Introducing the concept of “uncertainty in measurement” into domestic metrological practice

There are four options for introducing the uncertainty concept in Russia. Preference is given to the gradual replacement of “error characteristic,” “total mean-square error,” and “confidence limits of error” by the terms “uncertainty,” “combined standard uncertainty,” and “expanded uncertainty,” respectively. The incorrect and widespread perception that “uncertainty in measurement” is an alternative for “error” is pointed out. Translated from Izmeritel'naya Tekhnika, No. 5, pp. 27–28, May, 2000.     

Evidence of electronic growth in titanium- and cobalt-silicide islands

A possibility of growing highly mismatched and yet two-dimensional heteroepitaxial deposits, is both fascinating in terms of basic science and technologically important. So far, stabilization of flat morphology by a reduction of the overall electron energy in a quantum well (hence termed “electronic growth”), has been observed exclusively in heteroepitaxy of simple metals, lead, and silver. This work shows, that a broader class of functional materials can be grown “electronically,” such as titanium- and cobalt-silicide nano-islands on Si(111), despite their more complex electronic structure.     

Garfield’s demon and “surprising” or “unexpected” results in science

The relative occurrence of the words “surprising” and “unexpected” in the titles of scientific papers was 11 times more common in 2001–2005 than in 1900–1955. However, papers which had titles containing one of these words did not receive enhanced numbers of citations. Both words (and also adjectives “unusual” and “unfortunately”) are used significantly more frequently in science than in social sciences and humanities. The distribution of the statements of surprise is not random in scientific literature (chemistry journals ranked highest in the number of papers claiming “surprising” or “unexpected” results) and may reflect the level of maturity of a discipline.     

Harmonizing the terminological subsystem “Standards for units of physical quantities”

Suggestions are considered on harmonizing the terms in the terminological subsystem “Standards for units of physical quantities.” Proposals are made on upgrading intergovernmental terminological documents. Definitions are given of terms proposed for use. Editor's note. Terminology is extremely important for metrology, so this paper is useful. However, it has become customary to use the term “means of measurement,” so it is hardly desirable to introduce a new definition for “means of measurement engineering.” As regards the suggestion on the direct introduction of the international dictionary of basic and general terms in metrology, the Publishing House for Standards in 1998 published this dictionary in Russian with equivalents for the terms in English, French, German, and Spanish (see Izmeritel'naya Tekhnika, No. 12, p. 62, 1998). Translated from Izmeritel'naya Tekhnika, No. 4, pp. 40–42, April, 1999.     

Scientometric study of laser patent literature

An analysis of the patents filed and scientific papers published and abstracted in theJournal of Current Laser Abstracts (JCLA) for the period 1967–95 indicates that innovative activity in laser science and technology was at its peak in the early 70s. However, scientific activity surpassed the innovative activity in the early 80s. There was a continuous shift in emphasis from “applications of lasers” to “experimental laser research” and to “theoretical laser research”. Further analysis of the 1840 patents field in 1970–71, 1975–76, and 1980–85 indicates that most of the firms filing patents were situated in USA and thus USA is the leading country filing patents in this area followed by Japan. “Spectroscopy of laser output” followed by “Communication applications of laser” got the maximum emphasis.     

Regularized symmetric Galerkin BIE formulations in the Laplace transform domain for 2D problems

With reference to some initial-boundary-value problems formulated in the Laplace transform domain, a “regularized” symmetric BIE formulation is derived. The specific problems considered, i.e. diffusion, plane-strain elastodynamics and dynamics of elastic Kirchhoff plates, are formulated in terms of BIEs containing at most weakly (logarithmic) singular kernels. This regularization is achieved by means of the “derivative transfer” technique where, through integration by parts, derivatives are “transferred” from particular auxiliary kernels to the kinematic fields involved in the BIEs.     

Leben zwischen ,,Vegetativ“ und ,,Vegetieren“

The modern scientific and ordinary language contains several specific terms which refer to the words “vegetative”or “vegetate” as in “persistent vegetative state” or “human vegetable”.There is a long tradition from ancient times until today to compare specific functions and situations concerning human beings with the state of plants, e.g. in natural philosophy, medicine or ethics. A specific “vegetative terminology” has been established in medicine around 1800 in anatomical, physiological and clinical considerations (e.g. on the autonomous nervous system since Reil).The following paper presents firstly the historical background and some stations in the use of this vegetative terminology within the history of ideas and medicine especially around 1800. The second part presents a bioethical approach to problems of a human vegetative state or “human vegetable” by Hans Jonas.

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Leben zwischen ,,Vegetativ“ und ,,Vegetieren“ Zur historischen und ethischen Bedeutung der vegetativen Terminologie in der Wissenschafts- und Alltagssprache

     

A variation of the calculation of the first author cocitation strength in author cocitation analysis

The method of author cocitation analysis (ACA) was first presented by White and Griffith in 1981 as a “literature measure of intellectual structure” and its applicability for the mapping of areas of science has since then been tested in various bibliometric science mapping studies. In this study, an experimental method of calculating the first or single author cocitation frequency is presented and compared with the standard method. Applying Ward’s method of clustering, the analysis revealed that the two approaches did not produce similar results and a tentative interpretation of deviations was that the experimental method provided with a more detailed depiction of the specialty structure. It was also concluded that a number of additional research questions need to be resolved before a comprehensive understanding of the suggested method’s merits and demerits is reached.     

Stripes, non-fermi-liquid behavior, and high-T c superconductivity

The electronic structure of the high-T_c. cuprates is studied in terms of “large-U” and “small-U” orbitals. A striped structure and three types of quasiparticles are obtained, polaron-like “stripons” carrying charge, “svivons” carrying spin, and “quasielectrons” carrying both. The anomalous properties are explained, and specifically the behavior of the resistivity. Hall constant, and thermoelectric power. High-temperature superconductivity results from transitions between pair states of quasielectrons and stripons.     

Fracture behavior and creep-fatigue response of fiber reinforced glass-ceramic matrix composites

The mechanical behavior of a continuous silicon carbide fiber reinforced Barium Magnesium Aluminosilicate (BMAS) glass-ceramic matrix composite is investigated at room and high temperatures. The materials were heat-treated in an oxidizing environment for 1h at 1100°C previous to mechanical testing. The static fracture behavior at room and high temperatures was analyzed in direct tension tests, while the creep-fatigue (cyclic-creep) behavior was estimated in four-point flexural tests at 1100°C. The experimental results of tensile tests have highlighted the importance of the carbon-rich layer at the fiber/matrix interface for obtaining “graceful” failures. At high temperatures (1100°C), oxidative degradation of the interface results in significant strength reduction and a transition to the brittle fracture mode. The creep-fatigue results at different stress levels are analyzed in terms of the creep-recovery behavior. Extensive viscous strain recovery was found upon the unloading period. The crept composites retained their “graceful” fracture behavior after testing, indicating that no (or limited) damage in the matrix was induced during cyclic creep at the conditions tested. Published in Fizyko-Khimichna Mekhanika Materialiv, Vol. 32, No. 1, pp. 81–90, January–February, 1996.     

Computer aided teaching in civil engineering materials science at the University of Stuttgart

During the past five years the Institute of Construction Materials at the University of Stuttgart (IWB) has participated in different projects concerning e-teaching. Amongst other efforts co-workers of IWB have created a set of virtual content concerning concrete technology within a German e-teaching network in civil engineering materials science called “WiBA-Net” (). The content of this network consists of teaching material that is organized at four different levels of granularity. At the most basic level single items (“assets”) are collected. At the second level such assets are arranged into single pages filling one screen. Several pages dealing with aspects of a single topic are ordered into a teaching path at the third level and finally a set of teaching paths forms an entire course at level four. Virtual searching methods are offered on all four levels depending on the state of the user. Besides the mentioned teaching material also virtual communication facilities are offered within the network. During the work on WiBA-Net, which consists of six German Universities, questions concerning the reusability of virtual content, metadata enhancement techniques and the concept of Blended Learning were focused. Educational and didactic aspects have been closely taken into account and quality assuring evaluation methods have been applied. Meanwhile first experiences have been made in real life teaching and learning situations, which give us an idea of future needs and development in the field.     

Dielectric relaxation with dipolar screening

The phenomenon of dipolar screening does not appear to have received sufficient attention in the past, in a manner comparable to charged particle screening, and yet it is shown that it is capable of explaining some forms of dielectric response to which no other evident explanation exists. While reorientations of mathematical dipoles of zero “length” do not entail any charge displacements, physical dipoles of finite length, l, do produce charge displacements and therefore screening. A theory of dipolar screening is presented and it is shown that relatively “dense” systems give complete screening so that neighbouring dipoles do not “see” one another, while in more dilute systems many dipoles fall within a screening radius, Rs, of any one dipole. Dipoles within Rs tend to adopt energetically favoured configuration and the entire system “seizes up” in a “domain”, thus reducing the number of dipoles which can be reoriented at finite frequencies. This revised version was published online in November 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Is the Two Dimensional Organic Conductor, τ-(EDO-S,S-DMEDT-TTF)2(AuCl2)1+y Clean or Dirty?

The transport properties of organic τ-type conductors seem to be very clean as well as very dirty depending on what we observe. To clarify this problem, we studied temperature and magnetic field dependence of resistivity, ρ(T, B), in τ-(EDO-S,S-DMEDT-TTF)₂(AuCl₂)_1+y. The properties that favor “probably dirty” are: i) stepwise ρ_a(T) increase below 20 K, which is suppressed by magnetic field, and ii) contrasted difference in ρ(T) as well as magnetization M(T) between field cooled (FC) and zero field cooled (ZFC). On the other hand, Shubnikov de Haas oscillations with very low Dingle temperature (T_D = 1.5 K) are typical of clean system. Based on these observations, we conclude this system changes from “dirty” to “clean” system by increase of magnetic field.     

Is the two dimensional organic conductor, τ-(EDO-S,S-DMEDT-TTF)2(AuCl2)1+y clean or dirty?

The transport properties of organic τ-type conductors seem to be very clean as well as very dirty depending on what we observe. To clarify this problem, we studied temperature and magnetic field dependence of resistivity, ρ(T, B), in τ-(EDO-S,S-DMEDT-TTF)₂(AuCl₂)_1+y. The properties that favor “probably dirty” are: i) stepwise ρ_a(T) increase below 20 K, which is suppressed by magnetic field, and ii) contrasted difference in ρ(T) as well as magnetization M(T) between field cooled (FC) and zero field cooled (ZFC). On the other hand, Shubnikov de Haas oscillations with very low Dingle temperature (T_D=1.5 K) are typical of clean system. Based on these observations, we conclude this system changes from “dirty” to “clean” system by increase of magnetic field.     

Impact strength of nylon 6 and 66 in the dry and moist states

The impact strength of nylon was determined by the modified Charpy test with double-V notches described in DIN 53753, because it cannot be reliably assessed by the notched Charpy and Izod tests. This test was adjusted to obtain a sensitive, accurate and reproducible method for the determination of impact strength in the dry and moist states. In the light of the criterion thus gained, it is shown that the dry “as-moulded” state is unstable and that the impact strength decreases exponentially with storage timE. Therefore, comparison tests are not valid unless the measurements are performed within a restricted period of time after the specimens had been demoulded. If the age of the specimens is unknown, a reproducible “as-moulded” state can be regenerated by an annealing procedure. The state of “conventional” moisture content that is taken as a reference for comparing data obtained on moist nylon is the equilibrium moisture content in a standard laboratory atmosphere. Various methods are discussed for attaining this state rapidly by accelerated conditioning. An atmosphere of 70‡ C and 62% relative humidity allows accurate adjustment to the “conventional” moisture content but does not result in a stable reference state; for instance, the impact strength decreases within several weeks after conditioning.     

Analysis of the error of measurements of the active electric power in symmetrical three-phase electric networks

The error in measuring electric power for “three-element” and “two-element” transformer circuits including the electric power meter is analyzed. It is shown that, unlike a “ three-element” circuit, a “two-element” measurement circuit has somewhat larger values of the measurement error. __________ Translated from Izmeritel’naya Tekhnika, No. 4, pp. 68–70, April, 2006.     

“Structuration” by intellectual organization: the configuration of knowledge in relations among structural components in networks of science

Using aggregated journal–journal citation networks, the measurement of the knowledge base in empirical systems is factor-analyzed in two cases of interdisciplinary developments during the period 1995–2005: (i) the development of nanotechnology in the natural sciences and (ii) the development of communication studies as an interdiscipline between social psychology and political science. The results are compared with a case of stable development: the citation networks of core journals in chemistry. These citation networks are intellectually organized by networks of expectations in the knowledge base at the specialty (that is, above-journal) level. The “structuration” of structural components (over time) can be measured as configurational information. The latter is compared with the Shannon-type information generated in the interactions among structural components: the difference between these two measures provides us with a measure for the redundancy generated by the specification of a model in the knowledge base of the system. This knowledge base incurs (against the entropy law) to variable extents on the knowledge infrastructures provided by the observable networks of relations.     

Comparative analysis of co-authorship networks considering authors' roles in collaboration: Differences between the theoretical and application areas

Summary Many studies have analyzed “direct” partnerships in co-authorship networks. On the other hand, the global network structure, including “indirect” links between researchers, has not yet been sufficiently studied. This study analyzes researchers' activities from the viewpoints considering their roles in the global structures of co-authorship networks, and compares the co-authorship networks between the theoretical and application areas in computer science. The modified HITS algorithm is used to calculate the two types of importance of researchers in co-authorship networks, i.e., the importance as the leader and that as the follower.     

Uncertainty of measurement results in various scales

The relationship between the concepts of “error” and “uncertainty” of measurement results is examined. The concepts of “standard uncertainty,” “combined standard uncertainty,” and “expanded uncertainty” are shown to be inapplicable in nonmetric scales of quantities and properties, in which the general concept of “uncertainty” in the broad sense is recommended. Translated from Izmeritel'naya Tekhnika, No. 5, pp. 29–30, May, 2000.