Producing information: communication and collaboration in the South African scientific community

Prior research has investigated the relationships between communication, collaboration and production of information/knowledge. Most of this research has been conducted either in developed countries where the internet facility is highly advanced or in developing countries with little internet access. Investigations in countries that fall in between these two extremes are rare. This study of respondents from higher education institutions and research institutes examines the relationship between collaboration and internet use, as well as productivity and internet use in the South African scientific system which has become a strong contributor to science in Africa.     

Mechanical tasting: sensory science and the flavorization of food production

The paper narrates the history of “texturometers”, devices that imitate the human biting mechanism and are used by food scientists in experiments on food texture. Two interrelated processes, characteristic of the emergence of industrialized food production in the twentieth century, are examined through this history of mechanical tasting. First, the paper surveys the pervasive project of transforming the phenomenological qualities of flavor and food texture into robust “objective” and “standardized” data. In constructing and using biomimetic texturometers, food sensory scientists attempted to translate texture qualities such as tenderness, crispness, crunch and chewiness into codified properties by producing formal definitions and graphical representations – an example of how the pursuit of objectivity and standardized knowledge coevolved with the rise of mass production and the emergence of sensory sciences. Secondly, the texturometers are related to an overall “flavorization”; that is, a historical process by which the complexes of sensory impressions became increasingly important for the production and consumption of food in late-modern industrialized societies.     

Falsificationism is not just ‘potential’ falsifiability,but requires ‘actual’ falsification: Social psychology,critical rationalism,and progress in science

Based on an analysis of ten popular introductions to social psychology, we will show that Karl Popper's philosophy of ‘critical rationalism’ so far has had little to no traceable influence on the epistemology and practice of social psychology. If Popper is quoted or mentioned in the textbooks at all, the guiding principle of ‘falsificationism’ is reduced to a mere ‘falsifiability’ and some central elements of critical rationalism are left out – those that are incompatible with positivism and inductivism. Echoing earlier attempts to introduce Popper to social psychology by Paul Meehl and Tom Pettigrew, we will argue that a discussing Popper's ideas in more depth could help social psychology to move forward in view of the ‘crisis of confidence’ (Pashler and Wagenmakers, 2012) that has emerged recently in view of the ‘Stapel affair’ and the reports of failures to replicate social psychological experiments in high‐powered replication attempts.     

Letter to the Editor: Respecting the Plurality of Value and the Messiness of Scientific Practice

Evaluations of authorship and recommendations for authorship policies best heed the plurality of valuation cultures that traverse scientific practices and respect the messiness of scientific practices, for those are reflected in authorship and authorship sequence decisions.     

复杂性科学视角下企业成长研究梳理与启示

作为研究和处理复杂系统和行为的工具，复杂性科学为企业成长研究提供了新的起点。从复杂性科学的背景出发，总结了目前企业成长研究的基本共识、内容体系，并为企业管理与决策实践提供指导。     

“科学技术是双刃剑”质疑

在学术界,持"科学技术是双刃剑"论的学者,似乎没有真正搞清楚科学技术的基本性质,因而他们的观点存在诸多明显缺陷。科学技术具有真、善、美的本性。具有真、善、美本性的科学技术,不可能同时包含着假、恶、丑的内容,因而"科学技术是双刃剑"的命题不合逻辑。人类在利用科学技术从事实践活动的过程中,常常会受到来自自然界盲目力量的报复,那是因为人类的无知。而一些个人、团体和国家利用科学技术从事犯罪活动,则根源于他们的贪婪,没有理由把他们犯下的罪行归咎于科学技术。     

“期刊承认”VS“共同体承认”:我国学术知识生产动力机制的“悖论”

"共同体的承认"是知识生产的根本动力,在西方"期刊承认"乃"共同体承认"的有机组成部分,学术人努力生产、发表创新性的知识以赢得"共同体的承认".然而在我国,量化考评下的"期刊承认"并未得到大部分学术人的真正认同,已非"共同体承认"的一部分,学术人生产知识主要是为了取得形式化的"期刊承认"以满足各种实用性的目的,而非生产出创新性的知识以赢得实质性的"共同体承认","期刊承认"与"共同体承认"之间的冲突导致了我国学术知识生产动力机制的失灵.为了化解两者之间矛盾,我们一方面应使"同行评议"机制在各种学术评价活动中占据主导地位,另一方面要进一步完善学术期刊的"匿名评审"制度,以弥合"期刊承认"与"共同体承认"之间的断裂,从而真正激励学术知识的生产.     

哲学是科学的指导还是科学的工具——上世纪八十年代科学与哲学关系的论战

文章考察八十年代中国自然辩证法四大论战之一——科学与哲学关系的论战。论文首先追溯了查汝强与许良英观点分歧以及由此引发的争论;接着详细探讨了双方观点分歧和论战始末;最后对论战做了总结和思考,指出论战与八十年代的思想解放紧密联系在一起,有力地推动了思想解放的深入。     

文理兼招专业高等数学课程教学改革探索——以长春工程学院文理兼招专业为例

立足于本校实际情况,论述了文理兼招专业高等数学课程的教学现状,分析其成因,提出了文理兼招专业高等数学课程教学的一些改革措施。     

社会化媒体时代科普宣传的路径厘析

社会化媒体时代已经来临，信息传播逐渐由内容为主步入渠道为主。新媒体、新技术的发展为科普工作的开展带来了新的机遇，即提供了更为广阔的渠道、更为丰富的内容和更为多样的呈现形式。但是，机遇与挑战并存，新媒体的发展在给科普工作带来机遇的同时也带来了挑战，主要表现在：信息的多元、多变、多样淹没了科普信息；虚假、伪科学、迷信信息大行其道；网民习惯性质疑挑战权威（权威到威权）；科普信息的枯燥无法吸引网民等问题也较为突出。如何在社会化媒体环境下赢得话语权，抢占科普宣传制高点，已经成为当前开展好科普工作的重要任务。