Scientific capacity building and the ontologies of herbal medicine in Ghana

Abstract

The Centre for Scientific Research into Plant Medicine, a large herbal medicine research center in Ghana, has received important research equipment and training through a transnational research collaboration involving the Japanese International Cooperation Agency. By situating this project in regional debates about traditional medicine research priorities and the ontologies of plant medicine, this article argues that the collaboration had the perceived effect of standardizing research practices oriented toward drug discovery rather than the rationalization of crude drug preparations. This shows that “capacity-building” components of research collaborations should not be taken as the transfer of neutral goods from one location to another. They are charged with the political potential to make crucial decisions about the objects of research in postcolonial Africa.     

利用笔迹检验技术鉴定人形漫画

笔迹检验技术作为文件检验技术的重要组成部分,被列为传统的办案手段之一。广义上,笔迹也包括绘画,绘画是一种特殊类型的笔迹,人形漫画是绘画艺术的一个分支。3名文检员通过大量模拟实验训练,利用笔迹检验技术,成功鉴定两起涉及人形漫画的案件,并总结出鉴定此类案件的规律和应注意的相关问题。     

论我国少数民族社会生产力的跨越式发展

生产力是少数民族社会发展的最终决定力量;科学技术是第一生产力,是推动少数民族社会全面进步的伟大杠杆。我国少数民族社会必须通过科技建设与技术创新、民族教育的建设与创新、管理创新、民族文化的创新和发展,实现生产力的跨越式发展,促进少数民族经济社会的全面发展。     

关于构建公安院校虚拟实验室的几点思考

随着我国高等教育体制改革的不断深入,高等院校的实验教学出现了越来越多的难题,建立虚拟实验室是解决其中难题的一种有效方法。文章根据虚拟实验室的相关定义,结合虚拟实验室的功能特点和公安院校实验室的实际情况,对公安院校虚拟实验室的构建进行探讨。     

广西服务业科技发展的战略与对策

文章在对广西服务业发展现状、存在问题、面临的机遇与挑战等进行分析的基础上,系统探讨了广西服务业科技发展的战略选择、重大任务、重点领域、政策与保障措施等有关问题,对于促进广西服务业的进一步发展具有现实意义。     

People and places left behind: work,culture and politics in the rural United States

Using interview and survey data, we argue there are three types of places in the rural United States, and that their social and economic conditions help us understand emerging political trends, including the rural support for Donald Trump. More rural votes were cast for the Republican presidential candidate in 2016 than in other recent elections, yet shifts to Republican votes were greatest in places undergoing the most significant economic transitions. Work in rural communities has been a source of pride and cultural identity for people as well as places, but many feel the new economy is not working for them.     

How the West was Won: A Deconstruction of Politicised Colonial Engineering

History has taught us that the Global North's attempts to ‘civilise' the rest of the world's population, both now and in colonial times, have been fraught with difficulty. This paper argues that this difficulty is mainly owing to the political standpoint and positioning of our perceived engineering and technical superiority. A failure to recognise this viewpoint and to change the way in which we work together—in a global sense—to solve issues such as climate change, threatens our ability to survive as a species. Political standpoints on such issues still assume a superiority of governments in the Global North. This paper retraces colonial engineering projects, mainly directed from the UK, that failed to consider the development of other populations in the world, and their needs. It is also posited that our exploitation in the Global North, which assumes historical superiority as a basic premise, will fail in tackling major issues. Change is needed through a decolonisation of engineering projects, and western engineering curricula that are used to train future professionals. Evidence of the impact of decolonisation on the engineering discipline itself is scarce, but nevertheless, a response is needed to ensure that a more inclusive curriculum and narrative is developed.     

The effects of national cultures on two technologically advanced countries: The case of e-leadership in South Korea and the United States

The increased use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) has triggered enormous innovation in the public sector and created positive public value at the managerial, delivery of services, and policy levels. However, these positive outcomes do not automatically accrue simply by adoption of ICTs as public leaders can fail to adopt relevant new ICTs, use them poorly, or use them in ways that actually diminish public value, which raises the question of the importance of e-leadership. This article examines e-leadership and innovation capacity at the individual public manager level and fills in some gaps about the practice and implementation of ICTs in the public sector. We explore eight research questions useful in theorizing about e-leadership, develop constructs of e-leadership, and describe the current development of e-leadership. By comparing e-leadership in two country settings (South Korea and the United States), we also overcome the limitations of the existing Western-oriented studies about innovations in the public sector. In addition to the growth of e-leadership use and requirements for a variety of competencies equivalent to, but separate from, traditional communication competences, we find that national cultures exert significant influence on the major constructs of e-leadership, which implies that an effective e-leadership strategy should consider cultural contexts seriously.     

Adoption model to assess the user acceptance of smart card technology

Smart card technology is one of the most recent computer revolutions, making its way world-wide into the hands and wallets of everyone. Today smart cards are used all over the world as personal identification cards for corporate building security systems and personal computer equipment access control. Governments, financial services, transportation, telecommunications, healthcare, education, retail and many other industries are planning to or already using smart cards as a means of providing better security and improved services to its customers and users. Understanding the factors that influence user acceptance of information technology is of interest both to researchers in a variety of fields as well as procurers of technology for large organizations. The purpose of this study is to develop an acceptance model and evaluate the user acceptance of smart card in Iran. A pilot study is conducted and a total of 46 questionnaires were distributed among the master students in field of computer science （information security and software engineering） at University Technology Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur. The measurement items in the questionnaire asked about their awareness and acceptance of smart cards, and the initial findings are presented and discussed.     

论网络“人肉搜索”在侦查工作中的运用

网络人肉搜索是在现代信息科技手段的辅助下,人工参与并提纯信息的一种新兴信息获取方式。实践证明,人肉搜索强大的搜索能力有助于侦查部门查明犯罪嫌疑人身份、锁定犯罪嫌疑人位置、扩大破案线索、查明尸源。人肉搜索在侦查中的运用,是网络时代侦查破案的新途径,是侦查工作群众路线的新形式。在侦查工作中,人肉搜索的运用应当作为一种最后手段,在运用的范围、条件和程序上进行严格控制,在运用方法上要科学合理,兴其利而除其弊,合法地为侦查破案服务。