Dynamics of globalization in Philippine scientific communities

This research attempts to shed light on the simultaneous influence of scientifically strong countries on Internet use and knowledge production at the global periphery. Using survey data from interviews of 312 Filipino scientists, this study answers the following questions: (1) Does place of graduate education (i.e., Australia, Japan, the United States and the Philippines) configure scientists’ Internet use? (2) Does Internet use shape scientists’ professional network? (3) Does place of graduate education, Internet use and professional network influence collaboration and research productivity? and (4) How does collaboration relate to productivity when professional network is accounted for? Results show that digital inequality occurs at advanced levels of hardware-software-user interaction skills, which appear to be emerging dimensions of a new form of digital inequality; these are mainly configured by level and place of graduate education. The effect of place of graduate education on networks is such that foreign training tends to increase the proportion of contacts at the scientific core. Much of the effect of the Internet lies on those components of professional network that has to do with network size, proportion of male alters, proportion of alters who are at the scientific core, location diversity, and multiplexity of communication means. Results further suggest that most scientists are involved in domestic collaboration, and that network size is positively associated with the number of collaborative projects. Whether or not networks are comprised of foreign contacts, or whether they possess a more gender-balanced configuration does not influence collaborative patterns. As regards productivity, results indicate that after relevant scientist attributes are controlled for, collaboration does not influence scientific output. There are clear indications that having a doctoral degree, possessing advanced hardware-software-user interaction skills, large networks, having more contacts at the scientific core, and proportion male alters strongly influence productivity. While professional networks influence collaboration, collaboration does not affect productivity. It could be that involvement in collaborations generates problems that undermine productivity so that scientists simply informally and causally activate their network without formally and officially engaging them in projects. It appears that this strategy is less problematic than engaging in formal collaborations

International graduate training, digital inequality and professional network structure: An ego-centric social network analysis of knowledge producers at the global South

Based on a face-to-face survey of 312 scientists from government research institutes and state universities in two Philippine locations - Los Baños, Laguna and Muñoz, Nueva Ecija - we examine how graduate training and digital factors shape the professional network of scientists at the Global South. Results suggest that scientists prefer face-to-face interaction; there is no compelling evidence that digitally-mediated interaction will replace meaningful face-to-face interaction. What is evident is that among none face-to-face modes of communication a reordering maybe in progress. The effect of digital factors - expressed through advance hardware-software-user interaction skills - lies on network features pertaining to size, proportion of male and of core-based alters, and locational diversity. International graduate training and ascribed factors (gender and number of children) also configure the professional network of scientists - actors traditionally viewed as the epitome of rationality and objectivity. We argue that these factors influence knowledge production through a system of patronage and a culture that celebrates patrifocality. We forward the hypothesis that knowledge production at the Global South closely fits Callon\u27s [1995] extended translation model of science. © 2008 Springer Science+Business Media B.V

International graduate science training and scientific collaboration

Graduate training abroad is typical for scientists in developing countries. Owing to resource scarcities, collaboration is a common form of research for these same individuals. Yet few studies have examined the linkage between graduate education and scientific collaboration. This article examines this question in a population of scientists who have experienced the simultaneous influence of three scientifically strong training systems: Australia, Japan and the US. Survey data from 312 agricultural scientists in two Philippine locations are used to explore the relationships between graduate education, Internet use, professional networks and scientific collaboration. The findings show that most collaboration is domestic, but the most common international collaborations are Japanese, followed by Australian and finally US collaborations. Japanese training, but not professional networks, is associated with such collaborations, while US and Australian training appear unimportant to collaborations in these locations. This the article explains by identifying two aspects integral to graduate education, mode of study and mentoring style, which may be critical to the development of durable professional ties and ultimately to collaborative work. The results show that even among scientific training systems in developed areas, there are variations in interaction and practices that have implications for differential participation in scientific collaboration. © International Sociological Association

Technical Innovation, Scientific Productivity, and Components of Power

Atlanta Conference on Science and Innovation Policy 2011The scientific research laboratory is the social setting wherein the knowledge production process is likely to occur, and is subject to variances in power. Thus, we will examine the relationship between the dimensions of power- political, moral, social, and informational power- and patterns of scientific productivity and technical innovation.U.S. National Science Foundation Science of Science Innovation Policy grant (SBE 0830109 and SES 0938298

Do cell phones, iPods/MP3 players, siblings and friends matter? Predictors of child body mass in a U.S. Southern Border City Middle School

Objective: This study examines the association of children\u27s (i) micro-social environment, specifically siblings [kin-friends] and friends from school and neighborhood [non-kin-friends], and (ii) ownership of information and communication technologies (ICT), specifically cell phones and iPod/MP3 players, with body mass index percentile (BMIp). Subjects: Fifty-five randomly selected 6th graders with a mean age of 12 years, stratified by gender (23 boys and 32 girls), from a Texas middle school located in a city along the U.S. southern border. Methods: The linear regression of BMIp on number of siblings and of non-kin-friends, and ownership of cell phone and of iPod/MP3 player was examined using two models: M1 was based on the manual selection of predictors from a pool of potential predictors. M2 was derived from the predictors specified in M1 using backward elimination technique. Because sample size was small, the significance of regression coefficients was evaluated using robust standard errors to calculate t-values. Data for predictors were obtained through a survey. Height and weight were obtained through actual anthropometric measurements. BMIp was calculated using the on-line BMI calculator of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Results: Findings reveal that children\u27s social environment and ICT ownership predict BMIp; specifically, number of siblings (M2: β = -0.34, p-value \u3c.001), and ownership of iPod/MP3 players (M2: β = 0.33, p-value \u3c.001). These results underscore the importance of family in configuring, and of new personal technical devices (that encourage solitary, and oftentimes sedentary, activities) in predicting child body mass. © 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd

Academics’ “ambidextrous behavior” and doctoral science mentoring practices

Although academics (academic scientists) are the vanguards in mentoring doctoral science students, emergent science policies increasingly push academics to venture into industrial science work with industrial scientists. This puts academics in a situation of heightened role strain given that academic life is already exacting in terms of teaching, research, and service. Now, academics have to balance between intrinsic and extrinsic demands. In this paper, we examine how academics’ involvement in academic and in industrial science activities impacts how academic scientists mentor doctoral students. We introduce the idea of academics’ “ambidextrous behavior” and apply it in three scientific activities, namely: (1) formally collaborating in academic and in industrial research projects, (2) informally networking with academic and with industrial scientists, and (3) producing patents and publications. We test the hypothesis that academics, who exhibit ambidextrous behavior, manifest mentoring practices that differ from colleagues who do not exhibit such behavior. We adduce evidence from a face-to-face survey of 104 East Asian chemical science professors, and analyze data using principal component and regression analyses. Our results provide insights on how academics’ involvement in both academic and industrial science activities shapes the way doctoral students are mentored. Our work also exemplifies how the concept of ambidextrous behavior can be applied in examining aspects of scientific apprenticeship in academia at a time when knowledge production increasingly takes place at the intersecting sectors of Etzkowitz’s (Res Policy 27(8):823–833, 1998) Triple Helix science (i.e., academia, government, and industry)

Using egocentric analysis to investigate professional networks and productivity of graduate students and faculty in life sciences in Japan, Singapore, and Taiwan

Prior studies showed that scientists’ professional networks contribute to research productivity, but little work has examined what factors predict the formation of professional networks. This study sought to 1) examine what factors predict the formation of international ties between faculty and graduate students and 2) identify how these international ties would affect publication productivity in three East Asian countries. Face-to-face surveys and in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with a sample of faculty and doctoral students in life sciences at 10 research institutions in Japan, Singapore, and Taiwan. Our final sample consisted of 290 respondents (84 faculty and 206 doctoral students) and 1,435 network members. We used egocentric social network analysis to examine the structure of international ties and how they relate to research productivity. Our findings suggest that overseas graduate training can be a key factor in graduate students’ development of international ties in these countries. Those with a higher proportion of international ties in their professional networks were likely to have published more papers and written more manuscripts. For faculty, international ties did not affect the number of manuscripts written or of papers published, but did correlate with an increase in publishing in top journals. The networks we examined were identified by asking study participants with whom they discuss their research. Because the relationships may not appear in explicit co-authorship networks, these networks were not officially recorded elsewhere. This study sheds light on the relationships of these invisible support networks to researcher productivity

Internet practice and sociability in South Louisiana

This article examines the extent to which internet practice is associated with sociability in south Louisiana. Known for having a long and unique history of traditional values and a high frequency of social interaction, this sub-region is ideal to test the contradictory findings of previous research. Based on a survey of 371 randomly selected residents, the study utilizes 11 sociability and eight internet measures. The descriptive findings are consistent with the diffusion of innovations perspective, while regression analyses suggest that internet practice is associated with both more and less sociability, depending on what measures are used. © 2009 SAGE Publications