Browsing by Subject "Science"

Now showing 1 - 9 of 9
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    Affordable and equitable open access in the sciences: grassroots solutions
    (Taylor University, 2014-11-10) Odell, Jere D.
    In October 2014 Nature Publishing Group (NPG) announced that the journal Nature Communications would become a fully open access title. NPG, however, is not the first major publisher of scientific literature to adopt this approach to publishing. Recently, AAAS launched a new open access journal, Science Advances. Likewise, the American Chemical Society (ACS) announced a new, interdisciplinary, open access journal, ACS Central Science at the end of 2013. These efforts at NPG, AAAS and ACS are not risky, entrepreneurial ventures. In fact, they follow the successful launch of open access journals by Public Library of Science (PLOS) and by many large publishers of scientific journals, including: Springer, Elsevier, Wiley, SAGE, and Oxford. If the rise of open access publishing continues at the current, disruptive rate, more than 50% of the annually published articles would be published in open access journals before 2020. This change in how science is published comes with many benefits. In addition to increased readership and citation rates, open access speeds the dissemination of knowledge while reducing financial barriers for unaffiliated researchers and other curious minds. This change also introduces a new and sometimes unsettling information marketplace for authors and researchers--including, steep fees for article processing, worries about the rigor of review and fraudulent publishers. As open access publishing becomes more common, how can authors participate in the benefits while avoiding the pitfalls? What can new research labs and small universities do to support equitable access for the readers and for the authors of scholarship in the sciences?
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    Building Communities of Practice among Undergraduate STEM Departments to Foster Emergent Transformation: A Report on the Impact of Multiple-year Engagement within the PULSE Midwest and Great Plains Regional Network
    (American Society for Cell Biology, 2025) Allen, Taylor; Arriola, Paul E.; Breitenberger, Caroline; Klyczek, Karen; Marrs, Kathleen A.; Matzner, Steven; Miller, Kathryn G.; Powell-Coffman, Jo Anne; Thatcher, Mikayla; Biology, School of Science
    A vibrant ecosystem of innovation hinges on undergraduate science programs that inclusively deepen conceptual understanding, develop scientific competencies, and spark wonder and appreciation for science. To create this ecosystem, we need to influence multiple components of the system, including faculty as well as culture (i.e., rules, goals, and beliefs giving rise to them). Here we describe and evaluate a multi-institution community of practice focused on transforming undergraduate biology programs' organizational practices, behaviors, and beliefs, as well as instilling a sense of agency in community participants. The approach drew on three change theories: Community of Practice, Participatory Organizational Change, and Organizational Justice. Via mixed methods, we found that participation in the community catalyzed the flow of tangible capital (knowledge resources), grew social capital (relationships and identity), and developed human capital (creative problem-solving and facilitative leadership skills; sense of agency). In participants' home departments, application of knowledge capital was associated with increased implementation of the principles of the Vision and Change report. Departmental change was enhanced when coupled with use of capitals developed through a community of practice centered on creative problem-solving, facilitative leadership, conflict resolution, and organizational justice.
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    A Cataclysmorphic Prophecy
    (2021-05) Moore, Alex; Potter, William; Riede, Danielle; Winship, Andrew
    Our bodies and minds are incessantly morphing, driven by environmental stimuli. You could reduce the entire experience of being alive to simply being fluid and responsive. In considering the significance of this morphability, we should also consider the significance of “place”. This relationship with place is rooted in ecology, the branch of biology which deals with living things and their relationships with their physical surroundings. In my body of work I examine my own relationship with place, its effects on my identity, and my ability to morph.
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    In mice, a mother’s love comes from the gut
    (The Conversation US, Inc., 2021-02-08) Sullivan, Bill
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    Intellectual Property and the Right to Science and Culture: the Reports of the Special Rapporteur in the Field of Cultural Rights
    (International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development, 2016) Shaver, Lea
    In recent years, the right to science and culture has emerged as a leading conceptual framework for reconciling intellectual property law with human rights. The textual foundation of the right to science and culture dates back to the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 27 of the UDHR states: “(1) Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits. (2) Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.” Despite clear grounding in the international human rights documents, this particular provision has long suffered from obscurity and confusion about its meaning. Fortunately, a new wave of scholarship provides a more solid conceptual foundation for the right to science and culture. This new literature understands the right to science and culture as having two complementary aspects. The “protection” aspect of the right calls for attention to the moral and material interests of authors and scientists. The “participation” aspect emphasises inclusion in the processes of creative expression and scientific discovery, as well as access to the fruits of cultural and technological creativity. This dual nature allows the right to science and culture to play a unique role in intellectual property debates. The encounter between the international human rights and IP regimes had previously been framed strongly in terms of conflict between IP protection and human rights demands. In contrast, the right to science and culture frames both protection and access in human rights terms. It thus points towards solutions in the nature of integrating and reconciling intellectual property and human rights principles, rather than asserting the primacy of one set of interests over the other. These ideas have now found acceptance within the United Nations system. The UN Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights, Farida Shaheed, first offered a detailed and authoritative interpretation of the right to science in a May 2012 report adopted by the UN Human Rights Council (A/HRC/20/26). Among many themes, this report considered the role of intellectual property in shaping enjoyment of the right to science. Between 2013 and 2015, the Special Rapporteur decided to focus even further on understanding and explaining the relationship between intellectual property and the right to science and culture. This subsequent work ultimately resulted in two major reports by the Special Rapporteur, one focused on copyright (A/HRC/28/57) and the other on patents (A/70/279). This short article examines the origins, development, and conclusions of these two reports. I had the privilege to serve as a consultant to the Special Rapporteur in this process, producing drafts, participating in all meetings organised to solicit expert feedback on the drafts, and collaborating on their finalisation. My aim here is to provide an accessible overview of the substance of these reports, as well as to take the reader “behind the scenes” to appreciate some of the challenges and difficulties encountered during the process to provide insight on the choices ultimately made.
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    Is there gender bias in research grant success in social sciences?: Hong Kong as a case study
    (Springer, 2020) Yip, Paul Siu Fai; Xiao, Yunyu; Wong, Clifford Long Hin; Au, Terry Kit Fong; School of Social Work
    Despite growing attention to gender disparities in higher education, women in academia still receive less research funding and recognition. Previous research on this gender gap has focused on biomedical, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in the West—relatively silent on social sciences and Asia. This study examined how well staff gender, submission rate, success rate, and amount per award could predict annual changes in the number and amount of grant funding for academic years 2015/2016–2020/2021 in the Faculty of Social Science at the University of Hong Kong, a leading institution in social sciences in Asia. Decomposition analysis revealed that, compared to men, women had higher submission rates, which significantly contributed to an increase in the number of awards for the University in recent years in two major funding mechanisms (namely, General Research Fund and Early Career Scheme), especially from 2019/2020 to 2020/2021. Women also outperformed men in the success rate in the Early Career Scheme (i.e., within the first three years of faculty appointment). Both submission rate and success rate contributed to changes in award number and the total amount for the University over time. Overall, women had a higher submission rate, successful rate, and amount per award than their male counterparts. We have identified good practices and distinctive contextual factors in Hong Kong that likely contribute to the lack of gender bias for research grant application results in Social Sciences.
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    Making Science Make Sense: Applied Improvisation in Health and Life Sciences
    (Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, 2016-04-08) Hoffmann-Longtin, Krista; Rossing, Jonathan
    Abstract Both in and out of the classroom, physicians and scientists must speak in a way that generates excitement about their disciplines (Berrett, 2014). They also must communicate vividly to funders and policy makers about their work and why it matters. In every context, these experts must tell engaging stories, respond spontaneously to the needs of the moment, and explain their work in terms nonscientists can understand. In response, some universities have turned to the techniques of improvisational theater to help scientists to speak more spontaneously, responsively, and engagingly. Over the past year, we have conducted a series of workshops (N=54) for a variety of audiences including, doctoral and post-doc students in the sciences, for educators, for physicians and research scientists, and for doctoral nursing students. The workshops help participants make stronger connections to their multiple audiences. They include content on improvisation skills such as presence and listening, acceptance, recognizing offers, and storytelling to help scientists translate their research in ways that engage their audiences. This approach moves faculty toward understanding communication as a process of collaborative meaningmaking, thus helping them to address the “curse of knowledge” by which experts forget the time when they were novices in their field (Bass, 2015). This poster will report on four key areas of the intervention and evaluation: 1) the need for communication training in the health professions and sciences, 2) the development of the programs, 3) the program efficacy and outcomes. Higher education presents unique challenges for the practice of applied improvisation. While enthusiasm for the work has grown in industry, some audiences within the academy seem resistant to the methods, especially within the sciences. This poster will also address the ways expertise, prestige, and rank affect the practice of applied improvisation in higher education, and we will propose strategies for mitigating resistance.
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    The Right to Science and Culture
    (Wisconsin Law Review, 2010) Shaver, Lea
    The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: “Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.” This Article suggests how this text may offer a philosophical and legal basis to constrain the further expansion of protectionism in international IP law. Drawing on accepted methodologies of human rights interpretation and recent research from legal and economic scholars on the value of preserving the knowledge commons, the Article offers a theory of “the right to science and culture” as requiring a public goods approach to knowledge innovation and diffusion. The Article then translates this public goods theory into concrete guidance for policy makers seeking to implement human rights obligations, and for jurists asked to adjudicate rights-based challenges to copyright and patent laws. In conclusion, this Article suggests that reviving attention to this long-marginalized provision of international public law may provide an important rhetorical and legal tool with which to open up new possibilities for sensible IP reform.
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    School of Science Open Access Policy 5-Year Report
    (IUPUI University Library, 2019-10-22) Center for Digital Scholarship