北魏天文学成就初探

北魏政权对汉文化采取积极吸收方针，设置天文机构，重视人才的选拔与使用，积极收集、整理天文资料，兴建天文台，制造天文仪器，因此，北魏的天文学取得了长足的进展．其中浑仪、李兰秤漏、天象厅成为天文学史上的重要事件，对中国天文学的发展起了积极的作用．     

中西合璧的辽代天文历法

辽朝疆域辽阔,声威远播,在科技文化方面也有建树.辽代的天文历法表现出中西合璧的性质,在当时比较先进,很有特色.     

The Effect of Verbal and Visuo-Spatial Abilities on the Development of Knowledge of the Earth

Difficulties in students’ understanding of the spherical model of the Earth have been shown in previous studies. One of the reasons for these difficulties lies in beliefs and preliminary knowledge that hinder the interpretation of the scientific knowledge, the other reason may lie in the low level of verbal and visuo-spatial abilities. The study aims to investigate the effect of verbal and visuo-spatial abilities, but also that of preliminary knowledge on the later development of the knowledge of the Earth in school. 176 schoolchildren (96 boys and 80 girls) from five schools were tested; the mean age of the children during the first interview was seven years and eight months. All students were interviewed twice – in grades 1 and 2, before and after they had learnt the topic in school. Factual, scientific and synthetic knowledge was assessed. The facilitative effect of visuo-spatial and verbal abilities and preliminary factual and scientific knowledge on students’ knowledge of astronomy after having learnt the topic in school was shown. In contrast, the hindering effect of synthetic knowledge was not found.     

对《宇宙新概念》课程教学改革的体会

《宇宙新概念》作为武汉大学一门开设了二十多年的通识选修课,选课人数累计达3.5万余人。该课程2014年入选素质教育国家精品通选课,2016年开始在中国大学MOOC课程网上线,2017年获国家精品在线课程称号,两年多来网上累计选课人数达5.5万余人。2018年入选武汉大学第一批核心通识课。本文就《宇宙新概念》这门课程所解决的教学问题及其特点进行了较详尽的分析,以及如何通过教学方法、教学内容等的改革,来吸引更多学生选课,扩大课程的影响力,提高学生对天文学的认识和理解,由此帮助学生建立正确的世界观。     

新方法与旧占验——中国古代的“凌犯”观测与推算

文章梳理了不同时期“凌犯”的定义及标准的差异,认为随着观测及推算精度的提高,凌犯的标准开始不断细化。在回回历法之前,中国传统历法无法预报凌犯,所以凌犯主要依据实际观测。因星占上的迫切需求,使得古代天象记录中存有数量庞大的凌犯观测记录。随着回回历法被用于凌犯推算,外来的新知识得以与旧有的中国传统星占相结合,成为重要的占验手段。明清之际,凌犯的地位不断上升,成为仅次于日月食的重要天象,还被作为一种有效的方法用于检验历法疏密。与此同时,随着西方天文学知识的传入,人们对凌犯认识和理解不断地深入,开始逐步质疑其在星占中的地位,新的天文知识也对旧的星占理论带来了新的挑战。     

A “Thinking Journey” to the Planets Using Scientific Visualization Technologies: Implications to Astronomy Education

We present a novel approach to teaching astronomy and planetary sciences, centered on visual images and simulations of planetary objects. The basic idea of the Thinking Journey concept is to take the students to other celestial objects as tourists, and to teach science through the observatio of various natural phenomena in these new environments. The power of scientific visualization, through still and dynamic images, makes such a journey an exciting learning experience. The introduction of new technologies (3D animations, virtual reality) greatly enhances the visualization capabilities the teacher can use, allowing him to simulate actual flights over the terrain of other planets and to study them as if observing from a spaceship in orbit. The present program focuses on the study of the Moon and of the planet Mars, by means of observation, interpretation, and comparison to planet Earth. Students learn to recognize geological and atmospheric processes, discuss astronomic phenomena, and discover that the same basic physical laws govern all objects in the solar system.     

国家自然科学基金数理学部重点项目的计量分析

以国家自然科学基金数理科学部17年来530项重点资助项目为对象,对重点项目的资助金额、依托单位、学科领域状况进行定量分析。得出以下结论:近年来数理科学部重点项目的资助总金额占当年自然科学基金总额的比例稳定地保持在2%左右,资助强度逐年提高,保证了数学和物理学等基础研究的稳步发展;重点项目的依托单位主要集中在中国科学院、北京大学和复旦大学等国家级的科研机构和重点大学;在学科领域上,重点项目主要关注数学、力学、天文学和物理学领域的世界研究前沿、研究热点、具有原创性的理论研究、国民经济发展中的重大基础理论问题以及与其他学科交叉的重大研究项目。通过对国家自然科学基金数理科学部重点项目的计量研究,揭示了国家在数学和物理学等学科领域研究前沿的重大部署情况及发展目标。     

先秦水文化蠡析

中国古人对水的认识是非常早的。先秦文献中对水的各方讨论,表现出古哲圣贤的智慧。道家老子和儒家孔子的观水之论,反映了儒道二家对人生世界不同的思路。战国时期的《管子·水地》篇反映了稷下学派对水的认识,管子治水不发虚妄之言,其措施管理比较务真求实。先秦设置的水官制度,基本上有两项任务:治水,保护水资源环境。     

Content-Based Image Retrieval in Astronomy

Content-based image retrieval in astronomy needs methods that can deal with an image content made of noisy and diffuse structures. This motivates investigations on how information should be summarized and indexed for this specific kind of images. The method we present first summarizes the image information content by partitioning the image in regions with same texture. We call this process texture summarization. Second, indexing features are generated by examining the distribution of parameters describing image regions. Indexing features can be associated with global or local image characteristics. Both kinds of indexing features are evaluated on the retrieval system of the Zurich archive of solar radio spectrograms. The evaluation shows that generating local indexing features using self-organizing maps yields the best effectiveness of all tested methods.