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Books > Science & Mathematics > Science: general issues > Science funding & policy
This book is based on the assumption that great powers determine global politics and, in this instance, environmental politics. It addresses the approaches of both established and rising powers and their implications for the advancement of international climate negotiations. The new introduction looks at the key developments in this realm since 2013, examining the bilateral deals between China and the United States and the results of the UNFCCC's 21st Convention of the Parties (COP) convening at Paris in 2015. Two key features link the contributions of this volume: their underlying assumption that major powers are the central actors in determining global environmental politics; and their assessment of, and implications of, the approaches both of rising and established major powers for global climate norms. One key argument of this volume is that today's geopolitics are about who gets how much in the fiercely competitive race over the available 'carbon space'. The book concludes that prudently balancing power in the new century requires a fair sharing of burden among the existing and emerging powers. In light of such burden-sharing, pluralistic domestic politics as well as diverging normative beliefs and worldviews require consideration of different conditions, even if historical legacies of the industrialised world have increasingly been put into question as a political argument by the United States. This book is based on a special issue of the journal Climate Policy.
The Politics of Capitalist Transformation is the only book-length study of the highly protectionist Brazilian informatics policy from its origins in the early 1970s to the collapse of the market reserve in the early 1990s and its impact in subsequent decades. Jeff Seward provides a sophisticated political analysis of how state activists constructed high levels of state autonomy to try to shift Brazil to a new variety of capitalism by eclipsing the multinational companies (especially IBM) that dominated the Brazilian computer sector and replacing them with local companies with 100 percent Brazilian technology and ownership. This ambitious policy required repeated shifts of political strategy and policymaking institutions to respond to a constantly changing economic and political environment as Brazil made a dramatic transition from military dictatorship to democracy. The innovative framework to analyze state autonomy and the sophisticated political analysis of the policymaking process will be of interest to scholars and students of Brazilian and Latin American political economy, varieties of capitalism theory, state theory, democratic transition theory, and high technology policymaking in developing countries.
Bonnie Steinbock presents The Oxford Handbook of Bioethics - an
authoritative, state-of-the-art guide to current issues in
bioethics.
The importance of Lutfi al-Khuli and the intellectual circle associated with the Nasserist regime has, until now, been neglected in literature. Here, Ginat examines al-Khuli's contribution to the short-lived yet formidable success of Arab socialism. Making extensive use of primary sources, such as essays and articles by al-Khuli as well as personal interviews, he sheds new light on Egypt's socialist experience in the 1960s. Newly-declassified archival material and literature in Arabic and other languages are also used in order to elucidate the Egyptian context and the ideological structure of Nasser's Arab socialism.
This book analyzes policy fights about what counts as good evidence of safety and effectiveness when it comes to new health care technologies in the United States and what political decisions mean for patients and doctors. Medical technologies often promise to extend and improve quality of life but come with many questions: Are they safe and effective? Are they worth the cost? When should they be allowed on the market, and when should Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance companies be required to pay for drugs, devices, and diagnostic tests? Using case studies of disputes about the value of mammography screening; genetic testing for disease risk; brain imaging technologies to detect biomarkers associated with Alzheimer's disease; cell-based therapies; and new, expensive drugs, Maschke and Gusmano illustrate how scientific disagreements about what counts as good evidence of safety and effectiveness are often swept up in partisan fights over health care reform and battles among insurance and health care companies, physicians, and patient advocates. Debating Modern Medical Technologies: The Politics of Safety, Effectiveness, and Patient Access reveals stakeholders' differing values and interests regarding patient choice, physician autonomy, risk assessment, government intervention in medicine and technology assessment, and scientific innovation as a driver of national and global economies. It will help readers to understand the nature and complexity of past and current policy disagreements and their effects on patients. Helps readers to understand the political, economic, and ideological dimensions of disputes about health technology assessment and the implications of various policy approaches for patients and the health care system Includes discussion of disputes related to hot topics such as stem cell therapies, mammography screening, genomic tests, breast cancer drugs, and Hepatitis C medications Discusses interest group pressure on government from large pharmaceutical companies and medical device manufacturers Connects to current political rhetoric about speeding up the availability of technology
The Grant Writer's Handbook: How to Write a Research Proposal and Succeed provides useful and practical advice on all aspects of proposal writing, including developing proposal ideas, drafting the proposal, dealing with referees, and budgeting. The authors base their advice on many years of experience writing and reviewing proposals in many different countries at various levels of scientific maturity. The book describes the numerous kinds of awards available from funding agencies, in particular large collaborative grants involving a number of investigators, and addresses the practical impact of a grant, which is often required of proposals. In addition, information is provided about selection of reviewers and the mechanics of organizing a research grant competition to give the proposal writer the necessary background information. The book includes key comments from a number of experts and is essential reading for anyone writing a research grant proposal.The Grant Writer's Handbook's companion website, featuring regularly updated resources and helpful links, can be found at www.ifm.eng.cam.ac.uk/research/grant-writers-handbook/.
The findings of scientific research often provide an important baseline to the formation of public policy. However, effective communication to the larger public about what scientists do and know is a problem inherent to all democratic societies. It is the prerogative of democratic societies to determine what kind of scientific research will be funded. Searching for Science Policy offers innovative ways of thinking about how the rhetoric and practice of science operates in various institutional contexts. The book is divided into two parts. Part 1, "Policy Uses and Misuses of Science," explores the various ways in which scientific claims are inevitably mediated by how they are used. Joel Best, draws on statistics involving missing children, violence against women, and attendance figures at political demonstrations to demonstrate how the motivations to use inaccurate and misleading numbers stems directly from the ideological and organizational interests of those using them. Judith Kleinfeld analyzes recruitment policies for women scientists at MIT, showing how hiring practices that may be justifiable on extra-scientific factors are carried out based on pseudo-scientific studies not subject to public scrutiny. Robert MacCoun addresses the journalistic misuse of drug and drug abuse statistics and shows how this profoundly distorts policy implications drawn from them. And Allan Mazur examines the role scientific evidence has come to play in the law, pointing out the pitfalls of its intrinsic quality and how such evidence may be interpreted or misinterpreted by judges and juries. Part 2, "Searching for Science Policy," extends discussion of the role of science to specific ideas about how public policy-making might be improved in matters of law, family, environment, drug use, and health. Mark Kleiman weighs the sometimes conflicting claims of science and social order in formulating drug policy. Norval Glenn calls for closer cooperation between professional associations, the media, and researchers in reporting provisional social science findings to the public. Stanley Rothman and S. Robert Lichter examine the dynamic by which environmental organizations shape public perceptions of risk and harm. And in the concluding chapter, Sheila Jasanoff looks closely at differences between the provisional nature of science as normally practiced and the more contentious sphere of litigation that demands ultimate resolution. In a time when scientists find themselves subject to more public scrutiny than ever before, the well-informed citizen is no longer a moral ideal but rather a social imperative. Searching for Science Policy helps to clarify the grounds and the circumstances of more effective use of science in public discourse.
This collection examines the political conditions affecting science and technology capability building in Latin America. In a comparative discussion centering on Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, the work discusses the capacity Latin American governments have shown in building national systems for the support of innovation in industry. It looks at how state capacities for the design and implementation of science and technology policies have evolved and examines how political factors, such as military rule and authoritarianism, have shaped such capabilities and the pattern of development. In looking ahead to the future economic and social development in Latin America, contributors suggest that selective but active state intervention in favour of technological change will be needed to ensure implementation of realistic technology policies.
Joseph Ben-David died twenty-five years ago, in January 1986. An eminent sociologist of science, and a co-founder of this sub-discipline, he was only sixty-five years old. Few social scientists are remembered after they die and can no longer parlay their influence into the goods of this world for colleagues and acquaintances. This was not Ben-David's fate. His work continues to be taught and referred to by scholars spread far and wide (in terms of both countries and disciplines). His students never forgot him, his books were republished, and his essays appeared in new collections.Ben-David's legacy includes ideas and ideals. Its central tenet is the autonomy of science, its right - and duty - to be value-free. Scholarship oriented to any goal other than the accumulation of objective knowledge about empirical reality, for him, was science no longer and did not have its authority. In this light, the life of scholarship was one of moral dedication, with nothing less than the fate of liberal democratic society depending on it. And for science to thrive, the university, its home, had to be the embodiment of the cardinal virtue of this society: the virtue of civility.In the spirit of Ben-David, believing that scholarly debate advances common good, and rational discourse wins whichever way arguments in it are settled, this festschrift debates such core issues as the nature of science, its changing definition and position in Western society, the forms of organization optimal for scientific creativity, and the ability of the research university to foster scientific growth, while also performing its educational role.
This volume aims to attract attention to the necessity for quality advice on science and technology issues to the president of the United States, to the Congress, and to the judiciary. It emphasizes reconsideration and improvement of existing organizations and mechanisms, mindful of the need to adapt to changing circumstances. Golden has gathered facts and opinions useful to a wide range of people: government officials and staffs in all three branches; journalists; scholars and students of political science, science policy, and the history of science policy; members of the industrial and financial communities; and the concerned citizenry. The eighty-five prominent experts include both of President Reagan's science advisors, President Gerald R. Ford, congressional leaders, and distinguished members of the judiciary.
Behind the rhetoric of intervention' and deregulation' which has
accompanied state attempts to stimulate technological innovation in
the last decade is secreted a story of failed ambitions, confusion,
muddle and incoherence.
In an era of corporate surveillance, artificial intelligence, deep fakes, genetic modification, automation, and more, law often seems to take a back seat to rampant technological change. To listen to Silicon Valley barons, there's nothing any of us can do about it. In this riveting work, Joshua A. T. Fairfield calls their bluff. He provides a fresh look at law, at what it actually is, how it works, and how we can create the kind of laws that help humans thrive in the face of technological change. He shows that law can keep up with technology because law is a kind of technology - a social technology built by humans out of cooperative fictions like firms, nations, and money. However, to secure the benefits of changing technology for all of us, we need a new kind of law, one that reflects our evolving understanding of how humans use language to cooperate.
Science is difficult and costly to do well. This study systematically creates an economics of science. Many aspects of science are explored from an economic point of view. The scientist is treated as an economically rational individual. This book begins with economic models of misconduct in science and the legitimate, normal practices of science, moving on to market failure, the market place of ideas, self-correctiveness, and the organizational and institutional structures of science. An exploration of broader methodological themes raised by an economics of science ends the work.
The way science is done has changed radically in recent years. Scientific research and institutions, which have long been characterized by passion, dedication and reliability, have increasingly less capacity for more ethical pursuits, and are pressed by hard market laws. From the vocation of a few, science has become the profession of many - possibly too many. These trends come with consequences and risks, such as the rise in fraud, plagiarism, and in particular the sheer volume of scientific publications, often of little relevance. The solution? A slow approach with more emphasis on quality rather than quantity that will help us to rediscover the essential role of the responsible scientist. This work is a critical review and assessment of present-day policies and behavior in scientific production and publication. It touches on the tumultuous growth of scientific journals, in parallel with the growth of self-declared scientists over the world. The author's own reflections and experiences help us to understand the mechanisms of contemporary science. Along with personal reminiscences of times past, the author investigates the loopholes and hoaxes of pretend journals and nonexistent congresses, so common today in the scientific arena. The book also discusses the problems of bibliometric indices, which have resulted in large part from the above distortions of scientific life.
Joseph Ben-David died twenty-five years ago, in January 1986. An eminent sociologist of science, and a co-founder of this sub-discipline, he was only sixty-five years old. Few social scientists are remembered after they die and can no longer parlay their influence into the goods of this world for colleagues and acquaintances. This was not Ben-David's fate. His work continues to be taught and referred to by scholars spread far and wide (in terms of both countries and disciplines). His students never forgot him, his books were republished, and his essays appeared in new collections. Ben-David's legacy includes ideas and ideals. Its central tenet is the autonomy of science, its right--and duty--to be value-free. Scholarship oriented to any goal other than the accumulation of objective knowledge about empirical reality, for him, was science no longer and did not have its authority. In this light, the life of scholarship was one of moral dedication, with nothing less than the fate of liberal democratic society depending on it. And for science to thrive, the university, its home, had to be the embodiment of the cardinal virtue of this society: the virtue of civility. In the spirit of Ben-David, believing that scholarly debate advances common good, and rational discourse wins whichever way arguments in it are settled, this festschrift debates such core issues as the nature of science, its changing definition and position in Western society, the forms of organization optimal for scientific creativity, and the ability of the research university to foster scientific growth, while also performing its educational role.
Globalization and technological innovation are interdependent
processes. Globalization has a fundamental influence on the
creation and diffusion of technology which, in turn, affects the
interdependence of multinational corporations and where they locate
their activities. In this book Rajneesh Narula examines the
international aspect of this interdependence at two levels: first,
between sites, by examining the role of cross-border initiatives in
the innovation process; second, between corporate entities, by
studying the dynamics of inter-firm collaboration in research and
development.
Narula explores an important paradox. On the one hand, locations
and corporations are increasingly interdependent through
supranational organizations, regional integration, strategic
alliances, and the flow of investments, technologies, ideas and
people. The boundaries of both corporations and states are
increasingly porous and imprecise, because businesses use alliances
and outsourcing, and countries are rarely technologically
self-sufficient. On the other hand, locations remain distinct and
idiosyncratic, with innovation systems largely nationally bound.
Knowledge creation suffers from 'inertia' and, because of the
systemic nature of learning, continues to be concentrated in a few
locations and firms.
This book will appeal to students of business and management studies, globalization, technical change and information and communication technologies. Drawing on a wide variety of data at the corporate and national level, it also spells out important lessons for policy makers and managers concerned with industrial and technology policy, as well as those interested in theorganization of research and development.
An in-depth analysis of why COVID-19 warnings failed and how to avert the next disaster Epidemiologists and national security agencies warned for years about the potential for a deadly pandemic, but in the end global surveillance and warning systems were not enough to avert the COVID-19 disaster. In The COVID-19 Intelligence Failure, Erik J. Dahl demonstrates that understanding how intelligence warnings work-and how they fail-shows why the years of predictions were not enough. In the first in-depth analysis of the topic, Dahl examines the roles that both traditional intelligence services and medical intelligence and surveillance systems play in providing advance warning against public health threats-and how these systems must be improved for the future. For intelligence to effectively mitigate threats, specific, tactical-level warnings must be collected and shared in real time with receptive decision makers who will take appropriate action. Dahl shows how a combination of late and insufficient warnings about COVID-19, the Trump administration's political aversion to scientific advice, and decentralized public health systems all exacerbated the pandemic in the United States. Dahl's analysis draws parallels to other warning failures that preceded major catastrophes from Pearl Harbor to 9/11, placing current events in context. The COVID-19 Intelligence Failure is a wake-up call for the United States and the international community to improve their national security, medical, and public health intelligence systems and capabilities.
This new ethnographic study looks of Japan's scientists looks firsthand at career structures and organizational issues that have hampered the advancement of scientists and scientific research in Japan. It provides analysis of the problem of career mobility in science, the status quo in university and government laboratories, relations between scientists and lay administrators and the problems encountered by women scientists. Japanese Science contests the view that Japan's relatively poor scientific record has been the product of cultural factors and instead demonstrates the crucial importance of moribund policy decisions in holiding back dynamic and ambitious scientists.
Biofortification - the enrichment of staple food crops with essential micronutrients - has been heralded as a uniquely sustainable solution to the problem of micronutrient deficiency or 'hidden hunger'. Considerable attention and resources are being directed towards the biofortification of rice - the world's most important food crop. Through an in-depth analysis of international rice biofortification efforts across the US, Philippines and China, this book provides an important critique of such goal-oriented, top-down approaches. These approaches, the author argues, exemplify a model of global, 'public goods' science that is emerging within complex, international research networks. It provides vital lessons for those researching and making decisions about science and research policy, showing that if this model becomes entrenched, it is likely to channel resources towards the search for 'silver bullet' solutions at the expense of more incremental approaches that respond to locality, diversity and the complex and uncertain interactions between people and their environments. The author proposes a series of key changes to institutions and practices that might allow more context-responsive alternatives to emerge. These issues are particularly important now as increasing concerns over food security are leading donors and policy makers to commit to ambitious visions of 'impact at scale' - visions which may never become a reality and may preclude more effective pathways from being pursued. Published in association with the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).
Is technological innovation spinning out of control? Within one week in 2018, social media was revealed to have had a huge influence on the 2016 presidential election in the United States; while the first fatality from self-driving cars was recorded. What's paradoxical about these understandable fears of machines taking control through software, robots and AI, is that often new technology is introduced for the very purpose of improving our control over a certain task. This is what Ezio di Nucci calls the 'control paradox'. Di Nucci also brings this notion to bear on politics: we delegate power and control to representatives in order for our country to be run by a centralised group of experts. However, recent populist uprisings have shown that populations can feel disempowered and neglected by this system. Through the notion of the control paradox, the author shows how this lack of control can be motivating populism and demonstrates that a better understanding of delegation would be a possible solution.
Cybersecurity expert Theresa Payton tells battlefront stories from the global war being conducted through clicks, swipes, internet access, technical backdoors and massive espionage schemes. She investigates the cyberwarriors who are planning tomorrow’s attacks, weaving a fascinating yet bone-chilling tale of Artificial Intelligent mutations carrying out attacks without human intervention, “deepfake†videos that look real to the naked eye, and chatbots that beget other chatbots. Finally, Payton offers readers telltale signs that their most fundamental beliefs are being meddled with and actions they can take or demand that corporations and elected officials must take before it is too late.Â
Many scientists today are working to retard the aging process in humans so as to increase both life expectancy and the quality of life. Over the past decade impressive results have been achieved in targeting the mechanisms and pathways of aging. In "The Quest for Human Longevity," Lewis D. Solomon considers these scientific studies by exploring the principal biomedical anti-aging techniques. The book also considers cutting edge research on mental enhancements and assesses the scientific doubts of skeptics. "The Quest for Human Longevity" is also about business. Solomon examines eight corporations pursuing various age-related interventions, profiling their scientific founders and top executives, and examining personnel, intellectual property, and financing for each firm. Academic scientists form the link between research and commerce. Solomon notes that the involvement of university scientists and researchers follows one of two models. The first is a traditional model in which scientists leave academia to work for a corporation or remain in academia and obtain business support for their research. The second is a modern model in which scientists use their intellectual property as a catalyst for acquiring equity interests in the firms they organize. Critics have pointed to the dangers of commercialized science, but Solomon's analysis, on balance, finds that the benefits outweigh the costs and that problems of secrecy and conflicts of interest can be addressed. If scientists succeed in unlocking the secrets of aging and developing drugs or therapies that will allow us to live decades longer, the consequences for society will include profound social, political, economic, and ethical questions. Solomon deals with the public policy aspects of significant life extension and looks at the conflict between those who advocate the acceptance of mortality and the partisans of life. "The Quest for Human Longevity" will be of interest to policymakers, sociologists, scientists, and students of business, as well as general readers interested in these compelling issues. "Lewis D. Solomon" is Theodore Rinehart Professor of Business Law at George Washington University Law School. A prolific author on legal, business, public policy, and religious topics, he has written over fifty books and numerous articles. He is an ordained rabbi and interfaith minister.
In recent decades, government-funded technologies have produced radar, microwave ovens, modern cell phone systems, the Internet, new materials for aircraft and motor vehicles, and new medical instrumentation. This first-of-its-kind book examines how access to technology is affected by government policies and government-sponsored programs. Government Policy and Program Impacts on Technology Development, Transfer, and Commercialization: International Perspectives provides an easy-to-read overview of the field and several studies serving as examples to guide government policymakers and private sector decision makers. This forward-looking book also forecasts the potential impacts of government regulation upon the field and presents provocative discussions of the ethical implications of the cross-cultural and cross-national challenges facing technologically developed nations in the global economy. This book reviews this broad field by first providing an overview of the goals of government technology policies and programs as well as of generic types of government technology programs. Next, it presents carefully selected studies that illustrate the potential impacts of government decisions upon marketing constraints, industry acceptance of regulatory requirements, economic development, gross domestic product, and the choices firms make when it comes to location, competitiveness, product development, and other factors. The final chapters explore ethical considerations from a global perspective. These chapters also explore the implications of these considerations in relation to the success of governmental and private sector technology transfer and commercialization programs. The macromarketing perspective taken by the contributors serves to ground the impacts of government technology policies and programs in practical implications for economic development, business productivity, and quality of life. The contributors to this unique collection share their expertise on government sponsorship of technology research, the impact of government regulation upon technology marketing and economic development, the effects of government policies on business practices, intellectual property rights, and much more. Government Policy and Program Impacts on Technology Development, Transfer, and Commercialization shows how evolving technology and government policy changes have affected: the commercialization of musicnew media, piracy problems, consumer choices and costs, and changes in the radio and concert promotion industries the adoption of new household technology licensure requirements for telemedicinewith an essential overview of telemedicine plus examinations of relevant governmental regulations and potential applications patents, copyrights, trademarks, licensing, and proprietary information scrap tire disposalnew alternatives for a chronic waste disposal problem food product development state-owned enterpriseswith a case study illustrating how a stagnant state-owned company quickly evolved into China's leading firm in the textile machinery field
In recent decades, government-funded technologies have produced radar, microwave ovens, modern cell phone systems, the Internet, new materials for aircraft and motor vehicles, and new medical instrumentation. This first-of-its-kind book examines how access to technology is affected by government policies and government-sponsored programs. Government Policy and Program Impacts on Technology Development, Transfer, and Commercialization: International Perspectives provides an easy-to-read overview of the field and several studies serving as examples to guide government policymakers and private sector decision makers. This forward-looking book also forecasts the potential impacts of government regulation upon the field and presents provocative discussions of the ethical implications of the cross-cultural and cross-national challenges facing technologically developed nations in the global economy. This book reviews this broad field by first providing an overview of the goals of government technology policies and programs as well as of generic types of government technology programs. Next, it presents carefully selected studies that illustrate the potential impacts of government decisions upon marketing constraints, industry acceptance of regulatory requirements, economic development, gross domestic product, and the choices firms make when it comes to location, competitiveness, product development, and other factors. The final chapters explore ethical considerations from a global perspective. These chapters also explore the implications of these considerations in relation to the success of governmental and private sector technology transfer and commercialization programs. The macromarketing perspective taken by the contributors serves to ground the impacts of government technology policies and programs in practical implications for economic development, business productivity, and quality of life. The contributors to this unique collection share their expertise on government sponsorship of technology research, the impact of government regulation upon technology marketing and economic development, the effects of government policies on business practices, intellectual property rights, and much more. Government Policy and Program Impacts on Technology Development, Transfer, and Commercialization shows how evolving technology and government policy changes have affected: the commercialization of musicnew media, piracy problems, consumer choices and costs, and changes in the radio and concert promotion industries the adoption of new household technology licensure requirements for telemedicinewith an essential overview of telemedicine plus examinations of relevant governmental regulations and potential applications patents, copyrights, trademarks, licensing, and proprietary information scrap tire disposalnew alternatives for a chronic waste disposal problem food product development state-owned enterpriseswith a case study illustrating how a stagnant state-owned company quickly evolved into China's leading firm in the textile machinery field |
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