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The Biosphere
Published in John C. Ayers, Sustainability, 2017
Infectious diseases are sometimes transmitted from animals to humans, a process called zoonosis5 or a spillover event. Influenza is often transmitted as a virus from birds to humans, especially in areas in Asia where humans and fowl cohabitat. The Ebola virus likely spread from fruit bats or primates to humans, and the 2013–2015 Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa caused over 11,000 deaths.6 The spread and persistence of viruses is strongly influenced by environmental conditions and by the proximity of hosts and potential hosts. Infected individuals are quarantined to reduce the risk of the disease spreading. Epidemics are usually contained and dissipate within a few months or years of the initial outbreak.
Introduction to the thematic issue on valuing research: theory, research, policy and practice of return on investment
Published in Theoretical Issues in Ergonomics Science, 2019
Joseph V. Cohn, Jackie C. Mutai
Adding to this complexity is the realization that value is in the eye of the beholder. A government agency may find value not only in the first order effects of the actual research investments, like a pharmaceutical that demonstrably achieves its goal of saving lives, but also in the secondary and tertiary effects, sometimes termed ‘spillover’, in which research investments made by one entity in a given area may ultimately enhance the research capabilities of other entities working within that area (Health Economics Research Group 2008; Macilwain 2010). This in turn may stimulate economic growth in that area, leading to job growth, increased product development and increased product export. Spillover may also lay the foundation for future innovations, enhancing the standing on the global stage of the nation within which these innovations occur. These are more esoteric factors, whose benefits may be difficult to quantify, but that are nevertheless every bit as important as the more prosaic one of delivering a research-driven product that works. A similar analysis would easily apply to industry and academia, albeit producing potentially different secondary and higher order effects.