Collection Of Disciplines Research Articles

Software-defined radio: a new paradigm for integrated curriculum delivery

Software-defined radio is a rapidly developing field that is driving the development of and innovation in communications technology, and promises to significantly impact all communications sectors. Entities developing these SDR systems require a trained workforce that has been prepared with the mindset, knowledge, skills, and tools required to address both the system (breadth) and technical (depth) aspects of SDR systems. Developing SDRs necessarily involves a collection of disciplines including, but not limited to, electromagnetics, radio-frequency engineering, communications, digital signal processing, embedded systems, computer programming, and systems engineering. Whereas electrical engineering and computer science and engineering curricula at the university level may include courses in all of these areas, a student?s typical curriculum does not; nor does it usually involve the integration of all these topics. However, SDR can be employed as an integrative construct that facilitates systems thinking and cross-domain learning via peers. In this article, we present several significant educational efforts across six U.S. universities that have developed integrated curricula in SDR, most including a significant laboratory component.

Bioethics and the sociology of trust: introduction to the theme

We were honored when the editors of Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy invited us to edit a collection of articles on sociology and bioethics. Had this invitation been issued a decade ago, it is likely that we would have collected a number of articles that argued for the inclusion for sociology in the collection of disciplines that make up bioethics. Fortunately, we are now past the point where that argument must be made: for better or for worse, the social sciences are now part of the bioethical enterprise. Of course (as sociologists would predict) the place of social science in bioethics varies by cultural and social context. In the Netherlands and Belgium the creation of “empirical bioethics” has given social science an established voice in the bioethical conversation (Borry, Schotsmans and Dierickx, 2005; Van der Scheer and Widdershoven, 2004). In North America and the UK, social science methods are widely used in bioethics, but social scientists remain, to a certain extent, strangers to the field1 (Hedgecoe, 2004; De Vries, 2004).

Disproportionality as a Framework for Linking Social and Biophysical Systems

ABSTRACT Interdisciplinary research is capable of investigating questions that no single or independent collection of disciplines can address. This interdisciplinary approach was used to investigate why nonpoint source pollution to a lake had not changed even though the often cited social drivers of this situation had changed significantly. The concept of disproportionality was adapted to examine social and biophysical interactions at different spatial and temporal scales to address this situation. Rather than using social and biophysical variable as contextual or additive relative to each other, we examined their interactive or multiplicative effects at coarse and fine spatial and temporal scales. Limited occurrence of inappropriate behaviors in vulnerable biophysical settings resulted in disproportionate environmental impacts. The concept of disproportionality implies that the environmental meaning placed on any social behavior requires accounting for where and when it occurs in a biophysical setting, and that a few outliers can determine system performance and outcomes.

Social Pharmacology: Conceptual Remarks

Traditionally, knowledge about drug mechanism of action and clinical use was derived largely from studies conducted by clinical pharmacologists and therapeutic specialists. More recently, a broader concept of drug use, social pharmacology, has attracted growing interest and recognition. Building on the foundation provided by clinical research, this discipline encompasses the multiple dimensions associated with “real world” use of drugs during the postmarketing period. Physicians, pharmacists, nurses, biologists, epidemiologists, and economists, together with lawyers and regulators, insurance specialists, and communications specialists all contribute to this broader assessment of drug use. Thus, social pharmacology brings together a broad collection of disciplines pertaining to evaluating the efficacy, safety, effectiveness, compliance, self-medication, and consumption of economic resources associated with the use of pharmaceutical products. Application of evidence-based treatment guidelines; measures of d...

Professor William C. Reeves: scholar, teacher, and friend.

Please let me tell you about Bill Reeves as scholar, teacher, and friend. I cannot recall a more pleasant, yet challenging, assignment. Some of what I have to say is well known to many of those present, and many of you could add much of substance to this presentation; but there are little known facts which are important to the perspective that must evolve from today's program, and even a few personal recollections that I am eager to share. William Carlisle Reeves was born on 2 December 1916, on a small farm in what is now downtown Riverside, California. He grew up on that farm. He learned, lived, loved, and has worked all his life in this state. William Reeves is thus a quintessential Californian, a fact of which, all who know him realize, he is quietly very proud. Dr. Reeves dates his interest in entomology to junior high school and a biology teacher, Fred Estes, who started him on the disciplined collection and study of butterflies.

Core Curriculum in Allied Health Education

In recent months the allied health professions have been enjoying a great deal of attention from educators interested in the development of a core curriculum. Although at one time or another almost every academic area has been a focus for similar interest, none can claim to be a more likely or persistent cynosure. What is there about these health related specialties which have made them so attractive a target for this activity? First, the very name allied health professions suggests that there exists among this diverse group a commonality of objectives as well as a sense of teamwork, and implicit in this is the likelihood that there is or should be a sharing of learning experiences. More important, however, is their sheer weight of numbers. No other group of health professionals augurs to grow as rapidly as this burgeoning collection of disciplines. Many of us concerned with the delivery of