Compilation of learning resources related to the 2011 Earthquake in Japan. Includes interactive timelines, visualizations, and lessons on tsunamis, earthquakes, and nuclear energy.

This particular pilot FlexBook aims at several outcomes: Supplementing currently used Virginia physics textbooks by making valuable contemporary and emerging physics ideas available to all teachers at a single URL; Making laboratory activities that employ industry state-of-the-practice equipment available to all teachers; Providing a path for continuous improvement from teachers themselves through comments and new ideas after using a chapter with their physics classes

'Borders' begins with a short dramatic piece that introduces the issues of complicity, resistance, and boundaries. This work continues to investigate these themes in the style of a documentary. In the prologue, actor Steve Buscemi plays Ted, a young scientist who goes to work at a large scientific research facility. Here he develops ideas that, much to the dismay and rebuff of his jealous fellow researchers who gather around a vending machine, are embraced by his supervisors. The young scientists are contributing research on nuclear activity and their findings are ultimately militarized. At home, Ted's girlfriend Jane packs her bags and leaves, unable to live with what she perceives as Ted's culpability. In the course of their discussion, we learn that Ted actually hopes to make medical advances and that he sees his current position as a necessary evil. 'Sometimes, you have to join them to beat them,' implores Ted, but Jane doesn't buy it and drives off, leaving him dejected in the driveway. The remainder of the work consists mainly of interviews with a diverse group of individuals who discuss the concept of crossing borders, be they literal or figurative. Many of the interviewers deal with contentious political issues, such as immigration or the defense industry's Star Wars plan. Writer, performer, and subcultural hero Robert Anton Wilson discusses a wide array of subjects, including influences on his work, science fiction and perception, and possible conspiracies. Journalist and thriller writer Brian Freemantle speaks of being banned from some countries due to his investigative work. He tells harrowing tales of entering militarized border zones in Czechoslovakia and Bangladesh. Both Freemantle and Wilson discuss the possibility that the CIA and the Vatican have been involved in drug trafficking and related money laundering. Dr. Michio Kaku, a professor of theoretical physics, speaks of his experience as a bright scientist who received a Hertz engineering scholarship and worked at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under the direction of Edward Teller, one of the developers of the atomic bomb, and the pressures that came with this arrangement. Kaku goes on to analyze weaknesses in the theories behind the Star Wars plan and to outline an alternate theory of the universe, the 'super string' theory. The American-born writer Margaret Randall discusses her inability to achieve citizenship in the United States after living as a citizen of Mexico for many years. Randall was denied citizenship twice based on the political nature of her writings, which were perceived by one judge as 'advocating the doctrines of world communism.' Juanita Kreps, the first woman to serve as Secretary of Commerce, talks about the differences in policy and perception as revealed through the process of reaching a Chinese and American trade agreement. Another interviewee is Rene, a painter and sculptor who, inspired by Duchamp's Society of Independent Artists, named an air vent at the Museum of Modern Art and invited friends to an unofficial opening. Footage of this event is incorporated. Interviews and footage document the movement of illegal aliens at the Mexican-American border. Customs officials, patrol agents, and individuals attempting to cross the border are interviewed. Footage of customs officials investigating vehicles and people attempting to escape are incorporated. A hacker is interviewed about phone tapping, in tangent with remarks by Wilson. Paintings by Hillary Hill Burnett are included. Original music by Fred Reed provides the score for 'Borders.' 'Borders' was created using the facilities at the Experimental Television Center and Film Video Arts of New York City.The piece is approximately 54 minutes long and was broadcast as a segment of episode 505 (1989) of 'New Television.'

The students participate in many demonstrations during the first day of this lesson to learn basic concepts related to the forms and states of energy. This knowledge is then applied the second day as they assess various everyday objects to determine what forms of energy are transformed to accomplish the object's intended task. The students use block diagrams to illustrate the form and state of energy flowing into and out of the process.

As part of this lesson plan, students will learn about how energy is produced and dissipated by stars, including our own Sun. In addition, materials presented here explain the formation, evolution,and eventual "death" of stars in supernova explosions, and some fundamentals of nuclear physics. Definitions of terms and questions for the class are included.

This OLogy activity challenges students to find nine inventions that Einstein's ideas helped to create. The activity begins with an illustration of Al's Junk Shop. Mixed in with his junk are a Global Positioning System, CD player, computer, calculator, scanner, laser pointer, TV, and representations of both laser surgery and nuclear energy. After making a mental list of their nine choices, students can click to a second page to check their answers. Each invention has a rollover note about how Einstein's ideas helped pave the way for its creation. Alternately, the first page could be printed and used as a handout for an offline activity.

Chandra Shekhar Jha was India's foreign secretary from 1965 to 1967. In this video segment, Jha explains why India cannot exclude the future possibility of owning nuclear weapons. The key to disarmament, he insists, rests with the nuclear nations that are 'adding to their stockpiles' and 'preparing for war. 'Jha's interview conducted for War and Peace in the Nuclear Age: 'The Haves and Have-Nots' begins with his recollections of his devastating post-war tour of Japan with Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and their shared ideals of disarmament and economic development by harnessing 'Atoms for Peace.' Jha's interview also examines the dilemma of staying the non-nuclear course given regional security concerns: the 1962 Chinese attack on India, followed two years later by China's detonation of its first nuclear bomb, and ongoing tensions with its neighbor Pakistan. While prioritizing the country's economic development over diverting resources to acquire nuclear weapons, Jha rejects the Non-Proliferation Treaty as embodying 'nuclear colonialism' and objects to the preferential treatment granted other threshold states.

This team-taught subject is for doctoral students working on emerging technologies at the interface of technology, policy and societal issues. It integrates concepts of research strategy and design from a variety of disciplines. The class addresses problem identification and formulation of research topics, the role of qualitative and quantitative research methods, and the use of various data collection techniques. Coursework focuses on students' thesis proposals, faculty-student study panels, critical evaluation of research design, and ethical issues in conducting research and gathering data.

Frameworks and Models for Technology and Policy students explore perspectives in the policy process -- agenda setting, problem definition, framing the terms of debate, formulation and analysis of options, implementation and evaluation of policy outcomes using frameworks including economics and markets, law, and business and management. Methods include cost/benefit analysis, probabilistic risk assessment, and system dynamics. Exercises for Technology and Policy students include developing skills to work on the interface between technology and societal issues; simulation exercises; case studies; and group projects that illustrate issues involving multiple stakeholders with different value structures, high levels of uncertainty, multiple levels of complexity; and value trade-offs that are characteristic of engineering systems. Emphasis on negotiation, team building and group dynamics, and management of multiple actors and leadership. This course explores perspectives in the policy process - agenda setting, problem definition, framing the terms of debate, formulation and analysis of options, implementation and evaluation of policy outcomes using frameworks including economics and markets, law, and business and management. Methods include cost/benefit analysis, probabilistic risk assessment, and system dynamics. Exercises include developing skills to work on the interface between technology and societal issues; simulation exercises; case studies; and group projects that illustrate issues involving multiple stakeholders with different value structures, high levels of uncertainty, multiple levels of complexity; and value trade-offs that are characteristic of engineering systems. Emphasis on negotiation, team building and group dynamics, and management of multiple actors and leadership.

Ambassador Ryukichi Imai-journalist, nuclear engineer, and general manager at Japan Atomic Power Company-was Japanese ambassador to the United Nations Disarmament Conference from 1982 to 1987. In this video segment, Imai explains why he believes that Japan will never embark on a nuclear-weapons program. He also predicts that, while Japan stands alone in its reliance on nuclear energy, rising energy prices-even post-Chernobyl-will revive worldwide interest in nuclear power. In the interview he conducted for War and Peace in the Nuclear Age: 'Have and Have-nots,' Imai describes a career in which he became an expert on nuclear energy and non-proliferation in ways that paralleled Japan's stages of harnessing and expanding its reliance on atomic energy. Employed by Japan Atomic Power Company at the first commercial nuclear-power station in the country, Imai worked with the International Atomic Energy Agency to develop safeguards for nuclear technologies. He recalls that in the 1950s, few talked about the link between nuclear energy and weapons. He describes testifying on behalf of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which Japan debated for six years before ratifying. Debate centered on whether Japan should have the right to arm itself and on the high costs of safeguards that would handicap industry in the global market. Imai argued in support of the NPT, and he did not want to jeopardize the 1951 mutual-security treaty with the United States that he regarded as paramount to Japan's safety. When U.S. president Jimmy Carter opposed Japan's first reprocessing plant at Tokai, it was Imai whom the Japanese government sent to the United States. There he successfully negotiated a solution with former colleague Joseph Nye, then deputy to the undersecretary of state for security assistance, science, and technology.

This item presents information about alternative sources of energy, using industrial control techniques, and the role of tress and oceans in keeping the air clean. Includes great graphics.

The CK-12 21st Century Physics FlexBook is a collaborative effort of the Secretaries of Education and Technology and the Department of Education that seeks to elevate the quality of physics instruction across the Commonwealth of Virginia.

"This course is designed to give you the scientific understanding you need to answer questions like: How much energy can we really get from wind? How does a solar photovoltaic work? What is an OTEC (Ocean Thermal Energy Converter) and how does it work? What is the physics behind global warming? What makes engines efficient? How does a nuclear reactor work, and what are the realistic hazards? The course is designed for MIT sophomores, juniors, and seniors who want to understand the fundamental laws and physical processes that govern the sources, extraction, transmission, storage, degradation, and end uses of energy."

From 1988 to 1993 nuclear physicist Mambillkalathil Govind Kumar Menon was president of the International Council of Scientific Unions, a non-governmental organization long involved in environmental and development issues. He was also India's minister of state for science and technology from 1986 to 1989, and he served in the Parliament from 1990 to 1996. In this video segment, Menon describes the euphoria following World War II when international cooperation on atomic science and technology flourished.In the interview Menon conducted for War and Peace in the Nuclear Age: 'The Haves and Have-Nots,' he offers reflections on the dynamic and visionary nuclear physicist Dr. Homi Bhabha. Dr. Bhabha saw the possibility for the modern development of India in creating programs that would harness the newly emerging technology of nuclear energy. Menon captures the zeal of scientists at the first United Nations Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy. He also defines some basic nuclear processes and principles: how fission works, controlled and uncontrolled chain reactions, and the difference between generating nuclear energy and manufacturing weapons. In 1974, under the prime ministership of Indira Gandhi, India conducted an underground nuclear test. Menon defends what India called a peaceful nuclear explosion as a means to explore enhanced mining techniques and other feats of large-scale underground nuclear engineering. With equal enthusiasm, Menon describes the possibilities of India's space program for expanding telecommunications and gathering data for waterand land-resource management. The global threat, he maintains, is not India but a nuclear exchange between the two superpowers. Paraphrasing Indira Gandhi, Menon concludes, 'What we want is not to make deserts but to make deserts bloom.'