Are sciences essential and humanities elective? Disentangling competing claims for humanities research public value

[EN] Recent policy discourse suggests that arts and humanities research is seen as being less useful to society than other disciplines, notably in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The paper explores how this assumption s construction has been built and whether it is based upon an unfair prejudice: we argue for a prima facie case to answer in assuming that arts and humanities research s lower societal value. We identify a set of claims circulating in policy circles regarding science, technology, engineering and math- ematics research and arts and humanities research s differences. We find two groups: arts and humanities research is less useful than science, technology, engineering and mathematics, and arts and humanities research is merely differently useful. We argue that empirical analysis is necessary to disentangle which ones are true to assess whether policy-making is being based on rational and evidence-based claims. We argue that debates about public research value should recognise that humanities have different (but equally valid) kinds of societal value.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education, which funded the PhD research fellowship of Julia Olmos Peñuela through the F.P.U program [AP2007- 01850]. The research fellowship took place in the framework of the HERAVALUE project, Measuring the public value of arts and humanities research, financially supported by the HERA Joint Research Programme, cofunded by AHRC, AKA, DASTI, ETF, FNR, FWF, HAZU, IRCHSS, MHEST, NWO, RANNIS, RCN, VR and The European Community FP7 2007-2013, under the Socio-economic Sciences and Humanities programme. The authors would like to thank the editors and two anonymous referees for their invaluable comments. Any errors or omissions remain the authors’ responsibilitieOlmos-Peñuela, J.; Benneworth, P.; Castro-Martínez, E. (2015). Are sciences essential and humanities elective? Disentangling competing claims for humanities research public value. Arts and Humanities in Higher Education. 14(1):61-78. https://doi.org/10.1177/1474022214534081S617814

Risk analysis of technological hazards: Simulation of scenarios and application of a local vulnerability index

The potential impact of a technological accident can be assessed by risk estimation. Taking this into account, the latent or potential condition can be warned and mitigated. In this work we propose a methodology to estimate risk of technological hazards, focused on two components. The first one is the processing of meteorological databases to define the most probably and conservative scenario of study, and the second one, is the application of a local social vulnerability index to classify the population. In this case of study, the risk was estimated for a hypothetical release of liquefied ammonia in a meat-packing industry in the city of La Plata, Argentina. The method consists in integrating the simulated toxic threat zone with ALOHA software, and the layer of sociodemographic classification of the affected population. The results show the areas associated with higher risks of exposure to ammonia, which are worth being addressed for the prevention of disasters in the region. Advantageously, this systemic approach is methodologically flexible as it provides the possibility of being applied in various scenarios based on the available information of both, the exposed population and its meteorology. Furthermore, this methodology optimizes the processing of the input data and its calculation

Sheep herd management during the Early Neolithic in the inland of the Iberian Peninsula. Isotopic analyses of El Mirador cave (Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain)

The beginning of husbandry in the Iberian Peninsula has been documented from the second half of the 6th millennium BCE and was based on the breeding of domestic caprines, mainly sheep. The first evidence of these practices comes from the Mediterranean region, but they quickly expanded inland. Previous studies have reported on the importance of the El Mirador sheepfold cave (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain) for understanding the process of the adoption of a farming economy in this inland region. In this study, we focus on husbandry and sheep management occurring in the 6th and 5th millennium cal BCE occupations of El Mirador cave by means of sequential oxygen (δ18O) and carbon (δ13C) isotope analyses in sheep molar tooth enamel. The results show a rapid adaptation and adoption of domestic sheep in the inland of the Iberian Peninsula. In El Mirador cave, well-organised sheep breeding was developed based on the concentration of births at the end of winter and early spring, for a period of ~2.64 months, which made husbandry more compatible with other economic activities. In 5th millennium levels, autumn births were also documented and may be indicative of the intervention of the shepherd in the reproductive cycle of the sheep and of a progressive adaptation of these animals to the interior of the Peninsula. All these strategies may have been supported by the recurrent occupations of the sheepfold, flocks grazing in the areas surrounding the cave and the possible use of leaf fodder in winter