The problem of causality in cultivation research

This paper offers an up-to-date review of problems in determining causal relationships in cultivation research, and considers the research rationales of various approaches with special reference to causal interpretation. It describes in turn a number of methodologies for addressing the problem and resolving it as far as this is possible. The issue of causal inference arises not only in cultivation research, however, but is basic to all media effects theories and approaches primarily at the macro-level whose main methodology rests on correlational studies (agenda-setting, spiral of silence, knowledge gap hypothesis, etc.). We therefore first discuss problems of causal interpretation in connection with the cultivation hypothesis, and then sketch in summary how these problems arise with other media effects theories. We first set out the basic features of the cultivation approach, then consider the difficulties with correlational studies and discuss alternative research designs - designs which are not original to us, but have been adapted for cultivation research. These comprise laboratory experiments, sequential studies, social studies and time-series procedures. Finally, we argue for multiple approaches that complement one another's advantages and balance out their disadvantages

The role of research orientation for attracting competitive research funding.

This article studies the role of research orientation for attracting research grants at higher education institutions in Germany. Traditionally research activities were funded by the institutions’ core budget. More recently, extramural research funding has become increasingly important. Besides the public sector, industry provides a growing share of such funds. The results based on a sample of professors in science and engineering suggest that basic and applied research is complementarity for attracting research funding from industry. Thus, professors who conduct basic research in addition to research on the applicability of their results appear to be a more interesting target or most successful in raising industry funds. For raising grants from public sources, it turns out that specialization is more important. Specialized research units on either basic or applied research obtain significantly more public grants which points to a substitutive relationship between basic and applied research for grants from public sources.applied research; basic research; research funding; university-industry technology transfer;

Privatization of Knowledge: Did the U.S. Get It Right? (New Version).

To foster innovation and growth should basic research be publicly or privately funded? This paper studies the impact of the gradual shift in the U.S. patent system towards the patentability and commercialization of the basic R&D undertaken by universities. We see this movement as making universities becoming responsive to "market" forces. Prior to 1980, universities undertook research using an exogenous stock of researchers that were motivated by "curiosity." After 1980, universities patent their research and behave as private firms. This move, in a context of two-stage inventions (basic and applied research) has an a priori ambiguous effect on innovation and welfare. We build a Schumpeterian model and match it to the data to assess this important turning point.R&D and Growth; Sequential Innovation; Basic Research; Patent Laws.

Nano-Size Layered Manganese-Calcium Oxide as an Efficient and Biomimetic Catalyst for Water Oxidation Under Acidic Conditions: Comparable To Platinum

Inspired by Nature's catalyst, a nano-size layered manganese-calcium oxide showed a low overvoltage for water oxidation in acidic solutions, which is comparable to platinum.Institute for Advanced Studies in Basic Sciences and the National Elite FoundationUS Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Chemical, Geochemical and Biological Sciences DE-FG02-86ER13622, DE-FG0209ER16119Russian Foundation for Basic Research 11-04-01389a, 12-0492101a, 13-04-92711aMolecular and Cell Biology Programs of the Russian Academy of SciencesCenter for Electrochemistr

A Theoretical Analysis of Public Funding for Research

This paper studies government funding for scientific research. Funds must be distributed among different research institutions and allocated between basic and applied research. Informational constraints prevent less productive institutions to be given any government funding. In order to internalise the beneficial effects of research, the government requires the most productive institutions to carry out more applied research than they would like. Funding for basic research is used by the government to induce more productive institutions to carry out more applied research then they would like.Basic and applied research, R&D, Scientific advances.

ImmPort, toward repurposing of open access immunological assay data for translational and clinical research

Immunology researchers are beginning to explore the possibilities of reproducibility, reuse and secondary analyses of immunology data. Open-access datasets are being applied in the validation of the methods used in the original studies, leveraging studies for meta-analysis, or generating new hypotheses. To promote these goals, the ImmPort data repository was created for the broader research community to explore the wide spectrum of clinical and basic research data and associated findings. The ImmPort ecosystem consists of four components–Private Data, Shared Data, Data Analysis, and Resources—for data archiving, dissemination, analyses, and reuse. To date, more than 300 studies have been made freely available through the ImmPort Shared Data portal , which allows research data to be repurposed to accelerate the translation of new insights into discoveries

The challenge of conducting qualitative research to understand the factors that influence equity in medical education: A scoping review

Introduction There are national and international concerns about equity in basic and postgraduate medical education, especially about differential rates of access and attainment across groups of learners. Qualitative research has been increasingly used to understand the factors that influence equity but there are potential limitations to this understanding related to how the research has been conducted. The aim of the scoping review was to identify how qualitative research exploring the factors that influence equity in basic and postgraduate medical education has been conducted. The intention was to inform future research. Methods The electronic databases British Education Index, Campbell Library, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, ERIC, Google Scholar, Health Management Information Consortium (HMIC), MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Web of Science and medical education journals were searched to identify relevant published articles between 2008 and April 2019. Results Among 19,523 articles identified from the literature search, 72 full text articles were included in the review. Most studies had a focus on only one background characteristic and only two studies had a strengths-based focus on individuals. Recommendations for change was at the ‘policy level’ in ten studies and four studies had learner recommendations for change. No studies with a participatory approach were identified. Conclusion The approach to conducting previous qualitative research appears to limit greater understanding of the complexity of factors that influence equity. In response to this challenge, we recommend that future research widen the focus to consider the experiences and strengths of individual learners in addition to those identified by background characteristics. Future qualitative research is recommended to have a broad focus on both the ‘policy level’ and ‘local level’, especially from multiple perspectives. We also recommend greater collaboration of participants with researchers throughout the research process.</p

Motivation in Physical Education Classes: A Self-Determination Theory Perspective

This paper presents a brief overview of empirical studies in school physical education (PE) that have employed SDT and, where relevant, proposes ideas for future research in this area. First, we review research on teachers’ interpersonal style and its relation to students’ motivation. Second, we discuss intervention studies aimed at optimizing teachers’ interactions with students. Third, we present an overview of findings suggesting that basic psychological needs and motivational regulations predict various cognitive, affective, and behavioral outcomes in PE. Finally, we provide practical recommendations for PE teachers drawing from initial intervention studies in PE

Superconducting gyroscope research

Four basic areas of research and development of superconducting gyroscopes are studied. Chapter 1 studies the analysis of a SQUID readout for a superconducting gyroscope. Chapter 2 studies the dependence of spin-up torque on channel and gas properties. Chapter 3 studies the theory of super fluid plug operation. And chapter 4 studies the gyro rotor and housing manufacture

Crystallography for university research: some basic case studies

An overview of commonly available, state-of-the-art diffraction techniques for university research is presented based on some chemical case studies. Examples from the Fribourg crystallography service are presented, aimed at scientists who would like to learn about the principal possibilities that X-ray powder and single-crystal diffraction can offer, how these methods can serve to determine the structure of a given material, and how they can help to identify polymorphs, surface coatings and enantiomers