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

Design, performance, and calculated error of a Faraday cup for absolute beam current measurements of 600-MeV protons

A mobile self-contained Faraday cup system for beam current measurments of nominal 600 MeV protons was designed, constructed, and used at the NASA Space Radiation Effects Laboratory. The cup is of reentrant design with a length of 106.7 cm and an outside diameter of 20.32 cm. The inner diameter is 15.24 cm and the base thickness is 30.48 cm. The primary absorber is commercially available lead hermetically sealed in a 0.32-cm-thick copper jacket. Several possible systematic errors in using the cup are evaluated. The largest source of error arises from high-energy electrons which are ejected from the entrance window and enter the cup. A total systematic error of -0.83 percent is calculated to be the decrease from the true current value. From data obtained in calibrating helium-filled ion chambers with the Faraday cup, the mean energy required to produce one ion pair in helium is found to be 30.76 + or - 0.95 eV for nominal 600 MeV protons. This value agrees well, within experimental error, with reported values of 29.9 eV and 30.2 eV

The failed promise of foreign direct investment: some remarks on ‘malign’ investment and political instability in former Soviet states

The policy of key international organisation continues to be informed by the assumption that Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has an unambiguously positive effect on recipient nations. However, there is increasing evidence that, on a global scale, increased trade and investment flows from rich to poorer nations have not contributed to a convergence of levels of income and well-being. This is particularly apparent in the context of former Soviet states, many of which continue to experience a decline, in both relative and absolute terms, in per capita GDP alongside a diminution in the life expectancy of their populations. Examining data on FDI received by former Soviet States from 1997 to 2005, this paper notes, firstly, that these investments have been concentrated on a few, typical natural-resource-rich states. Secondly, it observes that even these resource-rich countries experienced massive fluctuations in terms of the amounts of FDI they received over this time period. Lastly, the paper examines the impact of FDI on a number of country risk indicators via a pooled regression model which includes data for twelve former Soviet countries, namely the Central and Eastern European States of Belarus, Moldova, Russia, and Ukraine, and the Central Asian Republics of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. This analysis indicates that FDI has either a marginally negative effect on individual country risk measures such as in the case of ‘Overall Country Risk’, or significantly negative effects as in the case of ‘Economic Risk’ and ‘Legal Risk’. The paper concludes that there is strong case for questioning the existing orthodoxy which argues that problems of transition can be overcome via increased FDI and which continues to advise former Soviet states to pursue foreign capital at all cost