Public understanding

Promotes pollution prevention, the use of safer chemicals through regulatory and vohmtaiy efforts, risk reduction so as to minimize exposure to existing substances such as lead, asbestos, dioxin, and polychlorinated biphenyls, promotes the public understanding of risks by providing understandable, accessible and complete information on chemical risks. 

Engineers consider the consequences of their work and societal issues pertinent to it and seek to extend public understanding of those relationships. 

Marijn R Meijer is a part time PhD student at the Freudenthal Institute for Science and Mathematics Education at Utrecht University, The Netherlands. The object of his research is macro-micro thinking using stracture-property relations. He took a MSc in Chemical Engineering Science and a Postgraduate Certificate in Education in Chemistry and The Science of Public Understanding at The University of Twente. He is a teacher in both subjects for 11 years in secondary (high) school. He participates in several innovative projects related to recent developments on the chemistry curriculum in The Netherlands. 

While public understanding of nuclear issues may lack sophistication and is often based on inadequate or even misleading information, the public s assessments are not irrational. Having been told over many years that spent fuel is nuclear waste, it is only natural that the public should insist on its disposal. If and when effectively informed ofthe fact that spent fuel is not a waste but an energy resource, there is every reason to believe that the public will reject its deliberate burial and favor its storage under secure conditions, just as it now favors consuming, rather than immobilizing, surplus weapons plutonium. 

Frewer, LJ. and Shepherd, R. 1994. Attributing information to different sources Effects on the perceived qualities of information, on the perceived relevance of information, and on attitude formation. Public Understand. Sci. 3, 385-401. 

The establishment of standards is important to product acceptance and broader public understanding of the overall safety of fuel cells. 

Public understanding of the dangers and uses of CBR is needed, if proper support is to be given to our defenses and countermeasures. 

We are in a research and development race with the Soviet Union, whether for peaceful or military purposes. Full public understanding and support of CBR efforts is needed. 

Union, whether it be for peaceful or military purposes. The study by this committee of CBR reinforces our general view of the urgency of the overall race and necessity of full public understanding and support of science and technology everywhere in our nation. 

AAAS. The American Association for the Advancement of Science was founded in 1848 and incorporated in 1874. Its objectives are to further the work of scientists, to facilitate cooperation among them, to foster scientific freedom and responsibility, to improve the effectiveness of science in promoting human welfare, to advance education in science, and to increase public understanding and appreciation for the importance and promise of the methods of science in human progress. The AAAS head quarters is in Washington, DC. Additional information on the AAAS can be found at htlp //www.aaas.org/ and http //www.sciencemag.org/. 

The European Physical Society has emphasized the increasing role of physics and its education, and has also expressed concern about public understanding of the role of physics [332]. 

The committee recommends that biomarker researchers, public or private, should adhere to appropriate statistical principles when sampling populations for biomonitoring. Editors of peer-reviewed journals as well as agency administrators and reviewers should insist on explicit attention to such information to minimize the possibility of incorrect inferences—even more while the biomonitoring field remains exploratory and public understanding remains incomplete. 

Timotijevic, L., and J. Barnett. 2006. Managing the possible health risks of mobile telecommunications Public understandings of precautionary action and advice. Health Risk Soc. 8(2) 143-164. 

A 2006 Special Issue of the Energy Policy Journal (34(8)) analyses the European experience with eco-taxation and points to deeper underlying issues about the degree of public understanding and trust in political processes. A Swedish survey also underlines that attitudes to carbon taxation are directly related to the degree of trust in politicians, more even than an individual s own exposure to the taxes (Hammar and Jagers, 2006). 

Farr, R.M. (1993) Common sense, science and social representations. Public Understanding of Science 2,289-304. 

Hornig Priest, S. (2001) Cloning a study in news production. Public Understanding of Science 10 59-69. 

Petersen, A., Anderson, A., Allan, S. and Wilkinson, C. (2009) Opening the black box scientists views on the role of the mass media in the nanotechnology debate. Public Understanding of Science 18(5) 512-530. 

Schanne, M. and Meier, W. (1992) Media coverage of risk. In Durant, J. (ed.) Museums and the Public Understanding of Science. Science Museum Publications, London. 

Sharon Haynie closed the fundamental aspects session by pointing out the promise and perils of the bioinspired research. Haynie thinks there is promise because the public understands the current energy crisis however, overpromising the research can lead to peril by disillusioning and alienating the public. 

Our chemical heritage—the record of our achievements and our shortcomings—has a vital role to play in developing a more adequate public understanding of science. The past must be preserved, deployed, and made known. We all—whether Chief Executive officers, chemical scientists, school teachers, or representatives of the media—need a better understanding of the human dimensions of the chemical sciences. Chemical history, our chemical heritage, can help inform our decision making. A positive view of the past chemical achievements will lend a modest but firm realism to our plans for the future. 

In order to relieve the strains imposed during activation of a resin it is usual to pre-swell the copolymer with a solvent such as dichloro-ethene (ethylene dichloride) thereby easing greatly the steric resistance to activation of what would otherwise be a collapsed copolymer structure. By and large resin producers do not publicize, understandably, exact details concerning structure enhancement techniques employed during resin manufacture. Suffice it to say that compared with... 

Documentation of Silicones for Chemistry Education and Public Understanding... 

Keywords silicones, chemical education, public understanding... 

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