The extent and relevance of instrumentalism, constructivism and critical realism in high school physical science textbooks : a critical study

Instrumentalism is a philosophy of science which holds that scientific theories are merely useful fictions for making computative predictions. Its pragmatic purpose of 'saving the appearances' downgrades the role of theory in science. Realists, on the other hand, take the implications of theories seriously. This study investigates the attributes of both instrumentalism and realism, taking theory as its point of departure. It is pointed out that constructivism is closely related to instrumentalism, both being forms of pragmatism. Since both tend to concoct and relinquish theories too easily, they tend to be relativist and subjectivist. It is therefore concluded that neither instrumentalism, nor constructivism, nor empiricism is sufficient for a rounded science education. What is needed is a type of realism which acknowledges both the empirical physical world 'out there' and the constructivist nature of scientific knowledge. The naive (empiricist) realism so prevalent in school science textbooks cannot do this. It is contended that critical realism, and especially that of Bernard Lonergan, can meet this requirement. Reality is more than what is given in sensory experience. Therefore, in order to help solve the problem of relativism and subjectivity inherent in constructivism, we need to revise our notion of reality and objectivity. Twenty-three selected British, American, South African, and African Third World high school physical science textbooks were examined in detail to determine the extent of an instrumentalist philosophy in them. They were subjected to several textual analyses, including one especially devised for this study. The results reveal that our high school physical science textbooks do indeed contain a high degree of instrumentalism. This study postulates that this instrumentalism may be used to help pupils move towards realism. However, this needs to be augmented by a full-blooded critical realist approach which takes theoretical entities seriously. One way of doing this is through the use of suitable material in the preface of every textbook. Not only should the dangers of instrumentalism (and naive constructivism) be pointed out, but the role of theory in science should be emphasised. This may be achieved by simulations to encourage growth of models and theories, historical case studies involving theory-development, and additional reading of scientists in action. Some examples of these are provided

Sociology and Anthropology: 1967-1973

This departmental history was written on the occasion of the UND Centennial in 1983.https://commons.und.edu/departmental-histories/1056/thumbnail.jp

Sociology: 1973-1982

This departmental history was written on the occasion of the UND Centennial in 1983.https://commons.und.edu/departmental-histories/1024/thumbnail.jp

The Future of Global Water Stress: An Integrated Assessment

We assess the ability of global water systems, resolved at 282 large river basins or Assessment Sub Regions (ASRs), to the meet water requirements over the coming decades under integrated projections of socioeconomic growth and climate change. We employ a Water Resource System (WRS) component embedded within the MIT Integrated Global System Model (IGSM) framework in a suite of simulations that consider a range of climate policies and regional hydroclimatic changes through the middle of this century. We find that for many developing nations water-demand increases due to population growth and economic activity have a much stronger effect on water stress than climate change. By 2050, economic growth and population change alone can lead to an additional 1.8 billion people living in regions with at least moderate water stress. Of this additional 1.8 billion people, 80% are found in developing countries. Uncertain regional climate change can play a secondary role to either exacerbate or dampen the increase in water stress due to socioeconomic growth. The strongest climate impacts on relative changes in water stress are seen over many areas in Africa, but strong impacts also occur over Europe, Southeast Asia and North America. The combined effects of socioeconomic growth and uncertain climate change lead to a 1.0 to 1.3 billion increase of the world's 2050 projected population living in regions with overly exploited water conditions— where total potential water requirements will consistently exceed surface-water supply. Under the context of the WRS model framework, this would imply that adaptive measures would be taken to meet these surface-water shortfalls and would include: water-use efficiency, reduced and/or redirected consumption, recurrent periods of water emergencies or curtailments, groundwater depletion, additional inter-basin transfers, and overdraw from flow intended to maintain environmental requirements.We assess the ability of global water systems, resolved at 282 large river basins or Assessment Sub Regions (ASRs), to the meet water requirements over the coming decades under integrated projections of socioeconomic growth and climate change. We employ a Water Resource System (WRS) component embedded within the MIT Integrated Global System Model (IGSM) framework in a suite of simulations that consider a range of climate policies and regional hydroclimatic changes through the middle of this century. We find that for many developing nations water-demand increases due to population growth and economic activity have a much stronger effect on water stress than climate change. By 2050, economic growth and population change alone can lead to an additional 1.8 billion people living in regions with at least moderate water stress. Of this additional 1.8 billion people, 80% are found in developing countries. Uncertain regional climate change can play a secondary role to either exacerbate or dampen the increase in water stress due to socioeconomic growth. The strongest climate impacts on relative changes in water stress are seen over many areas in Africa, but strong impacts also occur over Europe, Southeast Asia and North America. The combined effects of socioeconomic growth and uncertain climate change lead to a 1.0 to 1.3 billion increase of the world's 2050 projected population living in regions with overly exploited water conditions— where total potential water requirements will consistently exceed surface-water supply. Under the context of the WRS model framework, this would imply that adaptive measures would be taken to meet these surface-water shortfalls and would include: water-use efficiency, reduced and/or redirected consumption, recurrent periods of water emergencies or curtailments, groundwater depletion, additional inter-basin transfers, and overdraw from flow intended to maintain environmental requirements

Group Process and Organizational Environment: Student Organizations in the University

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68768/2/10.1177_089976407400300305.pd

Self-control of epileptic seizures by nonpharmacological strategies

Despite the unpredictability of epileptic seizures, many patients report that they can anticipate seizure occurrence. Using certain alert symptoms (i.e., auras, prodromes, precipitant factors), patients can adopt behaviors to avoid injury during and after the seizure or may implement spontaneous cognitive and emotional strategies to try to control the seizure itself. From the patient's view point, potential means of enhancing seizure prediction and developing seizure control supports are seen as very important issues, especially when the epilepsy is drug-resistant. In this review, we first describe how some patients anticipate their seizures and whether this is effective in terms of seizure prediction. Secondly, we examine how these anticipatory elements might help patients to prevent or control their seizures and how the patient's neuropsychological profile, specifically parameters of perceived self-control (PSC) and locus of control (LOC), might impact these strategies and quality of life (QOL). Thirdly, we review the external supports that can help patients to better predict seizures. Finally, we look at nonpharmacological means of increasing perceived self-control and achieving potential reduction of seizure frequency (i.e., stress-based and arousal-based strategies). In the past few years, various approaches for detection and control of seizures have gained greater interest, but more research is needed to confirm a positive effect on seizure frequency as well as on QOL

Reclaiming heritage: colourization, culture wars and the politics of nostalgia

This article considers the discursive continuities between a specifically liberal defence of cultural patrimony, evident in the debate over film colourization, and the culture war critique associated with neo-conservatism. It examines how a rhetoric of nostalgia, linked to particular ideas of authenticity,canonicity and tradition,has been mobilized by the right and the left in attempts to stabilize the confguration and perceived transmission of American cultural identity. While different in scale, colourization and multiculturalism were seen to create respective (postmodern) barbarisms against which defenders of culture, heritage and good taste could unite. I argue that in its defence of the ‘classic’ work of art, together with principles of aesthetic distinction and the value of cultural inheritance,the anti-colourization lobby helped enrich and legitimize a discourse of tradition that, at the end of the 1980s, was beginning to reverberate powerfully in the conservative challenge to a ‘crisis’ within higher education and the humanities. This article attempts to complicate the contemporary politics of nostalgia, showing how a defence of cultural patrimony has distinguished major and minor culture wars, engaging left and right quite differently but with similar presuppositions

EDITORIAL: Stuck in motion? Reconnecting questions and tools in movement ecology

In this editorial for the Special Feature, I firstly briefly review the major milestones in tool development for movement ecology research, from the first mark–recapture techniques to the current techniques allowing users to collect high-frequency movement data and high-resolution environmental data, as well as the methods for statistical and mathematical analyses. I then briefly describe the methods covered in the Special Feature and conclude with a brief outlook on ongoing and future developments

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) nanomachines: mechanisms for fluoroquinolone and glycopeptide recognition, efflux and/or deactivation

In this review, we discuss mechanisms of resistance identified in bacterial agents Staphylococcus aureus and the enterococci towards two priority classes of antibiotics—the fluoroquinolones and the glycopeptides. Members of both classes interact with a number of components in the cells of these bacteria, so the cellular targets are also considered. Fluoroquinolone resistance mechanisms include efflux pumps (MepA, NorA, NorB, NorC, MdeA, LmrS or SdrM in S. aureus and EfmA or EfrAB in the enterococci) for removal of fluoroquinolone from the intracellular environment of bacterial cells and/or protection of the gyrase and topoisomerase IV target sites in Enterococcus faecalis by Qnr-like proteins. Expression of efflux systems is regulated by GntR-like (S. aureus NorG), MarR-like (MgrA, MepR) regulators or a two-component signal transduction system (TCS) (S. aureus ArlSR). Resistance to the glycopeptide antibiotic teicoplanin occurs via efflux regulated by the TcaR regulator in S. aureus. Resistance to vancomycin occurs through modification of the D-Ala-D-Ala target in the cell wall peptidoglycan and removal of high affinity precursors, or by target protection via cell wall thickening. Of the six Van resistance types (VanA-E, VanG), the VanA resistance type is considered in this review, including its regulation by the VanSR TCS. We describe the recent application of biophysical approaches such as the hydrodynamic technique of analytical ultracentrifugation and circular dichroism spectroscopy to identify the possible molecular effector of the VanS receptor that activates expression of the Van resistance genes; both approaches demonstrated that vancomycin interacts with VanS, suggesting that vancomycin itself (or vancomycin with an accessory factor) may be an effector of vancomycin resistance. With 16 and 19 proteins or protein complexes involved in fluoroquinolone and glycopeptide resistances, respectively, and the complexities of bacterial sensing mechanisms that trigger and regulate a wide variety of possible resistance mechanisms, we propose that these antimicrobial resistance mechanisms might be considered complex ‘nanomachines’ that drive survival of bacterial cells in antibiotic environments