October 22, 2011
Once upon a time I was a post-doc at University College Cardiff which has a Royal Charter dating from 1883 and which was part of the University of Wales, Cardiff until 2004 when it became Cardiff University. I have fond memories of Cardiff since it was with Cardiff as a base that my colleagues ensured my education on the finer points of rugby and Welsh pubs and Dylan Thomas and rugby songs. So it was a matter of some regret for me to hear that the current University of Wales was to be abolished because of wrong-doings at one of its accredited colleges.
The University of Wales was a federal university founded in 1893 with accredited institutions throughout Wales, including the universities of Glyndŵr, Newport, Swansea Metropolitan and Trinity Saint David. It accredited courses in Britain and abroad, with over 100,000 students but following a visa fraud at one of its accredited colleges, Rayat London College, it no longer exists. At the time of its closure, the Chancellor of the University of Wales was HRH the Prince of Wales and the Pro-Chancellor was the Archbishop of Wales, Dr. Barry Morgan. Professor Marc Clement was President and the Vice-Chancellor was Professor Medwin Hughes.
It is not the first time that the techniques of academic cheating and fake degrees have been found to have been exported from India to colleges around the world.
THES:The Rayat London College which offered courses validated by the University of Wales has been linked to an alleged scam that helped foreign students to cheat their way to qualifications. The BBC found a lecturer from Rayat College London explaining to students how to cheat in exams and how to deceive the UK Border Agency. …. The scam would have allowed students to complete a 15-month course in under a week by cheating in exams. …. The college has suspended a lecturer, registrar and admissions officer, and said it dissociated itself from any wrongdoing and had referred the matter to the police.
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Tags: Rayat College London, Surya Medicherla, University of Wales, visa scam
Posted in Academic misconduct, Education, Fraud | Comments Off on Visa Scam at Rayat London College lays low the University of Wales
October 22, 2011
As expected the shareholder opposition to Rupert Murdoch and the Board of News Corp proved to be little more than noise and was just brushed aside at News Corp’s AGM held in Los Angeles yesterday. Some of the loudest “opposition” seems to be little more than public relations to justify a continued investment in News Corp and not really intended to effect any change.
Rupert Murdoch and kids
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Tags: corporate governance, minority shareholders, News Corp AGM, News Corporation, Rupert Murdoch, shareholder opposition
Posted in Business, Ethics | Comments Off on Murdoch swats aside shareholder calls for change
October 21, 2011
The Hausergate affair seemed to have reached a sort of resolution with Marc Hauser’s resignation from Harvard – but it has come back to life with accusations from Gilbert Harman, a philosophy Professor at Princeton that Hauser’s book Moral Minds may have “stolen ideas” without sufficient attribution from the 2000 doctoral thesis of John Mikhail, a graduate student at Cornell University who is now a law professor at Georgetown University.
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Tags: Gilbert Harman, Harvard University, hausergate, John Mikhail, marc hauser, Princeton
Posted in Academic misconduct, Ethics, Social Science | Comments Off on Marc Hauser now accused of “theft of ideas”
October 21, 2011
The origin of language was once a forbidden subject and in 1866, the Linguistic Society of Paris went so far as to ban debates on the subject – because it was considered too speculative to be a matter for serious people! But I find the question fascinating. When and how language developed remains a mystery. But with communication and language being such a clear measure of the distinction between humans and other primates, it seems obvious that there must be some genetic basis for this difference.
The “Language Gene” Turns Ten
Ten years ago this month, a team of University of Oxford scientists published a description of a family who struggled with words. By comparing their DNA, the scientists zeroed in for the first time on a gene associated with language, dubbed FOXP2.
Genetic evidence suggests that the basis of language appeared among hominids prior to the evolutionary split that gave rise to Homo neanderthalensis. Having the genetic wherewithal for having language does not of course prove that hominids had language 400,000 years ago. But I would suggest that the need for a particular characteristic (whether for survival or merely for coping better with the prevailing environment) itself predisposes for those factors which enable the correct expression of the relevant genes to enhance the characteristic. And this leads to the role that epigenetics and the inheritance of factors controlling gene expression – rather than mutations of the genome – may have had in the development of language.
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Tags: communication needs and language development, FOXP2, Gene, Human, Neanderthal, Origin of language
Posted in Environment, Evolution, Language | 1 Comment »
October 20, 2011
Stunning images by Felix Pharand–Deschenes at Globaia : A Cartography of the Anthropocene
Cities are yellow ; roads are green ; ships are blue ; airlines are white: image globaia
Tags: art, cartography of the anthropocene, Felix Pharand-Deschenes, Globaia, maps
Posted in Art, Science, Technology | 3 Comments »
October 20, 2011
Skeletons seem to be tumbling out of the Singapore academic closet thick and fast as one allegation follows hot on the heels of the last. Previous revelations are here, and here.
1. Abnormal Science reports that another whistleblower has appeared and has pointed out image irregularities (image manipulations?) in two more publications, both from the Department of Pharmacology, National University of Singapore. Abnormal Science.
2. From the Straits Times (h/t as pointed out by an Abnormal Science reader) it is reported that a famous cancer scientist in Singapore is having his work challenged. If Prof. Yoshiaki Ito’s work is found to be flawed then some 200 other publications based on his results would be thrown into doubt.
The Times article is behind a pay wall but Asia News Net carries the article Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Abnormal Science, Agency for Science Technology and Research, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Weizmann Institute of Science, Yoram Groner, Yoshiaki Ito
Posted in Academic misconduct, Ethics, Science, scientific misconduct, Singapore | 2 Comments »
October 18, 2011
This is a very strange tale of a prestigious Italian bio-medical Research Institute, a strange priest, tons of money, huge debts, corruption, a suicide, the Vatican and – of course – links to Berlusconi.
It reads like a film script and a subject worthy of a Dan Brown blockbuster.
Alison Abbott writes in Nature:
One of Italy’s most prestigious biomedical research centres now faces bankruptcy, against a backdrop of rumours fed by intrigue among power-brokers, allegations of fraud and corruption, and a violent death. Next week, a court will decide whether to leave the Milan-based San Raffaele Scientific Institute to its fate, or allow a consortium led by the Vatican Bank to rescue it. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Da Vinci Code, Giuseppe Profiti, Italy, Luigi Maria Verzé, Mario Cal, San Raffaele, San Raffaele del Monte Tabor Foundation, San Raffaele Research Institute, Silvio Berlusconi, Vatican
Posted in Academic misconduct, Behaviour, Corruption, Italy, Politics, Science | Comments Off on The strange story of the San Raffaele Research Institute, Don Verzé, the Vatican, corruption and a suicide!
October 18, 2011
Perhaps this was one of the critical genetic traits which – in evolutionary terms – helped humans separate from the apes and power ahead to be the leading species on the planet. It is not difficult to imagine that a “cooperation” gene or a “motivation to cooperate” gene – if such a thing exists – could have resulted in a number of “downstream” needs (for communication, language, artefacts, complex social organisations, arts and science) which in turn selected for and influenced the development of the traits which distinguish anatomically modern humans from other primates.
A new paper from the Max Planck Institutes in Leipzig and Nijmegen:
Yvonne Rekers, Daniel B.M. Haun and Michael Tomasello. Children, but Not Chimpanzees, Prefer to Collaborate. Current Biology, 2011 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2011.08.066
Summary
Human societies are built on collaborative activities. Already from early childhood, human children are skillful and proficient collaborators. They recognize when they need help in solving a problem and actively recruit collaborators.
The societies of other primates are also to some degree cooperative. Chimpanzees, for example, engage in a variety of cooperative activities such as border patrols, group hunting, and intra- and intergroup coalitionary behavior. Recent studies have shown that chimpanzees possess many of the cognitive prerequisites necessary for human-like collaboration. Chimpanzees have been shown to recognize when they need help in solving a problem and to actively recruit good over bad collaborators. However, cognitive abilities might not be all that differs between chimpanzees and humans when it comes to cooperation. Another factor might be the motivation to engage in a cooperative activity. Here, we hypothesized that a key difference between human and chimpanzee collaboration—and so potentially a key mechanism in the evolution of human cooperation—is a simple preference for collaborating (versus acting alone) to obtain food. Our results supported this hypothesis, finding that whereas children strongly prefer to work together with another to obtain food, chimpanzees show no such preference.
Highlights
- ► First study comparing collaborative motivation between children and chimpanzees
- ► Children, but not chimpanzees, prefer collaborative over individual food acquisition
- ► Motivation might be one key factor in the evolution of human-like cooperation
Science Daily:
Researchers from the MPI for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig and the MPI for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen have now discovered that when all else is equal, human children prefer to work together in solving a problem, rather than solve it on their own. Chimpanzees, on the other hand, show no such preference according to a study of 3-year-old German kindergarteners and semi-free ranging chimpanzees, in which the children and chimps could choose between a collaborative and a non-collaboration problem-solving approach. ….
The research team presented 3-year-old German children and chimpanzees living in a Congo Republic sanctuary with a task that they could perform on their own or with a partner. Specifically, they could either pull two ends of a rope themselves in order to get a food reward or they could pull one end while a companion pulled the other. The task was carefully controlled to ensure there were no obvious incentives for the children or chimpanzees to choose one strategy over the other. “In such a highly controlled situation, children showed a preference to cooperate; chimpanzees did not,” Haun points out.
The children cooperated more than 78 percent of the time compared to about 58 percent for the chimpanzees. These statistics show that the children actively chose to work together, while chimps appeared to choose between their two options randomly. ….. Future work should compare cooperative motivation across primate species in an effort to reconstruct the evolutionary history of the trait. …..
Tags: Child, Chimpanzee, Collaboration, cooperation, cooperation gene, Max Planck Institute, Motivation
Posted in Behaviour, Evolution, Science | Comments Off on Humans prefer to cooperate, chimps don’t
October 17, 2011
It would seem obvious – but it has not been – and it is still heresy for the AGW orthodoxy to entertain the notion that carbon dioxide effects are insignificant in relation to solar effects on climate.
A new paper in Energy & Environment, Vol. 22, No. 6 (Sept. 2011)
Long-Term Instrumental and Reconstructed Temperature Records Contradict Anthropogenic Global Warming
by Horst-Joachim Lüdecke, EIKE, European Institute for Climate and Energy, PO.Box 11011, 07722 Jena, GERMANY
PDF
There is no evidence that the temperature changes of the second half of the 20th Century are in any way extraordinary. No impact of the rise in CO2 concentration in the atmosphere can be found in the data.
One more nail in the AGW coffin.
Abstract:Monthly instrumental temperature records from 5 stations in the northern hemisphere are analyzed, each of which is local and over 200 years in length, as well as two reconstructed long-range yearly records – from a stalagmite and from tree rings that are about 2000 years long. In the instrumental records, the steepest 100-year temperature fall happened in the 19th century and the steepest rise in the 20th century, both events being of about the same magnitude. Evaluation by the detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) yields Hurst exponents that are in good agreement with the literature. DFA, Monte Carlo simulations, and synthetic records reveal that both 100-year events were caused by external trends. In contrast to this, the reconstructed records show stronger 100-year rises and falls as quite common during the last 2000 years. These results contradict the hypothesis of an unusual (anthropogenic) global warming during the 20th century. As a hypothesis, the sun’s magnetic field, which is correlated with sunspot numbers, is put forward as an explanation. The long-term low-frequency fluctuations in sunspot numbers are not detectable by the DFA in the monthly instrumental records, resulting in the common low Hurst exponents. The same does not hold true for the 2000-year-long reconstructed records, which explains both their higher Hurst exponents and the higher probabilities of strong 100-year temperature fluctuations. A long-term synthetic record that embodies the reconstructed sunspot number fluctuations includes the different Hurst exponents of both the instrumental and the reconstructed records and, therefore, corroborates the conjecture.
This paper supports the results published by Prof. Sami Solanki back in 2004 and reported in Science Daily here:
Sami K. Solanki, Natalie A. Krivova Can solar variability explain solar warming since 1970? Journal of Geophysical Research,108, doi 10.1029/2002JA009753 (2003)
The authors concluded then that “based on a statistical study of earlier periods of increased solar activity, the researchers predict that the current level of high solar activity will probably continue only for a few more decades”.
Tags: climate change, Energy & Environment, global warming, Horst-Joachim Lüdecke, Sami Solanki, Solar variation
Posted in Alarmism, Climate, Science, Solar science | Comments Off on The Sun – not man – heats the earth
October 16, 2011
Image via Wikipedia
The Fox-Werrity scandal keeps growing. Liam Fox may have resigned but as the spotlight falls on his “best man” Adam Werrity, it becomes clear that the brain behind the subterfuge was that of Liam Fox. Adam Werrity was just a pretty boy with a pretty bad degree when he was selected and built up by Fox. (A 2.2 degree is pretty close to a “fail”). He took advantage of the position he was put into to effectively operate a slush fund to pay for his luxury jaunts – all ostensibly for facilitating the contacts between Fox and influential – and risch – backers. But what is clear is that he was nothing more than a front for Fox. If at any time Fox had withdrawn his backing for his “best friend man”, Werrity would have been a zero and he can not point to any real accomplishments of his own.
Werrity only shone in the light provided by his master.
To what extent Fox was running a shadow foreign and defence policy from behind the scenes to satisfy the interests of his backers is the real question that remains. How many defence contracts were placed as a result of the shadow Fox policy is also unknown. How far UK foreign policy was influenced by Fox and his backers is a mystery. I just listened to the UK Foreign Secretary, William Hague, on BBC Radio and his stonewalling of the question of Fox’s influence on UK foreign policy (in Sri Lanka particularly) only raised my suspicions that he too feels he has been duped by his friend. His only real defence (and hope perhaps) was that that government was so large that Fox’s influence could not have penetrated very far.
The Telegraph today is pretty scathing. Liam Fox: How his best man Adam Werritty brought him down. But it cannot be forgotten that Liam Fox was the one who built Werrity up in the first place.
Liam Fox has only himself to blame. Fiercely intellectual, politically astute and genuinely capable, Dr Fox has in the end come unstuck over a misguided but long-held friendship with a man 17 years his junior.
He met Adam Werritty when his future best man was still a teenager and nurtured him for close to 15 years. He installed Mr Werritty as the head of businesses and charities which had his backing, enabling them to travel the world often at the expense of others.
They may have worked hard but the pair played hard too. They dined together in the finest restaurants, enjoyed marathon drinking sessions and even indulged in occasional bouts of karaoke.
It might have been acceptable behaviour — a giddy mixture of business and pleasure — out of power. But for a Defence Secretary, presiding over multi-million pound contracts and cuts, it proved to be fatal. …..
Werrity is described brutally by The Telegraph as a handsome teenager who the years have not been kind to. And considering that Werrity was only about 18 when as an undergraduate he was singled out by the 35 year old Fox, it begins to seem like the case of a gullible – but not very bright teenager – being seduced and corrupted by a much older and cleverer and unscrupulous man.
Tags: Adam Werritty, Fox Werrity scandal, Liam Fox, William Hague
Posted in Behaviour, Corruption, Ethics, Politics, UK | Comments Off on Sleaze and potential level of corruption rises in the Liam Fox / Adam Werrity affair
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