Feasibility of creation and use of specialized search systems for scientific and technical information

The efficiency of using global Internet search systems versus specialized systems, including the State System of Scientific and Technical Information of the Republic of Belarus, for searching the scientific and technical information is compared in this article. Potential advantages and disadvantages of STI search systems are considered. The experience of individual states in creating and maintaining the functioning of state resources of scientific and technical information is analyzed.

Some Remarks on Computer Terminology in Persian and Hindi on the Basis of the Localizations of the Kdelibs4 Package

Scientific and technological vocabulary, especially computer terminology, is a particularly interesting field in which to analyze/study the most recent trends in the development of vocabulary. The present article focuses on the Persian and Hindi translations of the Kdelibs4 software package. The author attempts to address a number of questions on the basis of the analyzed material, i.e., what are the origin and the proportion of loanwords within the analyzed vocabulary? Are the languages historically important as vocabulary donors (Arabic in the case of Persian and Persian in the case of Hindi) still prominent in this new sphere of vocabulary? What are the widespread syntactic and word-formational patterns among the discussed forms? The vocabulary in question is also juxtaposed with the official language policy in India and Iran, thus exhibiting various levels of deviations in both cases. The lexical items selected on the basis of objective criteria have been compared with the official vocabulary lists issued by the responsible/authoritative/ relevant governmental bodies. Additionally, in the case of Persian, an extensive Internet search has been performed to check their popularity among the users.

Review of The Age of Algorithms by Serge Abiteboul and Gilles Dowek

This book is about algorithms and their enormous influence on people in the current age. Algorithms are precise sets of rules to solve problems. They are ubiquitous and have a great effect on the lives of contemporary people, primarily due to technological advancement. A common example is searching for information using an Internet search engine such as Google. This book is not technical in nature and was first published in French as Le Temps des Algorithmes, by ´ Editions Le Pommier in 2020. The authors Serge Abiteboul and Gilles Dowek are computer scientists, with Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (INRIA), Rocquencourt and ´ Ecole Normale Sup´erieure, Paris respectively. They believe that algorithms have made life easier, nevertheless, they dread that algorithms may subjugate humans. This book is intended to serve as an eye-opener on the impact of algorithms on daily life.

Impact of a health campaign on Chinese public awareness of stroke: evidence from internet search data

IntroductionHealth campaigns have the potential to improve public awareness, but their impact can be difficult to assess. Internet search data provide information concerning online health information-seeking behaviour in the population and may serve as a proxy for public awareness to evaluate health campaigns. This study aimed to measure the impact of World Stroke Day (WSD) in China using Baidu search data.MethodsDaily search index values (SIV) for the term ‘stroke’ were collected from January 2011 to December 2019 using the Baidu Index platform. We examined the mean difference in SIV between the 4 weeks surrounding WSD (period of interest) and the rest of the year (control period) for each year by t-test analysis. The mean difference between the period of interest and the control period was also calculated. The joinpoint regression model was used to analyse the trends of internet search activity 30 days before and after WSD for each year (2011–2019). Finally, the top and rising queries related to stroke during the week of the campaign in 2020 were summarised.ResultsA significant mean increase in SIV of 418.5 (95% CI: 298.8 to 538.2) for the period of interest surrounding WSD was observed, 36.2% greater than the SIV during the control period (2011–2019). Short-term joinpoint analysis showed a significant increase in SIV 3 days before WSD, a peak on WSD and a decrease to the precampaign level 3 days after WSD. The rising related queries suggested that the public had increasing concerns about stroke warning signs, stroke prevention and stroke recovery during the campaign.ConclusionsThe WSD campaign increased internet search activity. These research techniques can be applied to evaluation of other health campaigns. Advancing understanding of public demand will enable tailoring of the campaign and strengthen health management.

Is Genericness Still Adequately Defined? Internet Search Firms and the Economic Rationale for Trademarks

Landes and Posner’s highly cited economics of trademark law based on search cost reduction has influenced economists, legislators, and courts for decades. Their account, however, predates consumer use of the Internet for search and did not anticipate the rise of firms such as Google to economy-wide power in search. Consequently, trademark law intended to help consumers find a preferred brand now also protects the means they typically use. An outdated view of trademarks as a natural and equitable right––very scrutable to STS––has led to Internet search firms owning reflexive “marks for finding other marks,” a structural advantage they have exploited through new dynamic and microtargeted forms of advertising into technoscientific rentiership. This paper revises Landes and Posner’s model to fit the case of an economy containing dominant firms with significant economy-wide search cost reduction power, adding (1) differentiation of technological elements of the original formal model and (2) analysis of the distribution and function of marks such as GOOGLE in consumer decision-making. The updated theory shows that marks granted to search firms are equivalent to generic marks in economic effect and constitute a new but unrecognized class that are functionally “super-generic.”