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Articles 1 - 8 of 8
Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Interactions Between Disciplinary Practices And Joint Work In Undergraduate Physics Research Experiences, Gina Quan, Chandra Turpen, Andrew Elby
Interactions Between Disciplinary Practices And Joint Work In Undergraduate Physics Research Experiences, Gina Quan, Chandra Turpen, Andrew Elby
Faculty Publications
We analyze how participating in undergraduate research experiences (UREs) influenced physics students’ trajectories of participation within the community of practice of physics researchers. Students in the study participated in an elective seminar in which they were paired with graduate student and faculty mentors on physics research projects and participated in weekly discussions about research. Using video data from student interviews and mentor interviews, we characterize two aspects of students’ engagement in the physics community of practice. First, we find variations in their engagement in physics practice, which we characterize as physics activities that are connected and purposeful. Second, we characterize …
The Multimodal Interactional Work Of Having Wonderful Ideas, Benedikt Harrer
The Multimodal Interactional Work Of Having Wonderful Ideas, Benedikt Harrer
Faculty Publications
Learning physics is socially organized through interactions with peers and more competent others. Instructors' and peers' assessment of and responsiveness to learners' ideas in the moment is critical for the collaborative construction of knowledge in physics. However, we still know little about how instructors and learners negotiate the value and productiveness of ideas. While to an outsider, some of the ideas physics learners discuss do not seem immediately valuable or productive for the problem being solved, Duckworth encourages us to pursue an 'insider's view' on how a learner experiences their ideas. Building on Duckworth, I pursue an 'insider's view' to …
Pondering Zeros: Uncovering Hidden Inequities Within A Decade Of Grades, Cassandra Paul
Pondering Zeros: Uncovering Hidden Inequities Within A Decade Of Grades, Cassandra Paul
Faculty Publications
When assessing student work, graders will often find that some students will leave one or more problems blank on assessments. Since there is no work shown, the grader has no means to evaluate the student's understanding of a particular problem, and thus awards zero points. This practice punishes the student behavior of leaving a problem blank, but this zero is not necessarily an accurate assessment of student understanding of a particular topic. While some might argue that this grading practice is "fair" in that students know that they can't receive points for answers they don't submit, we share evidence that …
Fluctuating Hydrodynamics Of Reactive Liquid Mixtures, Changho Kim, Andy. Nonaka, John Bell, Alejandro Garcia, Aleksandar Donev
Fluctuating Hydrodynamics Of Reactive Liquid Mixtures, Changho Kim, Andy. Nonaka, John Bell, Alejandro Garcia, Aleksandar Donev
Faculty Publications
Fluctuating hydrodynamics (FHD) provides a framework for modeling microscopic fluctuations in a manner consistent with statistical mechanics and nonequilibrium thermodynamics. This paper presents an FHD formulation for isothermal reactive incompressible liquid mixtures with stochastic chemistry. Fluctuating multispecies mass diffusion is formulated using a Maxwell–Stefan description without assuming a dilute solution, and momentum dynamics is described by a stochastic Navier–Stokes equation for the fluid velocity. We consider a thermodynamically consistent generalization for the law of mass action for non-dilute mixtures and use it in the chemical master equation (CME) to model reactions as a Poisson process. The FHD approach provides remarkable …
Enabling Autonomous Navigation For Affordable Scooters, Kaikai Liu, Rajathswaroop Mulky
Enabling Autonomous Navigation For Affordable Scooters, Kaikai Liu, Rajathswaroop Mulky
Faculty Publications
Despite the technical success of existing assistive technologies, for example, electric wheelchairs and scooters, they are still far from effective enough in helping those in need navigate to their destinations in a hassle-free manner. In this paper, we propose to improve the safety and autonomy of navigation by designing a cutting-edge autonomous scooter, thus allowing people with mobility challenges to ambulate independently and safely in possibly unfamiliar surroundings. We focus on indoor navigation scenarios for the autonomous scooter where the current location, maps, and nearby obstacles are unknown. To achieve semi-LiDAR functionality, we leverage the gyros-based pose data to compensate …
Unconventional Pairing Symmetry Of Interacting Dirac Fermions On A Π -Flux Lattice, Huaiming Guo, Ehsan Khatami, Yao Wang, Thomas Devereaux, Rajiv Singh, Richard Scalettar
Unconventional Pairing Symmetry Of Interacting Dirac Fermions On A Π -Flux Lattice, Huaiming Guo, Ehsan Khatami, Yao Wang, Thomas Devereaux, Rajiv Singh, Richard Scalettar
Faculty Publications
The pairing symmetry of interacting Dirac fermions on the π-flux lattice is studied with the determinant quantum Monte Carlo and numerical linked-cluster expansion methods. The s∗- (i.e., extended s-) and d-wave pairing symmetries, which are distinct in the conventional square lattice, are degenerate under the Landau gauge. We demonstrate that the dominant pairing channel at strong interactions is an unconventional ds∗-wave phase consisting of alternating stripes of s∗- and d-wave phases. A complementary mean-field analysis shows that while the s∗- and d-wave symmetries individually have nodes in the energy spectrum, the ds∗ channel is fully gapped. The results represent a …
Using The Real-Time Instructor Observing Tool (Riot) For Reflection On Teaching Practice, Cassandra Paul, Emily West
Using The Real-Time Instructor Observing Tool (Riot) For Reflection On Teaching Practice, Cassandra Paul, Emily West
Faculty Publications
As physics educators, we are constantly looking for ways to improve our practice. There are many different kinds of professional development opportunities that have been shown to help us with this endeavor. We can seek assistance from professionals, like mentor teachers or centers for faculty development, we can attend workshops to learn new curricula or pedagogical skills, and we can engage in learning communities to develop shared visions and become more reflective educators.1However, when these activities end, what can we do on our own to continue to improve? How can we track our improvement? And perhaps even most …
Unsupervised Machine Learning Account Of Magnetic Transitions In The Hubbard Model, Kelvin Ch'ng, Nick Vazquez, Ehsan Khatami
Unsupervised Machine Learning Account Of Magnetic Transitions In The Hubbard Model, Kelvin Ch'ng, Nick Vazquez, Ehsan Khatami
Faculty Publications
We employ several unsupervised machine learning techniques, including autoencoders, random trees embedding, and t-distributed stochastic neighboring ensemble (t-SNE), to reduce the dimensionality of, and therefore classify, raw (auxiliary) spin configurations generated, through Monte Carlo simulations of small clusters, for the Ising and Fermi-Hubbard models at finite temperatures. Results from a convolutional autoencoder for the three-dimensional Ising model can be shown to produce the magnetization and the susceptibility as a function of temperature with a high degree of accuracy. Quantum fluctuations distort this picture and prevent us from making such connections between the output of the autoencoder and …