Interactive Tutorials For Upper Level Quantum Mechanics Courses

This thesis explores the ongoing need for interactive tutorials in the upper level undergraduate Quantum Mechanics course. It first summarizes the development and evaluation of tutorials at the introductory physics level by others, and then challenges the belief that upper level students do not need this type of intervention by citing research in student difficulties in learning Quantum Mechanics. Physics Education research shows that there are common student misconceptions that persist even in the upper level undergraduate courses such as Quantum Mechanics. Cognitive research serves as a guide for effective curriculum design. A description of the iterative process for developing and evaluating the tutorials is discussed. The development and evaluation of "The Time Evolution of a Wave Function" Quantum Interactive Learning Tutorial (QuILT) is described in detail. Finally, the success of the QuILT in reducing the common misconceptions about time evolution is discussed

Dynamically dominant magnetic fields in the diffuse interstellar medium

Observations show that magnetic fields in the interstellar medium (ISM) often do not respond to increases in gas density as would be naively expected for a frozen-in field. This may suggest that the magnetic field in the diffuse gas becomes detached from dense clouds as they form. We have investigated this possibility using theoretical estimates, a simple magneto-hydrodynamic model of a flow without mass conservation and numerical simulations of a thermally unstable flow. Our results show that significant magnetic flux can be shed from dense clouds as they form in the diffuse ISM, leaving behind a magnetically dominated diffuse gas.Comment: 2 pages, 1 figure. In proceedings of IAU Symposium 259: "Cosmic magnetic fields: from planets to stars and galaxies", eds. K.G. Strassmeier, A.G. Kosovichev & J.E. Beckman in pres

The private finance initiative (PFI) and finance capital: A note on gaps in the "accountability" debate

During recent years, a wide spectrum of research has questioned whether public services/infrastructure procurement through private finance, as exemplified by the UK Private Finance Initiative (PFI), meets minimum standard of democratic accountability. While broadly agreeing with some of these arguments, this paper suggests that this debate is flawed on two grounds. Firstly, PFI is not about effective procurement, or even about a pragmatic choice of procurement mechanisms which can potentially compromise public involvement and input; rather it is about a process where the state creates new profit opportunities at a time when the international financial system is increasingly lacking in safe investment opportunities. Secondly, because of its primary function as investment opportunity, PFI, by its very nature, prioritises the risk-return criteria of private finance over the needs of the public sector client and its stakeholders. Using two case studies of recent PFI projects, the paper illustrates some of the mechanisms through which finance capital exercises control over the PFI procurement process. The paper concludes that recent proposals aimed at “reforming” or “democratising” PFI fail to recognise the objective constraints which this type of state-finance capital nexus imposes on political process