Expanding Access To Science And Technology

In order for the United States to maintain the global leadership and competitiveness in science and technology that are critical to achieving national goals, we must invest in research, encourage innovation, and grow a strong and talented science and technology workforce. Expanding Underrepresented Minority Participation explores the role of diversity in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) workforce and its value in keeping America innovative and competitive. According to the book, the U.S. labor market is projected to grow faster in science and engineering than in any other sector in the coming years, making minority participation in STEM education at all levels a national priority. Expanding Underrepresented Minority Participation analyzes the rate of change and the challenges the nation currently faces in developing a strong and diverse workforce. Although minorities are the fastest growing segment of the population, they are underrepresented in the fields of science and engineering. Historically, there has been a strong connection between increasing educational attainment in the United States and the growth in and global leadership of the economy. Expanding Underrepresented Minority Participation suggests that the federal government, industry, and post-secondary institutions work collaboratively with K-12 schools and school systems to increase minority access to and demand for post-secondary STEM education and technical training. The book also identifies best practices and offers a comprehensive road map for increasing involvement of underrepresented minorities and improving the quality of their education. It offers recommendations that focus on academic and social support, institutional roles, teacher preparation, affordability and program development.

Policy makers need information about the nationâ€"ranging from trends in the overall economy down to the use by individuals of Medicareâ€"in order to evaluate existing programs and to develop new ones. This information often comes from research based on data about individual people, households, and businesses and other organizations, collected by statistical agencies. The benefit of increasing data accessibility to researchers and analysts is better informed public policy. To realize this benefit, a variety of modes for data accessâ€" including restricted access to confidential data and unrestricted access to appropriately altered public-use dataâ€"must be used. The risk of expanded access to potentially sensitive data is the increased probability of breaching the confidentiality of the data and, in turn, eroding public confidence in the data collection enterprise. Indeed, the statistical system of the United States ultimately depends on the willingness of the public to provide the information on which research data are based. Expanding Access to Research Data issues guidance on how to more fully exploit these tradeoffs. The panel's recommendations focus on needs highlighted by legal, social, and technological changes that have occurred during the last decade.

This title explores the issue of innovation engineering, a feature that is essential to the continuation of growth and development in the commercial world. Discussion is divided into three parts: Part I covers the historical basis of innovation, noting that diversity rests upon a duality between concepts in theory and applications put into practice, as well as discussing how innovation has resulted from the interaction of numerous factors, be they societal, human, managerial, organization or technological. Part II focuses on practical applications – the technologies, tools and methods employed in putting theoretical innovation into practice – while Part III looks at what factors underpin success, discussing the social and psychological aspects involved in successful innovation engineering. Consideration is also given to recent developments and systems which will assist in ensuring the continuation of this process in the future.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Asia-Pacific Digital Libraries, ICADL 2014, held in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in November 2014. The 20 full papers, 19 short papers and 9 poster papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 141 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on digital preservation and archiving; digital repositories and tools; scholarly documents repositories; metadata and ontologies; linked data and knowledge sharing; digital books and e-books; digital libraries usage and applications; data management and classification; information retrieval and search methods; user skills and experiences.

The OECD Science, Technology and Industry Outlook 2014 reviews key trends in science, technology and innovation (STI) policies, and performance in more than 45 economies, including OECD countries and major emerging economies.

In October 2003 the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the National Research Council (NRC) entered into a cooperative agreement. The agreement called for the NRC to examine selected aspects of U.S. foreign assistance activities-primarily the programs of the USAID-that have benefited or could benefit from access to strong science, technology, and medical capabilities in the United States or elsewhere. After considering the many aspects of the role of science and technology (S&T) in foreign assistance, the study led to the publication of The Fundamental Role of Science and Technology in International Development. In the book special attention is devoted to partnerships that involve the USAID together with international, regional, U.S. governmental, and private sector organizations in fields such as heath care, agriculture and nutrition, education and job creation, and energy and the environment. This book explores specific programmatic, organizational, and personnel reforms that would increase the effective use of S&T to meet the USAID's goals while supporting larger U.S. foreign policy objectives.