Modernization and Its Discontents

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/67022/2/10.1177_000276427702100208.pd

The Early Royal Society and Visual Culture

Recent studies have fruitfully examined the intersection between early modern science and visual culture by elucidating the functions of images in shaping and disseminating scientific knowledge. Given its rich archival sources, it is possible to extend this line of research in the case of the Royal Society to an examination of attitudes towards images as artefacts –manufactured objects worth commissioning, collecting and studying. Drawing on existing scholarship and material from the Royal Society Archives, I discuss Fellows’ interests in prints, drawings, varnishes, colorants, images made out of unusual materials, and methods of identifying the painter from a painting. Knowledge of production processes of images was important to members of the Royal Society, not only as connoisseurs and collectors, but also as those interested in a Baconian mastery of material processes, including a “history of trades”. Their antiquarian interests led to discussion of painters’ styles, and they gradually developed a visual memorial to an institution through portraits and other visual records.AH/M001938/1 (AHRC

The Earth: Plasma Sources, Losses, and Transport Processes

This paper reviews the state of knowledge concerning the source of magnetospheric plasma at Earth. Source of plasma, its acceleration and transport throughout the system, its consequences on system dynamics, and its loss are all discussed. Both observational and modeling advances since the last time this subject was covered in detail (Hultqvist et al., Magnetospheric Plasma Sources and Losses, 1999) are addressed

An open-source LMS evolves as learning/teaching/testing environment

At the Dipartimento di Informatica e Comunicazione of the Universit`a Statale di Milano an opportunity for exam automation was seen in an earlier initiative that had led to the development of an open-source learning management system. This LMS, known as \u201cJust Learn It!\u201d (or JLI!) was then applied to English-as-a-foreign-language placement tests for large numbers of incoming \ufb01rst-year students, thus replacing automated, paper-based testing systems such as QuizIt [1]. Initial studies have now been undertaken in using this on-screen system to automate written exams and mixed oral-written exams in other subjects, as well. The change in purpose has led to a number of considerations that have in\ufb02uenced the development of JLI! These, in turn, promise to ease the adoption of distance-learning technology in transitional and blended situations