On the syndemic nature of crises: A Freeman perspective

In this paper we draw a parallel between the insights developed within the framework of the current COVID-19 health crisis and the views and insights developed with respect to the long term environmental crisis, the implications for science, technology and innovation (STI) policy, Christopher Freeman analyzed already in the early 90′s. With at the time of writing, the COVID-19 pandemic entering in many countries a third wave with a very differentiated implementation path of vaccination across rich and poor countries, drawing such a parallel remains of course a relatively speculative exercise. Nevertheless, based on the available evidence of the first wave of the pandemic, we feel confident that some lessons from the current health crisis and its parallels with the long-term environmental crisis can be drawn. The COVID-19 pandemic has also been described as a “syndemic”: a term popular in medical anthropology which marries the concept of ‘synergy’ with ‘epidemic’ and provides conceptually an interesting background for these posthumous Freeman reflections on crises. The COVID-19 crisis affects citizens in very different and disproportionate ways. It results not only in rising structural inequalities among social groups and classes, but also among generations. In the paper, we focus on the growing inequality within two particular groups: youngsters and the impact of COVID-19 on learning and the organization of education; and as mirror picture, the elderly many of whom witnessed despite strict confinement in long-term care facilities, high mortality following the COVID-19 outbreak. From a Freeman perspective, these inequality consequences of the current COVID-19 health crisis call for new social STI policies: for a new “corona version” of inclusion versus exclusion.     

做好企业科协经营活动的探讨

企业科协既是地方科协的基层组织,又是企业党政领导下的群众团体,是企业联系科技人员的"桥梁、纽带"及发展科技事业的重要力量。随着社会主义市场经济体制改革的进一步深入,无论是国有企业还是民营企业,其经营理念、运作方式与以往相比均发生了根本性的变化。为适应形势发展,企业科协也应及时调整思路、适应变化,否则就难以生存,更谈不上发展。文章提出,在市场经济条件下做好企业科协的经营工作,必须做好分析和开拓市场、利用资源、统筹协调等工作。     

The public understanding of nanotechnology in the food domain: the hidden role of views on science, technology, and nature

In spite of great expectations about the potential of nanotechnology, this study shows that people are rather ambiguous and pessimistic about nanotechnology applications in the food domain. Our findings are drawn from a survey of public perceptions about nanotechnology food and nanotechnology food packaging (N = 752). Multinomial logistic regression analyses further reveal that knowledge about food risks and nanotechnology significantly influences people's views about nanotechnology food packaging. However, knowledge variables were unrelated to support for nanofood, suggesting that an increase in people's knowledge might not be sufficient to bridge the gap between the excitement some business leaders in the food sector have and the restraint of the public. Additionally, opposition to nanofood was not related to the use of heuristics but to trust in governmental agencies. Furthermore, the results indicate that public perceptions of nanoscience in the food domain significantly relate to views on science, technology, and nature.     

北京地区科学技术成果在中国的扩散模式——从技术市场的角度看

北京作为科技资源最为密集的地区,其科技成果在全国各地区得到了何种程度的产业化,从一定程度上反映了国家科技计划在创新中的作用。将全国划分为环渤海地区、珠江三角洲地区、长江三角洲地区、西部地区、东北地区五个部分,描述了全国各地区与北京技术交易的现状,并从经济发展水平、地理位置、科技创新资源等几个方面分析了影响区域间技术交易的因素。其研究结论是:企业的创新能力及活跃程度越高的地区对技术转移的吸纳能力也就越强,地理的毗邻性为技术转移提供了天然的便捷性,本地科技资源的短缺程度和地区的合作意愿也是决定技术转移流向的趋势之一。     

试从自然科学角度探讨客家民系本质

客家先民来自属于北方类群的中原地区,南迁至属于南方类群的闽粤赣边区.客家先民与客居地土著居民融合形成了客家群体.对客家人红细胞血型分布研究的结果表明,客家人较多的遗传指标符合我国南方人群的特点,可以认为在血缘上南方类群为主体.目前从自然科学角度研究客家源流的资料尚不多见,而且现有的研究多以定性分析为主,缺乏定量的资料.     

科学本质理论:基本观点与范畴

科学本质阐明了科学所具有的基本特征,是人们对科学本质属性的正确认识。从科学哲学的视角来看,可以把科学本质观分为传统的科学本质观与新的科学本质观两类。科学本质的现代观是多层面的,主要涉及"科学知识本质观"与"科学探究本质观"。科学本质的范畴是由科学本质的特征或要素决定的,主要涉及:(1)科学知识的本质;(2)科学探究的本质;(3)科学事业的本质。     

College Chemistry: how a textbook can reveal the values embedded in chemistry

This paper explores the norms, values and ethical attitudes that Linus Pauling wanted to convey to his students in his famous textbook College Chemistry. In this classic textbook, Pauling aimed to introduce beginners into the world of chemistry by presenting chemistry as a systematic science based on a collection of empirical data and a recent theoretical framework. In doing so, he expressed his epistemic and didactic choices clearly. College Chemistry therefore offers an ideal opportunity to examine some of the norms at the core of chemistry's 'moral economy'.     

The concept of information overload: A preliminary step in understanding the nature of a harmful information-related condition

The amount of content, both on and offline, to which people in reasonably affluent nations have access has increased to the point that it has raised concerns that we are now suffering from a harmful condition of ‹information overload.’ Although the phrase is being used more frequently, the concept is not yet well understood – beyond expressing the rather basic idea of having access to more information than is good for us. This essay attempts to provide a philosophical explication of the concept of information overload and is therefore what philosophers call ‹conceptual analysis’ – a task that, along with normative ethical analysis, is distinctive to Anglo-American style analytic philosophy. I will begin with an analysis of the atomic concepts expressed by the terms ‹information’ and ‹overload’ and then attempt to give a philosophical explanation of the concept of information overload that more precisely identifies exactly what the condition amounts to.     

The nature of indexing: how humans and machines analyze messages and texts for retrieval. Part I: Research,and the nature of human indexing

Does human intellectual indexing have a continuing role to play in the face of increasingly sophisticated automatic indexing techniques? In this two-part essay, a computer scientist and long-time TREC participant (Pérez-Carballo) and a practitioner and teacher of human cataloging and indexing (Anderson) pursue this question by reviewing the opinions and research of leading experts on both sides of this divide. We conclude that human analysis should be used on a much more selective basis, and we offer suggestions on how these two types of indexing might be allocated to best advantage. Part one of the essay critiques the comparative research, then explores the nature of human analysis of messages or texts and efforts to formulate rules to make human practice more rigorous and predictable. We find that research comparing human vs automatic approaches has done little to change strongly held beliefs, in large part because many associated variables have not been isolated or controlled.Part II focuses on current methods in automatic indexing, its gradual adoption by major indexing and abstracting services, and ways for allocating human and machine approaches. Overall, we conclude that both approaches to indexing have been found to be effective by researchers and searchers, each with particular advantages and disadvantages. However automatic indexing has the over-arching advantage of decreasing cost, as human indexing becomes ever more expensive.     

Yes, now we can: Technological change and the exploitation of entrepreneurial opportunities

The paper investigates how technological change in an industry influence which individuals will identify and exploit entrepreneurial opportunities. We propose that the introduction of new development tools will change knowledge-barriers to entry because they enable the abstraction of specialized knowledge that was previously needed for development. Empirically we test the argument using data from the web design industry in a Nordic country during the period 1992–2003. We compare the education and experience of founders before and after the introduction of web administration tools in 1998 and find a significant difference, which supports the main thesis of our argument.     

公众理解科学的理论研究:约翰·杜兰特的缺失模型

在目前国内科普界,或者说科学文化传播领域中,相对于传统的科普概念,源于国外的“公众理解科学”的概念被人们越来越多地谈论。当然,在这两个概念之间,即有差别,也有着多重的联系。而     

Gender diversity in senior management,strategic change,and firm performance: Examining the mediating nature of strategic change in high tech firms

Only recently have enough women joined senior leadership positions in high tech firms for research on senior management gender diversity in high tech industries to be possible. We propose that senior management gender diversity fosters strategic change in high tech firms, especially under conditions where alliance formation intensity and top management team (TMT) educational background diversity are high, because the breadth of opportunity and knowledge associated with these conditions facilitates implementation of new ideas. Results show that both inter-organizational strategic alliance formation intensity and TMT educational background diversity positively moderate the relationship between senior management gender diversity and strategic change. We also find support for a moderated mediation model whereby a gender-diverse senior management positively impacts strategic change, which ultimately improves firm performance when the firm exhibits high alliance formation intensity and has a TMT that is diverse across educational background.     

当代能源、生态等危机均是近代科学的负效应

最近郝柏林院士在《科学》2002年第2期上发表了一篇题为《伪科学与赝科学》的文章,他主张“用现代科学方法”对所谓“赝科学作品”进行“证实和排伪”,以便把它们从“真正的科学”殿堂中剔除出去。 在郝院士的心目中,科学是     

新时代我国计量科技发展的认识与思考

在分析国内外计量科技发展现状的基础上,提出了我国科技、经济和社会发展对计量科技发展的新需求,阐述新时代中国计量应担负的历史使命.探讨中国计量科技未来发展路径,明确新时代计量科技创新价值导向,提出新时代计量科技发展新需求及具体措施.     

科学的可信性基础——对约翰·齐曼《真科学》的一种解读

关于科学可信性问题的讨论由来已久。科学的真理性与有用性都不是我们信赖科学的充分必要条件,它们只是构成科学可信性基础的因素。科学值得信赖的基础在于它的"客观实在性",这是约翰·齐曼《真科学》一书给我们的一个基本结论。我们信赖科学,是因为科学同时是真实的、有用的、合乎逻辑的、系统连贯的、精确的、为科学共同体所认同的。     

Kaleidoscoping public understanding of science on hygiene, health and plague: a survey in the aftermath of a plague epidemic in India

In September 1994 a plague epidemic hit a number of cities in India. Though the spread of the disease was controlled within a short period of about one month, its influences on various channels of information, on the functioning of government departments (especially health and sanitation), on the scientific community and on people's scientific information level were remarkable. This paper analyzes the responses of 1127 individuals interviewed in December 1994. The data indicates high levels of informedness about health, hygiene and plague, with little reference to extra-scientific explanations of the causes of the epidemic. Respondents expressed a high degree of confidence in the modern system of medicine. From this analysis we also infer that the public could not be described as 'superstitious', 'unscientific' or 'unhygienic': only when denied access to information and civic amenities did they show extra-scientific thinking or 'unhygienic' behaviour.