Does science education need the history of science?

This essay argues that science education can gain from close engagement with the history of science both in the training of prospective vocational scientists and in educating the broader public about the nature of science. First it shows how historicizing science in the classroom can improve the pedagogical experience of science students and might even help them turn into more effective professional practitioners of science. Then it examines how historians of science can support the scientific education of the general public at a time when debates over "intelligent design" are raising major questions over the kind of science that ought to be available to children in their school curricula. It concludes by considering further work that might be undertaken to show how history of science could be of more general educational interest and utility, well beyond the closed academic domains in which historians of science typically operate.     

Exploring graduate education reform

An opening ceremony was held for new students at the Yuquan Campus of the Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (GUCAS) on Sept. 12, 2006 in the western outskirt of Beijing. Some 11,350 graduate students enrolled this year, including about 5,…     

Digital technology adoption and knowledge flows within firms: Can the Internet overcome geographic and technological distance?

Under what conditions does digital technology adoption increase cross location knowledge flows within firms? We investigate this question by studying the impact of adopting basic Internet access on cross-location knowledge flows within the same firm. We construct a large data set of Internet adoption and patent citations among dyadic pairs of firm-locations between 1992–1998. We find that when both locations in the pair adopt basic Internet there is an increase in the likelihood of a citation between the citing and (potential) cited location. In contrast, we find no significant effect of Internet adoption at only the citing location. We further study how this effect varies according to the proximity of the research activities between the source and recipient of knowledge and specialization of the research activities within the recipient. We find that the likelihood of a citation increases more after dyadic Internet adoption when the pair is working in similar research areas and when the research areas in the citing location are less specialized. These results, which are robust to a range of robustness analyses, suggest that digital technologies such as Internet connectivity are able to facilitate knowledge flows between locations only when they share a common knowledge base.     

Optimal parameter estimation of ε-filter employing distribution distance

As the filter which can effectively remove the small amplitude noises on digital images, the $\epsilon \mathrm{-}\mathrm{filter}$ has been proposed. In order to effectively use this filter, a smoothing parameter $\epsilon \mathrm{-}\mathrm{filter}$ should be appropriately estimated before applying it. To address this problem, the authors proposed the parameter estimation method based on Hellinger distance (HD). In the method, HD between a residual signal and assumed noise distribution was evaluated, and a parameter $\epsilon$ of the $\epsilon \mathrm{-}\mathrm{filter}$ was estimated by finding the value giving minimum distance. However, the enough discussion on use of HD has not been made.In this paper, it is attempted to utilize not only the HD, but also various distribution distances in the parameter estimation, and their performances and characteristics are compared and analyzed experimentally. Furthermore, the parameter estimation method is extended to be applicable for the vector $\epsilon \mathrm{-}\mathrm{filter}$ for the color images. Consequently, through the experiments, it is shown that L1-norm or maximum norm is appropriate as the distribution distance used in the parameter estimation methods from the view points of the simplicity of the calculation and MSE performance in the filtering.     

ICT Research,the New Economy,and the Evolving Discipline of Economics: Back to the Future?

Economics-related ICT research has moved from the fringes of the discipline to penetrate all of its branches. It is, therefore, not a separate economics subdiscipline. It is also unlikely to become part of an “ICT or Internet research” proto-discipline. Instead, it should be seen as only one part of a bigger agenda toward a proper “information and knowledge economics” and possibly a future proto-discipline of a “unified theory of information and knowledge” or a meta-discipline of information sciences.     

The rich or the poor? Personal resources,do-it-yourself,and innovation in the household sector

Household sector innovation is significant in scale and scope. Thus far, it has been studied in isolation and with mixed evidence regarding the role of personal resources (consumers' income and discretionary time). We recognize that household sector innovation is embedded in the broader phenomenon of do-it-yourself (DIY) by consumers, as the literature reveals conceptual similarities, parallel motivations, and antecedents. The main distinction is that, whereas DIY goods may replicate existing products, household sector innovation is restricted to goods embodying a novel function. We explore if studying household sector innovation and DIY in an integrated framework helps to resolve previous inconsistent evidence on the role of personal resources. Based on a neoclassical model in which agents optimize their time allocation, we hypothesize that income and discretionary time positively relate to their DIY output, but—given that agents develop DIY goods—we hypothesize that income negatively relates to innovation. For discretionary time, we formulate a research question regarding its effect on innovation which we answer empirically. Our findings suggest that consumers with more personal resources derive more process benefits from DIY but that these benefits crowd out individuals' focus on the function of their objects, hence, the likelihood of developing innovations. Survey data from the United Arab Emirates (n = 2728) confirm our suppositions, showing that the relationship between personal resources and household sector innovation is more refined than suggested by previous studies.     

Between class and status? Examining the digital divide in Finland,the United Kingdom,and Greece

This article examines the digital divide in terms of access and the cultural use purposes of the Internet in Finland, the United Kingdom, and Greece. The analysis is based on data from Finnish, British, and Greek sections of Eurobarometer collected in 2013 (N = 3,009). Separate measures for class and status are applied in the analysis. The findings indicate that both access to and use of the Internet for cultural purposes are affected by a number of interdependent factors, whose effects and strengths vary significantly among the countries.     

Report on the work of the Bartol Research Foundation, 1933–1934

Using the velocity analyzer of Zartman with improved technique the combined velocity spectrum of Bi atoms and Bi₂ molecules was obtained at 827°, 851°, 875°, 899°, 922°, 947° C. From the spectral distribution curves the relative abundance of Bi atoms and Bi₂ molecules in the beams at the above temperatures could be determined to 1 per cent. The vapor pressure curve of Bi was obtained experimentally by the method of effusion and the values so obtained were combined with the degree of dissociation of the vapor as computed from the beams to give the heat of dissociation. The heat of dissociation was computed from the data, assuming the pressure to be given by the temperature of the crucible T_c. In calculating the heat of dissociation, the equilibrium temperature was taken as that of the slit chamber T_s which was 24° above T_c. The results of these calculations plotted with log₁₀K_p as ordinates against $\text{1}\text{T}{}_{\mathrm{s}}$ give a straight line whose slope yields the value of the heat of dissociation as 77,100±1200 calories. The curves for the distribution of velocities observed and computed on the assumption of a given ratio of Bi atoms to Bi₂ molecules in the beam were compared in an attempt to test the law of distribution of velocities. On the high velocity side agreement in two curves was obtained within the limits of experimental accuracy. On the low velocity side important deviations were noted of such a sort that the observed curves below a velocity $\text{α}\text{2}$, (α is the most probable velocity) gave more molecules than the theory demanded. Other deviations were observed on some of the runs taken with a fourth slit in which a deficiency of molecules was observed between velocities of .75α and $\text{α}\text{2}$. This deviation was probably due to a warping of the fourth slit carriage due to heat. The nature of the variation at velocities less than $\text{α}\text{2}$ indicated the presence of molecules of greater mass than Bi₂ in the beam and at the lower temperatures a distinct peak corresponding to Bi₈ molecules was observed which were present to less than 2 per cent. The vapor pressure curve for Bi was determined by least square reduction of the observed points to be given by $\text{log}{}_{10}\text{P = ? 52.23 ×}\text{195.26}\text{T}\text{+ 8.56}$ between 1100° and 1220° abs. It lies very close to the extrapolated curve given in the International Critical Tables.     

Digital transformation of everyday life – How COVID-19 pandemic transformed the basic education of the young generation and why information management research should care?

Children of today have been surrounded by digital technology since their birth. However, children of today are not equally equipped for their technology rich future: various kinds of digital divides still prevail in the society and affect the young generation and their digital futures. Schools and education of children should undergo an extensive digital transformation to be able to meet the needs of the young generation and their digitalized future. The COVID-19 pandemic has suddenly and abruptly forced schools and education indeed to engage in such a transformation. In this study we examine the digital transformation initiated by the COVID-19 pandemic in the basic education of the young generation, the variety of digital divides emerging and reinforced, and the possible barriers reported along the way. We argue that information management research should better acknowledge children, their digitalized everyday life and their basic education as significant areas of concern. We should understand them as well as allow them to shape the education we offer in the context of higher education, but we should also aim at influencing the basic education of the young generation – for the purpose of equipping them with important skills and competencies for their digital futures but also for the purpose of arousing their interest in this important field, maybe even as a career option.     

Joseph Fourier,the ‘greenhouse effect’, and the quest for a universal theory of terrestrial temperatures

The central role that the theory of terrestrial temperatures played in Fourier's mathematical physics has not received the attention it deserves from historians, although his cryptic allusions to the heating of a greenhouse, taken out of context, have been widely cited by subsequent authors.     

Photolysis of the d-glycosides: α benzylfructofuranoside, β benzylfructopyranoside,and α and β phenyl,benzyl and β phenylethyl glucosides; and the bearing of the data upon the transfer of energy within molecules

Direct absorption of light by glycosides dissolved in water has been discovered to produce changes in optical activities and formation of material which reduces the Shaffer, Hartmann, Somogyi reagent. Comparison of these measurements indicates in many cases the same products as are formed by hydrolysis in acid. The β glucosides and α fructoside, however, apparently give optically inactive photolytic products.Absorption spectra were obtained for α benzylfructofuranoside and β benzylfructopyranoside, and were found to be the same in the near ultraviolet as those previously obtained for benzyl glucosides and benzyl alcohol.The absorption spectrum for freshly purified fructose gives a deeper minimum about λ240 mμ than the previously reported values. The latter, however, were approached when the dry crystals had stood in air for several months although no change occurred in their sp.rot., m.p. or general apperance.All the glycosides studied were white crystalline compounds. Less than five per cent. of the ultraviolet light of λ254 mμ they absorb produces reaction; nevertheless, the apparatus and procedures available were adequate to study the reaction conveniently in monochromatic light of this wave-length.The absorption spectra, the products of photolysis, and the quantum yields, the latter based on the reducing material formed, lead to the hypothesis that the photochemical reaction is produced by an intramolecular transfer of absorbed energy from the aglycone to the hemiacetal oxygen bridge which is the reactive center. The efficiency of this transfer is, as expected, greater for benzyl than for phenylethyl glucosides but phenyl glucosides, contrariwise, are the least efficient.The structure and energy possessed by the glycoside outside the aglycone have no measurable effect on the efficiency of the photochemical reaction when followed by measuring the reducing material produced although they change up to one hundred thousand fold the rates of the thermal hydrolyses in acid.