Scientometric dimensions of technical reports from Bhabha Atomic Research Centre

Technical report is one of the media to record the scientific information generated by scientists and engineers, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) published 554 technical reports during 1990-99 under the categories: External (373) and Internal (181), Engineering and technology generated 207 technical reports followed by chemistry, materials and earth sciences (129), while their interdisciplinary interactions resulted in 31 technical reports, Life and environmental sciences produced 42 technical reports,' followed by Physics (16),' Other aspects of nuclear and non-nuclear energy (6); Isotopes, isotope and radiation applications (4), Technical reports in subjects outside the scope of nuclear science and technology were 69, Scientometric analysis of these reports has been carried Out for physical bibliographic characteristics, authorship collaboration, inter-divisional collaboration, inter-institutional collaboration activities and content analysis, Types of documents referenced in the technical reports indicated first rank for journal articles, followed by books, technical reports, conference papers, standards/codes, personal communications, patents, theses, drawings, and lectures

Scientometric dimensions of technical reports from Bhabha Atomic Research Centre

Technical report is one of the media to record the scientific information generated by scientists and engineers, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) published 554 technical reports during 1990-99 under the categories: External (373) and Internal (181), Engineering and technology generated 207 technical reports followed by chemistry, materials and earth sciences (129), while their interdisciplinary interactions resulted in 31 technical reports, Life and environmental sciences produced 42 technical reports,' followed by Physics (16),' Other aspects of nuclear and non-nuclear energy (6); Isotopes, isotope and radiation applications (4), Technical reports in subjects outside the scope of nuclear science and technology were 69, Scientometric analysis of these reports has been carried Out for physical bibliographic characteristics, authorship collaboration, inter-divisional collaboration, inter-institutional collaboration activities and content analysis, Types of documents referenced in the technical reports indicated first rank for journal articles, followed by books, technical reports, conference papers, standards/codes, personal communications, patents, theses, drawings, and lectures

Teaching design engineering in an interdisciplinary programme

ATLAS, the Academy of Technology and Liberal Arts & Sciences, is an interdisciplinary three-year Bachelor of Science honours programme for talented students that opened its doors in September 2013. This international programme uses the concept of project-led education to teach students to integrate both technical and social perspectives into a new engineering approach. It aims to educate the so-called ‘new engineer’: a generalist who can combine technological and societal approaches with design solutions that can be implemented in a range of technical, social, and cultural contexts. The programme has a thematic structure, in which a large project is the foundation of every semester. At the start of the semester the students write their own personal development plan framed by three domains (Engineering, Mathematics and Social Sciences) and six learning lines (Research, Design, Organization, Communication, Learning Capacity and Interdisciplinarity). In an interdisciplinary programme like ATLAS students have to learn to use knowledge from different disciplines and integrate it. This is also demanded by the project description, which is always a complex open-ended interdisciplinary problem. Design models from both engineering and social sciences are combined to develop new solutions for boundary-crossing problems. In this paper we will describe the programme and its underlying educational principles in detail. We will show the interdisciplinary design-engineering model that we use in our programme. We will reflect upon our first experiences with the programme and define a set of challenges for teaching design engineering in an interdisciplinary programme

Multidisciplinary teaching of Biotechnology and Omics sciences

In the last years, there was a great boom in the Omics fields that have developed as multidisciplinary sciences. They use laboratory techniques related to Biology and Chemistry but also Bioinformatics tools. However, the developmental progress of these disciplines has led that much of undergraduate studies related to Biology have curricula that become outdated. From this point of view, it is necessary to focus the students to the fundamentals and techniques of complementary disciplines that will be essentials for the understanding of the Omics sciences. In the present work, we have developed a new teaching approach for Biochemistry, Biology and Bioinformatics students. They formed interdisciplinary working groups. These groups have prepared and presented communications about different techniques or methods in Molecular Biology, Omics or Bioinformatics participating in a technical meeting. This learning strategy “I do and I learn” has enabled to the students a first contact with the scientific communication including the approach to the scientific literature to acquire technical knowledge. The cooperation between students from different disciplines has enriched their point of view and even has been used in some practical master’s works.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

The Coherence Problem: Mapping the Theory and Delivery of Infrastructure Resilience Across Concept, Form, Function, and Experienced Value

In this contribution we explore the interface between the functional characteristics of infrastructures as artefacts and social need supplier. Specifically we are concerned with the ways in which infrastructure performance measures are articulated and assessed and whether there are incongruities between the technical and broader, social goals which infrastructure systems are intended to aspire to. Our analysis involves comparing and contrasting system design and performance metrics across the technical — social boundary, generating new insights for those tasked with the design and operation of networked infrastructures. The assessment delivered in the following sections is inherently interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral in nature, bringing thinking from the social and environmental sciences together with contributions from mathematics and engineering to offer a commentary which is relevant to all types of physical infrastructure

Writing the Web: Linking Computer Technology and Writing Courses

Web page authoring poses a double challenge as both a technical and a writing task. During fall 2000, Watauga College offered two linked courses aimed at providing first-year students with both the technical and editorial know-how to write for online audiences. Tom Van Gilder, computer consultant for the College of Arts and Sciences, taught “Exploration of a Wired World,” a hands-on course designed to give the students the technical background needed to create content for the World Wide Web. These same students enrolled in Derek Stanovsky’s sections of Watauga College’s “Tools of Human Understanding,” an interdisciplinary writing course required of all entering Watauga College students

SLA as an interdiscipline: A bibliometric study

Nowadays, research in second language acquisition (SLA) is becoming increasingly interdisciplinary while many technical frontiers and research hotspots have emerged. Many studies focus on interdisciplinary topics, but few in-depth studies have been conducted on interdisciplinarity. This study examined the interdisciplinarity of SLA and the interdisciplinary development process using a bibliometrics approach. The study has found that the SLA discipline has played roles as both the provider and recipient of knowledge in the development of interdisciplines. In the first case, SLA theories and methods flow into the research areas of life sciences and technology to form interdisciplinary studies with brain research, neurology, cognition, computer technology, and engineering, making SLA a provider of knowledge In the second case, SLA research receives knowledge from areas of arts and humanities and social sciences as well as from interdisciplinary studies within its own discipline, making SLA a receiver of knowledge. The new insights into the interdisciplinarity of SLA provided in this study are helpful for our deeper understanding of the interdisciplinary nature of the SLA discipline

What’s Wrong with Contemporary Economics?

It is argued that in educating economists we should sacrifice some of the more technical aspects of economics (which can be learned later), in favour of the compulsory inclusion of (a) philosophy, (b) political science and (c) economic history. Three reasons for interdisciplinary studies are given. In the discussion of the place of mathematics in economics fuzziness enters when the symbols a, b, c are identified with individuals, firms, or farms. The identification of the precise symbol with the often ambiguous and fuzzy reality, invites lack of precision and blurs the concepts. If the social sciences, including economics, are regarded as a “soft” technology compared with the “hard” technology of the natural sciences, development studies have been regarded as the soft underbelly of “economic science”. In development economics the important question is: what are the springs of development? We must confess that we cannot answer this question, that we do not know what causes successful development.

IMPERIALISM AND COMPETITION IN ANTHROPOLOGY, SOCIOLOGY, POLITICAL SCIENCE AND ECONOMICS: A PERSPECTIVE FROM DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS

In work published in the 1980's Yujro Hayami and I elaborated a theory of institutional innovations in which institutional changes are induced, on the demand side, by changes in relative resource endowments and technical change and, on the supply side, by changes in cultural endowments and advances in social science knowledge. In the mid-1980's I initiated a research program to explore what development economists might learn from research by other social scientists working in the field of development. In this paper I draw on this earlier work, and on related literature to explore the conditions under which interdisciplinary imperialism or interdisciplinary collaboration can be most productive. I argue that when the objective of research is to advance fundamental knowledge in the social sciences imperialism can be highly productive. But where multiple sources of knowledge must be drawn on for policy, mechanism, or system design interdisciplinary collaboration is essential.International Development, O30,

The Interaction of Life Sciences & Engineering Technologies in Man/Systems Integration

Advancing technology has led to increasingly sophisticated systems, requiring cooperative interdisciplinary solutions to achieve optimal man/system integration. The life sciences and engineering have started to exchange ideas, techniques, and approaches to this common problem area. The difficulties encountered in such relationships are largely a matter of tradition and the absence of dialogue rather than any basic technical incompatibility. A basis for resolving these differences and the results of such endeavors are discussed