Scientific Debate Research Articles

Pre-Earthquake Oscillating and Accelerating Patterns in the Lithosphere–Atmosphere–Ionosphere Coupling (LAIC) before the 2022 Luding (China) Ms6.8 Earthquake

The coupling processes among the lithosphere, atmosphere, and ionosphere (LAI) during the earthquake preparation phase are still an open scientific debate. Comprehensive LAI coupling effects around the 2022 Ms6.8 Luding earthquake in China are investigated with a multi-parameter and multi-layer approach, including the b-value, revised accelerated moment release, Earth resistivity, ELF magnetic field emissions, atmospheric electric field, surface temperature, foF2 from ionosonde, GNSS TEC, Ne and magnetic field from CSES and Swarm satellites, and energetic electrons from CSES and NOAA satellites. It is found that the anomalies start from the lithospheric parameters as Earth resistivity and b-values 1–2 years before to reflect the local stress loading in the seismic region, then the ionospheric and atmospheric disturbances occur and accelerate −50 days before and −15 days before, and finally the electrons precipitate a few days before. The simultaneous perturbations in LAI illustrate the thermodynamic coupling channel, such as on 24 August, −12 days before. Meanwhile, the abundant developed ionospheric anomalies without atmospheric disturbances demonstrate the electromagnetic coupling way from the lithosphere to the ionosphere directly. Finally, the results demonstrate a two-way model of LAIC: one way is characterized by a slow chain of processes, of thermodynamic nature, starting from the ground and proceeding to the above atmosphere and ionosphere, showing an exponential trend in the cumulative number of anomalies; the second way is characterized by oscillating electromagnetic coupling between the lithosphere and ionosphere, showing intermittent fluctuations in the corresponding cumulative number of anomalies.

Negative association of sea lice from fish farms on recreational fishing catches of Atlantic salmon

Abstract The question of whether and to what extent sea‐louse (Lepeophtheirus salmonis) infestations from salmon farms influence wild Atlantic salmon survival has been subject to sustained scientific debate and political controversy. Documenting population‐level effects of sea lice on wild salmon remains inherently challenging. We employ comprehensive sea‐lice data and recreational catch data from Norway to assess the impact of farm sea‐louse infestations on wild salmon catches in different production areas (PAs). Our analysis finds a significant correlation between declines in wild Atlantic salmon catches and increasing amounts of adult female sea lice per km2. The effect is most pronounced in PA 4 on the west coast of Norway, an area within the government's” traffic light” management system where out‐migrating salmon smolts are deemed to face high risk of louse‐induced mortality. Our model predicts below‐average catches when the total sea‐louse load exceeds the limit of 0.1 average adult female sea louse per farmed fish within some production areas. Furthermore, our results indicate that the risk of below‐average catches increases by approximately 47% when salmon farms exceed this limit (estimated risk ratio of 1.47, 95% CI [1.10, 1.96]). Synthesis and applications: Our study expands the existing body of evidence demonstrating a negative association between fish farming and the ecosystem services provided by wild salmon stocks. This has important implications for aquaculture management. First, it shows that farm sea lice directly affect peoples, rights holders and interest groups, such as landowners and anglers, who rely on viable populations of wild salmon. Second, it suggests that a >0.1 sea lice limit may be insufficient to prevent subpar catches in some areas. Furthermore, in the context of allowing further growth in farmed salmon biomass, setting absolute sea‐louse limits for entire production areas may be a more effective regulatory instrument than setting average lice limits per farmed fish. Our findings contribute to advancing a scientific basis for setting appropriate louse limits on farm and area scales.

A simple, practical experiment to investigate atomic wavefunction reduction within a Stern–Gerlach magnet

For nearly one hundred years most quantum-mechanics texts have depicted a continuous, spin-direction superposition of the wavefunction of the silver atom traversing a Stern–Gerlach (S–G) magnet. But there are sound scientific arguments which deny that understanding. Schrodinger’s equation for that continuous wavefunction development cannot describe the transfer of energy from the magnetic field to that atom. Modern micro-fabrication techniques now make it possible to implement a simple, accessible experiment testing whether a spin superposition does continue in the magnet. Because the S–G experiment is the prototype for quantum measurement, that observation is crucial to implementing a realistic quantum theory of measurement.

Relative Frequency Controversies and the Growth of Biological Knowledge

Relative frequency controversies, so common in the biological sciences, pose something of a puzzle. Why do biologists routinely engage in disputes that (a) are rarely settled and (b) arguably wouldn’t yield interesting knowledge even if they were? Recent work suggests that relative frequency controversies can lead biologists to increase their understanding of the modal profile of the processes under dispute. Here, we consider some further consequences of this view. We contend that relative frequency controversies can generate recurrent, transient underdetermination about which causes are responsible for producing particular effects. As a result, the increases in understanding these controversies provide can come with decreases in biologists’ ability to offer warranted explanations. We argue that this fits with a toolkit view of biological theory, and suggest some implications for the scientific realism debate as it pertains to biological science.

Promoting abstract thinking and scientific argumentation in the teaching of physics

thinking and scientific argumentation are two of the more important high-order cognitive skills that students at secondary level need to develop in the learning of physics. In this paper a new methodology based on constructivism’s view of education is presented by using counterintuitive experiments under a POE strategy (Predict, Explain, Observe). The experiments consist in a race of two soda can, one of them previously shaken, over an inclined plane; and the movement of a double cone object, built by two joined funnels, over two convergent inclined rails. The unexpected outcome of both experiments challenges the prior ideas of the students and provokes a higher engagement in their learning process. The results of a pilot experience applying this methodology suggest that using counterintuitive experiments under PEO strategy is an effective methodology to introduce the teaching of abstract concepts as moment of inertia and centre of mass. It also helps identifying students’ prior knowledge, promoting the use of scientific reasoning, and training students in the activation of their abstraction skills.

The Protection of Human Rights Defenders in the National Policy of Police Reforms in Indonesia

This research is intended to find scientific arguments to ensure that Indonesia’s National Police reform agenda must be carried out with systematic efforts that can promote and protect human rights defenders. This research uses the descriptive qualitative method using conceptual, statutory, and historical approaches. Library sources as the primary data. This research collects data in the field of literature study, such as books, journals, and credible periodical reports. Finally, the problems are analyzed using the qualitative method. Police Bureaucratic Reform is the ideal patron of the National Police, which is carried out gradually and systematically. Through this instrument, human rights policing can provide certainty for promoting and protecting human rights to human rights defenders. The result of this research convinces and invites the government officers, parliament, NHRIs, and civil society, including human rights defenders, to openly and periodically monitor and evaluate the implementation of National Police bureaucratic reform.

The role of science in resilience planning for military-civilian domains in the U.S. and NATO

ABSTRACT In recent years, the NATO member nations have committed to a coordinated approach to strengthening resilience among the Allies, including the development of National Resilience Plans (NRPs). The Allies outlined the extent to which the robustness of their respective military capacities requires the designed resilience of systems that bridge civilian and military domains. This article outlines the role that resilience plays in supporting tactical and strategic measures of national security and defense within military and civilian domains. This exploration provides an outline of how resilience is currently applied in practice by the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and NATO. Building on this diversity of applications, various categorical forms of resilience drawn from the empirical science of resilience are positioned within NATO’s emerging frame for ‘layered’ resilience. This article reinforces the scientific debate that an optimal orientation to resilience leaves open the door for the transformative adaptation of function and identity when the single-equilibrium processes of resilience reach their limits. This article concludes with a normative perspective on how military and civilian resilience planning could support the development of NRPs that would amplify the Allies’ collective capacity to face shared security threats.

A step further towards scientific arguments for expert witnesses in the defense of patients accused of forensic parasomnias.

A step further towards scientific arguments for expert witnesses in the defense of patients accused of forensic parasomnias.

Scientific Debate - “Digital Information and Electronic Services for Citizens”

Scientific Debate - “Digital Information and Electronic Services for Citizens”

Fundamentals of State Sovereignty in Africa: Theoretical Perspective

In the context of the ongoing scientific debate about the essence of state sovereignty and possible directions of its transformation, there is a need for a comprehensive analysis of regional specifics. Traditionally, the analysis of sovereignty was based on the historical experience of European states, and the Westphalian model of sovereignty was considered as almost universal. At the same time, this approach does not provide a much-needed framework for the local and regional specifics of sovereignty. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to identify and reveal the main characteristics of the sovereignty of African countries according to four parameters: integrity, immutability, carriers, and direction. Such an analysis will not only allow African political experience to fit into academic research, which still relies heavily on Western (European) cases of sovereignty. An important task of this article is also to show the features of sovereignty and variability of African states. The specificity of the sovereignty of African states is historically determined by the imposition of different types of sovereignty. Most of them were developed on the continent and were introduced from outside. This implies a noticeable variability in the practical implementation of sovereign rights and the specificity of the actual bearers of sovereignty. In contrast to Westphalian sovereignty, Africa has developed a wider range of sovereignty holders, which is not limited by formal state decision-making mechanisms. Due to the peculiarities of supranational integration and external borrowing, African countries have developed some constraints on external sovereignty and have retained the ability to deal with other states, including extra-regional ones. However, this process still has little impact on internal sovereignty due to its heterogeneity, multi-level nature, and complexity.

Duality of Branched-Chain Amino Acids in Chronic Cardiovascular Disease: Potential Biomarkers versus Active Pathophysiological Promoters.

Branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs), comprising leucine (Leu), isoleucine (Ile), and valine (Val), are essential nutrients vital for protein synthesis and metabolic regulation via specialized signaling networks. Their association with cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) has become a focal point of scientific debate, with emerging evidence suggesting both beneficial and detrimental roles. This review aims to dissect the multifaceted relationship between BCAAs and cardiovascular health, exploring the molecular mechanisms and clinical implications. Elevated BCAA levels have also been linked to insulin resistance (IR), type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), inflammation, and dyslipidemia, which are well-established risk factors for CVD. Central to these processes are key pathways such as mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling, nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activate B cells (NF-κB)-mediated inflammation, and oxidative stress. Additionally, the interplay between BCAA metabolism and gut microbiota, particularly the production of metabolites like trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO), adds another layer of complexity. Contrarily, some studies propose that BCAAs may have cardioprotective effects under certain conditions, contributing to muscle maintenance and metabolic health. This review critically evaluates the evidence, addressing the biological basis and signal transduction mechanism, and also discusses the potential for BCAAs to act as biomarkers versus active mediators of cardiovascular pathology. By presenting a balanced analysis, this review seeks to clarify the contentious roles of BCAAs in CVD, providing a foundation for future research and therapeutic strategies required because of the rising prevalence, incidence, and total burden of CVDs.

Does good governance moderate the relationship between blockchain technology use and tax evasion? Evidence from STOXX 600

PurposeThis paper aimed to shed light on the relationship between blockchain technology intensity and tax evasion and whether this relationship is moderated by good governance.Design/methodology/approachData from a sample of 50 European companies selected from the STOXX 600 index between 2010 and 2019 were used to test the model via panel data and multiple regression. Here, we used the generalized least squares method estimated on panel data. A multivariate regression model was used to analyze the moderating effect of good governance on the association between blockchain technology intensity and tax evasion. For the robustness analyses, we included the comparative study of legal systems. We performed an additional analysis by testing the dynamic dimension of the data set using the generalized method of moments to control for the endogeneity problem.FindingsExpectedly, the results showed a negative relationship between blockchain technology intensity and tax evasion. Furthermore, the findings suggest that the moderating variable negatively affects the relationship between blockchain technology and tax evasion.Originality/valueTo our knowledge, this study supports the existing literature. Firstly, it expands the scientific debate on tax evasion. Secondly, it extends the scope of the agency theory, which is used to explain the phenomena associated with tax evasion. This study is one of the first to examine the moderating effect of good governance on the association between blockchain technology intensity and tax evasion.

Development of Android-Based Biology Learning Media Plant Tissue-App to Train High School Students' Scientific Argumentation Skills

Student centered learning is important to be implemented to improve and develop students' critical thinking and argumentation skills, so that students become active in learning. The importance of thinking in thinking competence in order to compete in the world of technology industry and towards the era of society 5.0 so that in the future Indonesia will become a developed country and human resources can compete internationally. However, in fact, there are still many students who do not like discussion activities with presentations in front of the class. This causes students' argumentation skills to be low and need to be improved. This is influenced by one of the learning media used by teachers still using textbooks. This study aims to produce a product in the form of biology learning media based on the android plant tissue app application that is suitable for use to train high school students' scientific argumentation skills. This study is a research and development (RD) study with the ADDIE model. Data collection was carried out using a Likert scale assessment instrument which was analyzed descriptively qualitatively and quantitatively. The results of this study are the feasibility of media experts by 98% (very feasible), material experts by 74% (feasible), from Biology teachers (81%), and responses from students by 86% (very feasible). These results indicate that the developed media is suitable for use in training high school students' scientific argumentation skills on the focus of plant tissue material.

From mitigation to adaptation: Problematizing climate change in the maritime transport industry

AbstractThe literature on climate change in the maritime transport industry has grown rapidly in the last few years. Yet as the research agenda has progressed, scientific debates have become more isolated and fragmented, making it difficult to translate new findings into broader policy debates. This article draws on problematization methodology to help organize the scientific debate on maritime emissions and to identify analytical gaps and challenges. We argue that scholars investigate shipping's emission problem from four distinct analytical perspectives— (1) international laws and regulations, (2) markets and economics, (3) engineering and technology, and (4) authority and legitimacy. Each of these perspectives problematizes maritime emissions in specific ways, leading to different policies and strategies to address the problem. We call for better integrating these four literatures and highlight three crosscutting areas and problems for future research. First, developing institutions that facilitate market and engineering solutions; second, integrating climate mitigation and adaptation research; and third, focusing on justice concerns to ensure an equitable green transition in the maritime industry.This article is categorized under: Climate, History, Society, Culture > Thought Leaders Policy and Governance > International Policy Framework Policy and Governance > Private Governance of Climate Change

Charting The Skeptopathy - Skepticism Continuum: A Constructive Aid in the Interests of Consistent and Reliable Scientific Activity

We begin this paper by attempting to define what skepticism is. We also attempt to define other related and allied concepts such as skeptopathy, pathological skepticism, and pseudo-skepticism, and compare and contrast all these different concepts. We also present the various thoughts and opinions of different thinkers on all these issues, and also attempt to explain how thoughts related to these issues evolved through the ages. We therefore begin right from the Ancient Greeks, on to Ancient Rome, the medieval period, the renaissance period, the enlightenment period, and then proceed to the modern period. We propose how an ideal sweet spot can be accomplished and attained based on the quantum and the quality of scientific output, the opportunity loss, the quantum of pseudo-science or bad science generated in the process of scientific study. Last but not the least, we make a valiant attempt to reconcile the different concepts in this paper with the concepts proposed in our earlier papers as applicable so that meaningful extensions and additions can be made, and further takeaways added. We also emphasize the need for generating a wider awareness on this issue, all in the interests of good science, and make it central to scientific methodology and debate. Needless, to say, it will need to be taught in schools, colleges and universities at the appropriate level so that students appreciate and understand all dimensions of the issue.

Politický mýtus, Thomas Robert Malthus a vznik árijské rasové imaginace

The emergence of Nazi ideology and the rise of Nazism represented one of the most dramatic and tragic events of modern times, the consequences of which humanity is still dealing with today. The doctrine of the superiority of the Aryan race was an integral part of Nazi doctrine and served as a “scientific” justification for German expansionism and the policy of ethnic genocide. The Nazi conception of the German nation as the chosen Aryan racial community was identified as an example of a modern political myth by Henry Tudor in the early 1970s [Tudor 1972: 16]. We will attempt to explain the rise of Aryan ideology using the concept of political myth and Blumenberg’s notion of “work on myth” as the result of the long development of Western genealogical speculation, which underwent a process of secularization during the Enlightenment and once combined with stimuli coming from contemporary natural sciences, was used under the conditions of modern industrial society to “rationally” legitimize inequalities between people. A parallel development, consisting in the attempt to deny by scientific arguments the equality of human beings, despite the spread of liberal ideas inspired, among others, by the American and French Revolutions, took place in the economic sciences, where the doctrine of the British political economist Thomas Robert Malthus gained prominence at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Malthusianism, Aryan race ideology, Social Darwinism, or the eugenics movement thus had a common denominator, which Friedrich August von Hayek called the “counter-revolution of science” or Zeev Sternhell “counter-Enlightenment”.

Value Conflicts as Value Indicators

In this article, I present my view that only through value conflicts can we become aware of the relevant values influencing science. The discussion about values in science has been ongoing for the past decades; unfortunately, a crucial part of the discussion—value awareness—has not been addressed. This article tries to bridge this gap by focusing on the problem of value recognition through analyzing several cases of value conflicts. I will show that unless some value conflict occurs, the values influencing science remain invisible to us. This means that to discuss the relevant influences of values in science, we need to focus on value conflicts occurring in science. Only then can we recognize the values influencing science and have a meaningful debate about them. This article is the first foray into the issue of value recognition and can help clarify some unaddressed issues in the values in science debate.

Conflicting Scientific Narratives at the Convention on Biological Diversity and Other Fora: Analysis and Contradiction in the Discussions on Dematerialization of (Plant) Genetic Resources

This article examines the use of scientific arguments in negotiations on the status of Digital Sequence Information (DSI), focusing on the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA), and the Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Framework (PIP). DSI is a placeholder term used in negotiations on the dematerialization of genetic resources: the ability to sequence “physical” genetic resources and use this “intangible” information, which radically changes research practices. The CBD (among other instruments) establishes rules for Access to the Genetic Resource and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits from their utilization (ABS). This applies to “physical” genetic resources, but it is not clear for DSI. Indeed, different legal interpretations and political narrative are conflicting over the integration of DSI into these legal frameworks. This article explores how science is used in these negotiations, particularly in its rhetorical and epistocratic dimensions. The methodology combines an interdisciplinary approach (legal technique, philosophy of law and science) and a comparative discourse analysis: on the terminology; the inclusion of DSI in the definition of genetic material; and the inclusion of DSI in ABS systems. While scientific arguments play a crucial role in this technical issue, this article shows that scientific arguments can be used to support political positions (under the guise of objectivity and neutrality), and that this use of scientific arguments is not consistent, even contradictory (between PIP and CBD/ITPGRFA).

Scientific debate between two main athletic training methods Powerlifting and Olympic lifting

Scientific debate between two main athletic training methods Powerlifting and Olympic lifting

Despre relevanța perspectivei kantiene în era inteligenței artificiale generative: Provocări etice și tehnice

Since the evolution of computational and communication technologies, the world becomes a global village: society and environment are seen through digital perspectives of faster and wider industrial revolutions that become widely available and influence daily our lives. Generative AI dynamically trained and used on billions of blurred knowledge graphs’ multimodal elements becomes a growing technological presence with impact. New scientific and regulatory debates address, alongside the opportunities of generative AI presence in economy and society, the challenges that could, on one side, reinvent technologies and the humanity through the Singularity hypothesis, and one the other side, open its availability for unethical, improper, or illegal use of „black box” learning. Within dynamically challenging tsunami of big data, information and knowledge systems, the need of contemporary wisdom captured within AI could benefit from the well-known and visionary ethical yet traditional philosophical foundations. The need to adapt the technology based on well-known and accepted logics to unsafe, opaque decisions finds solid foundations in philosophical ethics. This paper critically reviews recent scientific articles on AI challenges, the Kantian perspective, and ethics foundations that argue the need of human in the loop for the current progresses of generative AI. The role of Kantianism in the ethical perception of AI and its accent on reason and reasoning for ethics, as well as other traditional ethical theories such as theory of virtue and utilitarianism, arguably request the presence of human values at the centre of AI and justify the argument of this paper that current challenges of transparency, explainability, fairness, responsibility of AI technologies can be addressed by consistent transitions from data-centred technologies to human-centred and scientifically quantifiable solutions for the next industrial revolution(s). The paper includes case studies of ethical and common-sense challenges for the use of „black box” models in healthcare, paediatric robotics, also refers to other potential applications such autonomous decision making or creativity. The paper ends with arguments and open questions on opportunities and challenges for AI and philosophy scientists with a focus on ethical aspects of AI technologies.