Science and Technology Communication for Development

Climate change is a pervasive global issue that threatens the livelihoods and wellbeing of billions living globally. Climate change is a risk multiplier impacting all ecosystems, society, and sectors of the economy. The agriculture sector is one such sector that is highly vulnerable to changes in climate. In a country like Nepal where rainfed agriculture is a dominant occupation and a key pillar of the country’s economy, climate change brings risks and negative consequences for on-farm production, farmers' livelihoods as well as on the country’s development. The impacts of climate change including rising temperatures, an increase in the frequency or intensity of extreme weather events such as drought, and shifts in the rainfall seasonality, can cause a decline in food production and threaten the quality of food supplies, leading to reduced food security. The rise in the global population will increase global demand for food which implies that agriculture needs to boost production and increase yields, among other things. The unprecedented risks posed by climate change potentially undermine the ability of farms and farm holders to grow adequate and quality food. The severity of these risks varies due to a range of underlying factors including low economic development, their location, existing biophysical and socioeconomic conditions, and institutional arrangements. While the impacts of climate change on food production as well as agricultural practices in Nepal have been documented, there is a dearth in scholarly literature that has assessed the impacts of climate change on household food security in Nepal incorporating farmers’ perspectives and in particular smallholder subsistence farmers. Furthermore, there is only modest literature that has examined geographical variations in those experiences and understandings. This PhD study aimed, therefore, to investigate the effects of climate change on agricultural practices and food security, with a focus on subsistence smallholder farmers in three main agro- ecological zones of Nepal known as The Mountains, Hills, and the Terai. The study aimed to respond to the primary research question: How are Nepalese farming communities being impacted by climate change and how are they responding to ensure their continued food security? To answer this main research, question the study posed the following secondary research questions: Q1. How is climate changing and how is it impacting subsistence agriculture? Q2. What are the farmers experiencing and what is their understanding? a. Are there gender differences in understanding and experiencing? Q3. What is the state of food insecurity among these farmers? a. How is it being impacted by climate change? Q4. What adaptation strategies have been adopted by smallholder farmers to address threats to agricultural practices and food security from climate change and other pressures? Both the qualitative and qualitative data were collected using multiple methods to address the identified research questions. Methods included a narrative literature review, systematic review, face to face interviews with farmers, individual interviews with key informants and focus groups with the women's group. Climate data on temperature between 1971-2013 and rainfall between 1967-2013 were analysed. Additionally, secondary data on crop yield from 1980 to 2016 were also analysed to gain a better empirical understanding of the relations between climate change and yield pattern and to triangulate and validate the findings from the interviews. Quantitative data on cereal crop yields and climate data were systematically tabulated and further statistically analysed using software R. This study employed the Bayesian approach to statistical modelling. Besides, this study undertook an integrated risk assessment of food insecurity using the Bayesian Belief Network model to reflect how the risk of food insecurity is influenced under two scenarios: (1) current climate conditions and (2) the influences of different adaptation strategies employed. NVivo was used for content analysis for qualitative data obtained from the key informant interview and focus group data and analysis of transcripts from farmers' structured interviews. The findings showed that agricultural practices have undergone various changes over the past 30 years. Climate change impacts were experienced by farmers in all three agro-ecological zones of Nepal. However, the impacts varied between these zones in terms of frequency and intensity. The effect of climate change was highly pronounced in the Mountains zone followed by the Hills and the Terai. The results confirmed that rural subsistence smallholder farmers dependent on rainfed agriculture are vulnerable to climate change impacts. Moreover, it disproportionately affects the poor farmers whose income hinges solely on agriculture and associated activities. Boosting agricultural production and empowering these smallholders is key to enhancing their food security. The experiences reported by farmers are well aligned with the trend of the climatic variables obtained from climate data analysis, highlighting the importance of perception-based survey in complementing climate research. The study demonstrated both the climatic and non-climatic factors are affecting agricultural practices as well as household food security of these farming communities. It is, therefore, difficult to isolate the influence of any of these factors. This was supported by the findings from the risk assessment undertaken by Bayesian modelling. Based on Bayesian modelling, the smallholder farmers mainly at the Mountain zone were at the risk of food insecurity. The measures to increase the adaptive capacity of these smallholders were found to help them manage the risk of food insecurity. Addressing the complicated and multifaceted concerns of climate change and food security needs multidisciplinary and multisectoral adaptation interventions acknowledging underlying biophysical, social, economic, geographical and environmental circumstances. Farmers have taken some actions to adapt and reduce the worsening impacts of climate change. Nevertheless, farmers encountered several barriers in effectively adapting to climate change. This study concluded there is an urgent need for a transformative level of intervention that warrants a coordinated action and collaboration between relevant stakeholders working in this field, including governments and non-governmental organizations, to target the most vulnerable and the needy smallholder farmers addressing the constraints and pressures they face. Policy and decision-makers should work extensively and sensitively with smallholders to ensure the maintenance of their livelihood and to guarantee their food security. Combining local and scientific knowledge is needed to help direct research and tailor adaptation solutions that meet local conditions and needs.

This paper explores Habermas’ knowledge constitutive interests as a basis for clinical effectiveness. Clinical effectiveness and evidence based practice are clarified and Habermas interpretation of critical theory is introduced as an instrument which could arguably fulfil the needs of both concepts. The knowledge constitutive interests have the capacity to encompass science and evidence based practice via technical knowledge, the practical interests via interpretive knowledge and the freedom to change practice via emancipatory knowledge. This gives an opportunity for technical science and interpretive knowledge to facilitate the liberation of nurses via clinical effectiveness. The paper culminates in the presentation of a visual model to articulate this proposal.

Распространение научно-технических знаний и передового производственного опыта в 1940-1980 гг. (на примере деятельности Татарской республиканской организации общества «Знание»)

Previous studies have demonstrated that accessing external knowledge is important for organizations’ knowledge generation. The main purpose of this study is to investigate how the diversity and amount of organizations’ external scientific knowledge influence their scientific knowledge generation. We also consider the moderating effect of the redundant industrial scientific knowledge and the amount of technical knowledge from external technical cooperators. The social network analysis method is used to establish both ego- and industrial-scientific cooperation network, and ego-technical cooperation network in order to analyze the external scientific knowledge and technical knowledge. The empirical analysis is based on patent and article data of 106 organizations in the biomass energy industry (including firms, universities and research institutes), and the results show that organizations’ structural holes and degree centrality of scientific cooperation network have positive effects on their scientific knowledge generation. In addition, organizations’ degree centrality of technical cooperation network positively moderates the relationship between their degree centrality of scientific cooperation network and scientific knowledge generation. Furthermore, density of industrial scientific cooperation network decreases the positive effect of organizations’ structural holes on their scientific knowledge generation, while it strengthens the positive effect of degree centrality of scientific cooperation network on their scientific knowledge generation. Academic contributions and practical suggestions are discussed.

Editor’s introduction: building and deploying scientific and technical human capital

This article discusses training of the young people in a creative way. Although we clearly see today that there can be no social development without scientific and technical discoveries, no work on spirituality mentions the importance of scientific and technical knowledge, nor does it reveal the methodology of their study. Scientific and technical knowledge is also a reflection of the objective laws and requirements of spiritual development.

Phronesis was a term used by Aristotle to refer to the kind of tacit wisdom acquired from engaging in practical action, notably the governance of states or of households. It amounts to knowing what is good or bad, what can and should be done, and also how to do it. It differs from both philosophical or scientific knowledge ( episteme ) and from technical knowledge or know‐how ( techne ). By contrast with the first, it is practice‐focused – in other words, it is not just about what is true but also about what it would be good to do in given circumstances. It differs from technical knowledge in that it is concerned with evaluating and prescribing goals as well as with selecting means. Equally important, and more fundamentally, it is not equivalent to grasping some theory or having command over a set of skills – it is actually closer to a virtue, or a set of virtues, that is part of the character of the person.

Phronesis was a term used by Aristotle to refer to the kind of tacit wisdom that could be acquired through engaging in practical action, and reflecting on this, notably in governing states or households. It amounts to knowing what is good or bad, what can and should be done, and also how to do it. It differs from both philosophical and scientific knowledge ( episteme ) and from technical knowledge or know‐how ( techne ). By contrast with the first, it is practice‐focused – in other words, it is not just about what is true but also about what it would be good to do in given circumstances. It differs from technical knowledge in that it is concerned with evaluating and prescribing goals as well as with selecting means. Equally important, and more fundamentally, it is not equivalent to grasping some theory or having command over a set of skills – it is actually closer to a virtue, or a set of virtues, that is part of the character of a person. More recently, the concept of phronesis has come to be applied to the kind of practical expertise characteristic of experienced practitioners in professional occupations of various kinds. This usage has arisen, in part, as a reaction against moves to subject professional work to “transparent” accountability in the context of the “new public management” (Ferlie et al. , 1996; Pollitt, 1990). Thus, Dunne (1998) emphasizes the centrality of phronesis to good professional practice, contrasting it with any attempt to reduce the latter to technique that is governed by targets and subject to performance assessment. He traces interpretations of the concept through readings of Habermas, Gadamer, Arendt, Collingwood, and Newman, before explicating the relationship between techne and phronesis in Aristotle. In some respects “phronesis” is close in meaning to “reflective practice” (Schön, 1983), and also to those approaches to understanding professional expertise that draw analogies with art and craft (e.g., Fish, 1998). There is also a significant parallel with Polanyi's arguments about the role of tacit knowledge in scientific work (Polanyi, 1966). The concept of phronesis prompts questions about the role that the knowledge produced by social science can have in informing policy and practice. It is at odds, for example, with the idea that these can be “evidence‐based” (Hammersley, 2013).

This dissertation aims to investigate the development of research on Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in the organicist dimension of mental illness of psychiatry in Brazil, with the methodological approach of the Social Studies of Science and Technology (SSST), specifically the theoretical contribution of the social construction of illness. The objective of the study is to investigate historically and sociologically how the disorder came to be investigating with biological causes by Brazilian psychiatric practices. To identify the historical by which the boundaries of the disorder has a biological basis, a historical survey is done to resume the main research traditions of organicist shed of mental illness of Psychiatry in Brazil. Another historical survey seeks to identify the social contingences from the biological knowledge of ADHD. The proposal to investigate both historiographies is to analyses which social actors mobilized technical and scientific knowledge from neurology and biology to its current classification in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders -DSM-IV/RT and the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10). Then an investigation is carried out on the basis of scientific articles collected in SCIELO to identify the main social actors, the technical and scientific knowledge that are mobilized to investigate the ADHD, between 2007 and 2012, in Brazil. It was possible to verify, in most of the articles, that the knowledge of the pathology is done by researchers from the fields of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, which uses techniques based on neuroscientific paradigms for mental illness researches. It is interpreted that the neurological knowledge of the disorder, in turn, licenses the medical-psychiatric practices to treat certain social phenomenon as medical problems, under a social control of the individuals with the disorder treated as "abnormal" to get them back into their "normal" condition. It is proposed as an analysis that methylphenidate, the main drug therapy to the pathology, is a form of social control by Brazilian Psychiatry when they define the behaviors as ADHD. It also appeared that the studies are funded by pharmaceutical companies, the hegemonic social actor in the production of the scientific knowledge of ADHD. The relationship by the pharmaceutical industry and the scientific production is a way of legitimizing the administration of psychotropic drug methylphenidate as primary therapy in the treatment of the disorder. Thus, the relationship between industry and disease is a social phenomenon in which science has leading role in gauging the categories that can be considered disease.

78.2 Impact of Climate Change on the Health and Well-Being of Indigenous Communities in Australia

Quantitatively projecting the impact of future climate change on the socio-economy and exploring its internal mechanism are of great practical significance to adapt to climate change and prevent climate risks. Based on the economy-climate (C-D-C) model, this paper introduces a yield impact of climate change (YICC) model that can quantitatively project the climate change impact. The model is based on the YICC as its core concept and uses the impact ratio of climate change (IRCC) indicator to assess the response of the economic system to climate change over a long period of time. The YICC is defined as the difference between the economic output under changing climate condition and that under assumed invariant climate condition. The IRCC not only reflects the sensitivity of economic output to climate change but also reveals the mechanism of the nonlinear interaction between climate change and non-climatic factors on the socio-economic system. Using the main grain-producing areas in China as a case study, we use the data of the ensemble average of 5 GCMs in CMIP6 to project the possible impact of climate change on grain production in the next 15–30 years under three future scenarios (SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, SSP5-8.5). The results indicate that the long-term climate change in the future will have a restraining effect on production in North region and enhance production in South region. From 2021 to 2035, climate change will reduce production by 0.60–2.09% in North region, and increase production by 1.80–9.01% in South region under three future scenarios. From 2021 to 2050, compared with the climate change impact in 2021–2035, the negative impact of climate change on production in North region will weaken, and the positive impact on production in South region will enhance with the increase in emission concentration. Among them, climate change will reduce grain output in North region by 0.52–1.99%, and increase output in South region by 1.35–9.56% under the three future scenarios. The combination of economic results and climate change research is expected to provide scientific support for further revealing the economic mechanism of climate change impacts.

IntroductionClimate change's severe impact on human health is becoming increasingly evident, particularly for vulnerable populations with serious illnesses. Climate-related extreme weather events are expected to increase demand for hospice and palliative care due to rising respiratory illnesses, heat-related issues, waterborne diseases, and aggravated chronic conditions. Our scoping review aimed to investigate the existing literature on climate change's impact on hospice and palliative medicine (HPM). MethodsWe conducted a comprehensive literature search across various databases (e.g., Medline, EMbase, Web of Science, and Cochrane) using predefined climate change and HPM terms, resulting in 382 records. Following predetermined inclusion and exclusion criteria, 44 articles were selected for full-text review, and 20 were included for final analysis. In light of the limited literature on climate change's impact on HPM, we also sought narratives from HPM practitioners from across the world on their experiences in a changing climate. ResultsSix major themes emerged: 1) The impact of climate change on HPM in low-income countries; 2) Descriptive pieces on climate change, climate disasters, and HPM; 3) Morbidity and mortality after climate disasters in the seriously ill population; 4) Discussion of euthanasia during climate disasters; 5) Recommendations and frameworks for disaster response in the field of HPM; 6) Carbon footprint of hospices. Additionally, narratives from HPM practitioners highlighted the disruptive effects of climate disasters on seriously ill patients and their caregivers as disasters caused care interruptions, reduced access to crucial health infrastructure, exacerbations of illness, accelerated disease progression, and increased morbidity and mortality. ConclusionExisting research on climate change's impact on HPM is primarily anecdotal and descriptive, with a focus on climate-related disasters. Narratives from HPM practitioners worldwide underscore the disproportionate impact of climate disasters on seriously ill patients. Further research is necessary to comprehensively understand climate's intricate effects on HPM and to assess adaptable, mitigative, and resilient solutions against its adverse impacts.

Science communication and science education aim to expose citizens to scientific knowledge, which is increasingly becoming a prerequisite for effective participation in modern society. We aim to present a review of science communication and science education literature, for highlighting the need for and importance of narrowing the gap between the two communities. Our objective was to find what themes, if any, are common to the two disciplines, based on keyword searches of the literature, that represent overlap constructs between the two communities. We searched for academic articles published from 2000 to 2017 in three science communication journals and three science education journals, which contained the keywords science communication , science engagement and science understanding . A three‐stage literature review yielded 70 papers that provided the basis for common theme identification: (i) attitudes towards the importance of science communication, (ii) communication channel types and (iii) scientific knowledge construction. Findings reveal similarities and disparities between the two communities and the stakeholders they investigated. Both communities agree on the meaning of process and product science communication constructs. Yet, while the science education community mainly relates to the product construct, the science communication community mainly relays to the communication construct. We then discuss the value of fostering dialogue between the two communities. Our research contributes to raising the awareness of the value of maintaining ongoing dialogue between science communication and science education communities, accounting for the three common themes we have identified, implying that a common language is emerging, and the variety of stakeholders involved.

The Fridays for Future movement (FfF) has drawn a lot of public and academic attention in recent years. So far, studies investigated the organization, mobilization, and motives of the movement from different perspectives as well as the relevance of science for FfF. Mostly from an external point of view researchers looked at the types of science communication and its reception by the audience (i.e., framing theory). In this paper, we combine theories of science communication with the resource mobilization approach in social movement studies and thereby develop a theoretical framework for the analysis of the use of scientific knowledge by climate movements. We focus on the resource mobilization theory (RMT) and the notion of activists as alternative science communicators. RMT emphasizes the role of resources and organization to explain the success of social movements. Specifically, we regard legitimacy as a moral resource and analyze the importance of communication of climate scientific knowledge for FfF as a political movement. We argue that a climate movement like FfF relies on climate scientific knowledge which serves as a moral resource when climate activists refer to it to legitimate their claims. Empirically, we draw on a survey of more than 500 FfF activists in Germany, that was conducted as a mixed method study in 2020 and 2021. Our objective is to close a gap on the relevance of science for FfF activists from the inner perspective. Following the research question “How and why is scientific knowledge being used by FfF activists to mobilize people?” the findings indicate a rather strategic use of scientific knowledge as an end in itself within the movement. Unsurprisingly, we see that individual strategic use of scientific knowledge within the movement corresponds with the belief that FfF should include scientific knowledge in the general communication strategy of FfF. Moreover, our data show that activists overwhelmingly derive their goals from scientific knowledge and reject the idea that science could be used imprecisely just as an instrument to attain their goals. These learnings shed light on the question of whether science is used as a moral resource within climate movements like FfF.

Facing Global Environmental Change