A Manifesto for the Equifinality Thesis.

This essay discusses some of the issues involved in the identification and predictions of hydrological models given some calibration data. The reasons for the incompleteness of traditional calibration methods are discussed. The argument is made that the potential for multiple acceptable models as representations of hydrological and other environmental systems (the equifinality thesis) should be given more serious consideration than hitherto. It proposes some techniques for an extended GLUE methodology to make it more rigorous and outlines some of the research issues still to be resolved

Evaluation of software dependability

It has been said that the term software engineering is an aspiration not a description. We would like to be able to claim that we engineer software, in the same sense that we engineer an aero-engine, but most of us would agree that this is not currently an accurate description of our activities. My suspicion is that it never will be. From the point of view of this essay – i.e. dependability evaluation – a major difference between software and other engineering artefacts is that the former is pure design. Its unreliability is always the result of design faults, which in turn arise as a result of human intellectual failures. The unreliability of hardware systems, on the other hand, has tended until recently to be dominated by random physical failures of components – the consequences of the ‘perversity of nature’. Reliability theories have been developed over the years which have successfully allowed systems to be built to high reliability requirements, and the final system reliability to be evaluated accurately. Even for pure hardware systems, without software, however, the very success of these theories has more recently highlighted the importance of design faults in determining the overall reliability of the final product. The conventional hardware reliability theory does not address this problem at all. In the case of software, there is no physical source of failures, and so none of the reliability theory developed for hardware is relevant. We need new theories that will allow us to achieve required dependability levels, and to evaluate the actual dependability that has been achieved, when the sources of the faults that ultimately result in failure are human intellectual failures

An ANOVA method of evaluating the specification uncertainty in roughness measurement

The specifications of roughness used in industry are normally incomplete, and the incompleteness can induce a significant uncertainty, called specification uncertainty. It’s important to know the magnitude and effect of this uncertainty, but there are yet no standard methods of evaluating the specification uncertainty. In this paper, we propose an ANOVA method to estimate the specification uncertainty. In this method, ANOVA is used to separate specification uncertainty from measurement uncertainty, and the sampling method of GR&R (gauge repeatability and reproducibility) is applied. A case study is given to demonstrate how to use this method to evaluate the specification uncertainty of measuring roughness with PGI (Phase Grating Interferometer) when the filter type is not specified

Uncertainty relations: An operational approach to the error-disturbance tradeoff

The notions of error and disturbance appearing in quantum uncertainty relations are often quantified by the discrepancy of a physical quantity from its ideal value. However, these real and ideal values are not the outcomes of simultaneous measurements, and comparing the values of unmeasured observables is not necessarily meaningful according to quantum theory. To overcome these conceptual difficulties, we take a different approach and define error and disturbance in an operational manner. In particular, we formulate both in terms of the probability that one can successfully distinguish the actual measurement device from the relevant hypothetical ideal by any experimental test whatsoever. This definition itself does not rely on the formalism of quantum theory, avoiding many of the conceptual difficulties of usual definitions. We then derive new Heisenberg-type uncertainty relations for both joint measurability and the error-disturbance tradeoff for arbitrary observables of finite-dimensional systems, as well as for the case of position and momentum. Our relations may be directly applied in information processing settings, for example to infer that devices which can faithfully transmit information regarding one observable do not leak any information about conjugate observables to the environment. We also show that Englert's wave-particle duality relation [PRL 77, 2154 (1996)] can be viewed as an error-disturbance uncertainty relation.Comment: v3: title change, accepted in Quantum; v2: 29 pages, 7 figures; improved definition of measurement error. v1: 26.1 pages, 6 figures; supersedes arXiv:1402.671

A Review of Student Difficulties in Upper-Level Quantum Mechanics

Learning advanced physics, in general, is challenging not only due to the increased mathematical sophistication but also because one must continue to build on all of the prior knowledge acquired at the introductory and intermediate levels. In addition, learning quantum mechanics can be especially challenging because the paradigms of classical mechanics and quantum mechanics are very different. Here, we review research on student reasoning difficulties in learning upper-level quantum mechanics and research on students' problem-solving and metacognitive skills in these courses. Some of these studies were multi-university investigations. The investigations suggest that there is large diversity in student performance in upper-level quantum mechanics regardless of the university, textbook, or instructor and many students in these courses have not acquired a functional understanding of the fundamental concepts. The nature of reasoning difficulties in learning quantum mechanics is analogous to reasoning difficulties found via research in introductory physics courses. The reasoning difficulties were often due to over-generalizations of concepts learned in one context to another context where they are not directly applicable. Reasoning difficulties in distinguishing between closely related concepts and in making sense of the formalism of quantum mechanics were common. We conclude with a brief summary of the research-based approached that take advantage of research on student difficulties in order to improve teaching and learning of quantum mechanics

Precision Study of Positronium: Testing Bound State QED Theory

As an unstable light pure leptonic system, positronium is a very specific probe atom to test bound state QED. In contrast to ordinary QED for free leptons, the bound state QED theory is not so well understood and bound state approaches deserve highly accurate tests. We present a brief overview of precision studies of positronium paying special attention to uncertainties of theory as well as comparison of theory and experiment. We also consider in detail advantages and disadvantages of positronium tests compared to other QED experiments.Comment: A talk presented at Workshop on Positronium Physics (ETH Zurich, May 30-31, 2003