Author Correction: Nested sampling for physical scientists

P ublic support for U.S. federal expenditures for basic research gained momentum with the science and technology breakthroughs that contributed to the Allies' victory in World War II. After World War II, the Korean and Cold Wars concentrated research appropriations in the Department of Defense (DOD). DOD research expenditures were massive from 1950 to 1990. They included not only direct investments in weapons and intelligence systems but support of the underlying science, centered in physical sciences and engineering. What is less well remembered today is that DOD's basic research investments were broadly based, ranging far beyond the physical sciences and engineering into the life and social sciences. Through its service research offices and the Advanced Research Projects agencies, DOD also fostered interdisciplinary research in promising new areas, such as computation, and developed new modes for the performance of research, as in university materials research laboratories. The large investment in the physical sciences also contributed indirectly to medical science and health care, giving rise to many technologies used today. The life sciences now account for more than 50 percent of U.S. federal investment in basic research. Biomedical research funding has followed a pattern of steady significant growth over four decades, and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have slowly come to dominate that funding. Today's strong federal support for the life sciences is warranted, because biomedical research is on the cusp of a revolution in preventative medicine and treatment. Nevertheless, today's overall research budget is increasingly out of balance. Federal funding of many fields in the physical sciences and engineering is down substantially since 1993 (9 to 36% in real terms in fields such as chemistry, physics, and electrical and chemical engineering). This loss, if continued, will imperil advances in these disciplines and endanger the continued flow of valuable discoveries and technologies that have been important to biomedical research and health care. National science and technology (S&T) policy over the past four decades has largely been led by physical scientists who first gained national experience in World War II. They crafted policies for broad investment in basic research and infrastructure, including the life sciences. As we enter the 21st century, biological scientists must assume broader leadership responsibilities in S&T policy, and they must speak out about the importance of support for all disciplines, including the physical sciences and engineering. NIH's Harold Varmus and the National Science Foundation's Rita Colwell recognize the imbalance in the current federal research portfolio and have begun advocating increased investment in all areas of research. Their leadership is to be commended, but it is not enough. Government, organizations, institutions, and industry can and should do more to bolster all basic research. NIH must set the example by much more broadly supporting innovative interdisciplinary research embracing all science, just as DOD did when it was the prime funder of R&D. Some of this has already begun in NIH's cross-institute bioengineering initiative and in prospective increased NIH support of information technology for biocomputation. Similar initiatives should be launched in other areas of the physical sciences and in the social and behavioral sciences. Funding for these initiatives should become a much larger percentage of NIH's overall expenditures. The life science professional societies must speak broadly for basic research and not just argue their own disciplinary cases. Disease advocacy groups must also articulate the case for the physical sciences in their work with the public and before Congress. University leaders and corporate executives must make the case for investment in all research disciplines. Most of all, biologists in the laboratory—working scientists and their students—need to appreciate that their research rests on the legacy not only of the life sciences but also the physical and other sciences. Today's life scientists and the next generation they are training must be the national leaders of the future who will increasingly guide all of U.S. basic research policy in the 21st century.

The research developed from the identification of the most highly cited Soviet journals in the physical and life sciences. Several measures of growth and citedness were taken at the beginning and end of a recent five-year period, 1982–87, in order to generally assess the functions of these journals. The research involved making comparisons among these groupings of journals and control groupings of journals with similar content, but not published in the Soviet Union. Differences in citedness could be related, in the physical sciences, to the scale of Russophone science within world sciences, but not in the life sciences. In the physical sciences, there are increases in the citedness across Soviet and Western journals; but in the Soviet journals the increase is several times greater than in the control grouping. In sharp contrast, the largest, most cited, Western life sciences' journals have increased in citedness and other groupings, including Soviet journals, have declined. The measures on control groups show that the extreme levels of improvement in citedness on the part of Soviet physical sciences' journals reflect local, i.e. Soviet, developments. The decrease in citedness of Soviet life sciences' journals seems, instead, tied broadly to events in the world life sciences' literature. There has been, apparently a “centralizing” of attention within those discipline on those few journals publishing major findings while leaving the rest of the world literature behind. In addition, the research developed several findings on the formal properties of the measures used.

The quantum calculus emerged as a new type of unconventional calculus relevant to both mathematics and physics. The study of quantum calculus or q-calculus has three hundred years of history of development since the era of Euler and Bernoulli, and was appeared as one of the most arduous techniques to use it in mathematics as well as physical science. At present, it is used in diverged mathematical areas like number theory, orthogonal polynomials, basic hypergeometric functions, etc. Furthermore, in order to get analytical approximate solutions to the ordinary as well as partial differential equations, q-reduced differential technique and quantum separation of variable technique are used in mathematics, Mechanics, and physics. In this paper, Laplace’s equation, a well-known equation in both Physical and Mathematical sciences, has been solved extensively based on the basics of calculus, transformation methods, and q-separation of variable method. In addition, solutions to the Laplace’s equation as obtained by using different boundary conditions are revisited and reviewed. Consequently, all the necessary basics of q-calculus are displayed one by one, and thereafter, the process of finding its solution in view of quantum calculus is described extensively. In order to find out the exact solutions the dimensionality of all the parameters related to the problem has been described. As an essential outcome, it is also found that, as q tends to 1, the solution takes the form as it is in general physics. Hence, this article presents a review and extension that describe the solution to Laplace’s equation in view of both Leibnitz and quantum calculus. Thus, it can add a pedagogical exercise for the students of both physical and mathematical sciences to understand the usefulness of quantum calculus.

The research programs under the cognizance of the Office of Energy Research (OER) consist primarily of fundamental theoretical and experimental investigations designed to support the objectives of the Department of Energy (DOE) . These programs are directed toward discovery of natural laws and new knowledge, and to improved understanding of the physical sciences as related to the development, use, and control of energy. The ultimate goal is to develop a scientific underlay for the overall DOE effort and the fundamental principles of natural phenomena so that these phenomena may be understood and new principles formulated. The OER outlay activities comprise three major programs: High Energy Physics, Nuclear Physics, and Basic Energy Sciences which comprises five activities: nuclear sciences; materials sciences; chemical sciences; engineering, mathematical and geosciences; and advanced energy projects. These programs represent about 30 percent of the Nation's Federal support of basic research in the physical sciences. (RWR)

To summarize the scientific revolution in one phrase: it was the time when a new way of studying the natural, physical world became widely accepted by a small “community of scholars,” although not necessarily by nonscientists. But the specific status of that “new way” is hotly disputed and the precise historical steps involved in that development are extremely complex. Standard histories are those by Dampier (1966) and Cohen (2001). Cohen stresses the stages involved from initial creative insight to dissemination (orally or in letters, later on in print) and then widespread acceptance. For example, Descartes’ theory of inertia of 1633 was held back when the Inquisition condemned Galileo's theological interpretations and Descartes decided it was not a good time to publish. In the seventeenth century there was a significant qualitative transformation in the approach to the study of natural philosophy and that major change is now often called the “scientific revolution,” but it is clear that small‐scale “revolutions” took place before and have happened since. It was at that time that the transition from undifferentiated “astronomy/astrology” and “alchemy/chemistry” first really got under way. Moreover, great advances were made in mathematics. The story of the rise of modern science begins even earlier, however, with the Arab contacts with Greek science, and modern science eventually led to Enlightenment philosophy (Hellemans & Bunch 1988: 58–188). Different natural philosophies changed at different rates and in different ways. For example, empirical and theoretical progress in astronomy and physics was different from progress in other physical sciences like chemistry (Goodman & Russell 1991: 387–414). However, it was between circa 1500 and1800 that the distinction between true science and proto‐science or pseudo‐science (Shermer 2001: 22–65) became somewhat clearer. Many thinkers have seen the essence of the intellectual revolution as a leap beyond the tradition inherited from Aristotelianism and rationalism. But the notion that simple inductive empiricism, often identified with Francis Bacon's New “Organon” ( Novum organum ) of 1620, is the basis of the scientific method has been rejected. It should be remembered that the introduction of Aristotle's Organon concerning “categories” and “interpretation,” and his physics, astronomy, and biology transferred into Roman Catholic theology by Thomas Aquinas, was considered a radical step and indeed did open a window to the study of the actual order of nature and the universe (Funkenstein 1986). The idea of the importance of nuances of general theoretical assumptions concerning ontology and epistemology has been widely shared ever since the early 1960s, when Kuhn's (1970) history of paradigmatic changes in physical science became widely accepted. Indeed, the social sciences now also regularly use Kuhn's general theory of an oscillation between “normal science” and “paradigmatic revolutions.” The link between Kuhn's theories and earlier views concerning a dialectic of reason – views primarily associated with Hegel's critique of Cartesian dualism (Russon 1991) – should be noted. However, the seventeenth‐century paradigmatic revolution associated with Descartes, Galileo, Copernicus, Kepler, von Helmont, and many others was extremely important, since it laid the foundation for what was considered to be true science for the next four centuries. Newton's laws of gravitational attraction, motion, and force (i.e., inverse square law) in the Principia Mathematica (1687 manuscript) led to British Newtonianism, which was widely exported throughout Europe (e.g., the Low Countries), but Cartesianism in France was a rival for many years (Russell 1991). In the eighteenth century botany and zoology became more systematic with the use of binomial nomenclature, although Linnaeus's theories of nature and of society were deeply flawed (Koerner 1999). It was only at the beginning of the twentieth century that a series of new ideas constituting a general change in worldviews made a radical shift in scientific thinking possible. Einstein's theory of relativity did not reject Newtonian mechanics, but did make it clear that Newton's assumptions about space and time were too limited and that a true explanation of gravity required postulating “space‐time.” Similarly, discoveries in mathematics and statistics, particularly the invention of non‐Euclidean geometry, revolutionized science in the twentieth century in somewhat the same way they had in earlier times (Newman 1956). The same can be said for Boolean and Fregean mathematical and symbolic logic (Bartley in Dodgson 1986: 3–42). Comte (1957) wrote that scientific thinking moves only gradually, but inevitably, from the study of distant objects, such as stars, to that which is closest to human life – society itself. His positivism had a profound impact on logical positivism and the quest for “consilience,” a unified general science of all of the natural world (Wilson 1998). In English the distinction between science and social science is more rigid than in many other languages. In German the term Wissenschaft encompasses not only physical and natural sciences, but also social sciences and other disciplines such as history and jurisprudence.

The aims of this study were to examine self‐efficacy and other motivation variables among high school science students (n = 502); to determine the degree to which each of the four hypothesized sources of self‐efficacy makes an independent contribution to students' science self‐efficacy beliefs; to examine possible differences between life, physical, and Earth science classes; and to investigate patterns of gender differences that may vary among the fields of science. In Earth science classes, girls earned higher grades and reported stronger science self‐efficacy. In life science classes, girls earned higher grades but did not report stronger self‐efficacy, and did report higher science anxiety. In physical science, there were no gender differences in grades or self‐efficacy, but girls again reported higher levels of science anxiety. For boys across science fields, science self‐efficacy significantly predicted course grades and mastery experiences was the only significant predictor of self‐efficacy. For girls, self‐efficacy was also the strongest predictor of science grade across fields. Mastery experiences significantly predicted self‐efficacy in Earth science for girls, but social persuasions, vicarious experiences, and physiological states were better predictors of science self‐efficacy in life and physical science classes. Results support (Bandura, A., 1997) hypothesized sources of self‐efficacy, previous research findings on self‐efficacy in the domain of science, and validate the suggestion made by Lau and Roeser (2002) to disaggregate data by science field. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 45: 955–970, 2008

Background: This paper investigated some of the challenges in the application of Tshivenda scientific register (TSR) during classroom practices of some physical sciences teachers in some of the public secondary schools in the Vhembe West District, South Africa. Methods: It was an interpretative qualitative case study wherein three physical sciences teachers and 40 learners took part in the study. The study conducted at schools of Vhuronga 2 circuit in Vhembe West District between January 2022 to November 2022. Semi-structured interviews and classroom observations were used for data collections. Researchers analyzed their data through Data Analysis Scheme (DAS) which comprised of themes, categories, and characteristics in this qualitative study. Texts that belong to a particular theme were highlighted using same colour and track changes was also used to codify categories and characteristics of a theme. Results: The research findings had shown numerous challenges in the teaching and learning of physical sciences including teachers and learners not used to physical sciences being taught and learnt through TSR, not familiar with some scientific words in TSR, difficulties in understanding scientific term in TSR as well as absence of Tshivenda physical sciences resources beside TSR. Consequently, this has impacts on teacher and learner's ability to implement TSR in the teaching and learning of Physical Sciences. Moreover, the findings also show that teachers and learners participated in the study sometimes switch from Tshivenda Scientific words to English Scientific words during Physical Sciences lessons. Conclusions: Therefore, it is suggested that the above-mentioned challenges in the development and application of TSR for Physical Sciences teaching need to be addressed so that teachers can teach learners Physical Sciences through language they know best. Hence, physical sciences teachers must be developed, trained, and furnished with essential language skills for them to develop Tshivenda scientific language registers on other sciences topics.

Professor Michael J. Pikal: Scientist, family man, educator, colleague and friend

Ethanol is the direct by-product of distillation. The vast majority of straight spirit beverages are bottled at 40%+ ABV (alcohol by volume). Aficionados, critics, spirits judges, and a significant percentage of drinkers choose to drink and evaluate spirits at bottled strength from traditional vessels. Olfactory perceptions are quickly compromised by abundant ethanol, numbing olfactory sensors and severely inhibiting aroma detection during evaluation. Traditional vessel redesigns have concentrated on minor styling changes, ignoring olfactory and physical sciences. Consumers’ continued search for value and quality and increased dependency on spirits competitions as a primary source of ratings emphasizes the need for a functional diagnostic vessel which displays and delivers aromas unobscured by ethanol olfactory numbing. The application of olfactory and physical science creates an engineered tasting vessel which eliminates severe ethanol olfactory numbing, optimizes aroma definition, and significantly improves diagnostics for those who evaluate, judge, rate, distill, and enjoy flavor nuances of spirits.

The NIEHS and the National Science Foundation (NSF) have collaboratively launched four new Centers for Oceans and Human Health and in doing so have established a new paradigm for linking the health and rich resources of the Earth’s oceans with the health outcomes of the Earth’s population. This program offers tremendous promise for developing more comprehensive linkages between oceans and human health as the world’s population continues to depend on one of our greatest natural resources for food, commerce, transportation, and recreation. It harnesses the various talents, disciplines, and expertise of scientists supported by the collaborating agencies. It combines the tools of genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics with physical oceanography. It also stimulates intercenter cooperation and coordination. Supported by the physical and biological science resources of the NSF and the NIEHS, the centers also demonstrate the capacity of federal research agencies to collaborate and leverage resources to foster high-quality interdisciplinary research. This novel, groundbreaking interagency effort fulfills one of the key recommendations of the 2004 report An Ocean Blueprint for the 21st Century: Final Report of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy—to encourage interdisciplinary marine biomedical research to improve our understanding of the links between oceans and human health. [For more information on An Ocean Blueprint, see “America’s Oceans: A Blueprint for the Future,” p. A106 this issue.] In coming years, these NIEHS–NSF Centers for Oceans and Human Health will serve as models of the interaction between the life and physical sciences as well as of federal coordination. The program further serves as a model for interagency cooperation and the development of additional programs by federal agencies to address the links between oceans and human health. The four centers are located at the University of Washington, the University of Hawaii, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, and the University of Miami. These centers are using oceanographic chemistry, genomics, proteomics, risk prevention, and public health approaches to address three specific areas in oceans and human health research: harmful algal blooms, water- and vectorborne pathogens, and the derivation of marine biopharmaceuticals. The first annual meeting of the center directors was held in January 2005 and hosted by the University of Miami. The theme for this meeting was the exploration of opportunities for intercenter collaboration, leveraging, and synergy, as well as the pursuit of potential collaborative opportunities within initiatives sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.

A More Accurate View of the Scientific Method in the Physical Sciences and Implications for Learning and Research in the Social Sciences The Chapter Four focuses on more accurate view of the scientific method in the physical sciences and implications for learning and research in the social sciences. The Authors perspective of the scientific method and its applicability to the social sciences and how is more in line with the actual practice of scientific inquiry in the physical sciences. Rather than a mechanistic conception of the scientific method, we describe a richer view where creativity and rigor have equal voice. Based on our experiences and perspectives, as teacher-educator and physicist, we think our interpretation of the scientific method more accurately illuminates what research is really about in both the physical sciences and the social sciences. It is therefore the Authors intention to help ameliorate this conflict for the purpose of moving forward with a more creative, integrative, and rigorous template for scholarly inquiry in the social sciences.

Single-sex schooling is believed to benefit students’ academic achievement and girls’ engagement in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM). The latter is assumed because single-sex environments are meant to neutralise gender stereotypes. Little is known, however, about longer term effects of such schooling. Therefore, we consider whether graduating from a single-sex school increases the uptake of university majors in physical or life sciences. Using data from the 2003 cohort of the Longitudinal Survey of Australian Youth and multinomial logistic regressions, we find that girls who graduated from single-sex schools did not major in physical sciences at university at rates higher than their peers from coeducational schools. Likewise, there are no differences in the take up of life science majors, irrespective of gender or type of school. By contrast, fewer boys who graduated from single-sex schools went on to study physical sciences at university. We discuss the implications of these findings.

Calls for the decolonisation of higher education in the world and South Africa in particular, has gained momentum since the student protests in 2015 and 2016. This takes place after some efforts have been made to transform and democratise the higher education landscape. Efforts made include: National Commission on Higher Education, White Paper 3 1997, The Higher Education Act of 1997 and the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) Act of 1995 which led to the creation of National Qualification Framework (NQF). The policies had promises on issues of access, equity, equality, inclusivity and social justice. After 20 years of democracy, students started to question the progress or lack thereof in the transformation of higher education in South Africa. They started to make demands for access, free education, decolonisation of the curriculum, changes in the pedagogy and epistemic practices. They also demanded the removal of certain statues on some of the campuses. The protests jolted some academics to start debating and writing about the decolonisation of higher education in South Africa. This was done by picking up different aspects that were made points of focus in terms of decolonisation. Consequently, some academics focused on the decolonisation of the curriculum, some on the higher education system whilst others focussed on teacher education. In this article, we intend to contribute to the debate by focusing on Continuing Teacher Professional Development (CTPD) that is an aspect within teacher education. The focus on CTPD was prompted by the fact that not much has been done on the decolonisation of CTPD in South Africa. Furthermore, this is a critical area, because unless teachers are empowered and reskilled to drive the decolonisation process, they may resist and ultimately render the whole process unworkable. It is based on the study that was conducted, focusing on CTPD in the teaching of physical sciences in some of the rural schools in Limpopo Province. The choice of physical sciences was because physical sciences is a gateway subject and most physics sciences teachers in Limpopo Province are based in rural areas. Generally, these schools do not have the appropriate facilities and equipment to teach physical science. Physical sciences teachers also face many challenges such as negative perception about the subject, lack of resources, limited room for professional development, poor teacher training, and inadequate support from within the school and the Provincial Department of Education. This study focussed on creativity and teacher empowerment by enabling physical sciences teachers to reflect on their implementation of science inquiry. Physical sciences teachers were empowered to be creative in handling scientific inquiry especially in the absence of the necessary scientific equipment. The study was conduct at a Higher Education Institution (HEI) in Limpopo Province where teachers, from rural schools, are specifically invited to the university for the National Science Week, which included a component of ongoing Continuing Teacher Profession Development (CPTD). During the National Science Week physical sciences teachers attend an in-service workshop on Improvisation in Science. Ninety (90) physical sciences teachers participated in this study. Data were generated by using a questionnaire and unstructured interviews. The findings of the study revealed that the success of CTPD is not so much in spending more funds in CTPD programmes, but it is in the approach that is used to prepare teachers to respond appropriately to the needs and the demands of the classroom environment. The article argues that the decolonisation process should prioritise the CTPD programmes at universities. This is due to the fact that teachers as agents of change need to be empowered and reskilled, so that they can be in the forefront of the decolonisation process. This can be achieved by adopting a transformative approach that encourages improvisation in science teaching. This approach to CPTD demands that teachers’ professional development should shift from the traditional approach to an approach that empowers teachers to be able to make a meaningful contribution to the classes that they teach.

The emergence of artificial intelligence, exemplified by generative chatbots such as ChatGPT, has elicited optimism among some educators regarding enhanced teaching and learning methods. Simultaneously, it has raised concerns among others, who perceive these chatbots as being disruptive to established pedagogical norms developed over centuries. This study investigated pre-service teachers’ perceptions regarding integrating ChatGPT into physical sciences teaching at a rural South African university. A case study research design utilizing a qualitative approach was adopted to collect, analyze, and interpret data. This methodology was employed to gain comprehensive insight into the viewpoints held by final year Bachelor of Education Honors physical sciences students serving as pre-service teachers. The study explored the benefits and potential challenges of incorporating emerging technologies such as ChatGPT into physical sciences teaching. The theoretical framework guiding the study was the technological, pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) framework. Eleven purposively sampled physical sciences pre-service teachers participated in semi-structured interviews. The collected data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The research findings indicate that ChatGPT has the potential to contribute to the teaching of physical sciences in the areas of lesson planning, preparation, presentation, and formative assessment. However, the study revealed that ChatGPT is unable to answer certain questions in the physical sciences accurately and this was of great concern. These findings shed light on how artificial intelligence generative chatbots can be incorporated into physical sciences learning. The findings provide insights for policymakers, who can facilitate the use of these tools in lesson preparation; science educators, who should leverage the chatbots to enhance learner engagement; and researchers, to help them deepen their understanding of the role of emerging technologies in science education.

As a prestigious generalist journal with a high scholarly reputation and a long influential history, the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society (Series A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences), is an ideal vehicle for charting research frontiers across the physical sciences. It is the world9s longest running scientific journal, and all issues since its foundation in 1665 are archived electronically by JSTOR in the USA (see http://www.jstor.org/) and are accessible through most university libraries. This archive gives facsimile access, and search facilities, to the works of many famous scientists. In this brief editorial I give first an introduction to the special Christmas issues by young scientists, followed by an overview of the fields covered.