Independent Research Centers Research Articles

No Method, Thus Madness?

If you ask most medical school deans if they have a course, program, or center doing bioethics, they will enthusiastically assure you that they do. And their enthusiasm for bioethics grows exponentially in proportion to their interest in showing that they are doing something about managing research ethics issues at their institutions. The same can be said about the entire biomedical research establishment--from private companies to independent research centers to professional organizations--bioethics is on the masthead, the organizational chart, and the agenda of the annual meeting. Not to worry--medicine's got ethics. It is certainly fine to feature bioethics as a topic area. But there is mounting that perhaps bioethics is not all or even primarily what the doctor should be ordering just now. Some of the problems now ailing require admitting that what has befallen and the health sciences is an epistemological crisis as much as a moral one. Now this may seem an odd claim since it is hard, or rather, completely impossible, to avoid the phrase medicine in the august halls of academic medical centers in the United States, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand these days. There are journals, resource centers, toolkits, web sites, and more publications than anyone interested in evidence-based could possibly ever read. So how could it be that a field that is embracing at every turn, teaching about outcomes, drilling the need for verifiable data into the heads of the next generation, and extolling the virtue of at every conference, meeting, seminar, and water-cooler, possibly be in the midst of an epistemological crisis? Where is the evidence? Contemporary is sailing on very rocky seas these days. It is being buffeted by ever-rising costs, doubts about its efficacy, and intrusions on its turf from competitors that range from optometrists, psychologists, chiropractors, midwives, and nurse-anesthetists to the friendly folks at the herb and vitamin store. Recently, there seems to be real uncertainty on the part of medicine's leaders about what to say in the face of a continuing stream of fraud and misconduct. The editors of the Lancet, Science, Nature, and the New England Journal of Medicine--the key guardians of the gates--face a stream of questions about how they plan to secure the gates following the shenanigans of the South Korean researcher who lied about producing stem cells from cloned human embryos and a Norwegian cancer researcher who fabricated findings about ways smokers could reduce their risk of acquiring oral cancer, and their tortured agonizing is painful to watch. Far from having an answer to the question of what distinguishes as a mode of healing and a field capable of minimizing fraud, the leaders of the medical professional cling to the phrase medicine as if intoning the word evidence will act as a talisman to keep all the troubles at bay. But the fervency of the embrace of evidence-based reflects a deeper and much more serious problem among the stewards of medical knowledge--a crisis of faith in the methods, processes, and checks and balances that have, at least since the nineteenth century, been the infrastructure that has permitted to make the transition from an art to a science. Consider the response to the recent battle over what to do about fetal pain. In the August 24, 2005, Journal of the American Medical Association, an article claimed that a review of all the available published medical showed that fetuses do not feel pain until they are at least seven months old. The JAMA article appeared at a time when efforts are underway in Congress and state legislatures to use the topic of fetal pain as a way to discourage women from seeking elective abortions. The JAMA article contended that there is no medical showing that fetuses can feel pain at twenty weeks. …

Agricultural Liberalization in the Doha Round

Agriculture is an urgent and vital problem for developing countries, and even more so for the poorest countries that are often dependent on a very small set of commodities, many of which are highly subsidized and protected in the OECD countries. The Uruguay Round brought agriculture into the WTO legal framework, but did not lower the effective level of OECD farm protection after 1995 and granted many exceptions to WTO rules that reinforced agricultural protection. While there are a number of diverging forces that are potential sources of change in the levels and patterns of agricultural protection, the recent farm policies adopted by the U.S. and EU reflect an absence of significant domestic reform and appear to be going in the wrong direction. The analysis of agricultural liberalization reveals very large potential gains for both developed and developing countries that will come especially from own-country liberalization as well as from inter-country trade, significant benefits that may be realized by the poorest developing countries, and limited benefits from existing preferential agricultural arrangements. An ideal program for agricultural liberalization in the Doha Round would involve substantial reductions in the high tariffs that exist in both developed and developing countries using the Swiss formula approach and limiting exceptions and special and differential treatment, elimination of agricultural export subsidies, and making meaningful reductions in domestic supports. The negotiations should not get hung up on issues of food security and the effects of higher prices for low-income consumers, and a special safeguard for agriculture is not recommended. It is imperative that agricultural liberalization should be combined with appropriate domestic policies and actions and international assistance, if needed, to help finance emergency food inventories and aid to disadvantaged groups. Patrick A. Messerlin is Professor of Economics at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po) and director of the Groupe d'Economie Mondiale de Sciences Po (GEM) which is an independent research center seeking to improve the performance of French and European public policies in a global world. In 2002-2005, he was co-chairman with Dr Ernesto Zedillo, Former President of Mexico, Director of the Yale Center for the Study on Globalization, of the Task Force on Trade in the UN Millenium Development Goals Project, which produced a Report on Trade for Development released in May 2005. In 2001-2002, he was special advisor to Mike Moore, WTO Director General. He has published a dozen books and a hundred papers on trade theory and policy. His most recent book is Measuring the Costs of Protection in Europe: European Commercial Policy in the 2000s, Institute for International Economics (Washington) 2001.

Social sciences in Uruguay

In Uruguay, the development and institutionalization of the social sciences have been relatively delayed compared to other countries of the region. This fact contrasts with the socio-economic and sociopolitical development of the country, as well as with that of the professional branches of university education. The so-called formal foundational process of the social sciences effectively began in the 1970s, especially in history, economics and sociology. Political science and anthropology began to take shape only after the return to democracy in 1985. The military coup (1973-85) caused an interruption in the institutional status of the social sciences but did not entirely dismantle them. These sciences continued to develop in independent research centers, often receiving external funds. The exchange with foreign academic centers, especially the CLACSO and FLACSO nets, was germane to the process. With the return of democracy, the institutionalization process of the social sciences resumed and the link between the pre-dictatorship and post-dictatorship generations in these fields became more apparent. Simultaneously, the labor market for social scientists broadened and diversified.

Preface

You have accessMoreSectionsView PDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmail Cite this article Kroto H. 2004PrefacePhil. Trans. R. Soc. A.3622033http://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2004.1441SectionYou have accessPreface H. Kroto H. Kroto Google Scholar Find this author on PubMed Search for more papers by this author H. Kroto H. Kroto Google Scholar Find this author on PubMed Search for more papers by this author Published:15 October 2004https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2004.1441AbstractThe new millennium has seen the birth of a new perspective on materials science: one which recognizes that future advances will be based on a fundamental understanding of the atomic and molecular infrastructure of materials. These advances will be achieved when the novel behaviour, in particular the quantum–mechanical behaviour, that nanoscale structures possess can be controlled and harnessed. To go with this new perspective the field has acquired a new name: ‘nanoscience and nanotechnology’ (N&N). The promise of developing functional devices at the molecular and atomic scale is now becoming a reality. However, a massive effort is still needed in order to control the fabrication of such novel nanodevices and nanomachines and to exploit processes based on quantum–mechanical laws. The next decade should see the emergence of new technologies based on systems with not only improved but hopefully also fundamentally new physico–chemical properties produced at reasonable costs. Experimental and theoretical research should lead to industrial applications yielding important breakthroughs. If universities, independent research centres, government agencies and innovative industrial organizations invest time and resources imaginatively in this multidisciplinary adventure, a highly synergistic process will ensue in the development of these new technologies. This Theme Issue provides an overview by experts in recent advances in carbon N&N and related systems. The articles emphasize some important applications that promise to revolutionize a wide range of technologies in the twenty–first century. The unique chemical properties of carbon result in an immensely varied range of compounds, such as graphite, diamond, hydrocarbons, soot, oil, complex molecules, etc. In the last decade, the field of carbon N&N emerged, following the discovery of fullerenes (hollow carbon nanoscale cages) and the identification of carbon nanotubes (cylindrical tubes consisting of rolled graphene sheets). This is a clear demonstration of the fact that carbon is even more flexible than previously realized and that it can adopt various totally unexpected nanoscale morphologies with novel tensile, electronic and magnetic properties. Carbon, already recognized as the most unique and versatile of elements, now seems on the verge of giving birth to a vast new range of exciting technological applications. Next Article VIEW FULL TEXT DOWNLOAD PDF FiguresRelatedReferencesDetails This Issue15 October 2004Volume 362Issue 1823Theme Issue ‘Nanotechnology of carbon and related materials’ compiled by Mauricio Terrones and Humberto Terrones Article InformationDOI:https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2004.1441Published by:Royal SocietyPrint ISSN:1364-503XOnline ISSN:1471-2962History: Published online15/10/2004Published in print15/10/2004 License: Citations and impact

Tackling the paradox: can attaining global research excellence be compatible with local technology development?

This paper uses the case of the IMEC (microelectronics research centre) to examine the compatibility between strategic IPR management of large independent research centres, and regional industrial policy missions given to such centres in return for government funding. In particular, the issue of whether a balance can be found between a necessary drive for international recognition and critical mass of funding, and a policy of IPR valorization towards regional firms is examined.The first section sets out the mission of IMEC and the evolution over time of its strategic approach to building global industrial partnerships based on a sophisticated model of IPR management. Drawing on a recent evaluation, the subject of the second section is the extent to which the results of the industrial and exploratory research activities of IMEC are then commercialized in local Flemish industry.The concluding section offers policy conclusions in terms of the instruments and objectives which public policy makers can apply to maximize the local impact of large globally operating research centres.

CONFRONTING THE JEWISH RESPONSE DURING THE HOLOCAUST:YAD VASHEM-- A COMMEMORATIVE AND A RESEARCH INSTITUTE IN THE 1950S

The Remembrance Memorial Authority, Yad Vashem, officially began to function in Jerusalem in December 1953. Five months earlier the Knesset had passed special legislation that mandated its activities.1 In its early years and throughout the 1950s, the national commemorative authority dealt with the organization of its various departments and the development of its policy. These were the years of finding their way, of attempting to delineate the form of the national memorial in compliance with the Yad Vashem Law. Implementing the provisions of the law meant confronting questions of principle, and, not unexpectedly, significantly different points of view appeared among the prominent figures who were trying to shape the commemorative foundation in its early years. Conflicting ideologies concerning the institution’s mission were expressed in meetings of the directorate as well as in the conferences of the World Council of Yad Vashem, the highest communal body of the memorial foundation. The focal point of these differences was the possible contradiction between the two goals set for Yad Vashem by the legislature. Was it feasible for an institution to fulfill a national objective of commemoration and at the same time to serve as an independent Holocaust research center, disinterested and based on scientific principles? This basic issue arose throughout the fifties in discussions inside the halls of the institution and among the well-known personalities and organizations concerned with the operation of Yad Vashem. In 1960 international jurist Jacob Robinson prepared a special report for the Conference on Material Claims against Germany. Robinson, who was in touch with the directorate of Yad Vashem and had closely followed its operations in the fifties, noted a serious claim that the operational difficulties of Yad Vashem resulted from its commitment to contradictory aims: “the institution apparently fulfilled both the role of a research center and the preserver of the national memo-

Laying medicine open: innovative interaction between medicine and the humanities.

Laying Medicine Open: Innovative Interaction Between Medicine and the Humanities Laurence B. McCullough and Warren Thomas Reich The past three decades have witnessed the emergence and remarkable success of the fields of bioethics and medical humanities. The intellectual landscape of medicine and that of the humanities have been remarkably altered in the process. Twenty-five to 30 years ago in the United States there existed but a few courses in what came to be called “bioethics” in departments of philosophy, religious studies, and theology in colleges and universities, a handful of programs of teaching in medical schools such as the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and Pennsylvania State University School of Medicine at Hershey, and but one independent research center (the Hastings Center) and one university-based research center (the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University). Articles on bioethics began to appear in the peer-reviewed medical, nursing, and humanities literature and some books were published. There was only one journal in bioethics, The Hastings Center Report (which consolidated two previously separate journals from the Hastings Center). Graduate programs in bioethics and medical humanities in colleges and universities and fellowship training in bioethics and medical humanities in medical schools did not exist. Very little existed in colleges, universities, and medical schools in other countries. Now, of course, everything is different. Teachers, scholars, and students of bioethics and medical humanities should not take these remarkable changes for granted, for they represent a sustained and innovative interaction between medicine and the humanities. We have chosen the metaphor of “laying medicine open” to characterize the history of bioethics and medical humanities of the past three decades. This surgical metaphor was used in eighteenth-century Britain by a number of writers who wanted to make medical science and practice more accessible to the sick and to the lay public more generally (Lawrence 1975). We use the metaphor to characterize the efforts of teachers and [End Page 1] scholars over the past three decades and more to make the value-laden dimensions of biomedical science and practice and of health care policy more accessible to patients and to the lay public more generally. The result of this laying open of medicine has gone a long way toward bringing closer together the two cultures of science and the humanities that had, as C. P. Snow famously described, become significantly isolated from each other Albert Jonsen (1998) has recently contributed the first book-length history of what he calls the “birth” of bioethics, adding to the work of other scholars such as Warren Reich (1994; 1995) and Robert Baker (1993) and, before them, Corrado Viafora (1990) and David Rothman (1991). The articles in this issue of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal make additional contributions to the developing understanding of the history of the past thirty years of interaction between medicine and the humanities. Laurence McCullough provides an historical context for the three accounts of the recent laying open of medicine that follow. McCullough examines two times in the history of medicine when it has been laid open to accountability (in addition to its being laid open to and by bioethics and medical humanities). The first laying open occurred in the work of the eighteenth-century Scottish physician and philosopher John Gregory, who set out to create a profession of medicine in a true moral sense of a fiduciary profession by making medicine accountable for its scientific and moral quality. The second occurred in the late twentieth century in which the managed practice of medicine in general, and managed care in particular, have begun to lay medicine open to accountability for its scientific and moral quality, as well as its cost and, at least in the public sector, its accessibility. McCullough argues that, just as Gregory responded to the ethical challenges of medicine laid open more than two centuries ago, bioethics should respond to the ethical challenges in the current laying open of medicine. Warren Reich provides an account of André Hellegers, whose premature death left an enormous gap in the field that will never be filled. Reich claims that Hellegers was engaged substantially in much more than the laying open of medicine: he...

The First Arab-Islamic Conference

This conference has been in preparation for almost thirty months. Thereason for this rather long (by Middle Eastern standards) gestation periodwas the unprecedented nature of the conference, difficulties of selectingparticipants and finding a safe and available location.Since the early 1950s, Arab nationalist and Islamic relations havebeen passing through very turbulent periods. The secularization ofArabism and the rise of Arab nationalists to power in many Arab coun·tries led to frequent and bloody confrontations between the two sides overpower and legitimacy of the state. However, during the last two decades,Arab regimes have become somewhat less ideological and more tyrannical;coercive means rather than persuasion has been widely deployed topreserve the status quo. As a result, many Arab nationalist intellectuals,activists, and public leaders have dissociated themselves from the rulingelites and moved to. establish independent Arab nationalist formulae,research centers, and groupings. Parallel to this turn was the spectacularrise of Islamic political forces in almost all part of the Arab world, adevelopment that could not be ignored by the Arab nationalists.One of the main results of the Gulf War was a growing sense of rapprochementbetween the nationalist and Islamist camps. In 1993 a grouprepresenting the two sides (including Rashid al GhannOshi, Khayr al Dinijasib, Mu}:iammad Sidqi al Dajani, 'Isam Nu'man, and a representativeof ijasan al Turab1) agreed to hold an Arab-Islamic conference to markthe era of reconciliation and set an agenda for both camps. Meeting inLondon, they agreed to invite 100 representatives (approximately 50 fromeach camp), nominated a preparatory committee, and named most of thewould-be participants. For many months afterwards, the preparatorycommittee worked to surmount the many obstacles which, to a certainextent, nearly undermined the enterprise. Eventually, after the MuslimBrotherhood of Egypt had agreed to participate, the Arab nationalists hadagreed to drop their insistence on inviting members of the Sudaneseopposition, and the Lebanese government (as well as the Syrians) hadgiven permission to hold the conference in Beirut, it was decided to convenethe conference on 12 October 1994 ...

IFP: Standing at the Intersection Between Research and Industry: ABSTRACT

Since its formation in 1944, Institut Francais du Petrole (IFP) has pursued a wide range of research and development, training and information activities, servicing the complete chain of petroleum operations, ranging from exploration to the many uses of petroleum products. Standing at the intersection between research and industry, IFP combines basic research and applied industrial research. One of it roles is to contribute to renewing reserves by developing innovative technologies and to ensure the better technico-economic accessibility of discovered reserves. In exploration and reservoir engineering, the R&D program is mainly focused on subjects contributing to the development of methodologies and tools for a better assessment of petroleum resources of sedimentary basins, structural imaging, reservoir characterization, improved oil recovery, well productivity and a more intensive integration of the geosciences: geology/geophysics/reservoir engineering. Environmental protection is a subject of permanent concern at IFP. A part of the program is focused on the restoration of polluted environments. The determination to ensure the optimum dissemination of its scientific and technological patrimony in industry has justified the organization of large-scale industrial action. IFP represents an independent research center unrivaled in Europe. This situation has enabled it to emerge strongly as a leading figure in international scientificmore » and technical circles.« less

Up Close: New Jersey Advanced Technology Center for Surface-Engineered Materials: An Experiment in Research Management

The Advanced Technology Center for Surface Engineered Materials (ATC-SEM) is a bold experiment in research management. Scientists from its five member institutions work independently within a central framework for overall planning and for the allocation of resources. Access to areas of expertise beyond the compass of the individual institutions more than offsets the logistical problems inherent in the distributed nature of the organization.ATC-SEM had its origins in 1988 as one of a number of Advanced Technology Centers established by a grant from the New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology after approval of the Jobs, Education, and Competitiveness Bond Act. All the ATCs are dedicated to improving the competitiveness of New Jersey's industry through the application of technology.The ATM-SEM is administered through Associated Institutions for Material Sciences (AIMS) which has six member institutions, five of which are universities. AIMS also administers other multicampus programs in New Jersey, including the New Jersey NASA space grant consortium and a SEMATECH Center of Excellence. The hallmark of each program is a collaborative effort which transcends the capabilities of any of the individual campuses. The consortium member institutions span the private, public, and industrial sectors and comprise the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Princeton University, Rutgers (the State University of New Jersey), Stevens Institute of Technology, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, and David Sarnoff Research Center (an independent contract research center).

Guidelines

Providing quality cost-effective health care to all Americans is one of our society's highest priorities. In an era of uncertainty, the only certainty is that significant changes in the structure and provision of health care will occur during the next decade. One key component of change will be the increased prominence and use of measures to help guide physicians in the care of patients in all of medicine. 1 Indeed, such measures have been proposed as playing a useful role in reducing the magnitude of unexplained geographic variation in the provision of services and in reducing inappropriate care, thereby reducing the cost of health care while improving the quality of care. 2 To this end, the federal government in 1989 created the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR), charged with developing and disseminating practice guidelines to supplement ongoing efforts of physician societies, hospitals, insurers, and independent research centers.

Syringe and Needle Exchange Programs Worldwide

The first large-scale syringe and needle exchange (SANE) programs were established in The Netherlands and in the United Kingdom (UK) about 8 years ago. Since then, SANE programs have been established in Australia, Sweden, Canada, and the United States. To date, the most useful data concerning the impact of these programs have come from studies in the UK and from New Haven, San Francisco, Tacoma, and New York City in the US. Successful SANE programs require careful planning; those in charge should be familiar with the accomplishments, problems, and goals of established programs. Advance publicity and involvement of community activists, the local police precinct, and ward or district politicians are imperative for overcoming misunderstandings and prejudices and fostering a team approach. Pilot projects must be adequately funded. Other requirements include accessible facilities, convenient hours of operation (including evening hours), provision of mobile units if at all possible, and provision for sanitary disposal of discarded injection equipment in the neighborhood around the SANE programs. Programs also should have a strong evaluation component, preferably staffed by an independent university-affiliated research center. Periodic site visits are necessary to ensure that services promised in the protocol are actually delivered not only initially, but also over time. Problems with security and drug dealing in and around the building where the SANE program is located are likely, and appropriate measures should be taken to counter them.

A strategic approach for valorization of R&D results and technology: the case of IMEC

Over the past decade, the interaction between industry and universities or independent research centres has become of increasing importance. This tendency is especially remarkable in the field of microelectronics, which is an 'enabling technology' being applied in virtually every industrial sector. As a result of such closer interaction, universities and independent research centres have been adapting their research and 'valorization' strategies, based on an iterative process of technology–driven and market–pull oriented approaches. The evaluation is commented on and illustrated by the case of the Interuniversity Microelectronics Center (IMEC), Belgium, a large independent R&D centre, active in the field of microelectronics.

Practice Guidelines: A New Reality in Medicine

There is growing interest in the use of practice guidelines for physicians as a means of reducing inappropriate care, controlling geographic variations in practice patterns, and making more effective use of health care resources. Recent developments at the national health policy level suggest that practice guidelines will play an increasingly prominent role in the practice of medicine. The federal government has created a new US Public Health Service agency with responsibility for practice guidelines. Guidelines have been developed by more than 35 physician organizations and specialty societies. The American Medical Association and the Council of Medical Specialty Societies have endorsed practice guidelines and are organizing specialty societies to set policy on the subject. Academic medical centers have formed a research consortium on practice guidelines. Independent research centers (eg, the RAND Corporation and the Institute of Medicine) are developing methods for assessing appropriateness and setting guidelines. Other groups, such as hospitals, insurers, managed care plans, and private enterprises, are also directly involved. The implications of these developments are far reaching.

Up Close: The Interuniversity Microelectronics Center (IMEC), Leuven, Belgium

The Interuniversity Microelectronics Center, Leuven, Belgium (IMEC) is one of the world's largest independent research centers for microelectronics. It was established in 1984 by the Flemish government as a part of a comprehensive program to promote high technology in Flanders, Belgium. Benefiting from existing experience available mainly at the University of Leuven, IMEC moved into its present facilities in 1986 (Figure 1).The Center covers a wide range of research topics in the microelectronics domain—VLSI systems design methodologies, advanced semiconductor processing, materials, packaging, and more.About 50 people work on computer-aided design, developing a series of “true” silicon compilers: CATHEDRAL. With this software, ASIC (application specific integrated circuit) design becomes extremely attractive, since CATHEDRAL covers design from the high system level down to layout.INVOMEC, the training division of IMEC, supports universities in ASIC design. It trains people for both educational institutes and industry in chip design, makes available the necessary software, and has a well-established Multi Project Chip—Multi Project Wafer service.The Processing Technologies and Materials Divisions involve about 200 people and have a 3,600 m2 clean room at their disposal. The clean room consists of a 20% class 10 area with a fast-turnaround prototyping line and an 80% class 1000 area.IMEC's objectives are: to perform research in the microelectronics field, supporting both industry and universities, and to stimulate the microelectronics industry in Flanders.IMEC performs research on both silicon and III-V technologies.

Sea-Level Changes

1. Sea-level studies: Michael J.Tooley (Department of Geography, University of Durham) 2. The Holocene sedimentary history of the coastal lagoons of Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil: Stephen Ireland (Department of Geography, University of Durham) 3. Relative sea-level changes in the Beauly Firth area, Scotland: B.Andrew Haggart (Geography Section, City of London Polytechnic) 4. Holocene sea-level changes in the North Sea region: Ian Shennan (Department of Geography, University of Durham) 5. Sea-level changes in the Mediterranean: Paolo A.Pirazzoli (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris) 6. Quaternary sea-level changes in Japan: Yota Ota (Department of Geography, Yokohama National University, Japan) and Hiroshi Machida (Department of Geography, Tokyo Metropolitan University Japan) 7. Quaternary sea-level studies in the Eastern United States of America: a methodological perspective: Thomas M. Cronin (United States Department of the Interior, Geological Survey, Virginia) 8. Quaternary sea-level changes on the Atlantic coast of Africa: Pierre Giresse (Centre de Recherches de Sedimentologie Marine, Universite de Perpignan, France) 9. Sea-level changes on the east coast of Africa during the Holocene and Late Pleistocene: Lars-Erik Ase (Department of Physical Geography, University of Stockholm) 10. Late Quaternary sea-level changes in the Australian region: John Chappell (Research School of Pacific Studies, The Australian National University) 11. Models of global sea-level changes: Nils-Axel Morner (Gronby Independent Research Center, Sweden) 12. Sea-level changes resulting from future retreat of ice sheets: an effect of CO2 warming the climate: James A.Clarke (Department of Geology, Calvin College, Michigan) and John A.Primus (Department of Geology, Calvin College, Michigan) 13. Sea-level changes : a conspectus: Michael J.Tooley (Department of Geography, University of Durham) and Ian Shennan (Department of Geography, University of Durham).

Bell break-up plus five: mixed reviews

The consequences of the divestiture of AT&T in 1984 are examined. The new AT&T, freed to enter the computer industry, has not come close to rivaling IBM in commercial markets, although it is starting to do well in government contracts. The local operating companies, still run as regulated monopolies, have been far more profitable than free-market competitors. Research has expanded but is more focused on the bottom line, and unexpectedly, four of the seven regional holding companies (RHCs) have established their own independent research and technology centers. Open competition in the industry is greater now; hundreds of companies now provide long-distance services, customer-premises equipment, and information services. Local telephone rates have risen substantially now that they are no longer subsidized by long-distance service, at the same time, long-distance rates have dropped by about the same percentage.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

Some Problems in the Interpretation of Recent Chilean History

It is necessary to begin this article by explaining the motives for writing it. I have recently completed a draft of a long chapter on Chile from 1958 to the present day, for the final volume of the Cambridge History of Latin America. There is no shortage of material available for writing such a chapter, either on the economy of Chile in that period, or on poUtical development, or on changes in the social structure. There is also no shortage of rival or conflicting interpretations. On reading this material, and on trying to organise it into a coherent narrative, there were certain key themes that seemed to me to be unresolved. Of course, some of these puzzles will be resolved by further research, or by research of a different style. Moreover, some of the questions will perhaps seem obvious to another student of Chile. One of the few positive products of the prolonged period of dictatorial rule since 1973 has been a remarkable increase in the quantity and quality of pubUshed research by Chileans on their own country. Ejeeted from the world of Chilean universities, with their time-consuming involvement in poUtical activities and bureaucratic struggles, Chilean academics in independent research centres, now funded largely from abroad, have had to pubUsh or perish. Underlying a great deal of this research has been a common question: how could a society Uke Chile, with soUd political traditions and wellorganised poUtical parties, witness an unprecedented breakdown of social relationships and political order, and give rise to an extremely personaUsed authoritarian dictatorship with a capacity to survive second only to the Paraguay of Stroessner.1 There have undoubtedly been important advances in unraveUing the complexities of aspects of Chilean society, the poUtical system and the economy. Nevertheless, there are questions that still need to be investigated, connections that still need to be made, or assumptions that still need to be questioned. For example, although aU commentators stress the centrality of parties in Chilean poUtical life, most work on parties tends to concentrate on the ideological level: very few look at how parties were organised, how decisions were taken inside the parties, or what the balance of power was between the various sectors of the parties.2 The intention of this article is to draw attention to some of the debates taking place in Chile.3 It is organised around three major questions?the role

Three superfactors in the 16PF and their relation to Eysenck's P, E and N

The initial data consisted of responses to the 16PF and E.P.Q., obtained at the same testing, from 239 Independent Study Students. The responses to the 16PF were subjected to a principal components analysis. A Scree Test applied to the original solution indicated that between 8 and 10 factors should be retained for rotation. As this was at variance with Cattell's postulated factor structure supplementary analyses involving the retention and rotation of from 16 to 22 factors and item-factor analyses of groups of scales were carried out. All of these analyses failed to reproduce anything like a clear 16-scale structure. In order to accommodate the hypothesis that a 3-factor solution, in line with Eysenck's postulated dimensions of P, E and N, underpinned the Cattell scales and to test the validity of the intermediate solutions, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4 and 3 factors were retained and subjected to varimax and promax rotations. These solutions were compared with solutions obtained from analyses of the responses to the 16PF of 200 students at the Independent Assessment and Research Centre. Only the 3-factor solutions showed a degree of replicability across samples. The samples were combined to form a total sample of 439 cases and this was tested for factor replicability using factor comparability coefficients based on factor scores. This revealed a clear 3-factor structure, of anxiety, superego and exvia, which was replicable across sexes. An analysis of the responses to the combined questionnaires indicated that the neuroticism and anxiety factors and the extraversion and exvia factors were co-incident, but that psychoticism and superego were separate factors. However, the P-scale loaded -0.40 on the superego factor, which lends some support to Eysenck's contention that psychoticism is the obverse of superego. A 3-step analysis, in which pairs and triads of scales were tested for factor replicability, confirmed the equivalence of the neuroticism and anxiety factors and the extraversion and exvia factors. As far as psychoticism and superego were concerned only the latter appeared as a real, replicable factor. This factor contained virtually all the 16PF superego or S-items and 11 of the 25 E.P.Q. P-items. The 14 P-items which did not load significantly on the superego factor were those involving the cruelty or sadism element of the concept of psychoticism. It is contended that superego, rather than psychoticism, may best lay claim to join neuroticism and extraversion in what may be termed the great triumverate of the personality sphere.

A View of Postsecondary Education Research from Independent Research Centers

18 The second view of a coalition is portrayed in column two of Table I. It is concerned with influencing the vertical research delivery or guidance system described earlier in this paper. The critical addition to this model of a coalition is the proactive posture toward funding and allocation groups. A fifth goal is the direct concern with the system of funding, priority set­ ting, allocation and dissemination. It would actively seek to influence this system. In this mode it is a political interest group or lobby for research­ ers with a more official and committed pattern of membership. It would be governed by a more formal representative leadership group and would seek mem­ ber endorsement of priorities set for research. Many of the present Coali­ tion's non-university-based members would be more inclined to this model while university-based research groups might resist it. Clearly, the present Coalition is neither simply one model or the other. Each model represents a focus which university-based and non-university based groups should respect. An amalgam or reconciliation of the two models is needed. In the final analysis the responsiveness on the part of agencies in the vertical system of priority setting and funding to well-devised attempts to achieve goals through a professionally oriented coalition could bring about a reconciliation and eliminate the dilemma posed here for the Coalition of Postsecondary Research Interests. A VIEW OF POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION RESEARCH FROM INDEPENDENT RESEARCH CENTERS Alexander W. Astin Higher Education Research Institute and University of California, Los Angeles Postsecondary education research today is in pretty bad shape. While it is easy to lay the blame for our problems on the federal government, it is important to recognize that we all share part of the responsibility. Re­ searchers do not talk to each other very much; communication among many of us is virtually nil, even though we are presumably working on very similar prob­ lems. As for the funding agencies, they often seem to be too eager to find quick and simple-minded solutions to problems that really need much more in­ tensive, long-term analysis. An investment today in long-term systematic studies of the postsecondary system should eventually provide us with a capability to obtain much more sophisticated answers to complex policy problems on a relatively short-term basis. But at some point we have to start investing in programmatic research efforts. If we continue to spend most of our limited research funds only on what is popular or trendy, we are never going to develop this capability. In this paper I wish to focus my remarks on the funding agencies, not because I think researchers do not contribute to the generally low quality of much of the research, but rather because our panel includes representatives of two key federal agencies who are presumably here because their agencies are concerned about improving the condition of postsecondary research in the United States. One problem for the funding agencies actually originates with us re­ searchers: This is our failure to make a good case for why postsecondary ed­ ucation should have a higher priority, particularly on NIE's funding agenda. Although there is not enough time today to deal with this priority issue in any detail, let me suggest a few reasons why postsecondary education should really be a much more important area for policy research than the current funding pattern suggests. My first reason relates to one of NIE's priorities as stated by Mike Timpane: achieving greater educational equity for women, minorities, and low-income groups. Given the very large proportion of 19 students who finish high school these days, postsecondary education repre­ sents one of the most important avenues for upward social mobility for these groups. In fact, it may be the most significant avenue. What are the criti­ cal barriers to postsecondary entry for these groups? Among those who manage to gain entry, what factors interfere with successful completion? A closely related issue concerns another NIE priority attended to by Mike Timpane: improving the quality of educational practice. I assume that this priority includes the basic skills program which has gotten such a large piece of the NIE...