Exploring the parallelism between change in students' conceptions and historical change in the concept of inertia

This study investigates students' conceptions of inertia and compares these conceptions with historical change in the concept. A total of 736 students from four different age groups (i.e., age 11, 13, 15 and 17) participated in the survey. Questions in the questionnaire represent problems related to the concept of inertia which have been argued by past scientists such as Aristotle, Buridan, Galileo, and Newton. The questionnaire contained three questions, each concerned with one of the following applications of inertia: natural motion, the motion of a flying spear, and the falling motion of a stone on a moving ship. The results of the survey showed that there were considerable similarities as well as dissimilarities between students' conceptions and the views of past scientists. It is suggested that this kind of comparison studies would give useful background information on change in students' conceptions. To this day every student of elementary physics has to struggle with the same errors and misconceptions which then had to be overcome, and on a reduced scale, in the teaching of this branch of knowledge in schools, history repeats itself every year. (Dijksterhuis, 1961, p. 30)     

Performance effects of partnership between manufacturers and suppliers for new product development: the supplier’s standpoint

This study analyzes the effects of supplier involvement in a manufacturer’s new product development on the supplier’s financial performance, innovation, and product quality with data from 128 suppliers in the Korean automobile and electronics industries. The results indicate that a higher level of supplier’s involvement positively influences innovation and financial performance. The results generally indicate that a higher level of supplier involvement, especially in the form of involvement in the design stage significantly increases suppliers’ innovation and cash-flow rate. However, the positive effect of supplier involvement on quality was observed only in the electronics industry.     

A microfluidic platform for studying the effects of small temperature gradients in an incubator environment

Studies on the effects of variations in temperature and mild temperature gradients on cells, gels, and scaffolds are important from the viewpoint of biological function. Small differences in temperature are known to elicit significant variations in cell behavior and individual protein reactivity. For the study of thermal effects and gradients in vitro, it is important to develop microfluidic platforms which are capable of controlling temperature gradients in an environment which mimics the range of physiological conditions. In the present paper, such a microfluidic thermal gradient system (μTGS) system is proposed which can create and maintain a thermal gradient throughout a cell-seeded gel matrix using the hot and cold water supply integrated in the system in the form of a countercurrent heat exchanger. It is found that a uniform temperature gradient can be created and maintained in the device even inside a high temperature and high humidity environment of an incubator. With the help of a hot and cold circuit controlled from outside the incubator the temperature gradient can be regulated. A numerical simulation of the device demonstrates the thermal feature of the chip. Cell viability and activity under a thermal gradient are examined by placing human breast cancer cells in the device.     

Does segmenting principle counteract modality principle in instructional animation?

This study investigated the segmenting and modality principles in instructional animation. Two segmentation conditions (active pause vs. passive pause) were presented in combination with two modality conditions (written text vs. spoken text). The results showed that the significant effect was found in relation to segmentation conditions, whereas the modality effect was not found. The groups with embedded questions (ie, active pause) between segments outperformed pause‐only groups (ie, passive pause) on both recall and transfer tests regardless of the mode of text. The findings of the study imply that a stimulus (eg, testing occasion) would be more effective than only pauses between segments.