Frankenstein: The 200th Anniversary of a Cultural Icon and the Science Around His Creation

“It’s alive!” The famous movie monster has his roots in a novel written by a teenage girl, published 200 years ago. What do a volcanic explosion, the frequency of sunspots, the discovery of galvanism, the two greatest poets of the Romantic era, an early feminist pioneer, and a premature birth have to do with this story, and what does it continue to tell us about the role of science in society and the obligations of those who perform fundamental research? The flyer for the event can be downloaded by clicking on the blue download button

Teaching Aids in Mathematics

For many years, mathematics classes have had a traditional aura about them. The textbook has been the major source of material. The typical lesson consists of review assignments discussed in class, presentation of the new material usually by the teacher, some applications of these new concepts, and a homework assignment for the next day. This routine is repeated from day to day, term to term. The students are acting merely as machines. The teachers ask questions, and the students answer from memory. This is one of the main reasons why there is a lack of understanding in mathematics classes. Some memorization in learning is required, but the contention is that it can and should be minimized. Mathematics is a topic that cannot be learned by sheer memory. A student of mathematics must minimize memorization and maximize reasoning to find the correct method for a problem. If a student has something tangible that he can hold, see, feel, and better yet if he can make it for himself, much more retention of the subject is possible. Through the use of instructional aids memorization can be minimized and the student\u27s imagination will be challenged. He must still reason to solve problems, but imagination acts as a stimulus to reason

The Causes of Student Unrest

Protest is not a new invention of the 1960\u27s. Protest has always been the normal apparatus to initiate change in human societies. College students can no longer be taken for granted. Though the great majority of them remain largely content, conservative, and apathetic, a determined minority of restless ones have forces other to examine and sometimes to change institutions, rules, and values that were once considered inviolate

Mathematics on an International Basis

Is the math of the United States inferior? In 1967 there was an international study of mathematics comparing twelve different countries: United States, Japan, Australia, Belgium, England, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, The Netherlands, Scotland, and Sweden. Funded in part by the United States Office of Education and five years in the making, the report was based on a test given to 133,000 students in different countries at the age of thirteen and at the end of high school

Modern Mathematics in Secondary Education

Until recently, the mathematics curriculum in elementary and secondary schools had been relatively unchanged for a century or more. While both elementary and secondary school programs are undergoing special studies, the most extensive curriculum projects to date have been focused on the secondary school. First, let us consider the purpose of modern math. There has been much criticism about changing from the traditional math to the modern math. As mathematician Allendoerfer explains: More than anything else, the new math is a new approach to old ideas, a mixture of intuition, deduction, and application

A Cooperative Education Program for Technology Majors

Cooperative Education is a method of higher education that combines academic work with practical on-the-job experience. The goal is to prepare students for career opportunities through a balance of theory and related employment with a business or industry. Thus, the student is provided a unique experience. . . Work that will be profitable to both the student and employer; and experience that will enhance the student\u27s knowledge, personal development and professional preparation (3, p. 2). A need has been established to initiate a Cooperative Education Program for the Division of Technology at Georgia Southern College. This study was devoted to the design and structure of such a program. The program will conform to the policies of the Board of Regents and Georgia Southern College

Conceptualizing Time and Space: Information Technology, Work, and Organization

Discussions about new forms of work and organization are typically framed by time, space, and the roles played by information and communication technologies. However, the meaning of time, space, and technology is often taken-for-granted. In this paper, we explore these concepts by first developing a set of constructs and, second, presenting some initial theorizing on the relationships among these constructs. To do so we represent time and space as socially developed constructs of temporal and spatial relations. We conceptualize a func- tional view of information and communication technologies. And, we characterize work as varying by two characteristics: the level of worker interdependence and the degree of work autonomy. Integrating these five constructs into an initial framework allows us to theorize that new forms of work are moving toward four distinct forms, each with particular spatial, temporal, and information technology characteristics

Should hepatomas be treated with hepatic resection or transplantation?

BACKGROUND: The aim of this collaborative study was to compare the long term results of hepatic resection (Hx) with those of orthotopic liver transplantation (OLTx) in large numbers of cirrhotic patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and to delineate the roles of these two surgical treatments. METHODS: The databases of the National Cancer Center Hospital in Japan and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in the U. S. were exchanged and 294 cirrhotic patients who underwent curative Hx and 270 cirrhotic patients who underwent curative OLTx were selected for comparison. RESULTS: The mortality rate within 30 days and that within 150 days after Hx were significantly lower than those after OLTx (P = 0.001 and P = 0.00007, respectively). Overall survival was similar between the Hx group and the OLTx group (P = 0.40). When compared in the HCC patients without macroscopic vascular invasion and lymph node metastases, the overall survival rate after OLTx was significantly higher than that after Hx (P = 0.006). However, this difference was not significant between the patients with Child-Pugh Grade A tumors in the Hx group and all patients (majority with Child-Pugh Grade C tumors) in the OLTx group (P = 0.25). Tumor free survival after OLTx was significantly higher than that after Hx (P 5 cm and those with macroscopic vascular invasion, the tumor free survival rate was similar between the Hx group and the OLTx group. CONCLUSIONS: In the face of organ shortage, HCC developing in a well compensated cirrhotic liver initially may be treated with Hx. However, the authors believe OLTx should be applied selectively to those patients with tumor recurrence and/or progressive hepatic failure

Absence of resonant enhancements in some inclusive rates

A toy model is defined and solved perturbatively with the aim of examining some claimed "resonant" enhancements of certain reaction rates that enter popular models of leptogenesis. We find: a) that such enhancements are absent; and b) that the perturbative solution, as done correctly using finite- temperature field theory, is well defined without the "resumming" procedures found in the literature. The pathologies that led to the perceived need for these procedures are an artifact of uncritical use of weighted vacuum cross- sections in the determination of rates, without adequate attention to the effects of the medium upon the single particle states within it.Comment: 11 pages, no figures. Some typos corrected. More typos correcte