Is there a future for ancient science?

2001 ◽  
Vol 47 ◽  
pp. 196-210
Author(s):  
G. E. R. Lloyd

My title has a narrow and a broader reference. The narrower one relates to the question of whether the study of ancient science will continue in this University. Valedictories do not have the same well-established conventions as inaugurals. But some taking stock of what has been happening in the field of studies picked out by the title of the Professorship that I have held for fifteen years may be thought appropriate or at least will be forgiven. The very fact that I raise this as a question (‘is there a future?) may suggest that in this last public act of my professorship, I may be about to pronounce an obituary for a subject that I have cultivated ever since I first began lecturing in this University. The prospects for the study of the subject here are indeed unclear. It may not be so much a matter of après moi le déluge, as après moi – rien ne va plus. But I am more concerned here – the Vice-Chancellor may be relieved to hear – not with the narrow, so much as with the broader issues suggested by my title. Where, in the wake of recent developments in the history and philosophy of science, is there a place – and is there a place – for ancient science?

2013 ◽  
Vol 392 ◽  
pp. 725-729 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafael José Gomes de Oliveira ◽  
Mauro Hugo Mathias

The application of the HFRT (High-Frequency Resonance Technique), a demodulation based technique, is a technique for evaluation the condition of bearings and other components in rotating machinery. Another technique MED (Minimum Entropy Deconvolution) has been the subject of recent developments for application in condition monitoring of gear trains and roller bearings. This article demonstrates the effectiveness of the combined application of the MED technique with HFRT in order to enhance the capacity of HFRT to identify the characteristic fault frequencies of damaged bearings by increasing the signal impulsivity. All tests were done using data collected from an experimental test bench in laboratory. The Kurtosis value is used as an indicator of effectiveness of the combined technique and the results shown an increase of five times the original kurtosis value with the application of MED filter together with the HFRT.


1987 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 641-670 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ram Sankar Pathak ◽  
Lokenath Debnath

This paper is concerned with recent developments on the Stieltjes transform of generalized functions. Sections 1 and 2 give a very brief introduction to the subject and the Stieltjes transform of ordinary functions with an emphasis to the inversion theorems. The Stieltjes transform of generalized functions is described in section 3 with a special attention to the inversion theorems of this transform. Sections 4 and 5 deal with the adjoint and kernel methods used for the development of the Stieltjes transform of generalized functions. The real and complex inversion theorems are discussed in sections 6 and 7. The Poisson transform of generalized functions, the iteration of the Laplace transform and the iterated Stieltjes transfrom are included in sections 8, 9 and 10. The Stieltjes transforms of different orders and the fractional order integration and further generalizations of the Stieltjes transform are discussed in sections 11 and 12. Sections 13, 14 and 15 are devoted to Abelian theorems, initial-value and final-value results. Some applications of the Stieltjes transforms are discussed in section 16. The final section deals with some open questions and unsolved problems. Many important and recent references are listed at the end.


1987 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. 32-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
K T V Grattan

The subject area of fibre optic sensing is one in which there has been shown a very rapid expansion of interest over the last few years. Many novel techniques are appearing in the literature and some products are available to the industrial user. The background to fibre optic means of temperature sensing and some recent developments will be reviewed in this paper.


1933 ◽  
Vol 125 (1) ◽  
pp. 201-289
Author(s):  
E. W. Robey ◽  
W. F. Harlow

The demand for heavier duties and exacting guarantees of performance which has accompanied recent developments in steam-raising plants, has necessitated closer inquiry into the fundamental principles on which their performance depends. The authors present their views on certain aspects of the subject. These have been formed as a result of experience, combined with a consideration of the work of laboratory investigators. It would appear that important facts revealed by laboratory research do not always receive the attention due to them, and frequently erroneous ideas persist for years without question. The paper discusses the function of the chain grate mechanical stoker with particular reference to the subject of furnace design and secondary air application. It deals with the effect on the size and cost of equipment generally, which would result from a closer observance of the laws of heat transfer and frictional loss in flowing gases, and discusses particularly the phenomenon of delayed heat release in flue gases and the effect of this in boiler plant performance. The cause and prevention of air heater corrosion is dealt with, and the results of investigations into the dew point temperature of flue gases are given.


1980 ◽  
Vol 102 (3) ◽  
pp. 738-746 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Adler

Recent developments in internal viscous aerodynamics of centrifugal impellers and related flows are critically reviewed. The overall picture which emerges provides the reader with a state-of-the-art perspective on the subject. Gaps in understanding are identified to stimulate future research. Topics included in this review are: experimental work carried out in the last decade, the structure of turbulence in curved rotating passages and solution of viscous flow problems in impellers.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 412-420 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aleksandr Gudkov ◽  
Elena Dedkova ◽  
Kristina Dudina

PurposeThis paper aims to discuss recent developments in the Russian tourism industry and the main reasons for new initiatives in local destination development.Design/methodology/approachThe study is based on qualitative research methodology. A summary of key literature is presented alongside the analysis of the survey results.FindingsThis paper sheds light on the challenges and changes that took place in the Russian tourism business between 2014 and 2017. The subject is poorly covered in academic literature. The basic data for analysis presented in official statistics are scarce. Therefore a more effective way of obtaining relevant information was to conduct a survey using a semi-structured questionnaire, with tourism business actors as respondents.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper provides mostly conceptual analysis based on limited empirical data; directions for further empirical research are proposed in the conclusion.Originality/valueThe paper reveals something of the impact of economic and geopolitical factors, both negative and positive ones, on the restructuring of the Russian tourism market and the emergence of promising opportunities for the development of new domestic destinations. As a result, tourism market actors are able to become more diverse.


Author(s):  
Alejandro W. Rodriguez ◽  
Adolfo Plasencia

This dialogue with physicist Alejandro W. Rodríguez is in two parts. The first part, which took place in the MIT campus, reflects on how theory has been overtaking experimentation in recent developments in science. It also addresses the subject of the Casimir forces and their effects by using devices which benefit from them in everyday life. Later, Alejandro explains why the vacuum is not empty; and, what are the "virtual photons". In the second part, Alejandro explains his current research in the Department of Electrical Engineering of Princeton University, focusing on the black body; and quantum and thermal processes of electromagnetic fluctuations at the nanoscale, where the rules of quantum mechanics now hold sway. He is now studying quantum fluctuations and how the forces and energy exchanged between objects work. This all-important area is the current driving force for development in the field of thermovoltaic energy and thermal panels for capturing light; an area with a revolutionary potential capable of changing the existing relationship of humans with energy, technology and the environment, in other words, with the planet.


Author(s):  
Wodziński Marcin

This chapter reviews some recent studies on the Jews of Silesia. The history of the Jews in Silesia became an abandoned field for nearly two decades. Isolated, if sometimes very interesting, studies appeared (including works by Stefi Jersch-Wenzel and Karol Jonca), but they did not maintain the continuity of research, and it could certainly not be said that there was any systematic interest in the subject. But with the renaissance of Judaic studies in Germany and Poland in the second half of the 1980s came a revival of interest in Silesian Jewry. Two conferences on the history of the Jewish community in Silesia, organized almost simultaneously, can be regarded as a symbolic double threshold: the first took place at the Institute of History at Wrocław University in June 1988, the second, a year later in Berlin.


Author(s):  
Margaret Schabas

Keynes is best known as an economist but, in the tradition of John Stuart Mill and William Stanley Jevons, he also made significant contributions to inductive logic and the philosophy of science. Keynes’ only book explicitly on philosophy, A Treatise on Probability (1921), remains an important classic on the subject. It develops a non-frequentist interpretation of probability as the key to sound judgment and scientific reasoning. His General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money (1936) is the watershed of twentieth-century macroeconomics. While not, strictly speaking, a philosophical work, it nonetheless advances distinct readings of rationality, uncertainty and social justice.


2015 ◽  
Vol 61 ◽  
pp. 331-349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Anthony

J. Rodney Quayle was an outstanding microbial biochemist whose early training in pure chemistry was coupled with rigorous enzymology and experience in the relatively new techniques of using radioactive 14 C compounds in the study of metabolic pathways. These he used to investigate and elucidate the pathways of carbon assimilation during microbial growth on compounds with a single carbon atom such as methane and methanol. When he started, little was known about these organisms (methylotrophs), which, largely as a result of his own work and the work inspired by him, have formed the subject of regular international symposia over a period of more than 40 years. After a short time working in Melvin Calvin’s laboratory in California and a very fruitful period in Hans Krebs’s Unit for Research in Cell Metabolism in the University of Oxford he moved for the next 20 years to the University of Sheffield, after which he became a highly successful and popular Vice-Chancellor at the University of Bath. His rigorous approach to his subject, his generosity and inspiration made him a much revered and much loved father figure to generations of microbial biochemists.


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