scholarly journals Stakes of Knowing the Truth: A Motivational Perspective on the Popularity of a Controversial Scientific Theory

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tiffany Morisseau ◽  
T. Y. Branch ◽  
Gloria Origgi
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Theory ◽  
Scientific Information ◽  
Science Attitudes ◽  
Potential Treatment ◽  
Public Concern ◽  
Fair Representation ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Media Hype

The aim of this article is to provide a different perspective on people's beliefs regarding controversial scientific information. We emphasize that, although people generally aim at getting a fair representation of reality, accuracy about scientific issues only matters to the extent that individuals perceive it as useful to achieve their own goals. This has important consequences in terms of how anti-science attitudes as well as epistemically questionable beliefs must be interpreted, which has consequences for addressing misinformation. We argue that most people who endorse scientific misinformation are not truly interested in its accuracy, and rather that plausibility at face value often suffices when it is meant to be used for social purposes only. We illustrate this view with the example of hydroxychloroquine, which was considered as potential treatment for Covid-19, and which has been the subject of much media hype and public concern, particularly in France.

Preferences of housed finishing beef cattle for different floor types

2000 ◽  
Vol 2000 ◽  
pp. 124-124
Author(s):  
D.E. Lowe ◽  
R.W.J. Steen ◽  
V.E. Beattie
Keyword(s):  
Beef Cattle ◽  
Scientific Information ◽  
Human Perception ◽  
Farm Animals ◽  
Public Concern ◽  
Finishing Beef Cattle

There is increasing public concern about the welfare of farm animals and one of the issues recently raised has been the use of totally slatted floors for rearing and finishing beef cattle. However, human perception of the needs of animals may not necessarily reflect that of the animals' needs. The objective of this experiment was to examine beef cattle preferences for different floor types, in order to provide scientific information that will be valuable in formulating a policy on the housing requirements of beef cattle.

scholarly journals Teaching Science in Today’s Society: The Case of Particle Physics for Primary Schools

Universe ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 169
Author(s):  
Cristina Lazzeroni ◽  
Sandra Malvezzi ◽  
Andrea Quadri
Keyword(s):  
Particle Physics ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Scientific Information ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Past ◽  
Rapid Changes ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Ongoing Project

The rapid changes in science and technology witnessed in recent decades have significantly contributed to the arousal of the awareness by decision-makers and the public as a whole of the need to strengthen the connection between outreach activities of universities and research institutes and the activities of educational institutions, with a central role played by schools. While the relevance of the problem is nowadays unquestioned, no unique and fully satisfactory solution has been identified. In the present paper we would like to contribute to the discussion on the subject by reporting on an ongoing project aimed to teach Particle Physics in primary schools. We will start from the past and currently planned activities in this project in order to establish a broader framework to describe the conditions for the fruitful interplay between researchers and teachers. We will also emphasize some aspects related to the dissemination of outreach materials by research institutions, in order to promote the access and distribution of scientific information in a way suited to the different age of the target students.

scholarly journals Reduction of term in scientific theory

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dmitriy Pavlovich Surovyagin
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Theory ◽  
Functional Equivalence ◽  
Theoretical Terms ◽  
Multiple Approach ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The One ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Reduction Relation ◽  
Methodology Of Science ◽  
Inverse Operation

The subject of this research is the concept of reduction in logics and methodology of science. On the one hand, reduction is understood as a relation between the term and its defining expression within the scientific theory; while on the other – it represents the relation between two theories. Since the extension of theory is possible through introduction to its vocabulary of new terms by means of nominal definitions, the reduction represents an inverse operation – removing the terms from the vocabulary of the theory. At the same time, the theory itself is defined in accordance with the theoretical-multiple approach as a class of sentences closed in relation to derivability. The scientific novelty consists in examination of semantic and epistemological aspects of the formal definition of reduction. Particularly, the explication of reduction relation between two theories leans in the concept of functional equivalence of the theories. It is established that the list of basic terms of the theory can be set only conventionally. All terms introduces by the means of nominal definitions turn out to be reducible. Therefore, a distinctive feature of theoretical terms is the possibility of its reduction.

scholarly journals A Graph-Based Approach for Mitigating Multi-Sided Exposure Bias in Recommender Systems

2022 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-31
Author(s):  
Masoud Mansoury ◽  
Himan Abdollahpouri ◽  
Mykola Pechenizkiy ◽  
Bamshad Mobasher ◽  
Robin Burke
Keyword(s):  
Recommender Systems ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
System Level ◽  
End User ◽  
Critical System ◽  
Long Tail ◽  
Fair Representation ◽  
Low Visibility ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Low Exposure

Fairness is a critical system-level objective in recommender systems that has been the subject of extensive recent research. A specific form of fairness is supplier exposure fairness, where the objective is to ensure equitable coverage of items across all suppliers in recommendations provided to users. This is especially important in multistakeholder recommendation scenarios where it may be important to optimize utilities not just for the end user but also for other stakeholders such as item sellers or producers who desire a fair representation of their items. This type of supplier fairness is sometimes accomplished by attempting to increase aggregate diversity to mitigate popularity bias and to improve the coverage of long-tail items in recommendations. In this article, we introduce FairMatch, a general graph-based algorithm that works as a post-processing approach after recommendation generation to improve exposure fairness for items and suppliers. The algorithm iteratively adds high-quality items that have low visibility or items from suppliers with low exposure to the users’ final recommendation lists. A comprehensive set of experiments on two datasets and comparison with state-of-the-art baselines show that FairMatch, although it significantly improves exposure fairness and aggregate diversity, maintains an acceptable level of relevance of the recommendations.

scholarly journals Some Remarks in Defense of Immanuel Kant's Theory of Experience

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 0
Author(s):  
Balanovskiy Valentin
Keyword(s):  
Immanuel Kant ◽  
Scientific Information ◽  
Experiential Knowledge ◽  
Central Position ◽  
Pure Reason ◽  
Contemporary Philosophy ◽  
Critique Of Pure Reason ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Reliable Knowledge ◽  
Conceptual Nature

The author attempts to answer a question of whether the fact that Immanuel Kant’s theory of experience most likely has a conceptual nature decreases an importance of Kant’s ideas for contemporary philosophy, because if experience is conceptual by nature, then certain problems with the search for means to verify experiential knowledge arise. In particular, two approaches are proposed. According to the first approach, the exceptional conceptuality of Kant’s theory of experience may be a consequence of absence of some important chains in arguments contained in the Critique of Pure Reason, which could clarify a question of how the conceptual apparatus of the subject corresponds to the reality. The author puts a hypothesis that the missing chains are not a mistake, but Kant’s deliberate silence caused by the lack of accurate scientific information that could not have been available to humankind in Enlightenment epoch. According to the second approach even if Kant’s theory of experience is exclusively conceptual by nature, this cannot automatically lead to a conclusion that it is unsuitable for obtaining reliable knowledge about reality, since transcendental idealism has powerful internal tools for verifying data in the process of cognition. The central position among them is occupied by transcendental reflection.

EVALUATION OF CITATION TRENDS BY ANALYSING PAPERS OF AN ISSUE OF THE JOURNAL SCIENTOMETRICS

2021 ◽  
pp. 91-104
Author(s):  
Sergei Egerev ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Subject Matter ◽  
Significant Variation ◽  
Scientific Information ◽  
Gender Issues ◽  
Research Papers ◽  
Middle Group ◽  
Publishing Policy ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Relationship

The citation indicators of the research papers, published in a random issue of the journal Scientometrics , are analyzed. These papers, published at the same date, can be correctly ranked according to the citations accumulated by May 1, 2021. A significant variation in the citation of the papers was found. The article analyzes both the subject matter and structure of the leading papers, papers from the middle group, as well as papers from the outsider group. It is shown that the largest citation values are achieved by the papers dealing with gender issues in science, the development of methods for processing large amounts of scientific information, as well as issues of publication and publishing policy. The relationship between citation and demand for articles is investigated.

Henry Dresser and Victorian Ornithology

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henry A. McGhie
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Scientific Information ◽  
Museum Studies ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Bird Conservation ◽  
Conservation Movement ◽  
Leading Role ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Late Nineteenth

This book explores the life of Henry Dresser (1838–1915), one of the most productive British ornithologists of the mid-late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; it is also an exploration of ornithology during a period when the subject changed dramatically. The book is based on previously unpublished letters, diaries and photographs to provide the first detailed biography of any of the independent industrialist–naturalists who dominated nineteenth century British ornithology. Dresser travelled widely in Europe, New Brunswick and to Texas during the American Civil War before settling down to work in London in the timber and iron trades. He built enormous collections of skins and eggs of birds, many of which came from famous travellers and collectors. These collections formed the basis of over 100 publications on birds including some of the finest and some of the last of the great bird books of the late nineteenth century, combining cutting-edge scientific information with masterpieces of bird illustration. Dresser played a leading role in scientific society and in the early bird conservation movement. His correspondence and diaries reveal the inner workings, motivations, personal relationships and rivalries that existed among the leading ornithologists. This book is aimed at anyone interested in birds, history and natural history, and as a textbook for courses relating to history, history of science and museum studies.

scholarly journals The sensitiveness of explosives - The onset of detonation in the sensitiveness of explosives

1948 ◽  
Vol 241 (831) ◽  
pp. 197-203 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Information ◽  
Practical Importance ◽  
Impact Machine ◽  
Physical Test ◽  
Experimental Knowledge ◽  
Future Developments ◽  
Physical Tests ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Service Conditions ◽  
The Impact

The ease with which explosives detonate on receiving a sharp blow or shock is of practical importance in determining manufacturing precautions and safety in handling, and also in deciding what initiators can be used. Physical tests on sensitiveness have hitherto imitated either manufacturing or service conditions as closely as possible. With any one physical test, such as that of the impact machine (cf. part III (1)), it is possible to arrange explosives in a scale of sensitiveness. The order of sensitiveness in a scale determined in any one way may be quite different from the order determined in other ways, but owing to the empirical nature of the tests it is often difficult to explain why anomalies occur. Results in accordance with each other are, however, obtained in many cases. Progress in synthetic organic chemistry has increased the range of possible explosives to such an extent that some more scientific information on sensitiveness would be most useful in orienting future developments. Various developments in the experimental knowledge on the subject are discussed in the following sections.

Studying Dance at German Universities: Research vs. Practice

2009 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. 269-272
Author(s):  
Rolf Kretschmann
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Theory ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
Sport Science ◽  
Rhythmic Gymnastics ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Scientific Claims ◽  
Theory Research ◽  
German Universities

Being interested in studying dance in Germany at a university inevitably leads to a department of sport science. Thus, dance (often coupled with rhythmic gymnastics to fuse into one subject) is obligatory within the studies of sport science. Taking a closer look at the practical dance seminars, one can easily identify inconsistencies in the conceptually intended interlinking of theory, research, and practice. However, the subject of dance at German universities is factually constrained with the enforced aim of exercising students in dance techniques and skills, and therefore it disregards the scientific claims of a predominant amount of theoretical and scientific theory and reflection.

scholarly journals Regulating contemporary children’s television: how digitisation is re-shaping compliance norms and production practices

2017 ◽  
Vol 163 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Potter
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Risk Aversion ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Children's Television ◽  
Public Concern ◽  
State Regulations ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Production Practices ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Live Action

Since its inception, the relationship between television and the child audience has been the subject of public concern and regulatory attention. Little is known, however, about the recent impact of digitisation on the unfashionable but influential practice of television compliance, that is, the industry’s application of state regulations and broadcasters’ own editorial standards to children’s programmes. Drawing on extended interviews with broadcasters and producers, this article maps developing trends in UK and Australian compliance systems, focusing on their impact on the children’s television produced by public service broadcasters. It demonstrates that multi-platform delivery and dedicated children’s channels have caused a re-calibration of compliance standards, encouraging conservatism and risk aversion in programme production. Furthermore, as public service broadcasters abandon their efforts to attract teenage viewers, the live action drama series at which Australian producers have traditionally excelled are far less likely to be commissioned because their content and themes are considered unsuitable for young children.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document