Suchergebnisse

The 20th International CODATA Conference marked the 40th Anniversary of CODATA, and the breadth of the presentations truly reflects how far the importance of scientific and technical (S&T) data has come in that time. CODATA, as the major international organization devoted to S&T data, provides a mechanism for advancing all aspects of data work, including their collection, management, analysis, display, dissemination, and use by sharing across disciplines and across geographic boundaries. Equally important, CODATA addresses economic, political, social, and business issues, including intellectual property rights, the pervasiveness of the internet, the digital divide, national, regional and international data policies, and the impact modern connectivity has on science and society.

By examining diverse water-related tension and conflict situations from the Tonle Sap area of Cambodia, the article seeks to contest the view that water-related conflicts are always about water scarcity. Tackling different dimensions of water-related conflicts, the three cases studied here all point to the importance of social, political, and historical aspects in water-related resource management. They also indicate that the water and resource conflicts in Tonle Sap are strongly related to problems with existing property and access rights. Challenges of access to and control over resources, rather than changes in the abundance of water and related resources, have lead to increasing tensions in the area. ; Peer reviewed

Résumé Pour la majorité des Centre-Asiatiques, l'islam constitue un aspect important de leur héritage national, réhabilité en 1991. Néanmoins, les gouvernements réagissent sévèrement à toute présence de l'islam dans la vie publique. L'actuel discours international sur la « menace islamique » et « la guerre contre la terreur » leur servent d'alibi pour sévir contre toute dissidence et liquider toute opposition, même laïque. Cependant, l'islam politique centre-asiatique occupe un espace restreint, il est hétérogène et sans véritables liens avec les réseaux islamiques transnationaux. Ses principaux objectifs sont locaux, spécifiques à la réalité post-soviétique de la région, et révèlent l'impasse sociale dans laquelle certaines couches des sociétés centre-asiatiques ont le sentiment de se trouver.

RéSUMé. — Le problème de l'abstraction dans les sciences sociales est discuté sur la base de l'examen de son statut dans le Modèle du choix rationnel. La notion d'abstraction y renvoie à un ensemble d'aspects différenciés qui ne sauraient être réduits les uns aux autres. L'article vise à déterminer ces différentes dimensions et la nature des justifications qui leur sont associées. Les principes de légitimité dérivent de la signification d'un processus descriptif qui conduit à ces dimensions variées de l'abstraction. Dès lors ces différents aspects de l'abstraction peuvent produire des usages légitimes ou illégitimes. Le débat épistémologique ne devrait donc pas opposer des théories abstraites et des descriptions réalistes, mais des abstractions légitimes ou illégitimes.

Over the past decade we have seen an increasing emphasis on public engagement or dialogue in relation to controversial aspects of science and technology. This phenomenon is the product of a number of factors, of which I would highlight three: * Unexpected, widespread, and sustained public opposition to some commercial applications of biotechnology (and fears that other emerging technologies would be similarly received); * The intensification of pressure on governments to improve the "international competitiveness" of their economies, and the widespread embrace of the "knowledge economy" as the favoured vehicle for accomplishing this; * The direct and indirect influence of some elements of social science research (namely the discrediting of the "deficit model").

The essays in this book explore the political, social and cultural complexity of the relations between the United States and Cuba in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. They address aspects ranging from the Cuban exiles who from the States forged the independence of their homeland, the profound transformation of Cuban society during the American military occupation of 1898-1902, the coalitions and the conflicts between North American and Cuban feminism, and between the Afro-American racial identity and the Cuban national identity. At the crux of this relationship is the American military intervention of 1898, perceived in Europe at the time as a "war between civilisations", and the legacy of the thought of José Martí.

The measures of democracy commonly used in empirical research suffer notable limitations, primarily the exclusion of participation. As a result, quantitative studies may undervalue the effect of democracy on important social outcomes or misinterpret the aspect of democracy responsible for that effect. We respond by introducing & validating two variants of a new indicator, the Participation Enhanced Polity Score (PEPS), which augments institutional factors with the breadth of citizen participation. We demonstrate, using statistical evidence on democratic persistence, basic needs fulfillment, & gender equality, that no measure of democracy can be considered an accurate representation of its basic character without directly including participation as a core component. Adapted from the source document.

Martin Buber (1878-1965), German Jewish social philosopher and theologian, and D.W. Winnicott (1896-1971), British pediatrician and psychoanalyst, portray in vibrant detail the reality of the "in-between". Although contemporaries, they were separated by country and profession, and did not know each other. Yet both set forth in their writings remarkably complementary views concerning "in-between space"--the transitional area, to Winnicott, or das Zwischenmenschliche to Buber. This is a meeting-ground of potentiality and authenticity, located neither within the self nor in the world of political and economic affairs. In this space, one finds the most authentic and creative aspects of our personal and communal existence, including artistic, scientific, and religious expression.

Confronted with a potentially fatal illness, the tumor patient and his social environment face existential fears that generally present a nearly overwhelming challenge and a severe cut in the individual life plans. One attempt to keep the threatening reality of the illness at a distance is found in the process of denial, a mechanism of defense which can manifest itself in manifold ways. This article examines denial processes in tumor patients from a psychoanalytical perspective. The main focus lies upon the aspect of the facade that tumor patients can build up in order to protect themselves and their family. Winnicott's concept of the false self is discussed in this context.

Comment rendre compte du travail sanitaire profane, sachant qu'il n'est reconnu ni par la sociologie (qui ne s'y intéresse que marginalement), ni par les professionnel-le-s (plus diserts sur les lacunes et dangers des interventions profanes que sur leurs qualités), ni par les femmes elles-mêmes, qui sont les principales productrices de soins profanes? Un détour par les différents discours «en creux» des mères de famille qui nient l'existence de ce travail, le sous-évaluent, ou insistent sur ses limites, ses aspects les plus inachevés insatisfaisants ou restrictifs, permet paradoxalement d'en explorer la complexité, et de donner toute son importance aux relations sociales à l'intérieur desquelles ce travail s'effectue et prend sens.

Works in science and technology studies (STS) have repeatedly pointed to the importance of the visual in scientific practice. STS has also explicated how embodied practice generates scientific knowledge. I aim to supplement this literature by pointing out how sound and hearing are integral aspects of experimentation. Sound helps define how and when lab work is done, and in what kinds of spaces. It structures experimental experience. It affords interactions between researchers and instruments that are richer than could be obtained with vision alone. And it is a site for tacit knowledge, providing a resource for the replication of results, and the transmission of knowledge, and the construction of social boundaries within instrumental communities.