‘We Have to Go Where the Money Is’—Dilemmas in the Role of Nutrition Scientists: An Interview Study

In Western societies scientists are increasingly expected to seek media exposure and cooperate with industry. Little attention has been given to the way such expectations affect the role of scientific experts in society. To investigate scientists’ own perspectives on these issues eight exploratory, in-depth interviews were conducted in Denmark with reputable nutrition scientists. Additionally, eight interviews were held with ‘key informants’ from the field of nutrition policy. It was found that nutrition scientists experience two dilemmas: first, between their aspiration to make a collective impact on public health and the powerful incentives of each to appear frequently in the media with new messages; second, between their need to cooperate with the food industry for financial reasons and their fear that this may compromise their independence and scientific integrity. It is argued that the dilemmas identified in this study should be dealt with openly by the relevant groups of scientists.     

How to be Real and Conventional: A Discussion of the Quality Criteria of Official Statistics

Are the categories used to study the social world and acting on it “real” or “conventional”? An empirical answer to that question is given by an analysis of the debates about the “quality” of statistics produced by the European National Institues of statistics in the 1990s. Six criteria of quality were then specified: relevance, accuracy, timeliness, accessibility, comparability and coherence. How do statisticians and users of statistics deal with the tension produced by their objects being both “real” (they exist before their measurement) and “conventionally constructed” (they are in a way, created by these conventions)? In particular, the technical and sociological distinction between the criteria of relevance and accuracy implies a realistic interpretation, desired by users, but that is nonetheless problematic.     

Rethinking Polanyi’s Concept of Tacit Knowledge: From Personal Knowing to Imagined Institutions

Half a century after Michael Polanyi conceptualised ‘the tacit component’ in personal knowing, management studies has reinvented ‘tacit knowledge’—albeit in ways that squander the advantages of Polanyi’s insights and ignore his faith in ‘spiritual reality’. While tacit knowing challenged the absurdities of sheer objectivity, expressed in a ‘perfect language’, it fused rational knowing, based on personal experience, with mystical speculation about an un-experienced ‘external reality’. Faith alone saved Polanyi’s model from solipsism. But Ernst von Glasersfeld’s radical constructivism provides scope to rethink personal tacit knowing with regard to ‘other people’ and the intersubjectively viable construction of ‘experiential reality’. By separating tacit knowing from Polanyi’s metaphysical realism and drawing on Benedict Anderson’s concept of ‘imagined communities’, it is possible to conceptualise ‘imagined institutions’ as the tacit dimension of power that shapes human interaction. Whereas Douglass North claimed institutions could be reduced to rules, imagined institutions are known in ways we cannot tell.     

Broadway productions and the value of a Tony Award

This article investigates the effect of a Tony nomination or win on the demand facing a Broadway production using a panel of weekly revenues for Broadway productions from 1996 to 2007. Our results indicate that the effect of a nomination or win is positive in the week of the announcement and gradually increases in successive weeks, presumably due to publicity and word-of-mouth. Winners experience an increase in demand as late as 1 year later when awards are publicized for the following season. Moreover, nominees that do not win the award are penalized heavily in the weeks following the Award announcements. We find that winning a Tony Award increases a production’s revenues by 12% in the week immediately following the Awards.

Revealed word-of-mouth demand and adaptive supply: survival of motion pictures at the Australian box office

This study considers a frailty duration approach to modelling the life-length of a sample of 360 films that went into wide release at the Australian box office from 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2005. The analysis extends previous research by considering a range of film-specific covariates relating to distribution, production, consumer signals, and weekly performance. In particular, it is shown that film success (defined in a duration context) responds to previewing, advertising, critical reviews, and US box office—but not to production budget, star power or opening-week screens. The study also reveals that it is appropriate to account for unobservable heterogeneity between films in the choice of empirical methodology.     

Towards a Culture of Application: Science and Decision Making at the National Institute of Standards &; Technology

How does the research performed by a government mission agency contribute to useable technologies for its constituents? Is it possible to incorporate science policy mechanisms for increasing benefits to users in the decision process? The United States National Institute of Standards &; Technology (NIST) promises research directed towards industrial application. This paper considers the processes that produce science and technology at NIST. The institute’s policies for science provide robust examples for how effective science policies can contribute to the emergence of useful technologies. To progress towards technologies that can be years away, the agency uses several means for integrating the needs of eventual information users into the prioritization process. To accomplish this, NIST units, such as the Materials Science and Engineering Laboratory, incorporate mechanisms for considering user need and project impact into different stages of its scientific decision processes. This, and other specific strategies that the agency utilizes for connecting the supply of science to information demand, provide lessons for generating useable science.     

网络数据统计分析方案设计与讨论

本文就高等院校网络数据分析做了一个简单的探讨,并在此基础上提出了解决问题的关键以及一些建议。这是一般校园网络管理都要重视的一个问题。     

中和热测定实验释疑

1 测定酸碱中和热为什么要用稀溶液 中和热是酸碱在稀溶液中发生中和反应生成lmol水时所放出的热量,这里的稀溶液一般要求酸溶液中的C(H )≤1mol/L或碱溶液中的C(OH-)≤1mol/L.这是因为如果在浓溶液中,即使是强酸或强碱,由于得不到足够的水分子,因此也不能完全电离为自由移动的离子.在中和反应过程中会伴随着酸或碱的电离及离子的水化,电离要吸收热量,离子的水化要放出热量,不同浓度时这个热量就不相同,所以中和热的数值就不相同,这样就没有一个统一标准了.     

Short- and long-term challenges in crop breeding

Agriculture provides the primary energy source and nutrients for humans,and is the key factor determining worldwide population and its basic health status.In th...     

浅谈临床医学基础研究国家自然科学基金资助格局的完善

临床医学基础研究旨在探索疾病发生、发展、转归及诊断、治疗学机理,以期不断深化对疾病的认识、提高诊治水平,为临床实践服务。近年来国家自然科学基金(以下简称科学基金)受理临床医学基础研究的数量迅速增长,本文围绕如何使有限的经费资源得到最合理的分配使用,推动自主创新,促进重点跨越,从根本上提高我国临床医学基础研究的水平这一目的,结合国家自然科学基金委员会生命科学部临床医学基础Ⅰ学科各研究领域的特点和现状,谈谈在完善资助格局和模式方面的初步想法。