Lessons from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on inclusiveness across geographies and stakeholders

There have been many calls in policy and academia for more inclusiveness in science-policy interfaces, but there is as yet insufficient clarity as to what such inclusiveness means and how to achieve it in the context of international organisations. This paper analyses how inclusive the IPCC is across geographies and stakeholders. Building on the distinction between access and active participation, it examines the involvement of developing countries and NGOs in the Panel’s assessment process.The analysis shows that more inclusive institutional set-ups in international science-policy organisations do not automatically lead to greater credibility, salience and legitimacy of knowledge production processes (Mitchell et al., 2006). For instance, inclusive access does not per se guarantee active participation as the latter depends on a variety of factors including resources and the capacity of actors to engage. Furthermore, in institutional contexts the idea of inclusiveness is necessarily subject to operational interpretations. How these interpretations relate to the representativeness of those who participate in the process affects the relevance of knowledge to its users’ needs. Finally, there are political elements to inclusiveness as more powerful actors may be unwilling to renegotiate the balance of power to expand access to stakeholders.The paper concludes that these nuances should be taken into account in the IPCC and other international science-policy institutions. It also urges the Panel to address the developing country participation gap and explore institutional avenues for expanding access to non-state stakeholders in order to increase the credibility, salience and legitimacy of its processes and shift to solutions-oriented assessments.     

Pedagogy for Sustainability Science: Case-Based Approaches for Interdisciplinary Instruction

Sustainability science represents a fundamental shift in the nature of research on environmental problems, calling for specialists to expand beyond their disciplinary perspectives in order to cooperate together to understand and address systemic problems. This shift demands a corresponding shift in education in order to equip students with the skills, theories, and methods they need to address contemporary challenges. We argue that case studies are a productive pedagogical approach to teaching about sustainability and teaching for sustainability. Case-based approaches equip students to encounter complexity, manage uncertainty, and generate innovative strategies. In laying out of the pedagogical challenges inherent in sustainability education, we highlight opportunities and demands for environmental communication scholars to contribute to the emerging discipline of sustainability science.     

Privacy-seeking behavior in an elementary classroom

This study observed privacy-seeking behavior in an elementary classroom, investigated individual differences in privacy seeking, and compared preferences for private spaces varying in degree of enclosure. Four privacy booths were placed in a fourth-grade classroom. A ticket system was used to assess booth use. Information on personality and background variables was obtained with self-report, peer, teacher, and parent questionnaires. After an initial period of enthusiasm, overall booth use declined sharply. However, analysis revealed substantial individual variation in booth use that remained consistent throughout the study. For boys, booth use was significantly correlated with teachers' ratings of sociability, aggressiveness, and distractibility. For girls, a significant positive relationship was found between privacy seeking at home and in school. Self-reported desire for privacy was uncorrelated with actual privacy-seeking behavior in the classroom. No significant differences in the use of the various booths were found, although self-reported preferences clearly favored the booth that allowed visual access to the rest of the classroom when desired.     

增强科学意识 提高安全科学技术水平

当前 ,我国安全生产形势依然严峻 ,各类伤亡事故和职业危害尚未得到有效控制。这种局面与现阶段生产力发展不均衡、安全生产科技含量低有直接的关系。为此 ,笔者在分析了安全科学技术对安全生产的保障作用基础上 ,就如何增强科学意识 ,坚持科学态度 ,树立科学发展观 ,推动安全科学技术发展进行了分析和讨论。以期不断提高安全科学技术水平 ,依靠安全科学技术进步 ,不断提升安全生产水平 ,保护人民的安全与健康。     

试论安全设备学的学科体系及知识结构——安全设备学导论

根据学科建设原理，从安全科学技术学科建设需要出发，提出了安全设备学的定义，论述了安全设备学的主要研究内容、目标和方法论，并对构建安全设备工程学的学科体系和知识结构进行了初步探讨     

Closure of Disputes in Assessments of Climate Change in The Netherlands

2 greenhouse gases in assessment studies. For the cases studied, we identify variability in the assessment reports in the Netherlands during the pre-IPCC period. In the Netherlands arena, the assessments in this period can be seen as exponents of two different lines, a Netherlands line and an international line. We seek to identify what factors were decisive in the selection processes that resulted in the closure of visible disputes (visible in or across the assessment reports) for both cases. Our analysis reveals a remarkable difference in the adoption behavior of two Dutch assessment groups despite a large overlap in membership. We provide evidence that it is not the paradigmatic predisposition of the experts in the committee that was decisive for the closure of visible disputes, but it was the context in which the experts operated and the commitments they had made in each setting.     

我国劳动安全卫生科技事业正在兴旺发展——劳动部承担的“九五”国家重点科技攻关课题已完成立项论证并开始启动

“八五”期间,劳动部组织的劳动安全卫生领域重大科技项目,首次列入国家科技发展计划并取得重要成果和显著效益;劳动部承担的“九五”国家重点攻关课题已完成预研和立项论证并进入项目攻关实施阶段;“重大工业火灾、爆炸、毒物泄漏事故预防技术研究”、“在役工业压力管道安全评估与重要压力容器寿命预测技术研究”、“典型作业环境粉尘危害及防护技术研究”及“激光安全卫生技术及激光加工安全工程的研究”四个重点攻关课题的完成,将为促进文明生产、保护职工安全与健康,为提高安全科学技术水平发挥重要作用;劳动部正在教育、科研、技术职称评审方面综合、协调、系统地开展工作,旨在建立一支体系完整的、相对独立的、高水平的安全科学技术队伍,加速我国劳动安全卫生科技事业兴旺发展。     

人体工程学及其未来

人体工程学在当今世界倍受瞩目,这是历史发展的必然。本文从这门学科的发展历程及它的研究领域展开论述,指出人体工程学的基本思想就是以人为本。随着科技的飞速发展,以人为本已经成为趋势理念,人体工程学已由自然状态走向自觉状态,文中引用很多实例证明了它的应用价值。在可持续发展的未来,人体工程学具有广阔的发展前景。     

Integrating scientific knowledge into large-scale restoration programs: the CALFED Bay-Delta Program experience

Integrating science into resource management activities is a goal of the CALFED Bay-Delta Program, a multi-agency effort to address water supply reliability, ecological condition, drinking water quality, and levees in the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta of northern California. Under CALFED, many different strategies were used to integrate science, including interaction between the research and management communities, public dialogues about scientific work, and peer review. This paper explores ways science was (and was not) integrated into CALFED's management actions and decision systems through three narratives describing different patterns of scientific integration and application in CALFED. Though a collaborative process and certain organizational conditions may be necessary for developing new understandings of the system of interest, we find that those factors are not sufficient for translating that knowledge into management actions and decision systems. We suggest that the application of knowledge may be facilitated or hindered by (1) differences in the objectives, approaches, and cultures of scientists operating in the research community and those operating in the management community and (2) other factors external to the collaborative process and organization.     

加强科技期刊编辑素质及能力的培养

科技期刊是以反映科技领域的研究成果及安全生产为主要内容的学术性刊物,科技期刊要坚持正确的舆论导向,促进学术理论研究与文化交流,注重登载论文的学术性、创新性和实践性。科技期刊编辑素质的高低是决定期刊质量好坏的一个重要依据。期刊编辑的能力培养也是办好期刊的重要因素之一,本文通过对当前科技期刊的编辑应具备的素质和能力的分析,对进一步提高期刊的学术论文质量的几个观点进行阐述。