The advent of chemical symbolism in the art of Sonya Rapoport

This paper explores the use of chemical symbolism in works by the new media artist Sonya Rapoport, with a focus on the pivotal Cobalt series from the late 1970s. These works, drawings on computer printouts generated by research at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, respond to experiments in nuclear chemistry. They mark the beginning of three productive decades in which Rapoport produced a variety of images related to chemistry in her work. She states, “I looked for authentic research projects that were interesting to me, preferably with captivating pictorial subject matter. Then came the creative chaotic process of resolving a cohesive product that combined scientific research with art concept.” Rapoport had an unusual degree of access to scientific materials through her husband, organic chemist Henry Rapoport, a faculty member at the University of California, Berkeley. At the time of production, these works were outside mainstream art world interests and they have received little critical attention. This paper examines the development of Rapoport’s images and places her use of chemical references in context in her lifetime of work.

Global Interval Methods for Local Nonsmooth Optimization

An interval method for determining local solutions of nonsmooth unconstrained optimization problems is discussed. The objective function is assumed to be locally Lipschitz and to have appropriate interval inclusions. The method consists of two parts, a local search and a global continuation and termination. The local search consists of a globally convergent descent algorithm showing similarities to -bundle methods. While -bundle methods use polytopes as inner approximations of the -subdifferentials, which are the main tools of almost all bundle concepts, our method uses axes parallel boxes as outer approximations of the -subdifferentials. The boxes are determined almost automatically with inclusion techniques of interval arithmetic. The dimension of the boxes is equal to the dimension of the problem and remains constant during the whole computation. The application of boxes does not suffer from the necessity to invest methodical and computational efforts to adapt the polytopes to the latest state of the computation as well as to simplify them when the number of vertices becomes too large, as is the case with the polytopes. The second part of the method applies interval techniques of global optimization to the approximative local solution obtained from the search of the first part in order to determine guaranteed error bounds or to improve the solution if necessary. We present prototype algorithms for both parts of the method as well as a complete convergence theory for them and demonstrate how outer approximations can be obtained.     

An axiomatic characterization of the Hirsch-index

The Hirsch-index is a well-known index for measuring and comparing the output of scientific researchers. The main contribution of this article is an axiomatic characterization of the Hirsch-index in terms of three natural axioms. Furthermore, two other scientific impact indices (called the w-index and the maximum-index) are defined and characterized in terms of similar axioms.     

关于高校科技管理队伍建设的思考

本文主要讨论了在社会主义市场经济体制下高校科学管理队伍建设的有关问题。     

Einstein—Podolsky—Rosen experiments: The structure of the probability space. II

In part I, we have described the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen experiments in the framework of an axiomatic probability theory. In part II, we present the proofs of the results stated in part I.     

The entropy change on melting of simple substances

It is shown that the volume independent component, R 1n 2, of the entropy of melting, ΔS_m, for argon persists, unchanged, some distance into the fluid phase as a configurational entropy. For argon, sodium, and caesium in its normal melting regime ΔS_m = Rln 2 + αB_TδV_m, where ΔV_m is the volume change on melting and αB_T is the temperature independent product of the thermal expansion coefficient and the isothermal bulk modulus.     

Atom and aether in nineteenth-century physical science

This paper suggests that the cases made for atoms and the aether in nineteenth-century physical science were analogous, with the implication that the case for the atom was less than compelling, since there is no aether. It is argued that atoms did not play a productive role in nineteenth-century chemistry any more than the aether did in physics. Atoms and molecules did eventually find an indispensable home in chemistry but by the time that they did so they were different kinds of entities to those figuring in the speculations of those natural philosophers who were atomists. Advances in nineteenth-century chemistry were a precondition for rather than the result of the productive introduction of atoms into chemistry.

关于物理化学课程基本内容教学改革的建议

对物理化学教学改革提出以下4条建议：(1)教学内容要适应科学发展;(2)内容构架要以解决科学问题为主线;(3)教学要注重沟通知识模块间的科学联系;(4)明确指出各知识模块的科学应用。     

农林类高校《高分子材料新进展》课程教学改革初探

《高分子材料新进展》是我国部分农林类高校高分子材料与工程专业开设的本科专业限选课程。根据农林类高校的专业特色和高分子材料专业人才培养的需求,在教学过程中通过调整课程教学内容、改善教学方法与手段、积极探索教学考核方式等途径,从而使学生开阔视野,进一步丰富专业基础理论知识,培养和激发学生的学习和科研兴趣,提高分析问题和解决实践问题的能力,以满足社会和科学研究对专业人才的需求。     

能源与环境系统工程专业工程化学课程的教学改革与实践

工程化学课程是本校非化学化工专业(能源与环境系统工程专业)的一门学科基础课程。该课程的目的是锻炼学生的化学思维能力,通过学习工程应用中的化学理论,提高学生运用化学知识解决实际问题的能力。本文阐述了本校工程化学课程的教学理念和授课情况,对教学内容和方法进行了深入的改革与实践,详细介绍了课程建设、课堂教学、课下反馈与评价、科研相辅、教学工作的反思与总结,进一步阐述了教学环节的教育探索与实践总结,使工程化学课程的教学质量得到了提高。