Assessing Scientific Contributions: A Proposed Framework and Its Application to Cybersecurity

<p><strong>Background: </strong>Heliconias are commercially important flowers due to its abundance of shapes, sizes, and colors. In Mexico, however, this ornamental crop is not considered in the statistical yearbook of agricultural production. In addition, there is no research regarding the context of tropical floriculture. <strong>Objective:</strong> To explore all scientific contributions related to the cultivation of heliconias. <strong>Methodology: </strong>A bibliographic search was conducted in Redalyc, SciELO, Scopus and Google Scholar with the key word “heliconia.” After cleansing the database of similar results, we generated a final compilation of 42 papers, which were then subject to an analysis of textual content by using Nvivo 12 Plus software to identify the contributions by means of the following categories of analysis: Production, post-harvesting, and commercialization. The species of heliconias were also identified. <strong>Results:</strong> The content analysis showed that 73.71% of all scientific contributions correspond to the production category, 12.5 % to post-harvesting, and 13.88% to commercialization. For each category, different topics which guide the contributions were identified. We found 43 species of heliconias that were used for research purposes in the three categories of analysis. <strong>Implications:</strong> The analysis was limited only to scientific contributions explored. An analysis that considered other sources of information could have strengthened this analytical exercise. <strong>Conclusion:</strong> The scientific contributions regarding the cultivation of heliconias are mainly oriented to the production category, which demonstrates that the focus is on the improvement of the production process. On the contrary, the contributions on post-harvesting and commercialization are incipient; therefore, it is important to address these topics in future research. </p>

The scope for research in practical fishery management

Professor Duncan Dowson is one of the most famous scientists in the field of tribology. His pioneering research established a systematic methodology in the study of the biotribology of artificial joints. In particular, elastohydrodynamic lubrication theory was introduced and further developed to simulate and understand the lubrication behaviors and mechanisms of artificial joints. Novel apparatuses were built and extensively used to conduct numerical guided experiments, among which the joint simulator is the most important one and still widely used today for pre-clinical evaluations. In this fashion, the tribological behavior of artificial joints is understood by the “well-balanced” and “mutually supportive” theoretical and experimental researches. His scientific contribution is an important reflection of the development history of artificial joint biotribology. In addition, he had also greatly promoted the development of multidisciplinary engineering and medical science, as well as the education in medical engineering. The current article reviews Professor Dowson's scientific contributions in the field of artificial joint biotribology. It presents an in-depth understanding and provides an important reference for future research and development of the biotribology of artificial joints.

Karl E. Rothschuh is one of the most important, but, on an international scale, relatively unknown representatives of German philosophy of medicine in the 20th century. This paper presents and discusses his central concepts systematically, especially those of anthropology, theories of health and disease. Rothschuh distinguishes two methodological approaches to anthropology: a causal analysis that considers human organism as complex causal systems, and a so-called bionomical investigation that clarifies the meaning or function of single processes in respect to the whole organism. These two perspectives complement each other. From a naturalistic point of view, Rothschuh conceptualises diseases as disorganisatorial or disbionomic processes; nevertheless, he stresses the cultural interweavement, and, hence, the normative foundation of diseases. 'Disease' is both a relational and a gradual term: It can be experienced and conceptualised subjectively by patients (aegritudo), clinically by physicians (nosos, pathos) and by society (insalubritas). Further, Rothschuh differentiates between the very definition, a notion and a concept of disease. Because of the normative character of disease, medicine cannot be a science striving for pure theoretical knowledge like physics or chemistry. Medicine is a practical science, oriented towards its goals of healing. Because of the societal position of medicine, Rothschuh describes it as task (Aufgabe). With regard to modern developments in philosophy of medicine, this paper discusses Rothschuh's theories critically and offers some starting points for necessary enhancements.

Dr. Donald G. Miller passed away on 3 February 2012 at the age of 84. Don will be familiar to many readers of this journal because of his extensive contributions to the field of solution chemistry over about 60 years, particularly in the areas of equilibrium thermodynamics and the thermodynamics of non-equilibrium processes in the linear gradient region and, in recent years, especially the determination and analysis of mass diffusion coefficients in liquid multicomponent solutions including protein–salt–water systems relevant to protein crystallization. Less well known is Don’s role as an advocate for a separate journal for solution chemistry that led to the founding of this journal in 1972 with Prof. Robert L. Kay as founding editor. Although Don’s scientific contributions are predominately in solution chemistry, his early research included Boolean algebra, the thermodynamics of rubber, equations of state of gases and the spectroscopy of rare earth ions, and his later research also included analysis of ballistics data and rifling twist, with some contributions to the history of science. It is not our intention to give a complete list of his scientific contributions, which we summarized on the occasion of Don’s 80th birthday [1]. Much information about, and many references for, Don’s work in diffusion can be found in a historical review of the use of optical interferometry for precision measurements of diffusion coefficients [2]. Additional information about Don Miller and his scientific career can be found on a website created by his grandson Lucio Franco [3]. We are fortunate to have collaborated in scientific research with Don Miller for about 35 years (JAR) and about 40 years (JGA), respectively. Don also collaborated with many other scientists, especially those affiliated with the diffusion research facility at the Universita degli Studi di Naploi-Federico II (Italy). We are grateful to two scientists from this

Founded in 1540, the Society of Jesus was viewed for centuries as an impediment to the development of modern science. The Jesuit educational system was deemed conservative and antithetical to creative thought, while the Order and its members were blamed by Galileo, Descartes, and their disciples for virtually every proceeding against the new science. No wonder a consensus emerged that little reason existed for historians to take Jesuit science seriously.Only during the past two decades have scholars begun to question this received view of the Jesuit role in the Scientific Revolution, and this book contributes significantly to that reassessment. Focusing on the institutional setting of Jesuit science, the contributors take a new and broader look at the overall intellectual environment of the Collegio Romano and other Jesuit colleges to see how Jesuit scholars taught and worked, to examine the context of the Jesuit response to the new philosophies, and to chart the Jesuits' scientific contributions. Their conclusions indicate that Jesuit practitioners were indeed instrumental in elevating the status of mathematics and in stressing the importance of experimental science; yet, at the same time, the Jesuits were members of a religious order with a clearly defined apostolic mission. Understanding both the contributions of Jesuit practitioners and the constraints under which they worked helps us to gain a clearer and more complete perspective on the emergence of the scientific worldview.

This study compared the longitudinal research performance of 50 biological scientists who received the National Medal of Science (NMS) between 1995 and 2014 and who shared the honor of receiving a fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Fifty NMS scientists were categorized based on their annual number of publications (research productivity) and their annual average number of citations received per publication (research influence). These categories covered all their articles, conference papers, and review articles before 2018 indexed by databases of Web of Science, divided into three periods. Results demonstrated that the primary type of research productivity was the same as that of research influence, indicating an upward trend in the first period but a decreasing trend in the second and third periods. Few scientists had their influential scientific contributions being practically applied and presented in the format of a book. Research performance among 50 NMS scientists varied at the individual level. However, no aggregate and statistically significant differences were identified between groups of 50 NMS winners with respect to characteristics related to research performance. Although no clear relationship was identified between research performance and scientific contribution, research productivity had a weaker association with scientific contribution than did research influence.

Recibido: 15 de enero del 2019Aprobado: 1 de marzo del 2019El actual artículo es una investigación que se constituye en un adelanto teórico sobre una investigación doctoral referida al emprendimiento en el sector agrícola venezolano, de ese modo, permite concebir un primer acercamiento al estado del arte, lo cual permitirá construir progresivamente el entramado teórico de salida, la cual debe converger hacia el aporte social – científico. Metodológicamente se abordó desde un tipo de investigación documental, entre las principales conclusiones se tiene que las políticas públicas actuales se circunscriben al fomento de la comuna como espacio productivo, es necesario realizar investigaciones en este segmento con el fin de conocer científicamente el desarrollo, alcance, beneficios, debilidades, para así, potenciar o tomar correctivos que permitan desde la comuna, afianzar el emprendimiento como un estilo de vida que contribuya a transcender el modelo económico del rentismo petrolero en una economía productiva desde lo endógeno.

The article presents biographical information about Professor M.F. Tsytovich, reflecting his scientific and practical contribution to the formation and development of domestic otorhinolaryngology, to the training of scientific and pedagogical personnel, as well as characterizing his social activities in the first half of the twentieth century.

Atheism could be science's contribution to religion

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to advocate for a clearer and less fragmentary use of qualitative research in the increasingly interdisciplinary research setting of information science.Design/methodology/approachThe paper performs a textual analysis of more than 500 peer‐reviewed articles to assess information science's involvement with qualitative research. The paper undertakes historical criticism to trace qualitative research in the reviews of information science for the last three decades.FindingsAuthors are unclear and lax in their uses of basic research terms. Authors do not account for qualitative research's characteristics, methods, and contributions to information science's bodies of knowledge. Only 4.3 percent of published articles mention their contributions to information science's literature whereas 5.6 percent mention qualitative method(s) in their abstracts. Publications do not show (intra‐)collaboration between areas of information science. Information science's contributions to the theoretical discussions of the wider scientific community are lacking.Originality/valueThe paper discusses afresh information science's qualitative research. The paper suggests a tighter and long‐term investment of information science in qualitative research and the formation of the information science's own theorists and theory‐illumined practitioners. The paper puts forth some practical recommendations.

EDITORIAL article Front. Plant Sci., 14 January 2022Sec. Plant Biotechnology Volume 12 - 2021 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2021.824440

Science sits at the heart of pharmacy. The subjects that inform pharmacy are extensive and include the relevant chemical, biological, physical and mathematical sciences; anatomy, physiology, pharmacology; the science of medication (and medical device) design, synthesis, formulation, administration and prescribing; epidemiology, pharmacogenomics and health economics; as well as psychological and behavioural sciences. In fact, this […]

Abstract. In various essays, Paul Churchland explores the relevance of studies in cognitive science to issues in ethics. What emerges is a kind of ethical naturalism that has two components. The first component is a descriptive‐genealogical one whose purpose is to explain how people come to have their ethical beliefs. The second component is a normative one whose purpose is to explain why some values are better than other values. Given this distinction, the problem of integrating ethics with beliefs about the world is a consequence of the traditional view that it is possible to naturalize descriptive‐genealogical ethics but not normative ethics. With this distinction as background, I critically examine Churchland's exploration of cognitive science's contribution to our understanding of the values and purposes that should direct our lives. The conclusion is twofold. First, using concepts from the American pragmatists, I argue that, pace Churchland, it is possible to bridge the descriptive‐normative gap in order to articulate an ethical naturalism that addresses the so‐called naturalistic fallacy but is not committed to an unpalatable relativism. Second, I argue that the sort of ethical naturalism that emerges has affinities to the postmodern ethics of Jean‐François Lyotard.

An overall rise in the citation parameters used in the metrics of scientific publications (i.e. journal impact factor, JIF) has taken place since the last decade of the previous century, coinciding with the electronic distribution of (and access to) scientific literature. This inflation like tendency is herein analyzed in the area of Materials Science and also affects the number of publications. Considering average JIF values, its growth is proportional to the number of publications in the area and to its JIF value, leading to an inhomogeneous boost that preferentially benefits those journals with high JIF. An elevation in the number of publications per year alone cannot explain this behavior but it occurs due to a continuous and widespread increment in the number of citations per article, which only remains limited when restrictions are applied by journals to the maximum number of pages per article. In this work we observe this positive correlation between the increase in the number of references per article and the overall increase in JIF but, in our analysis, a kink point is observed in consistency with the appearance of online databases, particularly those free available in 2004. Online databases along with the widespread of open access publishing option made the research content easily available to the scientific community contributing to an increasing trend (without apparent saturation) in the number of articles used to contextualize the new scientific contributions.