大科学:跌入凡尘奈若何

国际空间站和欧洲核子中心的大型强子对撞机 (LHC)计划目前都面临资金上的窘境 ;……除了对项目 (尤其是耗资巨大的项目 )预算的科学化 ,管理的科学化在其中尤显重要     

Ideals and monisms: recent criticisms of the Strong Programme in the sociology of knowledge

I offer a reply to criticisms of the Strong Programme presented by Stephen Kemp who develops some new lines of argument that focus on the ‘monism’ of the programme. He says the programme should be rejected for three reasons. First, because it embodies ‘weak idealism’, that is, its supporters effectively sever the link between language and the world. Second, it challenges the reasons that scientists offer in explanation of their own beliefs. Third, it destroys the distinction between successful and unsuccessful instrumental action. Kemp is careful to produce quotations from the supporters of the programme as evidence to support his case. All three points deserve and are given a detailed response and the interpretation of the quoted material plays a significant role in the discussion. My hope is that careful exegesis will offset the numerous misinterpretations that are current in the philosophical literature. Particular attention is paid to what is said about the normative standards involved in the application of empirical concepts. The operation of these standards in the face of the negotiability of all concepts is explored and misapprehensions on the topic are corrected. The work of Wittgenstein, Popper, Kuhn and Hesse is used to illustrate these themes.     

Pierre Duhem’s virtue epistemology

Duhem’s concept of ‘good sense’ is central to his philosophy of science, given that it is what allows scientists to decide between competing theories. Scientists must use good sense and have intellectual and moral virtues in order to be neutral arbiters of scientific theories, especially when choosing between empirically adequate theories. I discuss the parallels in Duhem’s views to those of virtue epistemologists, who understand justified belief as that arrived at by a cognitive agent with intellectual and moral virtues, showing how consideration of Duhem as a virtue epistemologist offers insights into his views, as well as providing possible answers to some puzzles about virtue epistemology. The extent to which Duhem holds that the intellectual and moral virtues of the scientist determine scientific knowledge has not been generally noticed.     

On the limitations of comparing mean square forecast errors

Linear models are invariant under non-singular, scale-preserving linear transformations, whereas mean square forecast errors (MSFEs) are not. Different rankings may result across models or methods from choosing alternative yet isomorphic representations of a process. One approach can dominate others for comparisons in levels, yet lose to another for differences, to a second for cointegrating vectors and to a third for combinations of variables. The potential for switches in ranking is related to criticisms of the inadequacy of MSFE against encompassing criteria, which are invariant under linear transforms and entail MSFE dominance. An invariant evaluation criterion which avoids misleading outcomes is examined in a Monte Carlo study of forecasting methods.     

The crystal-like anatomical uniformity of the striate cortex

The visual field is topographically mapped onto the primary visual cortex (V1), forming a retinotopic map which is far more detailed for the foveal regions than for the periphery. We found that receptive field (RF) size in monkey V1 increases with eccentricity, and that a 1—2 m² V1 region contains roughly a complete set of machinery necessary to analyze a visual-field area whose size is about that of the RFs of the cells. This allows V1 to be anatomically uniform, and is in sharp contrast with the retina.     

基于神经网络的企业信用等级评估

企业信用等级评估是金融领域重要的问题，论文采用人工神经网络模型研究企业信用等级的评估问题，按照企业样本在信用等级的分布状况来抽样，然后，根据企业样本性质的不同，将其分为制造业和非制造业两大类，利用偏相关分析方法建立了企业信用评级的指标体系，此外，还介绍了几种企业信用评级常用的评估模型，并将神经网络评估模型的性能和其他的信用评估模型作了比较，实验结果表明神经网络模型具有更好的预测准确性。     

管理系统的最经济控制问题

依据最经济控制问题的概念及其对无确定性数学模型系统分析存在的局限性，对现代管理系统最经济控制问题，提出了在满足系统基本要求前提下。实现控制功能及品质与控制成本比最佳或最划算的模型定义，并对管理系统的可靠性、ABC管理法、WSR方法论等方面的可靠性成本、运行成本和最佳收益等最经济控制问题进行了研究．     

Chromosomal effects of adeno-associated virus vector integration.

Adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors are currently being used in several clinical gene-therapy trials (see the NIH OBA Human Gene Transfer Clinical Trials Database); however, little is known about the chromosomal effects of vector integration. Here we report that integrated vector proviruses are associated with chromosomal deletions and other rearrangements and are frequently located on chromosome 19 (although not at the wildtype AAV integration site).     

Energetic landscape of alpha-lytic protease optimizes longevity through kinetic stability.

During the evolution of proteins the pressure to optimize biological activity is moderated by a need for efficient folding. For most proteins, this is accomplished through spontaneous folding to a thermodynamically stable and active native state. However, in the extracellular bacterial alpha-lytic protease (alphaLP) these two processes have become decoupled. The native state of alphaLP is thermodynamically unstable, and when denatured, requires millennia (t1/2 approximately 1,800 years) to refold. Folding is made possible by an attached folding catalyst, the pro-region, which is degraded on completion of folding, leaving alphaLP trapped in its native state by a large kinetic unfolding barrier (t1/2 approximately 1.2 years). alphaLP faces two very different folding landscapes: one in the presence of the pro-region controlling folding, and one in its absence restricting unfolding. Here we demonstrate that this separation of folding and unfolding pathways has removed constraints placed on the folding of thermodynamically stable proteins, and allowed the evolution of a native state having markedly reduced dynamic fluctuations. This, in turn, has led to a significant extension of the functional lifetime of alphaLP by the optimal suppression of proteolytic sensitivity.