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NUSAP
NUSAP is a notational system for the management and communication of uncertainty in science for policy, based on five categories for characterizing any quantitative statement: Numeral, Unit, Spread, Assessment and Pedigree. NUSAP was introduced by Silvio Funtowicz and Jerome Ravetz in the 1990 book '' Uncertainty and Quality in Science for Policy''.Funtowicz, S. & Ravetz J., 1990, Uncertainty and Quality in Science for Policy, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht. See also van der Sluijs et al. 2005.van der Sluijs, J., Craye, M., Funtowicz, S., Kloprogge, P., Ravetz, J., and Risbey, J. (2005) Combining Quantitative and Qualitative Measures of Uncertainty in Model based Environmental Assessment: the NUSAP System, Risk Analysis, 25 (2). p. 481-492. The concept The name "NUSAP" is an acronym for the categories just mentioned. * Numeral will usually be an ordinary number; * Unit refers to the units used in Numeral; * Spread is an assessment of the error in the value of the Numeral; * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Silvio Funtowicz
Silvio O. Funtowicz (born 1946) is a philosopher of science active in the field of science and technology studies. He created the NUSAP, a notational system for characterising uncertainty and quality in quantitative expressions, and together with Jerome R. Ravetz he introduced the concept of post-normal science. He is currently a guest researcher at thCentre for the Study of the Sciences and the Humanities (SVT) University of Bergen (Norway). Biography Silvio Funtowicz began his career teaching mathematics, logic and research methodology in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He left Argentina during the military dictatorship, and moved to England where, during the 1980s he was a Research Fellow at the University of Leeds, where started his cooperation with Jerome Ravetz.Gooday, G. (2006). History and philosophy of science at Leeds. Notes and Records Royal Society, 60, 183–192. Until his retirement in 2011 he was a scientific officer at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commissi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jerome Ravetz
Jerome (Jerry) Ravetz is a philosopher of science. He is best known for his books analysing scientific knowledge from a social and ethical perspective, focussing on issues of quality. He is the co-author (with Silvio Funtowicz) of the NUSAP notational system and of Post-normal science. He is currently an Associate Fellow at the Institute for Science, Innovation and Society, University of Oxford. Life and work Ravetz was born in Philadelphia; his grandfather was a Russian-Jewish immigrant and his father a truck driver and trade union organiser. He attended Central High School and Swarthmore College. He came to England in 1950 on a Fulbright Scholarship to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he studied for a PhD in Pure Mathematics under the supervision of A.S. Besicovitch. In 1955 his passport was taken away, as part of the wave of McCarthyism; it was returned in 1958 and in 1961 he became a British citizen. He taught mathematics at the University of Pennsylvania and then ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sensitivity Analysis
Sensitivity analysis is the study of how the uncertainty in the output of a mathematical model or system (numerical or otherwise) can be divided and allocated to different sources of uncertainty in its inputs. A related practice is uncertainty analysis, which has a greater focus on uncertainty quantification and propagation of uncertainty; ideally, uncertainty and sensitivity analysis should be run in tandem. The process of recalculating outcomes under alternative assumptions to determine the impact of a variable under sensitivity analysis can be useful for a range of purposes, including: * Testing the robustness of the results of a model or system in the presence of uncertainty. * Increased understanding of the relationships between input and output variables in a system or model. * Uncertainty reduction, through the identification of model input that cause significant uncertainty in the output and should therefore be the focus of attention in order to increase robustness (perhap ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sensitivity Auditing
Sensitivity auditing is an extension of sensitivity analysis for use in policy-relevant modelling studies. Its use is recommended - e.g. in the European Commission Impact assessment guidelines and by the European Science Academies- when a sensitivity analysis (SA) of a model-based study is meant to demonstrate the robustness of the evidence provided by the model, but in a context where the inference feeds into a policy or decision-making process.Saltelli, A., van der Sluijs, J., Guimarães Pereira, Â., 2013, Funtowiz, S.O., What do I make of your Latinorum? Sensitivity auditing of mathematical modelling, International Journal Foresight and Innovation Policy, 9 (2/3/4), 213–234. Approach In settings where scientific work feeds into policy, the framing of the analysis, its institutional context, and the motivations of its author may become highly relevant, and a pure SA - with its focus on parametric (i.e. quantified) uncertainty - may be insufficient. The emphasis on the framing ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Post-normal Science
Post-normal science (PNS) was developed in the 1990s by Silvio Funtowicz and Jerome R. Ravetz.Funtowicz, S. O. and Ravetz, J. R., 1991. "A New Scientific Methodology for Global Environmental Issues", in Costanza, R. (ed.), Ecological Economics: The Science and Management of Sustainability: 137–152. New York: Columbia University Press.Funtowicz, S. O. and Ravetz, J. R., 1992. "Three types of risk assessment and the emergence of postnormal science", in Krimsky, S. and Golding, D. (eds.), Social theories of risk: 251–273. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood. It is a problem-solving strategy appropriate when "facts reuncertain, values in dispute, stakes high and decisions urgent", conditions often present in policy-relevant research. In those situations, PNS recommends suspending temporarily the traditional scientific ideal of truth, concentrating on quality as assessed by internal and extended peer communities. PNS can be considered as complementing the styles of analysis based ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Uncertainty And Quality In Science For Policy
''Uncertainty and Quality in Science for Policy'' is a 1990 book by Silvio Funtowicz and Jerome Ravetz, in which the authors explain the notational system NUSAP (numeral, unit, spread, assessment, pedigree) and applies it to several examples from the environmental sciences. The work is considered foundational to the development of post-normal science. Content This work, written by the fathers of post-normal science, discusses the use of science for policy and its problems. The book emphasizes the need for craft skills with numbers – not only in statistics but also in cost-benefit analysis, and on the need of specific skills for policy-related research. It introduces for the first time NUSAP, a new notational system for the management of uncertainty and quality in quantitative information, and presents examples of its application to radiological hazards, the valuation of ecosystems, and to energy technologies. This work is one of the mosquotedin the field of science and technolog ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
EFSA
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is the agency of the European Union (EU) that provides independent scientific advice and communicates on existing and emerging risks associated with the food chain. EFSA was established in February 2002, is based in Parma, Italy, and for 2021 it has a budget of €118.6 million, and a total staff of 542. The work of EFSA covers all matters with a direct or indirect impact on food and feed safety, including animal health and welfare, plant protection and plant health and nutrition. EFSA supports the European Commission, the European Parliament and EU member states in taking effective and timely risk management decisions that ensure the protection of the health of European consumers and the safety of the food and feed chain. EFSA also communicates to the public in an open and transparent way on all matters within its remit. Structure Based on a regulation of 2002, the EFSA is composed of four bodies: * Management Board * Executive Dire ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
