Some aspects of science education in Britain: a comparative study

This article gives a broad picture of science education in Britain, starting with school pupils of about 11 years of age and concluding at the Ph.D. level. In the main it considers the education system from the point of view of students preparing for professional scientific work in basic and applied research as well as those who will leave the system at first degree level for a variety of occupations, ranging from school teaching to development and marketing posts in industry. The article is not directly concerned with the education and training of engineers and technologists. The British system is compared briefly with the educational patterns of several western European countries and the USA.     

Human capital heterogeneity, collaborative relationships, and publication patterns in a multidisciplinary scientific alliance: a comparative case study of two scientific teams

In this paper, we compare the publication outcomes of two teams within a multi-university scientific alliance. Scientists in one team share similar scholarly backgrounds and work in a well established paradigm, while scientists in the second team have different backgrounds and work in an emergent discipline. While the alliance has increased the productivity of both teams, this increase was highest for the more heterogeneous team. In addition, while the variety of knowledge concepts employed in their research was initially higher for the heterogeneous team, this gap narrowed over time. We discuss the implications of our research for alliance design.     

科研机构人才工作中若干关系的思考

本文针对科研机构人才工作的特点,就科研机构人才工作中有关引进人才与培养人才、学科发展与人才配置、人才流动与流失、自由探索与目标导向、业务拔尖与德才兼备、按需选人与因人设事、人才投入与成果产出、整体队伍与尖子人才等要素之间的关系进行了讨论。     

Assessing basic research: Some partial indicators of scientific progress in radio astronomy

As the costs of certain types of scientific research have escalated and as growth rates in overall national science budgets have declined, so the need for an explicit science policy has grown more urgent. In order to establish priorities between research groups competing for scarce funds, one of the most important pieces of information needed by science policy-makers is an assessment of those groups' recent scientific performance. This paper suggests a method for evaluating that performance.After reviewing the literature on scientific assessment, we argue that, while there are no simple measures of the contributions to scientific knowledge made by scientists, there are a number of ‘partial indicators’ — that is, variables determined partly by the magnitude of the particular contributions, and partly by ‘other factors’. If the partial indicators are to yield reliable results, then the influence of these ‘other factors’ must be minimised. This is the aim of the method of ‘converging partial indicators’ proposed in this paper. We argue that the method overcomes many of the problems encountered in previous work on scientific assessment by incorporating the following elements: (1) the indicators are applied to research groups rather than individual scientists; (2) the indicators based on citations are seen as reflecting the impact, rather than the quality or importance, of the research work; (3) a range of indicators are employed, each of which focusses on different aspects of a group's performance; (4) the indicators are applied to matched groups, comparing ‘like’ with ‘like’ as far as possible; (5) because of the imperfect or partial nature of the indicators, only in those cases where they yield convergent results can it be assumed that the influence of the ‘other factors’ has been kept relatively small (i.e. the matching of the groups has been largely successful), and that the indicators therefore provide a reasonably reliable estimate of the contribution to scientific progress made by different research groups.In an empirical study of four radio astronomy observatories, the method of converging partial indicators is tested, and several of the indicators (publications per researcher, citations per paper, numbers of highly cited papers, and peer evaluation) are found to give fairly consistent results. The results are of relevance to two questions: (a) can basic research be assessed? (b) more specifically, can significant differences in the research performance of radio astronomy centres be identified? We would maintain that the evidence presented in this paper is sufficient to justify a positive answer to both these questions, and hence to show that the method of converging partial indicators can yield information useful to science policy-makers.     

技术创新把握的科学性与艺术性

从新创技术发掘和把握对策入手 ,分析企业技术创新决策中所能依据的一些科学规律 ,并通过对技术创新把握过程中存在的一些问题的剖析 ,探索企业把握技术创新中所表现出的艺术性 ,强调科学性与艺术性的结合对企业把握技术创新的重要价值。     

发现抑或人工生成:科学实验与规律的双重关系

自然规律是随着宇宙的演化而自然生成的,而人类能够通过自己的实践活动实现新规律的人工生成。科学实验作为科学研究的重要基础和手段,人们能够通过纯化简化实验发现自然界原本存在的自然规律,也能够通过强化激化及特殊实验和技术科学实验人工生成自然界原本不存在的新规律。人工生成新规律,改变了人与规律关系的传统认识,并使人们充分认识到在科学研究和技术开发活动中,设定新技术目标、加强实验仪器和设备的研制、加强稀有资源的研究开发与保护、加强技术科学研究等具有特别重要的意义。     

Some aerodynamic aspects of hang gliding

Many sporting activities reflect new technological developments, sometimes to the extent of creating new industries. Among the most striking is hang-gliding, now so popular that the production of the necessary equipment is the fastest growing branch of the aviation industry in the USA. The design of the ultra-light aircraft involves important aerodynamic principles and novel methods of construction. This article reviews the development of hang gliding and the type of equipment in current use.     

在全区科技工作会议上的总结讲话

同志们：这次全区科技工作会议共安排了三天，大致分为三个阶段、三大内容。第一是传达学习全国科技工作会议精神，总结我区去年的科技工作，安排部署今年全区的科技工作，并进行了分组讨论和大会交流。第二是科技厅与各地(市)科技局讨论研究对口援藏项目，为进一步加强科技援藏工     

在全区科技工作会议上的总结讲话

同志们: 为期一天半的全区科技工作会议今天就要结束了.会议在全体与会代表的共同努力下,圆满完成了各项议程,达到了预期目的.下面,我代表自治区科技厅党组就这次会议作简要总结,并就贯彻本次会议精神提几点具体要求.     

山东省科技投入与经济增长关系的两种模型分析

科技投入、技术进步对经济增长的贡献程度,是反映一个国家或地区经济集约型可持续性发展、社会发展(环境保护、文明程度、社会福利等)的重要指标。为此有必要研究科技投入与经济增长的定性、定量关系。文章采用2001-2005年山东省经济增长与科技投入情况的数据,建立山东省科技投入与经济增长的灰色关联度模型、生产函数模型,进而对山东省科技投入与经济增长进行实证分析,得到相关结论。     

从诺贝尔奖现象看科学创造的特征

 通过对1901年至2005年诺贝尔自然科学获奖成果的统计和分析,研究诺贝尔获奖者取得重大科学发现的年龄分布、获奖时间分布、研究周期、获奖周期、师生合作以及机构优势积累等特征,揭示出诺贝尔获奖者获得重大科学发现的中青年现象、长周期现象和“发现之发现”等现象,从中可以揭示出科学创造的某些规律性特征,从而可以为科技管理者制定合理的人才培养政策提供参考。     

Some characteristic aspects of science policy in the federal republic of Germany

In the Federal Republic of Germany, as in nearly all countries, science policy is increasingly oriented along the planning of science and research, including the systematic establishment of research priorities, and enquiry into the theoretical and methodological foundations of research planning.The most distinguishing characteristic of science policy in the Federal Republic of Germany, however, is the fact that the influence exerted by industry and the state on the planning of research is conspicuously weak compared to other countries. After a brief characterisation of research policy in Germany the author comes to the conclusion that it is not government R & D expenditure which is strikingly small, but the extent to which the government assumes direct political responsibility for research, and demands the coordination of the fragmented responsibilities in research policy and research planning in the Federal Republic.The steps taken so far in this direction will, however, have far-reaching consequences, in particular, a differentation between research and teaching. Furthermore, the author is doubtful whether the political power of government and parliament in the Federal Republic of Germany will suffice to take full advantage of enlarged competences in research policy.     

Some aspects of ethics and research into the silicon brain

The aim of this paper is to discuss some of the issues related to ethics in the context of establishing objectives for information systems research in general and artificial intelligence or silicon brain research in particular. Examples are taken from physics and genetic engineering to illustrate the kind of ethical problems that arise when the ethical implications of research are not understood or acknowledged. The aspect of ethics considered here relates to the care with which a research topic should be chosen if one wishes to avoid dilemmas concerning the use to which the knowledge so created will eventually be put. In addition a possible framework for thinking about ethics and research objectives is suggested.     

浅议高校科研团队的组建

本文提出了高校科研团队的概念，并简单地介绍其特点。主要探讨了高校组建科研团队的必要性、存在的问题以及从实际工作中所得的一点经验、体会，其目的仅为抛砖引玉。     

Acquiring unpublished population documents in Africa: a personal experience

Acquiring both published and unpublished documents produced in Africa is, generally, a difficult task due to the existing poor state of bibliographic control and the publishing industry. It is even more difficult to obtain unpublished documents in a specialized area of study such as demography--a diffuse area which cuts across several disciplines. This paper discusses the problems encountered on acquisition trips to some African countries to acquire unpublished population material. To help solve the problems, the Population Association of Africa must persuade its members to send copies of their publications to population libraries and documentation centers in their individual countries for dissemination to the other users in Africa. The various organizations and institutions in Africa engaged in the teaching and research of population studies should have an agreement to exchange copies of their theses. The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the Organization of African Unity (OAU) should make representations to the various African member countries on the need to disseminate the results of vital censuses and surveys conducted. Finally, the Population Information Network for Africa (POPIN-AFRICA) with its coordinating unit at the population division of ECA should ensure that all the nodes of the network have the financial and other resources to be able to acquire the relevant documents needed for their operations.