682 research outputs found
Context affects student thinking about sources of uncertainty in classical and quantum mechanics
Measurement uncertainty is an important topic in the undergraduate laboratory
curriculum. Previous research on student thinking about experimental
measurement uncertainty has focused primarily on introductory-level students'
procedural reasoning about data collection and interpretation. In this paper,
we extended this prior work to study upper-level students' thinking about
sources of measurement uncertainty across experimental contexts, with a
particular focus on classical and quantum mechanics contexts. We developed a
survey to probe students' thinking in the generic question ``What comes to mind
when you think about measurement uncertainty in [classical/quantum]
mechanics?'' as well as in a range of specific experimental scenarios. We found
that students primarily focused on limitations of the experimental setup in
classical mechanics and principles of the underlying physics theory in quantum
mechanics. Our results suggest that students need careful scaffolding to
identify principles in appropriate classical experimental contexts and
limitations in appropriate quantum experimental contexts. We recommend that
future research probe how instruction in both classical and quantum contexts
can help students better understand the range of sources of uncertainty present
in classical and quantum experiments.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figure
New perspectives on student reasoning about measurement uncertainty: More or better data
Uncertainty is an important and fundamental concept in physics education.
Students are often first exposed to uncertainty in introductory labs, expand
their knowledge across lab courses, and then are introduced to quantum
mechanical uncertainty in upper-division courses. This study is part of a
larger project evaluating student thinking about uncertainty across these
contexts. In this research, we investigate advanced physics student thinking
about uncertainty by asking them conceptual questions about how a hypothetical
distribution of measurements would change if `more' or `better' data were
collected in four different experimental scenarios. The scenarios include both
classical and quantum experiments, as well as experiments that theoretically
result in an expected single value or an expected distribution. This
investigation is motivated by our goal of finding insights into students'
potential point- and set-like thinking about uncertainty and of shining light
on the limitations of those binary paradigms.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures, accepted to Physical Review Physics Education
Researc
Atomistic modelling of large-scale metal film growth fronts
We present simulations of metallization morphologies under ionized sputter
deposition conditions, obtained by a new theoretical approach. By means of
molecular dynamics simulations using a carefully designed interaction
potential, we analyze the surface adsorption, reflection, and etching reactions
taking place during Al physical vapor deposition, and calculate their relative
probability. These probabilities are then employed in a feature-scale
cellular-automaton simulator, which produces calculated film morphologies in
excellent agreement with scanning-electron-microscopy data on ionized sputter
deposition.Comment: RevTeX 4 pages, 2 figure
Strongly linked current flow in polycrystalline forms of the new superconductor MgB2
The discovery of superconductivity at 39 K in MgB2[1] raises many issues. One
of the central questions is whether this new superconductor resembles a
high-temperature-cuprate superconductor or a low-temperature metallic
superconductor in terms of its current carrying characteristics in applied
magnetic fields. In spite of the very high transition temperatures of the
cuprate superconductors, their performance in magnetic fields has several
drawbacks[2]. Their large anisotropy restricts high bulk current densities to
much less than the full magnetic field-temperature (H-T) space over which
superconductivity is found. Further, weak coupling across grain boundaries
makes transport current densities in untextured polycrystalline forms low and
strongly magnetic field sensitive[3,4]. These studies of MgB2 address both
issues. In spite of the multi-phase, untextured, nano-scale sub-divided nature
of our samples, supercurrents flow throughout without the strong sensitivity to
weak magnetic fields characteristic of Josephson-coupled grains[3].
Magnetization measurements over nearly all of the superconducting H-T plane
show good temperature scaling of the flux pinning force, suggestive of a
current density determined by flux pinning. At least two length scales are
suggested by the magnetization and magneto optical (MO) analysis but the cause
of this seems to be phase inhomogeneity, porosity, and minority insulating
phase such as MgO rather than by weakly coupled grain boundaries. Our results
suggest that polycrystalline ceramics of this new class of superconductor will
not be compromised by the weak link problems of the high temperature
superconductors, a conclusion with enormous significance for applications if
higher temperature analogs of this compound can be discovered
A general scaling relation for the critical current density in Nb3Sn
We review the scaling relations for the critical current density (Jc) in
Nb3Sn wires and include recent findings on the variation of the upper critical
field (Hc2) with temperature (T) and A15 composition. We highlight deficiencies
in the Summers/Ekin relations, which are not able to account for the correct
Jc(T) dependence. Available Jc(H) results indicate that the magnetic field
dependence for all wires can be described with Kramer's flux shear model, if
non-linearities in Kramer plots are attributed to A15 inhomogeneities. The
strain (eps) dependence is introduced through a temperature and strain
dependent Hc2*(T,eps) and Ginzburg- Landau parameter kappa1(T,eps) and a strain
dependent critical temperature Tc(eps). This is more consistent than the usual
Ekin unification, which uses two separate and different dependencies on Hc2*(T)
and Hc2*(eps). Using a correct temperature dependence and accounting for the
A15 inhomogeneities leads to a remarkable simple relation for Jc(H,T,eps).
Finally, a new relation for s(eps) is proposed, based on the first, second and
third strain invariants.Comment: Accepted Topical Review for Superconductor, Science and Technolog
Sleep quality in middle-aged and elderly Chinese: distribution, associated factors and associations with cardio-metabolic risk factors
Background
Poor sleep quality has been associated with increased risk of heart disease, diabetes and mortality. However, limited information exists on the distribution and determinants of sleep quality and its associations with cardio-metabolic risk factors in Chinese populations. We aimed to evaluate this in the current study.
Methods
A cross-sectional survey conducted in 2005 of 1,458 men and 1,831 women aged 50–70 years from urban and rural areas of Beijing and Shanghai. Using a questionnaire, sleep quality was measured in levels of well, common and poor. Comprehensive measures of socio-demographical and health factors and biomarkers of cardio-metabolic disease were recorded. These were evaluated in association with sleep quality using logistic regression models.
Results
Half of the population reported good sleep quality. After adjusting for potential confounders, women and Beijing residents had almost half the probability to report good sleep quality. Good physical and mental health (good levels of self-rated health (OR 2.48; 95%CI 2.08 to 2.96) and no depression (OR 4.05; 95%CI 3.12 to 5.26)) related to an increased chance of reporting good sleep quality, whereas short sleep duration (<7 hrs OR 0.10; 95%CI 0.07 to 0.14)) decreased it substantially. There were significant associations between levels of sleep quality and concentrations of plasma insulin, total and LDL cholesterol, and index of insulin resistance.
Conclusion
Levels of good sleep quality in middle-age and elderly Chinese were low. Gender, geographical location, self-rated health, depression and sleep quantity were major factors associated with sleep quality. Prospective studies are required to distil the factors that determine sleep quality and the effects that sleep patterns exert on cardio-metabolic health
Temperature dependence and mechanisms for vortex pinning by periodic arrays of Ni dots in Nb films
Pinning interactions between superconducting vortices in Nb and magnetic Ni
dots were studied as a function of current and temperature to clarify the
nature of pinning mechanisms. A strong current dependence is found for a square
array of dots, with a temperature dependent optimum current for the observation
of periodic pinning, that decreases with temperature as (1-T/Tc)3/2. This same
temperature dependence is found for the critical current at the first matching
field with a rectangular array of dots. The analysis of these results allows to
narrow the possible pinning mechanisms to a combination of two: the interaction
between the vortex and the magnetic moment of the dot and the proximity effect.
Moreover, for the rectangular dot array, the temperature dependence of the
crossover between the low field regime with a rectangular vortex lattice to the
high field regime with a square configuration has been studied. It is found
that the crossover field increases with decreasing temperature. This dependence
indicates a change in the balance between elastic and pinning energies,
associated with dynamical effects of the vortex lattice in the high field
range.Comment: 12 text pages (revtex), 6 figures (1st jpeg, 2nd-6th postscript)
accepted in Physical Review
A Review of the Properties of Nb3Sn and Their Variation with A15 Composition, Morphology and Strain State
This article gives an overview of the available literature on simplified,
well defined (quasi-)homogeneous laboratory samples. After more than 50 years
of research on superconductivity in Nb3Sn, a significant amount of results are
available, but these are scattered over a multitude of publications. Two
reviews exist on the basic properties of A15 materials in general, but no
specific review for Nb3Sn is available. This article is intended to provide
such an overview. It starts with a basic description of the Niobium-Tin
intermetallic. After this it maps the influence of Sn content on the the
electron-phonon interaction strength and on the field-temperature phase
boundary. The literature on the influence of Cu, Ti and Ta additions will then
be briefly summarized. This is followed by a review on the effects of grain
size and strain. The article is concluded with a summary of the main results.Comment: Invited Topical Review for Superconductor, Science and Technology.
Provisionally scheduled for July 200
Stability of condensate in superconductors
According to the BCS theory the superconducting condensate develops in a
single quantum mode and no Cooper pairs out of the condensate are assumed. Here
we discuss a mechanism by which the successful mode inhibits condensation in
neighboring modes and suppresses a creation of noncondensed Cooper pairs. It is
shown that condensed and noncondensed Cooper pairs are separated by an energy
gap which is smaller than the superconducting gap but large enough to prevent
nucleation in all other modes and to eliminate effects of noncondensed Cooper
pairs on properties of superconductors. Our result thus justifies basic
assumptions of the BCS theory and confirms that the BCS condensate is stable
with respect to two-particle excitations
Antecedents and consequences of effectuation and causation in the international new venture creation process
The selection of the entry mode in an international market is of key importance for the venture. A process-based perspective on entry mode selection can add to the International Business and International Entrepreneurship literature. Framing the international market entry as an entrepreneurial process, this paper analyzes the antecedents and consequences of causation and effectuation in the entry mode selection. For the analysis, regression-based techniques were used on a sample of 65 gazelles. The results indicate that experienced entrepreneurs tend to apply effectuation rather than causation, while uncertainty does not have a systematic influence. Entrepreneurs using causation-based international new venture creation processes tend to engage in export-type entry modes, while effectuation-based international new venture creation processes do not predetermine the entry mod
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