Developing and Researching PhET simulations for Teaching Quantum Mechanics

Quantum mechanics is difficult to learn because it is counterintuitive, hard to visualize, mathematically challenging, and abstract. The Physics Education Technology (PhET) Project, known for its interactive computer simulations for teaching and learning physics, now includes 18 simulations on quantum mechanics designed to improve learning of this difficult subject. Our simulations include several key features to help students build mental models and intuitions about quantum mechanics: visual representations of abstract concepts and microscopic processes that cannot be directly observed, interactive environments that directly couple students' actions to animations, connections to everyday life, and efficient calculations so students can focus on the concepts rather than the math. Like all PhET simulations, these are developed using the results of education research and feedback from educators, and are tested in student interviews and classroom studies. This article provides an overview of the PhET quantum simulations and their development. We also describe research demonstrating their effectiveness and share some insights about student thinking that we have gained from our research on quantum simulations.Comment: accepted by American Journal of Physics; v2 includes an additional study, more explanation of research behind claims, clearer wording, and more reference

Gendered Impact of Caregiving Responsibilities on Tenure Track Faculty Parents’ Professional Lives

Navigating a career while raising a family can be challenging, especially for women in academia. In this study, we examine the ways in which professional life interruptions due to child caregiving (e.g., opportunities not offered, professional travel curtailed) affect pre- and post-tenure faculty members’ career satisfaction and retention. We also examine whether sharing caregiving responsibilities with a partner affected faculty members’ (particularly women’s) career outcomes. In a sample of 753 tenure track faculty parents employed at a large research-intensive university, results showed that as the number of professional life interruptions due to caregiving increased, faculty members experienced less career satisfaction and greater desire to leave their job. Pre-tenure women’s, but not pre-tenure men’s, career satisfaction and intention to stay were negatively affected when they experienced at least one professional life interference. Pre-tenure men’s desire to stay in their job and career satisfaction remained high, regardless of the number of professional life interferences they experienced. Sharing parenting responsibilities with a partner did not buffer the demands of caregiving on pre-tenure women’s career outcomes. Our work highlights the need to consider the varied ways in which caregiving affects faculty members’ careers, beyond markers such as publications, and how institutions can support early career stage women with family-friendly practices

Managing the Career Effects of Discrimination and Motherhood: The Role of Collegial Support for a Caregiving Policy at a Research-Intensive U.S. University

Implementing and encouraging use of policies aimed at creating an equitable higher education workplace for women academics can be challenging. Often, policy usage may be avoided due to stigma or fear of being seen as not committed to one’s workplace, especially for expectant mothers. In the present study, we examined how collegial support for using a tenure clock extension policy affects pre-tenure women’s career outcomes. Among pre-tenure women academics at a large research-intensive institution in the United States (N = 63) who took advantage of the tenure clock extension policy, perceptions of collegial support for using this policy were related to career satisfaction and workplace belonging. Collegial support was particularly beneficial to that half of the sample who had recently experienced gender-based job discrimination. We discuss the role that institutions can play to support early career stage women

Protection against Staphylococcus aureus colonization and infection by B-and T-cell-mediated mechanisms

© 2018 Zhang et al. Staphylococcus aureus is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. S. aureus colonizes 20 to 80% of humans at any one time and causes a variety of illnesses. Strains that are resistant to common antibiotics further complicate management. S. aureus vaccine development has been unsuccessful so far, largely due to the incomplete understanding of the mechanisms of protection against this pathogen. Here, we studied the role of different aspects of adaptive immunity induced by an S. aureus vaccine in protection against S. aureus bacteremia, dermonecrosis, skin abscess, and gastrointestinal (GI) colonization. We show that, depending on the challenge model, the contributions of vaccine-induced S. aureus-specific antibody and Th1 and Th17 responses to protection are different: antibodies play a major role in reducing mortality during S. aureus bacteremia, whereas Th1 or Th17 responses are essential for prevention of S. aureus skin abscesses and the clearance of bacteria from the GI tract. Both antibody-and T-cell-mediated mechanisms contribute to prevention of S. aureus dermonecrosis. Engagement of all three immune pathways results in the most robust protection under each pathological condition. Therefore, our results suggest that eliciting multipronged humoral and cellular responses to S. aureus antigens may be critical to achieve effective and comprehensive immune defense against this pathogen. IMPORTANCE S. aureus is a leading cause of healthcare-and community-associated bacterial infections. S. aureus causes various illnesses, including bacteremia, meningitis, endocarditis, pneumonia, osteomyelitis, sepsis, and skin and soft tissue infections. S. aureus colonizes between 20 and 80% of humans; carriers are at increased risk for infection and transmission to others. The spread of multidrug-resistant strains limits antibiotic treatment options. Vaccine development against S. aureus has been unsuccessful to date, likely due to an inadequate understanding about the mechanisms of immune defense against this pathogen. The significance of our work is in illustrating the necessity of generating multipronged B-cell, Th1-, and Th17-mediated responses to S. aureus antigens in conferring enhanced and broad protection against S. aureus invasive infection, skin and soft tissue infection, and mucosal colonization. Our work thus, provides important insights for future vaccine development against this pathogen

Further analysis of ASCS and PSS SACE data: Case studies of local authority (LA) practice

The Maximising the value of survey data in adult social care (MAX) project aims to develop toolkits, with local authority (LA) staff where possible, to encourage and support LAs to make more use of data drawn from the ASCS and PSS SACE1 to inform local policy and practice. The initial fact-finding phase (MAX Phase 1) activities aimed to:learn more about how LAs currently use ASCS and PSS SACE data, including identifying local practices and barriers; identify potential uses of the data to inform local decision-making; and inform the development of a toolkit to support LAs to make better local use of the data. Along with two analysis and interpretation consultation panel workshops conducted early in the second phase of the project, 139 staff from 95 LAs have so far taken part in MAX. In summary, the findings from these activities demonstrate that LAs generally seem to value the ASCS and PSS SACE and, to some extent, are using the views of service users and carers to inform local service planning and delivery. However, there were several challenges. One of these, identified by just over half of the LAs, concerned analysing the survey data and interpreting the findings to address local questions. A number of barriers seem to underlie this challenge, including difficulties with: identifying local information needs; managing and analysing ASCS and PSS SACE data; and being allocated sufficient time to conduct further analysis. While some LAs find analysing ASCS and PSS SACE data challenging, others are carrying out local statistical analysis, over and above those required for national (ASCOF) reporting. The case studies reported here describe how three local authorities have used and analysed the ASCS and PSS SACE data to support local decision-making. In turn, the case studies will be used to inform the development of ‘how to’ guides and tools to help LAs analyse and interpret survey data, as well as report and interpret analysis finding

Meeting local information needs with ASCS and PSS SACE data

Blog summarising the key findings from the case study of further analysis, conducted with three local authorities during the fact-finding phase of the MAX project, which identified three local practices that maximised the local relevance and value of survey data: adding questions to the surveys, conducting further analysis and drawing on supplementary sources of data

Minimum Decision Cost for Quantum Ensembles

For a given ensemble of $N$ independent and identically prepared particles, we calculate the binary decision costs of different strategies for measurement of polarised spin 1/2 particles. The result proves that, for any given values of the prior probabilities and any number of constituent particles, the cost for a combined measurement is always less than or equal to that for any combination of separate measurements upon sub-ensembles. The Bayes cost, which is that associated with the optimal strategy (i.e., a combined measurement) is obtained in a simple closed form.Comment: 11 pages, uses RevTe