Transdisciplinarity: a new mode of governing science?

What exactly does it mean to integrate extra-academic types of knowledge, interests and values into the procedures of scientific knowledge production? In this paper, we shall approach these questions from a ‘lab study perspective', investigating the discourses and practices that constitute doing transdisciplinarity. Based upon an ongoing empirical research project, we call for a novel perspective: the task of producing ‘socially robust knowledge', often couched in terms of extended responsibility of science vis-á-vis society, can also be regarded as a specific instance of neo-liberal rationality in research practice and science policy, at large. As scientific claims to accountability and truth have come under critique throughout the last decades, they now have to be reworked on the micro-level of transdisciplinary projects. Transdisciplinarity is thus revealed as a new mode of governing science in societ

Toxicology as a nanoscience? – Disciplinary identities reconsidered

Toxicology is about to establish itself as a leading scientific discipline in addressing potential health effects of materials on the nanosize level. Entering into a cutting-edge field, has an impact on identity-building processes within the involved academic fields. In our study, we analyzed the ways in which the entry into the field of nanosciences impacts on the formation of disciplinary identities. Using the methods of qualitative interviews with particle toxicologists in Germany, Holland, Switzerland and the USA, we could demonstrate that currently, toxicology finds itself in a transitional phase. The development of its disciplinary identity is not yet clear. Nearly all of our interview partners stressed the necessity of repositioning toxicology. However, they each suggested different approaches. While one part is already propagandizing the establishment of a new discipline – 'nanotoxicology'- others are more reserved and are demanding a clear separation of traditional and new research areas. In phases of disciplinary new-orientation, research communities do not act consistently. Rather, they establish diverse options. By expanding its disciplinary boundaries, participating in new research fields, while continuing its previous research, and only vaguely defining its topics, toxicology is feeling its way into the new fields without giving up its present self-conception. However, the toxicological research community is also discussing a new disciplinary identity. Within this, toxicology could develop from an auxiliary into a constitutive position, and take over a basic role in the cognitive, institutional and social framing of the nanosciences

Comparative study of Magento, PrestaShop and OpenCart eCommerce platforms in terms of administration

Selles töös vaadeldakse Magento 2.0, PrestaShop 1.6 ja OpenCart 2.1 e-poe platvorme iga-päevase halduse kontekstis. Töö eesmärgiks on võrrelda platvormide haldusliideseid, nende võimalusi ja puuduseid.This paper gives an overview of popular eCommerce platforms Magento 2.0, PrestaShop 1.6 and OpenCart 2.1 in terms of usability. The aim of this thesis is to compare the admi-nistration panels, their functionalities and shortcomings

Similarities and differences between anorexia nervosa and running addiction

Anorexia Nervosa, a syndrome first described over 100 years ago (Blumenthal, O\u27Toole, & Chang, 1984; Blumenthal, Rose, & Chang, 1985; Crisp, Hsu, Harding, & Hartshorn, 1980), today experiences a certain notoriety. There is a journal dedicated solely to studies on eating disorders (International Journal of Eating Disorders), and many books have been written about the illness, some by well-known figures in our society that have suffered from anorexia nervosa. The symptoms have been described in newspapers, popular magazines 1 and even on television, with talk shows and movies familiarizing viewers with the \u27popular\u27 disease. Support groups have been formed on college campuses and in communities to provide some relief to those who suffer from anorexia nervosa, and many hospitals, recognizing that anorexia is potentially life-threatening, provide in-patient care for those with eating disorders

Integrative Forschung

Integrative Forschung ist ein reflexiver Begriff, der die Zusammenführung unterschiedlicher Wissensarten, Wertvorstellungen und Formen der Wissensproduktion durch die beteiligten Projektmitglieder anstrebt. Die Forderung nach verstärkter Integration gesellschaftlicher Aspekte und sozialwissenschaftlicher Perspektiven in die naturwissenschaftliche Forschung wurde seit den 1980er Jahren immer wieder erhoben. Trotzdem zeigt sich, dass ihre Umsetzung auf zahlreiche Barrieren trifft und inhärente Spannungen birgt. Die zunehmende Experimentalisierung integrativer Forschung könnte der Gefahr der Disziplinierung entgegenwirken. Hier experimentieren Forscher und Förderorganisationen mit kreativen Methoden und didaktischen Ansätzen, um aus sozialen, epistemischen und ontologischen Widersprüchen und Spannungen neue kreative Impulse zu generieren. (Herausgeber)Integrative research is a reflexive term that seeks to bring together different types of knowledge, values, and forms of knowledge production by the project members involved. The call for increased integration of societal aspects and social science perspectives into natural science research has been made repeatedly since the 1980s. Nevertheless, it is apparent that its implementation encounters numerous barriers and harbors inherent tensions. The increasing experimentalization of integrative research could counteract the danger of disciplining. Here, researchers and funding agencies are experimenting with creative methods and didactic approaches to generate new creative impulses from social, epistemic, and ontological contradictions and tensions. (Editor

Influence of solvent quality on polymer solutions: a Monte Carlo study of bulk and interfacial properties

The effect of solvent quality on dilute and semi-dilute regimes of polymers in solution is studied by means of Monte Carlo simulations. The equation of state, adsorptions near a hard wall, wall-polymer surface tension and effective depletion potentials are all calculated as a function of concentration and solvent quality. We find important differences between polymers in good and theta solvents. In the dilute regime, the physical properties for polymers in a theta solvent closely resemble those of ideal polymers. In the semi-dilute regime, however, significant differences are found.Comment: 10 pages, 13 figure

Nachhaltige Transformation der Wissenschaft?

Bei der Frage, was systemstabilisierende „Ideologie“ oder aber systemtransformierende „Utopie“ ist, wird die Systemreferenz selten spezifiziert. Typischerweise wird direkt oder indirekt die Wirtschaft adressiert. Im Kontrast zur reichhaltigen Thematisierung wirtschaftlicher Zusammenhänge richtet dieser Beitrag sein Augenmerk auf das Wissenschaftssystem. Wir thematisieren dabei drei Leitbilder einer ökologisch resonanzfähigen Wissenschaft, nämlich (1) technoszientifische Innovationsbestrebungen, (2) eine Demokratisierung von Wissenschaft und (3) eine transformative Wissenschaft, welche die Wissensproduktion gezielt auf Nachhaltigkeit programmieren soll. Aus einer differenzierungstheoretischen Perspektive ist zu erkennen, dass keines der drei Leitbilder grundsätzlich infrage stellt, dass es auch in Zukunft einer Wissenschaft zur Lösung ökologischer Krisen bedarf. Die Frage ist eher, wieviel außerwissenschaftliche Fremdreferenz notwendig ist, um die Wissenschaft auf der Ebene ihrer Programme für die Anforderungen der Nach- haltigkeit zu sensibilisieren. Discussions on transformative changes towards sustainability usually address the economic system. In contrast to this, our contribution addresses the science system. We focus on three visions of science in service of sustainability, namely (1) technoscientific innovation, (2) a democratization of research, and (3) a transformation of knowledge production. We analyze these visions with the help of Luhmann’s theory of systemic resonance. None of the three visions fundamentally calls into question the need for a science system to solve ecological crises in the future. The question is rather how much external reference and structural change is necessary to make science responsive to the requirements of sustainability. (peer reviewed