Fields Of Physical Sciences Research Articles

Instructionally Supportive Accountability Tests in Science: A Viable Assessment Option?

Instructionally supportive accountability tests (a) measure students' mastery of only a modest number of extraordinarily important curricular aims; (b) describe what is to be assessed in clear, teacher-palatable language; and (c) report each student's results for every curricular aim assessed. To determine the suitability of such assessments to serve as the upcoming federally mandated science tests in the United States, an analysis of the potential applicability of instructionally supportive accountability tests in the field of physical science was carried out. It was concluded that this genre of accountability tests constitutes a viable option to satisfy U.S. requirements for accountability assessment in science. Such tests, while providing accurate school-evaluation data, can also serve as catalysts for improved instruction.

Raw, Ripe, Rot: Nineteenth-Century Pathologies of the American Aesthetic

The primary pitch of this article centers on the heated debate taking place throughout the nineteenth century between American art lovers, who were struggling to formulate an updated aesthetic grounded in Truth, Goodness, and Beauty worthy to express the ideals of the newly formed nation, and their often hostile opponents in the fields of physical sciences, whose fierce commitment to the rules of rigorous scientific inquiry disdained intellectually trivial pursuits such as the creation and evaluation of the plastic arts. I like what Charles Darwin had to say at the conclusion of Chapter 14 in The Origin of the Species: is interesting to contemplate an entangled bank, clothed with many plants of many kinds, with birds singing on the bushes, with various insects flitting about, and with worms crawling through the damp earth, and to reflect that these elaborately constructed forms, so different from each other, and dependent on each other in so complex a manner, have all been produced by laws acting around us (Darwin 174; emphasis added). As we know, the publication in 1859 of Darwin's Origin caused both fret and excitement. It threatened established philosophical positions, whereby science was defined by its ability to confirm a universe governed in its physical and spiritual sense by a priori absolutes; it wrenched open scientific inquiry to methods that stressed the randomness of process and nullified the monolithic certainties of progress. Nonetheless, the Crayon, the first art journal published in America and a major proponent of German Idealism, had nothing but praise for the quotation descriptive of that entangled bank: There is a grandeur in this view of life... that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved (May 1860, 150).' However much Darwin's notions might shake previous notions of how one responds to the science of God's natural

Making a map of science: General systems theory as a conceptual framework for tertiary science education

As a result of the reductionist approach to science curricula in tertiary education, students are learning science in a fragmented way. With the purpose of providing students with tools for a more holistic understanding of science, an integrated approach based on the use of general systems theory (GST) and the concept of 'mapping' scientific knowledge (its relationships, connections and generalities) is developed. GST is used as the core methodology for understanding science and its complexity. By analogy with geographic maps, we introduce scales of educational 'science maps' - scales of integration. Three principal scales of integration can be distinguished in GST, which we consider necessary for GST to be effectively applied in education. They are (a) the scale of branches and fields of science, (b) the scale of hypotheses and theories, and (c) the scale of structures and hierarchies. Examples of each of these three scales are provided from the field of physical science. The role of the scientific community in producing accessible, and essential, maps of scientific knowledge for science education is discussed.

A Catálise no Brasil nos últimos 25 anos: uma história de sucesso

In the last 25 years the research in catalysis has passed from heterogeneous processes mainly applied to petrochemical industries to homogeneous processes applied to fine chemicals and green chemistry. In this context the Brazilian Chemical Society (SBQ) is playing an important role in the organization of this interdisciplinary area involving researches from different fields of physical sciences.

Tectonic change: The qualitative paradigm in psychology.

Abstract Qualitative methods are presented as a candidate for a new paradigm in psychology. Thomas Kuhn's ideas about the role of paradigms and their stagnation and replacement in science are applied to 20th century events in psychology -- principally the shifts from structuralist introspection to behaviourism and then to cognitive science. For heuristic purposes, I suggest that the quantitative emphasis, with its identified shortcomings, may have reached the replacement stage with so-called big-Q research as the new paradigm. Following Kuhn's analysis, I discuss the reasons why new paradigms are difficult to accept even though they may, in the end, answer questions left untouched by ossified approaches. The earth's crust is made up of huge segments called tectonic plates that float on the mantle below. Their movement is responsible for such slow but momentous changes as continental drift and the building of mountains, and the sudden changes represented by earthquakes. The characteristics of tectonic change include an appearance of ordinary life at the surface, while far below forces are at work, grinding toward a minor tremor, or a major quake that can change the surface for good. Only careful monitoring with sophisticated instruments will disclose to those on the surface the possibility of sudden and perhaps cataclysmic change. For most, it is business as usual until the pictures start falling from the walls. this paper I want to use the metaphor of tectonic change to describe the tension between two paradigms in psychological research: quantitative and qualitative. Thought experiments explore what the situation might look like if some state of affairs were the case. What forces might empower qualitative research to become, if not the dominant paradigm in psychology, at least closer to sharing dominance with hypothesistesting quantitative research? The idea of tectonic change is similar to Thomas Kuhn's notion of paradigm shifts in science. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1970) he described the shifts in scientific thinking from Ptolemaic to Copernican astronomy, from Newton's dynamics to Einstein's, and the shifts in perspective necessary for a range of discoveries including oxygen, x-rays, and the neutrino. I will begin by defining paradigm as Kuhn uses the term. Then I will talk about the grounds for thinking of qualitative research as a viable candidate for an alternative paradigm. Since the acceptance of a new paradigm would involve some supplanting of the present hypothesis-testing quantitative model, I will offer reasons why paradigms lose their grip on a domain. Then I will ask what sorts of people tend to challenge the dominant paradigm, and, finally, why change is so fiercely resisted. Kuhn, a physicist, was unsure whether the social sciences could even be said to have paradigms, and hence to experience paradigm change. For instance, he commented: In parts of biology - the study of heredity, for example - the first universally received paradigms are... recent; and it remains an open question what parts of social science have yet to acquire such paradigms at all (p. 15). Only mature sciences, in Kuhn's view, qualify as having paradigms. One knows that a science is mature when it is no longer comprehensible to the general, intelligent public. Kuhn may have thought that the social sciences were still too accessible to qualify. He said that paradigmatic normal science is marked by its incomprehensibility outside the fraternity; ...most... fields of physical science ceased to be generally accessible [to the public] in the nineteenth [century]. Similar transitions can be isolated in the various parts of the biological sciences. parts of the social sciences they may well be occurring today (p. 20-21). Kuhn's view of the social sciences is that of an outsider; contrary to his musings, most historians of psychology (e.g., Benjafield, 1996; Hergenhahn, 1997; Leahy, 1997) do think of the discipline as having paradigms, and having undergone 20h century paradigm shifts - in particular from behaviourism to cognitive psychology. …

Esa Microgravity Research Activities In The Field Of Physical Sciences And Applications

During the eighties, microgravity research focussed predominantly on the investigation of fundamental phenomena, often with limited industrial support. Although this approach led to some rather impressive breakthroughs in terms of new theoretical insights and microgravity experimentation, the need for increased co-ordination and interest from industry became increasingly apparent. In this decade, a user-driven research strategy has been instigated by ESA to promote microgravity research. The objective is to coordinate ESA, national activities and industry into an overall European strategy, which will allow valuable application-oriented microgravity research to be performed aboard the International Space Station (ISS). On this basis, it is expected that scientific progress will evolve even more rapidly due to the easier planning, regular access and longer experiment-durations associated with the ISS. This paper highlights the wealth of microgravity research being co-ordinated by ESA in the field of physical sciences. A number of key areas of research under microgravity conditions are currently being explored such as alloy solidification, crystal growth,measurement of thermophysical properties, combustion mechanisms, fluid flow, cold atom physics and complex plasmas, to name but a few. The following sections will provide background information relating to the various ESA research programmes, as well as emphasising their microgravity relevance.

Chronicle. Vol 75, No 6 (1994)

From August 21 to August 27, 1994, Kazan hosted the XXVII International Ampre Congress dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the phenomenon of electron paramagnetic resonance by Evgeny Konstantinovich Zavoisky at Kazan University. This discovery is one of the outstanding achievements of the 20th century: it determined the development of a separate field of physical science - magnetic radio spectroscopy, associated with the names of S. Altshuler, B. Kozyrev, B. Blipi, A. Abraham, V. Voevodsky, K. Hausser, N. Wolf, K. Hutchinson, S. Weissman, D. Hyde and others.

Maximum Entropy Inversion of Induction-Log Data

Summary This paper describes the development and application of some new algorithms based on the maximum entropy method (MEM) for inverting (i.e., deconvolving) induction-log data. The MEM has earned a reputation in many physical science fields as a technique that provides robust and accurate reconstructions of instrumentally blurred data. Dyos recently applied a MEM algorithm to the inversion of synthetic deep-induction-log data. This paper develops some new MEM algorithms that are applied to inversion of model data and to field data from the PhasorSM induction tool. The new algorithms overcome some of the limitations of previous inversion methods and inverse-deconvolution-filter techniques. This paper examines two different MEM algorithms. The first algorithm is based on a functional used to study MEM inversions of synthetic data with a Doll approximation forward model. A second, more efficient MEM algorithm, based on a new Lagrangian functional, is used with an exact forward model to study the inversion of a field log and some model formations. Use of an exact forward model is essential in obtaining accurate and high-resolution MEM inversions in the presence of skin and shoulder effects. The MEM inversions of model data and field logs exhibit vertical resolution, accuracy, and stability that exceed those obtainable with state-of-the-art linear inverse filters. An example of the MEM inversion of a field log in a formation with numerous high-contrast thin beds is discussed and compared with the spherically focused log (SFLSM) and the deep enhanced-resolution Phasor- (IDERSM-) processed log. The MEM inversion exhibits resolution comparable to that of the SFL. It is shown that, as a byproduct, the MEM provides synthetic logs that serve as a self-consistency check on both the quality of entered data and the validity of the Rt profile obtained from inversion.

Charles Hurd and colloid research at Union College, 1923-1959

A brief look at a biography of a professor at a small four-year school with a long, successful career of important contributions to the field of physical science.

Use of polarization in electromagnetic inverse scattering

The complete description of electromagnetic scattering processes implies polarization and since an electromagnetic scatterer acts like a polarization transformer we require measurements for the complete description of the target scattering matrices so that the descriptive parameters of a scatterer can be uniquely recovered from the measured field data. For the purpose of introducing the concept of polarization utilization in practice, the radar case is chosen and generalizations to other electromagnetic inverse problems are presented in the conclusions. For example, in radar target discrimination, identification and imaging use of measurement data available over the entire spatial frequency domain of the radar cross section must be made leading to various approximate frequency domain related approaches. Mainly for historical reasons of having had amplitude data available only, in most cases the approximations had been simplified to purely scalar nature; i.e., polarization‐dependent properties were discarded, and the resulting theories are no longer valid or unique. It is the main objective of this analysis to show that because of the vector nature of electromagnetic inverse scattering, theories, if applicable in practice, require incorporation of complete polarization information into their formulation. By applying this approach to existing theories, it is shown that remarkable improvements in fidelity and quality of the reconstructed images are obtained and that indeed there is ample justification for continuing efforts in developing methods and theories of inverse scattering applicable to all those fields of physical sciences where information on the characteristic parameters of a scattering process is to be drawn from remote measurements, be it the electromagnetic vector case or the even more complicated seismic case of s and p wave interactions in elastic media.

Systematic Mapping of Fracture Morphology

Detailed examination of fracture surfaces reveals characteristic forms which have been incorporated in a system of mapping symbols. The symbols apply equally well for all nonshear fracture surfaces in a variety of materials and scales examined so far. It is believed that all such fractures can be described graphically in this manner regardless of material type and loading condition in a scale range of seven or more orders of magnitude. This fact needs to be clearly established and widely recognized in order that observations made at the submicroscopic, microscopic, megascopic, and perhaps larger scales can be interrelated for the benefit of investigators in different fields of physical science.

On Partially Linked Block Designs

Youden [8] introduced a new class of designs called Linked Block (LB) designs, where a LB design is defined as that in which any two blocks of the design have the same number of treatments in common. Later, the same author together with Connor [9] presented a set of designs called `chain block designs' useful in the field of Physical Sciences. These designs can be considered as `not fully linked block designs'. In this paper we shall extend the idea of LB designs in yet another way by defining Partially Linked Block (PLB) designs. The basic motive in introducing PLB designs is to generalise the notion of LB designs and also to see how far the existing designs yield new PBIB designs. Consider an arrangement of $v$ treatments in $b$ blocks of $k$ plots each $(k < v)$, such that each treatment occurs at most once in any block and altogether in $r$ blocks. This is called an incomplete block design and is denoted by $D(v, b, k, r)$. We have $bk = vr$. When $b = v$, the design becomes symmetric. The incidence matrix $N = (n_{ij}) (i = 1, 2, \cdots, v; j = 1, 2, \cdots, b)$, where $n_{ij} = 1$ or 0 according as the $i$th treatment occurs or does not occur in the $j$th block characterises such a design completely.

Computations from Elliptical Wind Distribution Statistics

Abstract A knowledge of winds and their distribution may be used to our advantage, for winds play an important part in all phases of our life. Winds are three dimensional but for most purposes they are considered only in their two dimensional from along horizontal surfaces. Although exceptional are noted, winds in the free atmosphere may be considered to be homogeneous and normally distributed. They may be treated statistically. This requires the evaluation of the integral of the elliptical bivariate normal distribution over offset circles or polygons. Various other problems in the fields of physical science also require the same treatment. Continued effort on the part of many individuals and organizations has resulted in the preparation of tabular material which facilitates the required evaluation of the integral. The estimation of the frequency of winds from any given point, sector or area is now possible with the use of estimates of the statistical parameters of a wind distribution. The procedures disc...

CİHAN TARİHÎNİN YENİ İMAJI

This study analyzes with examples that views about the history of the world have changed since the beginning of the twentieth century. It has been discussed whether there has been a transformation in the field of history after the discussion of a start of fundamental transformation in the field of physical sciences, especially in theoretical physics. These subjects are discussed with examples, and it has been emphasized that an analysis of the history of world should not be restricted to the east, the antiquity and the west as it is in classical understanding. Consequently, it has been presented that a pluralistic approach to history, including a study of religion, political events, and cultures, becomes a necessity.

The Physics of Local Motion

THE PHYSICS OF LOCAL MOTION I T HE science of local motion is fundamental in natural philosophyo Locomotion is the primary kind of motion; it is generated last of the three kinds of motion so that in order of being it is first, as the Philosopher has observedo1 Thus, owing to its primacy, a proper knowledge of the nature of local motion is necessary for a full understanding of the first of the five ways by which St. Thomas establishes by reasoning the existence of God as the Author of Nature, namely, the argument from motion in the world.2 In the philosophia perennis, unfolded by Plato, Aristotle, the later Greek and Roman philosophers, and the Jewish, Arab, and Christian doctors of succeeding ages, motion is recognized as a transition from a state of potentiality to a state of actuality; further, such a transition to actuality can only come about by the influence of something already in a state of actuality; hence we have the principle that whatever is in motion must be moved by anothero This principle illuminated the sciences of Nature and guided philosophers along sure paths during those ages in which the philosophia perennis was the inspiration of an but a few eccentric and misguided individuals. However, since the revolution in physical science in the seventeenth century and the appearance of sciences of Nature alien to the philosophia perennis, an entirely different doctrine concerning local motion has generally prevailed. Newton's first law of motion lays down that every body in the universe continues in its state of rest or of uniform motion in a straight line unless compelled by external force to change that state, On Newtonian 1 Aristotle, de Caelo, 310 b 33-35; Physic., 243 a 12; 260 a 26-29; etc. 2 Summa Theologiae, I, q. 2, a. 3. 145 146 GAVIN ARDLEY dynamics a freely moving body does not require an external mover; a mover is required only to change the motion of the body, i.e. to cause acceleration, not to continue its steady state of motion; the Newtonian theory of locomotion thus evokes the principle of the inertia or impetus or momentum possessed by bodies. Newton's doctrine is thus quite at variance with the doctrine of Aristotle and SL Thomas according to which a moving body must be moved continuously by another agent if its movement is not to cease. The Newtonian system was not wholly new; it was rather the definitive form of doctrines of motion which were propounded in the fourteenth century by Jean Buridan, Nicolas Oresme, and others of the University of Paris; doctrines which became ever more widely disseminated until their final triumph in the seventeenth century with Galileo, Descartes, Newton and hosts of others who participated in the elan of the times. These doctrines of motion are quite foreign to the philosophia perennis; with the triumph of the impetus doctrine in the seventeenth century came the general abandonment of the traditional doctrine of motion; the ancient science of nature with its rich patrimony of so many centuries henceforth found no hearing in the universities of Europe; the ancient learning was preserved in obscurity by a discriminating few, for the most part in the seclusion of the cloister, while the learned world followed new and seductive paths. Further, not only were the Aristotelian doctrines of motion abandoned in the seventeenth century, but the whole framework of the philosophia perennis was given up at the same time by the generality of philosophers, and indeed has :remained in general oblivion to this day. There are no doubt many reasons for this great seventeenth century tidal movement in philosophical opinion, but prominent among them is this: it was believed very widely that the experimental physics of Galileo and Newton had overthrown the Aristotelian physics, and it was further generally believed that this defeat in the field of physical science was of such a fundamental character that the THE PHYSICS OF LOCAL MOTION 147 whole Aristotelian system was thereby rendered untenable, and that other philosophies of the world must be sought. The science of motion was certainly not the prime mover in the philosophical revolution; for that we must...

Measurement of Radioactive Isotopes

RADIOACTIVE isotopes, now articles of commerce, are finding increasing uses in biological and medical experiments and even in clinical treatment of diseases. For these reasons the determination of the number of radioactive atoms in a sample of radioactive isotope has become a matter of great importance. Uniform quantitative results in all laboratories can be obtained only by using procedures that will yield absolute measurements or by the use of uniform standards of comparison that will, under proper conditions of measurement, give the same result whenever the determination is made. Establishment of standards for radioisotope measurements—as for quantitative measurements in all fields of physical science—is the responsibility of the National Bureau of Standards. Detailed and accurate information must therefore be made available so that standard radioactive samples being furnished by the bureau to biological, medical, educational, and industrial laboratories can be used in a way to assure correct and relia...

Kansas Academy of Science: 1944: Famous Early American Observatories

Strangely enough, of the various fields of physical science in which I have received training and which training, in turn, I have been endeavoring to impart to my students, the one of which I probably know the least, intrigued me the most. I refer to the field of astronomy. Although other fields beckoned vainly trying to distract my attention and capture the center-stage of my thinking, astronomy, nevertheless, won out. But even here, there was a conflict as to whether I should speak on Methods of Determining Stellar Distances, or on America's Famous Observatories. Probably the fact that I had previously published concerning the former topic, is the reason for my choice of the latter. But to my dismay, after several years' work, I awoke to the fact, almost too late, that instead of a speech, I had compiled a book which accounts for the limitation imposed on my original title. Consequently, what follows will be merely a narration of the events which led to the foundation and later development of several of the earliest extant American observatories.

Measurements of Teaching

T HE extensive Pennsylvania Study has shared with other factors in bringing about many changes in teaching at the college level. The report of the investigation contains a large amount of interesting and valuable data, together with numerous challenging statements. Researchers in this field may well be expected to report on less extensive studies of phases of the investigation. The present paper reports certain results of a statistical study in which one of the Pennsylvania tests plays an important part. At Montana State University a course, The Introduction to Physical Science, has been offered for several years. This course is of the survey type and runs for three quarters. It is open to students at any stage in their college career who have not covered an essential part of the work in other college courses. A large portion of each class is made up of first-year students. year the class is tested at the beginning of the course and again at the end of the course by means of a comprehensive test over the field of physical science. The test used from 1934 to 1938, inclusive, is from one of the early editions of the Pennsylvania test; only the questions bearing on the particular field were included. The attempt has been made to compute an index of relative improvement from the results of this test, and to study this improvement. A second problem which presented itself was that of determining whether a certain portion of the students registering might not be exempted from the course on the basis of the test. This led to the comparison of progress made by those with little preparation, as measured by the comprehensive test, and those with much better preparation. Incidentally, this seems a fair test of the following statements from the report of the Pennsylvania study. Each individual has some level peculiar to himself at which his education in any given subject must begin. . . . There exist only different starting points from which alone progress is possible.' The statistical data upon which the present study is based, consist of six entries for each of 565 students. The nature of these entries is shown in Table I by giving actual data for the first five students. The first is standing in the comprehensive test in physical science before taking the survey course in physical science

The Specific Heat of Solids and the Principle of Similitude

The writer has already presented (1) a number of derivations in widely different fields of physical science, all of which are based on a single postulate which may be called the principle of similitude. In the present article we shall make use of this same principle in deriving a formula for the specific heat of homogeneous, isotropic, elastic substances.