Determining efficient temperature sets for the simulated tempering method

In statistical physics, the efficiency of tempering approaches strongly depends on ingredients such as the number of replicas $R$, reliable determination of weight factors and the set of used temperatures, ${\mathcal T}_R = \{T_1, T_2, \ldots, T_R\}$. For the simulated tempering (SP) in particular -- useful due to its generality and conceptual simplicity -- the latter aspect (closely related to the actual $R$) may be a key issue in problems displaying metastability and trapping in certain regions of the phase space. To determine ${\mathcal T}_R$'s leading to accurate thermodynamics estimates and still trying to minimize the simulation computational time, here it is considered a fixed exchange frequency scheme for the ST. From the temperature of interest $T_1$, successive $T$'s are chosen so that the exchange frequency between any adjacent pair $T_r$ and $T_{r+1}$ has a same value $f$. By varying the $f$'s and analyzing the ${\mathcal T}_R$'s through relatively inexpensive tests (e.g., time decay toward the steady regime), an optimal situation in which the simulations visit much faster and more uniformly the relevant portions of the phase space is determined. As illustrations, the proposal is applied to three lattice models, BEG, Bell-Lavis, and Potts, in the hard case of extreme first-order phase transitions, always giving very good results, even for $R=3$. Also, comparisons with other protocols (constant entropy and arithmetic progression) to choose the set ${\mathcal T}_R$ are undertaken. The fixed exchange frequency method is found to be consistently superior, specially for small $R$'s. Finally, distinct instances where the prescription could be helpful (in second-order transitions and for the parallel tempering approach) are briefly discussed.Comment: 10 pages, 14 figure

Quantum effective force in an expanding infinite square-well potential and Bohmian perspective

The Schr\"{o}dinger equation is solved for the case of a particle confined to a small region of a box with infinite walls. If walls of the well are moved, then, due to an effective quantum nonlocal interaction with the boundary, even though the particle is nowhere near the walls, it will be affected. It is shown that this force apart from a minus sign is equal to the expectation value of the gradient of the quantum potential for vanishing at the walls boundary condition. Variation of this force with time is studied. A selection of Bohmian trajectories of the confined particle is also computed.Comment: 7 figures, Accepted by Physica Script

Developing personas and proto personas to enhance the art museum visitor experience

This paper aims to study and think about the use of personas and proto personas on the art museum visitors experience. Its object of study is the educational services of art museums focusing on children and young people up to the age of 18. This is a hybrid study - conceptual and empirical – and exploratory study. It was conducted through a qualitative methodology, constructivist paradigm and design approach. It relies on critical and creative thinking, as well on data collection. Using a total of 36 interviews to teachers/educators and children guardians, divided into 2 distinct phases, and a total of 3 pre-test interviews. This paper allowed to draw five conclusions. First, building personas enables the art museum to understand its audience. Visitor’s needs and objectives can be assessed in a more direct and efficient way by adapting designing strategies. Second, they are the basis for redesigning: the museum space, the visitor's journey and the visitor's experience. Third, personas allow to simulate a visitor model with differentiating profiles. Fourth, proto personas are created through brainstorming about the visitors, allowing to generate tools to start the early planning with a lower budget. Significant costs may be reduced and changes to management practices applied. Fifth, providing insights for the construction of a space for creative expression and nonformal education based on the visual arts aimed at children and young people up to the age of 18. This paper expands the investigation of application of the construction of personas and proto personas in the management of educational services in art museums. The value of this study lies in exploration of the construction of personas and in a learning context Do - Feel - Learn instead of the traditional sequence Learn - Feel - Do.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio