中国科学与技术的现状和前景

本文原标题为《呈蒋介石总统兼大元帅阁下的报告——中国科学与技术的现状和前景》。李约瑟在1943年2月来华,组织成立中英科学合作馆,以促进中英科学合作与交流。其间,他几乎遍访中国非占领区的科学研究机构以及大学和技术工厂等,对中国科学的整体状况有较全面的了解。应当时政府首脑和中国战区陆空军最高统帅蒋介石的要求,在离华前的1945年冬,他以一份秘密报告的形式,向后者提交了自己对中国科学的批评和建议,分别就"增加政府对科学支持的必要性"、"提高中国科学声望的必要性"、"发现懂得科学的政治领袖的必要性"、"设立一个特别的科学技术部"、"教育部和海外留学计划"、"科学社团和其他组织"、"工业机构与工业财富"、"战时中英科学回顾"和"国际科学关系"等九个重大问题陈述了自己的意见。①本译文即为这份报告信的正文。该信被收于李约瑟让中英科学合作馆工作人员整理的《中国文件集》(ChinesePaper,1942-1946)中,现存英国剑桥李约瑟研究所图书馆,编号JN-C:2。正式报告前有一个大纲和内容简介,本译文略去,文中的脚注除已说明为"原注"外,均为编者或译者所加。付邦红译。     

Stresses and deformations in pipe flanges subjected to creep at high temperatures

Various solutions have been made for determining the stresses in pipe flanges using the theory of elasticity (I). There are many cases, however, of pipe flanges which are subjected to stresses and at the same time a high temperature such that creep occurs.This paper gives an analysis of the stresses and deformations produced in a circular ring of rectangular cross section subjected to twisting couples uniformly distributed along its center line. Such a solution will also give an approximate analysis of the pipe flange. This approximation is justified in view of the complexity of the problem and the uncertainties still present in the fundamental creep-stress relation for metals. In the solution of this problem a deflection theory is also developed for straight beams subjected to bending accompanied by creep.     

How a Dummy Replaces a Student's Test and Gets an F (Or,How Regression Substitutes for t tests and ANOVA)

Using dummy variables, this note offers a convenient illustration to demonstrate that regression can replace both the one‐factor analysis of variance and the two‐population t test with independent random samples. The exercise also helps to develop students’ intuition regarding regression coefficients.     

Why do Chinese students cheat? Initial findings based on the self-reports of high school students in China

Academic dishonesty is recognised as a serious problem in Australia, and educators have been searching for ways to prevent its escalation. It is important to understand what factors influence cheating. This study used a sample of 446 grade 7 to 9 students, 160 from Macao and 286 from Zhuhai in China, to examine the personal and contextual aspects of academic dishonesty. The findings suggest that involvement and task orientation in the classroom environment (contextual aspects) and intrinsic value and utility value (personal aspects) are associated with students’ attitudes toward the acceptability of cheating and cheating behaviour in mathematics. Some suggestions for reducing academic dishonesty are included in the paper.     

The remedial programme for out-of-school and drop-out children in Rwanda

This article discusses an educational practice that has been introduced in Rwanda, which aims to bring back into the formal education system children who are out-of-school or unschooled, even though they are over the legal enrolment age. The authors analyse this intensive programme, designed for children at that age and adapted to their daily living conditions, which are particularly difficult. They also examine the factors underlying this innovative approach, its originality and the features that make it a good practice that could be applied in other contexts. The minimal conditions for success, the implications for teacher training, the obstacles faced and the strategies devised to overcome these obstacles are also discussed.

Engineering ethics education in the USA: Content,pedagogy and curriculum

Interest in engineering ethics education developed significant momentum in the USA as the 20th century drew to a close. Nevertheless, nearly 80% of engineering graduates are not required to take ethics-related courses. The content of engineering ethics education consists of 'microethical' issues focusing on individual professional responsibility and 'macroethical' issues dealing with the development of technology. The pedagogical framework of engineering ethics education has evolved primarily toward utilization of case studies and codes of ethics, in some instances supplemented by an introduction to moral theory. Substantial progress has been made in the development of case materials, including highprofile cases, everyday cases, quantitative cases and cases highlighting 'good works'. Cases are widely disseminated in textbooks and online. Online resources include interactive case studies and a rich variety of other ethics-related materials. Prominent curriculum models in the USA include a required course in engineering ethics, ethics-across-the-curriculum projects, and integration of engineering ethics and science, technology and society material. Changes in accreditation criteria for US engineering schools will potentially elevate the prominence of instruction in engineering ethics and the societal context of engineering. Many challenges remain, most notably the need for US engineering faculty to accept greater responsibility for engineering ethics education.     

Criticality in international higher education research: a critical discourse analysis of higher education journals

The current study utilizes the theory of planned behavior (Ajzen Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50, 179–211 Ajzen 1991) to examine an instructor confirmation-interaction model in the instructional communication context to discover a means by which instructors might cultivate positive student attitudes and increase beliefs that interactions with instructors would be beneficial in the future. Specifically, the model examines how teacher confirmation (Ellis 2000) influences students’ behavioral intention to communicate with instructors. Surveys were distributed to 343 college students (41.7% male and 58.1% female) in a basic communication course. Results were primarily consistent with the proposed model; teacher confirmation was significantly related to attitudes toward communicating with an instructor, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control. Subjective norms and perceived behavioral control were also positively related to students’ behavioral intention to communicate with the instructor. However, results reveal attitudes toward communicating do not predict students’ behavioral intention to communicate with instructors. It is recommended that future models examine a more contemporary, hi-tech representation of attitude toward student-instructor interactions as it may produce a significant association with students’ behavioral intent to communicate with them. The study concludes with theoretical and practical implications to examine student classroom communication via the confirmation-interaction model and the theory of planned behavior.