BrJAC mourns the death of Prof. Dr. Miguel Valcárcel Cases and recognizes his great contribution to Analytical Chemistry and Science around the World

Who has not seen or heard about books such as Analytical Chemistry: A Modern Approach to Analytical Science, Principles of Analytical Chemistry: A Textbook, or Foundations of Analytical Chemistry: A Teaching-Learning Approach, or about flow injection analysis-FIA, and sequential injection analysis-SIA? These are, in fact, some contributions from Prof. Miguel Valcárcel Cases, at the University of Córdoba-Spain, who leave us on 9th January 2022 at the age of 75. Prof. Valcárcel was Dean of the Faculty of Sciences at the University of Córdoba, Vice-Rector for academic guidance and teaching and Vice-Rector for quality, as well as the first Director of the Andalusian Institute of Fine Chemistry and Nanochemistry since 1994. Born in Barcelona (Spain), Prof. Valcárcel was a graduate of the University of Seville where also obtained his Ph.D., and was an assistant teacher until 1975. He was an associate professor of Analytical Chemistry at the Faculty of Science of Palma de Mallorca in 1975, an institution where he was also Dean and full professor at the University of Cordoba in the year 1976. He was also President of the Analytical Division of the European Federation of Chemical Societies and was a member for 4 years of the High-Level Expert Group of the European Union's Growth Program. Valcárcel received the Spanish national Enrique Moles prize for Chemical Science and Technology (2005), the Maimónides prize for scientific-technical research from the Junta de Andalucia (1992), and the Solvay Research Prize in Chemical Sciences from the CEOE Foundation (1997). He has the Robert Boyle Medal from the Royal Society of Chemistry (UK, 2004), the Enrich Planquette Prize from the Austrian Chemical Society (1996), the Gold Medal from the University of Warsaw (2000), and the Medal from the Portuguese Chemical Society (2000). He also received the distinction of Cordoba citizen of the year 2006 in the education/research section, and the Averroes de Oro-Cuidad de Córdoba medal in 2006 for his scientific trajectory. He was also awarded the title of Doctor Honoris Causa by the University of Valencia (2010) and the European DAC-EuChMS (Division of Analytical Chemistry of the European Association for Chemical and Molecular Sciences) award in recognition of his scientific and teaching career (2015). He was the author of ca. 700 papers, published 9 scientific books, and co-authored 15 chapters of multi-author books. Owner of a unique vitality and a very accurate vision of Analytical Chemistry, Prof. Valcárcel contributed to the formation of dozens of students, of which he was extremely proud, and some of them are today Full professors spread all over the world. The Brazilian Journal of Analytical Chemistry mourns his death, and through this simple tribute, recognizes his great contribution to Analytical Chemistry and science around the world.

Jan Nepomucen Józef Braun (1926–2015), filolog klasyczny, orientalista, kartwelista, sumerolog

Jan Braun, born on 15th May 1926 in Łódź, studied classical philology and classical archaeology at the University of Lodz (years 1947–1951). His MA thesis (1951) was devoted to the ethnogenesis of the Etruscans. He also worked as junior assistant at the Department of Classical Archaeology, University of Lodz (from May 1949 do September 1950) and later as junior lecturer at the Department of Classical Philology of the same university (from October 1950 to September 1951). In October 1951, Braun left for Georgia in order to complete his doctoral studies. From there he returned to Poland as PhD, specializing in Georgian and other oriental languages, especially the ancient languages of the Near East. In the years 1955–2002, he worked at the University of Warsaw, initially as assistant professor. In 1970, he became associate professor. In 1991, he received the higher doctoral degree (habilitation), and in 1995 he obtained the position of full professor. He studied the genetic relations of ancient and modern languages, including a suggested Basque-Kartvelian connection. During his habilitation colloquium, he gave an interesting lecture entitled Basic problems of historical-comparative research over the ancient languages of the Mediterranean area (Warsaw, May 28th, 1991), which is presented in Appendix No. 1 (with some comments and bibliographical references). The paper presents Braun’s main fields of research and his achievements made in Łódź (Poland), Tbilisi (Georgia) and Warsaw. According to Braun’s view, suggested as early as 1951, Etruscan represents an external member of the Anatolian languages (deriving from Luwian), so that it belongs to the Indo-European language family. In his opinion, Basque is a western member of the South Caucasian (or Kartvelian) family.

Akin Ogundiran: The Historian and Archaeologist of Yoruba-Atlantic becomes Chancellor Professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte

I am pleased to share the good news that Professor Akin Ogundiran has been named Chancellor’s Professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. This distinguished title is a university-wide honor reserved for a full professor who has attained outstanding scholarly achievement in a professional field, and excelled in interdisciplinary research, teaching, and service in more than one department or college. He is the third professor in the university’s history to attain this distinguished rank—https://provost.uncc.edu/news/2019-10-28/ogundiran-receives-chancellors-professordesignation Professor Ogundiran has always been as exceptional as he was promising. He was a graduate of Obafemi Awolowo University where he bagged BA in Archaeology (First Class Honors) in 1988. This is where and when our interactions began, and that was where we sensed he was a student who would be greater than his teachers. We are proud of him, as one of the best students produced by Ife. He earned his M.Sc. in archaeology from the University of Ibadan in 1990. Ten years later, he received his doctorate in archaeology from Boston University. Within eight years, he became a professor of History and a major pillar in African Studies. In my book, The African Diaspora: Slavery, Modernity and Globalization, I devoted Chapter 10 to his oeuvre, stating in one of the key paragraphs that: 268 Toyin Falola In connecting West Africa to the Atlantic economy, Ogundiran is pointing to what could be characterized as the metabolic rift between supply and demand; African economies were on the supply side of the global division of labor that compelled them to produce for the Atlantic economy and, at the same time, to consume products from external sources. This division of labor, and the productive mechanism unleashed by the demand side, ultimately had implications for all aspects of institutions. Ogundiran has to grapple not only with the meaning of local history, but also with the definition of the world in which the local is situated against the background of rapidly changing events. And if, as he treats the local, he engages in issues around production and trade—as all his objects indicate—he is forced to engage in the understanding of how society relates to nature: that is, how humans ultimately relate to their environments, using and destroying them at the same time, and sometimes renewing them as well.

Achieving academic promotion: The role of work environment, role conflict, and life balance

Fifty-two faculty at two Canadian universities were interviewed about the impact of work environment, role conflict, and worklife balance on career-related experiences and decisions to apply for promotion to full professor. Faculty described conflicts between their academic responsibilities of teaching, research, and service (including limited time for research despite long work weeks) as well as work-life imbalance. These issues were often gendered; women took slightly longer to achieve the rank of associate professor, accepted tasks of lower reward value, held decreased expectations for promotion, and experienced workplace conflict and bullying more than their male counterparts. Even so, faculty identified colleagues as a valuable career support. Our data lead us to theorize that the decision to apply for academic promotion is informed by a cost-benefit analysis, early career experiences, conformity with academic norms that over-emphasize research productivity, as well as access to career-advancing resources (especially time for research). We recommend that the gendered nature of the academic reward system be re-imagined to promote equality, and provide suggestions as to how to do so.

Observing observers in social systems theory.: an interview with Hans-Georg Moeller

On November 4th, 2019, Hans-Georg Moeller delivered a presentation on systems theory at the Law School of the University of São Paulo and was interviewed about Niklas Luhmann’s theory of society, with emphasis on issues such as law, politics, and the history of philosophy. Professor Moeller is the author of important books such as Luhmann explained: From souls to systems (Moeller, 2006) and The radical Luhmann (Moeller, 2011), the latter also translated to Japanese and Italian. He also works on Chinese philosophy and is currently Full Professor at the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Macau, China. Throughout the interview, professor Moeller situated Luhmann in the philosophical tradition of German idealism and presented the shift to second-order observation as a crucial aspect of contemporary society, in religion and politics, science, economy and law. The interview was conducted partly in writing and partly in the form of a recorded and transcribed debate.

To the anniversary of RUDN Professor Vadim Makhov: Post-release of the International scientific and practical conference

On November 19, 2020, the annual International Research and Practice Conference Ignatov Readings took place. It was dedicated to the 85th anniversary of the outstanding scientist - Vadim Nikolayevich Makhov - an Honored Lawyer of the Russian Federation, Doctor of Legal Sciencies, Full Professor, whose life and scientific work have been inextricably intertwined with the RUDN University for more than a quarter of a century. The article is dedicated to Vadim Nikolaevich Makhov - a practitioner with the richest experience, an outstanding scientist, and a talented teacher!

In the field: an interview with Roger Hanlon

Roger Hanlon is a Senior Scientist at the Marine Biological Laboratory, USA, where he investigates body patterning and colour change in cephalopods. After his undergraduate degree in 1969 at Florida State University, USA, he joined the US Army and travelled before completing his MSc (1975) and PhD (1978) at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, USA. After a NATO Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Cambridge, UK, in 1981, Hanlon joined the Marine Biomedical Institute, University of Texas Medical Branch, where he became a full Professor, before joining the Marine Biological Laboratory in 1995. Hanlon talks about the seminal experience in his early 20s that inspired his career and the methods and equipment he uses to study cephalopod camouflage and communication across the globe.

The ups and downs of DNA methylation: an interview with Gerd Pfeifer

In this interview, Professor Gerd Pfeifer speaks with Storm Johnson, Commissioning Editor for Epigenomics, on his work to date in the field of DNA methylation. Dr. Pfeifer received a PhD degree from the University of Frankfurt, Germany. After postdoctoral work, he became a faculty member at the Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope (Duarte, CA) in 1991. He is currently a full professor at the Van Andel Institute in Grand Rapids, MI. Dr. Pfeifer has served on several NIH advisory committees and has published over 300 research papers. Dr. Pfeifer's research interests are cancer etiology, molecular carcinogenesis and epigenetics. His expertise is in cellular and molecular biology. His lab currently works on epigenetic mechanisms of gene regulation in cancer and other diseases.

Meet the IUPAB Councilor—Hans-Joachim Galla

As one of the twelve Councilors, it is my pleasure to provide a short biographical sketch for the readers of Biophys. Rev. and for the members of the Biophysical Societies. I have been a member of the council in the former election period. Moreover, I served since decades in the German Biophysical Society (DGfB) as board member, secretary, vice president, and president. I hold a diploma degree in chemistry as well as PhD from the University of Göttingen. The experimental work for both qualifications has been performed at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen under the guidance of Erich Sackmann and the late Herman Träuble. When E. Sackmann moved to the University of Ulm, I joined his group as a research assistant performing my independent research on structure and dynamics of biological and artificial membranes and qualified for the “habilitation” thesis in Biophysical Chemistry. I have spent a research year at Stanford University supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) and after coming back to Germany, I was appointed as a Heisenberg Fellow by the DFG and became Professor in Biophysical Chemistry in the Chemistry Department of the University of Darmstadt. Since 1990, I spent my career at the Institute for Biochemistry of the University of Muenster as full Professor and Director of the institute. I have trained numerous undergraduate, 150 graduate, and postdoctoral students from chemistry, physics, and also pharmacy as well as biology resulting in more than 350 published papers including reviews and book articles in excellent collaboration with colleagues from different academic disciplines in our university and also internationally, e.g., as a guest professor at the Chemistry Department of the Chinese Academy of Science in Beijing.

Ranking of Legal Periodicals and Prerequisites for Academic Promotion in Serbian, Croatian, and Slovenian Law

Scholars need to obtain a certain level of international recognition for academic progression. This is usually achieved by publishing articles in internationally recognized journals, books, and conference papers. The question is which journals should be considered of international relevance and how they should be ranked. For this purpose, a ranking system based on the Journal Citation Reports (JCR), combined with the leading research engine, the Web of Science (WoS), is used. While a ranking system based on the JCR is considered most suitable for natural and technical sciences, it has many shortcomings when considering social sciences and humanities, including legal science. This is observed when such a system is applied in countries that cannot claim to have a profound impact on the global development of legal thought and where scholarly legal production is almost exclusively conducted in the national language, such as in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. This study analyzes the general laws and rules regarding the qualification of journals in Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia, and special laws pertaining to social sciences, especially legal science. Although there are many points of interest regarding different situations in which the national laws on the qualification of journals gain importance, this study focuses on the relevance of these laws in terms of the promotion of legal scholars to positions of university lecturers. It analyzes the requirements for the promotion to a full professor of law. It concludes that the laws of the three countries, through different forms, managed to find a delicate balance between the requirement of publishing articles in internationally recognized journals and the characteristics of legal science as it is predominantly conducted in the national language and addressed to a domestic audience.