Neutrinos from the Sun: The 2003 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics presented to John Bahcall, Raymond Davis, Jr., and Masatoshi Koshiba

This award recognizes years of research by the laureates using elusive neutrinos to probe the internal workings of the sun. Bahcall and Davis identified an apparently fundamental problem: the fusion reactions that generate the sun's power deep in its core appeared to generate fewer neutrinos than expected. The number of neutrinos detected by Davis was only about a third the number calculated by Bahcall. Koshiba developed a new type of detector that not only confirmed the deficit but also showed that the neutrinos counted by Davis actually come from the Sun. Together the work of these three scientists prepared the way for the resolution of the puzzle, the discovery of a new property of neutrinos called “neutrino oscillations”. On the way from the sun, some neutrinos change identity and become nearly invisible in the detectors. This insight promises to open up new vistas in the fundamental physics of elementary particles.     

The 2001 Bower Award for business leadership presented to Irwin Mark Jacobs

Irwin Mark Jacobs, Founder and CEO of QUALCOMM, Winner of the 2001 Bower Award for Business Leadership.Irwin Mark Jacobs is that rare individual who combines scientific and technical ingenuity with entrepreneurial spirit, strong business leadership, and philanthropic spirit to become a leader in intersecting arenas. Jacobs has combined these qualities to position his company, QUALCOMM, into the world's leader in cellular telephony.     

Authentic and self-directed learning in vocational education: Challenges to vocational educators

This article analyses the dilemmas and practical tensions in implementing competence-based vocational education. Eleven case studies were conducted, including observation of lessons and interviews with teachers and students. The results show that schools meet various fundamental issues in realising this approach. A crucial question is how to stimulate the acquisition and use of a way of knowing and thinking that is based on vocational theory. Reflection, authenticity and coaching are relevant characteristics that are hardly put into practice yet. To understand these results the article reflects on factors that account for the distance between promising concepts and actual teaching practice.     

The 2005 Bower Award in science presented to Henri B. Kagan

The scientific theme for the 2005 Bower Award was Chemistry, specifically the field of Catalysis. The Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, awarded the 2005 Bower Award and Prize for achievement in Science to Henri B. Kagan for his seminal discovery of fundamental chemical principles that explain the impact of catalyst shape on its effectiveness in controlling chemical reactions, thus greatly simplifying the manufacture of pharmaceutically important compounds. Henri Kagan is widely recognized as a pioneer in the field of asymmetric catalysis. Starting in the early 1970s, his reports of the synthesis of the chiral bidentate diphosphine ligand and the demonstration of its use with soluble rhodium compounds to catalyze the efficient production of large enantiomeric excesses of chiral molecules in asymmetric hydrogenations has had far reaching effects on research in the field asymmetric catalysis. The concept of using chiral bidentate ligands of C2 symmetry has led the way for numerous developments in asymmetric catalysis. Later in 1986 his introduction of the concept and investigations into “nonlinear effects in asymmetric synthesis” using catalysts with chiral ligands that were not optically pure challenged the widely accepted assumption that the enantiomeric excess which is possible correlates linearly with the optical purity of the chiral ligands. He reported the first example in asymmetric catalysis where the optical purity of the product significantly exceeded the optical purity of the chiral ligand.     

An audit of technological innovation capabilities in chinese firms: some empirical findings in Beijing, China

Recent studies have advocated different technological innovation capabilities (TICs) and discussed their impact on a firm’s competitive performance. This paper introduces a study framework of innovation audit and examines the relevance of seven TICs to building and sustaining the competitiveness of Chinese firms. Empirical data was acquired through a recent study of 213 Chinese firms in Beijing, China. Regression analysis was employed to examine the correlation between TICs and innovation rate, sales growth, and product competitiveness among these firms. The findings verify that R&D and resources allocation capabilities are the two most important TICs. A strong R&D capability could safeguard innovation rate and product competitiveness in large and medium-sized firms, whereas a resources allocation capability would enhance the sales growth in small firms. However, the impact of learning and organising capabilities on a firm’s innovation performance has yet to be investigated.The findings of this paper suggest that Chinese firms should consider a more balanced focus on their TICs’ harmonising enhancement. In order to maintain their sustainable development, effectively plan and implement their innovation strategies as well as enhance their whole innovation capability, Chinese firms should closely relate their TICs to the formulation of technology strategy and harmonisation of innovation and R&D activities.     

A knowledge management perspective on Art Education

This paper applies concepts drawn from KM to Art Education. Specifically, the purpose of this paper is to study the knowledge types, knowledge sources, knowledge processes as well as factors affecting these processes in Art Education. The research was carried out using an interpretative case study methodology in Singapore. Apart from 26 one-to-one interviews conducted with various stakeholders of the Art Education community, on-site observations were made at 19 different Art Education events. Four major findings emerged. One, the knowledge types of Art Education in Singapore were a blend of different knowledge domains. Two, perceptible knowledge sources were those which conveyed an appearance of authority. Three, knowledge processes in Art Education were steeply humanistic. Finally, factors that affected knowledge processes were (i) the highly competitive Singapore education system, (ii) management support and policies, (iii) personal values and interests, (iv) workload and (v) the absorptive capacity of Art teachers. This paper concludes with a number of research and practical implications.     

Web 2.0 and folksonomies in a library context

Libraries have a societal purpose and this role has become increasingly important as new technologies enable organizations to support, enable and enhance the participation of users in assuming an active role in the creation and communication of information. Folksonomies, a Web 2.0 technology, represent such an example. Folksonomies result from individuals freely tagging resources available to them on a computer network. In a library environment folksonomies have the potential of overcoming certain limitations of traditional classification systems such as the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH). Typical limitations of this type of classification systems include, for example, the rigidity of the underlying taxonomical structures and the difficulty of introducing change in the categories. Folksonomies represent a supporting technology to existing classification systems helping to describe library resources more flexibly, dynamically and openly. As a review of the current literature shows, the adoption of folksonomies in libraries is novel and limited research has been carried out in the area. This paper presents research into the adoption of folksonomies for a University library. A Web 2.0 system was developed, based on the requirements collected from library stakeholders, and integrated with the existing library computer system. An evaluation of the work was carried out in the form of a survey in order to understand the possible reactions of users to folksonomies as well as the effects on their behavior. The broad conclusion of this work is that folksonomies seem to have a beneficial effect on users’ involvement as active library participants as well as encourage users to browse the catalogue in more depth.     

The 2004 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Engineering presented to Robert E. Newnham

The Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, awarded the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Engineering to Robert E. Newnham for his invention of multiphase piezoelectric transducers and their spatial architecture which revolutionized the field of acoustic imaging. The background and significance of his research is presented. Attention is focused on the impact his research prompted in the field of medical imaging, in particular non-invasive, real-time visualization of internal tissue and organs of human body using ultrasound energy. Societal impact of Dr. Newnham's work is also pointed out.     

Individual motivations and demographic differences in social virtual world uses: An exploratory investigation in Second Life

Emerging social virtual worlds (SVWs) are attracting attention from researchers and practitioners for the potential benefits they offer to many real-life domains such as business and education. The values of SVWs cannot be realized without a sufficient number of users; however, little research has been conducted to investigate the factors attracting people to use SVWs. The purpose of this paper is to explore individual motivations and differences in SVW uses based on the uses and gratifications paradigm and on the literature of Internet uses. Content analysis is adopted to code and categorize the responses from 188 users in Second Life (SL), one of the most popular SVWs. Results show that people use SL because of three types of motivations: functional, experiential, and social. Comparative analysis by gender, age, education, and experience using Chi-square tests suggests that (1) female users are more inclined to shopping, researching, and exploring within SL, whereas male users are more concerned with using SL for making money; (2) younger users are more likely to use SL for entertainment, while older users are more likely to use SL for creating and education; (3) users with higher education exert significantly more effort with in-world research and education than those who with lower levels of education; and (4) relative to their counterparts, experienced users are more aware of the values of SL for creating, education, and commerce. No significant inter-group difference of any experiential motivation has been found regarding education and experience. In addition, no significant individual difference has been found regarding social motivations.     

Inclusion or exclusion?: A narrative inquiry of a language teacher’s identity experience in the ‘new work order’ of competing pedagogies

This paper investigates how an EFL teacher negotiates her identity to adapt to the ‘new work order’ in an English education department at a university in China. From a narrative inquiry perspective, it aims to illuminate the complexity of teacher identity in the context of a reform where teachers must reconcile conflicting selves in order to contend with a workplace in which liberal and traditional pedagogies coexist. The findings show that teachers need to shift their identities to survive change. Exclusion from the workplace community of practice can be seen as an alternative form of participation in the reform practices.