Thesis (Ph.D.) in Biochemistry--University of Maine, 2009. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 218-226).

Thesis (M.P.H.)--University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, School of Public Health, 2008. / Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 46-04, page: 2055. Adviser: Tommy Douglas. Includes bibliographical references.

The thesis presents and inquires into a first person research story about the development of a ‘Community of Practice’ for asset-based rural development practitioners from across the UK and Republic of Ireland. It includes an account of how geographically remote members of the CoP were supported to come together over eighteen months to co-produce an online handbook called ‘Exploring Community Resilience’ (included as Appendix 1). Findings include: - Social networking and social media technologies can be powerful enablers of third and second person inquiry; - A compass tool (included here) can help hosts and curators make good design and facilitation choices as they host the emergence of complex, large scale social learning architectures (which this thesis calls ‘Digital Forests’); - Action researchers can benefit from developing skills as digital curators, producers of social media, and hosts of transformative learning processes; - Future generations of social media are likely to challenge the assumptions, methods and findings of this thesis. As we navigate our way into this fast changing future, it will be helpful to inquire into their impacts of new generations of digital technologies on our personal and collective psychological, cultural and social wellbeing.

The growing impact of online research communities and emerging technologies is creating a significant paradigm shift and consequently changing the current research landscape of higher education. The rise of online research communities exemplifies a shift from traditional research engagements, to online research communities using “Web 2.0,” in which communities of researchers are the basic unit of research engagement. As institutional practices become increasingly digitized, the role of faculty, scholars, and professionals are constantly reshaped and re-negotiated. The rise and use of emerging technologies in the field of research, has the potential to significantly impact the individual researcher, their institutions and ultimately the State. The project Critical Conversations Research Network is a part of a broader initiative undertaken by the Tennessee Board of Regents Office of Academic Affairs. TBR’s Critical Conversations for Jobs and the Economy is designed to complement Gov. Bill Haslam’s “Drive to 55” initiative, which aims to bring the percentage of Tennesseans with college degrees to 55 percent by the year 2025. (Haslam, 2013). The initiative undertaken by TBR’S office of Academic Affairs consists of: (a) Conversational interviewing of selected scholars and researchers across TBR institutions through video recordings of important and critical research topics that affect policy implications in the state of Tennessee, (b) an interdisciplinary journal called Critical Conversations Interdisciplinary Journal (CCIJ) dedicated to promoting dialogue on topics of importance among scholars across disciplines at TBR institutions. The journal provides a platform for critical conversations through which all disciplines can inform practice and practice can inform all disciplines, providing guidance for future public policy decisions and (c) the proposed Critical Conversations Research Network which is the focus of this paper. The goal of the Tennessee Board of Regents Critical Conversations Research Network (“TBR’s-CCRN”) is to connect TBR’s faculty, researchers and scholars in collaboration, dialogue and engagement, about pertinent research initiatives undertaken by individuals and institutions across the state. A secondary purpose is to highlight the practical implications of research for economic and workforce development and to assist policymakers to engage in data-driven and informed decision-making.

In recent years, madrassahs and their education systems in many developing countries - and specifically in Pakistan - have attracted much attention from researchers and policymakers at the local and international level. The main focus has been on the reform of madrassahs, their political activism and, more specifically, studies which attempted to investigate their alleged links with militancy. Moreover, madrassah education has been questioned for its relevance to the contemporary needs of individuals and societies. However, despite focusing on many dimensions of madrassahs, few studies have tried to understand madrassah education within the economic, socio-religious and cultural context of Pakistan. A number of publications have reached generalised conclusions about the madrassah education system in Pakistan. Inspired by this, and by adopting qualitative research methods, this study focused on two main research questions:(a) Why do people prefer a madrassah education and what type of factors shape their preference? (b) What are the socio-economic impacts of a madrassah education on individuals and at community level? Researcher conducted a field study of more than six months in the Chach (Attock) region of Pakistan. Different students, parents, madrassah teachers and key informants were interviewed to collect required informations. The findings of the study revealed that different economic backgrounds, parental religious interests, individuals' personal religious interests, and social norms and cultural values shape preferences for a madrassah education. Moreover, this study also revealed that there exist various socio-economic impacts of a madrassah education on individuals and at community level. However, a madrassah education has often caused conflict in communities. The study shows that while a madrassah education creates barriers to achieving modern skills and incomes, its social benefits are valuable for those living within socio-cultural constraints in rural areas. Specifically, it enhances the social status and agency of women. The study also shows that madrassah education is an opportunity for those who otherwise would have no other option to study. This study concludes that there is a need to re-think madrassah education within the economic, social, cultural and religious context of Pakistan. This study has practical implications for practitioners, madrassahs and researchers, and it also suggests further research related to madrassah education.

I den här uppsatsen undersöker vi relationen mellan vetenskapsjournalistiken och forskarvärlden med fokus på journalisternas kritiska granskning. Genom en kvalitativ studie intervjuar vi nio vetenskapsjournalister och tar reda på hur de ser på rollen som kritisk granskare av forskarvärlden. Vi utforskar hur de väljer ut forskning att skildra, vilka källor de förlitar sig på samt vad som saknas i dagens vetenskapsjournalistik. Resultaten visar att vetenskapsjournalister kopplar kritisk granskning till faktorer som att bedöma innehåll i enskilda studier, aktivt välja ut och välja bort forskning och kontrollera hur forskningsmedel används. Därtill kan det innebära att kontrollera vem som ligger bakom en studie och att sätta in forskningen i ett sammanhang. Många vetenskapsjournalister följer idag de stora vetenskapstidskrifternas pressreleaser, vilket gör att de effektivt kan ta del av det senaste inom forskningen. Samtidigt gör det att många medier rapporterar samma nyheter och att forskarvärlden ibland upplevs sätta agendan. I mer djupgående vetenskapsjournalistik är det oftare journalisterna själva som söker efter forskning att rapportera om. Rutinen för att granska källors trovärdighet fungerar i stort på samma sätt för alla: Man går till originalartikeln, bedömer innehållet och kontaktar oberoende forskare för kommentarer. De flesta uppger att de kontrollerar studiens omfattning och var den är publicerad. Vidare kontrollerar en del vem som ligger bakom studien och hur den har betalats. Journalisternas syn på vad som saknas inom vetenskapsjournalistiken varierar ämnesmässigt utifrån deras intressen. Flera anser att vetenskapsjournalistiken borde bli bättre på att sätta in forskningen i ett historiskt eller ett samhälleligt sammanhang.

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Submitted by Sandra Pereira (srpereira@ufrrj.br) on 2016-07-26T17:10:11Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2011 - Jorge Luiz dos Santos Junior.pdf: 2785492 bytes, checksum: 990333e796ea65f8c9af8566767bca47 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-26T17:10:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2011 - Jorge Luiz dos Santos Junior.pdf: 2785492 bytes, checksum: 990333e796ea65f8c9af8566767bca47 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-12-02 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cient?fico e Tecnol?gico - CNPq / SANTOS JUNIOR, Jorge Luiz dos. Science of the future: the research community and the nanoscience policy cycle in Brazil. 2011. 215 p. Thesis (Social Science Doctorate in Development, Agriculture and Society). Human and Social Sciences Institute, Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro, RJ. 2011. Insofar as nanoscience and nanotechnology (N&N) permit the manipulation of individual atoms to create new (organic and inorganic) materials and combinations they can be viewed as Man?s latest incursion in the sphere of his efforts to dominate, transform and recreate nature. They arouse various kinds of interest and stir up controversies typical of a risk society, provoking critical views of the future of humanity and bringing with them a set of uncertainties and disputes that are consubstantiated in the institutionalization of this sector. This thesis analyses the participation of the scientific community in the nanoscience and nanotechnology policy cycle in Brazil by identifying and interpreting the inter-relations of the various actors that make up the complex network associated to this study area. To that end an analysis is made of the government programs, the configuration of the research groups, the performance of the social movements and the role of corporations, using as a reference framework Agency Theory, Social Studies in Science Technology and Society and in Relational Sociology. The Structural Analysis of Social Networks also serves as an important working method. The research concludes that a scientific community exists largely composed of actors from the fields of physics and chemistry, with special rights of entry in the entire policy cycle thereby revealing the State?s effective permeability in questions of science and technology policies. The fact has led to a considerable weakness of policy in regard to studies of ethical impacts, environmental risks or the participation of other fields of research in the discussions on the directions of science and technology in Brazil. / SANTOS JUNIOR, Jorge Luiz dos. Ci?ncia do futuro: a comunidade de pesquisa e o ciclo da pol?tica de nanoci?ncia no Brasil. 2011. 215 p. Tese (Doutorado de Ci?ncias Sociais em desenvolvimento, Agricultura e Sociedade). Instituto de Ci?ncias Humanas e Sociais, Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro, RJ. 2011. A nanoci?ncia e a nanotecnologia (N&N), ao permitirem a manipula??o de ?tomos individualizados para criar novos elementos e mat?rias (org?nicos e inorg?nicos), podem ser compreendidas como a mais recente incurs?o do homem na tentativa de dominar, transformar e recriar a natureza. Despertam interesses diversos e acirram controv?rsias, caracter?sticas de uma sociedade de risco, provocando olhares cr?ticos acerca do futuro da humanidade, trazendo consigo um conjunto de incertezas e disputas que se consubstanciam na institucionaliza??o desse setor. Nessa tese analisamos a participa??o da comunidade cient?fica no ciclo da pol?tica de nanotecnologia e nanoci?ncia (N&N) no Brasil, atrav?s da identifica??o e interpreta??o das inter-rela??es entre os diversos atores que comp?em uma complexa rede nesse campo de estudo. Para tanto, foram analisados os programas governamentais, a configura??o dos grupos de pesquisa, a atua??o dos movimentos sociais e o papel das empresas, tendo como marco de refer?ncia a Teoria da Ag?ncia, os Estudos Sociais em Ci?ncia, Tecnologia e Sociedade e a Sociologia Relacional. Traz tamb?m a An?lise Estrutural de Redes Sociais como importante m?todo de trabalho. Ao final do trabalho, conclu?mos que existe uma comunidade de pesquisa, composta majoritariamente por atores das ?reas de f?sica e qu?mica que t?m entrada especial em todo o ciclo da pol?tica, caracterizando a permeabilidade do Estado no que toca ?s pol?ticas de ci?ncia e tecnologia. Tal fato contribui para a fragiliza??o da pol?tica no que concerne aos estudos sobre impactos ?ticos, riscos ambientais e ? participa??o de outros campos de pesquisa nas discuss?es sobre os rumos da ci?ncia e da tecnologia no Brasil

本研究旨於探討政策研究社群(STI policy research communities)在政策實務中所扮演的角色、與政策實務間的關係及互動，以及該社群隨著不同政策情境其所累積的知識結構。本文以英國科技政策研究社群SPRU及MIoIR為例，首先以Top-down的方式從整體制度及機構面進行探討，第二部份則進一步描述及探討SPRU及MIoIR這兩個研究社群在英國政策實務中所扮演的角色及定位。第三部份旨於探討在英國的政策研究及決策支援制度情境下，政策研究社群與政策實務間的互動關係，以及影響兩者關係的關鍵因素。第四部份則進一步探討如何橋接政策與研究之間的缺口，以及研究社群如何透過不同的研究成果擴散模式，進而政策產生影響與效益。第五部份，本文綜合英國科技政策社群所處之制度及機構情境、政策研究社群之知識產出、政策與研究之間的缺口、以及兩者間的互動關係，從Bottom-Up的角度提出一全面性的理論架構，填補過去文獻在探討政策與研究兩者間關係時，僅探討部份、或分析特定議題之理論缺口。 / The importance of scientific research which positively motivates economic growth has been widely recognised by governments of most countries in the world. A government needs to formulate policies for sustaining national developments, but a sound policy usually has to be evident by academic findings provided by academic researcher. On the opposite, an academic researcher can conduct research needed by the government only if they can be funded by the government. The mutual reliance on each other for academic researchers and the government as well as the relationship between them have been investigated previously in literature. The complex relationship between the government and researcher is modelled as “principal-agent relationship” (Pratt & Zeckhauser, 1985). The interdisciplinary STI (Science, Technology and Innovation) policy research, which seeks to solve socioeconomic problem at national level, creates knowledge much closer to what the government needs and can be used directly to inform policy formulation. The relationship between the government and STI policy research community is therefore much stronger and more sensitive than that between the government and other research communities. In the process of delivering research to policymakers, the agenda and concern underlying different interacting scenarios between actors are varied from academia, funding agency, governmental organisation and policy makers. Therefore, changing the way of communication is becoming important for academic researchers to make the whole process more smoothly or effectively. However, in this interacting process research actors not only need to turn around the language, but also change the perspective they view from different scenarios especially when there is conflicting interest or view exited between academia and politics. The purpose of this study aims to investigate in what way can STI policy research community influence policy as well as interaction between STI policy research community and the government by bottom-up approach, i.e. from STI policy researcher to the government and three different perspectives proposed by Allison (1971), i.e. 1) Bounded Rational Perspective, 2) Organisational Behaviour Perspective, and 3) Governmental Politics Perspective. This study selects the two prestigious research organisations in the UK- SPRU and MIoIR (formerly PREST) as the case study and a total of sixteen renown interviewees are interviewed, since the UK is the leading country in STI policy research and the most outstanding research organisations in the UK STI policy research community are SPRU and MIoIR which have contributed to STI policymaking since 1970s, interaction between the UK government and this research community are analysed. Further, the UK Technology Foresight programme undertaken jointly by SPRU and MIoIR is used as a representative event to demonstrate the responding strategy of STI policy research community to the UK government. It is found in this study that a successful contribution from STI policy research community to the government critically relies on appropriate responding strategies which are dependent on whom (on the government side) exactly the researcher is interacting with. A successfully interaction between researcher and the government takes a sound strategy which eventually lead to contribution of research to policy practice. Finally, this study develops several propositions for suggesting how to sustain effective policy contribution from STI policy researcher and sound interaction between STI policy research community and the government.

Orientador: Prof. Dr. Marco A. C. Sávio / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal do ABC, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Humanas e Sociais, 2015. / Nesta pesquisa analisou-se a atuação da comunidade de pesquisa brasileira nos primeiros cinco anos de constituição da Iniciativa Brasileira de Nanotecnologia, com o objetivo de identificar as estratégias adotadas por este ator ¿ a comunidade de pesquisa ¿ que garantiram e vem garantindo sua hegemonia na condução e definição dos objetivos e instrumentos desta política. Para tal, fez-se uso do instrumental teórico dos Estudos Sociais da Ciência e Tecnologia e da análise de documentos oficiais que organizam a Iniciativa Brasileira de Nanotecnologia, bem como de artigos jornalísticos sobre esta política. A análise realizada permitiu identificar duas razões que explicam essa hegemonia. A primeira delas relaciona-se ao papel ativo deste ator na construção do imaginário sociotécnico em nanotecnologia baseado na ideia de que a mesma é um elemento central para a promoção da competitividade e desenvolvimento do país. A segunda diz respeito a sua inserção nos espaços de decisão referentes a Iniciativa Brasileira de Nanotecnologia, que permitiu a este ator definir os objetivos e instrumentos desta política. / This study analyses the Brazilian research community¿s performance during the initial five years of the Brazilian Nanotechnology Initiative, with the objective of identifying the strategies adopted that have guaranteed the community¿s hegemony with respect to the orientation and definition of the policy¿s objectives and instruments. It draws on the Social Studies in Science and Technology theoretical framework, as well as the examination of official Brazilian Nanotechnology Initiative documents and media articles covering the policy, in order to identify two principal explanations for this continued hegemony. The first is related to the research community¿s active role in the construction of sociotechnical imaginary in nanotechnology based on the idea that nanotechnology is key to the promotion of competitiveness and country development. The second is associated with the community¿s protagonism in Brazilian Nanotechnology Initiative decision-making spaces, through which it has influenced the definition of policy objectives and instruments.