Systemic Intervention in a University Department: Reflections on Arrested Action Research

This paper reflects on my experience as an insider researcher attempting to use critical systems ideas and practices to promote quality improvement in a university engineering department. Reflection is a key part of learning. This paper is intended to contribute to critically, self-reflective learning for the community of systems practitioners. These reflections on my questions about participation, ethics, politics of process, and the choices and actions resulting from them may help others to formulate their own. The complexity of systems practice places substantial demands on the researcher, particularly in the case of insider, practitioner research. Nevertheless, the exploration of critical systems approaches to critique boundaries and structure ‘problems’ in the core aspects of higher education in locally meaningful ways should continue. While demanding, it still can work to promote learning about authentic quality.     

Coxeter群中的同构问题

本书是基于作者近年来在美国Illinois大学讲课的讲稿形成的一本群论专著，在目前出版物中首次全面论述研究Coxeter群中组合问题的各种新工具和新技术，基本素材均取自近些年的原始研究论文。为了使本书自封并且能被大学数学系高年级学生接受，作者从关于Coxeter群的最基本知识讲起，由此逐步深入，达到前沿课题，为研究人员解决更深刻、更一般问题架设桥梁。     

Customer Satisfaction Theory Applied in the Housing Industry： An Empirical Study of Low-Priced Housing in Beijing

Introduction With the housing reform which began in the 1990s in China, the housing industry has grown rapidly in re- cent years, but the quality of housing, especially the quality of low-priced housing, has been recognized to be a problem by government a…     

PEAK COVARIANCE STABILITY OF A RANDOM RICCATI EQUATION ARISING FROM KALMAN FILTERING WITH OBSERVATION LOSSES

We consider the stability of a random Riccati equation with a Markovian binary jump coefficient. More specifically, we are concerned with the boundedness of the solution of a random Riccati difference equation arising from Kalman filtering with measurement losses. A sufficient condition for the peak covariance stability is obtained which has a simpler form and is shown to be less conservative in some cases than a very recent result in existing literature. Furthermore, we show that a known sufficient condition is also necessary when the observability index equals one.     

概率论与随机过程中的泛函分析

本书是作者于2000年秋至2001年春在休斯顿大学、瑞斯大学为研究生所作的“概率论与随机过程中的泛函分析方法”专题系列讲座内容组成的，主要包含Hilbert空间、Banach空间、弱拓扑、Banach代数和有界算子半群理论等。此外该书还提供了许多例子和练习，既可以用作教学参考书，又便于读者自学。     

CONSTRUCTIVE KISSING NUMBERS IN HIGH-DIMENSIONAL SPACES

In the present paper, we focus on constructive spherical codes. By employing algebraic geometry codes, we give an explicit construction of spherical code sequences. By making use of the idea involved in the proof of the Gilbert-Varshamov bound in coding theory, we construct a spherical code sequence in exponential time which meets the best-known asymptotic bound by Shamsiev and Wyner.     

2007年度诺贝尔化学奖获得者简介

最近诺贝尔奖委员会公布了2007年诺贝尔化学奖获奖人,德国科学家格哈德·埃特尔(Gerhard Ertl)因在固体表面的化学过程研究中的杰出贡献获此殊荣.格哈德·埃特尔是一位在国际上享有盛誉的科学家,他在描述氢在金属表面的吸附作用、氨合成的分子机理和固体表面的催化过程等很多方面做了出色的研究工作.他不仅奠定了现代表面化学的基础理论和方法学,而且他的研究成果已经对人类生产和生活产生了巨大的作用,包括化肥生产、汽车尾气的催化净化等许多方面,为经济发展和社会进步做出了巨大的贡献.本文对格哈德·埃特尔教授的学术生涯及在固体表面的化学过程研究方面的主要科学贡献做了介绍.     

Philosophy of chemistry and the image of science

The philosophical analysis of chemistry has advanced at such a pace during the last dozen years that the existence of philosophy of chemistry as an autonomous discipline cannot be doubted any more. The present paper will attempt to analyse the experience of philosophy of chemistry at the, so to say, meta-level. Philosophers of chemistry have especially stressed that all sciences need not be similar to physics. They have tried to argue for chemistry as its own type of science and for a pluralistic understanding of science in general. However, when stressing the specific character of chemistry, philosophers do not always analyse the question ‘What is science?’ theoretically. It is obvious that a ‘monistic’ understanding of science should not be based simply on physics as the epitome of science, regarding it as a historical accident that physics has obtained this status. The author’s point is that the philosophical and methodological image of science should not be chosen arbitrarily; instead, it should be theoretically elaborated as an idealization (theoretical model) substantiated on the historical practice of science. It is argued that although physics has, in a sense, justifiably obtained the status of a paradigm of science, chemistry, which is not simply a physical science, but a discipline with a dual character, is also relevant for elaborating a theoretical model of science. The theoretical model of science is a good tool for examining various issues in philosophy of chemistry as well as in philosophy of science or science studies generally.