Science-Technology-Industry Links and the ”European Paradox”: Some Notes on the Dynamics of Scientific and Technological Research in Europe.

This paper discusses, first, the properties of scientific and technological knowledge and the institutions supporting its generation and its economic applications. The evidence continues to support the broad interpretation which we call the ”Stanford-Yale-Sussex” synthesis. Second, such patterns bear important implications with respect to the so-called ”European Paradox”, i.e. the conjecture that EU countries play a leading global role in terms of top-level scientific output, but lag behind in the ability of converting this strength into wealth-generating innovations. Some descriptive evidence shows that, contrary to the ”paradox” conjecture, European weaknesses reside both in its system of scientific research and in a relatively weak industry. The final part of the work suggests a few normative implications: much less emphasis should be put on various types of ”networking” and much more on policy measures aimed to both strengthen ”frontier” research and strengthen European corporate actors.Open Science, European Paradox, Science and Technology Policy.

Social Problem Solving and Factors that Contribute to the Consideration of Hastened Death among ALS Patients

The purpose of this study was to examine social problem-solving characteristics and other factors that contribute to the desire to hasten death among ALS patients. Participants completed six measures including: the ALS Functional Rating Scale-Revised, two item Hopelessness Scale, Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy- Spiritual Well-Being Scale, ALS Specific Quality of Life Instrument-Revised, Social Problem-Solving Inventory-Revised, and the Schedule of Attitudes Toward Hastened Death. Data gathered was analyzed, using hierarchical multiple regressions, and a Pearson product-moment correlation. Results revealed that the factors of hopelessness, global quality of life, bulbar function, and negative emotion significantly predicted the desire to hasten death among ALS patients. Problem solving characteristics were not found to be related to the desire to hasten death

Three hundred eighty thousand year long stable isotope and faunal records from the Red Sea : influence of global sea level change on hydrography

Stable isotope and faunal records from the central Red Sea show high-amplitude oscillations for the past 380,000 years. Positive δ18O anomalies indicate periods of significant salt buildup during periods of lowered sea level when water mass exchange with the Arabian Sea was reduced due to a reduced geometry of the Bab el Mandeb Strait. Salinities as high as 53‰ and 55‰ are inferred from pteropod and benthic foraminifera δ18O, respectively, for the last glacial maximum. During this period all planktonic foraminifera vanished from this part of the Red Sea. Environmental conditions improved rapidly after 13 ka as salinities decreased due to rising sea level. The foraminiferal fauna started to reappear and was fully reestablished between 9 ka and 8 ka. Spectral analysis of the planktonic δ18O record documents highest variance in the orbital eccentricity, obliquity, and precession bands, indicating a dominant influence of climatically - driven sea level change on environmental conditions in the Red Sea. Variance in the precession band is enhanced compared to the global mean marine climate record (SPECMAP), suggesting an additional influence of the Indian monsoon system on Red Sea climates

Relationship Between the Socio-Educational Context and the Cognitive Performance Based on the WISC–IV Index Scores

Background: National and international studies attach special importance to the shared social and educational environment as an explanatory variable for intellectual performance in psychometric tests. Objective: To analyse the relationship between maternal education, number of books available at home, school starting age and extracurricular activities -as variables to measure socioeconomic, educational and environmental level- with WISC-IV level cognitive production. Method: A survey was implemented to 154 children, aged 6 to 12, who attend public schools2 in the city of San Luis (Argentina). This sociodemographic survey was designed ad hoc and was implemented together with the Argentine version of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children. ANOVA and Student's t-Tests were used to analyse the differences between the variables proposed from the data obtained and WISC-IV. Results: Associations were found between mothers’ educational level and their children’s Verbal Comprehension Production, Perceptual Reasoning, Working Memory and total IQ. In addition, significant differences were found between number of books available at home, school starting age, extracurricular activities and some WISC-IV index scores. Conclusion: the need to acknowledge the socioenvironmental factors to develop a proper interpretation of the test production is ratified. In this context, an extended and integrated diagnostic device is proposed as a means to capture the complex scheme that emerges from the combination of capacities consolidated thanks to the stimulation provided by the environment and the development of specific abilities less influenced by environmental factors.Fil: Labin, Agustina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Luis; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de San Luis. Facultad de Psicología; ArgentinaFil: Taborda, Ruth Alejandra. Universidad Nacional de San Luis. Facultad de Psicología; Argentin

Epistomaroides punctatus (Said, 1949) - a new alien foraminifera found at Akhziv - Rosh HaNikra, northern Israel, eastern Mediterranean Sea

The alien benthic foraminifera Epistomaroides punctatus (Said) is reported for the first time from the northern part of theIsraeli coast. Three living specimens were collected in April 2005, at the vermetid reefs of Akhziv - Rosh HaNikra. Epistomaroidespunctatus has so far only been reported from the Indo-Pacific realm; thus, it is suggested to be a Lessepsian invader

Benthic foraminiferal response to natural and man-made eutrophicationin the oligotrophic southeast Mediterranean shelf

Abstrac

Deserts of Plenty, Rivers of Want: Apaches and the Inversion of the Colonial Encounter in the Chihuahuan Borderlands, 1581-1788.

“Deserts of Plenty, Rivers of Want” is an environmental history of the Chihuahuan Desert as reflected through Faraon, Natage, and Mescalero Apache mobility, enviro-economy, and inter-ethnic competition, from 1581-1788. It is the story of Apaches who constructed powerful and elastic indigenous landscapes at the same time that they deconstructed sclerotic European landscapes. Methodologically, this dissertation combines critical assessment of Spanish archival documentation, environmental research concerning xeric ecologies, and economic and biological game theory. The two principal questions that direct analysis are: How did Apaches of the southern Great Plains and northern Chihuahuan Desert invert the vectors of imperial domination and directionality? How–when most indigenes experienced European empire through displacement, destruction, and exploitation–did these Apaches counter-invade the northern frontier of New Spain, and thrive within an indigenous territoriality–Apacheria–that was, geopolitically and eco-economically, often more expansive and successful than Spanish provinces? Apaches inverted the colonial encounter almost as soon as it began, and initiated a two century long project of counter-expansion and counter-colonization. Within a decade of the establishment of New Mexico in the Middle Rio Grande Valley in 1598, Apaches learned to exploit the structural deficiencies of the Spanish riparian colony and had plundered horses, guns, and grains. Control over these tools of empire empowered Apaches to experiment with expanded mobilities and with emergent environmental economies. In the course of their experimentation, Apaches discovered and exploited ecoregions of the Chihuahuan Desert, such as the Trans-Pecos, La Junta de los Rios, and the Bolson de Mapimi. The Spanish had believed these areas to be wastelands and had shunned them, but Apaches found oases and mesopotamias that nourished and grew their transhumant, nomadic societies. From these landscapes Faraones, Natages and Mescaleros developed complex modalities of competition that empowered them to bend imperial economies towards their own indigenous territoriality, and to counter-colonize lands held by regions’ previous indigenous inhabitants. By the beginning of the eighteenth century, Apacheria and the Chihuahuan Desert were fast becoming coterminous, and together the two represented the powerful function that space and place played within borderlands encounters.PHDHistoryUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/108832/1/mlabin_1.pd

Nivel socioeducativo del hogar y producción en el WISC-IV y en el BENDER: un estudio correlacional piloto

Los agentes involucrados en la educación entienden que la motivación de los niños es cada vez menor. Nuestro país no cuenta con instrumentos ni estudios que aborden esta problemática en Educación Primaria. En el presente trabajo se exponen los resultados preliminares del proyecto Validación de una escala para evaluar la motivación por el aprendizaje en escolares de Montevideo cuyo objetivo principal es validar la Escala de Orientación Extrínseca versus Intrínseca en el Salón de Clases (Harter, 1981). Un amplio corpus empírico estudió la asociación entre nivel socioeducativo del hogar y el rendimiento intelectual en distintas culturas. Dichas investigaciones promovieron el desarrollo de este estudio que tiene como objetivo central analizar la relación entre los años de educación parental, como medida del nivel socio-educativo del hogar con la producción de niños/as tanto en la Escala de Inteligencia de Wechsler (WISC-IV) adaptación argentina, como en el Test Guestáltico visomotor de Bender. A tal efecto, se desarrolló en la ciudad de San Luis (Argentina) un estudio piloto con una muestra intencionada de 31 sujetos, niños/as de 9 a 11 años, 20 niñas y 11 niños, que asisten a escuelas públicas.The complexity involved in the diagnosis of the intellectual capacity of children throughout the history of psychometric techniques has given rise, from different theoretical and methodological perspectives, to multiple investigations that try to indicate the reaching and the limitations of the evaluation and scoring guidelines. A broad theoretical corpus studied the association between socioeconomic status and cognitive performance in different countries with different cultures, languages and values. The theoretical and empirical research promoted the development of this study, which has the objective to analyze the relationship between parental education as a measure of socio-educational level of the household with the production of children / as both the Wechsler Intelligence Scale (WISC-IV), an Argentine adaptation of the Bender Gestalt Test.Trabajos libres: Evaluación psicológicaFacultad de Psicologí

Konseptual Kualiti Kerja Ekonomi Gig Dan Faktor Yang Mempengaruhinya Semasa Pandemik Covid-19: Satu Analisis Sorotan Literatur Sistematik

Kualiti pekerjaan ekonomi gig dapat dikonsepkan sebagai suatu kondisi pekerjaan yang tidak teguh iaitu kurang jaminan dari aspek upah, keselamatan dan kesihatan menyebabkan pekerja berdepan dengan kemerosotan kualiti pekerjaan. Namun begitu, konsep yang mengambil kira senario pandemik masih kurang dibincangkan dalam kajian kontemporari. Hal ini disebabkan bentuk kualiti pekerjaan adalah berbeza berdasarkan faktorfaktor yang mempengaruhinya. Oleh itu, analisis sorotan sistematik ini dilaksanakan bagi meneroka konsep dan faktor mempengaruhi kualiti pekerjaan ekonomi gig dengan kira pandemik COVID-19, menggunakan kaedah PRISMA. Kaedah ini adalah suatu analisis menerusi proses inclusion, exclusion, dan eligibility berdasarkan kriteria yang telah ditetapkan. Hasil analisis yang dilaksanakan, terdapat tujuh tema yang dibincangkan mengenai konseptual kualiti pekerjaan ekonomi gig semasa pandemik iaitu (1) ketidaktentuan pendapatan; (2) persekitaran pekerjaan tidak selamat; (3) tiada jaminan pekerjaan; (4) autonomi dan fleksibiliti terbatas; (5) tiada penghormatan pekerjaan; (6) tiada manfaat perlindungan sosial; dan (7) kandungan pekerjaan tidak menentu. Manakala terdapat lima tema ditemukan bagi faktor mempengaruhi kualiti pekerjaan tersebut iaitu (1) kondisi ketidakteguhan pekerjaan; (2) sistem teknologi algoritma; (3) pasaran buruh; (4) peranan badan/institusi/kerajaan; dan (5) peranan pelanggan. Dapatan analisis ini diharap dapat dijadikan sumbangan bermakna dalam konteks kajian kualiti pekerjaan dan ekonomi gig