`The Physical Sciences: An Integrated Approach' and `Physics for Scientists and Engineers'

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.

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

Research powers innovation and technoscientific advance, but it is due for a rethink, one consistent with its deeply holistic nature, requiring deeply human nurturing. Research is a deeply human endeavor that must be nurtured to achieve its full potential. As with tending a garden, care must be taken to organize, plant, feed, and weed—and the manner in which this nurturing is done must be consistent with the nature of what is being nurtured. In The Genesis of Technoscientific Revolutions , Venkatesh Narayanamurti and Jeffrey Tsao propose a new and holistic system, a rethinking of the nature and nurturing of research. They share lessons from their vast research experience in the physical sciences and engineering, as well as from perspectives drawn from the history and philosophy of science and technology, research policy and management, and the evolutionary biological, complexity, physical, and economic sciences. Narayanamurti and Tsao argue that research is a recursive, reciprocal process at many levels: between science and technology; between questions and answer finding; and between the consolidation and challenging of conventional wisdom. These fundamental aspects of the nature of research should be reflected in how it is nurtured. To that end, Narayanamurti and Tsao propose aligning organization, funding, and governance with research; embracing a culture of holistic technoscientific exploration; and instructing people with care and accountability.

The following student text on conservation laws, symmetries, and elementary particles was developed in a Dutch project for teaching modern physics to the top stream of the sixth year of secondary education (age 17–18). In a series of 35 lessons of 45–50 minutes each, students study particle-wave duality, the Heisenberg principle, probability models for properties of particles, the particle in a box, and applications, elementary particles, and astrophysics (http://www.phys.uu.nl/∼wwwpmn). In this paper we focus on particle physics and the key concepts of this chapter are: transformation, reaction equation, conservation laws, and symmetry. For recent literature regarding the teaching of symmetries and/or elementary particles, we refer to articles by Hill & Lederman,1 Pascolini & Pietroni,2 Kalmus,3 O'Connell,4 and Hanley.5

Authors

This edited volume Solar Cells is a collection of reviewed and relevant research chapters offering a comprehensive overview of recent developments in the field of renewable energy. The book comprises single chapters authored by various researchers and is edited by a group of experts active in the physical sciences, engineering, and technology research areas. All chapters are complete in themselves but united under a common research study topic. This publication aims at providing a thorough overview of the latest research efforts by international authors on physical sciences, engineering, and technology, and opens new possible research paths for further novel developments.

U.S. Federal investments in basic research transformed life and commerce in the 20th century. They sent us to the Moon and beyond, revolutionized communications, helped to feed the planet, reinvented work processes, and drove the remarkable economic growth of the post-1950s era in the United States. These advances and more grew out of the convergence between engineering and the early 20th-century discoveries in the physical sciences. The United States can anticipate comparable world-changing innovations in the 21st century if we adapt our education and research funding strategies to capitalize on new opportunities emerging at the convergence of the life sciences with the physical sciences and engineering.

Women in Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering (WiMPBME) is a Task Group established in 2014 under the International Union of Physical and Engineering Scientists in Medicine (IUPESM). The group’s main role is to identify, develop, implement, and coordinate various tasks and projects related to women’s needs and roles in medical physics and biomedical engineering around the world.The current paper summarizes the past, present and future goals and activities undertaken or planned by the Task group in order to motivate, nurture and support women in medical physics and biomedical engineering throughout their professional careers. In addition, the article includes the historical pathway followed by various women’s groups and subcommittees from 2004 up to the present day and depicts future aims to further these professions in a gender-balanced manner.

THE report of the National Research Council for the year July 1, 1931-rJune 30, 1932, provides an interesting commentary bearing on the note above. It covers the sixteenth year of the Council's activities and includes an account of the founding and organisation of the Council. It is an organisation devoted primarily to the promotion and co-ordination of scientific research rather than to the actual conduct of investigations. Its operating divisions include specific fields of science such as the physical sciences, engineering, chemistry, geology and geography, the medical sciences, biology and agriculture, while other divisions are concerned with research information service, and with general relations of the Council with the Federal Government, scientific agencies of the State governments, and educational institutions. The Council is the official representative in the United States of the International Council of Scientific Unions. With the financial assistance of the Rockefeller Foundation, the National Research Council administers three series of research fellowships for men and women who have comparatively recently received their doctor's degree or equivalent qualification, the fellowships being granted for research under competent specialists in university laboratories or in other research institutions. Some 774 fellows have been appointed and of 152 active fellows in March 1932, 63 were working in physics, chemistry or mathematics, 27 in medical sciences, and 62 in the biological sciences, all but 25 of these fellows studying in the United States. The term of the fellowship is on an average a little over a year and a half and the average age of appointment, 27-28 years. In addition to the fellowships, the Council encourages research by grants in aid of individual investigations and for certain types of co-operative research and for conferences. It has also assisted in financing the publication of the ‘Index to the International Critical Tables’ and of the ‘Annual Tables of Constants and Numerical Data in Chemistry, Physics, Biology and Technology’.

The term instructional technology’ refers to two relatively distinct classes of phenomena which have been described by Saettler (1968) as “the physical science concept” — the application of physical science and engineering technology (movie projectors, television, teaching machines, computers, etc.) to the presentation of instructional materials, and “the behavioural science concept” — the application of behavioural science (especially psychology and sociology) to problems of learning and instruction. While both of these classes of phenomena clearly have considerable potential for improving the content and conduct of education — including special education, it is the writer’s belief that the extent to which “the physical science concept” can be effectively utilised in education/special education will be limited — indeed constrained by the current spate of knowledge which has been derived from “the behavioural science concept”. The present paper reflects this belief and is thus primarily concerned with “the behavioural science concept” — in particular with the application of psychology and sociology to problems of learning and instruction in special education.An initial clarification of the term “special education” also seems necessary. Following Kirk and Gallagher (1979), the term “special education” in the present paper will refer to those aspects of education required for handicapped or gifted children which are “unique and/or in addition to the instructional programme for all children [p. 13]” ‘Handicapped or gifted children’ being those who “deviate from the average or normal child (1) in mental characteristics, (2) in sensory abilities, (3) in neuro-motor or physical characteristics, (4) in social behaviour, (5) in communication abilities, or (6) in multiple handicap … to such an extent that modifications of school practices, or special educational services are required for the children to develop to maximum capacity” (Kirk & Gallagher, 1979 [p. 3].)

In this first chapter, introductory remarks about fluid mechanics are provided and the importance of fluid flows in physical sciences, engineering and medicine is stressed. Flows in our natural and technical environment are summarized to underline that our entire life depends on fluid flows. Technical equipment and processes utilize fluid flows and it is therefore understandable that fluid mechanics education should be an essential part of the university education of students. This also should include the historical developments of fluid mechanics, also covered in this chapter.

‘From old world to new’ looks at the legacies of World War I, and how the discovery of the importance of physics for national defence and industrial development changed the direction of physics. It describes key work on quantum mechanics and the discoveries of radioactivity, nuclear fission, and superconductivity. World War II’s physical science and engineering created radar, leading to microwave technologies and the laser; its atomic bombs brought nuclear power; its V-2 rocket launched the aerospace industry; and it pioneered the electronic computer. High-energy physics was then further developed by Fermilab (in America) and CERN (in Europe). The 1960s onwards saw developments in cosmology, seismology, ionospherics, meteorology, and oceanography.

How do adolescent mathematical self-concept and values explain attainment of different kinds of STEM degrees in adulthood?

Nanomedicine aims to apply and further develop nanotechnology to solve problems in medicine, related to diagnosis, treatment and/or disease prevention at the cellular and molecular level (Feng, 2006; Feng and Chien, 2003). Nanomedicine by nature is interdisciplinary, with benefits being realised at the interface of science and engineering, physical science and engineering, chemical science and engineering, cellular and molecular biology, pharmacology and pharmaceutics, medical sciences and technology and combinations thereof. The difference in perspective between disciplines may be partly responsible for the lack of nomenclature or universally-accepted definition for various “nano” terms, which causes issues with respect to publication consistency, regulatory agencies, patent offices, industry and the business community (Rannard & Owen, 2009; Tinkle et al., 2014; Bawa, 2013; Bawa, 2016). Regulatory agencies such as the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA; http://www.fda.gov/) and European Medicine Agency (EMA; http://www.ema. europa.eu/ema/) have generally failed to employ an interdisciplinary approach to regulate nanoscale technologies in the samemanner as they apply to drugs because they do not fully appreciate the interdisciplinary nature or novel characteristics ofmany submissions that disclose nanomedicines (e.g., as a result of high-surface-area to-volume ratio, inherent reactivity due to a greater proportion of exposed surface atoms, unpredictable properties, or toxicity profiles as compared to bulk). Currently, these agencies instead rely upon established laws and regulations validated through experiencewith conventional small molecule medicines. Synthesis and characterization of molecular biomaterials forms the material basis for nanomedicines. Molecular biomaterials may include synthesized biocompatible polymers such as currently accepted biodegradable polymers including polylactic acid (PLA), polycaprolactone (PCL) and polylactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA), or molecularly engineered macromolecules such as lipids, DNAs, RNAs, proteins and peptides. Such bio materials are either used to stabilise nanosized particles of drug or to form nano-carrier technologies for sustained, controlled or targeted release of diagnostic and therapeutic agents to enhance their biological effects and to reduce their side effects (Feng et al., 2007; Owen, 2014; Bawa, 2016). Similarly, patent offices also often fail to recognize that an interdisciplinary approach needs to be applied by patent examiners while reviewing nanotechnologybased patent applications, since the technologies reflected in these patent applications often involve a combination of disciplines. In fact, non-uniform or Andrew Owen Steve Rannard