Towards research assessment reform for the social sciences and humanities:

Journal editors who publish papers authored by colleagues and former graduate students have been charged with practicing favoritism, with the implication that the papers in question are of lower quality than those written by scholars with no ties to the editor. Using citation analysis, the authors find strong evidence that although journal editors occasionally publish subpar papers authored by colleagues and former graduate students, on balance their use of professional connections enables them to identify and 'capture' high-impact papers for publication. This implies that a practice interpreted as favoritism by many scholars in fact serves to enhance efficiency in the market for scientific knowledge. Copyright 1994 by University of Chicago Press.

Now I am become DOI, destroyer of gatekeeping worlds

Four Things You Can Do To Extend the Impact, Reach, and Longevity of Your Research Data

Risk assessment models commonly used in contaminated sites employ a simple integration procedure by only partially combining exposure pathways from surface soil with vapor pathways from subsurface soil being excluded in the combination. The simplified approach can approximate the integrated generic assessment criteria only when there is a dominant exposure pathway. But these models are often based on a simple partitioning of a chemical in soil between the sorbed, dissolved, and vapor phases without consideration of the presence of non-aqueous phase liquid, and critically fail to consider non-soil background exposure for non-carcinogenic compounds. As a result, the generic assessment criteria derived may not be considered protective of human health. This article describes analytical integration procedures for the derivation of the generic assessment criteria that consider non-soil background exposure while limiting the average daily exposure for vapor pathways calculated from soil saturation limits. Significance of consideration of soil saturation limits for the derivation of the generic assessment criteria using an integrated approach is illustrated for organic compounds having varied levels of background exposure and soil saturations. The analytical integration procedures for the derivation of the soil generic assessment criteria under the linear chemical partition approach are also reviewed aiming to provide a single source of complete integration procedures for the derivation of the integrated generic assessment criteria.

Generic Assessment Criteria for human health risk assessment of potentially contaminated land in China

Widespread pollution of agricultural soil is posing great risks to food safety and human health. The absence of human health-based Generic Assessment Criteria (GAC) for agricultural land means Chinese farmers struggle to manage these risks efficiently and effectively. Cadmium (Cd) and hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH), two of the most concerned contaminants, demonstrate threshold toxicity meaning that background exposure (MDIoral) is considered when deriving soil Generic Assessment Criteria (GAC). The CLEA (Contaminated Land Exposure Assessment) model was used to derive GAC for Cd and HCH that reflect differences in diet and soil characteristics across 19 provinces/cities. For both cadmium and alpha-HCH, Sichuan had the lowest GAC of 0.379mgkg-1 and 0.0136mgkg-1, respectively, resulting from its significant high MDIoral values, which are approximately six to nine times larger than the average MDIoral for all the 19 provinces/cities. Jiangxi province had the highest GAC of 1.230mgkg-1 and 0.0866mgkg-1, respectively, for cadmium and alpha-HCH, caused by its notable low MDIoral values and low vegetable consumption rate. Human health risk assessment based on regional GAC for Cd revealed that agricultural land with very high to high risks is located in southern China, while very low-risk land is located in northern China. For HCH, alpha- and gamma-HCH pose negligible health risks, but beta-HCH poses some health risk in some of the provinces/cities. When applying the regional GAC for beta-HCH, agricultural land in Beijing and Sichuan posed the highest risk, and those in Heilongjiang and Jiangxi had the lowest risk. This reflects the significant influence of background and vegetable consumption pathway on the GAC. Regional GACs could simplify and speed up risk assessment of agricultural land in different regions of China, by avoiding the need to calculate site-specific assessment criteria, thus saving time and money by avoiding over or under remediation.

Human health risk-based Generic Assessment Criteria for agricultural soil in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, China

Generic assessment criteria for human health risk management of agricultural land scenario in Jiangsu Province, China

Background: Researchers’ attitudes to, and use of, open-access publishing are shaped by many factors, including the characteristics of scientific disciplines – whether STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Medicine) or SSH (Social Sciences and Humanities) – and various micro-characteristics of the environment in which the researchers operate. Objectives: To analyse the attitudes of Croatian authors to open-access (OA) publish-ing and to explore disciplinary differences between researchers in STEM and those in SSH. Methods: Croatian researchers from both groups – STEM and SSH – were surveyed at the beginning of 2023. The online survey comprised 18 questions covering gen-eral attitudes towards OA, OA publishing models, the pay-to-publish option, and the criteria for choosing publication outlets. Results: Out of 1042 researchers who responded to the survey, the analysis focused on the 763 (a response rate of about 5%) who fully completed the questionnaire. The majority of respondents expressed support for OA publishing and believed that it was beneficial to research and education. However, their attitudes towards specific ben-efits and shortcomings of OA publishing showed significant disciplinary differences: researchers in SSH were more convinced that OA enables timely distribution of new knowledge and makes it more visible, whereas researchers in STEM were more con-cerned about the impact of OA on the further commercialization of scientific pub-lishing and about questionable peer review standards often associated with OA. In selecting a journal for publication, the respondents were motivated primarily by the journal’s reputation. However, researchers in STEM tended to prioritize the journal’s quantitative metrics, whereas researchers in SSH considered such practical aspects as the time taken by a journal to publish and its acceptance rate to be more important. Differences between the two categories of researchers in their attitudes towards pub-lishing in exclusively pay-to-publish journals were statistically significant: research-ers in STEM were more receptive to that model whereas those in SSH were opposed to publication fees or article processing charges, even if they were paid not by authors themselves but by their employers, funders, or other entities. Conclusion: Researchers in STEM and those in SSH did not differ significantly in their general attitude towards OA publishing. The differences, when present, stemmed partly from the characteristics of scientific disciplines and partly from differences in the criteria for promotions. Researchers in STEM published significantly more often in international pay-to-publish OA journals, whereas researchers in SSH published significantly more often in national diamond OA journals. Continued state finan-cial support to national diamond OA journals, together with making available more funds to publish in international OA journals, will be crucial to maintaining the cur-rent level of OA publishing in Croatia.

“The Scientific Revolution” in high school world history textbooks (1949-2014) Yuer-Hsing Chi Heng-An Chen Department of History & College of Liberal Arts SUMMARY This study mainly investigated how the world history textbooks in high school have presented “Scientific Revolution” since the national government moved to Taiwan. That is, we looked into the changes and features of “Scientific Revolution” in high school world history textbooks. Through the development of world history education in Taiwanese high schools, the study first analyzed the curriculum guidelines of the middle school history. We found that since the abolishment of martial laws in 1987, because of the educational reform, the guidelines have gone through several changes. They turned to focus on cultivating the students’ world view and eliminating “European Centrism.” The concept of “Scientific Revolution” has become popular in historical studies since the end of WWII. The related studies nowadays have also started to review and rethink critically on this issue. In the world history textbooks of the Taiwanese high school, the term of “Scientific Revolution” was from nothing to something. In Taiwan, most of the world history textbooks adopted the traditional methods on describing “Scientific Revolution.” Centering on the scientists, the major axis is the revolution of Astronomy and scientific methods. In the future, regarding the introduction on “Scientific Revolution,” in addition to basing on traditional descriptive methods, we suggested to incorporate more reflections, and integrated more political and social backgrounds in the high school world history textbooks. In this way, the students can understand the history from different aspects, holding multiple historical views. Key words: textbooks, history education, high school education, the Scientific Revolution, world history INTRODUCTION Because of the technical improvements brought about by the new technology, the trends globalization were triggered, which forced us to cultivate more profound world view as well as the understanding and tolerance on multi-cultures. Therefore, recent education and learning of world history in high schools have been centered on cultivating macro world view as the primary learning objective. Among the world history textbooks, although the chapter of “Scientific Revolution” does not take up major printed pages, it is one of the very few chapters that lead students to understand the required scientific subjects from a historic perspective. For this reason, it has its value for investigating. The study mainly explored how the world history textbooks in high school have presented “Scientific Revolution” since the national government moved to Taiwan, and how historical studies and perspectives have influenced on the presentations. MATERIALS AND METHODS The present study focused on the “Scientific Revolution” presented in the world history textbooks used by Taiwanese high schools. We investigated the textbooks published from the time that the national government moved to Taiwan to the latest version of textbooks. Because these textbooks were compiled based on the curriculum standards and guidelines set up by MOE, this research also analyzed the changes of the standards and guidelines in this years. By literature review and analysis, we collected related literature on middle school history education. Moreover, we generalized and analyzed based on the main subject of the study “Scientific Revolution” in order to learn the formation, appearance, reflections and rethought on the concept “Scientific Revolution” in the academic field. Afterward, we adopted content analysis method to analyze how “Scientific Revolution” is presented in the textbook chapter. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION After 1987, because of educational reform, the purpose of Taiwanese history education had transformed from enable students to learn the position of “Our Nation” from the learning of “Foreign Countries” to equipped students with “World View.” The content had also changed from political-history-focused to cultural-history-focused, hoping to eliminate “European Centrism” and centering on the present rather than the past. Recently, there have been less political constraints on middle school world history textbooks. However, it is still a big challenge to incorporate historical study results and multiple perspectives properly in the textbooks. “The Scientific Revolution,” from the historical perspective, indicates the period from 16th to 18th century in Europe (Especially 17th century; the year 1543 is viewed as the index of its outset.) There were revolutionary developments in the scientific theories and experiments in these years, which thoroughly changed the scientific approaches. It meant the appearance of modern science. Also, thanks to these scientists, there are tremendous changes in Europeans Universal View. The concept of the term “Scientific Revolution” was originated from Jean le Rond D’Alembert in the 18th century. It was after 1939 that Alexandre Koyre formally brought up the concept. Then, Herbert Butterfield popularized the concept, so the concept became very popular in historical field in the western world. Recently, the academics have had profound reflections and rethought on it. However, “Scientific Revolution” is still a widely-used concept in history. The early versions of curriculum guidelines and textbooks in Taiwanese high school world history did not include the issue of “Scientific Revolution.” The term of “Scientific Revolution” in Taiwanese history education could be said to be from nothing to something. The related content of “Scientific Revolution” in these textbooks that appear the most often in the attached pictures is the revolution-related figures, especially scientists. There is high reappearing and continuing rate of the revolution-related attached pictures. However, the explanations on these pictures have been changing constantly, causing the phenomenon of “one picture, multiple explanations.” Beginning from Nicolau Copernicus through Galileo Galilei,and Johannes Kepler and finally Isaac Newton represented a generalization of views. The presenting approach of traditional “Scientific Revolution”, from astronomy physics, was always included as the center of content. In addition, the inductive method by Francis Bacon and the deductive method by Rene Descartes were the must-mentioned “Scientific methods.” CONCLUSION From the “Scientific Revolution” in the middle school world history textbooks, we can see that the Taiwanese world history teaching material has been renewed with the current academic research. However, the textbooks obviously revealed “fixation.” Once appearing, many fixed terms tend to reappear in the following versions, which are difficult to change, even relive. However, it is apparent that the descriptions in the textbooks still focused too much on the contribution of “Scientific Revolution,” which might be too heroic-oriented. Recently, there is only a few reflection and rethought on “Scientific Revolution” in the academic field. So far, the related content only appeared the Han-Lin Senior High School History based on the latest 2011 curriculum guideline. In the end of the research, we gave some suggestions on the future introduction of “Scientific Revolution” in the middle school world history textbooks. From the junior high school textbooks, we can still focus on introducing traditional concepts of “Scientific Revolution,” but more clear definition, time scope and background information and other related contents should be presented. In the senior high school stage, in addition to the original contents on “Scientific Revolution,” we can discuss the scientific activities at that time through the political perspectives and social background. Also, we should incorporate some reflections and rethought by the academics in the textbook. In this way, students can not only learn the historical knowledge, but also cultivate the ability to think critically at the same time.

Performance and Clinical Evaluation of the 92-Gene Real-Time PCR Assay for Tumor Classification

Suggestions for topics suitable for these Point/Counterpoint debates should be addressed to Colin G. Orton, Professor Emeritus, Wayne State University, Detroit: ortonc@comcast.net. Persons participating in Point/Counterpoint discussions are selected for their knowledge and communicative skill. Their positions for or against a proposition may or may not reflect their personal opinions or the positions of their employers.

Oil pollution in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria is widely reported in literature, the local people in this region face serious health risks caused by exposure to petroleum hydrocarbons (PAHs) while performing daily land use activities; through exposure pathways like inhalation, ingestion and dermal contact. Prolong exposure to these contaminants has been proven to be hazardous to human health. Therefore a thorough understanding of the frequency and magnitude of these exposures, as well as the consequences it has on human health can help develop appropriate mitigation measures. Generic Assessment Criteria (GAC) is derived using widely applicable assumptions about the characteristics and behaviour of contaminants; identify potential pathways and susceptible receptors. Such GACs help to provide nationally consistent guidance for assessing human health risks associated with contaminated sites. Since there is currently no GAC for PAHs in Nigeria, this study developed the GAC for aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons for three rural land use scenarios, using appropriate algorithms and physicochemical parameters of the local people, to determine the concentration at which hydrocarbons may pose risk to human health, susceptible receptors and predominant pathways relative to land use using CLEA v1.6.

The Problem of Social Cost

The Independent Judiciary in an Interest-Group Perspective