This article addresses the concept of “industrial interests” and examines its role in a topical controversy about a large research grant from a private foundation, the Novo Nordisk Foundation, to the University of Copenhagen. The authors suggest that the debate took the form of a “public trial” where the grant and close(r) intermingling between industry and public research was prosecuted and defended. First, the authors address how the grant was framed in the media. Second, they redescribe the case by introducing (...) new “evidence” that, because of this framing, did not reach “the court.” The article ends with a discussion of some implications of the analysis, including that policy making, academic research, and public debates might benefit from more detailed accounts of interests and stakes. (shrink)

The way information and communication technology (ICT) develops can promote or hinder the democratic potential of this critical societal infrastructure. Concerns about the role standards development organizations (SDOs) play in this context predate the “digital age” but are reemerging amid substantial changes in the institutional landscape of standardization. This article explores the increasingly critical link between the institutional design of SDOs and the democratic design of ICT. We review some principles of democracy in terms of the design of technology, apply (...) these to standardization, and discuss the role public policy may play here, while distinguishing between input and output legitimacy. (shrink)

The way information and communication technology (ICT) develops can promote or hinder the democratic potential of this critical societal infrastructure. Concerns about the role standards development organizations (SDOs) play in this context predate the “digital age” but are reemerging amid substantial changes in the institutional landscape of standardization. This article explores the increasingly critical link between the institutional design of SDOs and the democratic design of ICT. We review some principles of democracy in terms of the design of technology, apply (...) these to standardization, and discuss the role public policy may play here, while distinguishing between input and output legitimacy. (shrink)

The aim of the study was to compare the acute effects of traditional resistance training and superset training on training duration, training volume and different perceptive measures. Twenty-nine resistance-trained participants performed a whole-body workout traditionally and as supersets of exercises targeting different muscle groups, in a randomized-crossover design. Each session was separated by 4–7 days, and consisted of eight exercises and three sets to failure. Training duration and number of repetitions lifted were recorded during the sessions. Rate of perceived exertion (...) for effort, rate of perceived exertion for discomfort, session displeasure/pleasure, and exercise enjoyment were measured 15 min after each session. Forty-eight hours after the final session participants reported which session they preferred. The superset session led to significantly higher values for RPE and RPD and tended to be higher for sPDF, i.e., more pleasurable, compared to the traditional session. There was no difference in EES. The traditional session led to significantly increased training volume and lasted 23 min longer than the superset session. Eighteen of the participants preferred the superset session, while 11 preferred the traditional session. In conclusion, performing a whole-body workout as a superset session was more time-efficient, but reduced the training volume and was perceived with greater exertion for effort and discomfort than a traditional workout. (shrink)

Conceptualized within the framework of self-determination theory, the aim of the current study was to investigate the relation between perfectionistic concerns and (a) controlled (non-self-determined) motivation and (b) performance anxiety through basic psychological need frustration (frustration of competence, autonomy, and realtedness), and if these relations would be moderated by controlling teaching/coaching conditions. We used a cross-sectional moderated mediation design and purposefully selected Norwegian elite junior performers (N = 171; Mage = 17.3; SDage= 0.94) from talent development schools, who completed an (...) online questionnaire to report their perceptions of the study variables. Associations were examined using structural equation modeling. The results showed that perfectionistic concerns were positively associated with controlling conditions, basic needs frustration, controlled motivation, and performance anxiety. Reported controlling teaching/coaching conditions moderated the positive indirect relationship between perfectionistic concerns and (a) controlled motivation and (b) performance anxiety through competence need frustration. Specifically, these indirect associations were evident for performers reporting moderate or high levels of controlling teaching/coaching conditions. In contrast, there were no indirect associations via competence need frustration for those performers who reported low levels of controlling conditions. In conclusion, the results indicate that perfectionistic concerns appear to be a vulnerability factor that exposes elite junior performers to higher risks of entering a debilitative motivational process. This seems especially likely when exposed to controlling teaching/coaching conditions. Coaches and teachers working with elite junior performers should avoid using controlling mechanisms and instead foster autonomous functioning. (shrink)

Pár slov úvodem k dopisu, který poslal Pavel Tichý z University of Otago Pavlu Maternovi (který v té době ´pracoval´ na brněnské univerzitě bez možnosti učení a publikování). K dataci dopisu: Shoduji se s odhadem Dr. Raclavského, že jde patrně o r. 1975. Ti, kdo neprožili normalizaci, si těžko představí situaci. To nebylo tak, že můj přítel Tichý momentálně působí na Novém Zélandě a píše mi z momentálního zahraničního pobytu. Tichý byl emigrant, což mj. znamenalo, že žádnou z jeho odborných (...) statí nebylo možno u nás citovat, dále že dík faktu, o kterém každý věděl, že dopisy emigrantů jsou u nás na příslušných institucích otvírány, znamenala korespondence s emigrantem kádrovou skvrnu. O tom jsem tehdy nepřemýšlel, už proto, že četba Tichého dopisů byla nesmírně zajímavá. Byl jsem na shromažďování korespondence lajdák. Moje krátkozrakost zavinila, že se z této korespondence zachoval nepatrný zlomek. Dopis, který následuje, je ovšem obzvlášť zajímavý, a to z následujícího důvodu: Tichý měl už od šedesátých let – ještě v Československu – v hlavě zárodky svého přístupu k logice a logické analýze přirozeného jazyka (svědčí o tom jeho stati v tehdejším Filosofickém časopise, zejména stať „Smysl a procedura“ z r. 1968). Dopis, který zde uveřejňujeme, má však hodnotu historického dokumentu. Jde o první ´neformální´ formulaci jeho pojetí tzv. konstrukcí a jeho postoje k logice, což se postupně promítlo do systému Transparentní intenzionální logiky (TIL), vyloženého souvisle v monografii The Foundations of Frege´s Logic, vydané asi 13 let po tomto dopisu. Ze vzhledu dopisu je patrné, že byl psán na psacím stroji, což v těch letech bylo standardní. Musíme omluvit překlepy (ostatně to byl osobní dopis), pokud jde o nespisovnosti, vím, že Tichý ovládal češtinu velmi dobře, ale dával přednost psát přirozeně, blízko k hovorové češtině. Jistě připustíte, že jeho jazyk je zde velmi živý a že úpravy směrem ke spisovnému jazyku by narušily kouzlo bezprostřednosti a jistého emocionálního zaujetí, které z dopisu vyzařuje. Tichý posílal mně a Pavlovi Cmorejovi i nadále jednak osobní dopisy, jednak rukopisy svých statí, takže jsme měli výhodu být účastni procesu budování TIL, kterou oba (a dnes už nejenom my) pokládáme za podstatný přínos ke světové logice. --Pavel Materna. (shrink)