Foresight Study on the Risk Governance of New Technologies: The Case of Nanotechnology

Technology‐led innovation represents an important driver of European economic and industrial competitiveness and offers solutions to societal challenges. In order to facilitate responsible innovation and public acceptance, a need exists to identify and implement oversight approaches focused on the effective risk governance of emerging technologies. This article describes a foresight study on the governance of new technologies, using nanotechnology as a case example. Following a mapping of the governance landscape, four plausible foresight scenarios were developed, capturing critical uncertainties for nanotechnology governance. Key governance elements were then stress tested within these scenarios to see how well they might perform in a range of possible futures and to inform identification of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for nanotechnology governance in Europe. Based on the study outcomes, recommendations are proposed regarding the development of governance associated with the responsible development of new technologies.     

FAMILY CARERS: SOME IMPEDIMENTS TO EFFECTIVE POLICY AND SERVICE DEVELOPMENT

The shift to community care for people with disabilities in Australia has given rise to some recognition and acknowledgment, in both academic research and policy development, of the importance of their carers. However, information about government policy and services for carers is fragmented and limited. Our knowledge about the prevalence of caregiving and the socio-demographic characteristics of carers and their service needs, is inadequate. Studies in relation to carer use of and satisfaction with services tend to be small scale and focussed on a specific service or carer group. Carer views on broader mainstream service provision have received little attention. This paper identifies gaps in our knowledge as well as the practical and conceptual difficulties in documenting the range of services available and the relevant social policy. These difficulties are likely to reflect barriers to broad and effective policy and service development.     

Ambiguity and the abstract tact: A signal detection analysis

The Analysis of Verbal Behavior - Four observers who had completed a formal course in projective test techniques were asked to discriminate House-Tree-Person (H-T-P) drawings made by psychiatric...     

Sociology: Moral dialogues and normative change

Moral dialogues are one mechanism of cultural change, allowing communities to resolve conflicts and revise the fundamental norms and values governing their members’ relationships. This essay illustrates the moral dialogue process with the debates over sexual harassment in the Trump era. Victimized women launched a transnational “megalogue” that pervaded politics, business, entertainment, academia, and other spheres. It transformed norms, institutions, and enforcement of acceptable behavior in employment and in public, resulting in a new shared moral understanding. However, the fact that the President is not punished for immorality demonstrates that normative change ultimately requires the rule of law.     

Redesigning the curriculum for Social Work Education: complexity,conformity, chaos,creativity, collaboration?

Across the UK social work programmes in universities have been re‐designed for the introduction of the new degree. Despite its importance, the nature and process of curriculum design for social work is not well understood, and the research‐base is thin. With more detailed content requirements there is a potential danger of increasing conformity. The wider literature on curriculum design in higher education identifies different paradigms to conceptualise curriculum design, and has recently focussed on the extent to which creativity can be engendered within a highly complex context. Starting with these concepts, this paper analyses the issues for curriculum design in social work. Given the new academic and professional requirements, the interplay of practice and university‐based learning, and the engagement with multiple stakeholders, it is argued that this entails a level of complexity greater than that for many other disciplines. The value of complexity theory as a framework to understand the processes involved is discussed. The constraints arising from the short time frame available to re‐design the curriculum are discussed, with the danger of chaotic transition. It is argued that curriculum design for social work should be better understood, through research and debate, so that all participants may be better able to contribute through collaboration.     

Introducing the female condom to drug users in Brazil

Brazil is currently the number two country in the world for reported cases of AIDS, and the rate of heterosexually acquired cases is on the rise. Moreover, because of the changing focus of the epidemic, the ratio of male to female cases dropped from 28 : 1 in 1984 to 2.7 : 1 in 1997. While women's risk of infection continues to grow, there is evidence to suggest that traditional approaches to HIV risk reduction have not effectively addressed women's special needs. Within such a setting this study sought to introduce drug-involved women to the female condom – a female-controlled method of protection from HIV. As part of a larger HIV/AIDS intervention study targeting low-income, cocaine users, the primary aim of this initiative was to assess the level of acceptability of this new device among women at high-risk for HIV infection in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In conjunction with individual pre-test HIV prevention counseling, clients participated in a detailed education/demonstration session with the female condom. Women were asked to try the female condom with their partners and to report their experiences at two points of contact. Outcome data indicate that a sizable proportion (71.1%) of the sexually active women used the female condom during vaginal sex on one or more occasions. In addition, many women continued to use the female condom as a method of risk reduction over the three-month follow-up period. These data suggest that the female condom can have an important role in HIV prevention efforts in Brazil.     

Screening opportunity bias in case-control studies of cancer screening

In case-control evaluations of cancer screening, subjects who have died from the cancer in question (cases) are compared with those who have not (controls) with respect to screening histories. This method is subject to a rather subtle bias, among others, whereby the cases have greater opportunity to have been screened than the controls. In this paper, we propose a method of correction for this bias. We demonstrate its use on two case-control studies of mammographic screening for breast cancer.     

Healthy Living in Two Worlds: Testing a Wellness Curriculum for Urban Native Youth

The Healthy Living in Two Worlds project developed a wellness curriculum for urban, Northeastern Native American youth. The curriculum sought to increase physical activity, decrease or prevent recreational tobacco use, and increase healthy eating practices. The program was delivered in a summer day camp format to 16 Native American youth ages 9–13. These youth have considerable exposure to recreational tobacco use in their households and among their peers but they express an intention to resist pressure to use recreational tobacco products. Some of these youth do not eat regular meals, particularly breakfast and lunch. Program participants appear to be physically active and their activity seems to have increased after the program.