The jurisdiction of the subjective expected utility (SEU) approach to risk-taking in science – A response to Franzoni and Stephan (2023), ‘uncertainty and risk-taking in science’

This paper discusses the SEU approach with regard to its “jurisdiction”; i.e. where it should and where it should not be applied. It is argued that the SEU approach must address the fundamental tension between exploration and exploitation; that it should be applied only to disciplines or fields that have low degrees of both technical and strategic uncertainties; and that funders need to prevent the SEU approach from spilling over to evaluations of exploratory projects, for which it is clearly not suited. In addition, the paper argues that the SEU approach needs to respond to the “fund people, not projects” argument. Finally, it calls for many more empirical and preferably experimental studies with the aim of shedding light on how the SEU approach works in practice. In this regard, novel techniques should be used more frequently than today, such as specification curve analysis that encompasses all reasonable explanatory specifications that are both theoretically consistent and statistically valid and non-redundant.     

A confluence of new technology and the right to water: experience and potential from South Africa’s constitution and commons

South Africa’s groundbreaking constitution explicitly confers a right of access to sufficient water (section 27). But the country is officially ‘water-stressed’ and around 10 % of the population still has no access to on-site or off-site piped or tap water. It is evident that a disconnect exists between this right and the reality for many; however the reasons for the continuation of such discrepancies are not always clear. While barriers to sufficient water are myriad, one significant factor contributing to insufficient and unpredictable access to water is the high percentage of broken water pumps. Previous studies have reported that between 20 and 50 % of all hand operated water pumps installed on the African continent are broken, or out of use. Monitoring and maintenance of pumps, which in South Africa is the responsibility of local municipalities is often ineffective, in part due to the distances between municipal centres and rural communities and the consequent costs of site visits, as well as breakdowns within the local bureaucratic system. The emergence of new telemetry tools that can remotely monitor water applications constitutes a novel and cost-efficient alternative to undertaking regular sites visits. Sustainable, appropriate, low-cost telemetry systems are emerging that could be used to monitor the operational performance of water pumps, or a wide range of other field parameters, and to communicate this information swiftly and cheaply to water service providers, using SMS messages. Data on the performance of water pumps could also be made available to the public online. This is an example of how ICT can be used for water resources management and environmental regulation, as well as in the governance of socio-economic rights: helping to optimize water allocation by improving communication and strengthening accountability.     

How can tacit knowledge be shared more in organizations? A multidimensional approach to the role of social capital and locus of control

This multidimensional study looks at the influence of social capital and internal vs external locus of control on tacit knowledge-sharing intention and behaviour, and the relationship between the two. The relations studied within the framework of the proposed model are tested by regression analyses. The findings indicate that social capital and its basic structural, cognitive, and relational dimensions tend to increase tacit knowledge-sharing intention, which gradually turns into behaviour because, according to Ajzen’s theory of planned behaviour, behavioural intention is the immediate antecedent to behaviour (or according to Ajzen’s theory of planned behaviour, a person’s intention to perform a behaviour increases as subjective norms become more favourable). It is further concluded that having an internal locus of control increases both the intentions and behaviour, whereas external locus of control only increases the behaviour. The study also concludes that tacit knowledge-sharing intention gradually turns into sharing behaviour. The study is considered to contribute to the field of knowledge management in various ways. In this study a multidimensional survey of 42 questions was used to investigate the research topic and its sub-dimensions, and the data were collected via face-to-face interviews. The population of the study was 106 nursing students, and all components of the research universe were reached. It was found that social capital positively affects and increases tacit knowledge-sharing intentions and behaviour. A research model based on the conceptual framework was developed and research questions were addressed by means of this model and the findings.     

Can media forecast technological progress?: A text-mining approach to the on-line newspaper and blog's representation of prospective industrial technologies

This article critically assesses the utility of both personal blog and mass media (on-line newspaper)’s coverage of future technology in forecasting the prospect of industrial technology. By analyzing the statistical pattern of the South Korean media salience in 13 novel industrial technologies in 2015, the study argues that the mass media is more biased than aggregated blogs in depicting promising new technology. In doing so, the authors present a methodical pathway to address the bias with acceleration and skewness index. The article also applies semantic network analysis for the collected textual data of blogs to represent and interpret people's perspective of industrial technologies. By extracting key concepts from PBS index and merging semantic networks of the 13 technologies, the study derives a key insight that nurturing expertise in the coming era of artificial intelligence and robot would become crucial to integrate key technological competence.     

A keynote to the pre‐conference symposium on the international aspects of the white house conference on library and information services

Abstract

Computer science in the United States is hard pressed to show broad utility to help justify billion dollar research programs and the value of educating well over 40,000 bachelor of science and master of science specialists annually in the United States. The Computer Science and Telecommunications Board of the U.S. National Research Council recently has issued a report, “Computing the Future” (Hartmanis &; Lin 1992), which sets a new agenda for computer science. The report recommended that computer scientists broaden their conceptions of the discipline to include computing applications and domains to help understand them. This article argues that many computer science graduates need some skills in analyzing human organizations to help develop appropriate systems requirements, because they are trying to develop high‐performance computing applications that effectively support higher performance human organizations. It is time for academic computer science to embrace organizational analysis (the field of Organizational Informatics) as a key area of research and instruction.     

The subjective expected utility approach and a framework for defining project risk in terms of novelty and feasibility – A response to Franzoni and Stephan (2023), ‘uncertainty and risk-taking in science’

In their Discussion Paper, Franzoni and Stephan (F&S, 2023) discuss the shortcomings of existing peer review models in shaping the funding of risky science. Their discussion offers a conceptual framework for incorporating risk into peer review models of research proposals by leveraging the Subjective Expected Utility (SEU) approach to decouple reviewers' assessments of a project's potential value from its risk. In my Response, I build on F&S's discussion and attempt to shed light on three additional yet core considerations of risk in science: 1) how risk and reward in science are related to assessments of a project's novelty and feasibility; 2) how the sunk cost literature can help articulate why reviewers tend to perceive new research areas as riskier than continued investigation of existing lines of research; and 3) how drawing on different types of expert reviewers (i.e., based on domain and technical expertise) can result in alternative evaluation assessments to better inform resource allocation decisions. The spirit of my Response is to sharpen our understanding of risk in science and to offer insights on how future theoretical and empirical work—leveraging experiments— can test and validate the SEU approach for the purposes of funding more risky science that advances the knowledge frontier.     

A non-invasive approach to differential diagnosis of urinary tract infections using lactate dehydrogenase isoenzyme profile,N-acetyl-β-D-glucosaminidase and alanine aminopeptidase

Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and its isoenzyme profile, Nacety-β-d-glucosaminidase (NAG) and alanine aminopeptidase (AAP) enzyme activities were measured in 21 cases with well documented acute untreated urinary tract infections (UTI) and compared with a group of 68 normal healthy subjects matched for age and sex. Urinary NAG, AAP and LDH total activities were highly elevated (3–30 fold for NAG, 2–10 fold for AAP and 2–50 fold for LDH over upper limit of normal) in upper tract infections. In lower tract infections there was a marginal elevation in NAG and LDH while AAP activity was very high; though there was no overlap. Further, the isoenzyme profile of LDH showed predominance of LD-5 isoenzyme in all cases of pyelonephritis, while it was completely absent in all the cases of lower tract infections. We conclude that urinary NAG and LDH-5 isoenzyme would serve as specific non-invasive parameters for differential localization of urinary tract infections.     

Figs,Wasps, Carrots and Sticks? A New Theoretical Approach to Understanding the Origin and Nature of Mutualisms and Symbiotic Relationships

<正>Mutualisms—relationships where by two organisms live in tandem with one another,each providing a service to the other—are among the most interesting and complex relationships in nature.These kinds of relationships are generally considered cooperative interactions,whereby each of the organisms incurs substantial cost in trading services with its partner in order for each of them to gain some benefit and increase their chances of survival and evolutionary fitness.While     

A Pilot clinical study to evaluate the effect of <Emphasis Type=Italic>Emblica officinalis</Emphasis> extract (Amlamax™) on markers of systemic inflammation and dyslipidemia

Emblica officinalis Gaertn., commonly known as the Indian gooseberry or “Amla”, has been used as health food for centuries in India and other Asian countries. The biological effects of amla have been attributed to the antioxidant properties of the low-molecular weight hydrolysable tannins present in the fruit. Amlamax™ is a purified, standardized, dried extract of amla containing about 35% galloellagi tannins along with other hydrolysable tannins. Our earlier studies on rabbits showed significant reduction in total cholesterol and triglycerides as well as increase in HDL. The present study extends these results to human volunteers. Two doses of the extract were evaluated — 500 mg and 1000 mg per day for 6 months. Blood samples were collected at the 3rd and 6th months showed reduction in total and LDL cholesterols and enhancement of beneficial HDL cholesterol. In addition, blood CRP levels, a marker for inflammation, were also significantly reduced. Since dyslipidemia and inflammation are the two major components of cardiovascular diseases, the present results must be considered encouraging and indicate the potential of Amlamax™ in the management of heart diseases.     

Blind in the right eye? The practice of awarding honorary memberships by German and Austrian dental societies (1949–1993) to Nazi dentists: A study on the role of National Socialism in post-war dentistry

According to ongoing public discourse, the dental profession in Germany and Austria has found it rather difficult to come to terms with the National Socialist past. Against this background, this study focuses on the practice of awarding honorary memberships by German and Austrian dental societies in the years 1949–1993. In particular, it examines how previous memberships in the Nazi party or other Nazi organisations were handled. We identified a total of 86 honourees, 47 of whom (55 %) were members of the NSDAP during the Third Reich, whereas only two were of Jewish origin. This leads to two conclusions: (1) Previous involvement with Nazi organisations was obviously not a limiting factor in the selection of honourees, and (2) after 1945, the Jewish colleagues were marginalised for a second time—now by being largely overlooked. The reasons of both findings are analysed and contextualised.