Showing papers on "Applied science published in 1995"

The Science and Design of Engineering Materials

Abstract: This is an introductory text for materials science and engineering students. It takes an integrated approach to materials, with an organization focusing on properties rather than classes of materials.

Science and computer science

Abstract: 1 The nature of computer science During the few decades that computer science has been identiied as a separate discipline, the question of the intellectual nature of the subject has frequently been posed. In particular, the question was discussed recently in the 1993 Turing Award lecture of Juris Hartmanis, On computational complexity and the nature of computer science" 1. It is clear that there are components of computer science that could be viewed as subbelds of mathematics or engineering. Indeed, competent w ork in theoretical computer science meets rigorous mathematical standards, and competent w ork in applied computer science meets the standards of good-quality engineering work prototypes are built, proof-of-concept projects are conducted, and results are evaluated on the basis of their usefulness in practice. The open question is the extent to which the remaining parts of computer science can be viewed as science. To study this question is not necessarily to engage in sterile debate: it may b e , for example, that the eld is not yet a science, but that it could become one, and that certain policy changes could accelerate this process. Hartmanis argues 1, 2 that computer science is diierent enough from the other sciences to permit diierent standards in experimental work, and that computer-science demos" can be viewed as a replacement for the experimentation found in other elds. I do not agree. Computer science is, or has the potential to be, a science similar in character to physics and the other natural sciences. However, its traditions, in the areas of experimentation and formulation of theories, may delay its acceptance and inhibit its development as a science.

Computer science is an experimental science

Abstract: Juris Hartmanis considers that computer science is radically different from sciences like, say, physics. He claims that Thomas Kuhn’s notion of scientific revolution is not applicable to computer science because no experiments can be developed to put into question basic computing theory. Furthermore, he claims that “One of the defining characteristics of computer science is the immense difference in scale of the phenomena” it deals with. Kuhn’s notion of scientific revolution is that periods of “normal science” are followed by “periods of crisis”, in which the basic paradigms are radically put into question and replaced, thereby allowing for a new period of growth. Hartmanis claims that this process is not taking place in computer science. If such is the case, then software engineering should not be considered as a part of computer science. The first class of every software engineering course refers to the software crisis, a term invented in the late sixties! The basic problem is that, for the moment, there are no known ways of building large reliable pieces of software without great risk that the projects will fail. Advances in complexity theory may well be elegant, but they offer no understanding of, say, the possible complex interactions of nodes in a network. In fact, the actual experimentation in computer science is the current programming of large pieces of software, using the various methodologies, formalisms and tools that have been developed over the last thirty years. And experimentation is the correct word, because we often have no idea what these tools, etc. will offer until they are actually used. The fundamental contribution that Isaac Newton made with the discovery of the Law of Gravitational Attraction is the understanding that gravity acts in the same manner on Earth and in the sky. In time, the current software crisis might be solved, if so it will be because several phenomena that appeared to be disparate have been unified into a coherent whole. As for the wide variety of scales that are manipulated by computer scientists, I fail to see how this is in any way special to computer science. Plasma physicists work with scales ranging from 10 cm for laboratory plasmas to 5 million light-years for intergalactic space. I do not know of many computer scientists that work with 23 orders of magnitude! When an experimental scientist prepares an experiment, he or she carefully defines what must be done, and then carefully sets out to do that. That’s exactly what builders of software systems do. We are in fact experimental scientists.

Materials education at the pre-college level

Abstract: The importance of the pre-college level materials science and technology education in the United States is discussed. A description of materials science based educational curricula program under development at Northwestern University is given. Preliminary results show that materials science is of considerable interest to both the high school science teachers and students. Such a program will not only provide an interdisciplinary approach to the study of science and mathematics, but it will also enhance the awareness of students of the contributions of science and technology to society and their surrounding environment.

A perspective of materials science and engineering education in China

Abstract: The educational system, evaluation network, and the scale of the materials science and engineering education program in China are described, together with a typical curriculum.

Regulatory Science. Its Mission and Goal.

Abstract: It is actually not easy for research and development itself to judge which research results will actually lead us in the direction of truly benefiting society. Thus, it is essential for us to make efforts toward sound evaluation and unbiased judgment to ensure safety and to provide the most desirable products. Research activities that support this kind of effort can be regarded as"Regulatory Science, "which can be recognized as an important field of science having independent goals and measures not found in either the basic or applied sciences. From the viewpoint of research itself, the field can best be described as"evaluation science"and from the viewpoint of actual practice, the field might best be described as an"administrative science."Regulatory science must transcend the purely academic results of basic research. The knowledge that is required for this task must always be one step ahead of today's technology in order to evaluate tomorrow's products that are being developed with ever-advancing high technology. The research domain of regulatory science requires full utilization of available knowledge in order to make the final evaluation of the material itself and its impact on the environment. Therefore, the research that can help us to produce accurate estimates is actually of greater value than the discovery of new materials or mechanisms.

National Educators' Workshop: Update 1994. Standard experiments in engineering materials science and technology

Abstract: This document contains a collection of experiments presented and demonstrated at the National Educators' Workshop: Update 94. The experiments relate to the nature and properties of engineering materials and provide information to assist in teaching about materials in the education community.