7. From the history of microelectronics

Progress in electronics is always accompanied with an increasing so­phistication of circuit functions and with widening fields of electronic devices application. That is why, the basic components, construction technology and operating characteristics of electronic equipment are further improved. The basic components used in electronic equipment have passed through a number of developmental stages.

Properties of electrons in vacuum were discovered and studied, and this formed the basis for vacuum tubes, the basic components for the first-generation electronic equipment.

The development of quantum mechanics and solid-state physics has formed a basis for the theory of semiconductors, and commercial man­ufacture of semiconductor devices are the basic components for the sec­ond-generation electronic apparatus.

Basic components of the third-generation electronic apparatus are associated with a new state of electronic development. A new branch of science and engineering, microelectronics, has come into being. The third-generation electronic equipment is based on integrated circuits (ICs), which consist of a large number of equivalent active and passive components. First ICs were developed between 1958 and 1960. The fol­lowing scientists and engineers have made valuable contributions to the advancement of microelectronics: A.Shokin, K.Valijev, A.Malinin, I.Efimov, V.Kolesnikov, B.Vysotskii, and many others. The use of inte­grated circuits as basic components of electronic equipment has led to a significant improvement of its speed and reliability, and to a decrease of its size and energy consumption.

Thus, microelectronics is the next stage in the development of elec­tronics and one of its basic branches.

8. The science of sociology

Sociology is the study of the social lives of humans, groups and soci­eties. It is a relatively new scientific discipline which appeared in the early 1,9^th century. It deals with the social rules and processes that connect and separate people not only as individuals, but as members of associations, groups, and institutions. Sociology is interested in our behaviour as social beings. Thus, the sociological field of interest ranges from the anal-i of short contacts between anonymous individuals on the street to the study of global social processes.

Sociology is a relatively new scientific discipline among other social sciences including economics, political science, anthropology, and psychology. It has, however, a long history and can trace its origins to a mixture of common human knowledge, works of art and philosophy.

Sociology as a scientific discipline emerged in the early 19^th century as an academic response to the challenge of modernity: as the world is becoming smaller and more integrated, people's experience of the world is increasingly atomized and dispersed. Sociologists hoped not only to understand what held social groups together, but also to develop an "antidote" to social disintegration.

The term "sociology" was applied by Auguste Comte in 1838 from Latin "socius" (companion, associate) and Greek "logia" (study of, speech). Comte hoped to unify all studies of humankind including history, psy­chology and economics. His own sociologi­cal scheme was typical of the 19^th century. He believed all human life had passed through the same distinct historical stages and that, if one could grasp this progress, one could prescribe the remedies for social ills.

The first books with term 'sociology' in their title were written in mid-19^th century by the English philosopher Herbert Spencer. In the United States, the discipline was taught by its name for the first time at the University of Kansas, Lawrence in 1890 under the course title "Elements of Sociology".

Although the discipline emerged in large part from Comte's conviction that sociology eventually would subsume all other areas of scientific inquiry, in the end, sociology did not replace the other social sciences. Instead, it came to be another of them, with its own particular emphases, subject matter, and methods. Today, sociology studies humankind's organizations and social institutions, largely by a comparative method. It is concentrated particularly on the organization of complex industrial societies.

Today sociologists research macro-structures that organize society, such as race or ethnicity, social class and gender role, and institutions such as the family. It also studies social processes that represent devia­tion from, or the breakdown of, these structures, including crime and divorce. It also researches micro-processes such as interpersonal inter­actions and the socialization of individuals.

Sociologists often rely on quantitative methods of social research to describe large patterns in social relationships, and in order to develop models that can help predict social change and how people will respond to it. Other branches of sociology believe that qualitative methods — such as focused interviews, group discussions and ethnographic methods — allow for a better understanding of social processes.