Teacher roles during amusement park visits – insights from observations, interviews and questionnaires

Amusement parks offer rich possibilities for physics learning, through observations and experiments that illustrate important physical principles and often involve the whole body. Amusement parks are also among the most popular school excursions, but very often the learning possibilities are underused. In this work we have studied different teacher roles and discuss how universities, parks or event managers can encourage and support teachers and schools in their efforts to make amusement park visits true learning experiences for their students

Variational mechanics and stochastic methods applied to structural design

This thesis explores a very well understood area of physics: computational structural dynamics. The aim is to stretch its boundaries by merging it with another very well established discipline such as structural design and optimization. In the recent past both of them have made significant advances, often unaware one of each other for different reasons. It is the aim of this thesis to serve as a bridging tool between the realms of physics and engineering. The work in divided in three parts: variational mechanics, structural optimization and implementation. The initial part deals with deterministic variational mechanics. Two chapters are dedicated to probe the applicability of energy functionals in the structural analysis. First, by mapping the state of the art regarding the vast field of numerical methods for structural dynamics; second, by using those functionals as a tool to compare the methods. It is shown how, once the methods are grouped according to the kind of differential equations they integrate, it is easy to establish a framework for benchmarking. Moreover, if this comparison is made using balance of energy the only parameter needed to observe is a relatively easy to obtain scalar value. The second part, where structural optimization is treated, has also two chapters. In the first one the non-deterministic tools employed by structural designers are presented and examined. An important distinction between tools for optimization and tools for analysis is highlighted. In the following chapter, a framework for the objective characterization of structural systems is developed. This characterization is made on the basis of the thermodynamics and energetic characteristics of the system. Finally, it is successfully applied to drive a sample simulated annealing algorithm. In the third part the resulting code employed in the numerical experiments is shown and explained. This code was developed by means of a visual programming environment and allows for the fast implementation of programs within a consolidated CAD application. It was used to interconnect simultaneously with other applications to seamlessly share simulation data and process it. Those applications were, respectively, a spreadsheet and a general purpose finite element.La presente tesis explora un area de la fisica ampliamente establecida: dinamica computacional de estructuras. El proposito es expandir los limites de la misma mediante la combinacion con otra disciplina como es el diseño y la optimizacion estructurales. Recientemente, ambas han experimentado avances significativos que, frecuentemente, han ocurrido de forma ajena una de la otra. Esta tesis busca servir de nexo entre el campo de la fisica y la ingenieria. El trabajo esta dividido en tres partes: mecanica variacional, optimizacion estructural e implementacion de una aplicacion de software para su uso en la practica real. La parte inicial trata la mecanica variacional desde el punto de vista determinista. Se dedican dos capitulos a demostrar la aplicabilidad de los funcionales energeticos en el analisis estructural. Primero, se hace un recorrido por el estado del arte de los metodos numericos para dinamica estructural; posteriormente, se emplean estos funcionales para comparar dichos metodos de forma objetiva y eficaz. Se demuestra como, una vez que los metodos han quedado agrupados de acuerdo al tipo de ecuaciones diferenciales que resuelven (ordinarias, parciales o algebraicas), es facil crear un marco de referencia para su evaluacion. Al hacerse la comparacion mediante equilibrio energetico el resultado es un valor escalar cuyo manejo es relativamente facil de interpretar. La segunda parte, donde se trata la optimizacion estructural, abarca tambien dos capitulos. En el primero se presentan y examinan las herramientas no deterministas utilizadas por los diseñadores estructurales y se pone de relevancia la importante distincion entre las herramientas de analisis y las de optimizacion. A continuacion, se desarrolla un marco para la caracterizacion objetiva de sistemas estructurales elaborado sobre la base de la mecanica estadistica y las caracteristicas energeticas de las estructuras. Finalmente, el marco se combina con un algoritmo de "Simulated Annealing" para la optimizacion de estructuras. En la tercera parte de la tesis el codigo resultante empleado en los experimentos numericos de los capitulos anteriores queda explicado. Este codigo, desarrollado mediante herramientas de programacion visual, permite la rapida implementacion de aplicaciones dentro de un entorno de CAD. para su posterior aplicacion a problemas reales

Against the Tide. A Critical Review by Scientists of How Physics and Astronomy Get Done

Nobody should have a monopoly of the truth in this universe. The censorship and suppression of challenging ideas against the tide of mainstream research, the blacklisting of scientists, for instance, is neither the best way to do and filter science, nor to promote progress in the human knowledge. The removal of good and novel ideas from the scientific stage is very detrimental to the pursuit of the truth. There are instances in which a mere unqualified belief can occasionally be converted into a generally accepted scientific theory through the screening action of refereed literature and meetings planned by the scientific organizing committees and through the distribution of funds controlled by "club opinions". It leads to unitary paradigms and unitary thinking not necessarily associated to the unique truth. This is the topic of this book: to critically analyze the problems of the official (and sometimes illicit) mechanisms under which current science (physics and astronomy in particular) is being administered and filtered today, along with the onerous consequences these mechanisms have on all of us.\ud \ud The authors, all of them professional researchers, reveal a pessimistic view of the miseries of the actual system, while a glimmer of hope remains in the "leitmotiv" claim towards the freedom in doing research and attaining an acceptable level of ethics in science

Understanding Quantum Technologies 2022

Understanding Quantum Technologies 2022 is a creative-commons ebook that provides a unique 360 degrees overview of quantum technologies from science and technology to geopolitical and societal issues. It covers quantum physics history, quantum physics 101, gate-based quantum computing, quantum computing engineering (including quantum error corrections and quantum computing energetics), quantum computing hardware (all qubit types, including quantum annealing and quantum simulation paradigms, history, science, research, implementation and vendors), quantum enabling technologies (cryogenics, control electronics, photonics, components fabs, raw materials), quantum computing algorithms, software development tools and use cases, unconventional computing (potential alternatives to quantum and classical computing), quantum telecommunications and cryptography, quantum sensing, quantum technologies around the world, quantum technologies societal impact and even quantum fake sciences. The main audience are computer science engineers, developers and IT specialists as well as quantum scientists and students who want to acquire a global view of how quantum technologies work, and particularly quantum computing. This version is an extensive update to the 2021 edition published in October 2021.Comment: 1132 pages, 920 figures, Letter forma

NASA Tech Briefs, July 1993

Topics include: Data Acquisition and Analysis: Electronic Components and Circuits; Electronic Systems; Physical Sciences; Materials; Computer Programs; Mechanics; Machinery; Fabrication Technology; Mathematics and Information Sciences; Life Sciences

An analysis of the distinction between voluntary and involuntary behaviour in psychology

Psychology, as a separate scientific discipline, was derived from philosophy and physiology and, in part, adopted their concepts and language. Initially psychology perceived its subject matter to be volition, among other mental constructs. In response to internal tensions, involving methodology, more intense interest was given to the study of behaviour. Behaviouristic psychology proposed the abolition of mental constructs, and sought to interpret behaviour in mechanistic terms. Two powerful methods were developed to study behaviour objectively; the classical and instrumental conditioning procedures. The use of the two conditioning procedures generated much controversy concerning the classification of behaviour as well as the necessary and sufficient conditions for learning.However, the behavioural taxonomy generated by its scientific study has been inadequately formulated and there have been fundamental confusions about the concept of behaviour itself. These confusions have been highlighted by the recent experimental data from two important areas of research in the experimental study of learning; (i) autoshaping (ii) the operant conditioning of autonomic responses. These data challenge the widely held view that all behaviour may be classified, after Skinner, as operants or respondents.ConventionaL psychological wisdom has conflated the concepts of 'voluntary' and 'involuntary' with the concepts of 'operant' and 'respondent', respectively. 'Respondents' by definition have specifiable antecedents, whereas 'operants' do not. The inability to note specific antecedents to instrumental behaviour is reflected in the original studies using animals by Thorndike. Instrumental (operant) behaviour was seen as 'impulsive', 'emitted' or 'spontaneous' - terms which have traditionally been associated with voluntary behaviour. Inadvertently, under the influence of Skinner, the vitalistic connotations of the operant were hidden from view and protected from criticism. Concomitant with these developments, the role of the central nervous system in the production and control of movement is being re-interpreted by neurophysiologists. In this field mentalistic and vitalistic accounts of behaviour have emerged at the highest levels. Although physical accounts of behaviour do not have logical priority over mental accounts, the former have the advantage of being more open to direct experimental investigation. The apparent paradox of a so-called mechanistic, physicalistic psychology and physiology accounting for behaviour in terms of vitalistic and mentalistic concepts prompted this analysis of the distinction between voluntary and involuntary behaviour.An historical approach is adopted which draws on both primary and secondary sources in psychology, physiology, philosophy and medicine. References to voluntary and involuntary processes from the early Greeks to the present day, are summarized and their relationship with the broader intellectual issues is broached. The distinction between voluntary and involuntary behaviours arose early in western intellectual history and the concept of 'voluntary behaviour' was discussed, largely within the context of moral responsibility. At various times the mentalistic concepts of soul, mind and free-will were proposed as its source.The idea that voluntary movement issued from the 'free-will' received its greatest support from Christian theology. Ecclesiastical monopoly of educated thought ensured that this interpretation of behaviour was firmly established in the institutions of western culture. With the rise of western science, the language of this view and its connotations intruded into the language of the disciplines of modern philosophy and physiology, among others. The term 'voluntary', referring to behaviour, has undergone numerous and subtle changes in meaning, and the separation of voluntary and involuntary behaviour parallels several other important conceptual dichotomies. Two of these are the'mind-body problem' and the 'mechanism vs vitalism' debate. Contemporary literature in the fields of psychology, physiology and philosophy reflects the fact that these conceptual issues have not been resolved, as once was thought; but are active points of debate.Psychology is presently changing its understanding of behaviour, and today the voluntary-involuntary distinction may be maintained by the operational definition of a voluntary response being an 'instructed response'. Instructed responses as voluntary responses have been extensively used in both experimental and clinical studies of behaviour. This operational definition, in contrast to others, has brought the voluntary response under direct experimental scrutiny and deprived it of its 'uncaused' attribute. Its use has produced much needed empirical data concerning the metric parameters of movement.No one method of study or theoretical model is likely to explain behaviour in the·near future, and such an explanation will not be derived from experimental evidence alone. It is suggested that future interpretations of behaviour will use concepts derived from such technical fields as engineering and cybernetics as well as from psychology and physiology. Perhaps no current conceptual analysis can give us even partial insight into the future development of self-regulating machines; the future development of such machines, however may shed light onto our current concepts