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标题：American Youth on College Life (7) |
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浏览：991 评论：1 |
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Below is seventh in a series of unedited writing of my grandson who is a college student in the US. " One of the most important factors in whether or not you will succeed in a class is the Professor. This is the person who will hand down your grades, explain the subject matter to you, and answer any questions you might have. Normally, if a student does poorly in a class, they did not study hard enough. However, there are bad Professors, people who are ill suited to teach, but for one reason or another, still continue to. You cannot really do much about a bad teacher, but there are some ways you can avoid them. Asking students who have previously had that teacher is one way to get a feel for the teaching style. Websites such as ratemyprofessors.com provide details and testimonies about professors at various colleges. You can search by
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本文引用地址：http://kexue.com.cn/m/user_content.aspx?id=300755 |
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标题：What is System Engineering? |
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浏览：933 评论：9 |
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Modern civilization has created increasingly complex projects, institutions, and mechanisms for human needs. Examples are: 1. National wide electric grid (or even the so-called smart grid) that distributes reliable and inexpensive power to every user, industrial or individual. 2. World wide communication network such as the Internet 3. Space exploration such as the Apollo moon landing and the Mars Rover project
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本文引用地址：http://kexue.com.cn/m/user_content.aspx?id=300484 |
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标题：Changing and Challenging China |
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浏览：730 评论：7 |
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In preparation for the opening of a major China study center in Shanghai next month, Harvard University convened a panel of China experts including William Kirby (see my blog article in 2008 http://www.sciencenet.cn/m/user_content.aspx?id=16801 and http://www.sciencenet.cn/m/user_content.aspx?id=15321 ) for a roundtable discussion of the above topic last December. The transcript of their discussion was published in the latest issue of the Harvard Magazine http://harvardmagazine.com/2010/03/changing-challenging-china. This is a long article to read and should be read several times to fully absorb it. The discussions were rather frank, touches on sensitive issues, but not offensive. Chinese Science Net readers, particularly those of you swept up in nationalistic fervor, may disagree with some of the things said in there. But I urge you to read it with an objective and dispa
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本文引用地址：http://kexue.com.cn/m/user_content.aspx?id=298255 |
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标题：On Tenure and Tenure Track |
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浏览：2148 评论：10 |
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There has been a great deal of discussion on Science Net lately on the tenure system in US academia. Here I just want to add my two cents worth: 1. By “tenure track” we mean that a tenured position exists in the department for a young scholar appointed to this position. If s/he eventually attains certain standards and reputation established by the department, then s/he will be promoted to “tenure”. In such case, a scholar is not competing with anyone else for the position. The fund for the position already exists or has been approved by say, the state legislature as often the case in state universities. In a sense, attaining “tenure” via a “tenure tracked” position is an easier task. Of course, in some well known state university such as UC Berkeley, the departmental standard for a “tenure tracked” position can still be very high.
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本文引用地址：http://kexue.com.cn/m/user_content.aspx?id=296395 |
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标题：Guatemala Trip (II) |
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浏览：696 评论：1 |
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Continued from Guatemala trip (I) The Tikal National Park in Northern Petan is our next stop. This is just south of the Yucatan peninsula located inside a huge rain forest. It has the most impressive pyramids and ceremonial altar. We walked in a 5.6 km loop to see the whole site. 
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本文引用地址：http://kexue.com.cn/m/user_content.aspx?id=295560 |
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标题：Guatemala Trip (I) |
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浏览：700 评论：0 |
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Since I stopped skiing a few years ago due to advancing age, Boston winter has become a bit long and monotonous. Thus, my wife and I began to take winter vacations to warmer spots. Last year we enjoyed the services of the Caravan Tours to Costa Rica http://www.sciencenet.cn/m/user_content.aspx?id=212508 So, we decided to join another one of their Central America tours to Guatemala this winter (2/5-15/2010). As tourism spots, Guatemala is not high on anyone’s list. People’s reaction on being told that you are going to a vacation to Guatemala is often “WHY?” or worse “WHERE?” True. Unlike Machu Picchu in Peru or the Iguaçu Falls in Brazil/Argentina/Uruguay, there are no spectacular but only adequate sceneries. Tourism facilities are acceptable but not outstanding or luxurious. You do not come to Guatemala to view Nature i
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本文引用地址：http://kexue.com.cn/m/user_content.aspx?id=295558 |
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标题：[转载]China leads in Race for Clean Energy |
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浏览：1116 评论：1 |
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A front page article in today's New York Times (1/31/10) carries the above title http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/31/business/energy-environment/31renew.html?sq=China leads in energy&st=cse&scp=1&pagewanted=all It is gratifying to learn that despite current ills of academic scholarship in Science and Technolgy, China can do somethings in S&T right (In fact it will be instructive to discussd the reasons why in one case things are corrupt and getting worse or no better and in the other case things are flourishing)
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本文引用地址：http://kexue.com.cn/m/user_content.aspx?id=291734 |
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标题：On Finding A Professional Home |
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浏览：1613 评论：8 |
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For every young scholar in academia and research, one decision you have to make after graduation and settled in your first job is to find a professional home. By this I mean one chooses a professional society where you intend to publish you future research papers and volunteer your services such as reviewing papers, participate in meetings, etc. Because of the cross disciplinary nature of many of scientific and engineering endeavors, there is often a plethora of choices of professional societies and groups. Take one example, the subject of “automation”. At least four IEEE Societies claim expertise, jurisdiction, and sponsor meetings on this subject. The temptation for young scholars is to try to join all four societies and participate in their activities. My considered advice is “DON’T DO THAT”. You cannot have one foot in each of two boats a
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本文引用地址：http://kexue.com.cn/m/user_content.aspx?id=288730 |
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标题：In praise of imperfections |
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浏览：3031 评论：7 |
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Everyone has heard of the 80/20 rule, i.e., the first 80% of the performance of a system only require 20% of the total effort; the last 20% will need the additional 80% of the effort. Or put is colloquially, “Best” is the enemy of the “good enough”. This is a simple statement of the complex task of general cost-benefit analysis that is often at the heart of every system engineering problem. It is also the core of my own research effort on Ordinal Optimization for the past 17 years http://www.sciencenet.cn/m/user_content.aspx?id=2501
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本文引用地址：http://kexue.com.cn/m/user_content.aspx?id=286377 |
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