Ranking Romanian academic departments in three fields of study using the g-index

The scientific performance of 64 political science, sociology and marketing departments in Romania is investigated with the aid of the g-index. The assessment of departments based on the g-index shows, within each of the three types of departments that make up the population of the study, a strong polarisation between top performers (very few) and weak performers (much more numerous). This alternative assessment is also found to be largely consistent with an official ranking of departments carried out in 2011 by the Ministry of Education. To conduct the evaluation of departments the individual scientific output of 1385 staff members working in the fields of political science, sociology and marketing is first determined with the aid of the ‘Publish or Perish’ software based on the Google Scholar database. Distinct department rankings are then created within each field using a successive (second-order) g-index.     

Phonological Processing and Word Reading in Typically Developing and Reading Disabled Children: Severity Matters

In this study word reading (WR) fluency was used to dichotomously classify 1,598 Dutch children at different cutoffs, indicating (very) poor or (very) good reading performance. Analysis of variance and receiver operating characteristics were used to investigate the effects of rapid automatized naming (RAN) and phonemic awareness (PA) in predicting group membership. The highest predictive values were found for the combination of RAN and PA, particularly for the poorest readers. Furthermore, results indicate that with the severity of impairment, WR is more dominated by deficient PA, which is interpreted as an enduring problem with sublexical processing. Another main result is that with the increase of reading skill, the contribution of PA diminishes, whereas the contribution of RAN remains fairly constant for the whole reading fluency continuum. These results warrant the conclusion that whereas PA hallmarks reading disability, RAN appears to be the default predictor for above-average or excellent reading proficiency.     

道德调节

在对各种技术道德研究路径进行分析的基础上,展开对技术是否可以作为道德行动者的审视,并从道德调节入手,以对构成道德能动性的两个必要条件——意向性和自由——的非人文主义分析为基础,重新思考伦理学中物的地位,借助于阐述物在道义论、目的论、美德论伦理学中的作用来创建认真对待技术道德相关性所需要的空间,即通过道德调节来有效构建通向将技术道德化的理论途径。     

超越道德调节

传统技术道德问题的思考主要表现在对技术所具有的道德调节作用上的分析,即技术如何调节人类的道德行为。这一传统方式主要基于人本主义的设定,即人与技术之间存在着严格边界,人具有道德自主性,技术是无自主性的。但是会聚技术、大脑植入、智能环境等新技术带来的根本问题逐步取消人与技术之间的严格边界,技术与身体彼此融合介入,并且以新的形式影响着人类道德决策。理解这些问题,必须采取超人类主义的态度,必须超越传统的技术道德调节形式。新技术给人类带来了两种新型关系:赛博格关系与复合关系。只有在超人类主义的基础上,才能够有效分析新技术与人之间所呈现出来的新型关系——赛博格关系、复合关系——及其道德意蕴。     

Catch a falling apple: Isaac Newton and myths of genius

Newton has become a legendary figure belonging to the distant past rather than a historical person who lived at a specific time. Historians and scientists have constantly reinterpreted many anecdotal tales describing Newton's achievements and behaviour, but the most famous concerns the falling apple in his country garden. Newton's apple conjures up multiple allegorical resonances, and examining its historical accuracy is less important than uncovering the mythical truths embedded within this symbol. Because interest groups fashion different collective versions of the past, analysing mythical tales can reveal fundamental yet conflicting attitudes towards science and its practices.     

When friendships surpass parental relationships as predictors of long-term outcomes: Adolescent relationship qualities and adult psychosocial functioning

Perceptions of adolescent–parent and adolescent–peer relationship qualities, and adolescents’ attachment states of mind were examined as predictors of adult social and romantic relationship quality, depressive symptoms, and work performance. Adolescents (86 male, 98 female; 58% White, 29% African American, 8% mixed race/ethnicity, 5% other groups) were followed from age 13 to 24 via observational, self-, parent-, and close friend-reports. Adolescent close friendship quality was a significantly better predictor of adult peer and romantic outcomes, work performance, and depressive symptoms than parental reports of the parent–teen relationship; attachment security was also a strong predictor of numerous outcomes. Results are interpreted as reflecting the difficulty for parents judging parent–teen relationship quality and as reflecting the growing importance of close friendships during this period.