Towards Principled Responsible Research and Innovation: Employing the Difference Principle in Funding Decisions

Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) has emerged as a science policy framework that attempts to import broad social values into technological innovation processes whilst supporting institutional decision-making under conditions of uncertainty and ambiguity. When looking at RRI from a ‘principled’ perspective, we consider responsibility and justice to be important cornerstones of the framework. The main aim of this article is to suggest a method of realising these principles through the application of a limited Rawlsian Difference Principle in the distribution of public funds for research and innovation. There are reasons why the world's combined innovative capacity has spewed forth iPhones and space shuttles but not yet managed to produce clean energy or universal access to clean water. (Stilgoe 2013, xii) I derive great optimism from empathy's evolutionary antiquity. It makes it a robust trait that will develop in virtually every human being so that society can count on it and try to foster and grow it. It is a human universal. (de Waal 2009, 209) Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) has emerged as a science policy framework that attempts to import broad social values into technological innovation processes whilst supporting institutional decision-making under conditions of uncertainty and ambiguity. In this respect, RRI re-focuses technological governance from standard debates on risks to discussions about the ethical stewardship of innovation. This is a radical step in Science & Technology (S&T) policy as it lifts the non-quantifiable concept of values into the driving seat of decision-making. The focus of innovation then goes beyond product considerations to include the processes and – importantly – the purposes of innovation (Owen et al. 2013, 34). Shared public values are seen as the cornerstone of the new RRI framework, while market mechanisms and risk-based regulations are of a secondary order. What are the values that could drive RRI? There are different approaches to the identification of public values. They can be located in democratically agreed processes and commitments (such as European Union treaties and policy statements) or they can be developed organically via public engagement processes. Both approaches have advantages and disadvantages. For instance, although constitutional values can be regarded as democratically legitimate, their application to specific technological fields can be difficult or ambiguous (Schroeder and Rerimassie 2015). On the other hand, public engagement can accurately reflect stakeholder values but is not necessarily free from bias and lobbyist agenda setting. We argue that if RRI is to be more successful in resolving policy dilemmas arising from poorly described and uncertain technological impacts, basic universal principles need to be evoked and applied. When looking at RRI from a ‘principled’ perspective, we consider responsibility and justice to be important cornerstones of the framework. One could describe them in the following manner: Research and innovation should be conducted responsibly. Publicly funded research and innovation should be focused fairly on socially beneficial targets. Research and innovation should promote and not hinder social justice. The main aim of this article is to suggest a method of realising these principles through the application of a limited Rawlsian Difference Principle in the distribution of public funds for research and innovation. This paper is in three parts. The first part discusses the above principles and introduces the Rawlsian Difference Principle. The second part identifies how RRI is currently applied by public funding bodies. The third part discusses the operationalisation of the Rawlsian Difference Principle in responsible funding decisions

Incorporation of atmospheric 15NO2-nitrogen into free amino acids by Norway spruce Picea abies (L.) Karst.

During spring and autumn 1991, potted 6-yearold spruce trees (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) were fumigated with 60 nl1–1 15NO2 for 4 days under controlled conditions in constant light. Current and previous flush needles, the bark and the fine roots were analysed for total 15N content and incorporation of 15N into the -amino nitrogen of free amino acids. In addition, in vitro nitrate reductase activity and stomatal conductance of the needles were measured. Nitrate reductase activity was significantly higher in the needles of fumigated trees compared to control trees exposed to filtered air. With an average of 9.1% 15N, free glutamate was the pool with the most label. Taking into account the time-course of the labelling of this pool, this figure can be taken as an estimate of the minimum contribution of NO2 to the N nutrition of the needles. 15N-labelled amino acids were also detected in the bark and the roots, indicating export from the needles

Drawings as representations of children's conceptions

Drawings are often used to get an idea of children's conceptions. Doing so takes for granted an unambiguous relation between conceptions and their representations in drawings. This study was undertaken to gain knowledge of the relation between children's conceptions and their representation of these conceptions in drawings. A theory of contextualization was the basis for finding out how children related their contextualization of conceptions in conceptual frameworks to their contextualization of drawings in pictorial convention. Eighteen children were interviewed in a semi-structured method while they were drawing the Earth. Audio-recorded interviews, drawings and notes were analysed to find the cognitive and cultural intentions behind the drawings. Also, even children who demonstrated alternative conceptions of the Earth in the interviews still followed cultural conventions in their drawings. Thus, these alternative conceptions could not be deduced from the drawings. The results indicate that children's drawings can be used to grasp children's conceptions only by considering the meaning the children themselves give to their own drawings

Enhancing health and wellbeing through immersion in nature: A conceptual perspective combining the stoic and Buddhist traditions

A growing body of evidence from a wide range of fields indicates that physical activity in nature improves psychological health and wellbeing (Pretty et al., 2005; Howell et al., 2013; Passmore and Howell, 2014)

Sentencing as craftwork and the binary epistemologies of the discretionary decision process

This article contends that it is time to take a critical look at a series of binary categories which have dominated the scholarly and reform epistemologies of the sentencing decision process. These binaries are: rules versus discretion; reason versus emotion; offence versus offender; normative principles versus incoherence; aggravating versus mitigating factors; and aggregate/tariff consistency versus individualized sentencing. These binaries underpin both the 'legal-rational' tradition (by which I mean a view of discretion as inherently suspect, a preference for the use of philosophy of punishment justifications and an explanation of the decision process through factors or variables), and also the more recent rise of the 'new penology'. Both approaches tend to rely on 'top-down' assumptions of change, which pay limited attention to the agency of penal workers. The article seeks to develop a conception of sentencing craftwork as a social and interpretive process.1 In so doing, it applies and develops a number of Kritzer's observations (in this issue) about craftwork to sentencing. These craftwork observations are: problem solving (applied to the rules - discretion and reason - emotion dichotomies); skills and techniques (normative penal principles and the use of cognitive analytical assumptions); consistency (tariff versus individualized sentencing); clientele (applied to account giving and the reality of decision making versus expression). By conceiving of sentencing as craftwork, the binary epistemologies of the sentencing decision process, which have dominated (and limited) the scholarly and policy sentencing imaginations, are revealed as dynamic, contingent, and synergistic. However, this is not to say that such binaries are no more than empty rhetoric concealing the reality of the decision process. Rather, these binaries serve as crucial legitimating reference points in the vocabulary of sentencing account giving

Individual Rights, Economic Transactions, and Recognition: A Legal Approach to Social Economics

Modernity brought the idea of individual property rights as a com- plex phenomenon. However, economics adopted a simplistic view of property as a fundamental institution, understating the complex interaction of different rights and obligations that frame the legal environment of economic processes with an insufficiently elaborated tool. Here, a more elaborate view of legal elements will be propose

What is Donald Trump?:Forms of 'Celebrity' in Celebrity Politics

It is widely assumed that Donald Trump is a ‘celebrity politician’, and that he has cashed in his success on the reality show The Apprentice to secure political credibility and attention. In this respect he fits what Matthew Wood et al (2016) have labelled the ‘superstar celebrity politician’. This characterisation is the latest in a number of refinements to the definition and understanding of the celebrity politician. While this is a helpful move, I want to suggest that it might overlook one key dimension of the phenomenon. Definitions of the celebrity politician tend to focus on the source of their ‘celebrity’ – how they became famous, rather than on how they act out their celebrity role. This latter dimension features in media coverage, where journalists and commentators borrow from showbusiness to describe politics, but is less often analysed in the political science literature. It matters because, I want to suggest, celebrity politicians like Trump act as stars, whether of reality television, rock music or film. They do not just resemble stars; they are them. This is evident in how they are represented, how they perform and how their ‘fans’ respond to them. It is also symptomatic of wider changes in the conduct and form of the contemporary, mediatised political realm

Cycloreversion of beta-lactams via photoinduced electron transfer

The radical anions of beta-lactams, photogenerated in the presence of DABCO as an electron donor, undergo cycloreversion via N-C4 bond cleavage, back electron transfer and final C2-C3 bond cleavage, leading to olefins. The involved intermediates are 1,4-radical anions and 1,4-biradicals. The experimental observations are consistent with the results of DFT calculations.Financial support from the Spanish Government (CTQ2013-47872-C2-1-P, SEV-2012-0267, BES-2011-043706, JCI-2010-06204), from CSIC (JAEDOC 101-2011 co-funded by FSE) and from the Generalitat Valenciana (PROMETEOII/2013/005) is gratefully acknowledged. J. A. S. acknowledges the computational facilities provided by the Theoretical Computational Chemistry Group of Prof. L. R. Domingo at the Universitat de Valencia.Pérez Ruiz, R.; Sáez Cases, JA.; Jiménez Molero, MC.; Miranda Alonso, MÁ. (2014). Cycloreversion of beta-lactams via photoinduced electron transfer. 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Sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor 3 promotes leukocyte rolling by mobilizing endothelial P-selectin

Sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) participates in inflammation;however, its role in leukocyte rolling is still unclear. Here we use intravital microscopy in inflamed mouse cremaster muscle venules and human endothelial cells to show that S1P contributes to P-selectin-dependent leukocyte rolling through endothelial S1P receptor 3 (S1P(3)) and G alpha(q), PLC beta and Ca2+. Intraarterial S1P administration increases leukocyte rolling, while S1P(3) deficiency or inhibition dramatically reduces it. Mast cells involved in triggering rolling also release S1P that mobilizes P-selectin through S1P(3). Histamine and epinephrine require S1P(3) for full-scale effect accomplishing it by stimulating sphingosine kinase 1 (Sphk1). In a counter-regulatory manner, S1P1 inhibits cAMP-stimulated Sphk1 and blocks rolling as observed in endothelial-specific S1P(1)(-/-) mice. In agreement with a dominant pro-rolling effect of S1P(3),FTY720 inhibits rolling in control and S1P(1)(-/-) but not in S1P(3)(-/-) mice. Our findings identify S1P as a direct and indirect contributor to leukocyte rolling and characterize the receptors mediating its action