links for 2009-03-11

"The fundamental problem is that the “we need a journal” approach is stuck in the printed page paradigm. To get negative results published we need to reduce the barriers to publication much lower than they currently are, while at the same time applying either a pre- or post-publication filter."

"If the primary measure of a journal’s value is its impact — pretty layouts and a good Employment section and so on being presumably secondary — and if the Impact Factor is a measure of impact, and if publishers are making a good faith effort to offer value for money — then why is there no apparent relationship between IF and journal prices? After all, publishers tout the Impact Factors of their offerings whenever they’re asked to justify their prices or the latest round of increases in same."

"This problem is really exaggerated by an inclination in a lot of colleges and universities to take all disciplines and departments as entitled to the same dispensation of resources but also as subject to the same kinds of cost-cutting imperatives, a kind of faux-egalitarian rhetoric. So, for example, when administrations direct libraries to cut journals budgets, libraries often have to turn to departments and ask each of them to volunteer a few titles that they can get rid of, so that the cost-cutting seems to fall evenly on all, to be a collective responsibility. But if you did a relatively dispassionate cost/benefit analysis, you might note that you could cut three hugely expensive journals (usually but not always in the sciences) at the cost of thirty or forty journals in the humanities and social sciences."

"Looking back through some old photos this evening, I realize that March is my best month for photography. I seem to react to cabin fever by engaging in my favorite hobby: milling.

Milling is a variant on a phenomenon some call “urban exploration“. We don’t have too many urbs around here, but we have a wealth of beautiful abandoned mills. Milling involves finding ways into these mills and photographing them. This, in turn, involves driving around looking for promising looking mills, scouting them out and returning with milling gear (steel-toed boots, good flashlights, reflectors to bounce light, cameras, tripods…)"

"The team determined this tiny shift by using a device called a frequency comb, which is capable of making a very accurate measurement of the laser’s wavelength. By comparing the resonant wavelengths of beryllium–11 with the other beryllium isotopes — and then correcting for the mass shift — the team worked out the volume shift. This allowed them to conclude that the halo neutron is about 7 fm from the nuclear core. The core itself has a radius of about 2.5 fm. "