Corrections and clarifications

The 1994 and 1995 federal science budget appropriations for two of the activities were inadvertently transposed in a table that accompanied the article "Hitting the President's target is mixed blessing for agencies" by Jeffrey Mervis (News & Comment, 14 Oct., p. 211). The correct figures for Defense Department spending on university research are $1.460 billion in 1994 and $1.279 billion in 1995; for research and development at NASA, the correct figures are $9.455 billion in 1994 and $9.824 billion in 1995.     

NASA life sciences. An improvement in vital signs

Last week a hefty Russian module with living and working quarters for astronauts docked with the pieces of the international space station already in orbit, a critical step in creating a full-time orbiting laboratory. Meanwhile, NASA bureaucrats put the finishing touches on a realignment of the agency's struggling biology effort that should bolster fundamental research and allow scientists to make better use of the facility, scheduled to be completed in 2005. The two events raise the hopes of U.S. academic space life scientists that their discipline is at last on the ascent at NASA.     

Government policies and the cost of doing research

The changes in the political economy of science are the natural outcome of two trends: science itself has become a more capital-intensive activity at the same time that federal support for research programs has slowed its growth. The results of the accumulating shortfall in the capital base for university research--increased seeking of support from private industry, efforts to circumvent peer review and competitive allocation, and a falling-out between institutions and investigators over how to divide up available resources--threaten to unravel what has been an extraordinary way of doing science.     

SOLAR SYSTEM EXPLORATION: A More Cautious NASA Sets Plans for Mars

Twice burned by mission failures last year, NASA managers last week unveiled a new 15-year blueprint for Mars exploration. The revamped strategy allows for doing more science, but at a slower pace, while delaying a sample return until well into the next decade.     

促进山西藜麦种植规模化及产业链形成的建议

藜麦是南美洲印加人的传统粮食,在北美及欧洲市场作为保健品被逐渐推开。引进藜麦并对其进行了品种试验及种植方面的研究,由于藜麦的生长特性符合山西气候及生态特性,尤其在一些气候干旱、土壤瘠薄的地区,与种植地方小杂粮相比具有比较高的竞争优势,在山西省推广种植藜麦,逐步形成完整产业链及具有山西地标特色的高档农产品,对提升山西精品农业、提高农民收入具有一定的促进作用。     

2001 BUDGET: Spending Bills Show No Sign of Surplus--Yet

The U.S. Treasury may be awash in excess revenue, but so far this year many science programs are feeling parched. At the midpoint of the annual budget cycle, health and defense agencies appear headed for large increases, while the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, NASA, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology are facing a fiscal drought compared to their requests. A lot could change before the 2001 fiscal year begins in October, however.     

关于农业科技园区功能与机制问题的思考

大力发展现代农业科技园区 ,是我国农业生产方式逐步由传统粗放型向集约型过渡 ,推动我国农业科技进步和农民增产增收的重要举措。本文着重分析了目前我国农业科技园功能、建设机制及存在问题 ,并提出今后的完善思路     

SPACE SCIENCE: Europe Set to Work on Hubble's Replacement

NASA scientists and engineers working on the Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST) got a boost from across the Atlantic last week. On 15 September in Paris, the European Space Agency's top science advisory committee recommended that the agency become a major partner in the project. The recommendation puts NGST--along with a handful of other missions the committee also endorsed last week--one short step away from officially becoming part of Europe's space program.     

LAND USE: U.S. Soil Erosion Rates--Myth and Reality

No problem of resource or environmental management can be rationally addressed until its true space and time dimensions are known. The limitations of the universal soil loss equation and the wind erosion equation are such that we do not seem to have a truly informed idea of how much soil erosion is occurring in this country, let alone of the processes of sediment movement and deposition. The uncritical use of models is unacceptable as science and unacceptable as a basis for national policy. A comprehensive national system of monitoring soil erosion and consequent downstream sediment movement and/or blowing dust is critical. The costs would be significant; nevertheless, they would reflect efforts better focused on achieving better management of the United States' land and water resources.     

SOLAR SYSTEM EXPLORATION: Push to Revive Pluto Mission May Mean Competition for JPL

An unusual coalition of scientists, activists, and politicians is pressuring NASA to rethink a September decision to put a 2004 mission to Pluto on hold because of budget constraints. The growing clamor is shaking up the planetary science community, which is also preparing for a mission at mid-decade to Europa, a moon of Jupiter. The biggest impact may be felt at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, which could face serious competition for the first time in decades on contracts to build planetary missions.     

Knowledge claims and the governance of agri-food innovation

In this paper I examine how knowledge claims operating through two types of governance techniques can guide product innovations in the agri-food sector. The notion that knowledge claims have strong social and material components informs the analysis undertaken, developed through a discussion of social science approaches to the role of human groups and biophysical properties in social change. I apply this socio-technical perspective to two case studies: defining dietary fiber and reducing saturated fat. The first involves attempts to produce an international definition of dietary fiber standards in the Codex Alimentarius Commission. The second involves efforts by food manufacturers to reduce the saturated fat content of food products in line with UK government guidelines. The case studies draw upon observations, document analysis, and over forty interviews. I suggest that although knowledge claims are active constituents of both governance processes, important differences are evident and arise from the history of scientific and technical controversies, and from the scope for articulating broader questions. In particular, the different criteria for judging “success” guide how knowledge claims are implicated in the governance of product innovation. I suggest that further work is required to understand the wider implications of efforts to change the composition of foods, not only for public heath, but also in relation to food security, quality, safety, and availability in a rapidly changing context. In order to do this successfully, knowledge claims made about the material properties of food should be made objects of social science analysis.     

AFHVS 2017 presidential address

As efforts to commercialize university research outputs continue, critics charge that universities and university scientists are failing to live up to their public-interest purpose. In this paper, I discuss the distinctions between public-interest and private-interest research institutions and how commercialization of university science may be undermining the public interest. I then use Jürgen Habermas’s concept of communicative action as the foundation for efforts to establish public spaces for ethical deliberation among scientists and university administrators. Such ethical deliberation is necessary to facilitate discussion on whether public-interest science should be the research university’s primary purpose and what institutional rules and resources are needed to honor that purpose.     

Changes in Earth's albedo measured by satellite

NASA global satellite data provide observations of Earth's albedo, i.e., the fraction of incident solar radiation that is reflected back to space. The satellite data show that the last four years are within natural variability and fail to confirm the 6% relative increase in albedo inferred from observations of earthshine from the moon. Longer global satellite records will be required to discern climate trends in Earth's albedo.     

山西省高粱栽培技术研究的回顾与展望

就山西省高粱种植的区域布局、播种面积、产量进行了简述;对高粱栽培的发展、技术研究等方面作了回顾;分析了目前高粱栽培中存在的主要问题,提出了加大科研队伍建设、加强栽培技术研究力度、增加科技投入等对策;并对今后山西省高粱的发展进行了展望。     

Basic research and economic health: the coming challenge

The United States faces an international economic challenge that can best be met with a renewed emphasis on the basic science and engineering that underlies new technology. For 20 years, however, the nation has not invested adequately in the science and engineering base, with the result that we have too few young people entering science and engineering programs and inadequate facilities and equipment in the nation's universities. We need a fresh infusion of resources into the universities, together with a new emphasis on cooperative efforts between universities and industry. The engineering research centers recently established by the National Science Foundation are an example of how we should proceed.     

International Cooperation in Space: A wide variety of joint projects contribute to science and have practical applications

NASA has developed an extensive program of international cooperation, which opens the entire range of its space activities to foreign participation and benefit. The program has involved developing as well as advanced countries in activities that are fruitful scientifically, technically, economically, and (it may be hoped) politically. "Gaps" or limitations in the program are found in the areas of manned space flight and large booster development and in cooperation with the Soviet Union. In the first case, the low level of European budgeting is the prime explanation, perhaps reflecting Europe's late start in the space business and an early underestimate of its values and possibilities. In the second case, the explanation seems to rest with Soviet political views rather than with technical problems or any lack of interest by the United States. Openhanded efforts are currently under way to raise the level of foreign participation in the space programs of the next decade, but it is too early to estimate their chances of major success. Public commentary could undoubtedly assist these efforts more effectively if it were directed more clearly to the actual sources of restriction on foreign participation. Despite the restricting factors abroad, however, there is every reason to persevere with existing and improved programs for international cooperation.     

农民科技培训的问题探讨

我国是一个农业大国,农民科技文化素质的高低对促进现代农业发展和社会主义新农村建设有着重要的作用。在农业的发展过程中,农民科技素质的提升,决定着农业经济发展的整体效益和速度,有组织、有力度地加强农民的科技培训工作,是农业技术推广部门的基本任务。伴随着全面建设小康社会步伐的日益加快,加强农民科技教育培训工作显得尤为重要。针对当前农民在科技培训方面面临的问题提出相应的对策。     

Radiative climate forcing by the mount pinatubo eruption

Radiative flux anomalies derived from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) spaceborne Earth Radiation Budget Experiment were used to determine the volcanic radiative forcing that followed the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in June 1991. They are the first unambiguous, direct measurements of large-scale volcanic forcing. The volcanic aerosols caused a strong cooling effect immediately; the amount of cooling increased through September 1991 as shortwave forcing increased relative to the longwave forcing. The primary effects of the aerosols were a direct increase in albedo over mostly clear areas and both direct and indirect increases in the albedo of cloudy areas.     

我国蚕桑副产物的利用现状·存在问题及相关对策

分析了我国蚕桑副产物(主要是桑叶、桑枝、桑果、蚕沙、蚕蛹、蚕蛾)的利用现状,指出当前蚕桑副产物利用方面的主要问题是利用意识淡薄、重视程度不够;科技投入不足、产业化不高;政策不健全、缺乏体系机制;资源整合力度不够、缺乏创新力度等,并提出了相应的对策,包括加大观念转变力度、提高副产物利用意识;加强科技研发能力、加速产业化进程;依靠相关政策、建立相关体系;加强资源整合力度、勇于探索创新。     

我国柑桔科研生产的现状、前景和对策

本文介绍了１９５２年，特别是１９７８年以来，我国柑桔科研、生产取得的主要成绩和目前存在的问题；对发展前景作了预测，并对依靠科技解决柑桔生产中的重大关键技术和强化区域开发等提出了对策