2, 38·1) and not adding cereal in the infant's bottle (OR=15·9; 95% CI 1·1, 227·4). Advice that undermines clinical recommendations to breast-feed and advice about solid foods were not associated with these behaviours. Efforts to facilitate optimal infant feeding practices may focus on increasing information supportive of clinical recommendations while concentrating less on reducing the presence of undermining information within mothers' networks. Cultural norms around breast-feeding may be stronger than the cultural norms around the introduction of solid foods in mothers' social environments; thus, additional efforts to increase information regarding introduction of solid foods earlier in mothers' infant care career may be beneficial.

  20. Percentage of vestibular dysfunction in 361 elderly citizens responding to a newspaper advertisement

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Brandt, Michael Smærup; Grönvall, Erik; Mørch, Marianne Metz

    Percentage of Vestibular Dysfunction in 361 Elderly Citizens Responding to a Newspaper Advertisement. Brandt M, Grönvall E, Henriksen JJ, Larsen SB, Læssøe U, Mørch MM, Damsgaard EM Introduction Elderly patients with vestibular dysfunction have an eight-fold increased risk of falling compared...... advertisement. Method To recruit elderly citizens with dizziness we advertised in a local newspaper. A telephone interview with the respondents was done by a physiotherapist (PT). If the PT concluded that the reason for the dizziness could be vestibular dysfunction the citizen was invited to further...... Department, Aarhus University Hospital. Results 361 elderly citizens responded to the advertisement. 8 patients had alcohol problems, 14 had significantly impaired vision, 42 had evidence of orthostatic hypotension, 49 didn’t want to participate, 50 had evidence of Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV...