Dominant Disciplines Research Articles

From ‘wanghong’ to ‘wanghong thinking’: New research agenda and critical reflection

This essay critically reviews the existing research on wanghong studies in China. It advocates that wanghong studies should go beyond its dominant disciplines in ‘platform studies’ and ‘(digital) labour studies’ to embrace ‘celebrity studies’ and ‘China studies’. It proposes the innovative concept of ‘wanghong thinking’, which refers to the mindset that guides the experiments of the Chinese Communist Party in incorporating the popular wanghong culture, logic and economic model to achieve various social, political and economic objectives. Finally, the essay offers critical reflection on the ‘online-traffic-enabled’ social governance and economic development in China’s wanghong era.

Breaking the financial bottleneck of local universities of China: an analysis of the current situation of university intellectual property

PurposeWith the global economic slowdown in 2023, most universities in the central and western regions of China may face the problem of shortage of government financial funding, which is directly related to the development of science and technology of the universities. With the support of the local government, most of the ordinary universities have shifted attention to the transfer and transformation of intellectual property based on school-enterprise cooperation, hoping to seek more commercialization income as an extra source of income. Therefore, this paper aimed to study the current situation of university intellectual property, i.e. the reserve and distribution of transferable patents, discipline distribution of patents, and regional cooperation of university patents.Design/methodology/approachA patent database of 10 key universities in Henan Province of China from 2012 to 2021 was established. The evaluation indicator model by the Entropy method was conducted to reveal the interaction mechanism between quantity indicators, quality indicators, and value indicators. Based on the data analysis, the development direction of the discipline construction and school-enterprise cooperation for local universities was clear.FindingsThe findings indicated that the number of patent applications from ten key universities in Henan Province has been increasing rapidly over the years. The trend for authorized invention patents has remained relatively stable. Compared with the patent applications and authorizations, the growth of transferable patents was notably slow. The significance of strategic layout of dominant disciplines and related high-value patents was not appreciated enough by Chinese government and universities. There was a large difference of dominant disciplines between 10 key universities, and the patent level of each university was directly proportional to the number of dominant disciplines. The university patent level heavily relied on the researchers' contributions and the distribution mechanism of scientific research resources within the university. Guangdong Province and the Yangtze River Delta of China, being economically developed regions, exhibited the most active engagement in patent technology cooperation. Conversely, the central and western regions displayed relatively lower participation in high-value patent research and development.Research limitations/implicationsThis study can provide a unique perspective to understand and solve the financial bottleneck problem of ordinary universities in the central and western regions of China. The discipline construction and school-enterprise cooperation are just one of the existing schemes, but it still cannot solve the financial problems faced by local universities in China towards the government.Practical implicationsThe findings of this study can serve as a foundation for further investigation into policies aimed at improving the financial problems of ordinary universities in the central and western regions of China.Originality/valueAs an important attempt, the study tried to focus the financial problem of universities in the central and western regions of China based on the evaluation of the current situation of university intellectual property. This research findings are of great value in finding optimal layout between university patents, disciplines and school-enterprise cooperation.

Mapping the blueprint of artificial blood vessels research: a bibliometric analysis of publications in the 21st century.

Vascular diseases represent a significant causes of disability and death worldwide. The demand for artificial blood vessels is increasing due to the scarce supply of healthy autologous vessels. Nevertheless, the literature in this area remains sparse and inconclusive. Bibliometrics is the study of quantitative analysis of publications and their patterns. This study conducts a bibliometric analysis of publications on artificial blood vessels in the 21st century, examining performance distribution, research trajectories, the evolution of research hotspots, and the exploration of the knowledge base. This approach provides comprehensive insights into the knowledge structure of the field. The search retrieved 2,060 articles, showing a consistent rise in the publication volume and average annual citation frequency related to artificial blood vessels research. The United States is at the forefront of high-quality publications and international collaborations. Among academic institutions, Yale University is a leading contributor. The dominant disciplines within the artificial blood vessels sector include engineering, biomedical sciences, materials science, biomaterials science, and surgery, with surgery experiencing the most rapid expansion. This study is the inaugural effort to bibliometric analyze and visualize the scholarly output in the artificial blood vessels domain. It provides clinicians and researchers with a reliable synopsis of the field's current state, offering a reference point for existing research and suggesting new avenues for future investigations.

Developing a safety engineering experimental course using “Macro-Safety” discipline integration

Professional experiment courses are important to students’ understanding and recognition of professional knowledge as links to professional experiments. The University of Science and Technology Beijing’s “Macro-Safety” discipline integration approach to safety engineering was used to develop safety engineering experimental courses. Development methods were discussed. A research background in multiple dominant disciplines helped establish the cultivation mode for innovation in students majoring in safety engineering. We combined the traditional teaching mode with multi-disciplinary, innovative experimental teaching, which improved the students’ enthusiasm for studying safety engineering, enhanced their practicality and innovation, and laid a solid foundation for their comprehensive development. The research results of this paper can be used in metallurgy, materials, and other related majors.

An Exploration of the Four‐Decade‐Long History of Photocatalytic Water Treatment: Analysis of Key Advancements, Underlying Relationships, and Failures along the Way

This study explores the decade‐long history of photocatalytic water treatment using a novel integration of the Delphi method and the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta‐analyses approach, along with bibliometric analysis, to examine publication trends, author and country coauthorship networks, keyword co‐occurrence, citation analysis, and catalyst/contaminant evolution over time. The key findings include a steady increase in annual publications, a shift in dominant disciplines toward Environmental Sciences and Chemical Engineering, the role of specific authors in country productivity and citation rankings, and a growing need for international collaboration. TiO2‐ and TiO2‐based materials remain dominant, but a clear trend of abandonment in favor of novel materials is observed. Solar light is gaining importance for the photocatalytic elimination of aquatic pollutants, shifting simple organic compounds to priority substances. The evolution of this field is highlighted by tracing advancements in catalyst diversity and complexity, process optimization, and intensification. However, despite important milestone achievements, persistent knowledge gaps, discrepancies in comparability among studies, a lack of understanding of the fundamentals, and low funding incentives for transitioning to market hinder large‐scale applications. This study aims to provide a comprehensive guide for researchers by summarizing previous findings, unsuccessful approaches, and possibilities for improving photocatalytic applications.

A Bibliometric and Visualization Analysis of Motor Learning in Preschoolers and Children over the Last 15 Years.

Motor learning enables preschoolers and children to acquire fundamental skills that are critical to their development. The current study sought to conduct a bibliometric and visualization analysis to provide a comprehensive overview of motor-learning progress in preschoolers and children over the previous 15 years. The number of studies is constantly growing, with the United States and Australia, as well as other productive institutions and authors, at the leading edge. The dominant disciplines were Neurosciences and Neurology, Psychology, Rehabilitation, and Sport Sciences. The journals Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, Human Movement Science, Physical Therapy, Neuropsychology, Journal of Motor Behavior, and Journal of Experimental Child Psychology have been the most productive and influential in this regard. The most common co-citations for clinical symptoms were for cerebral palsy, developmental coordination disorder, and autism. Research has focused on language impairment (speech disorders, explicit learning, and instructor-control feedback), as well as effective intervention strategies. Advances in brain mechanisms and diagnostic indicators, as well as new intervention and rehabilitation technologies (virtual reality, transcranial magnetic stimulation, and transcranial direct current stimulation), have shifted research frontiers and progress. The cognitive process is critical in intervention, rehabilitation, and new technology implementation and should not be overlooked. Overall, our broad overview identifies three major areas: brain mechanism research, clinical practice (intervention and rehabilitation), and new technology application.

Response: Intimacies as Method

This response essay reflects upon “intimacies as method,” which conceives connections between asymmetrical histories and processes that are more often examined separately in the received historiography. Intimacies as method emphasizes relation, convergence, and interdependency, and attends to residual and emergent knowledges that may be elided by the dominant disciplines in which we work. Identifying such connections often means breaking with customary modes for organizing history and reading across disparate archives, canons, genres, scales, and locations.

Is coronavirus-related research becoming more interdisciplinary? A perspective of co-occurrence analysis and diversity measure of scientific articles

The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has had a significant repercussion on the health, economy, politics and environment, making coronavirus-related issues more complicated and difficult to adequately address by relying on a single field. Interdisciplinary research can provide an effective solution to complex issues in the related field of coronavirus. However, whether coronavirus-related research becomes more interdisciplinary still needs corroboration. In this study, we investigate interdisciplinary status of the coronavirus-related fields via the COVID-19 Open Research Dataset (CORD-19). To this end, we calculate bibliometric indicators of interdisciplinarity and apply a co-occurrence analysis method. The results show that co-occurrence relationships between cited disciplines have evolved dynamically over time. The two types of co-occurrence relationships, Immunology and Microbiology & Medicine and Chemical Engineering & Chemistry, last for a long time in this field during 1990–2020. Moreover, the number of disciplines cited by coronavirus-related research increases, whereas the distribution of disciplines is uneven, and this field tends to focus on several dominant disciplines such as Medicine, Immunology and Microbiology, Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology. We also measure the disciplinary diversity of COVID-19 related papers published from January to December 2020; the disciplinary variety shows an upward trend, while the degree of disciplinary balance shows a downward trend. Meanwhile, the comprehensive index 2Ds demonstrates that the degree of interdisciplinarity in coronavirus field decreases between 1990 and 2019, but it increases in 2020. The results help to map the interdisciplinarity of coronavirus-related research, gaining insight into the degree and history of interdisciplinary cooperation.

Mapping the interdisciplinarity in information behavior research: a quantitative study using diversity measure and co-occurrence analysis

Information behavior research is an interdisciplinary field in essence due to the investigation of interdisciplinary in previous work. To track the changes in interdisciplinarity of this field, more efforts should be put on basis of previous work. Based on publications searched from Web of Science from 2000 to 2018, we explored the interdisciplinarity of this field drawing on network analysis and diversity measure. Findings showed that although variety of disciplines in this field augmented significantly, the distribution of disciplines is unbalanced and concentrated on some dominant disciplines such as computer science, engineering, psychology, social science and medicine, etc. Relationships among disciplines have evolved over time and mainly focused on neighboring disciplines instead of distinct disciplines. Computer science, engineering, psychology, health science and social science function as intermediate disciplines connecting distinct disciplinary groups. Besides, the measurement using diversity measure shows that interdisciplinary degree of this field appears to decrease. This study contributes to the evolution and measurement of interdisciplinarity of information behavior research, which has implications for researchers and practitioners in this field.

Construction of collaborative development system of medical disciplines with dominant disciplines as the dominant disciplines: Taking the department of the digestive medical coordinated development center of Beijing Municipal Administration of Hospitals as an example

Objective Taking the Digestive Medical Coordinated Development of Beijing Municipal Administration of Hospitals (hereinafter referred to as the Digestive Medical Coordinated Development Center ) as an example, this paper aims to explore the idea of building a collaborative development system of medical disciplines dominated by advantageous disciplines. Methods Summarizing the construction experience of the Digestive Medical Coordinated Development to illustrate the significance, identify existed challenges and construction pathways of the center. Results The Digestive Medical Coordinated Development has built a series of public service platforms for its member institutions, and improved the system and incentive mechanism to gather the development synergy of the center. Conclusions Based on the advantages of the collectivized management of Beijing Municipal Administration of Hospital, the Digestive Medical Coordinated Development advances synchronously in the dimensions of scientific research, medical treatment, information construction and talent, as well as formed its own development characteristics and accumulated valuable experience for the construction of discipline collaboration center of municipal hospitals. Key words: Discipline building; Coordinated development; System construction

Statistical analysis of SCI papers in a particular hospital during 2013 and 2017

Objective This article conducted the statistical analysis of SCI papers published during 2013-2017 at the first affiliated hospital of Sun Yat-sen university, to understand the SCI paper outcomes as to provide reference for future policy making and research administration development. Methods We analyzed the SCI papers published by the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University from 2013 to 2017. Article and Review type SCI papers published by the hospital as the first completion unit were statistically analyzed from the aspects of quantity, impact factors, journals and discipline distribution. Results A total of 2 268 SCI papers were published in 5 years, distributed in 1162 journals. The quantity and the average impact factor both increased year by year, but mainly concentrated in traditional dominant disciplines. Conclusions The SCI papers were increasing annually since 2013.However, we still need to improve the quantity and quality of high-level articles, to promote the development of disciplines, to strengthen the construction of public experimental platforms, to continue building talent teams, to improve the reward and evaluation system, and to further enhance the overall scientific research level of the hospital. Key words: SCI; Impact factor; Statistical analysis

Discussion on Several Problems in the Construction of Colleges’ and Universities’ Internet of Things Engineering Specialty

Compared with some traditional dominant disciplines, the specialty of Internet of Things Engineering is a new specialty. Because the construction time is relatively short, there are still many problems to be solved and perfected in the construction of the specialty of Internet of Things. Relevant issues such as the training objectives, professional training programs, teaching staff, the combination of production, teaching and research, University Students' innovation and entrepreneurship contest, teaching material construction and teaching methods all will have important impacts on the quality of the construction of Internet of Things engineering specialty.

Conflict, Peace and Security: An International Relations Perspective with Special Reference to India

Conflict, peace and security are some of the enduring concerns of the Peace Research Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. They have become integrated in the dominant disciplines of international relations and political science and now are also part of most of the social science disciplines, such as economics, sociology, public policy, gender studies, international law and so on. This article purportedly seeks to examine some of the varied issues of conflict, peace and security and the challenges posed before the IR theorists to deal with them. It will also examine how the liberals, realists, Marxists, neo-Marxists and functionalists interpret conflict-transformation, peace-building and security. This article concludes with the argument that it is within the frontiers of critical theory as well as a class analysis of the structure of society within any state that social scientists can move from a paradigm of conflict reduction towards a more egalitarian model of peace and security. This article also concludes that only human security with a strong social welfare policy will lead to an egalitarian social order, especially in India.

Myricetin Suppresses the Propagation of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells by Down-Regulating Expression of YAP

Background: Myricetin is a flavonoid that has protective effects against a variety of cancers. However, the mechanism of myricetin against hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is not fully understood. YAP have been shown to be essential for cancer initiation and progression. However, Whether YAP contributes to anti-cancer effects of myricetin remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the effect of myricetin on HCC cells and identify the underlying mechanisms. Methods: The effects of myricetin on HCC cells were analyzed by cell counting, CCK-8, EdU labeling and flow cytometry assays. Western blot was used to determine the expression levels of LATS1/2, YAP and its potential target genes. In vitro kinase assay was used to determine kinase activity of LATS1/2. Xenograft tumor models were used to test whether myricetin sensitize HCC cancer to cisplatin in vivo. The mechanisms involved in myricetin effects on HCC cells growth, apoptosis and proliferation were analyzed by western blot and shRNA knock down assays. Findings: Here, we report that myricetin induces apoptosis and proliferation inhibition in HepG2 and Huh-7 cells. Myricetin inhibits expression of YAP by promoting its phosphorylation and subsequently degradation. Myricetin inhibits YAP expression by stimulating kinase activation of LATS1/2. Knockdown expression of LATS1/2 by shRNA attenuates myricetin-induced phosphorylation and degradation of YAP. Furthermore, myricetin sensitizes HCC cells to cisplatin treatment through inhibiting YAP and its target genes both in vitro and in vivo. Interpretation: The first identification of LATS1/2, YAP axis as a novel target of myricetin may help to design of novel strategies for human HCC prevention and therapy. Funding Statement: This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant Nos. 81600128 and 31501146), Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (grant Nos. BS2015SW024 and BS2015YY013), intramural Scientific Research Foundation from Binzhou Medical University (grant Nos. BY2014KYQD21 and BY2014KYQD22), Medical and Health Technology of Shandong, China (2016WS0007), and the Dominant Disciplines’ Talent Team Development Scheme of Higher Education of Shandong Province (2016052410). Declaration of Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest. Ethics Approval Statement: All animal studies were performed according to the guidelines and approval of the Ethical Committee of Binzhou Medical University.

基于文献计量的生态系统观测研究网络长期观测数据应用研究

PDF HTML阅读 XML下载 导出引用 引用提醒 基于文献计量的生态系统观测研究网络长期观测数据应用研究 DOI: 10.5846/stxb201805221121 作者: 作者单位: 中国科学院地理科学与资源研究所生态系统网络观测与模拟重点实验室 作者简介: 通讯作者: 中图分类号: 基金项目: 国家重点研发计划（2017YFC0503803） Using bibliometrics to analyze the application of long-term observation data of ecosystem research networks Author: Affiliation: Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling,Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research,Chinese Academy of Sciences Fund Project: 摘要 | 图/表 | 访问统计 | 参考文献 | 相似文献 | 引证文献 | 资源附件 | 文章评论 摘要:基于CNKI 数据库，采用文献计量和知识图谱的方法，通过对应用生态系统观测研究网络长期定位观测数据的文献进行分析，探讨长期观测数据的应用领域、具体用途、用户特点及不同生态站数据的应用状况与研究主题，以期为提高生态系统观测研究网络长期观测数据的共享服务能力、充分发挥长期观测数据的价值提供参考。分析结果表明：生态系统观测研究网络长期观测数据受到越来越多学者的关注，其应用学科领域以林业、农业基础科学为主，同时不断扩展到其他学科中，呈多元化态势；数据主要在生态系统服务研究、模型模拟、人工林研究、水污染研究、生物多样性研究、小麦玉米研究、土壤水分研究等方面发挥作用；数据的主要用户群体为高等院校和科研院所，不同机构应用长期观测数据开展的研究各有侧重；各生态站的长期观测数据能够为揭示其所代表生态区和生态系统类型的生态系统结构与功能、能量流动与养分循环的变化规律，分析主要生态环境问题的现状、动态变化及驱动机制等方面提供重要支撑。最后，对生态系统观测研究网络长期观测数据应用的相关方面提出几点建议：（1）健全数据引用机制，制定相应的科学数据引用和著录标准；（2）发挥生态网络长期观测数据优势，开展专题数据产品的生产，充分开发生态网络长期观测数据的潜在价值；（3）加大和稳定生态站的经费投入，提高生态站的观测能力和水平，同时还要完善、优化生态站布局。 Abstract:The ecosystem research network is a data-intensive science platform for field observation and research, whose major goal is long-term monitoring and networked study of ecosystems. Since 1998, field stations have continuously measured and recorded more than 300 monitoring variations in hydrological, pedological, atmospheric, and biological elements of major terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems in China, such as cropland, forest, grassland, desert, marshes, lakes, and bays according to standard monitoring protocols, and large amounts of long-term observation data have been collected. These data are crucial resources for research on ecology and other relevant disciplines; thus, a national treasure. Many efforts have been made to share the data. To ensure the value of long-term observation data and improve data sharing services, a bibliometric analysis has been applied to obtain an overview of the situation and characteristics using the CNKI database. A total of 160 documents published between 2001 and 2018 related to the subject have been retrieved and analyzed according to five main aspects: publication years, subject areas, author keywords, institutions, and field stations. The results indicated that the long-term observation data of the ecosystem research network has attracted more and more attention from researchers. The major research areas of data application are forestry and basic agricultural science, and continue to expand into other disciplines. The data is mainly used in ecosystem service research, model simulation, plantation research, water pollution research, biodiversity research, wheat and corn research, and soil moisture research to support the spatial pattern analysis and environmental drive mechanisms of ecosystem processes, and the discovery and verification of commonality laws of different ecosystems. Two main user groups of long-term observation data can be distinguished: universities and research institutes. The main user institutions include institutes affiliated to the Chinese Academy of Sciences, forestry and agricultural universities, comprehensive universities, normal universities, and institutes affiliated to the China Academy of Forestry Sciences; different institutions vary in data usage combined with their geographical location, research direction, and dominant disciplines. The long-term observation data of each field station could provide important support for revealing the rules of ecosystem structure and functions, energy flow and materials cycles, and analyzing the current situation, dynamic change, and driving mechanisms of the main ecological and environmental problems of the ecological zone and ecosystem that the field station represents. Some suggestions have been offered for the application of long-term observation data of the ecosystem research network such as to (i) standardize scientific data citation to improve the data citation mechanism of the ecosystem research network, (ii) develop thematic data products by analyzing and mining the data to provide the full advantage of long-term observation data, and (iii) increase the investment in field stations to improve the ability and level of observation, and optimize the layout of field stations. 参考文献 相似文献 引证文献

Analysis of papers collected by SCI in 3 first class hospitals of Shandong Province during 2012-2016

Objective To understand the statistics of papers collected by SCI in 3 first class hospitals (Qilu Hospital, Shangdong Province-owned Hospital and Affiliated Hospital of Qiingdao University) during 2002-2016. Methods The Web of Science database was used to search papers published by these three hospitals, indications as number of publication, citation numbers, fund number, journal impact factors, the distribution of the number of the partition Q1 subjects were gathered together to be analyzed. Results 3 hospitals in total published 11 597 SCI papers, the number of publication showed an average annual increase of 44.1%. 3 hospitals were cited in order 7.72, 6.29, 5.22. Fund projects are funded by the order of 1.72, 1.48, and 1.27; each paper has more than 1 kinds of domestic or foreign funding. The influence factors were 3.04, 2.82, 2.66. The average annual growth rate of influencing factors was 54.15%, 42.89%, 52.21%. Q1 volume and the volume of each document in the order of 1 784(32.57%), 907(27.5%), 660(23.96%), only Qilu Hospital close to 1/3. The proportion of papers on the subject distribution of oncology is higher. Conclusions SCI publication related indicators showed that all these three hospitals are increasing continuingly, however, the overall level and depth of medical research needs to be improved. It is necessary to perfect the incentive mechanism of scientific research management and scientific research, strengthen the output of dominant disciplines, and the cooperation of medical institutions at home and abroad needs to be further expanded and strengthened. Key words: First class hospitals; Bibliometric; SCI; Scientific research management

Bibliometric Analysis on Discipline Advantages and Potential of 14 Universities (Z14) in Mid-West China

Joint application of Web of ScienceTM, ESISM, InCitesTM, JCR® and ISIS Database, by means of bibliometric methods and SPSS® statistic analysis tools, from multi-dimensional and multi-index factors such as the number of published papers, journal source, cited frequencies, highly cited papers and cooperation fields and institutions, ESI (Essential Science Indicators) , potential disciplines and other 16 indicators, the study tracks the growth and inheritance of the dominant disciplines in the last 10 years (2007.1.1-2016.12.31), and the academic contribution of “one province, one university” universities (Z14) in Mid-West China were assessed and analyzed. The characteristics, strengths, and research levels of 14 peer universities were revealed. The paper provides an example of the evaluation of academic productivity and academic influence of peer universities based on bibliometrics.

The Price of Water: Studies in Water Resource Economics and Management

Bringing together 14 papers previously published in refereed journals, The Price of Water provides information that many readers would not otherwise have access to through their professional and academic libraries. The basic disciplines of the articles are economics and philosophy, built upon by discussion of hydrology, civil engineering, water law and water resource planning. The scope of the book is broad, dealing with a diverse range of subjects such as regional and catchment planning and integrated water resources management. Topics considered include: The Price of Water aims to link up economics with the other dominant water resource disciplines, establishing an economics of the real world, rather than an academic abstraction - the hydrosocial balance. In providing a new and practicable basis for planning outsream water investments, as well as understanding the baseline situation, the development and use of the hydrosocial balance to modelling water resources supply and use at the regional (or river basin) scale delivers this link. Key Features Provides a full and clear account of the use of the hydrosocial balance in water resource planning. Offers a practical approach to managing water quantity and water quality issues alongside each other. The first book to propose the use of water pricing as an instrument of drought management. Gives an original account of the global 21st Century challenges that water resource planners will have to address. ISBN: 9781843390817 (Print) ISBN: 9781780402857 (eBook)

The Triumph of Finitude After Hegel and the (Re)turn of a Philosophy of the Infinite through Badiou

In his first Manifesto for Philosophy, Alain Badiou alludes to the idea of sutures occurring between philosophy and the more dominant disciplines like science, politics, art, and psychoanalysis after Hegel. This phenomenon is inextricably linked to discourses about the end of philosophy and the linguistic turn in hermeneutic, analytic, and postmodern philosophies. In Badiou’s analysis one finds that in so far as these traditions are concerned, systematic philosophy is henceforth impossible. In this work, I take Badiou’s said allusion seriously and argue that after totalitarianism and the two world wars, an antipathy towards systematic philosophy has led to what I call the triumph of finitude after Hegel in which the philosophical orientation not only shifted from truth to meaning, but also from the metaphysical to the finite. However, in the eyes of Badiou, a philosophy of finitude is unable to confront the challenges to thinking posed by the contemporary world. He thus proposes the return to a philosophy of truth. Taking note of this, I argue that Badiou seeks to replicate in philosophy what Hegel did in metaphysics after Kant.

The bumpy road to evidence: why many research findings are lost in translation

When, more than 2500 years ago, Thales of Milet (624–547 BC) claimed that nature was ruled by laws and not by gods, he changed the world.1 Such a concept allowed for the discovery and mathematical proof of impersonal causation of what, until then, had been a mystery ruled by unpredictable gods. Indeed, ever since then the understanding of nature—today we would call it the natural sciences—has become a major activity of mankind. With this strategy, we have come a long way. Initially, it allowed us to use the position of stars and planetary motion for navigation and the discovery of new continents; next, it set the basis for the development of engines and technologies; and finally, it led to the discovery of the human body. Eventually, this allowed for the rise of modern medicine, among many other achievements. As a consequence, theology and philosophy, the dominant disciplines of ancient times, were increasingly challenged and, to a great extent, replaced by scientifically based knowledge about the world, about nature, mankind, and disease. Such knowledge produced pratically useful consequences, such as pumps, steam, and later, petrol-driven engines, trains, cars, aeroplanes, and rockets, allowing us to fly to New York or to the moon. In life sciences, it brought about hygiene, anaesthesia, and in turn, aseptic surgery, antibiotics, vaccination, rescucitation, cardiac surgery, and interventional cardiology;2,3 an impressive and unanticipated achievement indeed. What is evidence? At the beginning of any discovery stands an individual with curiosity; an initial observation is the first step in the process. When Columbus sat at the beach—as the famous movie by Ridley Scott leads us to believe—watching ships leaving the harbour with his son Diego, he asked him, ‘Look!’ ‘Half of the ship has gone’, replied Diego. ‘And now?’ ‘It's gone.’ ‘What does it tell …