Climate Of Opinion Research Articles

Communitarian economics

This paper discusses the role of Communitarian ideas in addressing the central questions of economic policy. Economic policy is never value neutral. One of the classic definitions of economics is “the science of allocating scarce resources to achieve specific ends.” In their eagerness to preserve their scientific status, economists tend to downplay the “ends” part of the definition or simply assume that one can take them for granted as being limited to growing the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). But in today's political climate of opinion, the question of society's common goals is a matter of passionate intensity.

Reading Public Opinion: The Influence of News Coverage on Perceptions of Public Sentiment

This study traces the effects of a purposefully chosen news agenda on the perceived and actual issue opinions of members of the mass public. Using a year-long, quasi-experimental design, the authors analyzed a newspaper's attempt to move community opinion and bring about policy change. They examined the success of these efforts from the perspective of their intended effects on public opinion and from the perspective of their unintended effects on perceptions of the broader political environment. Overall, their findings suggest that this strategy is extremely limited in its ability to bring about changes in the opinions of individual members of the mass public or even changes in the salience they attach to an issue at a personal level. Nonetheless, they find that this practice may have important effects on citizens' perceptions of the salience the community as a whole attaches to an issue and on their perceptions of the dominant opinion climate within their communities. Although these effects may not be identical to the goals of the news organization, the ability to alter the perceptual environment in which policy changes transpire implies that news organizations may be able to facilitate indirectly the very changes they seek

Preservation at the Sibley Music Library of the Eastman School of Music

Ideas, styles, and motifs of the past may lose their appeal in a certain period or climate of opinion, but this must not be final, for they may regain their validity at another time and under different conditions. It is therefore important to preserve in libraries and museums the monuments of past thought and productive activity. They should always be studied by specialists, for antiquarian purposes, if you wish, but they may also regain their life and relevance, it were, at any time, and what was dead or unknown to one generation may suddenly and unexpectedly become important for the next.(1) Preservation is directed toward retention of the products of human for a conscious the library becoming an instrument of this activity. Human embraces not merely what the word culture conveys when used in its narrow sense, but rather refers potentially to the whole activity of human life and endeavor. Its Latin source, cultus, perhaps reveals this better than does our English derivative. Cultus is (1) the action of dwelling or inhabiting, (2) tilling the ground and raising animals, (3) training and education, (4) personal care and domestic maintenance. Among its other meanings are adornment, rhetorical elegance, standard or mode of living, worship, and pursuit of interest. Only late in the list comes something like our narrower sense of culture, the state of being refined.(2) Thus, the library's mission for the documentation of human covers a wide area, but one traditionally concerned with the document, whereas the museum has largely assumed responsibility for the artifact. This is an orientation pregnant with significance for preservation. The term today is, on the contrary, a much broader term than its ancient Latin source. No longer is it simply the written word; both categories have expanded. The means of writing may be by hand, press, photographic apparatus, electronic instruments, or a combination of these; and the thing recorded may be the word written or spoken, unspoken sound, or image. At times the document may even be what we more traditionally consider an artifact itself, thus breaking down the barrier of neat categories, at which point the library meets the museum. All this the library endeavors to preserve for even historically conscious posterity, for in that qualifier lies an implication of the human intellect coming to grips with, acting upon, becoming involved with, and struggling to interpret, understand, and communicate the data that constitute the record of its own activity, data that possess a latent significance. At the beginning of his history of the Peloponnesian wars, Thucydides outlines his method and states his purpose, expressing the hope that his work will become a ktema es aiei, an everlasting possession. It is a phrase unfortunate in its translation, and one that calls to mind a beautifully bound folio volume lying cherished in some protective corner while gathering dust through habitual disuse. Thucydides himself makes clear that this is precisely not what he means, it is not to be an anognisma es to parachrema, a trophy for the moment. He intends that it be ophelima, for as many wish to study clearly what has happened and will happen again sometime, is the way with the human condition.(3) In attempting this small work I am not so foolish, or megalomaniac, to compare it with Thucydides' history except in two respects: the desire that it prove useful, and the belief that human experience is to some degree common and thus valuable for and capable of communication. Implicit in both is an important philosophical premise that, though disputed in some corners today, is the foundation on which the purpose of preservation rests. Indeed, it is the foundation on which the concept of the library is erected. It is essential consciously to make that link between the practical and the philosophical, lest in future years we lose sight of our goal, its purpose, and its significance to human life. …

Acclimation of photosynthesis to elevated CO2 through feedback regulation of gene expression: Climate of opinion

Although down-regulation of photosynthesis in higher C3 plants exposed to long-term elevated CO2 has been recognized in plants with low sink activity or poor nutrient status, the underlying molecular mechanisms remain unclear. This review covers aspects of rising CO2 on plant productivity in general, and then focuses on photosynthesis, biochemistry (stroma and thylakoid proteins, Rubisco activities and metabolites), and gene expression in tomato plants grown under ambient or elevated CO2. Taking into account these data and the recent discovery that glucose triggers repression of photosynthetic gene transcription, a molecular mechanism is proposed for feedback regulation of photosynthesis under high CO2. Different living organisms such as bacteria, yeast, and mammals have been investigated for the sensing mechanisms of the carbohydrate status of their cells, and this information is used together with some recent data obtained for plants to propose how hexose levels might be sensed in higher plant cells.

Review on internal mammary node irradiation

Randomized trials investigating the role of postoperative radiotherapy in breast cancer started in the 1940s in Manchester.’ Fifty years later there is no doubt that radiotherapy has a major infhience on local and regional tumour control, but its overall influence upon patient survival is still unclear. Over this period, Halsted’s radical mastectomy has given way to simple mastectomy, and later, in many cases, quadrantectomy or simply wide local excision; (in the UK at least) full axillary dissections have been increasingly omitted in favour of axillary sampling, or no surgery, although there is a strong recent trend to return to more aggressive axillary surgery. In this ever-changing climate of surgical opinion, it has, perhaps understandably, been difficult to establish precisely the place of the other local/regional treatment modality radiotherapy. At the same time, the value of systemic treatment has tended to overshadow this issue.

IMAGE VERSUS REALITY - CHANNEL TUNNEL IMAGE MANAGEMENT.

Keywords GOVERNMENT OF BERMUDA, MAUNSELL, KENNEDY & DONKIN TUNNELS, CHANNEL TUNNEL, MANAGEMENT, IMAGES, PROJECTS, PUBLIC RELATIONS, OPINIONS, COMMUNICATIONS TRANSMANCHE LINK CHANNEL TUNNEL UK, FRANCE... Show All

96/01134 European energy. Balancing markets and policy

In the current climate of opinion, the promotion of the market as a universal panacea for all economic problems has almost become a shibboleth in the formulation of policies. The main thrust of the argument is that if markets are freed from artificial constraints, particularly those imposed by the state, the result will be the most efficient allocation of resources that best reflects individual preferences, thus advancing public interest and welfare. Yet the economic literature has long recognised that, in reality as opposed to the theoretical ideal, there are circumstances where markets can and do fail. In terms of the energy sector, the following classify broadly the market failures involved.

Tobacco control: overview.

This chapter assesses the principal components of an effective tobacco control programme in relation to efficacy, reach (i.e. numbers of smokers influenced) and cost-effectiveness. National targets for the reduction of prevalence are most likely to be achieved through the use of high reach interventions such as fiscal policy and mass communications. Restrictions on smoking at work may contribute to declines in consumption, but advice from health professionals, though effective, has limited impact owing to low reach. Measures aimed primarily at youth can delay, but not prevent, recruitment to smoking. Media publicity not only reduces smoking, but also creates a climate of opinion in favour of effective measures such as fiscal policy. In the long run, health professionals can achieve more for their patients through the media than through personal advice.

European energy: Balancing markets and policy

The current climate of opinion in European policy making circles is firmly for the liberalization and the opening up of energy markets at the expense of a planned, coordinated, European energy policy. This paper examines both market and policy failures and argues that one solution cannot be judged to be unambiguously better than the other. It gives the grounds for justifying a European energy policy and looks at the principal objectives that the energy policy should aim for and the main methods by which these objectives could be met. Finally, the institutional dilemmas faced in implementing a Europe-wide energy policy are considered and conclusions are drawn concerning the aims and methods that a future European energy policy should incorporate.

Public knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about homeless people: Evidence for compassion fatigue?

Media reports suggest that the public is becoming impatient with the homeless--that so-called "compassion fatigue" has gripped the nation. This characterization of public sentiment could have important policy consequences-- restrictive measures can be justified by growing public impatience, and progressive housing policies seem feasible within a hostile climate of opinion. But evidence to support the compassion fatigue notion is anecdotal. We examine the issue by tracking the results of public opinion polls and by reporting detailed evidence from a nationwide random-digit dial telephone survey (N = 1,507) concerning knowledge attitudes and beliefs about homeless people. To be sure, the public sees homelessness as an undesirable social problem and wants something done about it. However, although the homeless are clearly stigmatized, there is little evidence to suggest that the public has lost compassion and is unwilling to support policies to help homeless people.

Information Cues and Indicators of the Climate of Opinion

This article explores the informational assumptions in Noelle-Neumann's spiral of silence theory. It is based empirically on data from in-depth interviews employing the “thinking aloud” protocols methodology, and survey data from Israel during the Intifada. Our respondents base their estimates of the climate of opinion on a broader, sounder, and more robust information array than the rather narrow and socially based overt opinion expression cues assumed by Noelle-Neumann. Different information cues are used for assessing opinion distributions and opinion trends. Aggregate trend analysis further supports the inconsistency between these alternative indicators of the climate of opinion. These results are discussed within the framework of structural constraints and major competing approaches to public opinion. The information environment is suggested to be the primary factor in specifying the role of social adjustment mechanisms versus event information in determining the direction in which public opinion evolves.

Chaucer’s Lollard Joke: History and the Textual Unconscious

Chaucer’s Lollard Joke: History and the Textual Unconscious

La place des Cryptogames dans la systématique actuelle

Abstract Systematic is more than a compilation of concepts and facts. It is a living science constantly being extended by men and women working in laboratory and in the field. To understand systematic is to appreciate how it was born and how it grows. Systematic has started thousand of years ago when mankind try to identify and to classify every plant and animal of its surrounding; then, with the development of new philosophical and biological concepts arose a plain science, especially with Darwin's evolutionary theory; finally, different scientific contributions acquired through new techniques authorized, during the first half of the 20th centuries, a best knowledge of various unicellular and pluricellular organism belonging to most of our planet's phylums. Despite scientific discoveries, from antiquity to the middle of the twentieth century, most scientists were content to divide the living world in two kingdoms, plants and animals although there were several scientists - biochemists, biologists, embyologists, paleontologists - to say that certain organisms such as plants and bacteria strongly differ from other plants and animals and to propose new classifications. The climate of opinion began to change in the 1960s. Because of the avancement of knowledge and largely because of the revalation, through biochemistry and electron microscopy, of fundamental affinities and strong differences on the subcellular level, arose new proposals for a multiple kingdom systematic. The one proceeded distinguishes five kingdoms, Monera, Protoctista, Fungi, Plantae and Animalia. This five kingdoms classification of the living world, successively propounded by Whittaker, Margulis et al., implies a new approach and a new perception of biology, especially of Botany which is splitted into four kingdoms.

A historical review of moiré interferometry

High sensitivity moire interferometry is now a technique in fairly general use. Its development arose from the efforts of a number of workers over a period of nearly 40 years. This progress is reviewed in the ligh of the individual contributions that have led to the presentday accurate and user-friendly systems. In the first instance, the story is related in approximate chronological order; the contributions of individuals and groups are outlined in more detail in a series of appendices. It will become apparent that moire has not developed in a smooth, linear fashion—rather, a number of people reacted to the problems they were asked to solve, in a particular manner, and using methods and equipment available at the time. This view of the progress of science and technology as the creation of a climate of opinion and opportunity is very much in line with modern analyses of the history of science.

Climate of Opinion: Public and Media Discourse on the Global Environment

Global environmental issues are among the most serious problems facing humankind at the end of the 20th century. This research focuses on what people understand about climate change. It compares the New Zealand public's discourse on climate change with media coverage in the preceding year. Instances of overstatement, over-certainty and confusion in the media texts are identified and analysed. There remains considerable mismatch between media reporting of scientific information and the public's understanding of that information. People greatly overestimate scientific scenarios for temperature and sea-level rises, a reflection of public concern about global environmental risks. They confuse the greenhouse effect and ozone depletion, blending information in a fashion typical of comprehension meltdown between related topics. People know little about the causes of the greenhouse effect. This misunderstanding is socially and politically disabling because it misleads people away from dealing with an issue at the heart of western consumer society—the consumption of fossil fuels.

Stratification and smoking: a search for class-based smoking lifestyles.

This study looked for evidence of distinctive smoking lifestyles among social classes. Data on smoking attitudes and behaviors were collected via interviews of a representative sample of residents of a major western Canadian city. Four indicators of social class position (based on two approaches to conceptualizing social class) were employed. Regardless of the indicator of class used, few attitudinal or behavioral differences between social classes were found. The results suggest that the multi-faceted approach to smoking prevention in Canada has fostered a general climate of opinion which is antagonistic to smoking. Sociological factors which can lead to misperceptions of the extent of social class differences in smoking are discussed.

The Press and Public Access to the Environment and Development Debate

This paper presents an analysis of some aspects of newspaper coverage of environment and development issues. In particular, Global Warming and the Sudan famine are used as case studies of the features of this coverage. It argues that there are few grounds for adopting the optimistic view, as taken by some researchers, that the press will sustain and deepen its reporting of these issues.The analysis uses a computer-based methodology in which a key feature is the use of full-text on-line database of the contents of four newspapers. This paper presents the first steps in applying this methodology to the investigation of press reporting. It shows how the broad quantitative indicators available from this source can illustrate comparative patterns of newspaper coverage over long time periods and a wide range of themes.The ultimate purpose of this analysis is to understand the processes which contribute to informing or educating public debate about issues that crucially affect the political and economic future of society. The argument is that the press docs educate the public (its readers) but that this process is highly selective, it can contradict espoused editorial policy, and frequently environment and development issues receive less prominence as their political significance increases. The analysis shows therefore that in many cases the coverage given to these issues actually declines even as their significance increases.The authors argue that a social solution is required if the press is to be re-established as a public educator in a more positive sense. Methods must be developed for monitoring and influencing the processes by which the press manipulates the climate of opinion whilst nurturing its readership. One approach to this problem is taken by the Education Networks for Environment and Development Project at Sussex University where the results of this type of analysis are used to inform an open network of workers in a variety of professional institutions. Future investigations will look in more detail at this concept.

Towards a new system of health: the challenge of Western disease.

Over the last three decades, the concept of Western disease has become well established. Medicine has approached this group of diseases by searching for new cures but has achieved relatively little success. We argue that medicine should now accept the failure of this strategy and place a major emphasis on prevention. The key objective is to change the climate of opinion so that prevention is taken seriously by the general population. The chief activity should be a wide ranging public education campaign so as to persuade people to live a healthier lifestyle. Medicine will require restructuring in order to carry out this work. Medical education needs to be reformed so that medical students receive the necessary training. This must be done as part of an integrated approach in which government, industry and medical research all play a major role. Governments should use taxation and subsidies in areas such as food and tobacco so as to shift consumption patterns towards healthier products. Governments must also tighten laws on tobacco sales and advertising, support health education, and improve food labelling. Industry must be made far more responsive to the health needs of the population. This should be done both by public education, so as to alter demand, and by government action. Medical research should change its emphasis from studying the detailed mechanisms of disease ("complex research") to studying the role of lifestyle factors ("simple research").

Helping patients recover from subarachnoid haemorrhage

Patients recovering from Subarachnoid Haemorrhage (SAH) have to contend with symptoms of post traumatic stress, poor quality information about their illness and a climate of opinion which is heavily biased in favour of cognitive and behavioural impairment. The results of a four year intensive follow up of one hundred survivors of SAH indicate that most of the anxieties surrounding their convalescence are unnecessary and can be relieved by appropriate and informed counselling.

Inventing a Climate of Opinion: Vannevar Bush and the Decision to Build the Bomb

Previous articleNext article No AccessInventing a Climate of Opinion: Vannevar Bush and the Decision to Build the BombStanley GoldbergStanley Goldberg Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Isis Volume 83, Number 3Sep., 1992 Publication of the History of Science Society Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/356203 Views: 25Total views on this site Citations: 17Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1992 History of Science Society, Inc.PDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Jamie Shaw There and back again: Revisiting Vannevar Bush, the linear model, and the freedom of science, Research Policy 51, no.1010 (Dec 2022): 104610.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2022.104610Bruce Cameron Reed Organizing the Manhattan Project, 1939–1943, (Feb 2019): 125–181.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-58175-9_4Aristotle Tympas “Like the Poor, the Harmonics Will Always Be with Us”, (Jan 2018): 75–122.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84882-742-4_4Bruce Cameron Reed Organizing the Manhattan Project, 1939–1943, (Oct 2013): 119–174.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-40297-5_4Barton J. Bernstein Scientists and Nuclear Weapons in World War II: The Background, the Experience, and the Sometimes Contested Meanings and Analyses, (Nov 2012): 516–548.https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118325018.ch32Peter K. Parides Science and Technology, (Apr 2011): 459–479.https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444395181.ch24Cyrus C. M. Mody Introduction, Perspectives on Science 17, no.22 (Jun 2009): 111–122.https://doi.org/10.1162/posc.2009.17.2.111B. Cameron Reed Arthur Compton’s 1941 Report on explosive fission of U-235: A look at the physics, American Journal of Physics 75, no.1212 (Dec 2007): 1065–1072.https://doi.org/10.1119/1.2785193Michael Dennis Book Review: Heisenberg and the Nazi Atomic Bomb Project: A Study in German Culture, Science, Technology, & Human Values 25, no.33 (Aug 2016): 380–385.https://doi.org/10.1177/016224390002500306Arthur Molella Eloge: Stanley Goldberg, 4 August 1934-16 October 1996, Isis 89, no.22 (Oct 2015): 312–315.https://doi.org/10.1086/384003Stanley Goldberg, Dieter Hoffmann, Alexei B. Kojewnikow, Fritz Krafft, Helmut Rechenberg Die erste Kernwaffendetonation am 16. Juli 1945 in Alamogordo, New Mexico – Vorgeschichte, Ereignis, Wirkungen Öffentliche Podiumsdiskussion, Berichte zur Wissenschaftsgeschichte 19, no.2-32-3 (Jan 1996): 157–182.https://doi.org/10.1002/bewi.19960190214Stanley Goldberg General Groves and the Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (Part II), Berichte zur Wissenschaftsgeschichte 19, no.44 (Jan 1996): 207–217.https://doi.org/10.1002/bewi.19960190402Larry Owens Vannevar bush: An engineer builds a book, Science as Culture 5, no.33 (Jan 1996): 373–399.https://doi.org/10.1080/09505439609526437Stanley Goldberg Groves and the Scientists: Compartmentalization and the Building of the Bomb, Physics Today 48, no.88 (Aug 1995): 38–43.https://doi.org/10.1063/1.881470Larry Owens The Counterproductive Management of Science in the Second World War: Vannevar Bush and the Office of Scientific Research and Development, Business History Review 68, no.44 (Dec 2011): 515–576.https://doi.org/10.2307/3117197Stanley Goldberg Groves Takes the Reins, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 48, no.1010 (Sep 2015): 32–39.https://doi.org/10.1080/00963402.1992.11460138 John Neu Current Bibliography of the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences, 1992, Isis 83 (Oct 2015): 1–286.https://doi.org/10.1086/356370