Independent Research Field Research Articles

Perspectives and challenges in landscape genetics

A recent workshop held at the University of Grenoble gathered the leading experts in the field of landscape genetics and spatial statistics. Landscape genetics was only recently defined as an independent research field. It aims to understand the processes of gene flow and local adaptation by studying the interactions between genetic and spatial or environmental variation. This workshop discussed the perspectives and challenges of combining emerging molecular, spatial and statistical tools to unravel how landscape and environmental variables affect genetic variation.

Integrated care at the crossroads—defining the way forward

The non-existence of a common terminology or standards in Integrated Care makes it difficult to compare experiences and results, whether on a national or international level, while the interdisciplinarity of the concept, both in theory and practice, proves to be a curse when it should be a blessing. Thus, we found it high time to bridge the gap, bring practice to theory and discuss the pressing issues of future Integrated Care research. WORKSHOP REPORT: DURING THE EXPERT WORKSHOP, DISCUSSIONS WERE HELD CONCERNING FOUR OVERARCHING TOPICS: (1) defining the common base for integrated care, evaluation and quality; (2) discussion on methods and tools, healthy environs; (3) governing and managerial prerequisites for integrated care and the future of integrated care; and (4) research questions arising from the workshop. The results were formulated into actions and research questions for the future. The workshop proved the necessity of consolidation in the area in order to foment the concept. Researchers should improve coordination and cooperation among themselves and draw from the various fields which deal with similar questions. It remains to be seen whether integrated care manages to grow out of its baby shoes and establish itself as an independent and interdisciplinary field of research.

Sports, Politics and Ethnicity in the North. Workers’ Sport in Western Finnmark in the Late 1930s

Internationally, ethnicity in sports has become an independent field of research amongst sports historians focusing on phenomena such as colonialism, immigration and indigenous populations. Studies demonstrate that sports have simultaneously been able to assimilate different groups, promoting majority concepts of identity and majority values, and enable groups to fashion their own singular ethnic identities in contrast to those of majority societies. In Norwegian historical research, sport and ethnicity has been given only scarce attention. Norwegian sports historians have mainly seen Norway as an ethnically homogenous society where sport has played an essential part in creating a unifying national identity. A major concern for Norwegian sports history research has been the political split in Norwegian sports in the 1930s. Research on this event has mainly been occupied with the relationship between the Workers’ Sports Association (AIF) and the “bourgeois” National Sports Federation (NLI), and by AIF's significance as a political movement. Less attention, however, has been given to its cultural impact. This article investigates the establishment and function of AIF in the multi-ethnic area of West Finnmark, a geographically and politically peripheral region of Northern Norway, at the end of the 1930s. The town of Alta, the main focus of attention, was in the 1930s a small fiord community with an ethnically mixed population of indigenous Sámi, Kvens and Norwegians, sharp political divisions and a vibrant sporting milieu. Although the political division of Alta's sports establishment displays many of the traits that characterize similar events in the country at large, the ethnic factor brought another, important, dimension to it. This highly politicized period in Finnmark sports underlines the importance of sports as an arena for the construction and reinforcement of not only political identity, but also for the production of ethnic and local identities.

The Missing Fifth Dimension: The Writing of Australian History in Germany*

German historical writing about Australia can be traced back to the early periods of European exploration of Terra incognita. A corpus of German‐Australian literature exists in the historical notes that were part of early travel books, geographic sketches and emigrant guides. Historical fiction provides another element. However an empirical historiography which elevated Australian history from footnotes and established it as the focus of a professional discipline did not develop until later. Australia was too often wrongly viewed as a space without history. This article examines the professional treatment of Australian history in Germany and the difficult path which faced those who sought to establish the history of Australia as an independent research field. It focuses upon three aspects: (a) the historical background of German Overseas Studies; (b) Australian history as topic in Germany's historiography; and (c) the post‐war situation of Australian historical studies in Germany.

12 Entrepreneurship: A Field of Dreams?

This paper has two objectives. We begin by contrasting two potential paths for future research in entrepreneurship. One is the establishment of an independent field of research with a clear jurisdiction, a common theoretical canon, and autonomy from related fields. The second is a phenomena‐based approach, in which scholars congregate around common interests in empirical phenomena but approach them with distinct disciplinary lenses. After discussing these alternatives and lobbying for the phenomena‐based approach, we then review some of the recent, discipline‐based research in economic and organizational sociology relevant to entrepreneurship, and identify significant gaps in that literature.

Differential-Algebraic Equations

The topic of Differential Algebraic Equations (DAEs) began to attract significant research interest in applied and numerical mathematics in the early 1980's. Today, a quarter of a century later, DAEs are an independent field of research, which is gaining in importance and becoming of increasing interest for both applications and mathematical theory. This Oberwolfach workshop brought together 48 experts in applied mathematics, among them, on the one hand, some who have already influenced and formed the developments of the field, and on the other hand, some very young researchers who have shown outstanding creativity and competence in connection with their PhD theses and thus raise great hopes for further advances. The 16 female and 32 male scientists came from 13 countries to meet and work together in the wonderful, unique Oberwolfach atmosphere, which stimulated a fruitful and pleasant collaboration. The schedule comprised a total of 34 presentations, 18 of which were arranged into 14 survey lectures (some of them with more than one speaker) offering a broader treatment of a particular subject. 16 shorter contributions supplemented the scientific programmme. The areas can be classified (of course with large overlap) into 4 groups: The broad range of these areas and the diversity of the participants stimulated fruitful discussions between the different branches and gave rise to new contacts and collaborations. A considerable gain in knowledgde and progress became obvious, which includes the formulation of open questions and challenges for the future. We are grateful to the Mathematisches Forschungsinstitut Oberwolfach for providing an inspiring setting for this workshop.

The intermodal networks: a survey on intermodalism

A new and rather independent research field is now emerging on intermodalism, because intermodalism, that is the intermodal transportation, must study the behavior of systems different from single-mode transport systems. In fact, the importance of this new research field, its potential interdisciplinary of modeling the problem with the science of complex networks, are not yet completely appreciated by the scientific community. This is due to several reasons, among others the lack of a common background and a rather cumbersome approach of operation research to the modeling of transportation. In this paper we review the concept of intermodalism and the approach to intermodalism in the operation research field. Then we discuss the intermodal networks in the framework of real world networks to understand the behavior of intermodal systems as a whole.

A public health genetic approach for schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a complex disease resulting from the interplay of genetic and environmental factors. However, psychiatric genetics and epidemiology have often worked as independent research fields. To review the evidence about the gene-environment interplay involved in the development of schizophrenia. Systematic review of medical and psychological databases. On one hand, quantitative and molecular genetics showed high heritability for schizophrenia and identified genes likely to be involved in its pathophysiology. The strength of the association between candidate genes and schizophrenia is however modest, and the need for a more appropriate conceptualization of the genetic risk has been claimed. On the other hand, psychiatric epidemiology described several environmental factors liked with the onset or the course of schizophrenia. The observational nature of epidemiology, however, may hamper inference on causation. Gene-environment correlations and interactions influence the exposure and the vulnerability to the environment, respectively. Current findings suggest that gene-environment correlations and interactions may be common phenomena in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. The consideration of gene-environment interplay may help to overcome many limitations of genetic and epidemiological studies in psychiatry and suggest innovative preventive and therapeutic strategies. Taking into account the complexity of schizophrenia pathophysiology, mental health genetics may provide a comprehensive and heuristic model of disease.

The Conference at the Airlie House in 1963

In many ways, the 1963 conference at Airlie House was an unusual event. The meeting convincingly demonstrated that photosynthetic research, previously reported mostly at conferences of botany and/or plant physiology, had become an independent and important field of biological research. New techniques had been developed and yielded exciting new results. Electron transport, photophosphorylation and their coupling were the main topics. Also, intermediates of electron transport, the enzymes catalyzing the reactions, and the structure of the photosynthetic apparatus, were discussed. The conference came at a time, when abundant new data had been accumulated seeking a platform. The editors (Bessel Kok and André Jagendorf) of the proceedings wrote in their introduction: 'Every so often someone manages to remove another stone from the wall through which we all want to see, and the crowds tend to flock around the new peep hole.' Beyond the scientific program, the organizers astounded the participants with an unusual social program.

ARISTOTELIANISM AS A COMMENTARY TRADITION

Aristotelian studies in the second half of the twentieth century underwent a decisive change: after two thousand years of travelling together, the fortuna of the Master and that of his Greek commentators began to follow separate paths. This was certainly progress – indeed, necessary progress, as we can now see when taking stock of the twentieth century’s arguments about the very meaning of interpretation, with particular regard to the interpretation of written texts as a primary philosophical activity. The crisis (if we may term it as such) started in the study of Aristotle himself – his Greek commentators did not yet constitute an independent field of research. Various intellectual currents were involved. Prominent among these were nineteenth-century advances in philological and historical research, and the analytic tendencies that progressively influenced Aristotelian studies in the twentieth century. A decisive part was played by the editorial enterprises sponsored in the nineteenth by the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences. Within a relatively short period of time two fundamentally important works appeared: the standard critical edition of Aristotle’s complete works directed by I. Bekker (1831-1870),1 promoted by F. Schleiermacher;2 and that of the

Drug delivery in biotechnology: present and future.

Drug delivery is becoming a whole interdisciplinary and independent field of research and is gaining the attention of pharmaceutical makers, medical doctors and industry. A targeted and safe drug delivery could improve the performance of some classical medicines already on the market and, moreover, will have implications for the development and success of new therapeutic strategies, such as peptide and protein delivery, glycoprotein administration, gene therapy and RNA interference. Many innovative technologies for effective drug delivery have been developed, including implants, nanotechnology, cell and peptide encapsulation, microfabrication, chemical modification and others. On the long way from the clinic to market, however, several issues will have to be addressed, including suitable scientific development, specific financial support as a result of altered scientific policy, government regulations and market forces.

Functional–anatomical concepts of human premotor cortex: evidence from fMRI and PET studies

The premotor cortex (PM) refers to human Brodmann area 6 (BA6), and often anteriorly adjacent areas BA44 and BA8 are also included. The function traditionally attributed to the PM is the preparation and the organization of movements and actions (Wise, 1985). However, with the introduction of imaging methods, which allow the neural correlates of behavioral functions to be measured online, premotor activations have frequently found in nonmotor “cognitive” domains. As these findings were difficult to interpret in light of the classical motor view, they were typically taken to reflect some kind of latent motor processes. As such, they were experimental artifacts of either nonsuppressible or deliberately chosen behavioral strategies, like verbalizing or tapping, or simply movement noise. However, nowadays the exploration of cognitive function of the human premotor cortex has become an independent field of research, supported and also inspired by results from research in the monkey. Hence, currently a diversity of concepts of PM functions coexist, referring partly to the classical motor account, partly to the scope of nonmotor functions. With particular interest in the nonmotor domain, the present paper aims to outline current concepts of human PM functions as have emerged from imaging results. Concepts apply to functional–anatomical dissociations of right vs left, medial vs lateral, rostral vs caudal, and dorsal vs ventral PM. In view of widely missing macroanatomical borders between PM subsections, these labels can serve only as a gross orientation. Moreover, the investigation of cortical architecture in living humans on the microanatomical level using specific MR protocols is still restricted to a resolution of about 500 m (Damasio, 1991). As we lack direct evidence from individual cytoarchitectonic data in conjunction with functional results, any potential correspondences between subsections of the human and the monkey PM are based on functional rather than on anatomical homologies (e.g., Rizzolatti et al., 2002). The scope of the present paper is limited. It focuses on imaging studies (in contrast to other methods in humans and in contrast to monkey studies), on the lateral (in contrast to medial) PM, and on functional trends along the dorsal– ventral axis. Concepts are illustrated by some representative findings only.

Is a new applied transportation research field emerging?––A review of intermodal rail–truck freight transport literature

Intermodal freight transport has developed into a significant sector of the transport industry in its own right. This development has been followed by an increase in intermodal freight transportation research. We contend that a new transportation research application field is emerging; and that, while still in a pre-paradigmatic phase, it is now time to move on to a more mature independent research field. An independent research field can be justified because intermodal transport is a complex system that has characteristics which distinguishes it from other transport systems. We have reviewed 92 publications in order to identify the characteristics of the intermodal research community and scientific knowledge base. This paper will discuss aspects of this research, assessing the status quo and seeking directions for the future. To conclude, we will propose an intermodal research agenda which can direct the intermodal research field towards a period of “normal science”.

Hot new therapy for sepsis and the acute respiratory distress syndrome.

In 1962 Ritossa demonstrated that exposing Drosophila to elevations of temperature produced “puffing” patterns of polytene chromosomes indicating increased gene expression (1). Five years later, Ashbaugh and colleagues described a new clinical syndrome, a form of non-cardiogenic pulmonary edema that they called the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) (2). These unrelated papers from widely disparate research areas pioneered independent research fields which are now intersecting, as demonstrated by the article by Weiss and colleagues in this issue of the JCI (3). This convergence of basic science with clinical research promises to influence the care of our most critically ill patients and offers an excellent model of how basic scientific discoveries, without any apparent clinical implications, can lead to novel therapies. Here, I will focus on the implications of these findings for possible new therapeutic options for ARDS, as well as on how this study provides new insights into the pathophysiology of sepsis/ARDS.

French Sociology and Time: Origin, Development, and Current Research

AbstractFor French sociology, time has never been the central subject of an independent field of research. Without being neglected, the theme of time remains nevertheless on the fringe. In this field, there are neither networks nor academic journals which are well recognized. If we exclude Temporalistes (a journal which appeared for the first time in 1984 but whose circulation remains private), we have no journal similar to Time and Society, a first class academic showcase for the promotion and recognition of work devoted to its theme.The division of work in the French scientific community is used to this absence of visible evidence; time is a subject of research in different fields: work, education, health and organisations, without the various threads ever being woven together to produce a framework of coherent analysis.

Sociological aspects of the prediction debate

The question at the heart of this debate appears to be whether earthquake prediction should be recognised as a distinct and independent research field, or whether it is just one possible research topic in the general field of study of the earthquake source process. As there are no known grounds for optimism that reliable and accurate earthquake prediction (as defined in my first article) can be realized in the foreseeable future, the case for the latter position appears clear-cut. As a consequence there is no obvious need for specialised organisations for prediction research. Besides the benefits that always accrue from pruning deadwood, abolition of such organisations would force prediction proponents and critics to confront each other in common forums, thereby speeding the resolution of the controversy.

Diritti umani e bioetica

Esiste un legame tra la riflessione sulla bioetica e quella sui diritti umani?
 Lo scritto muove da questo interrogativo per giungere dopo un’articolata analisi alla conclusione che il limpido e chiaro riconoscimento della dignità e del conseguente diritto alla vita di ogni essere umano a partire dalla fecondazione costituisce terreno e presupposto comune delle due discipline e, allo stesso tempo, è ciò che consente loro di non navigare verso le derive individualistiche dell’utilitarismo e del relativismo etico.
 L’analisi del rapporto fra diritti umani e bioetica parte da un dato storico e cioè dalla svolta che il processo di Norimberga e la Dichiarazione Universale dei diritti dell’uomo hanno impresso nel cammino dell’umanità. Questa nuova tappa accompagna gli albori del “filone giuridico-normativo della bioetica” che nel corso degli anni assumerà sempre maggior consistenza, tanto da sfociare in un autonomo campo di riflessione noto sotto il nome di “biodiritto” o “biogiuridica”. A riguardo l’articolo presenta una disamina ricognitiva (non esente da osservazioni di tipo valutativo) dei principali documenti giuridici nazionali e internazionali che si occupano di “questioni di bioetica”. Dal ricco affresco di questi emerge da un lato la constatazione di un rapporto che esprime la necessità di un’integrazione fra diritti umani e bioetica, dall’altro l’urgenza di dare un solido ed autentico fondamento agli uni e all’altra. È questa una problematica di cruciale importanza, perché sia i diritti umani che la bioetica risentono di una crisi metafisica tanto più evidente e acuta quanto più ci si avvicina ai momenti di maggiore precarietà e debolezza dell’esistenza umana, nei quali la vita umana “è”, semplicemente “è”. In questo senso, l’embrione umano è l’emblema di ogni povertà ed emarginazione. La via d’uscita dalla “crisi” e dunque la ricerca del fondamento - sia per i diritti umani che per la bioetica - va trovata all luce della dignità umana, sempre presente con la stessa forza e intensità in tutti e in ciascuno, da rispettare e promuovere in primo luogo nel rispetto e nella promozione del diritto ad esistere che della dignità è la prima manifestazione, la più immediata concretizzazione.

A contribution to the workshop on computational wind engineering

Publisher Summary The purpose of the first international conference on wind engineering is to bring together two independent and separate fields of research and engineering with a view to find out the potential for closer collaboration. To break down the barriers, it is important to identify some of the problems in wind engineering that might be attacked using computational methods and avoid the jargon that every research field fosters. Wind engineering is concerned with the effects of wind on the factors related to daily life. This includes the wind effects on buildings and bridges, the dispersion of pollutants, the effects on energy usage, on transportation, and on agriculture. Because of the uncertainties of weather and climate, the accuracy needed is less than in other fields where c omputational fluid dynamics (CFD) has been used, such as in aeronautics. This fact might have a strong influence on the development of the applications.

A STUDY GROUP FOR CHORAL RESEARCH

For me as a Scandinavian, it seems quite natural to use the term choral research as a direct translation of the Swedish term k?rforskning. But I understand that such a term does not exist in English. The two words are of course good English but their combination does not sound idiomatic ally correct, although it is vaguely understandable. The same is true about the two elements of the German word Chorforschung. I believe, however, that the nonexistence of the therm choral research and Chorforschung, respectively, is not primarily due to linguistic rules. One can instead see it as the result of the strategies followed by scholars till now. But strategies can be changed and I think there are good create a content for which choral research would be an adequate term. There is already a vast literature dealing with music written for choral ensembles. And newly a special Journal of Research in Choral Music has be founded by Dr. Chester L. Alwes, University of Illinois, its chief editor. There are also studies about choral ensembles as music institutions and so on. But what is still lacking is a joint effort to investigate all rele vant aspects of choral activities. Considering the important role choral singing plays around the world and has played through the centuries, it seems necessary to make such a joint effort. In this perspective, historical and analytical studies concerning cho ral music cover only part of the wide field of research which rightly ought to be called choral research. Apparently this is not a matter for music historians exclusively. It is not even limited to musicologists: it depends on how narrow a definition the term ?musicology? is given. In order to establish choral research as on independent field of research it is necessary to bring scholars from different disciplines in touch with

The Optical Breakdown of Gases and Metal Vapours by Means of Quantum Generators

The studying of electrical breakdown of gaseous, liquid and solid materials has represented hitherto several independent fields of research, with quite elaborated theories and their specific conditions. By the appearance of quantum generators and bright energy sources (by their specific conditions and effects) another time scale of breakdown interval appeared, other frequencies of electromagnetic waves by which the breakdown was made (the data on ∼ 1017 W/cm2 sterrad are not scarce [1]). The extension of the limits within which operate quantum generators (both at the side of long and short waves) made both fields hitherto separated (conditionally said) unite. In this paper we shall consider only some of the basic criteria on the kind of optical breakdown. Since 1963 and since the beginning of first optical breakdowns the field became the topic of numerous world laboratories, of theoretical and practical derivations; later the contradictory results accelerated the development of both, as is usually the case. By the extension of these problems several applicative and nowadays provocative fields, such as: thermonuclear fusion, nuclear bombs, are even when we only “research” stimulated effects in other energy diapasons, for example stimulated effects in gamma domain [2].