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Physical Sciences (physical + science)
Selected AbstractsPrior academic background and student performance in assessment in a graduate entry programmeMEDICAL EDUCATION, Issue 11 2004P L Craig Objectives, This study aims to identify whether non-science graduates perform as well as science graduates in Basic and Clinical Sciences (B & CS) assessments during Years 1,3 of a four-year graduate-entry programme at the University of Sydney (the ,USydMP'). Methods, Students were grouped into five categories: Health Professions (HP), Biomedical Sciences (BMS), Other Biology (BIOL), Physical Sciences (PHYS) or Non-Science (NONS). We examined the performance rank of students in each of the five groups for single best answer (SBA) and modified essay (MEQ) assessments separately, and also calculated the relative risk of failure in the summative assessments in Years 2 and 3. Results, Students with science-based prior degrees performed better in the SBA assessments. The same occurred initially in the MEQs, but the effect diminished with time. The HP students performed consistently better but converged with other groups over time, particularly in the MEQs. Relative performance by the NONS students improved with time in both assessment formats. Overall, differences between the highest and lowest groups were small and very few students failed to meet the overall standard for the summative assessments. HP and BMS students had the lowest failure rate. NONS students were more likely to fail the assessments in Year 2 and 3, but their pass rates were still high. Female students performed significantly better overall at the end of Year 2 and in Year 3. There were only minor differences between Australian resident and International students. Conclusion, While there are small differences in performance in B & CS early in the programme, these lessen with time. The study results will inform decisions regarding timing of summative assessments, selection policy and for providing additional support to students who need it to minimize their risk of failure. Readers should note that this paper refers to student performance in only one of the four curriculum themes, where health professional and science graduates would be expected to have a significant advantage. [source] Introduction: Gender and Networking in Twentieth-century Physical SciencesCENTAURUS, Issue 1 2009Maria Rentetzi First page of article [source] A direct circuit experiment system in non-immersive virtual environments for education and entertainmentCOMPUTER APPLICATIONS IN ENGINEERING EDUCATION, Issue 2 2005Quang-Cherng Hsu Abstract This article proposes to contribute to the goal of "The Popular Science Teaching Research Project" as well as to enhance the programming abilities of mechanical engineering students. Topics being included as example are in physical science, which include battery, lamp, and electric circuit. These materials are designed, based on virtual-reality technology that is suitable for students as early as fourth-grade students of primary school. It will help the students become familiar with new computer technology and provide an opportunity to study while playing virtual reality computer games. The benefits of the developed application software system of virtual reality are virtualization of teaching equipment, cost reduction of teaching materials, unlimited teaching style, and optimization of learning procedures. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Comput Appl Eng Educ 13: 146,152, 2005; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com); DOI 10.1002/cae.20044 [source] Anthropological Knowledge and Native American Cultural Practice in the Liberal PolityAMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST, Issue 2 2002Professor James P. Boggs U.S. Indian policy is caught between two incommensurable theories or paradigms. First, liberal theory extended the worldviewof early physical science to understand human nature. Providing the conceptual foundation for liberal polities, it largely underwrote U.S. Indian policy into the mid-20th century. Liberal theory recently has been superceded, as theory, by anthropological culture theory, which better accounts for variations between peoples and the realities of human life. The advent of culture theory marks a major paradigm shift within science and public consciousness. Liberal theory, however, remains the foundation for the powerful ideology of liberalism and the institutional practices of Western capitalism and democracy. Thus arise uncomfortable disjunctions,first, between incommensurable theories that both remain vital forces in public life, and, secondarily, between knowledge and practice. This article explores these contending theoretical formations, disjunctions between them, and illustrates how these disjunctions translate into contemporary argument in U.S. Indian policy. [source] Adapting to changes in molecular biosciences and technologiesEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF DENTAL EDUCATION, Issue 2008P. Ford (nci) Abstract Dental education, like any other educational programme in a research-intensive university environment, must be research led or at least research informed. In this context, as the research and knowledge base of dentistry lies in the biological and physical sciences, dental education must be led by advances in research in both these areas. There is no doubt that biotechnology and nanotechnology have, over the past 25 years, led research in both these areas. It is therefore logical to assume that this has also impacted on dental education. The aim of this paper is twofold; on one hand to examine the effects of biotechnology and nanotechnology and their implications for dental education and on the other to make recommendations for future developments in dental education led by research in biotechnology and nanotechnology. It is now generally accepted that dental education should be socially and culturally relevant and directed to the community it serves. In other words, there can be no universal approach and each dental school or indeed curriculum must apply the outcomes in their own social, cultural and community settings. [source] Self-Assembled Heteroepitaxial Oxide Nanocomposite Thin Film Structures: Designing Interface-Induced Functionality in Electronic MaterialsADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS, Issue 13 2010Judith L. MacManus-Driscoll Abstract Achieving self-assembling/self-organizing systems is the holy grail of nanotechnology. Spontaneous organization is not unique to the physical sciences since nature has been producing such systems for millions of years. In biological systems global patterns emerge from numerous interactions among lower-level components of the system. The same is true for physical systems. In this review, the self-assembly mechanisms of oxide nanocomposite films, as well as the advantageous functionalities that arise from such ordered structures, are explored. [source] ISLANDS AS NOVELTY SITES,GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW, Issue 2 2007GODFREY BALDACCHINO ABSTRACT. Being on the edge, being out of sight and so out of mind, exposes the weakness of mainstream ideas, orthodoxies, and paradigms and foments alternatives to the status quo. Islands are thus propelled as sites of innovative conceptualizations, whether of nature or human enterprise, whether virtual or real. They stand out as sites of novelty; they tend toward clairvoyance; they are disposed to act as advance indicators or extreme reproductions of what is present or future elsewhere. This article, which is essentially bibliographical, celebrates islands as the quintessential sites for experimentation, with reference to the physical sciences, the social sciences, and literature. [source] Ethical issues in biotechnologies and international tradeJOURNAL OF CHEMICAL TECHNOLOGY & BIOTECHNOLOGY, Issue 5 2002Joseph H Hulse Natural and physical sciences are based on determinable facts. What is ethical, as distinct from illegal, is largely a matter of opinion. Scientific and industrial activities related to ancient and modern biotechnologies are among the most critically scrutinised for ethical probity by social activists and journalists. The practices and products of biotechnologies should be judged both deontologically , by motivation and intention, and teleologically , by determinable consequence. Bioethical criteria have been proposed by governments, medical practitioners and philosophers for many centuries. During the past decade, various scientifically competent organisations, national and international, have formulated comprehensive protocols by which to determine effectiveness and safety of novel foods, pharmaceuticals and other biologicals, including those derived from genetically modified organisms. Means and opportunities by which to satisfy the health and nutritional needs of impoverished nations and communities differ significantly from those who enjoy greater affluence. It is distinctly unethical for Europeans and North Americans, whose food and health securities are not at risk, to impose their ethical predilections on poorer nations. Equally reprehensible are the diverse tariff and non-tariff barriers to equitable international trade, and acts of biopiracy inflicted upon poorer nations. As a wise Asian sage has observed, the planet's resources and scientific ingenuity are sufficient to satisfy everyone's need, but not everyone's greed. Present and predictable world-wide demand for bioscientists and bioengineers exceeds best estimates of supply. Systematically planned, long-term investments by governments and bioindustries to generate adequate qualified men and women are urgently needed. © 2002 Society of Chemical Industry. [source] Development studies and cross-disciplinarity: Research at the social science,physical science interfaceJOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, Issue 6 2008Andy Sumner Abstract Cross-disciplinarity is widely accepted in the Development Studies (DS) community, but has principally been interpreted within the social sciences. However, much of the research, practical planning and evaluation studies, and teaching/training in DS involves cross-disciplinarity between the social and physical sciences. We consider the extent of this wider variant of cross-disciplinarity, review factors inhibiting cross-disciplinary collaboration, and explore implications relating to ,single discipline analysis' central to the interest of DS. Our main conclusions are that cross-disciplinarity between social and physical sciences is central to DS activity, and that disciplines, subject areas or knowledge communities need to be modest in defining their ,boundaries' and flexible in encouraging cross-disciplinary collaboration. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Theorizing in Family Studies: Discovering ProcessJOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND FAMILY, Issue 1 2000Jetse Sprey This paper makes the case that theorizing in family studies might be different if scholars asked the types of questions that now are asked in the physical sciences. Initial efforts to move toward a more abstract explanatory level in family studies led to inventorying and verification. This paper argues that the recognition of a realm of discovery, allowing for the creative and disciplinary use of imagination and metaphor, would extend the scope and quality of questioning. To ground the argument, the paper focuses on the problematics associated with the conceptualization of process in marriages and families. [source] Dendritic macromolecules at the interface of nanoscience and nanotechnologyMACROMOLECULAR SYMPOSIA, Issue 1 2003Jean M.J. Fréchet Abstract As a result of their unique architecture and structural as well as functional versatility, dendrimers have generated considerable interest in numerous areas of the physical sciences, engineering, as well as the biological sciences. Both their size - in the 1-10 nm range - and their globular shape resemble those of many proteins suggesting a host of biomimetic and nanotechnological applications. This brief highlight describes some of our recent work with nascent applications of dendrimers as unimolecular nanoreactors, as nanoscale antennae for energy harvesting and transduction, and as nanosized carriers for diagnostic or therapeutic applications. While implementation of some of these applications may still be distant, the impatient critic might remember that new markets are not created overnight as demonstrated by the slow commercial acceptance of many promising molecules and technologies with development frequently extending decades after their initial discovery. [source] Analytics and Beliefs: Competing Explanations for Defining Problems and Choosing Allies and Opponents in Collaborative Environmental ManagementPUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW, Issue 5 2010Christopher M. Weible The rationale for collaborative environmental management often hinges on two factors: first, specialized training creates biased analytics that require multidisciplinary approaches to solve policy problems; second, normative beliefs among competing actors must be included in policy making to give the process legitimacy and to decide trans-scientific problems. These two factors are tested as drivers of conflict in an analysis of 76 watershed partnerships. The authors find that analytical bias is a secondary factor to normative beliefs; that depicting the primary driver of conflict in collaborative environmental management as between experts and nonexperts is inaccurate; that compared to the "life" and "physical" sciences, the social sciences and liberal arts have a stronger impact on beliefs and choice of allies and opponents; and that multiple measures are needed to capture the effect of analytical biases. The essay offers lessons for public administrators and highlights the limitations and generalizations of other governing approaches. [source] CERAMIC PRODUCTION, PROVENANCE AND USE,A REVIEW,ARCHAEOMETRY, Issue 2 2008M. S. TITE The contribution of the physical sciences to the reconstruction of the production technology (i.e., processing of raw materials, forming, surface treatments and firing methods) for earthenwares, stonewares, porcelains and stonepaste bodies are summarized. The organization of production and the reasons for technological choice are considered. Provenance studies based on both chemical analysis and thin-section petrography are discussed, with the investigation of Minoan and Mycenaean pottery being taken as the case study. The approaches to determining how pottery vessels were used in antiquity are outlined. Finally, future developments in ceramic studies are briefly considered. [source] Of eagles and flies: orientations toward the siteAREA, Issue 3 2010Keith Woodward The macro-micro distinction is one of the most powerful in the human and physical sciences. In this article we challenge the macro by positing an alternative that recognises the intricacies and complexities of material geographies. We employ the Latin proverb , Aquila non captat muscas (Eagles don't catch flies) , to epitomise our position. Instead of looking to general theory , the bird's eye view , we argue for interrogating the ontological and methodological implications of a reciprocal, but antithetical, perspective , that of the flies. We call this alternative the site, an ontology that attempts to account for the different and varying political possibilities , virtually infinite and ,un-catalogue-able', constantly at work in the world. The site is a formulation that recognises social life as a realm of infinite singularity and variability, where matter is immanently self-organising and pure difference unfolds. We explore the spatiality of the site through the concepts of topology and difference and then develop four methodological orientations for exploring the terrain of situated practices enmeshed in and unfolding through sites. [source] Scientific Structuralism: Structuralism(s) About Science: Some Common ProblemsARISTOTELIAN SOCIETY SUPPLEMENTARY VOLUME, Issue 1 2007Bas C. Van Fraassen Structuralist views of science can be realist or empiricist but face some of the same problems. The identity of indiscernibles: if not honoured in mathematics, nevertheless required to relate mathematics to the phenomena?Metaphysics: does Ladyman's ,radically naturalized metaphysics' still violate empiricist scruples?'Structure is all there is': can we accept the ,disappearance' of objects (things that bear structure but aren't themselves structure)? What could it mean to do without those sorts of entities in thinking about the world(-picture) of the physical sciences? [source] An Introduction to Simulation and Visualization of Biological Systems at Multiple Scales: A Summer Training Program for Interdisciplinary ResearchBIOTECHNOLOGY PROGRESS, Issue 1 2006Rajan Munshi Advances in biomedical research require a new generation of researchers having a strong background in both the life and physical sciences and a knowledge of computational, mathematical, and engineering tools for tackling biological problems. The NIH-NSF Bioengineering and Bioinformatics Summer Institute at the University of Pittsburgh (BBSI @ Pitt;www.ccbb.pitt.edu/bbsi) is a multi-institutional 10-week summer program hosted by the University of Pittsburgh, Duquesne University, the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, and Carnegie Mellon University, and is one of nine Institutes throughout the nation currently participating in the NIH-NSF program. Each BBSI focuses on a different area; the BBSI @ Pitt, entitled "Simulation and Computer Visualization of Biological Systems at Multiple Scales", focuses on computational and mathematical approaches to understanding the complex machinery of molecular-to-cellular systems at three levels, namely, molecular, subcellular (microphysiological), and cellular. We present here an overview of the BBSI@Pitt, the objectives and focus of the program, and a description of the didactic training activities that distinguish it from other traditional summer research programs. Furthermore, we also report several challenges that have been identified in implementing such an interdisciplinary program that brings together students from diverse academic programs for a limited period of time. These challenges notwithstanding, presenting an integrative view of molecular-to-system analytical models has introduced these students to the field of computational biology and has allowed them to make an informed decision regarding their future career prospects. [source] Raman Spectroscopy Detects Cardiac Allograft Rejection with Molecular SpecificityCLINICAL AND TRANSLATIONAL SCIENCE, Issue 3 2009Yoon Gi Chung B.S. Abstract Spatially resolved Raman spectroscopy is shown here to be capable of molecular-specific detection without exogenous labeling. This molecular specificity is achieved by detecting the strong and characteristic Raman spectral signature of an indole derivative, serotonin, whose selective existence in rejected heart transplants serves as the biomarker. The study also corroborates the increasingly recognized role of serotonin receptors in various immune responses, including cardiac allograft rejection. Combining both medical and physical sciences, this work demonstrates the potential use of Raman spectroscopy in replacing the invasive endomyocardial biopsy as the standard for post-transplantation rejection surveillance and presents a new paradigm in advancing clinical care through interdisciplinary studies. [source] From Universal Laws of Cognition to Specific Cognitive ModelsCOGNITIVE SCIENCE - A MULTIDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL, Issue 1 2008Nick Chater Abstract The remarkable successes of the physical sciences have been built on highly general quantitative laws, which serve as the basis for understanding an enormous variety of specific physical systems. How far is it possible to construct universal principles in the cognitive sciences, in terms of which specific aspects of perception, memory, or decision making might be modelled? Following Shepard (e.g., 1987), it is argued that some universal principles may be attainable in cognitive science. Here, 2 examples are proposed: the simplicity principle (which states that the cognitive system prefers patterns that provide simpler explanations of available data); and the scale-invariance principle, which states that many cognitive phenomena are independent of the scale of relevant underlying physical variables, such as time, space, luminance, or sound pressure. This article illustrates how principles may be combined to explain specific cognitive processes by using these principles to derive SIMPLE, a formal model of memory for serial order (Brown, Neath, & Chater, 2007), and briefly mentions some extensions to models of identification and categorization. This article also considers the scope and limitations of universal laws in cognitive science. [source] Organizational sticking points on NK LandscapesCOMPLEXITY, Issue 5 2002Jan W. Rivkin Abstract Scholars studying human organizations have recently adopted the notion of fitness landscapes, a concept pioneered in the biological and physical sciences. Such scholars have generally assumed that organizations will migrate toward the local peaks of these landscapes, as biological and physical entities do. We use an agent-based simulation to show, to the contrary, that a hierarchical human organization may very well come to rest at a "sticking point" that is not a local peak on the fitness landscape of the overall organization. Three pervasive features of human organizations create the distinction between sticking points and local peaks: the delegation of choices to separate decision makers, interdependencies between the domains of those decision makers, and differences between local incentives and global incentives. Our results illustrate both that it is valuable to use tools developed to study one type of complex adaptive system in order to examine another type and that researchers must adapt the tools with care as they attempt to do so. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] | |||||||||||||||||||