On learning that could have happened: The same tale in two cities

In this commognitive study, we take a close look at the interactive problem-solving by two middle-school students’ dyads, one of which participated in research conducted in Montreal, Canada in 1992, and the other, 25 years later, was a part of a classroom investigation in Melbourne, Australia. The present study was inspired by the second author’s impression of similarity between the two cases. Our analyses, conducted with the help of special constructs, participation profiles, participation structures and roles-in-activity, brought two types of results. First, striking likeness was identified between the two cases in the characteristics of interactions that could be responsible for the production and utilization of learning opportunities. Role conflict likely experienced by the participants emerged as a factor undermining the effectiveness of learning-in-peer-interaction. Second, the confirmation of the similarity, combined with a theoretically supported analysis of mechanisms of interaction, corroborated the claim about generalizability of findings in commognitive case studies.     

Molecular Design in Practice: A Review of Selected Projects in a French Research Institute That Illustrates the Link between Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry

Chemical biology and drug discovery are two scientific activities that pursue different goals but complement each other. The former is an interventional science that aims at understanding living systems through the modulation of its molecular components with compounds designed for this purpose. The latter is the art of designing drug candidates, i.e., molecules that act on selected molecular components of human beings and display, as a candidate treatment, the best reachable risk benefit ratio. In chemical biology, the compound is the means to understand biology, whereas in drug discovery, the compound is the goal. The toolbox they share includes biological and chemical analytic technologies, cell and whole-body imaging, and exploring the chemical space through state-of-the-art design and synthesis tools. In this article, we examine several tools shared by drug discovery and chemical biology through selected examples taken from research projects conducted in our institute in the last decade. These examples illustrate the design of chemical probes and tools to identify and validate new targets, to quantify target engagement in vitro and in vivo, to discover hits and to optimize pharmacokinetic properties with the control of compound concentration both spatially and temporally in the various biophases of a biological system.     

Mobile-phone-based classroom response systems: Students’ perceptions of engagement and learning in a large undergraduate course

Using a Classroom Response System (CRS) has been associated with positive educational outcomes, by fostering student engagement and by allowing immediate feedback to both students and instructors. This study examined a low-cost CRS (VotApedia) in a large first-year class, where students responded to questions using their mobile phones. This study explored whether the use of VotApedia retained the advantages of other CRS, overcame some of the challenges of other CRS, and whether new challenges were introduced by using VotApedia. These issues were studied within three themes: students’ perceptions of using VotApedia; the impact of VotApedia on their engagement; and the impact of VotApedia on their learning. Data were collected from an online survey, focus groups and student feedback on teaching and course content. The results indicated that using VotApedia retains the pedagogical advantages of other CRS, while overcoming some of the challenges presented by using other CRS, without introducing any new challenges.     

Toward the responsible innovation with nanotechnology in Japan: our scope

The societal impacts of nanotechnology have attracted growing attention in the United States and Europe in recent years. In Japan, the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (Technology Information Department) has played a central role in promoting discussions on this topic by collecting information from Japan and overseas, creating a network of the interested parties, and providing a forum for discussion. This paper presents a summary of recent activities in Japan relating to the societal impacts of nanotechnology, fro the launch of the “Nanotechnology and Society” open forum (August 2004) until the “Nanotechnology Debate” discussion forum (February 2007), and outlines the policy recommendations that came out of a project entitled “Research on Facilitation of Public Acceptance of Nanotechnology” (March 2006).     

基于伪谱法的多导弹协同攻击研究

多导弹协同攻击是未来导弹技术发展的重要方向之一。研究了多导弹协同攻击问题。首先建立了导弹与目标的相对运动方程,然后对多导弹协同攻击问题以及hp-自适应伪谱法求解最优控制问题的基本原理进行了描述;将hp-自适应伪谱法应用到多导弹协同攻击的研究中,设计了一种基于伪谱法的多导弹协同攻击制导策略,并通过仿真算例对其进行了验证和分析。仿真结果表明：设计的多导弹协同攻击制导策略能够同时兼顾时间约束和角度约束,实现对固定目标的多导弹协同饱和攻击,具有一定的应用价值。     

Influence of the Asymmetry of Static Loads on the Vibration Characteristics of Planetary Gearings

A model of planetary double-reduction gearing is used to study how the asymmetry of dynamical loads affects its vibration characteristics. Design methods for reducing the asymmetry of static loads are shown to be efficient     

The North American opinion climate for nanotechnology and its products: Opportunities and challenges

A January 2005 telephone survey of 1200 people in the U.S. and 2000 Canadians provides a snapshot of current North American opinion regarding nanotechnology at this crucial early point in its emergence from the laboratory to the arena of public discourse and public understanding. Using a typology of “publics” developed through analysis of a previous comparative survey (Priest, S., 2006) and subsequently tested against these newer data (Priest, S., 2005) this article describes the opinion climate for nanotechnology across North America. The comparison of key results from the two countries helps illustrate how social and cultural differences contribute to reactions to new technologies, including nanotech. The article also discusses implications for nanotechnology-related public outreach and risk communication efforts.     

Personal Excursions: Investigating the Dynamics of Student Engagement

We investigate the dynamics of student engagement as it is manifest in self-directed, self-motivated, relatively long-term, computer-based scientific image processing activities. The raw data for the study are video records of 19 students, grades 7 to 11, who participated in intensive 6-week, extension summer courses. From this raw data we select episodes in which students appear to be highly engaged with the subject matter. We then attend to the fine-grained texture of students’ actions, identifying a core set of phenomena that cut across engagement episodes. Analyzed as a whole, these phenomena suggest that when working in self-directed, self-motivated mode, students pursue proposed activities but sporadically and spontaneously venture into self-initiated activities. Students’ recurring self-initiated activities – which we call personal excursions – are detours from proposed activities, but which align to a greater or lesser extent with the goals of such activities. Because of the deeply personal nature of excursions, they often result in students collecting resources that feed back into both subsequent excursions and framed activities. Having developed an understanding of students’ patterns of self-directed, self-motivated engagement, we then identify four factors that seem to bear most strongly on such patterns: (1) students’ competence (broadly construed); (2) features of the software-based activities, and how such features allowed students to express their competence; (3) the time allotted for students to pursue proposed activities, as well as self-initiated ones; and (4) the flexibility of the computational environment within which the activities were implemented.     

Science and public engagement

Over the last decade, social media has changed our way of communicating, both privately and professionally. Science has also been overwhelmed by this abrupt change. Today's calls for national and international projects require a strong commitment also to the public engagement. A good practice of science and public engagement can be a benefit for a scientific career, an opportunity for young people who want to approach this profession, and not less an important rawplug in the relation with politics.     

Enhancing student engagement to positively impact mathematics anxiety,confidence and achievement for interdisciplinary science subjects

Contemporary science educators must equip their students with the knowledge and practical know-how to connect multiple disciplines like mathematics, computing and the natural sciences to gain a richer and deeper understanding of a scientific problem. However, many biology and earth science students are prejudiced against mathematics due to negative emotions like high mathematical anxiety and low mathematical confidence. Here, we present a theoretical framework that investigates linkages between student engagement, mathematical anxiety, mathematical confidence, student achievement and subject mastery. We implement this framework in a large, first-year interdisciplinary science subject and monitor its impact over several years from 2010 to 2015. The implementation of the framework coincided with an easing of anxiety and enhanced confidence, as well as higher student satisfaction, retention and achievement. The framework offers interdisciplinary science educators greater flexibility and confidence in their approach to designing and delivering subjects that rely on mathematical concepts and practices.