Freedom of science

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of "freedom of science"("academic freedom")for the advancement of society and mankind, which, however, is permanently endangered by powerful organisations, groups and individuals, who in pursuit of their one-sided interests are seeking to constrain information about the truth. As a broad term, freedom of science embraces freedom in research, learning, teachingand publication. All of these activities should be dedicated to identifying the truth and learning about the truth. Design/methodology/approach – Three theoretical approaches are of importance for framing issues related to freedom of science, which in this paper are integrated into the framework of mindset agency theory: freedom is a value; "freedom" is claimed by agents who pursue specific interests (goals), which might constrain others; and individuals are agents who are interacting with each other within a social system–cooperation, ignorance or conflict. Findings – Freedom as a value is at the core of intellectual autonomy. Intellectual autonomy is a necessarycondition for innovation and advancement of knowledge. The observable modes of interaction/coexistenceamong researchers are influenced by individual research goals and by the researchers' access to resources, which may be deliberately constrained by opponents or other researchers as competitors. Research limitations/implications – For further research, which is beyond this paper, the authors can refer to: analyses of challenges of "academic freedom" – in terms of ethics, protection of individual humanrights, political pressures and conflicts of interests; the issues of truth, i.e. the impact of fake news andcreation of "alternate facts"; and the relation between academic freedom and employment (academic tenure) inpresent-day societies. Owing to lack of space, this paper cannot deal with the danger emerging from powerful organisations or powerful individuals, who are challenging freedom of science. Social implications–If there is no freedom of science then social progress is constrained. If there is no access to right data, decisions will be wrong. Originality/value – So far, a comprehensive cybernetic model was not published, which supports systems thinking about scholars and teachers (inter)acting in research organisations

Privileged Interfirm/Bank Relationships in Central Europe: Trigger or Trap for Corporate Governance?

The paper focuses on the question whether banks and capital markets in Central Europe are capable of exerting a positive influence on enterprise performance at the present stage of the economic transformation. These markets are characterised by privileged, collaborative interfirm/interbank relationships demonstrated through various channels. Among them is the competition for private deposits between commercial and national banks that are simultaneously supervisors of commercial banks, as is the case in Poland. Other channels include: heavily indebted large banks that are owners of industrial companies (as is the case in Slovakia with the steel mill VSZ owning the third largest bank IRB), investment funds that are facilitating industrial restructuring, and foreign banks holding only minority stakes in large domestic financial institutions.Interfirm, bank relationship, Central Europe

Privileged Interfirm/Bank Relationships in Central Europe: Trigger or Trap for Corporate Governance?

The paper focuses on the question whether banks and capital markets in Central Europe are capable of exerting a positive influence on enterprise performance at the present stage of the economic transformation. These markets are characterised by privileged, collaborative interfirm/interbank relationships demonstrated through various channels. Among them is the competition for private deposits between commercial and national banks that are simultaneously supervisors of commercial banks, as is the case in Poland. Other channels include: heavily indebted large banks that are owners of industrial companies (as is the case in Slovakia with the steel mill VSZ owning the third largest bank IRB), investment funds that are facilitating industrial restructuring, and foreign banks holding only minority stakes in large domestic financial institutions.

A comparison of nanotribology and nanoindentation

Metal friction and wear is the collective contact and interaction of asperities of micrometer dimension. We use a nanoindenter with tangential force measurement to simulate the behavior in engineering contacts and to fundamentally understand friction and wear. This presentation investigates the deformation due to a single stroke scratch of a diamond nanoindenter in austenite base. We find that the elastic and plastic equations for static indentation also apply for the dynamic scratching. Additionally, the friction coefficient is found to be normal force dependent and we observe three domains: microstructure dominated friction, plastic plowing dominated wear and wear particle dominated tribology. Focussing on plasticity, we observe that the local crystal orientation has a significant influence on the development and spread of of plasticity. Additionally, the complex three-dimensional stress state results in the formation of non-obvious plastic slip patterns. Finally, we show crack formation in the scratch track even after a single stroke

Master Builders revisited: The importance of feedback loops: a case study using salvaged timber and wooden nails only

In the light of today’s challenges regarding sustainable solutions for the built environment, our research focuses on building entire structures with timber only. Salvaged timber and wooden nails are selected as starting points to explore the structural and architectural possibility by following a timber-only concept. Reminding of the ancient Master Builder idea, the process of our investigations makes clear the importance of all steps and their distinct insights feeding back, following the loops from design to the assembly of the objects, in order to increase the efficiency of material use and optimize the functionality of the final object. In this paper we evaluate the feedback loops performed so far including the lessons learnt from success and failure in design, testing and manufacturing. We also look into the potential of increased structural and architectural quality of outputs and increased diversity of applications by our approach.Peer reviewe

Factors associated with self-reported failure of binding to release among recreational skiers: an epidemiological study

Female recreational skiers have twice the knee injury incidence of male skiers and the reported proportion of failure of binding release is considerably higher among females. It remains unclear whether this sex difference belongs only to an injury of the knee joint or also to other body parts. Therefore, a total of 1369 injured skiers (43.1% females) were interviewed on sex, age, date of last binding adjustment, skill level, risk taking behaviour and injured body part and binding release at the moment of accident.Failure of binding release was reported within 39.9% of all cases at the moment of the accident. An actual binding adjustment was significantly associated with a decreasing proportion of failure of binding release. Failure of binding release was significantly higher for females compared to males (51 vs. 32%) and for cautious compared to risky skiers (42 vs. 33%) while sexes did not differ regarding the date of the last binding adjustment. Regarding knee injuries, female skiers showed a higher proportion of failure of binding release compared to male skiers (61 vs. 46%) with an OR of 1.8 (95% CI, 1.2-2.8).  In conclusion, failure of binding release was significantly more frequent in females compared to males, irrespective of the injured body part although sexes did not differ with regard to the date of the last binding adjustment

The Use of Repatriate Knowledge in Austrian Banks

Repatriates are mostly an underestimated resource within a company. Repatriates could contribute to sustained competitive advantage of firms as a rare and imperfectly imitable resource, if firms would fully employ their knowledge. In extant literature, we find four major categories of expatriate knowledge: market specific knowledge, personal skills (Adler 2000, Antal 2000, Downes/Thomas, 1999, Kühlmann/Stahl 1995), job related management skills, and network skills (Antal 2000, Downes/Thomas 1999, Kühlmann/Stahl 1995). In an explorative qualitative case study in Austrian commercial banks, we collected data about the knowledge acquired by expatriates using narrative interview techniques. From the perspective of the interviewed repatriates, the existent categories could be confirmed and an additional category of importance was found that so far was not identified in the literature: the general management capacity of expatriates was substantially enhanced during their assignment abroad