Practical Applications as a Source of Credibility: A Comparison of Three Fields of Dutch Academic Chemistry

In many Western science systems, funding structures increasingly stimulate academic research to contribute to practical applications, but at the same time the rise of bibliometric performance assessments have strengthened the pressure on academics to conduct excellent basic research that can be published in scholarly literature. We analyze the interplay between these two developments in a set of three case studies of fields of chemistry in the Netherlands. First, we describe how the conditions under which academic chemists work have changed since 1975. Second, we investigate whether practical applications have become a source of credibility for individual researchers. Indeed, this turns out to be the case in catalysis, where connecting with industrial applications helps in many steps of the credibility cycle. Practical applications yield much less credibility in environmental chemistry, where application-oriented research agendas help to acquire funding, but not to publish prestigious papers or to earn peer recognition. In biochemistry practical applications hardly help in gaining credibility, as this field is still strongly oriented at fundamental questions. The differences between the fields can be explained by the presence or absence of powerful upstream end-users, who can afford to invest in academic research with promising long term benefits.     

The Future of Defunct Religious Buildings: Dutch Approaches to Their Adaptive Re-use

Across the Western world, membership in the established organized churches is on the decline with a concomitant reduction in the need for churches and church halls. As redundant and unused churches are the focus of vandalism and decay, owners and heritage managers are looking for options to adaptively re-use such buildings. This article reviews the literature on the re-use of churches in the Netherlands, which has long history of innovatively addressing the problems. The options available range from re-use for religious purposes by other denominations or faiths, to community use (multi-purpose, sport, music etc.), and private use, which can be either commercial or residential. The attitudes of the community and the original property owners play a major part in successful adaptive re-use. Because of its long history, the Dutch experience in adaptive re-use of religious buildings has much to offer heritage managers in other countries faced with this emergent management issue.     

The Effects of User-fee Policy on Attendance Rates among Kenyan Elementary Schoolchildren

What happens when a government cannot meet its obligation to provide universal primary education and enhance the quality of education for all of its citizens? The present study examines the interactions among stakeholders in the user-fee policy in primary education in Kenya. It seeks to show how this policy has affected attendance rates and drop-out rates among elementary schoolchildren. It reveals that, in addition to limiting access and contributing to attrition, user-fees significantly contribute to absenteeism. The study also exposes the dire situation of economically vulnerable citizens who do not have the resources which they need to ensure private education for their children. It concludes that together the government and household-level economic weaknesses have made it virtually impossible to attain the goal of education for all in Kenya.     

Heisenberg and ferromagnetism

Heisenberg’s contributions to the understanding of ferromagnetism are reviewed. The special features of ferromagnetism, vis-a-vis dia and para magnetism, are introduced and the necessity of a Weiss molecular field is explained. It is shown how Heisenberg identified the quantum mechanical exchange interaction, which first appeared in the context of chemical bonding, to be the essential agency, contributing to the co-operative ordering process in ferromagnetism.