Freedom of science

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of "freedom of science"("academic freedom")for the advancement of society and mankind, which, however, is permanently endangered by powerful organisations, groups and individuals, who in pursuit of their one-sided interests are seeking to constrain information about the truth. As a broad term, freedom of science embraces freedom in research, learning, teachingand publication. All of these activities should be dedicated to identifying the truth and learning about the truth. Design/methodology/approach – Three theoretical approaches are of importance for framing issues related to freedom of science, which in this paper are integrated into the framework of mindset agency theory: freedom is a value; "freedom" is claimed by agents who pursue specific interests (goals), which might constrain others; and individuals are agents who are interacting with each other within a social system–cooperation, ignorance or conflict. Findings – Freedom as a value is at the core of intellectual autonomy. Intellectual autonomy is a necessarycondition for innovation and advancement of knowledge. The observable modes of interaction/coexistenceamong researchers are influenced by individual research goals and by the researchers' access to resources, which may be deliberately constrained by opponents or other researchers as competitors. Research limitations/implications – For further research, which is beyond this paper, the authors can refer to: analyses of challenges of "academic freedom" – in terms of ethics, protection of individual humanrights, political pressures and conflicts of interests; the issues of truth, i.e. the impact of fake news andcreation of "alternate facts"; and the relation between academic freedom and employment (academic tenure) inpresent-day societies. Owing to lack of space, this paper cannot deal with the danger emerging from powerful organisations or powerful individuals, who are challenging freedom of science. Social implications–If there is no freedom of science then social progress is constrained. If there is no access to right data, decisions will be wrong. Originality/value – So far, a comprehensive cybernetic model was not published, which supports systems thinking about scholars and teachers (inter)acting in research organisations

Antidumping in Österreich vor und nach der Ostöffnung

Series: EI Working Papers / Europainstitu

Agency Mindset Theory

A culturally based socio-cognitive agency generic model is developed. The agency has a normative personality with an values/beliefs indicated by its formative traits. These can take bi-polar epistemic values (“enantiomers”). These may be combined together, giving 8 different cognitive types that are personality type mind-sets. These types are influenced by the culture and the social environment that the agency is bound to. The traits can be used to explain the what, why and how of dynamic agency behaviour in complex situations

Privileged Interfirm/Bank Relationships in Central Europe: Trigger or Trap for Corporate Governance?

The paper focuses on the question whether banks and capital markets in Central Europe are capable of exerting a positive influence on enterprise performance at the present stage of the economic transformation. These markets are characterised by privileged, collaborative interfirm/interbank relationships demonstrated through various channels. Among them is the competition for private deposits between commercial and national banks that are simultaneously supervisors of commercial banks, as is the case in Poland. Other channels include: heavily indebted large banks that are owners of industrial companies (as is the case in Slovakia with the steel mill VSZ owning the third largest bank IRB), investment funds that are facilitating industrial restructuring, and foreign banks holding only minority stakes in large domestic financial institutions.Interfirm, bank relationship, Central Europe

Privileged Interfirm/Bank Relationships in Central Europe: Trigger or Trap for Corporate Governance?

The paper focuses on the question whether banks and capital markets in Central Europe are capable of exerting a positive influence on enterprise performance at the present stage of the economic transformation. These markets are characterised by privileged, collaborative interfirm/interbank relationships demonstrated through various channels. Among them is the competition for private deposits between commercial and national banks that are simultaneously supervisors of commercial banks, as is the case in Poland. Other channels include: heavily indebted large banks that are owners of industrial companies (as is the case in Slovakia with the steel mill VSZ owning the third largest bank IRB), investment funds that are facilitating industrial restructuring, and foreign banks holding only minority stakes in large domestic financial institutions.

A comparison of nanotribology and nanoindentation

Metal friction and wear is the collective contact and interaction of asperities of micrometer dimension. We use a nanoindenter with tangential force measurement to simulate the behavior in engineering contacts and to fundamentally understand friction and wear. This presentation investigates the deformation due to a single stroke scratch of a diamond nanoindenter in austenite base. We find that the elastic and plastic equations for static indentation also apply for the dynamic scratching. Additionally, the friction coefficient is found to be normal force dependent and we observe three domains: microstructure dominated friction, plastic plowing dominated wear and wear particle dominated tribology. Focussing on plasticity, we observe that the local crystal orientation has a significant influence on the development and spread of of plasticity. Additionally, the complex three-dimensional stress state results in the formation of non-obvious plastic slip patterns. Finally, we show crack formation in the scratch track even after a single stroke

Master Builders revisited: The importance of feedback loops: a case study using salvaged timber and wooden nails only

In the light of today’s challenges regarding sustainable solutions for the built environment, our research focuses on building entire structures with timber only. Salvaged timber and wooden nails are selected as starting points to explore the structural and architectural possibility by following a timber-only concept. Reminding of the ancient Master Builder idea, the process of our investigations makes clear the importance of all steps and their distinct insights feeding back, following the loops from design to the assembly of the objects, in order to increase the efficiency of material use and optimize the functionality of the final object. In this paper we evaluate the feedback loops performed so far including the lessons learnt from success and failure in design, testing and manufacturing. We also look into the potential of increased structural and architectural quality of outputs and increased diversity of applications by our approach.Peer reviewe

Model for the prediction of the tensile strength and tensile stiffness of knot clusters within structural timber

In the present paper, a model for the prediction of the local strength and stiffness properties is developed. Compared to existing models, here the local material properties are described according to their morphological characteristics; i.e. the timber boards are subdivided into sections containing knots (knot sections) and sections without knots (clear wood sections). The strains of the corresponding sections are measured during non-destructive tensile tests using an optical camera device. Based on these measurements the tensile stiffness of each particular section is estimated. For the estimation of the tensile strength, destructive tensile tests are performed. Herewith, the tensile strength of the entire timber board is measured. The strength of the other knot clusters are estimated using censored regression analysis. Taking into account the results of the experimental investigation, material models are developed to predict the tensile strength and the tensile stiffness of knot clusters