From where do legislators draw scientific knowledge? : Organizations as scientific authorities in four countries’ parliamentary debates

Organizations far beyond traditional academic institutions have become prolific science producers, with many now providing evidence-based advice for national governments and policy-makers. Neo-institutional sociology explains organizations' growing investment in research activities and research-based policy advice by the all-embracing scientization and the expansion of the educated population, phenomena observable throughout the world. There is, however, considerably less knowledge about how the organizations' increased knowledge production and the supply of science-based policy advice are reflected in national policy-making, including the legislative work of parliaments, and to what extent distinct organizations are deemed authoritative in different countries. In this paper, we examine how different organizations are used as scientific authorities in parliamentary debates over new legislation. Drawing on analyses of 576 parliamentary debates from Australia, Finland, Kenya, and the United Kingdom, we study what organizations are acknowledged as scientific authorities and the relative weight of different organization types in the context of political debates over new legislation. The results reveal that while organizations in general are frequently evoked as scientific authorities in all four countries, there is remarkable variation in the types of organizations considered authoritative in different national contexts. We elaborate these findings by analysing ways in which politicians evaluate organizations as sources of scientific authority. While the same set of evaluative schemas are used in all four countries, each is typically applied to certain types of organization. The results suggest that both the supply of scientific policy advice and political culture shape legislators' rhetorical practices when drawing on organizations' scientific authority.Organizations far beyond traditional academic institutions have become prolific science producers, with many now providing evidence-based advice for national governments and policy-makers. Neo-institutional sociology explains organizations' growing investment in research activities and research-based policy advice by the all-embracing scientization and the expansion of the educated population, phenomena observable throughout the world. There is, however, considerably less knowledge about how the organizations' increased knowledge production and the supply of science-based policy advice are reflected in national policy-making, including the legislative work of parliaments, and to what extent distinct organizations are deemed authoritative in different countries. In this paper, we examine how different organizations are used as scientific authorities in parliamentary debates over new legislation. Drawing on analyses of 576 parliamentary debates from Australia, Finland, Kenya, and the United Kingdom, we study what organizations are acknowledged as scientific authorities and the relative weight of different organization types in the context of political debates over new legislation. The results reveal that while organizations in general are frequently evoked as scientific authorities in all four countries, there is remarkable variation in the types of organizations considered authoritative in different national contexts. We elaborate these findings by analysing ways in which politicians evaluate organizations as sources of scientific authority. While the same set of evaluative schemas are used in all four countries, each is typically applied to certain types of organization. The results suggest that both the supply of scientific policy advice and political culture shape legislators' rhetorical practices when drawing on organizations' scientific authority.Peer reviewe

Efficiency Increase of Biological Methanation based Power-toMethane Technology Using Waste Heat Recovery with Organic Rankine Cycle

Due to the efforts of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, nearly two-thirds of the installed electric capacity worldwide will come from renewables in 2050 (EIA 2021), making frequency control without energy storage impossible. Power-to-Methane (PtM) technology allows electricity to be stored in the form of methane. The storage efficiency of PtM may be increased either by maximizing the recovery of the stored electricity, which is a common method, or by reducing the amount of electricity the PtM has to be charged with for a given amount of stored energy. In this paper, a case study is presented for the latter by directly integrating an Organic Rankine Cycle into the PtM technology by recycling the waste heat from water electrolysis and biological methanation back to electrolysis. With this method, total storage efficiency can be increased by approximately two percentage points

Aszimmetrikus dimetilarginin: a cardiovascularis betegségek prediktora?

Absztrakt A szív-ér rendszeri megbetegedések világszerte a leggyakrabban előforduló betegségek. Felelősek a globális halálozás egyharmadáért, vezető okai a rokkantságnak. A prevenció különböző szintjeinek hatékony kockázatbecsléssel együtt történő alkalmazása sokat javított a fent említett statisztikai adatokon. A klasszikus kockázati tényezőkön alapuló kockázatbecslés az utóbbi időben számos új markerrel egészült ki. Ilyen biomarker az aszimmetrikus dimetilarginin, amely a nitrogén-monoxid-szintáz endogén kompetitív inhibitora. Emelkedett szintjét leírták többek között elhízott, dohányos, hypercholesterinaemiás, hypertoniás, diabeteses betegcsoportokban. Irodalmi adatok szerint az aszimmetrikus dimetilarginin képes jelezni az atherosclerosis megelőző állapotának tartott endotheldiszfunkciót. Számos nagy betegszámú kutatás talált pozitív összefüggést a magasabb aszimmetrikus dimetilarginin koncentráció és a coronariabetegségek kialakulása, illetve a már meglévő coronariabetegség progressziója között. Egy 3000 fős beteganyagot vizsgáló tanulmány szerint az aszimmetrikus dimetilarginin független kockázati faktorként önmagában is képes előre jelezni a cardiovascularis okokból bekövetkező halálozást a coronariabetegségben szenvedők körében. Jelen írásukban a szerzők összefoglalják az aszimmetrikus dimetilarginin cardiovascularis betegségek előrejelzésében betöltött szerepét, és hangsúlyozzák kiemelt fontosságát a cardiovascularis prevencióban. Orv. Hetil., 2016, 157(13), 483–487

Urinary orosomucoid as inflammatory biomarker in sepsis

The leading causes of global morbidity and mortality (cardiovascular diseases, malignancies and infections) are all associated with activation of the inflammatory system. Systemic inflammation often results in severe complications. From these disorders, sepsis has to be highlighted, which has been known since the ancient times, however it still remains a challenging healthcare problem with relevant social and economic burden. Sepsis with an approximately 30% mortality rate and high costs of care is one of the most serious conditions of intensive care unit (ICU) admissions. Sepsis is a heterogeneous, complex clinical syndrome with various etiology, severity and prognosis. Early recognition of sepsis and distinguishing it from systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) is essential to improve disease outcome. Microbiological and laboratory tests provide a considerable help in the diagnosis. Certain biomarkers might be capable of prognostication, recognition of organ dysfunction and guiding antibiotic therapy as well. In the past few decades approximately 200 sepsis markers have been studied. Most of the biomarkers belong to the mediators of inflammatory response. The latest diagnostic guidelines regarding sepsis dedicated serum procalcitonin (PCT) and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) measurements if sepsis is suspected, even if these markers also possess some limitations. It is particularly advantageous, if a marker can be measured from a non-invasively obtained sample and if it is suitable for real-time monitoring of the inflammatory activation. Recently urinary proteomics also revealed the importance of several urinary proteins in systemic and in local processes as well. Orosomucoid (ORM) or α-1-acid glycoprotein is a major positive acute phase protein. Although ORM has been described in 1950, and numerous function of ORM has already been explored, its exact biologic role is not well clarified. ORM is an extensively glycosylated 41–43 kDa glycoprotein with extraordinary structure yielding unique features and functions. As a member of the immunocalin protein family, ORM plays a role in transporting biomolecules and drugs influencing their pharmacokinetics and takes part in the regulation of inflammatory processes with anti-inflammatory and immunomodulating activities. In vitro studies showed that ORM has several effects on all major leukocyte types: it inhibits lymphocyte proliferation, neutrophil chemotaxis, superoxide generation and platelet aggregation, as well. Animal experiments confirmed that ORM improves the outcome from different types of shock, sepsis, and it is important in maintaining perfusion of vital organs, and regulating capillary permeability

Marketing Authenticity : Analysis of Hungarian Right-Wing Populist Rhetoric

Both populism and conspiracy theories are gaining attention as they tend to saturate everyday political rhetoric. Earlier research notices how populist and conspiratorial rhetoric intertwine, yet they rarely focus on them as explanations for current social change, and even more, as arguments against it, in defence of an ‘authentic’ way of life. Both populism and conspiracy theories are often pathologized, while their explanatory aspects are neglected. This thesis aims to fill these gaps: it is interested in how right-wing populism and conspiratorial rhetoric used by them highlight the difference between an ‘authentic’, organically evolved society and unwanted, dangerous changes in it. Therefore, it does not only explain social change: it claims that 1. it is an attack on the ‘authenticity’ of a given society and 2. this attack is planned by conspirators 3. who are in fact ‘the elite’, acting against ‘the people’. As case study, this thesis analyses speeches held by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, between 2015 and 2020, three in each year, held publicly and translated to English on official government websites. The research question is, how epistemic work is found in the data, using the methodological toolkit of epistemic governance and membership categorization analysis (MCA), built in the framework of World Society Theory and the Bordieuan field theory. The thesis is interested in how basic assumptions on our world appear in the data, how actors in the political field are re-arranged, and how certain qualities are attached to them. Findings show how the issue of European immigration after 2015 and the influence of the European Union was understood as an attack on the ‘authenticity’ of Hungary and Europe and constructed as a global conspiracy against national sovereignty. Also, by utilizing MCA, the thesis reflects on how populism re-arranges actors of the political field compared to how it is understood in liberal democracies

Mapping of the Temperature–Entropy Diagrams of van der Waals Fluids

The shape of the temperature vs. specific entropy diagram of a working fluid is very important to understanding the behavior of fluid during the expansion phase of the organic Rankine cycle or similar processes. Traditional wet-dry-isentropic classifications of these materials are not sufficient; several materials remain unclassified or misclassified, while materials listed in the same class might show crucial differences. A novel classification, based on the characteristic points of the T–s diagrams was introduced recently, listing eight different classes. In this paper, we present a map of these classes for a model material, namely, the van der Waals fluid in reduced temperature (i.e., reduced molecular degree of freedom) space; the latter quantity is related to the molar isochoric specific heat. Although van der Waals fluid cannot be used to predict material properties quantitatively, the model gives a very good and proper qualitative description. Using this map, some peculiarities related to T–s diagrams of working fluids can be understood

Thermodynamic Selection of the Optimal Working Fluid for Organic Rankine Cycles

A novel method proposed to choose the optimal working fluid—solely from the point of view of expansion route—for a given heat source and heat sink (characterized by a maximum and minimum temperature). The basis of this method is the novel classification of working fluids using the sequences of their characteristic points on temperature-entropy space. The most suitable existing working fluid can be selected, where an ideal adiabatic (isentropic) expansion step between a given upper and lower temperature is possible in a way, that the initial and final states are both saturated vapour states and the ideal (isentropic) expansion line runs in the superheated (dry) vapour region all along the expansion. Problems related to the presence of droplets or superheated dry steam in the final expansion state can be avoided or minimized by using the working fluid chosen with this method. Results obtained with real materials are compared with those gained with model (van der Waals) fluids; based on the results obtained with model fluids, erroneous experimental data-sets can be pinpointed. Since most of the known working fluids have optimal expansion routes at low temperatures, presently the method is most suitable to choose working fluids for cryogenic cycles, applied for example for heat recovery during LNG-regasification. Some of the materials, however, can be applied in ranges located at relatively higher temperatures, therefore the method can also be applied in some limited manner for the utilization of other low temperature heat sources (like geothermal or waste heat) as well