Liu Zeyuan's philosophy of engineering and technology: An introduction to his Marxist socioeconomic theory

Liu Zeyuan (1940–2020) was a contributing founder to the Northeastern School in Chinese philosophy of technology. As such, he undertook to develop a theory that built on Marxism as the official ideology of the People's Republic of China. Following an overview of Liu's life and work, this article introduces the Marxist socioeconomic theory that served as a framework for his research. It then describes how he used this theory to reflect on the essential features and historical evolution of engineering and technology along with his analyses of issues related to innovation, ethics, and governance. It includes some reflections on how Liu's thought can be related to other philosophies of engineering and technology both inside and outside China.     

Rudolph Clausius – A pioneer of the modern theory of heat

Rudolph Clausius (1822–1888) played an important role in advancing the theory of heat during the 19th century. His contributions concerned the development of the two fundamental principles of heat as well as the microscopic approach of kinetic theory where he introduced the new concept of the mean free path. He always strictly separated these two fields. When Clausius took up his studies the idea that heat belonged to the so-called imponderables which were weightless and invisible had not yet disappeared. Carnot had still used that idea for his well-known cycle. Clausius was able to make the Carnot-cycle compatible with the concept of heat as a kind of motion.His research opened the way for thermodynamics later chiefly advocated by Planck as well as for modern statistical physics mainly connected with the names of Maxwell and Boltzmann. Scientific education and research of Clausius will be discussed here in the context of the development of the theory of heat. As he published most of his important papers on this subject already during the first two decades of his career we confine on this period. Clausius began his studies in Berlin in 1840, habilitated there in 1850 and was appointed at the newly founded Polytechnical School in Zürich in 1855. It will be shown that Clausius remained an outsider in the physics community of his time as he himself did not perform any research experiments.     

基于设计伦理理念的公共服务设施探析

目的从设计伦理学的角度对公共服务设施设计艺术进行研究。方法以设计伦理为基础,针对当前市场经济主导下的社会发展中出现的、在公共服务设施设计中存在的伦理问题,展开产品设计与伦理观念的矛盾研究,运用一定的伦理学观念与发展规律,研究公共服务设施设计艺术与伦理之间的辩证关系,并通过伦理标尺和道德砝码来衡量和评价公共服务设施的设计成果。结论从伦理学角度来对公共服务设施设计艺术进行重新审视,用伦理道德来规范和引导人的行为,将伦理问题作为设计的限制因素来制约影响设计艺术,从而引导产品设计者,肩负起社会责任,遵循伦理道德标准,站在以人为本的立场,树立人性化设计理念,使公共服务设施的产品设计达到人与自然、环境、资源利用的和谐统一。     

Instructor perceptions of engineering ethics education at Chinese engineering universities: A cross-cultural approach

During the past decade, governmental agencies, universities and programs, policymakers, and educators in China have been striving for reforming and “globalizing” the engineering ethics curriculum. Chinese scholars have proposed strategies for improving the teaching effectiveness of engineering ethics that integrate “global forms” derived from the “American-style engineering ethics” into the Chinese context. Nevertheless, limited empirical research is available that examines the alignment of these strategies and the cultures of engineering education in China (e.g., instructor perceptions of engineering ethics education). We argue that understanding how Chinese instructors perceive engineering ethics instruction is critical for designing instructional strategies sensitive to the Chinese sociocultural context. In this study, we reviewed the literature on teaching engineering ethics (primarily after the 2000s) and teased out a set of most “contested” questions concerning American educators since the emergence of engineering ethics education as an academic discipline. By using these questions as a guideline, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 12 Chinese engineering ethics instructors trained in three different fields: STS and philosophy of science and technology, engineering, and Marxist studies and ethical theories. This paper also briefly discussed how the ways Chinese instructors perceived engineering ethics education are connected to and distinct from the views held by American educators discussed in the literature review section. This paper is expected to shed light on the cultures of engineering ethics education in China and provide insights into formulating effective policies and teaching strategies sensitive to the Chinese context.     

An entangling-probe attack on Shor’s algorithm for factorization

We investigate how to attack Shor’s quantum algorithm for factorization with an entangling probe. We show that an attacker can steal an exact solution of Shor’s algorithm outside an institute where the quantum computer is installed if he replaces its initialized quantum register with entangled qubits, namely the entangling probe. He can apply arbitrary local operations to his own probe. Moreover, we assume that there is an unauthorized person who helps the attacker to commit a crime inside the institute. He tells garbage data obtained from measurements of the quantum register to the attacker secretly behind a legitimate user’s back. If the attacker succeeds in cracking Shor’s algorithm, the legitimate user obtains a random answer and does not notice the attacker’s illegal acts. We discuss how to detect the attacker. Finally, we estimate a probability that the quantum algorithm inevitably makes an error, of which the attacker can take advantage.     

Enhancing Core Competency Learning in an Integrated Summer Research Experience for Bioengineers

In the summer Research Experience for Undergraduates offered by the NSF‐sponsored VaNTH Engineering Research Center in Bioengineering, core competency instruction in ethics and communication was integrated into students' research experiences outside of formal courses. This paper describes our instructional approach and presents an initial evaluation of its effectiveness. A simple concept mapping assessment used at the beginning and end of the summer suggests that students made gains in both areas. In ethics, students developed greater awareness of key concepts, such as respect for persons (informed consent), beneficence, justice, and integrity. Gains in communication were more modest, but the maps revealed growth in understanding the importance of audience and the multifaceted nature of technical communication. Overall, the study suggests that students can make measurable strides in core competencies without taking formal courses. Future research should consider integrating components of our intervention into other non‐credit experiences for engineering undergraduates.     

Über die Variationsrechnung in Hilberts Werken zur Analysis

The paper deals with some of the developments in analysis against the background of Hilbert's contributions to the Calculus of Variations. As a starting point the transformation is chosen that took place at the end of the 19th century in the Calculus of Variations, and emphasis is placed on the influence of Dirichlet's principle. The proof of the principle (the “resuscitation”) led Hilbert to questions arising in the 19th and 20th problems of his famous Paris address in 1900: theexistence in a generalized sense, and theregularity of solutions of elliptic partial differential equations. By this new concept Hilbert pointed out two very important issues the history of which is closely tied up with the rise of modern analysis. Further on, Hilbert'stheorem of independence of the Calculus of Variations, an important contribution to its formal apparatus as well as to its field theory, is briefly discussed. But even as Hilbert published his first essential results, he was turning his attention to another area of mathematics that differs in an important respect from the Calculus of Variations:integral equations. Hilbert did so because he recognized that in this branch by its flexibility he was coming closer to his goal of an unifying methodological approach to analysis.     

资源伦理视角下的适老化设计创新趋势思考

在人口老龄化加剧背景下，如何通过设计手段解决老龄化带来的相关问题，日益成为学术界关注的热点。结合对资源伦理观的研究，使用CiteSpace软件针对目前产品设计、服务设计等相关领域展开的适老化研究进行分析，指出当前适老化设计领域在资源伦理方面的研究缺失。最终从资源伦理角度，根据养老资源的收入差异、地域差异、自理能力差异等因素，提出适老化设计创新应当关注的新方向。     

PB-g-SAN接枝共聚物的接枝率对ABS树脂结构与性能的影响

采用种子乳液聚合技术在聚丁二烯(PB)乳胶粒子上接枝共聚单体苯乙烯(St)和丙烯腈(AN),通过改变PB的含量合成了一系列具有不同接枝率的PB-g-SAN接枝共聚物(即ABS接枝共聚物),将其与SAN树脂进行熔融共混制得ABS树脂,考察了ABS接枝共聚物的接枝率对ABS树脂结构和性能的影响。结果表明,SAN共聚物在PB橡胶粒子上的接枝可分为‘内接枝’和‘外接枝’,外接枝程度影响PB橡胶粒子在SAN基体中的分散,而内接枝程度显著地影响PB橡胶粒子的内部形态结构。通过抑制内接枝,可提高ABS树脂的冲击韧性和拉伸强度;提高外接枝程度可改善ABS树脂的断裂伸长率。     

人工智能时代知识生产范式变革与中国设计观建构

目的 在人工智能时代知识生产范式变革背景下提出了中国设计观的理论体系。方法 从知识生产范式在人工智能时代的变革和我国设计发展变迁的角度出发,分析了新时代中国设计观建构的必要性。结果 提出了中国设计观这一理论体系,明确了中国设计观的概念、特征,从本体层(中国设计观体系构建的理论基石)、行为层(中国传统文脉中的设计符号表达与当代转译)、战略层(中国设计观的价值传播)三个层次对中国设计观进行了深入剖析。结论 中国设计观是一套富有中国风格、中国气派的设计话语体系,既符合当前知识生产范式变革的需求,又是推进文化强国建设的重要环节,对讲好中国故事、做强世界产品、传扬中国设计具有重要的现实意义。     

End corrections for rarefied gas flows through capillaries of finite length

The influence of end effects on rarefied gas flows through moderately long capillaries is investigated by implementing the concept of effective capillary length, representing a sum of the real length of capillary and its increment. To calculate the length increment, a flow field near the inlet cross section of capillary is analyzed on the basis of the linearized kinetic equation. Far from the inlet inside of capillary, the solution is matched at the level of the distribution function with the one-dimensional solution corresponding to the flow in an infinite capillary. Far from the inlet outside of capillary, the gas is assumed to be in equilibrium at a specific pressure and temperature. The capillary length increment has been calculated as a function of the gas rarefaction. Using these results it is possible to estimate a flow rate through a moderately long capillary without hard calculations for the complete geometry.     

Broadening the lens for the governance of emerging technologies: Care ethics and agricultural biotechnology

In this paper we argue that insights from feminist perspectives, particularly in the form of an ethics of care, have a number of advantages when used as a lens through which to consider questions relevant to the governance of emerging technologies. We highlight how an emphasis on central themes of importance in feminist theory and care ethics such as relationality, contextuality, dependence, power, affect, and narrative can shine a light on a number of salient issues that are typically missed by the dominant and largely consequentialist risk assessment frame. We argue that the care ethics lens is a better fit when technologies are understood not simply as devices designed to create a certain end experience for a user but as transformative systems that smuggle in numerous social and political interests. The advantages of these care ethics themes for emerging technologies are illustrated through a detailed consideration of agricultural biotechnology. We show how the feminist care ethics lens might have anticipated the very questions that have proved themselves to be the sticking points for this technology. We therefore suggest that applying a care ethics lens can significantly broaden the frame of appraisal processes used for the governance of emerging technologies and usefully grant legitimacy to questions and concerns that are prominent in public discourse but typically left out of practices of risk assessment.     

Talbot's Rouen window

Abstract

On 16 May 1843, William Henry Fox Talbot, stopping in Rouen en route to Paris to try to market his calotype process, set up his camera in front of the muslin-curtained window of his room in the Hôtel de l'Angleterre (figure 1).¹ Huddled deep in the darkened bedroom, he focused not on the masts of sailing vessels docked outside on the quai du Havre or the new suspension bridge that he was to record in other images, but on the plane of the window itself, with its mullions, balcony grating, curtain rods, and filigree of lace. Knowing full well that the faintly lit walls of his room would be grossly underexposed ifhe tried to capture anything of the bright outside world, Talbot persisted with this enigmatic composition, neither landscape nor still life, study of nature nor genre scene, at best a ‘picturesque imagining’ as he would later describe in The Pencil of Nature.     

城市社区微更新语境中的公共设施设计研究

目的 作为社会治理中重要一环的城市社区微更新,应当使其匹配相应的公共设施设计,对城市社区微更新语境下的公共设施实践方式进行深入剖析,启发针对不同场地、人群、情境、需求的公共设施设计思路。方法 从设施品质高低、设计师介入程度出发归纳三种类型的公共设施,然后从三种不同类型设施的释义及其设计组织方式出发,在设计立意、设计方法、设计案例方面分析不同类型设施的设计实践过程。结果 得出社区微更新语境下不同类型公共设施的设计立意及设计方法。结论 城市社区微更新语境下的公共设施设计应该更加关注居民的生活行为方式,更加关注设施的趣味营造与可持续设计,更加关注公众参与和社会治理,并以此作为出发点形成设计构思,激发社区环境的可持续发展。     

Obituary – Chester J. Mackson

Chester J. Mackson, PhD., former Director of the School of Packaging, Michigan State University (MSU), died on May 21 at the age of 88. He was Director of the School from 1977 to 1986 during one of the School's most expansive, successful periods. Dr. Mackson's vision led to a much expanded school in terms of staffing and student numbers, and in programs and international prominence. During his time as Director, he hired many of the faculty currently on staff and laid the foundation for the broadened programmatic mission that we enjoy today. Chet was instrumental in the building expansion that added several world‐class labs, a conference room and faculty offices. Prior to this, faculty had been housed in two buildings that he felt did not create a good work environment. Today the School is well known both on and off campus for its harmonious work environment and team attitude. Internationally, Chet was very proactive, perhaps a little surprising for a small town boy from Michigan's Upper Peninsula. He was one of the pioneers and long‐time board members of the International Association of Packaging Research Institutes (IAPRI). IAPRI is now a thriving association made up of member organizations from all around the world; its recent 16th World Conference was held in Bangkok, Thailand. Chet was the organizer of the 4th World Conference in Lansing, Michigan. It was the first one held outside of Europe and remains one of the most successful. Together with Frank Paine he started the first packaging overseas study program for students, offered in London, England, which has now expanded to also include programs in Sweden, Spain and Japan. Chet worked with the World Bank, the US Agency for International Development and the United Nations to secure short term assignments for faculty in Mexico, Brazil, Morocco and Korea, among others. Due, in part, to Chet's early leadership, the current faculty is well traveled internationally and the School is respected globally. Chet Mackson was an educator, an innovator and an entrepreneur. He loved his family, MSU, Michigan's upper peninsula and a good golf match. He served MSU for over 34 years as a professor in Agriculture Economics and as Director of the School of Packaging. He served the USA as an officer in World War II in Patton's Third Army, was wounded in battle and received the Purple Heart. Chet is survived by Marilynn, his wife of 61 years, 6 children, 11 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren. Chet was honored by the Packaging Education Foundation in 1992 when they elected him to the Packaging Hall of Fame, and again by the School's alumni in 2007 when they elected him to MSU Packaging Alumni Association Hall of Fame. One of the things he said most often, and which exemplifies his professional career was, ‘it is surprising how much you can accomplish, as long as you don't care who gets the credit’. Chet will be missed by the faculty, staff and alumni of the School of Packaging.     

Controlled Intracellular Release of Peptides from Microcapsules Enhances Antigen Presentation on MHC Class I Molecules

To understand the time course of action of any small molecule inside a single cell, one would deposit a defined amount inside the cell and initiate its activity at a defined moment. An elegant way to achieve this is to encapsulate the molecule in a micrometer‐sized reservoir, introduce it into a cell, remotely open its wall by a laser pulse, and then follow the biological response by microscopy. The validity of this approach is validated here using microcapsules with defined walls that are doped with metallic nanoparticles so as to enable them to be opened with an infrared laser. The capsules are loaded with a fluorescent antigenic peptide and introduced into mammalian cultured cells where, upon laser‐induced release, the peptide binds to major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I proteins and elicits their cell surface transport. The concept of releasing a drug inside a cell and following its action is applicable to many problems in cell biology and medicine.     

Tribute Professor Andrew Keller

This special issue acknowledges the seminal contribution of Professor Andrew Keller to polymer science and brings together contributions from his many colleagues and friends as a tribute to his memory. It is particularly appropriate that the Journal of Materials Science publishes such a memorial, as Andrew played a key role in the foundation and development of the Journal to its present position at the international forefront of the field. Andrew was a member of the enlightened group of Editors, chaired by Robert Cahn, which launched Journal of Materials Science in 1966. At that time, the concept of Materials Science as an integrated discipline covering the structure, properties processing and application of all materials was novel. From the outset, Andrew was responsible for nurturing and encouraging the submission of polymer papers and for ensuring appropriate refereeing, much of which he performed personally or through his group in Bristol. Given his enthusiasm and insight, many authors found their papers considerably improved by the quality of the refereeing process.     

THE VIRTUAL LIFE OF PHOTOGRAPHY

The premise of this article is that although photography is proliferating and diversifying, we still do not know what it is. In order to find out what it is, we must look at it from both the outside and the inside: we must consider both the condition of photography, and its ontology. New media studies, science and technology studies, and other related fields help to illuminate the condition of photography, or its exteriority. But it is philosophy which enables us to address, directly, and from the inside, the question of ontology. The article proposes that this ontology is one of becoming, not of Being, and that it can be understood through Bergson's terms of memory and intuition. Memory, as an ontology of becoming, constitutes the virtual life of photography, and intuition, as a method of understanding, enables us to apprehend it.     

水平管外R404A降膜蒸发传热的实验研究

搭建了降膜蒸发实验台,研究了水平单管外的降膜蒸发传热特性。测试管为外径19mm、有效实验长度为2500mm的光滑管和强化管。实验采用R404A作为管外降膜蒸发工质,与管内热水进行换热。布液采用喷嘴喷淋的方式,通过21个喷口当量直径为2mm的喷嘴完成。分别在变饱和温度(0、5、10、15℃)、变热流密度(从8到30kW/m2)和变喷淋量(从0.07到0.11kg/(m·s)时进行实验,研究了降膜蒸发换热性能相应的变化情况,得到R404A的管外降膜蒸发换热的一些规律,这对降膜蒸发器的设计及应用具有一定的参考作用。