Gender performativity in physics: affordances or only constraints?

In this forum we engage in a dialogue with Allison Gonsalves’s paper ‘“Physics and the girly girl—there is a contradiction somewhere”: Doctoral students’ positioning around discourses of gender and competence in physics’. In her paper Gonsalves uses a sociocultural approach to examine women doctoral students’ stories about becoming physicists. In doing so her paper focuses on how discourses of masculinity and femininity can create available and unavailable positions for the women students. In this dialogue we do a parallel reading of two of the student narratives presented by Gonsalves, using Judith Butler’s (1990) concept of discursive agency as a means to more explicitly bring the affordances for women identity constitution offered by their localized physicist context to the fore, rather focusing on its, often more visible, constraints.     

A note on the construction of test panels for the spectral imaging of paintings

The construction and examination of test panels is an ad hoc procedure, necessary for every spectral imaging study of paintings. Despite the common features, almost every scientific team follows a different way of construction. Furthermore, many of these approaches are not adequately documented in the relevant papers. Failure to use common language and practice leads to confusion about properties of materials and paint layers that have been overall examined by the scientists, as well as the validity of the results and their exploitation in several conservation applications. The present theoretical approach points out the need for common protocols for the construction of test panels and draws general principles as a flow chart on which they should be based.     

Public relations: The process of communication between a higher education institution and its environment: The case of the Wroclław university of economics

This article presents the practical application of the public relations process through an analysis of its consecutive phases with reference to the Wrocl?aw University of Economics, Poland. The author examines the four phases of the process (research, action, communication, and evalu ation), concentrating on the first phase, situation analysis. The diagnostic phase is based on research that was carried out among students of the university that gave rise to a sample consisting of 1,123 respondents to a questionnaire. The main aim of the research was to identify the opinions and attitudes of students in regard to their university, their evaluation of the way it functions, and their perceptions of its image.     

Isokinetic knee extension and vertical jumping: are they related?

The aim of this study was to examine joint power generation during a concentric knee extension isokinetic test and a squat vertical jump. The isokinetic test joint power was calculated using four different methods. Five participants performed concentric knee extensions at 0.52, 1.57, 3.14 and 5.23 rad x s(-1) on a Lido isokinetic dynamometer. The squat vertical jump was performed on a Kistler force plate. Kinematic data from both tests were collected and analysed using an ELITE optoelectronic system. An inverse dynamics model was applied to measure knee joint moment in the vertical jump. Knee angular position data from the kinematic analysis in the isokinetic test were used to derive the actual knee angular velocity and acceleration, which, in turn, was used to correct the dynamometer moment for inertial effects. Power was measured as the product of angular velocity and moment at the knee joint in both tests. Significant differences (P < 0.05) were found between mean (+/- s) peak knee joint power in the two tests (squat vertical jump: 2255 +/- 434 W; isokinetic knee extension: 771 +/- 81 W). Correlation analysis revealed that there is no relationship between the peak knee joint power during the vertical jump and the slow velocity isokinetic tests. Higher isokinetic velocity tests show better relationships with the vertical jump but only if the correct method for joint power calculation is used in the isokinetic test. These findings suggest that there are important differences in muscle activation and knee joint power development that must be taken into consideration when isokinetic tests are used to predict jumping performance.     

Credibility battles in the autism litigation

That vaccines do not cause autism is now a widely accepted proposition, though a few dissenters remain. An 8-year court process in the US federal vaccine injury compensation court ended in 2010 with rulings that autism was not an adverse reaction to vaccination. There were two sets of trials: one against the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine and one against the mercury-based preservative thimerosal. The MMR story is more widely known because of publicity surrounding the main proponent of an MMR-autism link, British doctor Andrew Wakefield, but the story of thimerosal in court is largely untold. This study examines the credibility battles and boundary work in the two cases, illuminating the sustaining world of alternative science that supported the parents, lawyers, researchers, and expert witnesses against vaccines. After the loss in court, the families and their advocates transformed their scientific arguments into an indictment of procedural injustice in the vaccine court. I argue that the very efforts designed to produce legitimacy in this type of lopsided dispute will be counter-mobilized as evidence of injustice, helping us understand why settling a scientific controversy in court does not necessarily mean changing anyone's mind.     

Creativity, trust and systematic processes in product development

This paper addresses the challenge of striking a balance between, on one hand, mitigating uncertainty through the existence of systematic processes and structures and, on the other, stimulating creativity through allowable variation in work processes and structures. Both objectives are fundamental aspects of product development work. Our main finding is that both objectives can be achieved simultaneously. We introduce trust as a mediating variable. We show first, that being systematic in the processes for obtaining information and applying explicit organizational rules and structures in product development work creates an atmosphere of trust in the organization. Second, we show that trust increases creativity. The paper contributes to an understanding of how and why trust is important in product development organizations and of how trust can be actively managed. Above all, the paper contributes to the understanding of how uncertainty and creativity should be managed in organizations conducting product development.     

基于功能主义角度的赖斯文本类型翻译理论

赖斯是德国功能主义翻译理论的先导人物,她在著作<翻译批评的可能性与限制>中提出文本类型理论,把文本分为"信息型"、"表达型"和"诱导型"的三种类型,本文就该理论的形成、意义和局限性进行了初步探讨.     

Assessment of seismic vulnerability of art objects: The “Galleria dei Prigioni” sculptures at the Accademia Gallery in Florence

The seismic assessment of art objects requires a multidisciplinary approach and the definition of a specific methodology for evaluating the level of safety and the possible interventions necessary for seismic risk prevention, finding a compromise between safety and conservation. This paper describes a first step in this direction, in which the different aspects of the procedure, from knowledge path of the art object to the structural analysis, were studied in the six Michelangelo's statues located in the “Galleria dei Prigioni” (Slaves’ Gallery) at the Accademia Gallery of Florence. We showed that the general principles and criteria expressed in the “Italian Guidelines for evaluation and mitigation of seismic-risk to cultural heritage”, which are specifically devoted to masonry constructions, could be profitably extended to other artworks, like statues, starting from historical research, geometrical survey and material characterization, up to the developing of specific methods of analysis. This research could be the base for future studies to be performed concerning the prevention of seismic damage of art objects, including both bare minimum interventions and specific devices, such as isolation systems.