Layered Science and Science Policies

This essay discusses the ways in which `Mode 1' and `Mode 2' interact, by reviewing the development of research funding in Sweden during the twentieth century. It argues that `Mode 2' has been the traditional mode of practice. `Mode 1' is a post-war phenomenon, but it is presently the dominant layer of Swedish publicly-funded science and science policy. This essay argues that we are seeing not an increase in uncertainty, but rather a decreasing tolerance of uncertainty.     

Technologies of Humility: Citizen Participation in Governing Science

Building on recent theories ofscience in society, such as that provided bythe `Mode 2' framework, this paper argues thatgovernments should reconsider existingrelations among decision-makers, experts, andcitizens in the management of technology.Policy-makers need a set of `technologies ofhumility' for systematically assessing theunknown and the uncertain. Appropriate focalpoints for such modest assessments are framing,vulnerability, distribution, and learning.     

Academic Freedom: Impressions of Australian Social Scientists

This article reinterprets a recentexploratory study of the academic freedom ofAustralian social scientists in an increasinglycommercialised university environment. Thestudy revealed that academics are experiencingseveral conditions that undermine academicfreedom: the intensification of work at theexpense of quality; pressure to choose `safe'research topics; the erosion of intellectualcapital and student standards; and increasingcorporate governance. We position thesefindings within the transition to `Mode 2'knowledge production, arguing that thisprovides a more appropriate basis forreconceptualising the traditional concept ofacademic freedom and renegotiating its socialpractice.     

The Careers of Modern Artists

Using transactions from fine art auctionsfor 42 leading American contemporary artists Iestimate the relationship between the value of apainting and the artist's age at the date of itsexecution. The econometric estimates show that artistsborn before 1920 were likely to have produced theirmost valuable work late in their careers, whereasartists born in the 1920s and '30s were more likely tohave done their most valuable work at an early age.Comparison of these results to evidence drawn from arthistory textbooks and retrospective exhibitionsfurthermore indicates that these artists' mostvaluable work has also been that most highly regardedby scholars. I argue that the shift across generationsin the shape of these artists' age-price profiles wasa result of the evolution of modern painting and agrowth in the demand for contemporary American artduring the 1950s and '60s.     

Identity Mobilization Practices of Refugees: The Case of Iraqis in the United States and the War in Iraq

Abstract

This study illustrates the narrative construction of diasporic refugee identities in times of sociopolitical tensions. Specifically, this paper is concerned with how Iraqi refugees living in the United States constituted their identities through narrating in times of the War in Iraq. Gergen's social constructionist approach towards narrating and current theorizing in diaspora studies build the theoretical bases for the analysis. Narratives were collected through participant observations, interviews, and group discussion in the Pacific Northwest of the United States before, during, and after combat operations in Iraq were declared to be over by President Bush. The paper answers three questions. First, which events triggered the construction of Iraqi refugee identities in the United States? Second, what is the role of narrating in constituting Iraqi identities? Third, do the Iraqi narrators construct diasporic imaginations and if so, how? The findings show that the narrative construction of being Iraqi and a refugee was a relational achievement and situated response. The respondents constructed imaginations of transnational communities that included Iraqis in Iraq, Iraqis in refugee camps, and Iraqis in the United States. By integrating their emerging political voices in the United States with their political resistor identities in Iraq, the narrators made salient transnational links between being Iraqi, a displaced person, and a member of U.S. society, disrupted political discourses about Iraqis in the United States, and affirmed moral values.     

Cultivation of taste and bounded rationality: Some computer simulations

One can approach the economics of the arts, as any field of applied economics, in either of two ways. First, one can treat economic theory and econometric technique as subjects settled by specialists in those fields, to be used in the ec onomics of the arts as they are given, very much as if one were studying the demand for maize. Alternatively, one can treat the economics of the arts as a field which may need and suggest its own developments in theory and technique, suitable to its spec ial problems and processes, from which general economic theory and econometric theory might in principle learn something. Perhaps this latter view is implausible, given the high state of development of economic theory and econometrics in the modern liter ature. Yet many of the advances embodied in these fields have come from particular areas of application-and the economics of maize has been a particularly fertile field.I am indebted to participants in the Seventh International Conference on Cultural Economics, Fort Worth, Texas, October 1992; to p articipants in the Seminar on the Economics of the Arts, Venice, Italy, December 1992; to participants in the conference of the Pennsylvania Economists' Association, Wiles-Barre, PA, June, 1993; to participants in the second conference on Simulating Soci eties, Siena, Italy, July 1993; to participants in the conference of the Society for the Advancement of Behavioral Economics, Rensselaerville, NY, August 1993; and to participants in the Third Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Economics and Manage ment, Portland, OR, August 1993, for useful comments on topics related to the research reported in this paper. Errors and omissions are, of course, attributable to the author.     

The ‘Negotiated Space’ of University Researchers’ Pursuit of a Research Agenda

The paper introduces a concept of a ‘negotiated space’ to describe university researchers’ attempts to balance pragmatically, continually and dynamically over time, their own agency and autonomy in the selection of research topics and pursuit of scientific research to filter out the explicit steering and tacit signals of external research funding agencies and university strategies and policies. We develop this concept to explore the degree of autonomy researchers in fact have in this process and draw on semi-structured interview material with research group leaders in Finland and the UK, in the former in seven research fields, in the latter in two fields. First, the analysis reveals that topic selection is strongly filtered by the intra-scientific factors. In topic selection researchers have more leeway, a broader negotiated space than in research content, that is, in the ways in which they pursue their research, which are more affected by funding opportunities and other contextual matters. Second, the ways which affect researchers’ agency include individual- and more aggregate-level acts and factors: at the individual level, researchers resort to different strategies to create a negotiated space, but at the more aggregate level field-specific factors play a role. In fields with multiple funding opportunities, which we call ‘shopping mall’ fields, researchers can have a broader negotiated space than in fields where funding is more based on ‘lottery’. In the latter, the researchers’ negotiated space is narrow and contingent on the outcome of the funders’ decisions.     

Continuous monitoring of wooden works of art using fiber Bragg grating sensors

In recent years the control and monitoring of works of art has gained more and more importance. In particular, works partially or totally realized with wood, such as polychrome sculptures, painted panels or Crucifixes, are highly sensitive and delicate and thus need a particular attention. The wooden support is, in fact, an essential element for the stability of pictorial layers: the color lies on a preparation, which in turn, is anchored to the wood. Wrong conservation methods, i.e. in an environmental climate that is not controlled, or intrinsic mechanical stresses, can warp such structures, and the effects can be irreversible and destructive to the painted layer. The use of fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors for the quasi-distributed, in situ measurement and continuous monitoring of deformations in painted wood panel is proposed. In order to demonstrate the applicability of FBG sensors to painted wood panels, a wooden support, made using the same 15th–16th century techniques, was prepared in the Opificio laboratories. A number of Bragg grating sensors were affixed in several critical points, on the back and front sides and on the strengthening cross-beams, in order to detect deformations in the panel dependent on the variations in the environmental relative humidity (RH). Measurements during the removal of the cross-beams are also reported. The results of measurements have shown the applicability of FBG sensors for the continuous in situ monitoring of valuable wooden objects and works of art.     

Microanalytical identification of Pb-Sb-Sn yellow pigment in historical European paintings and its differentiation from lead tin and Naples yellows

The work is focused on identification of lead tin yellow types I and II, Naples yellow, and also on discrimination of a less common, distinct yellow pigment, the ternary Pb-Sb-Sn oxide.The knowledge about all those Pb-based yellows was in fact forgotten after introduction of modern synthetic yellows in 19th century. As late as in the last decade of the 20th century, the existence of Pb-Sb-Sn yellow and its production have been rediscovered, and only then it has been identified in colour layer of artworks.Pb-Sb-Sn yellow has recently been identified in colour layer of 17th century Italian paintings by Sandalinas and Ruiz-Moreno [C. Sandalinas, S. Ruiz-Moreno, Lead tin-antimony yellow, historical manufacture, molecular characterization and identification in seventeenth-century Italian paintings, Stud. Conserv. 49 (2003) 41–52], and here we report the finding of this pigment in Mid-European painting of the 18th and 19th centuries. Lead tin yellows, lead antimony yellow (Naples yellow), and lead antimony tin yellow were synthesized in laboratory following historical recipes, their colour was analyzed, and their structure was confirmed to provide a basis for their routine identification in microsamples of artworks by X-ray microdiffraction. Unequivocal identification of Pb-based yellows could help in authentication of traditional European paintings, because their use was temporally and also geographically specific. Combination of elemental microanalysis (X-ray fluorescence electron microanalysis) and X-ray powder microdiffraction were found very efficient in the microanalysis of colour layers of artworks with Pb-based yellows and their unequivocal identification.     

The Opposition between Two Models of Labour Market Adjustment: The Case of Audiovisual and Performing Arts Activities in France and Great Britain over a Ten Year Period

The growth of employment in audiovisual andperforming arts activities during a ten year period(1981–1992) in France and in Great Britain was theresult of a double tendency: An increasing number ofindividuals with cultural occupations working incultural industries and structural changes in thelabour market (more flexible workforce, increasingfragmentation of work opportunities). Qualitativedifferences emerged between both countries, leading totwo different forms of flexibility. Full timeemployment decreased in France, while it increased inGreat Britain with, during the same period, aconsiderable growth of self-employment.This paper explores different hypotheses forexplaining such a divergence. It concedes that thestrategies of organisations, and especially the risingnumber of adhocracies (according to Mintzberg'stypology) rather the choices of workers trying tooptimise their earnings were responsible. Publicpolicies played also a central role. In Great Britainthe Enterprise Allowance Scheme, and in France, thespecific Social Security benefit for artistscontributed to the increase in self employment in thefirst case, and in temporary employment in the othercase.     

Creativity versus branding: totemism,animism and the pursuit of uniqueness in fashion

ABSTRACT

In the contemporary organization of the economy, creativity and branding constitute two distinctive imperatives which generally point in different directions: the former towards newness and change, the latter towards continuity and recognisability. Numerous agents in corporate organizations thus face a conundrum of creativity versus branding, which is perhaps nowhere more pronounced than in the fashion business. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in a fashion company, I argue that these seemingly incompatible imperatives are inextricably entangled, as their paradoxical relation is solved, even dissolved, in a dynamic interplay between ‘a totemic logic’ and ‘an animist practice’. Thus, a dynamics of totemism and animism unites creativity and branding in the continual pursuit of uniqueness. While totemic and animist modalities are most commonly associated with non-western ontologies and perceived as mutually exclusive, I contend that they are also at work in contemporary commercial processes and that they are enmeshed in, and propelled by, each other. This suggests that these modalities operate together particularly when the making of distinctive identities is critical – as in economic competition today.     

Pioneers and Victims: The Birth and Death of Argentina's First Molecular Biology Laboratory

The first Latin American molecularbiology laboratory came onto the scientificscene in Argentina in early 1957, only to bedismantled in 1962, following a ministerialchange. This paper explores the social,political, institutional, and cognitiveinteractions present in this short experience,and assesses their importance in understandingthe development of a new scientific field in a`peripheral context'.     

Spectroscopic and chromatographic studies of sculptural polychromy in the Zhongshan Grottoes (R.P.C.)

The sculptural polychromy in the Zhongshan Grottoes, sited in northwest China, has been investigated in terms of chemical composition of employed materials and pigments, state of conservation and painting technique. Raman analysis, Fourier-transform infrared analysis, analysis through energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry coupled to scanning electron microscopy and pyrolysis coupled to gas chromatography and mass spectrometry were applied. Six analyzed samples showed silicates and kaolin as main components of the ground layers. Also lead white has been found in these layers. Minium, red-earth and mercury sulfide are the red pigments detected in the polychromy. A mixed use of malachite and atacamite has been detected in three green samples. Optical characteristics of atacamite and malachite found in the samples indicate a synthetic origin. The presence of a synthetic organic pigment such as phthalocyanine chlorinated pigment was also revealed. Ultramarine blue pigment, obtained by purification of lapis lazuli, has been detected in the blue sample. As for the binders used, fatty materials and siccative oil were found.     

The Future of Innovation Studies in Less Economically Developed Countries

In this paper, we argue that there are patterns of innovation occurring in less economically developed countries (LEDCs) that have been historically overlooked by the innovation studies literature, including the literature on innovation systems and the triple helix. This paper briefly surveys cases in agriculture, banking, biomedicine and information and communications technologies that demonstrate organizational, scientific and technological innovation in Africa, South Asia, and Brazil. In particular, we track new developments in two distinctive patterns within LEDCs: (1) civil society as a site of innovation and; (2) innovation through appropriation. By systematically uncovering patterns of innovation in LEDCs, science and technology policy scholars may make new theoretical gains in innovation studies that can potentially contribute to innovation policies in the global South.     

贵州安顺传统村落空间分布特征及其影响因素探究

以列入《中国传统村落名录》的五批共67个安顺市传统村落为研究对象,运用GIS技术与叠置分析、缓冲区分析方法,分析安顺市传统村落的空间分布特征及其影响因素。研究表明:安顺市传统村落整体位于中北部的平坝区、西秀区以及黄果树风景名胜区,其中沿滇黔古驿道两侧高密度分布,其他县域则零散分布。总体空间布局特征为"大集中,小分散"。从地理环境、交通干道、历史文化三因素探究安顺市传统村落空间分布形成的原因,旨在为安顺市传统村落的地域性保护与开发提供前期依据。     

Between business and morality: cultural politics in independent bookshops in China

ABSTRACT

This article investigates how cultural businesses may facilitate contentious political activity in authoritarian contexts. Existing research in Western liberal democracies has shown the widespread political activism of actors in the cultural and creative industries. Whether such activism exists in authoritarian society, how it may differ in character and form, and what implications this will have for our understanding of relations between business, politics, and culture in authoritarian countries remain to be addressed. Drawing on data collected from 55 ‘independent bookshops’ in China, I illustrate how these organisations perform ‘cultural politics,’ a type of political participation in which actors employ mainly symbolic means to express social and political concerns. The organisations’ economic relations and conditions facilitate their efforts to create spaces in which contentious questions can be raised, sensitive topics explored, and alternative ideas expressed, despite the Chinese state’s political regulation of the cultural sphere. The finding of the economic embeddedness of cultural politics sheds new light on our understanding of the political economy of cultural businesses in contemporary China.     

The Re-emergence of The Forty Martyrs of Sebaste in the Church of Saint Peter and Paul,Famagusta, Northern Cyprus

This article presents the first study of a painting, possibly the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste, which has been concealed for over 500 years, and which has, this century only, re-emerged through plaster removal in the church of SS. Peter and Paul in Famagusta, N. Cyprus. Though very badly damaged the painting, which has remained undocumented and unstudied in the history and art history of Cyprus, may offer vital clues concerning internationalism and cultural interaction in Cyprus in the 14th and 15th centuries. It also offers specialists a rare glimpse at Italian ecclesiastical wall painting from this rich period in western art history, and makes clear the intellectual loss that might be felt if some basic conservation processes are not begun soon. Lastly, in the light of the changing political situation in that island it invites scholarship in a range of disciplines to the church and to other historic landmarks within the old city walls.     

Human and non-human intermediation in rural agricultural markets

ABSTRACT

A central trope of the information society is that of ‘information flows.’ The implicit assumption underlying such a vision involves the removal of gatekeepers and intermediaries who are perceived to impede such flows. Drawing from field research on information circulation, trade, and money in rural markets in Myanmar and India, we show why intermediaries persist alongside information and communication technologies (ICTs) in trade and financial transactions in the ‘Information Age.’ We examine the range of roles, (human and non-human) actors, and material practices that are involved in conducting financial transactions, and we show the importance of historical legacies and politics in explaining why both cash and financial intermediaries persist in the digital age. Focusing on the different value that human and non-human intermediaries bring to financial encounters helps explain what characteristics make each resilient or replaceable in a time of change. By situating intermediaries and mediations in the social relations within which they operate, we bring back the role of power and politics – an element that is often missing in accounts focused on the unmediated and ‘free’ circulation of information using ICTs – in explaining processes of mediation and circulation.     

一个奇特的大家庭

甘肃祁连山下山丹大马营草原上,有一个奇特的大家庭,全家20多口人,来自3个民族,有5个姓氏。他们原本出身极其贫寒,又遭遇接连不断的人生灾难,于是同病相怜,走到一起,并把心中固有的善和深深的爱,毫不保留地奉献给了这个新组合的家庭,写下了一个人间少有的美丽故事。