Final Report: "Strings 2014"

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Witten, Edward

2015-10-21

The Strings 2014 meeting was held at Princeton University June 23-27, 2014, co-sponsored by Princeton University and the Institute for Advanced Study. The goal of the meeting was to provide a stimulating and up-to-date overview of research in string theory and its relations to other areas of physics and mathematics, ranging from geometry to quantum field theory, condensed matter physics, and more. This brief report lists committee members and speakers but contains no scientific information. Note that the talks at Strings 2014 were videotaped and are available on the conference website: http://physics.princeton.edustrings2014/Talk_titles.shtml.

Modelling of Molecular Structures and Properties. Proceedings of the International Meeting of Physical Chemistry on Modeling of Molecular Structures and Properties in Physical Chemistry and Biophysics Organized by the Division de Chimie Physique of the Societe Francaise de Chimie Held in Nancy, France on 11-15 September 1989

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-01-01

expert systems, "intelligent" computer-aided instruction , symbolic learning . These aspects will be discussed, focusing on the specific problems the...VLSI chips) according to preliminary specifications. Finally ES are also used in computer-aided instruction (CAI) due to their ability of... instructions to process controllers), academic teaching (for mathematics , physics, foreign language, etc.). Domains of application The different

A Summer Math and Physics Program for High School Students: Student Performance and Lessons Learned in the Second Year

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Timme, Nicholas; Baird, Michael; Bennett, Jake; Fry, Jason; Garrison, Lance; Maltese, Adam

2013-05-01

For the past two years, the Foundations in Physics and Mathematics (FPM) summer program has been held at Indiana University in order to fulfill two goals: provide additional physics and mathematics instruction at the high school level, and provide physics graduate students with experience and autonomy in designing curricula and teaching courses. In this paper we will detail changes made to the program for its second year and the motivation for these changes, as well as implications for future iterations of the program. We gauge the impact of the changes on student performance using pre-/post-test scores, student evaluations, and anecdotal evidence. These data show that the program has a positive impact on student knowledge and this impact was greater in magnitude in the second year of the program. We attribute this improvement primarily to the inclusion of more inquiry-driven activities. All activities, worksheets, and lesson plans used in the program are available online.

PREFACE: Algebra, Geometry, and Mathematical Physics 2010

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stolin, A.; Abramov, V.; Fuchs, J.; Paal, E.; Shestopalov, Y.; Silvestrov, S.

2012-02-01

This proceedings volume presents results obtained by the participants of the 6th Baltic-Nordic workshop 'Algebra, Geometry, and Mathematical Physics (AGMP-6)' held at the Sven Lovén Centre for Marine Sciences in Tjärnö, Sweden on October 25-30, 2010. The Baltic-Nordic Network AGMP 'Algebra, Geometry, and Mathematical Physics' http://www.agmp.eu was created in 2005 on the initiative of two Estonian universities and two Swedish universities: Tallinn University of Technology represented by Eugen Paal (coordinator of the network), Tartu University represented by Viktor Abramov, Lund University represented by Sergei Silvestrov, and Chalmers University of Technology and the University of Gothenburg represented by Alexander Stolin. The goal was to promote international and interdisciplinary cooperation between scientists and research groups in the countries of the Baltic-Nordic region in mathematics and mathematical physics, with special emphasis on the important role played by algebra and geometry in modern physics, engineering and technologies. The main activities of the AGMP network consist of a series of regular annual international workshops, conferences and research schools. The AGMP network also constitutes an important educational forum for scientific exchange and dissimilation of research results for PhD students and Postdocs. The network has expanded since its creation, and nowadays its activities extend beyond countries in the Baltic-Nordic region to universities in other European countries and participants from elsewhere in the world. As one of the important research-dissimilation outcomes of its activities, the network has a tradition of producing high-quality research proceedings volumes after network events, publishing them with various international publishers. The PDF also contains the following: List of AGMP workshops and other AGMP activities Main topics discussed at AGMP-6 Review of AGMP-6 proceedings Acknowledgments List of Conference Participants

PREFACE: 3rd International Conference on Science & Engineering in Mathematics, Chemistry and Physics 2015 (ScieTech 2015)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gaol, F. L.

2015-06-01

The 3rd International Conference on Science & Engineering in Mathematics, Chemistry and Physics 2015 (ScieTech 2015), was held at The Westin Resort Nusa Dua, Bali on 31 January - 1 February 2015. The ScieTech 2015 conference is aimed to bring together researchers, engineers and scientists from around the world. ScieTech 2015 is placed on promoting interaction between the theoretical, experimental, and applied communities, so that a high level exchange is achieved in new and emerging areas within mathematics, chemistry and physics. As we already know that science and technology have brought tremendous benefits for human civilization. People are becoming healthier, wealthier, better educated, more peaceful, increasingly connected, and living longer. Of course, science and technology provide many answers to global challenges, but we will face more complex problems in the next decade due to increasing world population, limitation of energy, and climate change. Therefore, researchers should be more active in conducting research that enables collaboration between one and the others. Interdisciplinary cooperation is absolutely necessary in order to create a smart system for solving the global problems. We need a global and general long-term view of the future with long-range goals for solving complex problems in next decade. Therefore the conference was held to be a forum for researchers from different disciplines to start collaborating and conducting research that provides a solution to the global issues. The theme of ScieTech 2015 was ''The interdisciplinary Application between Mathematics, Chemistry and Physics to enhance the Quality of Life''. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all in the Technical Program Committee who have reviewed the papers and developed a very interesting conference program as well as the invited and plenary speakers. This year, we received 197 papers and after rigorous review, 59 papers were accepted. The participants came from 19 countries, and there were six paralell sessions and four keynote speakers. It is an honour to present this volume of Journal of Physics: Conference Series (JPCS) and we deeply thank the authors for their enthusiastic and high-grade contributions. Finally, we would like to thank the conference chairmen, members of the steering committee, the organizing committee, the organizing secretariat and the financial support from the conference sponsors that allowed the success of ScieTech 2015.

III Potsdam-V Kiev International Workshop on Nonlinear Processes in Physics. Held in Potsdam, New York on August 1-11, 1991

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-08-01

Bona, Burke, Grundbaum, Hasagawa, Horton, Krichever, Kruskal, Kuznetsov , Lax, McLaughlin, Mikhailov., Rubenchik, Sabatier, Tabor, Zabusky) for their...British Telecom Lab., GB Fibers Oleg Bogoyavlenskij Breaking Solitons Steklov Mathematical Institute USSR Marco Boiti Real and Virtual Multidimensional...Beyond Rutgers University, USA Boris Kupershmidt Relativistic Analogs of Lax Equations Tennessee Space Institute, USA E.A. Kuznetsov Weak MHD Turbulence

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Shiu, Gary; Everett, Lisa

The Tenth Annual International String Phenomenology Conference was held at the University of Wisconsin, Madison on August 22-26, 2011. The Conference was organized by Profs. Gary Shiu and Lisa Everett, with the help of two postdoctoral fellows Heng-Yu Chen and Jiajun Xu. The scientific subjects of the talks and discussions were chosen to be widely interdisciplinary, reflecting the scope and maturity of the field. The conference brought together researchers of diverse subfields in physics and mathematics to present and discuss recent developments in connecting observable particle physics and cosmology with the domain of fundamental theory. This report summarizes the outcomemore » of this conference.« less

SIAM conference on applications of dynamical systems

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1992-01-01

A conference (Oct.15--19, 1992, Snowbird, Utah; sponsored by SIAM (Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics) Activity Group on Dynamical Systems) was held that highlighted recent developments in applied dynamical systems. The main lectures and minisymposia covered theory about chaotic motion, applications in high energy physics and heart fibrillations, turbulent motion, Henon map and attractor, integrable problems in classical physics, pattern formation in chemical reactions, etc. The conference fostered an exchange between mathematicians working on theoretical issues of modern dynamical systems and applied scientists. This two-part document contains abstracts, conference program, and an author index.

SIAM conference on applications of dynamical systems. Abstracts and author index

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1992-12-31

A conference (Oct.15--19, 1992, Snowbird, Utah; sponsored by SIAM (Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics) Activity Group on Dynamical Systems) was held that highlighted recent developments in applied dynamical systems. The main lectures and minisymposia covered theory about chaotic motion, applications in high energy physics and heart fibrillations, turbulent motion, Henon map and attractor, integrable problems in classical physics, pattern formation in chemical reactions, etc. The conference fostered an exchange between mathematicians working on theoretical issues of modern dynamical systems and applied scientists. This two-part document contains abstracts, conference program, and an author index.

PREFACE: 3rd International Workshop on Statistical Physics and Mathematics for Complex Systems (SPMCS 2012)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tayurskii, Dmitrii; Abe, Sumiyoshi; Alexandre Wang, Q.

2012-11-01

The 3rd International Workshop on Statistical Physics and Mathematics for Complex Systems (SPMCS2012) was held between 25-30 August at Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University, Kazan, Russian Federation. This workshop was jointly organized by Kazan Federal University and Institut Supérieur des Matériaux et Mécaniques Avancées (ISMANS), France. The series of SPMCS workshops was created in 2008 with the aim to be an interdisciplinary incubator for the worldwide exchange of innovative ideas and information about the latest results. The first workshop was held at ISMANS, Le Mans (France) in 2008, and the third at Huazhong Normal University, Wuhan (China) in 2010. At SPMCS2012, we wished to bring together a broad community of researchers from the different branches of the rapidly developing complexity science to discuss the fundamental theoretical challenges (geometry/topology, number theory, statistical physics, dynamical systems, etc) as well as experimental and applied aspects of many practical problems (condensed matter, disordered systems, financial markets, chemistry, biology, geoscience, etc). The program of SPMCS2012 was prepared based on three categories: (i) physical and mathematical studies (quantum mechanics, generalized nonequilibrium thermodynamics, nonlinear dynamics, condensed matter physics, nanoscience); (ii) natural complex systems (physical, geophysical, chemical and biological); (iii) social, economical, political agent systems and man-made complex systems. The conference attracted 64 participants from 10 countries. There were 10 invited lectures, 12 invited talks and 28 regular oral talks in the morning and afternoon sessions. The book of Abstracts is available from the conference website (http://www.ksu.ru/conf/spmcs2012/?id=3). A round table was also held, the topic of which was 'Recent and Anticipated Future Progress in Science of Complexity', discussing a variety of questions and opinions important for the understanding of the concept of complexity itself, the behaviours of complex systems as well as for the finding of new theoretical methods. The papers submitted to this volume were carefully reviewed by referees. We are very grateful to the referees for their very efficient and thoughtful actions. A few submitted papers were unfortunately not included based on the referee reports. As a result, 34 papers are included here. We are very grateful to the members of the international advisory committee for their recommendations of speakers for SPMCS2012. We also appreciate the behind-the-scenes work of the members of the local organizing committee in preparing the conference site, web page, mail correspondence, arrangements for excursions and accommodation, handling the financial support for participants, and so on. Finally, we acknowledge the support from Kazan Federal University. Sumiyoshi Abe Alain Le Méhauté Dmitrii Tayurskii

Science and technology camp for girls. Final report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1993-12-31

This document reports on the success of Pacific University`s camp held during the summers of 1992 and 1993; ultimate goal of this summer day camp was to increase the number of women in technical and scientific fields. Some experimentation was done with the age groups (7th and 8th grade girls). The curriculum was biology, chemistry, physics, and mathematics/computer science. Laboratory work and field trips were emphasized, along with socialization.

Transactions of the Army Conference on Applied Mathematics and Computing (1st) Held at Washington, DC on 9-11 May 1983

DTIC Science & Technology

1984-02-01

I . . . . . . An Introduction to Geometric Programming Patrick D. Allen and David W. Baker . . . . . . , . . . . . . . Space and Time...Zarwyn, US-Army Electronics R & D Comhiand GEOMETRIC PROGRAMING SPACE AND TIFFE ANALYSIS IN DYNAMIC PROGRAMING ALGORITHMS Renne..tf Stizti, AkeanXa...physical and parameter space can be connected by asymptotic matching. The purpose of the asymptotic analysis is to define the simplest problems

Proceedings of the International Symposium on Multiple-Valued Logic (13th) Held at Kyoto, Japan on May 23-25, 1983.

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-05-01

would like to thank the members of the Organizing Committee of ISMVL-Japan, listed on page vii of this Proceedings, for their generous support. Hisashi ...8217 °. °- . ’. . 6% Organizing Commnittee I *Chairman: Hisashi Mine Department of Applied Mathematics and Physics Kcyoto University, Kyoto...Masayuki Kimura (Tohoku University, Japan) Tadahiro Kitahashi (Toyohashi University of Technology, Japan) Yoshiaki Koga (National Defense Academy, Japan

Preface to the Focus Issue: chaos detection methods and predictability.

PubMed

Gottwald, Georg A; Skokos, Charalampos

2014-06-01

This Focus Issue presents a collection of papers originating from the workshop Methods of Chaos Detection and Predictability: Theory and Applications held at the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems in Dresden, June 17-21, 2013. The main aim of this interdisciplinary workshop was to review comprehensively the theory and numerical implementation of the existing methods of chaos detection and predictability, as well as to report recent applications of these techniques to different scientific fields. The collection of twelve papers in this Focus Issue represents the wide range of applications, spanning mathematics, physics, astronomy, particle accelerator physics, meteorology and medical research. This Preface surveys the papers of this Issue.

Gender Equity in Mathematics: Beliefs of Students, Parents, and Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leedy, M. Gail; LaLonde, Donna; Runk, Kristen

2003-01-01

The attitudes about mathematics held by girls and boys participating in a regional mathematics contest, their parents, teachers, and mathematics coaches were investigated. Quantitative data regarding mathematics as a male domain, perception of importance of mathematics, confidence in learning mathematics, effectance motivation, and usefulness of…

2014 International Conference on Science & Engineering in Mathematics, Chemistry and Physics (ScieTech 2014)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2014-04-01

2014 International Conference on Science & Engineering in Mathematics, Chemistry and Physics (ScieTech 2014), was held at the Media Hotel, Jakarta, Indonesia, on 13-14 January 2014. The ScieTech 2014 conference is aimed to bring together researchers, engineers and scientists in the domain of interest from around the world. ScieTech 2014 is placed on promoting interaction between the theoretical, experimental, and applied communities, so that a high level exchange is achieved in new and emerging areas within Mathematics, Chemistry and Physics. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all in the Technical Program Committee who have reviewed the papers and developed a very interesting Conference Program as well as the invited and plenary speakers. This year, we received 187 papers and after rigorous review, 50 papers were accepted. The participants come from 16 countries. There are 5 (Five) Paralell Sessions and Four Keynote Speakers. It is an honour to present this volume of Journal of Physics: Conference Series (JPCS) and we deeply thank the authors for their enthusiastic and high-grade contributions. Finally, we would like to thank the conference chairmen, the members of the steering committee, the organizing committee, the organizing secretariat and the financial support from the conference sponsors that allowed the success of ScieTech 2014. The Editors of the Scietech 2014 Proceedings: Dr. Ford Lumban Gaol Dr. Benfano Soewito Dr. P.N. Gajjar

Mathematical knowledge for teaching: Making the tacit more explicit in mathematics teacher education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abdullah, Mohd Faizal Nizam Lee; Vimalanandan, Lena

2017-05-01

Teaching practice during school based experiences, afford an opportunity for pre service teachers to put into practice their knowledge for teaching mathematics. Like all knowledge, Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching (MKT) is held in both tacit and explicit form, making it especially difficult to study and map during instruction. This study investigates the tacit and explicit nature of MKT held by pre service teachers in a Malaysian Teacher Education Program and how it impacts the Mathematical Quality of their instruction (MQI). This study of three mathematics pre-service teachers (PSTs), utilised videos of mathematics lessons, reflective debriefs and interviews. The findings suggest that factors such as reflecting, peer-sharing, conferencing with mentors and observing support in making tacit knowledge more explicit during planning and instruction. Implications for preparation of mathematics teachers capable of high Mathematical Quality of Instruction are also discussed.

Mathematics Preparation and Success in Introductory College Science Courses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Avallone, L. M.; Geiger, L. C.; Luebke, A. E.

2008-12-01

It is a long-held belief that adequate mathematics preparation is a key to success in introductory college science courses. Indeed, a number of recent studies have tested mathematics "fluency" and compared that to performance in introductory physics or chemistry courses. At the University of Colorado at Boulder, we administered a twenty-question math assessment to incoming first-year students as part of orientation registration. The intent of this tool was to provide information for advising new college students about their readiness for college-level science courses, both those for science majors and those for non-scientists. In this presentation we describe the results of the mathematics assessment for two incoming classes in the College of Arts and Sciences at CU-Boulder (about 9,000 students) and its predictive capabilities for success in introductory science courses. We also analyze student performance in these courses (i.e., course grade) with respect to ACT and/or SAT scores. We will present data on the relative success of students in college science courses both with and without prior college-level mathematics courses as well.

Konrad Bajer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2014-10-01

These Proceedings are dedicated to our co-editor Konrad Bajer, who carried the lion's share of the work involved until his sudden and untimely death from cancer on 29th August 2014. Konrad was one of the key Organisers of the program "Topological Dynamics in the Physical and Biological Sciences" held at the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences in Cambridge from July to December 2012. During that time, he was on leave from the University of Warsaw, and held a Visiting Fellow Commonership at Trinity College, Cambridge. He had particular responsibility for the satellite workshop Tangled Magnetic Fields in Astro- and Plasma Physics, held at ICMS, Edinburgh, in October 2012. Konrad graduated in Physics from the University of Warsaw in 1980, and took his PhD in Fluid Dynamics at DAMTP, Cambridge, 1984-89. He was active in EUROMECH, having been a principal organiser of the European Turbulence Conference (ETC13) in Warsaw 2011, and the meeting Turbulence: the Historical Perspective that followed it. He has been equally active in IUTAM; his distinction was recognised by his very recent election to the Congress Committee of IUTAM. Konrad's research interests were in magnetohydrodynamics and vortex dynamics in classical and quantum systems; also in problems of gasifcation, in which he played a coordinating role at the University of Warsaw. He impressed all with his exceptionally warm and friendly personality, and will be greatly missed in the whole scientifc community.

Hand-Held Calculators in the Classroom: A Review of the Research.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parkhurst, Scott

This report surveys many of the recent investigations on calculators and their use in mathematics education. The review notes that the widespread availability of hand-held calculators and their affordability has led to their consideration as a viable tool to aid in mathematics instruction. The studies reviewed suggest that many questions are still…

Transactions of the Army Conference on Applied Mathematics and Computing (4th) Held in Ithaca, New York on 27-31 May 1986

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-02-01

positive, nonincreaslng on 0 < t < *, and m decays rapidly at Infinity. Stronger power singularities at zero (a < 0) are also...considered. In this case the wavenumber appears to power four in the differential equation, the Orr-Sommerfeld equation, and to power five in the wall...normal mode, appears to power four in the differential equation. However it is this problem that is physically realistic in which fixed real frequency

Proceedings of Workshop on Reliability in Computational Mechanics Held in Austin, Texas on October 26-28, 1989

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-10-28

develop mathematical models of nature so as to study and predict the behavior of physical systems. The remarkable advances in technology over the last half...met for three days to discuss and study this ’ect. This volume contains invited papers and selected contributed papers presented at this meeting. The...interesting mixture of application of existing methods to issues of reliability as well as studies of new methods that touch upon or depend upon the

AIP Career Pathways

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Palchak, Amanda

2012-02-01

American Institute of Physics (AIP) Career Pathways is a new project funded by the National Science Foundation. One of the goals of AIP Career Pathways is to prepare students to compete for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) careers with a bachelor's degree in physics. In order to do so, I reviewed and compiled useful resources on finding a STEM career with a bachelor's degree in physics. These resources not only supply the job seeker with job postings in STEM careers but also provide them with information on resumes, interviewing skills, and networking. Recently at the 2011 Industrial Physics Forum, I interviewed companies in the private sector to obtain a unique perspective on what types of skills potential employers expect an applicant to posses with a bachelor's degree in physics. Ultimately, these components will be used as supplements at student career workshops held at annual Society of Physics Students Zone Meetings.

Teachers' Conceptions of Mathematical Modeling

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gould, Heather

2013-01-01

The release of the "Common Core State Standards for Mathematics" in 2010 resulted in a new focus on mathematical modeling in United States curricula. Mathematical modeling represents a way of doing and understanding mathematics new to most teachers. The purpose of this study was to determine the conceptions and misconceptions held by…

Mapping Conceptual Understanding of Algebraic Concepts: An Exploratory Investigation Involving Grade 8 Chinese Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jin, Haiyue; Wong, Khoon Yoong

2015-01-01

Conceptual understanding is a major aim of mathematics education, and concept map has been used in non-mathematics research to uncover the relations among concepts held by students. This article presents the results of using concept map to assess conceptual understanding of basic algebraic concepts held by a group of 48 grade 8 Chinese students.…

Encouraging Young Women to Stay in the Mathematics Pipeline: Mathematics Camps for Young Women

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chacon, Paul; Soto-Johnson, Hortensia

2003-01-01

For two summers, week-long residential mathematics programs were held for high school women, with the primary goal of encouraging them to continue their study of mathematics. The activities were designed to rekindle their excitement about mathematics and to support the idea that women should learn advanced mathematics. This paper reports the…

The image of mathematics held by Irish post-primary students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lane, Ciara; Stynes, Martin; O'Donoghue, John

2014-08-01

The image of mathematics held by Irish post-primary students was examined and a model for the image found was constructed. Initially, a definition for 'image of mathematics' was adopted with image of mathematics hypothesized as comprising attitudes, beliefs, self-concept, motivation, emotions and past experiences of mathematics. Research focused on students studying ordinary level mathematics for the Irish Leaving Certificate examination - the final examination for students in second-level or post-primary education. Students were aged between 15 and 18 years. A questionnaire was constructed with both quantitative and qualitative aspects. The questionnaire survey was completed by 356 post-primary students. Responses were analysed quantitatively using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and qualitatively using the constant comparative method of analysis and by reviewing individual responses. Findings provide an insight into Irish post-primary students' images of mathematics and offer a means for constructing a theoretical model of image of mathematics which could be beneficial for future research.

Factors Influencing Elementary Mathematics Teachers' Beliefs in Reform-Based Teaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sawyer, Amanda Gantt

2017-01-01

I investigated a reform based teachers' beliefs about the nature of mathematics, teaching mathematics, and learning mathematics, and the factors leading to their formation. I interviewed and observed a reform-based elementary mathematics teacher with 13 years' experience teaching first grade. She held a Platonist/problem solver view of…

PREFACE: 7th International Conference on Quantum Theory and Symmetries (QTS7)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burdík, Čestmír; Navrátil, Ondřej; Pošta, Severin; Schnabl, Martin; Šnobl, Libor

2012-02-01

The Seventh International Conference Quantum Theory and Symmetries (QTS7), organized by the Departments of Mathematics and Physics, Faculty of Nuclear Sciences and Physical Engineering at the Czech Technical University in Prague, the Bogoliubov Laboratory of Theoretical Physics of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research and the Institute of Physics at the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, belongs to a successful series of conferences which began at Goslar, Germany in 1999. More recent QTS conferences were held in Poland, Bulgaria, USA and Spain. QTS7 gathered around 300 scientists from all over the world. 136 of the plenary lectures and contributions presented at QTS7 are published in this issue of Journal of Physics: Conference Series. We acknowledge support from the Commission for co-operation with JINR Dubna and grant LA-08002 from the Ministry of Education of the Czech Republic. Čestmír Burdík Chairman Local Organizing Committee

If You Had To Tell an Alien What Math Is...: Construct of Mathematics and SQUARE ONE TV.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Debold, Elizabeth

The ideas of the nature, purpose, and scope of mathematics held by students is an issue of interest to the mathematics education community. Movement from a mathematics as discrete operations perspective to a mathematics as problem-solving perspective is a desired change in mathematics education reform. A pretest/posttest experimental design study…

School Mathematics Leaders' Perceptions of Successes and Challenges of Their Leadership Role within a Mathematics Improvement Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sexton, Matt; Downton, Ann

2014-01-01

The mathematics curriculum leader plays an important role in leading the mathematics curriculum in primary schools. They experience successes and face challenges associated with this leadership role. The perceptions that 25 mathematics leaders held about the successes and challenges they experienced whilst participating in a school mathematics…

When champions meet: Rethinking the Bohr-Einstein debate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Landsman, N. P.

Einstein's philosophy of physics (as clarified by Fine, Howard, and Held) was predicated on his Trennungsprinzip, a combination of separability and locality, without which he believed objectification, and thereby "physical thought" and "physical laws', to be impossible. Bohr's philosophy (as elucidated by Hooker, Scheibe, Folse, Howard, Held, and others), on the other hand, was grounded in a seemingly different doctrine about the possibility of objective knowledge, namely the necessity of classical concepts. In fact, it follows from Raggio's Theorem in algebraic quantum theory that-within an appropriate class of physical theories-suitable mathematical translations of the doctrines of Bohr and Einstein are equivalent. Thus-upon our specific formalization-quantum mechanics accommodates Einstein's Trennungsprinzip if and only if it is interpreted à la Bohr through classical physics. Unfortunately, the protagonists themselves failed to discuss their differences in this constructive way, since their debate was dominated by Einstein's ingenious but ultimately flawed attempts to establish the "incompleteness" of quantum mechanics. This aspect of their debate may still be understood and appreciated, however, as reflecting a much deeper and insurmountable disagreement between Bohr and Einstein about the knowability of Nature. Using the theological controversy on the knowability of God as a analogy, we can say that Einstein was a Spinozist, whereas Bohr could be said to be on the side of Maimonides. Thus Einstein's off-the-cuff characterization of Bohr as a 'Talmudic philosopher' was spot-on.

Evolution of Supernova Remnants

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arbutina, B.

2017-12-01

This book, both a monograph and a graduate textbook, is based on my original research and partly on the materials prepared earlier for the 2007 and 2008 IARS Astrophysics Summer School in Istanbul, AstroMundus course 'Supernovae and Their Remnants' that was held for the first time in 2011 at the Department of Astronomy, Faculty of Mathematics, University of Belgrade, and a graduate course 'Evolution of Supernova Remnants' that I teach at the aforementioned university. The first part Supernovae (introduction, thermonuclear supernovae, core-collapse supernovae) provides introductory information and explains the classification and physics of supernova explosions, while the second part Supernova remnants (introduction, shock waves, cosmic rays and particle acceleration, magnetic fields, synchrotron radiation, hydrodynamic and radio evolution of supernova remnants), which is the field I work in, is more detailed in scope i.e. technical/mathematical. Special attention is paid to details of mathematical derivations that often cannot be found in original works or available literature. Therefore, I believe it can be useful to both, graduate students and researchers interested in the field.

PUBLISHER'S ANNOUNCEMENT: Editorial developments Editorial developments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gillan, Rebecca

2009-01-01

We are delighted to announce that from January 2009, Professor Murray T Batchelor of the Australian National University, Canberra will be the new Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical. Murray Batchelor has been Editor of the Mathematical Physics section of the journal since 2007. Prior to this, he served as a Board Member and an Advisory Panel member for the journal. His primary area of research is the statistical mechanics of exactly solved models. He holds a joint appointment in mathematics and physics and has held visiting positions at the Universities of Leiden, Amsterdam, Oxford and Tokyo. We very much look forward to working with Murray to continue to improve the journal's quality and interest to the readership. We would like to thank our outgoing Editor-in-Chief, Professor Carl M Bender. Carl has done a magnificent job as Editor-in-Chief and has worked tirelessly to improve the journal over the last five years. Carl has been instrumental in designing and implementing strategies that have enhanced the quality of papers published and service provided by Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical. Notably, under his tenure, we have introduced the Fast Track Communications (FTC) section to the journal. This section provides a venue for outstanding short papers that report new and timely developments in mathematical and theoretical physics and offers accelerated publication and high visibility for our authors. During the last five years, we have raised the quality threshold for acceptance in the journal and now reject over 60% of submissions. As a result, papers published in Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical are amongst the best in the field. We have also maintained and improved on our excellent receipt-to-first-decision times, which now average less than 50 days for papers. We have recently announced another innovation; the Journal of Physics A Best Paper Prize. These prizes will honour excellent papers that make outstanding contributions to the field and we look forward to awarding the inaugural prizes in May 2009. With the help of Murray Batchelor and our distinguished Editorial Board, we will be working to further improve the quality of the journal whilst continuing to offer excellent services to our readers, authors and referees. We hope that you benefit from reading the journal. If you have any comments or questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at jphysa@iop.org. Rebecca Gillan Publisher

PUBLISHER'S ANNOUNCEMENT: Editorial developments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2009-01-01

We are delighted to announce that from January 2009, Professor Murray T Batchelor of the Australian National University, Canberra will be the new Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical. Murray Batchelor has been Editor of the Mathematical Physics section of the journal since 2007. Prior to this, he served as a Board Member and an Advisory Panel member for the journal. His primary area of research is the statistical mechanics of exactly solved models. He holds a joint appointment in mathematics and physics and has held visiting positions at the Universities of Leiden, Amsterdam, Oxford and Tokyo. We very much look forward to working with Murray to continue to improve the journal's quality and interest to the readership. We would like to thank our outgoing Editor-in-Chief, Professor Carl M Bender. Carl has done a magnificent job as Editor-in-Chief and has worked tirelessly to improve the journal over the last five years. Carl has been instrumental in designing and implementing strategies that have enhanced the quality of papers published and service provided by Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical. Notably, under his tenure, we have introduced the Fast Track Communications (FTC) section to the journal. This section provides a venue for outstanding short papers that report new and timely developments in mathematical and theoretical physics and offers accelerated publication and high visibility for our authors. During the last five years, we have raised the quality threshold for acceptance in the journal and now reject over 60% of submissions. As a result, papers published in Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical are amongst the best in the field. We have also maintained and improved on our excellent receipt-to-first-decision times, which now average less than 50 days for papers. We have recently announced another innovation; the Journal of Physics A Best Paper Prize. These prizes will honour excellent papers that make outstanding contributions to the field and we look forward to awarding the inaugural prizes in May 2009. With the help of Murray Batchelor and our distinguished Editorial Board, we will be working to further improve the quality of the journal whilst continuing to offer excellent services to our readers, authors and referees. We hope that you benefit from reading the journal. If you have any comments or questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at jphysa@iop.org. Rebecca Gillan Publisher

Knowing and Learning Mathematics for Teaching: Proceedings of a Workshop (March 19-21, 1999).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Academy of Sciences - National Research Council, Washington, DC. Mathematical Sciences Education Board.

The Mathematics Teacher Preparation Content Workshop, held March 19-21, 1999, focused on two questions: (1) What is the mathematical knowledge teachers need to know in order to teach well? and (2) How can teachers develop the mathematical knowledge they need to teach well? Chapters include: (1) "Knowledge of Fundamental Mathematics for Teaching"…

The Impact of Problem Posing on Elementary Teachers' Beliefs about Mathematics and Mathematics Teaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barlow, Angela T.; Cates, Janie M.

2006-01-01

This study investigated the impact of incorporating problem posing in elementary classrooms on the beliefs held by elementary teachers about mathematics and mathematics teaching. Teachers participated in a year-long staff development project aimed at facilitating the incorporation of problem posing into their classrooms. Beliefs were examined via…

Remedial Mathematics: Diagnostic and Prescriptive Approaches. Papers from the First National Conference on Remedial Mathematics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Higgins, Jon L., Ed.; Heddens, James W., Ed.

The papers in this publication were developed from speeches and reactions presented at the first National Conference on Remedial Mathematics held at Kent State University in 1974. Papers focus on identifying and describing the remedial mathematics student, classroom diagnosis, clinical diagnosis, the diagnostic process, and promising procedures…

An Appropriate Culminating Mathematics Course.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haver, Bill; Turbeville, Gwen

1995-01-01

Describes a freshman level mathematics course designed as an alternate to algebra for non-science majors. Mathematical content is based on real-world situations, student activities include small and large projects done in groups or individually, and lecture time is held to a minimum. (MKR)

Introduction to the focus issue: fifty years of chaos: applied and theoretical.

PubMed

Hikihara, Takashi; Holmes, Philip; Kambe, Tsutomu; Rega, Giuseppe

2012-12-01

The discovery of deterministic chaos in the late nineteenth century, its subsequent study, and the development of mathematical and computational methods for its analysis have substantially influenced the sciences. Chaos is, however, only one phenomenon in the larger area of dynamical systems theory. This Focus Issue collects 13 papers, from authors and research groups representing the mathematical, physical, and biological sciences, that were presented at a symposium held at Kyoto University from November 28 to December 2, 2011. The symposium, sponsored by the International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, was called 50 Years of Chaos: Applied and Theoretical. Following some historical remarks to provide a background for the last 50 years, and for chaos, this Introduction surveys the papers and identifies some common themes that appear in them and in the theory of dynamical systems.

Second International Workshop on Harmonic Oscillators

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Han, Daesoo (Editor); Wolf, Kurt Bernardo (Editor)

1995-01-01

The Second International Workshop on Harmonic Oscillators was held at the Hotel Hacienda Cocoyoc from March 23 to 25, 1994. The Workshop gathered 67 participants; there were 10 invited lecturers, 30 plenary oral presentations, 15 posters, and plenty of discussion divided into the five sessions of this volume. The Organizing Committee was asked by the chairman of several Mexican funding agencies what exactly was meant by harmonic oscillators, and for what purpose the new research could be useful. Harmonic oscillators - as we explained - is a code name for a family of mathematical models based on the theory of Lie algebras and groups, with applications in a growing range of physical theories and technologies: molecular, atomic, nuclear and particle physics; quantum optics and communication theory.

Supporting Mathematics Teachers in the United States and Finland: Proceedings of a Workshop

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beatty, Alexandra; Ferreras, Ana

2018-01-01

For the past 17 years, the U.S. National Commission on Mathematics Instruction (USNC/MI) has held workshops with mathematics educators from countries that typically perform well on international assessments and have a history of strong mathematics education programs, such as Japan, China, and South Korea. Finland is among this group. Even though…

A Follow-Up Study of the Participants of the Nine National Science Foundation Academic Year Institutes for Junior High School Teachers of Mathematics Held at San Jose State College, 1962 to 1970.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Merkel, Joseph G.

This report is based on 144 questionnaires sent to past participants of the nine National Science Foundation Academic Year Institutes (AYI) for Junior High School Teachers of Mathematics held at San Jose State College, 1962-1970. The questionnaires, sent to each participant in May of the year following completion of their institute, lists 25…

Intellectual Discussion in Mathematics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cavaluzzi, Christina

In an attempt to unearth the characteristic communication practices of mathematical seminars, the perceptions and beliefs about them held by regular attendees, and the normative ideals about communication in the mathematics community, this paper considers how communication in math is an integral part of how mathematicians do their work. Responding…

Understanding the Complexities of Student Motivations in Mathematics Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walter, Janet G.; Hart, Janelle

2009-01-01

Student motivation has long been a concern of mathematics educators. However, commonly held distinctions between intrinsic and extrinsic motivations may be insufficient to inform our understandings of student motivations in learning mathematics or to appropriately shape pedagogical decisions. Here, motivation is defined, in general, as an…

PREFACE: 4th International Workshop on Statistical Physics and Mathematics for Complex Systems (SPMCS)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Alexandre; Abe, Sumiyoshi; Li, Wei

2015-04-01

This volume contains 24 contributed papers presented at the 4th International Workshop on Statistical Physics and Mathematics for Complex Systems (SPMCS) held during October 12-16, 2014 in Yichang, China. Each paper was peer-reviewed by at least one referee chosen from a distinguished international panel. The previous three workshops of this series were organized in 2008, 2010, and 2012, in Le Mans, France, Wuhan, China, and Kazan, Russia, respectively. The SPMCS international workshop series is destined mainly to communicate and exchange research results and information on the fundamental challenges and questions in the vanguard of statistical physics, thermodynamics and mathematics for complex systems. More specifically, the topics of interest touch, but are not limited to, the following: • Fundamental aspects in the application of statistical physics and thermodynamics to complex systems and their modeling • Finite size and non-extensive system • Fluctuation theorems and equalities, quantum thermodynamics • Variational principle for random dynamics • Fractal geometry, fractional mathematics More than 50 participants from 7 countries participated in SPMCS-2014. 35 oral contributions were presented at the workshop. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the members of the Scientific Program Committee, many of whom acted as reviewers of the papers and responded promptly. We would also like to thank the organizing committee, the session chairs, the technicians and the students for the smooth running of the whole workshop. Thanks also go to China Three Gorges University who provided generous support for the conference venue, as well as exquisite refreshments for the tea breaks. The workshop was also partially supported by Central China Normal University and the Programme of Introducing Talents of Discipline to Universities under grant NO. B08033. Special thanks are due to Ms Juy Zhu who has done excellent editing work with great effort.

Constellation-X Observatory

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2006-01-01

Women in Science Conferences are designed to allow young women in grades 7 through 12 to learn first-hand about careers in science, mathematics, and technology from accomplished professional women. Results of an international science and mathematics study conducted in 2000 indicated that "children in the United States were among the leaders in the 4th grade assessment, but by high school graduation, they were almost last." Part of the problem is that many girls and young women in junior and senior high school lose interest in science and technological careers. The goal of the WIS-Conferences held at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, and at Central Wyoming College in Riverton, are to directly address this problem. The conferences will be a cooperative effort supported by local agencies, schools, and businesses, in addition to several state agencies. By presenting positive role models in the science, mathematics, and technological fields, we hope to encourage all students (especially young women and minorities) to pursue higher education and careers in mathematics and science. The workshop topics include: 1) Engineering; 2) Robotics; 3) Physics/Astronomy; 4) Geology; 5) Paleontology; 6) Remote Sensing (GPS/GIS); 7) Molecular Biology; 8) Veterinary Medicine; 9) Optometry; 10) Data Encryption; and 11) Wildlife Biology.

Students' Conceptions of Mathematics Bridging Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gordon, Sue; Nicholas, Jackie

2013-01-01

In this study we investigate the conceptions of mathematics bridging courses held by students enrolled in these courses at a major Australian university. We report on the participants' responses to email-interview questions about the mathematics bridging courses to describe a two-dimensional outcome space of variations in awareness about the…

Mathematical Problem Solving. Issues in Research.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lester, Frank K., Jr., Ed.; Garofalo, Joe, Ed.

This set of papers was originally developed for a conference on Issues and Directions in Mathematics Problem Solving Research held at Indiana University in May 1981. The purpose is to contribute to the clear formulation of the key issues in mathematical problem-solving research by presenting the ideas of actively involved researchers. An…

Prof. Hanna Neumann's Inaugural Presidential Address, 1966

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Neumann, Hanna

2017-01-01

Prof. Hanna Neumann gave the Presidential Address at Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers inaugural conference in 1966. The conference was held at Monash University and had the theme of "mathematical unity". In this address, Prof. Neumann described some features of the teaching of mathematics in schools. While she did not know…

Post-Primary Students' Images of Mathematics: Findings from a Survey of Irish Ordinary Level Mathematics Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lane, Ciara; Stynes, Martin; O'Donoghue, John

2016-01-01

A questionnaire survey was carried out as part of a PhD research study to investigate the image of mathematics held by post-primary students in Ireland. The study focused on students in fifth year of post-primary education studying ordinary level mathematics for the Irish Leaving Certificate examination--the final examination for students in…

Proceedings of the China-Japan-U.S. Seminar on Mathematical Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhang, Dianzhou, Ed.; And Others

This document contains the proceedings of the China-Japan-U.S. Seminar on Mathematical Education that was held in 1993 in China. The focus of the Seminar was problem solving in mathematics education. The main purposes of the seminar were: to examine the present states of problem solving in school mathematics in China, Japan, and the U.S.; to…

PREFACE: X Mexican School on Gravitation and Mathematical Physics: ''Reaching a Century: Classical and Modified General Relativity's Attempts to explain de evolution of the Universe''

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bárcenas, R. B.; Hernández, H. H. H.; Sabido, M.

2015-11-01

The collection of papers in this volume was presented during the X Mexican School on Gravitation and Mathematical Physics, which was held in Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, México, December 1-5, 2014. The Mexican School on Gravitation and Mathematical Physics is a series of conferences sponsored by the Mexican Physical Society that started in 1994 with the purposes of discussing and exchanging current ideas in gravitational physics. Each Mexican School has been devoted to a particular subject, and these have included supergravity, branes, black holes, the early Universe, observational cosmology, quantum gravity and numerical relativity. In this ocasion the theme of the school was Reaching a Century: Classical and Modified General Relativity's Attempts to explain the evolution of the Universe, which focused on the discussion of classical and modified aspects of general relativity. Following our previous Schools, world leaders in the field were invited to give courses and plenary lectures. More specialized talks were also presented in parallel sessions, and some of them have been included in these proceedings. The contributions in this volume have been reviewed and represent some of the courses, plenary talks and contributed talks presented during our X School. We are indebted to the contributors of these proceedings as well as to the rest of the participants in our Mexican School all for making of it a complete success. As for financial support we should mention the Mexican National Science and Technology Council (CONACyT), the Royal Society of London (UK), the Mexican Physical Society (SMF), as well as several Institutions including: Centro de Investigación y Estudios Avanzados (CINVESTAV), Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana Iztapalapa (UAM-I), Universidad de Guanajuato (UG), and Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM).

Developing Students' Reflections on the Function and Status of Mathematical Modeling in Different Scientific Practices: History as a Provider of Cases

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kjeldsen, Tinne Hoff; Blomhøj, Morten

2013-01-01

Mathematical models and mathematical modeling play different roles in the different areas and problems in which they are used. The function and status of mathematical modeling and models in the different areas depend on the scientific practice as well as the underlying philosophical and theoretical position held by the modeler(s) and the…

Mathematics Pentathlon. A Manual of Directions and Official Tournament Rules. Division III. Grades 4-5.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

del Regato, John C.; And Others

The Mathematics Pentathlon is a tournament of mathematics games held each spring since 1979 to promote the development of mathematical concepts and skills while fostering interaction among the educational community. There are five games in each of four divisions, for grades K-1, 2-3, 4-5, and 6-7. The focus is on active problem solving and…

Programmable Calculators: Implications for the Mathematics Curriculum.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Spikell, Mark A., Ed.

This document is a collection of reports presented at a programable calculator symposium held in Seattle, Washington, in April, 1980, as part of the annual meeting of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). The session was designed to review whether the programable calculator has a place in the school mathematics program, in light…

Student Self-Assessment of Mathematical Skills: A Pilot Study of Accounting Student

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Warwick, Jon; Howard, Anna

2015-01-01

When new students arrive at university to commence their undergraduate training they bring with them a host of prior experiences, expectations and beliefs. For students whose course of study includes mathematics these experiences, expectations and beliefs can be very strongly held and somewhat negative towards mathematics. In such cases they can…

Final grant report to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE): Olga Taussky Todd Celebration of Careers in Mathematics for Women.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Case, Bettye Anne

2002-06-03

This grant was proposed to be supplemental funding for a conference which would be documented by publication of conference information in the AWM Newsletter, and then inclusion of the Proceedings and other information generated in a book. The conference was held and documented in the AWM Newsletter (Vol. 29, No. 6; Vol. 30, No. 1 (attached)). Work is in progress on the extensive and complicated related publication which involves 50 authors beyond those from the conference. The Celebration was held at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute in Berkeley, Calif. It was attended by over 100 women and men mathematicians. Plenarymore » talks, panels, and poster sessions were held.« less

8th International Symposium on Quantum Theory and Symmetries (QTS8)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bijker, Roelof; Krötzsch, Guillermo; Rosas-Ortiz, Óscar; Wolf, Kurt Bernardo

2014-05-01

The Quantum Theory and Symmetries (QTS) international symposia are periodic biannual meetings of the mathematical physics community with special interest in the methods of group theory in their many incarnations, particularly in the symmetries that arise in quantum systems. The QTSs alternate with the International Colloquia on Group Theoretical Methods in Physics since 1999, when Professor Heinz-Dietrich Doebner organized the first one in Goslar, Germany. Subsequent symposia were held in Krakóow, Poland (2001), Cincinnati, USA (2003), Varna, Bulgaria (2005), Valladolid, Spain (2007), Lexington, USA (2009), and Praha, Czech Republic (2011); the eighth QTS was awarded to Mexico (2013), and the next one (2015) will take place in Yerevan, Armenia. Conference photograph Further details, including committees and members, are available in the PDF

Views about Physics Held by Physics Teachers with Differing Approaches to Teaching Physics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mulhall, Pamela; Gunstone, Richard

2008-01-01

Physics teachers' approaches to teaching physics are generally considered to be linked to their views about physics. In this qualitative study, the views about physics held by a group of physics teachers whose teaching practice was traditional were explored and compared with the views held by physics teachers who used conceptual change approaches.…

The Training of Elementary School Teachers in Mathematics in the Countries Represented in the International Commission on the Teaching of Mathematics. Bulletin, 1915, No. 39. Whole Number 666

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kandel, I. L.

1915-01-01

The accompanying report deals with the mathematical training of prospective teachers in elementary schools as described in the reports submitted by the International Commission of the Teaching of Mathematics to the Fifth International Congress of Mathematicians, held at Cambridge, England, in August, 1912. A comparative study of the facts…

A FIRST STEP TOWARDS THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CAMBRIDGE MATHEMATICS CURRICULUM IN A K-12 UNGRADED SCHOOL.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

FOSTER, GARRETT R.

A SERIES OF THREE CONFERENCES WAS HELD TO EXPLORE THE FEASIBILITY OF IMPLEMENTING A LONG-RANGE CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT PROJECT FOR AN UNGRADED, K-12 SCHOOL, BASED ON RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE CAMBRIDGE CONFERENCE ON SCHOOL MATHEMATICS. OVER 50 MATHEMATICIANS, MATHEMATICS EDUCATORS, AND PERSONS INVOLVED IN THEORETICAL AND APPLIED PSYCHOLOGICAL…

Science and Mathematics in the Schools: Report of a Convocation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Academy of Sciences - National Research Council, Washington, DC. Assembly of Engineering.

In May 1982 the National Academies of Sciences and Engineering held a national convocation to consider the state of precollege education in mathematics and science in the United States. More than 40 speakers presented their views on how to reverse the current decline in science and mathematics education. The President, members of Congress, and…

The Development of Reasoning Skills during Compulsory 16 to 18 Mathematics Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Attridge, Nina; Doritou, Maria; Inglis, Matthew

2015-01-01

The belief that studying mathematics improves reasoning skills, known as the Theory of Formal Discipline (TFD), has been held since the time of Plato. Research evidence supports this idea, at least in the context of students who had chosen to study post-compulsory mathematics. Here we examined the development of reasoning skills in 16- to…

A User's Guide to Japanese Lesson Study: Ideas for Improving Mathematics Teaching.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Curcio, Frances R.

This guide and accompanying videotape are a product of the seminar "Analyzing the Teaching of Mathematics in Japan and the United States" held in Tokyo, Japan, following the 9th International Congress of Mathematical Education in August, 2000. The purpose is to introduce the concept of Japanese lesson study to the American mathematics…

PREFACE: VII Mexican School on Gravitation and Mathematical Physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alcubierre Moya, Miguel; García Compeán, Héctor Hugo; Ureña López, Luis Arturo

2007-07-01

The present collection of papers was presented during the VII Mexican School on Gravitation and Mathematical Physics, which was held in Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, México, from 26 November to 2 December 2006. The Mexican School on Gravitation and Mathematical Physics, sponsored by the Mexican Physical Society, started in 1994 with the purpose of discussing and exchanging current ideas in gravitational physics. Each school has been devoted to a particular subject, and on previous occasions these subjects have covered topics such as supergravity, branes, black holes, the early Universe, observational cosmology, and quantum gravity. At the dawn of the XXI Century, General Relativity has finally become a standard tool in our understanding of numerous astrophysical phenomena. At the same time, the new generation of large interferometric gravitational wave detectors that are just beginning operation holds the promise of finally allowing the detection of gravitational waves and opening a new window on the Universe. However, because of the complexity of the Einstein field equations, the modelling of realistic astrophysical systems and gravitational wave sources can only be done using numerical simulations. Because of this, we have dedicated our VII School to the topic of relativistic astrophysics and numerical relativity. As in all our previous Schools, international leaders in the field were invited to give courses and plenary lectures. The school was complemented with more specialized talks presented in parallel sessions, some of which are included in these proceedings. All the contributions in this volume have been refereed, and they represent a sample of the courses, invited talks and contributed talks presented during our VII School. Our deep gratitude goes to all those who contributed to these proceedings, and to making our VII Mexican School a great success. Miguel Alcubierre Moya, Héctor Hugo García Compeán and Luis Arturo Ureña López Editors

Shaping the Future of Mathematics Education. Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia (33rd, Freemantle, Western Australia, Australia, July 3-7, 2010)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sparrow, Len, Ed.; Kissane, Barry, Ed.; Hurst, Chris, Ed.

2010-01-01

These collected papers are a record of the proceedings of the 33rd Annual Conference of the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia entitled, "Shaping the Future of Mathematics Education." The conference is held in Fremantle, as was the previous conference a decade earlier. Keynote speakers are discussing issues that are emerging more…

Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (Snowbird, Utah, October 18-21, 2001). Volume 1 [and] Volume 2.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Speiser, Robert, Ed.; Maher, Carolyn A., Ed.; Walter, Charles N., Ed.

This book contains volume 1 of the proceedings of the 23rd annual meeting of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (PME) held October, 2001 in Snowbird, Utah. Papers include: (1) "Opening the Dimensions of Mathematical Capability: The Development of Knowledge, Practice and Identity in Mathematics Classrooms"…

PREFACE: 17th Russian Youth Conference on Physics and Astronomy (PhysicA.SPb/2014)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Averkiev, Nikita S.; Poniaev, Sergey A.; Sokolovskii, Grigorii S.

2015-12-01

The seventeenth Russian Youth Conference on Physics and Astronomy (PhysicA.SPb) was held from 28-30 October 2014 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The Conference continues the tradition of Saint Petersburg Seminars on Physics and Astronomy originating from the mid-1990s. Since then PhysicA.SPb maintains both the scientific and educational quality of contributions delivered to the young audience. This is the main feature of the Conference that makes it possible to combine the whole spectrum of modern Physics and Astronomy within one event. PhysicA.SPb/2014 has brought together more than 200 students, young scientists and their professor colleagues from many universities and research institutes across the whole of Russia as well as from Belarus, Ukraine, Finland, the Netherlands, France and Germany. Oral and poster presentations were combined into the well-defined sections of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Optics and spectroscopy, Physics of ferroics, Nanostructured and thin-film materials, Mathematical physics and numerical methods, Biophysics, Plasma physics, hydro- and aero-dynamics, and Physics of quantum structures. This volume of Journal of Physics: Conference Series presents the extended contributions from participants of PhysicA.SPb/2014 that were peer-reviewed by expert referees through processes administered by the Presiders of the Organising and Programme Committees to the best professional and scientific standards.

Mathematics at A-Level. A Discussion Paper on the Applied Content. No. 93.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mathematical Association, Leicester (England).

In September 1979, the Mathematical Association in England held a weekend seminar on the scope of Applied Mathematics at A-level, and a subcommittee was established to consider the topic at more length. This paper is the first product of the subcommittee's deliberations. Sections 1 and 2 describe the background to current A-level courses: (1) who…

Key Stage 3 Mathematics Teachers: The Current Situation, Initiatives and Visions. Proceedings of a National Day Conference.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnston-Wilder, Sue

This book contains edited versions of papers presented at a conference held at The Open University. The papers provide significant evidence of the depth of the problem of supply and retention of teachers of mathematics, and discusses the need for a structural review of the recruitment, selection, and training of teachers of mathematics. The…

Mathematics Education. Selected Papers from the Conference on Stochastic Processes and Their Applications. (15th, Nagoya, Japan, July 2-5, 1985).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hida, Takeyuki; Shimizu, Akinobu

This volume contains the papers and comments from the Workshop on Mathematics Education, a special session of the 15th Conference on Stochastic Processes and Their Applications, held in Nagoya, Japan, July 2-5, 1985. Topics covered include: (1) probability; (2) statistics; (3) deviation; (4) Japanese mathematics curriculum; (5) statistical…

Physics and Mathematics as Interwoven Disciplines in Science Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Galili, Igal

2018-03-01

The relationship between physics and mathematics is reviewed upgrading the common in physics classes' perspective of mathematics as a toolkit for physics. The nature of the physics-mathematics relationship is considered along a certain historical path. The triadic hierarchical structure of discipline-culture helps to identify different ways in which mathematics is used in physics and to appreciate its contribution, to recognize the difference between mathematics and physics as disciplines in approaches, values, methods, and forms. We mentioned certain forms of mathematical knowledge important for physics but often missing in school curricula. The geometrical mode of codification of mathematical knowledge is compared with the analytical one in context of teaching school physics and mathematics; their complementarity is exemplified. Teaching may adopt the examples facilitating the claims of the study to reach science literacy and meaningful learning.

A Phenomenological Study of Mathematics Meaning: A Possible Factor Affecting the Mathematics Achievement of African-American Male High School Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thompson, Latasha

2010-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the mathematics meanings that are held by higher- and lower-performing African-American male high school students. Meaning in this context was defined as a set of dispositions that included, but were not limited to, values, beliefs, attitudes, feelings, and interests. Using worldview theory as the…

The Impediments Encountered While Learning Mathematics by Eight Grade Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Erbay, Hatice Nur; Yavuz, Gunes

2016-01-01

Mathematics is seen by many people as the best way to get a good life and a good career. It is also thought as an assistant to understand life and the world and to produce ideas about them. Therefore, new reform studies are being held to construct a new system that assists students to learn mathematics in a comprehensive way (Dursun & Dede,…

Proceedings of the Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (PME) (15th, Assisi, Italy, June 29-July 4, 1991), Volume 1.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Furinghetti, Fulvia, Ed.

This document, the first of three volumes, reports on the 15th annual conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (PME) held in Italy 1991. Plenary addresses and speakers are: "Social Interaction and Mathematical Knowledge" (B. M. Bartolini); "Meaning: Image Schemata and Protocols" (W.…

ONR Conference on CAI Languages Held at Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2-3 March 1966.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Entelek, Inc., Newburyport, MA.

An invitational meeting was held to consider computer-assisted instruction. Topics discussed included the BBM (Bolt, Beranek, Newman, Inc.) Mathematics program and programing languages, such as, Coursewriter, AUTHOR (Automatically Translating Heuristically Organized Routines), and PLATO/CATO (Programed Logic for Automatic Teaching Operations/PLATO…

Modelling Mathematical Reasoning in Physics Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Uhden, Olaf; Karam, Ricardo; Pietrocola, Maurício; Pospiech, Gesche

2012-04-01

Many findings from research as well as reports from teachers describe students' problem solving strategies as manipulation of formulas by rote. The resulting dissatisfaction with quantitative physical textbook problems seems to influence the attitude towards the role of mathematics in physics education in general. Mathematics is often seen as a tool for calculation which hinders a conceptual understanding of physical principles. However, the role of mathematics cannot be reduced to this technical aspect. Hence, instead of putting mathematics away we delve into the nature of physical science to reveal the strong conceptual relationship between mathematics and physics. Moreover, we suggest that, for both prospective teaching and further research, a focus on deeply exploring such interdependency can significantly improve the understanding of physics. To provide a suitable basis, we develop a new model which can be used for analysing different levels of mathematical reasoning within physics. It is also a guideline for shifting the attention from technical to structural mathematical skills while teaching physics. We demonstrate its applicability for analysing physical-mathematical reasoning processes with an example.

PREFACE: Preface

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moffatt, Keith; Kephart, Thomas

2014-10-01

This online volume contains a selection of papers arising from two workshops organised within the six-month programme Topological Dynamics in the Physical and Biological Sciences held at the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Cambridge, from July to December 2012. The first of these was a 'satellite workshop' held at the International Centre for Mathematical Sciences (ICMS), Edinburgh, 15-19 October 2012, under the title Tangled Magnetic Fields in Astro- and Plasma Physics, and with Scientific Organising Committee: Konrad Bajer (Warsaw), Mitchell Berger (Exeter), Steve Cowley (Culham Centre for Fusion Energy), Andrew Gilbert (Exeter), Gunnar Hornig (Dundee), and Clare Parnell (St Andrews). The second was the workshop Quantised Flux in Tightly Knotted and Linked Systems held at the Newton Institute, 3- 7 December 2012, with Scientific Organising Committee: Natalia Berloff (DAMTP, Cambridge), Anne-Christine Davis (DAMTP, Cambridge), Jason Cantarella (University of Georgia), Thomas Kephart (Vanderbilt University), Paul Sutcliffe (Durham University), and Tanmay Vachaspati (Arizona State University). Videos of the lectures given at this second workshop can be viewed at http://www.newton.ac.uk/webseminars. The papers published here follow a natural progression through the following topics: helicity and related invariants of magnetic fields in ideal MHD; relaxation under topological constraints; lower bounds on magnetic energy; current and vortex filaments; applications in the solar corona, tokamak plasmas, and cyclone dynamics; higher-order invariants; topology of curves and surfaces, and energy measures; tight knots; applications to Bose-Einstein condensates, QCD, and cosmic superstring theory. Some of the papers span more than one of these areas. We owe a great debt of gratitude to Konrad Bajer, who was one of the guiding spirits behind the whole Newton Institute program, and who took particular responsibility for the Satellite Workshop at ICMS, Edinburgh. Konrad fell seriously ill in June 2014, having completed much of the editorial work for these Proceedings. Following an operation at the end of July, he remained optimistic of a complete recovery, but sadly this was not to be, and he died from a particularly malignant form of cancer on 29th August. The funeral was held in Warsaw on 5th September. Konrad's warmth of personality and generosity of spirit will be remembered by all who participated in these workshops and in the wider Newton Institute program. The Isaac Newton Institute provided an ideal environment for informal interactions before and after both these workshops. We wish to express our thanks to the Director and staff of the Institute for their tireless efforts to ensure the success of the whole program; also to the staff of ICMS, Edinburgh, for their expert hosting of the satellite workshop.

Proceedings of the 2004 Annual Meeting of the Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group = Actes de la Rencontre Annuelle 2004 du Groupe Canadien d'Etude en Didactique des Mathematiques (28th, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, May 28-Jun 1, 2004)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Simmt, Elaine, Ed.; Davis, Brent, Ed.

2005-01-01

This submission contains the Proceedings of the 2004 Annual Meeting of the Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group (CMESG), held at Universite Laval in Quebec City, Quebec. The CMESG is a group of mathematicians and mathematics educators who meet annually to discuss mathematics education issues at all levels of learning. The aims of the Study…

Proceedings of the 2013 Annual Meeting of the Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group = Actes De La Rencontre Annuelle 2013 Du Groupe Canadien D'étude en Didactique Des Mathématiques (37th, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, May 24-28, 2013)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oesterle, Susan, Ed.; Allan, Darien, Ed.

2014-01-01

This submission contains the Proceedings of the 2013 Annual Meeting of the Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group (CMESG), held at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario. The CMESG is a group of mathematicians and mathematics educators who meet annually to discuss mathematics education issues at all levels of learning. The aims of the…

Proceedings of the 2007 Annual Meeting of the Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group = Actes de la Rencontre Annuelle 2007 du Groupe Canadien d'Etude en Didactique des Mathematiques (31st, Fredricton, New Brunswick, Canada, Jun 8-12, 2007)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liljedahl, Peter, Ed.

2008-01-01

This submission contains the Proceedings of the 2007 Annual Meeting of the Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group (CMESG), held at the University of New Brunswick in Fredricton, New Brunswick. The CMESG is a group of mathematicians and mathematics educators who meet annually to discuss mathematics education issues at all levels of learning.…

Proceedings of the 2009 Annual Meeting of the Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group = Actes de la Rencontre Annuelle 2009 du Groupe Canadien d'Etude en Didactique des Mathematiques (33rd, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, June 5-June 9, 2009)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liljedahl, Peter, Ed.; Oesterle, Susan, Ed.; Abu-Bakare, Veda, Ed.

2010-01-01

This submission contains the Proceedings of the 2009 Annual Meeting of the Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group (CMESG), held at York University in Toronto, Ontario. The CMESG is a group of mathematicians and mathematics educators who meet annually to discuss mathematics education issues at all levels of learning. The aims of the Study Group…

Proceedings of the 2010 Annual Meeting of the Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group = Actes de la Rencontre Annuelle 2010 du Groupe Canadien d'Etude en Didactique des Mathematiques (34th, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, May 21-25, 2010)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liljedahl, Peter, Ed.; Oesterle, Susan, Ed.; Allan, Darien, Ed.

2011-01-01

This submission contains the Proceedings of the 2010 Annual Meeting of the Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group (CMESG), held at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia. The CMESG is a group of mathematicians and mathematics educators who meet annually to discuss mathematics education issues at all levels of learning. The aims…

Proceedings of the 2002 Annual Meeting of the Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group = Actes de la Rencontre Annuelle 2002 du Groupe Canadien d'Etude en Didactique des Mathematiques (26th, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, May 24-28, 2002)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Simmt, Elaine, Ed.; Davis, Brent, Ed.

2003-01-01

This submission contains the Proceedings of the 2002 Annual Meeting of the Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group (CMESG), held at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. The CMESG is a group of mathematicians and mathematics educators who meet annually to discuss mathematics education issues at all levels of learning. The aims of the Study…

Proceedings of the 2005 Annual Meeting of the Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group = Actes de la Rencontre Annuelle 2005 du Groupe Canadien d'Etude en Didactique des Mathematiques (29th, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, May 27-31, 2005)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liljedahl, Peter, Ed.

2006-01-01

This submission contains the Proceedings of the 2005 Annual Meeting of the Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group (CMESG), held at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, Ontario. The CMESG is a group of mathematicians and mathematics educators who meet annually to discuss mathematics education issues at all levels of learning. The aims of the…

Proceedings of the 2008 Annual Meeting of the Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group = Actes de la Rencontre Annuelle 2008 du Groupe Canadien d'Etude en Didactique des Mathematiques (32nd, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada, May 23-27, 2008)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liljedahl, Peter, Ed.; Oesterle, Susan, Ed.; Berneche, Christian, Ed.

2009-01-01

This submission contains the Proceedings of the 2008 Annual Meeting of the Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group (CMESG), held at the Universite de Sherbrooke in Sherbrooke, Quebec. The CMESG is a group of mathematicians and mathematics educators who meet annually to discuss mathematics education issues at all levels of learning. The aims of…

Proceedings of the 2016 Annual Meeting of the Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group = Actes De La Rencontre Annuelle 2016 Du Groupe Canadien D'étude en Didactique Des Mathématiques (40th, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, June 3-7, 2016)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oesterle, Susan, Ed.; Allan, Darien, Ed.; Holm, Jennifer, Ed.

2017-01-01

This submission contains the Proceedings of the 2016 Annual Meeting of the Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group (CMESG), held at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. The CMESG is a group of mathematicians and mathematics educators who meet annually to discuss mathematics education issues at all levels of learning. The aims of the Study…

Proceedings of the 2015 Annual Meeting of the Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group = Actes De La Rencontre Annuelle 2015 Du Groupe Canadien D'etude en Didactique Des Mathematiques (39th, Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada, June 5-9, 2015)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oesterle, Susan, Ed.; Allan, Darien, Ed.

2015-01-01

This submission contains the Proceedings of the 2015 Annual Meeting of the Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group (CMESG), held at the Université de Moncton in Moncton, New Brunswick. The CMESG is a group of mathematicians and mathematics educators who meet annually to discuss mathematics education issues at all levels of learning. The aims of…

Proceedings of the 2003 Annual Meeting of the Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group = Actes de la Rencontre Annuelle 2003 du Groupe Canadien d'Etude en Didactique des Mathematiques (27th, Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada, May 30-June 3, 2003)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Simmt, Elaine, Ed.; Davis, Brent, Ed.

2004-01-01

This submission contains the Proceedings of the 2003 Annual Meeting of the Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group (CMESG), held at Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. The CMESG is a group of mathematicians and mathematics educators who meet annually to discuss mathematics education issues at all levels of learning. The aims of the…

Proceedings of the 2006 Annual Meeting of the Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group = Actes de la Rencontre Annuelle 2006 du Groupe Canadien d'Etude en Didactique des Mathematiques (30th, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Jun 3-7, 2006)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liljedahl, Peter, Ed.

2007-01-01

This submission contains the Proceedings of the 2006 Annual Meeting of the Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group (CMESG), held at the University of Calgary in Calgary, Alberta. The CMESG is a group of mathematicians and mathematics educators who meet annually to discuss mathematics education issues at all levels of learning. The aims of the…

Mathematics Education in the South Pacific. Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia Incorporated (25th, Auckland, New Zealand, July 7-10, 2002). Volume I [and] Volume II.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barton, Bill, Ed.; Irwin, Kathryn C., Ed.; Pfannkuch, Maxine, Ed.; Thomas, Michael O. J., Ed.

This document contains the proceedings of the 25th annual conference of the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australia (MERGA) held at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. The focus of this meeting is mathematics education in the South Pacific. Presentations are centered around the topic of numeracy in primary or elementary school.…

Views on Environmental Concerns of University Graduate Students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lubrica, Maria Azucena B.; Lubrica, Joel V.

2010-07-01

The study investigated the views of graduate students on various environmental concerns. There were thirty (30) respondents, enrolled at Benguet State University of the Republic of the Philippines during the period March-May 2009, distributed as follows: nine for Master of Arts (MA) in Physics, two for MA General Science, fifteen for MA Mathematics, and four for MA Applied Statistics. There were ten males and twenty females. Likert-type responses for sixty-nine items were elicited through a questionnaire regarding levels of a) awareness, b) perceived knowledge, c) agreement, d) commitment, and e) expectations. Data analysis involved tests on means, based on the assumption that the responses were interval data. Results indicated that respondents lacked awareness about important national documents (such as Philippine Agenda 21 and Philippine Environment Code), perceived that they had a great knowledge of environmental topics (e.g., climate change and global warming), agreed to various environmental issues (involving balance of nature and sustainable development, among others), held a strong commitment to do action (especially in terms of integrating environmental education with their classes, if they were teachers), and held great expectations of the University's roles as an Organic Agriculture University (such as integrating environmental concerns in the curriculum, or introducing adaptation strategies for dealing with environmental problems, among others). In general, the respondents held similar perceptions, whether grouped according to sex or degree program. The major implication is that the MA Physics program, like the other three, can be a fertile ground for the inclusion of environmental concerns, towards the goal of producing solutions for both local and global challenges.

Proceedings of the 27th International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education Conference Held Jointly with the 25th PME-NA Conference (Honolulu, Hawaii, July 13-18, 2003). Volume 4

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pateman, Neil A., Ed; Dougherty, Barbara J., Ed.; Zilliox, Joseph T., Ed.

2003-01-01

This volume of the 27th International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education Conference includes the following research reports: (1) Improving Decimal Number Conception by Transfer from Fractions to Decimals (Irita Peled and Juhaina Awawdy Shahbari); (2) The Development of Student Teachers' Efficacy Beliefs in Mathematics during…

Theoretical Explanations in Mathematical Physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rivadulla, Andrés

Many physicists wonder at the usefulness of mathematics in physics. According Madrid to Einstein mathematics is admirably appropriate to the objects of reality. Wigner asserts that mathematics plays an unreasonable important role in physics. James Jeans affirms that God is a mathematician, and that the first aim of physics is to discover the laws of nature, which are written in mathematical language. Dirac suggests that God may have used very advanced mathematics in constructing the universe. And Barrow adheres himself to Wigner's claim about the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics for the workings of the physical world.

The Amazing Mathematical Race

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Noblitt, Bethany A.; Buckley, Brooke E.

2011-01-01

Teams, pit stops, clues, time limits, fast forwards, challenges, and prizes are all components of the CBS hit show "The Amazing Race." They were also elements of the Amazing Mathematical Race sponsored by the Math and Stats Club at Northern Kentucky University in April 2009. Held in recognition of Math Awareness Month, which is advocated…

The Geography Olympiad in Mexico

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Garcia-Garcia, Fernando

2007-01-01

The formal organisation of science Olympiads in Mexico dates from 1987, when a national contest on Mathematics was held in order to identify a team to represent the country in the International Mathematics Olympiad. In 1991, the Mexican Academy of Sciences ("Academia Mexicana de Ciencias"-AMC) created the National Science Olympiads…

Precalculus Teachers' Perspectives on Using Graphing Calculators: An Example from One Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Karadeniz, Ilyas; Thompson, Denisse R.

2018-01-01

Graphing calculators are hand-held technological tools currently used in mathematics classrooms. Teachers' perspectives on using graphing calculators are important in terms of exploring what teachers think about using such technology in advanced mathematics courses, particularly precalculus courses. A descriptive intrinsic case study was conducted…

Ethical Concerns: Negotiating Truth and Trust

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McGarvey, Lynn M.; Sterenberg, Gladys

2009-01-01

Few studies in mathematics education explicitly address ethical issues arising from student interactions. The ethical concerns held by students are expressed in their words, actions, and interactions. The purpose of this article is to explore the ethical nature of copying as it arises in a mathematics classroom. We investigate the basis for…

The Lessons of Williamstown.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maurer, Stephen B.

In July 1982, a conference was held at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, to discuss the need for more discrete mathematics in the first two years of the core undergraduate mathematics curriculum. This paper reviews the recommendations that were made during the conference, the progress that has been made in the implementation of…

Achievement in Physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

1999-03-01

Naomi Moran, a student at the Arnewood School, New Milton, Hampshire was the first recipient of the `Achievement in Physics' prize awarded by the South Central Branch of The Institute of Physics. Naomi received an award certificate and cheque for £100 from Dr Ruth Fenn, Chairman of the Branch, at the annual Christmas lecture held at the University of Surrey in December. She is pictured with Dr Fenn and Steve Beith, physics teacher at the Arnewood School.  Photo Figure 1. Naomi Moran receiving her award (photograph courtesy of Peter Milford). The award is intended to celebrate personal achievement in physics at any level at age 16-17 and is not restricted to those who gain the highest academic results. Schools across the county were invited to nominate suitable candidates; Naomi's nomination by the school's deputy head of science impressed the judges because of her ability to grasp the most difficult parts of the subject quickly, in addition to the fact that she took her AS-level science in year 11 when she was only 16. She is currently studying A-level physics, chemistry and mathematics and hopes to continue her studies at university later this year.

Hand-held Calculators: Past, Present, and Future

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bell, Max; And Others

1977-01-01

Recommendations of several publications with regard to the use of hand-held calculators in the mathematics curriculum are presented. Relevant portions of the NACOME and Euclid Conference reports are cited as well as a report to NSF and recommendations from an NIE/NSF conference. Recommendations support expanded use of, and research concerning,…

Misconceptions of Selected Science Concepts Held by Elementary School Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Doran, Rodney L.

1972-01-01

Describes a test, administered as a motion picture, designed to measure misconceptions about the particle model of matter held by students in grades two through six. Reliability values for tests of eight misconceptions are given and the correlations of misconception scores with measures of IQ, reading, mathematics, and science ability reported.…

On Growth and Form in context - an interview with Matthew Jarron.

PubMed

Maartens, Aidan

2017-12-01

D'Arcy Thompson was born in 1860, trained in Edinburgh and Cambridge, and held positions in Dundee and St Andrews, where he worked until his death in 1948. On Growth and Form , his classic work on the mathematical patterns and physical rules underlying biological forms, was first published in 1917. To learn more about the book's context, we met Matthew Jarron, Curator of Museum Services at the University of Dundee, in the University's D'Arcy Thompson Zoology Museum. Surrounded by specimens, many of which were collected by Thompson himself, we discussed the legacy of On Growth and Form and the life of the man behind it. © 2017. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

Workshop on wave-ice interaction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wadhams, Peter; Squire, Vernon; Rottier, Philip; Liu, Antony; Dugan, John; Czipott, Peter; Shen, Hayley

The subject of wave-ice interaction has been advanced in recent years by small groups of researchers working on a similar range of topics in widely separated geographic locations. Their recent studies inspired a workshop on wave-ice interaction held at the Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge, England, December 16-18, 1991, where theories in all aspects of the physics of wave-ice interaction were compared.Conveners of the workshop hoped that plans for future observational and theoretical work dealing with outstanding issues in a collaborative way would emerge. The workshop, organized by the Commission on Sea Ice of the International Association for Physical Sciences of the Ocean (IAPSO), was co-chaired by Vernon Squire, professor of mathematics and statistics at the University of Otago, New Zealand, and Peter Wadhams, director of the Scott Polar Research Institute. Participants attended from Britain, Finland, New Zealand, Norway, and the United States.

Introduction. Cosmology meets condensed matter.

PubMed

Kibble, T W B; Pickett, G R

2008-08-28

At first sight, low-temperature condensed-matter physics and early Universe cosmology seem worlds apart. Yet, in the last few years a remarkable synergy has developed between the two. It has emerged that, in terms of their mathematical description, there are surprisingly close parallels between them. This interplay has been the subject of a very successful European Science Foundation (ESF) programme entitled COSLAB ('Cosmology in the Laboratory') that ran from 2001 to 2006, itself built on an earlier ESF network called TOPDEF ('Topological Defects: Non-equilibrium Field Theory in Particle Physics, Condensed Matter and Cosmology'). The articles presented in this issue of Philosophical Transactions A are based on talks given at the Royal Society Discussion Meeting 'Cosmology meets condensed matter', held on 28 and 29 January 2008. Many of the speakers had participated earlier in the COSLAB programme, but the strength of the field is illustrated by the presence also of quite a few new participants.

Energy evaluation of protection effectiveness of anti-vibration gloves.

PubMed

Hermann, Tomasz; Dobry, Marian Witalis

2017-09-01

This article describes an energy method of assessing protection effectiveness of anti-vibration gloves on the human dynamic structure. The study uses dynamic models of the human and the glove specified in Standard No. ISO 10068:2012. The physical models of human-tool systems were developed by combining human physical models with a power tool model. The combined human-tool models were then transformed into mathematical models from which energy models were finally derived. Comparative energy analysis was conducted in the domain of rms powers. The energy models of the human-tool systems were solved using numerical simulation implemented in the MATLAB/Simulink environment. The simulation procedure demonstrated the effectiveness of the anti-vibration glove as a method of protecting human operators of hand-held power tools against vibration. The desirable effect is achieved by lowering the flow of energy in the human-tool system when the anti-vibration glove is employed.

77 FR 17102 - Advisory Committee for Mathematical and Physical Sciences

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2012-03-23

... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION Advisory Committee for Mathematical and Physical Sciences Correction... meeting information is as follows: Name: Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences Advisory... Person: Dr. Morris L. Aizenman, Senior Science Associate, Directorate for Mathematical and Physical...

Mathematical Modeling Is Also Physics--Interdisciplinary Teaching between Mathematics and Physics in Danish Upper Secondary Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Michelsen, Claus

2015-01-01

Mathematics plays a crucial role in physics. This role is brought about predominantly through the building, employment, and assessment of mathematical models, and teachers and educators should capture this relationship in the classroom in an effort to improve students' achievement and attitude in both physics and mathematics. But although there…

77 FR 42768 - Advisory Committee for Mathematical and Physical Sciences; Notice of Meeting

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2012-07-20

... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION Advisory Committee for Mathematical and Physical Sciences; Notice of... Science Foundation announces the following meeting: Name: Directorate for Mathematical and Physical... Person: Dr. Morris L. Aizenman, Senior Science Associate, Directorate for Mathematical and Physical...

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2010-10-13

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2012-10-23

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Proceedings of the 2014 Annual Meeting of the Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group = Actes De La Rencontre Annuelle 2014 Du Groupe Canadien D'étude en Didactique Des Mathématiques (38th, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, May 30-June 3, 2014)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oesterle, Susan, Ed.; Allan, Darien, Ed.

2015-01-01

This submission contains the Proceedings of the 2014 Annual Meeting of the Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group (CMESG), held at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta. The CMESG is a group of mathematicians and mathematics educators who meet annually to discuss mathematics education issues at all levels of learning. The aims of the…

Proceedings of the 2011 Annual Meeting of the Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group = Actes De La Rencontre Annuelle 2011 Du Groupe Canadien D'étude en Didactique Des Mathématiques (35th, St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada, June 10-14, 2011)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liljedahl, Peter, Ed.; Oesterle, Susan, Ed.; Allan, Darien, Ed.

2012-01-01

This submission contains the Proceedings of the 2011 Annual Meeting of the Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group (CMESG), held at Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John's, Newfoundland. The CMESG is a group of mathematicians and mathematics educators who meet annually to discuss mathematics education issues at all levels of learning.…

Professional Pilots Meteorology Training Standards Conference Held in Colorado Springs, Colorado on 13-14 April 1989

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-07-01

precalculus level, which is already a requirement for many college majors. Often the pilot can satisfy the four hours of elective credit required for the minor...with precalculus mathematics courses. Pilots who have taken precalculus mathematics often take four hours of MTR 421, Forecasting Laboratory, to

The Place of Calculators in Mathematics Education in Developing Countries

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kissane, Barry; Kemp, Marian

2012-01-01

Technology has become a major force in developing curricula and educational practice in mathematics education internationally. While many technologies are important in affluent developed countries, the hand-held calculator continues to be the technology most likely to be available to students when and where they need it. Modern calculators have…

Held Back: The Impact of Curricular and Pedagogical Factors on Tested Achievement in High School Mathematics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Agvanian, Zara

2013-01-01

This study examined the impact of curricular factors and teaching practices on students' tested achievement in mathematics, explored the best predictors of the tested achievement, and examined differences in the tested achievement among student subgroups. The study utilized qualitative and quantitative methods and triangulated findings from…

Some Thoughts on Educating More Able Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Howson, Geoffrey

2016-01-01

For the past three years, the Program in Mathematics and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, has, in coordination with its colloquium series, held a Columbus Day Symposium. Each year, the all day event has been focused on a particular theme in mathematics education, and has brought in various speakers and leaders in the field to…

Young Pedestrians' Gendering of Mathematics: Australia and Spain

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Forgasz, Helen; Leder, Gilah; Gómez-Chacón, Inés Ma

2012-01-01

People aged 20-39 were stopped in the streets of Victoria (Australia) and Madrid (Spain) to gauge their views on the gendering of mathematics. The findings suggested that for respondents from both countries, if stereotyped beliefs are held they were more strongly associated with the traditional male stereotype, that is, that males are considered…

Characterizing Student Mathematics Teachers' Levels of Understanding in Spherical Geometry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guven, Bulent; Baki, Adnan

2010-01-01

This article presents an exploratory study aimed at the identification of students' levels of understanding in spherical geometry as van Hiele did for Euclidean geometry. To do this, we developed and implemented a spherical geometry course for student mathematics teachers. Six structured, "task-based interviews" were held with eight student…

Mathematization in introductory physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brahmia, Suzanne M.

Mathematization is central to STEM disciplines as a cornerstone of the quantitative reasoning that characterizes these fields. Introductory physics is required for most STEM majors in part so that students develop expert-like mathematization. This dissertation describes coordinated research and curriculum development for strengthening mathematization in introductory physics; it blends scholarship in physics and mathematics education in the form of three papers. The first paper explores mathematization in the context of physics, and makes an original contribution to the measurement of physics students' struggle to mathematize. Instructors naturally assume students have a conceptual mastery of algebra before embarking on a college physics course because these students are enrolled in math courses beyond algebra. This paper provides evidence that refutes the validity of this assumption and categorizes some of the barriers students commonly encounter with quantification and representing ideas symbolically. The second paper develops a model of instruction that can help students progress from their starting points to their instructor's desired endpoints. Instructors recognize that the introductory physics course introduces new ideas at an astonishing rate. More than most physicists realize, however, the way that mathematics is used in the course is foreign to a large portion of class. This paper puts forth an instructional model that can move all students toward better quantitative and physical reasoning, despite the substantial variability of those students' initial states. The third paper describes the design and testing of curricular materials that foster mathematical creativity to prepare students to better understand physics reasoning. Few students enter introductory physics with experience generating equations in response to specific challenges involving unfamiliar quantities and units, yet this generative use of mathematics is typical of the thinking involved in doing physics. It contrasts with their more common experience with mathematics as the practice of specified procedures to improve efficiency. This paper describes new curricular materials based on invention instruction provide students with opportunities to generate mathematical relationships in physics, and the paper presents preliminary evidence of the effectiveness of this method with mathematically underprepared engineering students.

A cognitive framework for analyzing and describing introductory students' use and understanding of mathematics in physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tuminaro, Jonathan

Many introductory, algebra-based physics students perform poorly on mathematical problem solving tasks in physics. There are at least two possible, distinct reasons for this poor performance: (1) students simply lack the mathematical skills needed to solve problems in physics, or (2) students do not know how to apply the mathematical skills they have to particular problem situations in physics. While many students do lack the requisite mathematical skills, a major finding from this work is that the majority of students possess the requisite mathematical skills, yet fail to use or interpret them in the context of physics. In this thesis I propose a theoretical framework to analyze and describe students' mathematical thinking in physics. In particular, I attempt to answer two questions. What are the cognitive tools involved in formal mathematical thinking in physics? And, why do students make the kinds of mistakes they do when using mathematics in physics? According to the proposed theoretical framework there are three major theoretical constructs: mathematical resources, which are the knowledge elements that are activated in mathematical thinking and problem solving; epistemic games, which are patterns of activities that use particular kinds of knowledge to create new knowledge or solve a problem; and frames, which are structures of expectations that determine how individuals interpret situations or events. The empirical basis for this study comes from videotaped sessions of college students solving homework problems. The students are enrolled in an algebra-based introductory physics course. The videotapes were transcribed and analyzed using the aforementioned theoretical framework. Two important results from this work are: (1) the construction of a theoretical framework that offers researchers a vocabulary (ontological classification of cognitive structures) and grammar (relationship between the cognitive structures) for understanding the nature and origin of mathematical use in the context physics, and (2) a detailed understanding, in terms of the proposed theoretical framework, of the errors that students make when using mathematics in the context of physics.

78 FR 42111 - Advisory Committee for Mathematical and Physical Sciences #66; Notice of Meeting; Correction

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2013-07-15

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Should I Take Further Mathematics? Physics Undergraduates' Experiences of Post-Compulsory Mathematics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bowyer, Jessica; Darlington, Ellie

2017-01-01

It is essential that physics undergraduates are appropriately prepared for the mathematical demands of their course. This study investigated physics students' perceptions of post-compulsory mathematics as preparation for their degree course. 494 physics undergraduates responded to an online questionnaire about their experiences of A-level…

Introduction: Cardiovascular physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wessel, Niels; Kurths, Jürgen; Ditto, William; Bauernschmitt, Robert

2007-03-01

The number of patients suffering from cardiovascular diseases increases unproportionally high with the increase of the human population and aging, leading to very high expenses in the public health system. Therefore, the challenge of cardiovascular physics is to develop high-sophisticated methods which are able to, on the one hand, supplement and replace expensive medical devices and, on the other hand, improve the medical diagnostics with decreasing the patient's risk. Cardiovascular physics-which interconnects medicine, physics, biology, engineering, and mathematics-is based on interdisciplinary collaboration of specialists from the above scientific fields and attempts to gain deeper insights into pathophysiology and treatment options. This paper summarizes advances in cardiovascular physics with emphasis on a workshop held in Bad Honnef, Germany, in May 2005. The meeting attracted an interdisciplinary audience and led to a number of papers covering the main research fields of cardiovascular physics, including data analysis, modeling, and medical application. The variety of problems addressed by this issue underlines the complexity of the cardiovascular system. It could be demonstrated in this Focus Issue, that data analyses and modeling methods from cardiovascular physics have the ability to lead to significant improvements in different medical fields. Consequently, this Focus Issue of Chaos is a status report that may invite all interested readers to join the community and find competent discussion and cooperation partners.

Mathematics Education in the Middle Grades: Teaching To Meet the Needs of Middle Grades Learners and To Maintain High Expectations. Proceedings of a National Convocation and Action Conferences (Washington, DC, September 25-27, 1998).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Academy of Sciences - National Research Council, Washington, DC. Center for Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Education.

In September 1998, the Math Science Education National Board held a convocation on middle grades mathematics that was co-sponsored by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), the National Middle School Association (NMSA), and the American Educational Research Association (AERA). The convocation was structured to present the teaching…

Numeracy and Beyond. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia Incorporated (24th, Sydney, Australia, June 30-July 4, 2001). Volume 1 [and] Volume 2.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bobis, Janette, Ed.; Perry, Bob, Ed.; Mitchelmore, Michael, Ed.

This document represents volumes 1 and 2 of the proceedings of the 24th annual conference of the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia (MERGA) held at the University of Sydney, June 30-July 4, 2001. In volume 1, papers include: (1) "Connecting Mathematics Education Research to Practice" (Judith Sowder); (2) "Understanding, Assessing,…

Mathematics Education beyond 2000: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia (23rd, Fremantle, Western Australia, Australia, July 5-9, 2000). Volume 1 [and] Volume 2.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bana, Jack, Ed.; Chapman, Anne, Ed.

This document contains Volumes 1 and 2 of the proceedings of the 23rd annual conference of the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia Incorporated (MERGA) held at Fremantle, Western Australia, July 5-9, 2000. Papers in Volume 1 include: (1) "Bridging Practices: Intertwining Content and Pedagogy in Teaching and Learning To Teach"…

Framing the Structural Role of Mathematics in Physics Lectures: A Case Study on Electromagnetism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Karam, Ricardo

2014-01-01

Physics education research has shown that students tend to struggle when trying to use mathematics in a meaningful way in physics (e.g., mathematizing a physical situation or making sense of equations). Concerning the possible reasons for these difficulties, little attention has been paid to the way mathematics is treated in physics instruction.…

Representing the Electromagnetic Field: How Maxwell's Mathematics Empowered Faraday's Field Theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tweney, Ryan D.

2011-07-01

James Clerk Maxwell `translated' Michael Faraday's experimentally-based field theory into the mathematical representation now known as `Maxwell's Equations.' Working with a variety of mathematical representations and physical models Maxwell extended the reach of Faraday's theory and brought it into consistency with other results in the physics of electricity and magnetism. Examination of Maxwell's procedures opens many issues about the role of mathematical representation in physics and the learning background required for its success. Specifically, Maxwell's training in `Cambridge University' mathematical physics emphasized the use of analogous equations across fields of physics and the repeated solving of extremely difficult problems in physics. Such training develops an array of overlearned mathematical representations supported by highly sophisticated cognitive mechanisms for the retrieval of relevant information from long term memory. For Maxwell, mathematics constituted a new form of representation in physics, enhancing the formal derivational and calculational role of mathematics and opening a cognitive means for the conduct of `experiments in the mind' and for sophisticated representations of theory.

Engineering physics and mathematics division

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sincovec, R. F.

1995-07-01

This report provides a record of the research activities of the Engineering Physics and Mathematics Division for the period 1 Jan. 1993 - 31 Dec. 1994. This report is the final archival record of the EPM Division. On 1 Oct. 1994, ORELA was transferred to Physics Division and on 1 Jan. 1995, the Engineering Physics and Mathematics Division and the Computer Applications Division reorganized to form the Computer Science and Mathematics Division and the Computational Physics and Engineering Division. Earlier reports in this series are identified on the previous pages, along with the progress reports describing ORNL's research in the mathematical sciences prior to 1984 when those activities moved into the Engineering Physics and Mathematics Division.

Problem solving in the borderland between mathematics and physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jensen, Jens Højgaard; Niss, Martin; Jankvist, Uffe Thomas

2017-01-01

The article addresses the problématique of where mathematization is taught in the educational system, and who teaches it. Mathematization is usually not a part of mathematics programs at the upper secondary level, but we argue that physics teaching has something to offer in this respect, if it focuses on solving so-called unformalized problems, where a major challenge is to formalize the problems in mathematics and physics terms. We analyse four concrete examples of unformalized problems for which the formalization involves different order of mathematization and applying physics to the problem, but all require mathematization. The analysis leads to the formulation of a model by which we attempt to capture the important steps of the process of solving unformalized problems by means of mathematization and physicalization.

Framing the structural role of mathematics in physics lectures: A case study on electromagnetism

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karam, Ricardo

2014-06-01

Physics education research has shown that students tend to struggle when trying to use mathematics in a meaningful way in physics (e.g., mathematizing a physical situation or making sense of equations). Concerning the possible reasons for these difficulties, little attention has been paid to the way mathematics is treated in physics instruction. Starting from an overall distinction between a technical approach, which involves an instrumental (tool-like) use of mathematics, and a structural one, focused on reasoning about the physical world mathematically, the goal of this study is to characterize the development of the latter in didactic contexts. For this purpose, a case study was conducted on the electromagnetism course given by a distinguished physics professor. The analysis of selected teaching episodes with the software Videograph led to the identification of a set of categories that describe different strategies used by the professor to emphasize the structural role of mathematics in his lectures. As a consequence of this research, an analytic tool to enable future comparative studies between didactic approaches regarding the way mathematics is treated in physics teaching is provided.

The Adoption of Variation Theory in the Classroom: Effect on Students' Algebraic Achievement and Motivation to Learn

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ting, Jing Jing; Tarmizi, Rohani Tarmizi; Bakar, Kamariah Abu; Aralas, Dalia

2017-01-01

Introduction: Analysis of lessons held in East Asia regions that perform well in Trends in International Mathematics and Science Studies such as; South Korea, Hong Kong and Japan, demonstrated teachers in mathematics classroom enacted features of the content systematically with consideration of variation within students' capabilities. Recent…

AMERICAN-SOVIET SYMPOSIUM ON USE OF MATHEMATICAL MODELS TO OPTIMIZE WATER QUALITY MANAGEMENT HELD AT KHARKOV AND ROSTOV-ON-DON, USSR ON DECEMBER 9-16, 1975

EPA Science Inventory

The American-Soviet Symposium on Use of Mathematical Models to Optimize Water Quality Management examines methodological questions related to simulation and optimization modeling of processes that determine water quality of river basins. Discussants describe the general state of ...

Differentiated Instruction: Understanding the Personal Factors and Organizational Conditions that Facilitate Differentiated Instruction in Elementary Mathematics Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abbati, Diana Guglielmo

2012-01-01

Differentiated instruction is a widely held practice used by teachers to provide diverse learners with complex learning opportunities in the area of mathematics. Research on differentiated instruction shows a multitude of factors that support high quality instruction in mixed-ability elementary classrooms. These factors include small-class size,…

Computer Algebra Systems: Permitted but Are They Used?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pierce, Robyn; Bardini, Caroline

2015-01-01

Since the 1990s, computer algebra systems (CAS) have been available in Australia as hand-held devices designed for students with the expectation that they will be used in the mathematics classroom. The data discussed in this paper was collected as part of a pilot study that investigated first year university mathematics and statistics students'…

Proceedings of the International Conference on Technology in Mathematics Education (July 5-7, 2000, Beirut, Lebanon).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

2000

This volume contains the proceedings of the International Conference on Technology in Mathematics Education (ICTME) held at the Lebanese American University in July, 2000. The conference included a panel discussion on technology and the new curriculum, hands-on workshops, and focus group discussion centered around the themes of the effects of…

Malaysian Mathematics Teachers' Beliefs about the Nature of Teaching and Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zikre, Nuraini Mohd; Eu, Leong Kwan

2016-01-01

Teachers play a vital role in nurturing and shaping learners in school. Extensive researches have been conducted showing that beliefs in the nature of teaching and learning held by the teachers will affect their actual classroom practices. In Malaysia, not many studies have been done on mathematics teacher's beliefs at the national level. The…

Emergences and Affordances as Opportunities to Develop Teachers' Mathematical Content Knowledge

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Julie, Cyril

2014-01-01

Teachers' mathematical content knowledge has been under scrutiny for some time. This development is in the wake of learners' unsatisfactory performance in national examinations and international achievement tests. A widely held belief is that one, if not the most important, of the efforts to improve and enhance the performance and…

Modeling the effects of multicontextual physics instruction on learner expectations and understanding of force and motion systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deese Becht, Sara-Maria Francis

1999-11-01

The purpose of this study is two-fold involving both practical and theoretical modeling components. The practical component, an experiential-learning phase, investigated a study population for effects that increasing levels of multicontextual physics activities have on student understanding of Newtonian systems of motion. This contextual-learning model measured learner convictions and non-response gaps and analyzed learner response trends on context, technology, challenge, growth, and success. The theoretical component, a model-building phase, designed a dynamic-knowing model for learning along a range of experiential tasks, from low to high context, monitored for indicators of learning in science and mathematics: learner academic performance and ability, learner control and academic attitude, and a learner non- response gap. This knowing model characterized a learner's process-of-knowing on a less to more expert- like learner-response continuum using performance and perspective indices associated with level of contextual- imagery referent system. Data for the contextual-learning model were collected on 180 secondary subjects: 72 middle and 108 high, with 36 physics subjects as local experts. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of three experimental groups differing only on context level of force and motion activities. Three levels of information were presented through context-based tasks: momentum constancy as inertia, momentum change as impulse, and momentum rate of change as force. The statistical analysis used a multi-level factorial design with repeated measures and discriminate analysis of response-conviction items. Subject grouping criteria included school level, ability level in science and mathematics, gender and race. Assessment criteria used pre/post performance scores, confidence level in physics concepts held, and attitude towards science, mathematics, and technology. Learner indices were computed from logit- transforms applied to learner outcomes and to study control and prediction criteria parameters. Findings suggest learner success rates vary with multicontextual experience level. When controlling for context, learner success seems to depend on technology level of assessment tool, learner attitude toward technology learning tools, learner attitude toward science and mathematics, and challenge level of force and motion problems. A learner non-response gap seems important when monitoring learner conviction. Application of the knowing model to the study population pictures learners on a journey towards success referenced to a local expert response.

Proceedings of the 2012 Annual Meeting of the Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group = Actes De La Rencontre Annuelle 2012 Du Groupe Canadien D'étude en Didactique Des Mathématiques (36th, Québec City, Québec, Canada, May 25-29, 2012)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oesterle, Susan, Ed.; Allan, Darien, Ed.; Liljedahl, Peter, Ed.

2013-01-01

This submission contains the Proceedings of the 2012 Annual Meeting of the Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group (CMESG), held at Laval University in Québec City, Québec. The CMESG is a group of mathematicians and mathematics educators who meet annually to discuss mathematics education issues at all levels of learning. The aims of the Study…

Teachers' Beliefs about Improving Transfer of Algebraic Skills from Mathematics into Physics in Senior Pre-University Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tursucu, Süleyman; Spandaw, Jeroen; Flipse, Steven; de Vries, Marc J.

2017-01-01

Students in senior pre-university education encounter difficulties in the application of mathematics into physics. This paper presents the outcome of an explorative qualitative study of teachers' beliefs about improving the transfer of algebraic skills from mathematics into physics. We interviewed 10 mathematics and 10 physics teachers using a…

Reality-Theoretical Models-Mathematics: A Ternary Perspective on Physics Lessons in Upper-Secondary School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hansson, Lena; Hansson, Örjan; Juter, Kristina; Redfors, Andreas

2015-01-01

This article discusses the role of mathematics during physics lessons in upper-secondary school. Mathematics is an inherent part of theoretical models in physics and makes powerful predictions of natural phenomena possible. Ability to use both theoretical models and mathematics is central in physics. This paper takes as a starting point that the…

Transformer overload and bubble evolution: Proceedings

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Addis, G.; Lindgren, S.

1988-06-01

The EPRI workshop on Transformer Overload Characteristics and Bubble Evolution was held to review the findings of investigations over the past 7-8 years to determine whether enough information is now available for utilities to establish safe loading practices. Sixteen papers were presented, including a utility review, physical and dielectric effects of gas and bubble formation from cellulose insulated transformers, transformer life characteristics, gas bubble studies and impulse test on distribution transformers, mathematical modeling of bubble evolution, transformer overload characteristics, variation of PD-strength for oil-paper insulation, survey on maximum safe operating hot spot temperature, and overload management. The meeting concluded withmore » a general discussion covering the existing state of knowledge and the need for additional research. Sixteen papers have been cataloged separately.« less

Theory of heart

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Glass, L.; Hunter, P.; McCulloch, A.

1991-01-01

In recent years there has been a growth in interest in studying the heart from the perspective of the physical sciences: mechanics, fluid flow, electromechanics. This volume is the result of a workshop held in July 1989 at the Institute for Nonlinear Sciences at the University of California at San Diego that brought together scientists and clinicians with graduate students and postdoctoral fellows who share an interest in the heart. The chapters were prepared by the invited speakers as didactic reviews of their subjects but also include up-to-date results in their fields. Topics covered include the structure, mechanical properties, andmore » function of the heart and the myocardium, electrical activity of the heart and myocardium, and mathematical models of heart function. Individual chapters are abstracted separately.« less

Texas Science Teacher Characteristics and Conceptual Understanding of Newton's Laws of Motion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Busby, Karin Burk

Misconceptions of Newtonian mechanics and other physical science concepts are well documented in primary and pre-service teacher populations (Burgoon, Heddle, & Duran, 2009; Allen & Coole, 2012; Kruger, Summers, & Palacio, 1990; Ginns & Watters, 1995; Trumper, 1999; Asikainen & Hirovonen, 2014). These misconceptions match the misconceptions held by students, leaving teachers ill-equipped to rectify these concepts in the classroom (Kind, 2014; Kruger et al., 1990; Cochran & Jones, 1998). Little research has been devoted to misconceptions held by in-service secondary teachers, the population responsible for teaching Newtonian mechanics. This study focuses on Texas in-service science teachers in middle school and high school science, specifically sixth grade science, seventh grade science, eighth grade science, integrated physics and chemistry, and physics teachers. This study utilizes two instruments to gauge conceptual understanding of Newton's laws of motion: the Force Concept Inventory [FCI] (Hestenes, Wells, & Swackhamer, 1992) and a custom instrument developed for the Texas Regional Collaboratives for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Teaching (Urquhart, M., e-mail, April 4, 2017). Use of each instrument had its strengths and limitations. In the initial work of this study, the FCI was given to middle and high school teacher volunteers in two urban school districts in the Dallas- Fort Worth area to assess current conceptual understanding of Newtonian mechanics. Along with the FCI, each participant was asked to complete a demographic survey. Demographic data collected included participant's sex, years of service in teaching position, current teaching position, degrees, certification type, and current certifications for science education. Correlations between variables and overall average on the FCI were determined by t-tests and ANOVA tests with a post-hoc Holm-Bonferroni correction test. Test questions pertaining to each of Newton's three laws of motion were extrapolated to determine any correlations. The sample size for this study was small (n=24), requiring a second study investigate potential correlations to teacher characteristics. The second study was conducted using the 2013-2014 school year participants in the Texas Regional Collaboratives for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Teaching [TRC] (Texas Regional Collaborative for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Teaching, 2013), a statewide program led by The University of Texas at Austin Center for STEM Education (Texas Regional Collaborative for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Teaching, 2013). Participants completed a demographic survey and took the TRC Physics Assessment instrument developed for the TRC to determine current conceptual understanding of Newtonian mechanics as defined by the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills. The TRC also collected demographic data including Texas Educational Agency region, participant's sex, years of service in teaching, current teaching position, level of highest degree earned, whether or not the participant had a STEM degree, and certification type. Correlations were determined between overall average and conceptual force questions only. The sample size was substantial (n=368) but due to time constraints in its development, the TRC Physics Assessment was unable to undergo reliability or validity testing before implementation. Test question pertaining to each of Newton's three laws of motion were extrapolated to determine any correlations. A significance value of p= 0.05 was used for all tests. Both content assessments indicated that, on average, teacher-participants had a considerable misunderstanding of Newtonian mechanics with Newton's third law questions especially difficult for the populations. Teachers' current teaching assignment was statistically significant for most tests, suggesting that high school physics teachers have more conceptual understanding of Newtonian mechanics than middle school teachers but have not necessarily mastered Newtonian mechanics. STEM majors and participant's sex were significant only for the TRC Physics Assessment. One outcome of this study is a recommendation that the Texas teacher certification process for middle school science change to include a general science test that includes physical science. Also, in-service science teachers responsible for teaching Newton's laws of motion should participate in specific professional development from a physics content educational expert to address misconceptions. Additional recommendations include that physics teachers take a mentoring role to help other teachers in physical science concepts and that middle school curriculum provide assistance to teachers for addressing misconceptions of Newton's third law.

The Emergence of Mathematical Physics at the University of Leipzig

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schlote, Karl-Heinz

Except for the well-known blossoming of theoretical physics with the group around Werner Heisenberg at the University of Leipzig at the end of the 1920s, the tradition of mathematical physics had been analyzed in only a few aspects, in particular the work of Carl Neumann and his contributions to the shaping of mathematical physics in general and the theory of electrodynamics in particular. However, the establishment of mathematical physics and its strong position at the University of Leipzig, with Neumann as its leading figure in the last third of the nineteenth century, formed important preconditions for the later upswing. That process is analyzed in this article, focusing on the work of Neumann. It includes a discussion of his ideas on the structure of a physical theory and the role of mathematics in physics as well as his impact on the interaction of mathematics and physics.

Actuality of transcendental æsthetics for modern physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Petitot, Jean

1. The more mathematics and physics unify themselves in the physico-mathematical modern theories, the more an objective epistemology becomes necessary. Only such a transcendental epistemology is able to thematize correctly the status of the mathematical determination of physical reality. 2. There exists a transcendental history of the synthetic a priori and of the construction of physical categories. 3. The transcendental approach allows to supersed Wittgenstein's and Carnap's antiplatonist thesis according to which pure mathematics are physically applicable only if they lack any descriptive, cognitive or objective, content and reduce to mere prescriptive and normative devices. In fact, pure mathematics are prescriptive-normative in physics because: (i) the categories of physical objectivity are prescriptive-normative, and (ii) their categorial content is mathematically “constructed” through a Transcendental Aesthetics. Only a transcendental approach make compatible, in the one hand, a grammatical conventionalism of Wittgensteinian or Carnapian type and, on the other hand, a platonist realism of Gödelian type. Mathematics are not a grammar of the world but a mathematical hermeneutics of the intuitive forms and of the categorial grammar of the world.

PREFACE: X Workshop of the Gravitation and Mathematical Physics Division, Mexican Physical Society

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2014-11-01

The collection of papers in this volume was presented during the X Workshop of the Gravitation and Mathematical Physics Division of the Mexican Physical Society (DGFM-SMF), which was held in Pachuca, Hidalgo, México, December 2-6, 2013. The Workshop is a bi-annual series of conferences sponsored by the DGFM-SMF that started in 1993 with the purposes of discussing and exchanging the research and experience of the gravitational and mathematical physics communities in Mexico. Each Mexican Workshop has been devoted to subjects of broad interest, so that students, in particular, can have access to specialized courses and talks that allow them to raise up their qualifications as professional researchers. Recurrent topics in the Mexican Workshop are supergravity, branes, black holes, the early Universe, observational cosmology, quantum gravity and cosmology and numerical relativity. Following our previous Workshops, distinguished researchers in the field, working in Mexico, were invited to give courses, whereas young researchers were invited for plenary lectures. More specialized talks were also presented in parallel sessions, with ample participation of researchers, and graduate and undergraduate students; most of the presentations have been included in these proceedings. The contributions in this volume have been peer-reviewed, and they represent most of the courses, plenary talks and contributed talks presented during our Workshop. We are indebted to the contributors of these proceedings, as well as to the other participants and organizers, all for making the event a complete success. We acknowledge the professionalism of our reviewers, who helped us to keep high quality standards in all manuscripts. Acknowledgments The organizing committee would like to acknowledge the financial support of the Mexican National Science and Technology Council (CONACyT), the Mexican Physical Society (SMF), as well as several Institutions including: Centro de Investigación y Estudios Avanzados (CINVESTAV), Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana Iztapalapa (UAM-I), Universidad de Guanajuato (UG), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). We especially acknowledge the support and the kind hospitality of our host, the Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo. Ricardo Becerril Bárcenas, Héctor H. Hernández Hernández, Miguel Sabido, Carlos A. Soto, Luis Alberto López, Omar Pedraza, Victoria E. Cerón. Editors

Mathematical Reasoning Requirements in Swedish National Physics Tests

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johansson, Helena

2016-01-01

This paper focuses on one aspect of mathematical competence, namely mathematical reasoning, and how this competency influences students' knowing of physics. This influence was studied by analysing the mathematical reasoning requirements upper secondary students meet when solving tasks in national physics tests. National tests are constructed to…

Ike 101: The Dwight D. Eisenhower Program for Mathematics and Science Education National Conference (Arlington, Virginia, November 17-22, 1991).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Triangle Coalition for Science and Technology Education, College Park, MD.

A conference was held to discuss educational issues related to mathematics and science education. This document reports the proceedings of the conference by summarizing the comments of several of the conference speakers. The speakers and topics discussed included: (1) Senator Mark Hatfield and Congressman Thomas Sawyer on the perspective of…

Math for the 1980's: A Response to the PRIME-80. A Conference/Workshop at Augusta College.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chang, Ping-Tung; Bompart, Bill

A conference/workshop held in late 1979 which was aimed at improving the teaching of mathematics is reviewed. The conference was a response to the PRIME-80 conference of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA), which had produced recommendations that something should be done to reverse the decline of educational skills among entering college…

Proceedings of the International Conference on Adults Learning Mathematics (ALM-7) (7th, July 6-8, 2000, Medford, Massachusetts).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schmitt, Mary Jane, Ed.; Safford-Ramus, Katherine, Ed.

This volume contains the proceedings of the 7th international conference on Adults Learning Mathematics--A Research Forum held in July, 2000 in Massachusetts. It includes posters and short oral reports under these section headings: (1) Research into Practice; (2) Large- Scale Issues: Frameworks, Standards, and Assessment; (3) Theoretical…

Attitude Towards Physics and Additional Mathematics Achievement Towards Physics Achievement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Veloo, Arsaythamby; Nor, Rahimah; Khalid, Rozalina

2015-01-01

The purpose of this research is to identify the difference in students' attitude towards Physics and Additional Mathematics achievement based on gender and relationship between attitudinal variables towards Physics and Additional Mathematics achievement with achievement in Physics. This research focused on six variables, which is attitude towards…

An Examination of Hand-Held Computer-Assisted Instruction on Subtraction Skills for Second Grade Students with Learning and Behavioral Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nordness, Philip D.; Haverkost, Ann; Volberding, Annette

2011-01-01

The effect of a mathematic flashcard application on a hand-held computing device was examined across three individual second grade students with learning and behavioral disabilities. All of the students improved their subtraction scores by an average of 17% as measured by the district-created, curriculum-based assessment. The results of this study…

Mathematical Sense-Making in Quantum Mechanics: An Initial Peek

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dreyfus, Benjamin W.; Elby, Andrew; Gupta, Ayush; Sohr, Erin Ronayne

2017-01-01

Mathematical sense-making--looking for coherence between the structure of the mathematical formalism and causal or functional relations in the world--is a core component of physics expertise. Some physics education research studies have explored what mathematical sense-making looks like at the introductory physics level, while some historians and…

75 FR 29369 - Advisory Committee for Mathematical and Physical Sciences; Notice of Meeting

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-05-25

... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION Advisory Committee for Mathematical and Physical Sciences; Notice of... Science Foundation announces the following meeting: Name: Directorate for Mathematical and Physical... Physical Sciences, Room 1005, National Science Foundation, 4201 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA 22230. (703...

PREFACE: The 5th International Symposium on Quantum Theory and Symmetries (QTS5)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gadella, M.; Izquierdo, J. M.; Kuru, S.; Negro, J.; del Olmo, M. A.

2008-08-01

This special issue of Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical appears on the occasion of the 5th International Symposium on Quantum Theory and Symmetries (QTS5), held in Valladolid, Spain, from 22-28 July 2007. This is the fith in a series of conferences previously held in Goslar (Germany) 1999, QTS1; Cracow (Poland) 2001, QTS2; Cincinnati (USA) 2003, QTS3; and Varna (Bulgaria) 2005, QTS4. The QTS5 symposium gathered 181 participants from 39 countries working in different fields of theoretical physics. The spirit of the QTS conference series is to join researchers in a wide variety of topics in theoretical physics, as a way of making accessible recent results and the new lines of different fields. This is based on the feeling that it is good for a physicist to have a general overview as well as expertise in his/her own field. There are many other conferences devoted to specific topics, which are of interest to gain deeper insight in many technical aspects and that are quite suitable for discussions due to their small size. However, we believe that general conferences like this are interesting and worth keeping. We like the talks, in both plenary and parallel sessions, which are devoted to specific topics, to be prepared so as to be accessible to any researcher in any branch of theoretical physics. We think that this objective is compatible with rigour and high standards. As is well known, similar methods and techniques can be useful for many problems in different fields. We hope that this has been appreciated during the sessions of the QTS5 conference. The QTS5 conference offered the following list of topics: 1. Symmetries in string theory, quantum gravity and related topics 2. Symmetries in quantum field theories, conformal and related field theories, lattice and noncommutative theories, gauge theories 3.Quantum computing, information and control 4. Foundations of quantum theory 5. Quantum optics, coherent states, Wigner functions 6. Dynamical and integrable systems 7. Symmetries in condensed matter and statistical physics 8. Symmetries in particle physics, nuclear, atomic and molecular physics 9. Nonlinear quantum mechanics 10. Time asymmetric quantum mechanics 11. SUSY quantum mechanics, PT symmetries and pseudo-Hamiltonians 12. Mathematical methods for symmetries and quantum theories 13. Symmetries in chemistry, biology and other sciences Papers accepted for publication in this issue aim to provide a survey of the state of the art in different fields and contain contributions from plenary speakers. In addition, the issue contains contributions from other participants and it has also been open to other authors whose work fits into the topics of the conference. In any case, all the contributions have been refereed according to the high standards of Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical. We are much indebted to several institutions; without their support the organization of the QTS5 symposium would not have been possible. In this respect we acknowledge the Ministerio de Educación of Spain and Junta de Castilla y León for general financial support; to Fundación Universidades de Castilla y León for a number of grants to young researchers who otherwise would not have attended the conference; also to the European Physical Society that provided a number of grants for eastern countries, and to the University of Valladolid where the event took place. We thank IOP Publishing and the staff of Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical for the publication of this special issue. In addition, we want to express our gratitude to other members of the Local Organizing Committe of QTS5, who are not Editors of this special issue: Oscar Arratia, Juan A Calzada and Fernando Gómez. Finally, we would like to thank all the participants in the QTS5 conference for their presence, contributions, and for the good atmosphere achieved during their stay. We hope that the experience of spending these days in Valladolid has been most fruitful for all of them.

Shifting College Students' Epistemological Framing Using Hypothetical Debate Problems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hu, Dehui; Rebello, N. Sanjay

2014-01-01

Developing expertise in physics problem solving requires the ability to use mathematics effectively in physical scenarios. Novices and experts often perceive the use of mathematics in physics differently. Students' perceptions and how they frame the use of mathematics in physics play an important role in their physics problem solving. In this…

On the Role of Mathematics in Physics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Quale, Andreas

2011-01-01

I examine the association between the observable physical world and the mathematical models of theoretical physics. These models will exhibit many entities that have no counterpart in the physical world, but which are still necessary for the mathematical description of physical systems. Moreover, when the model is applied to the analysis of a…

PREFACE: Mathematical Aspects of Generalized Entropies and their Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suyari, Hiroki; Ohara, Atsumi; Wada, Tatsuaki

2010-01-01

In the recent increasing interests in power-law behaviors beyond the usual exponential ones, there have been some concrete attempts in statistical physics to generalize the standard Boltzmann-Gibbs statistics. Among such generalizations, nonextensive statistical mechanics has been well studied for about the last two decades with many modifications and refinements. The generalization has provided not only a theoretical framework but also many applications such as chaos, multi-fractal, complex systems, nonequilibrium statistical mechanics, biophysics, econophysics, information theory and so on. At the same time as the developments in the generalization of statistical mechanics, the corresponding mathematical structures have also been required and uncovered. In particular, some deep connections to mathematical sciences such as q-analysis, information geometry, information theory and quantum probability theory have been revealed recently. These results obviously indicate an existence of the generalized mathematical structure including the mathematical framework for the exponential family as a special case, but the whole structure is still unclear. In order to make an opportunity to discuss the mathematical structure induced from generalized entropies by scientists in many fields, the international workshop 'Mathematical Aspects of Generalized Entropies and their Applications' was held on 7-9 July 2009 at Kyoto TERRSA, Kyoto, Japan. This volume is the proceedings of the workshop which consisted of 6 invited speakers, 14 oral presenters, 7 poster presenters and 63 other participants. The topics of the workshop cover the nonextensive statistical mechanics, chaos, cosmology, information geometry, divergence theory, econophysics, materials engineering, molecular dynamics and entropy theory, information theory and so on. The workshop was organized as the first attempt to discuss these mathematical aspects with leading experts in each area. We would like to express special thanks to all the invited speakers, the contributors and the participants at the workshop. We are also grateful to RIMS (Research Institute for Mathematical Science) in Kyoto University and the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture, Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B), 18300003, 2009 for their support. Organizing Committee Editors of the Proceedings Hiroki Suyari (Chiba University, Japan) Atsumi Ohara (Osaka University, Japan) Tatsuaki Wada (Ibaraki University, Japan) Conference photograph

Outcomes from the DOE Workshop on Turbulent Flow Simulation at the Exascale

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sprague, Michael; Boldyrev, Stanislav; Chang, Choong-Seock

This paper summarizes the outcomes from the Turbulent Flow Simulation at the Exascale: Opportunities and Challenges Workshop, which was held 4-5 August 2015, and was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research. The workshop objective was to define and describe the challenges and opportunities that computing at the exascale will bring to turbulent-flow simulations in applied science and technology. The need for accurate simulation of turbulent flows is evident across the U.S. Department of Energy applied-science and engineering portfolios, including combustion, plasma physics, nuclear-reactor physics, wind energy, and atmospheric science. The workshop brought togethermore » experts in turbulent-flow simulation, computational mathematics, and high-performance computing. Building upon previous ASCR workshops on exascale computing, participants defined a research agenda and path forward that will enable scientists and engineers to continually leverage, engage, and direct advances in computational systems on the path to exascale computing.« less

Partially solidified systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

The evolution of magmas is a topic of considerable importance in geology and geophysics because it affects volcanology, igneous petrology, geothermal energy sources, mantle convection, and the thermaland chemical evolution of the earth. The dynamics and evolution of magmas are strongly affected by the presence of solid crystals that occur either in suspension in liquid or as a rigid porous matrix through which liquid magma can percolate. Such systems are physically complex and difficult to model mathematically. Similar physical situations are encountered by metallurgists who study the solidification of molten alloys, and applied mathematicians have long been interested in such moving boundary problems. Clearly, it would be of mutual benefit to bring together scientists, engineers, and mathematicians with a common interest in such systems. Such a meeting is being organized as a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Advanced Research Workshop on the Structure and Dynamics of Partially Solidified Systems, to be held at Stanford University's Fallen Leaf Lodge at Tahoe, Calif., May 12-16, 1986 The invited speakers and their topics are

Enrico Fermi and the Dolomites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Battimelli, Giovanni; de Angelis, Alessandro

2014-11-01

Summer vacations in the Dolomites were a tradition among the professors of the Faculty of Mathematical and Physical Sciences at the University of Roma since the end of the XIX century. Beyond the academic walls, people like Tullio Levi-Civita, Federigo Enriques and Ugo Amaldi sr., together with their families, were meeting friends and colleagues in Cortina, San Vito, Dobbiaco, Vigo di Fassa and Selva, enjoying trekking together with scientific discussions. The tradition was transmitted to the next generations, in particular in the first half of the XX century, and the group of via Panisperna was directly connected: Edoardo Amaldi, the son of the mathematician Ugo sr., rented at least during two summers, in 1925 and in 1949, and in the winter of 1960, a house in San Vito di Cadore, and almost every year in the Dolomites; Enrico Fermi was a frequent guest. Many important steps in modern physics, in particular the development of the Fermi-Dirac statistics and the Fermi theory of beta decay, are related to scientific discussions held in the region of the Dolomites.

Relativities of fundamentality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McKenzie, Kerry

2017-08-01

S-dualities have been held to have radical implications for our metaphysics of fundamentality. In particular, it has been claimed that they make the fundamentality status of a physical object theory-relative in an important new way. But what physicists have had to say on the issue has not been clear or consistent, and in particular seems to be ambiguous between whether S-dualities demand an anti-realist interpretation of fundamentality talk or merely a revised realism. This paper is an attempt to bring some clarity to the matter. After showing that even antecedently familiar fundamentality claims are true only relative to a raft of metaphysical, physical, and mathematical assumptions, I argue that the relativity of fundamentality inherent in S-duality nevertheless represents something new, and that part of the reason for this is that it has both realist and anti-realist implications for fundamentality talk. I close by discussing the broader significance that S-dualities have for structuralist metaphysics and for fundamentality metaphysics more generally.

Current State of Research on Mathematical Beliefs V. Proceedings of the MAVI-5 Workshop (August 22-25, 1997). Research Report 184.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hannula, Markku, Ed.

This report includes all of the presentations from the fifth annual workshop on the Current State of Research on Mathematical Beliefs held in Helsinki, Finland, on August 22-25, 1997. The papers, all of which were presented in English, are as follows: "Between Formalism and Creativity: Teachers' Conceptions of a Good Computer Science…

Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (4th, Athens, Georgia, October 23-25, 1982).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wagner, Sigrid, Ed.

The materials collected here were presented at the fourth annual meeting held October 23 through 25, 1982, at the University of Georgia. The papers are grouped under the following headings: Mathematical Abilities; Understanding; Early Number; Adolescent Reasoning; Problem Solving; Teaching and Teacher Education; and Technology. Space limitations…

Transactions of the Army Conference on Applied Mathematics and Computing (6th) Held in Boulder, Colorado on 31 May - 3 June 1988

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-02-01

North American algebraists, in academic mathematics departments, appear to have computer anxiety or computation anxiety . Conferences and...the Heaviside function of S[4,51. H(S)[(p+ Vov] =0 (1) D H(S)[ HRv + Vp = 0 (2) Dt where D 8 a -- = +3- (3) We nondimensionalize the equations by using

Fractions: Activities and Exercises for Teaching Fractions in Secondary Schools. Series of Caribbean Volunteer Publications, No. 4.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Voluntary Services Overseas, Castries (St. Lucia).

This document contains materials from a half day workshop held at Petit Secondary School for mathematics teachers at Petit Bordel and Troumaca Ontario Secondary School on the island of St. Vincent in the Caribbean. This book advocates the use of activity-based mathematics as a teaching methodology in secondary schools and demonstrates the use of…

Federal Efforts in Science and Mathematics Education. Hearing before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations. United States Senate, One Hundred First Congress, Second Session. Special Hearing.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Congress of the U.S., Washington, DC. Senate Committee on Appropriations.

This report contains a transcript of the hearing discussing federal efforts in science and mathematics education held before the Subcommittee on Veterans Administration (VA), Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and Independent Agencies of the Committee on Appropriations. Spokespersons for the Executive Office of the President--Office of Science…

78 FR 37590 - Advisory Committee for Mathematical and Physical Sciences #66; Notice of Meeting

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-06-21

... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION Advisory Committee for Mathematical and Physical Sciences 66; Notice... Physical Sciences ( 66). Dates/Time: July 18, 2013 1:00 p.m.-5:15 p.m. Place: National Science Foundation... Federal Officer, Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences, National Science Foundation, 4201...

Obtaining Laws through Quantifying Experiments: Justifications of Pre-Service Physics Teachers in the Case of Electric Current, Voltage and Resistance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mäntylä, Terhi; Hämäläinen, Ari

2015-01-01

The language of physics is mathematics, and physics ideas, laws and models describing phenomena are usually represented in mathematical form. Therefore, an understanding of how to navigate between phenomena and the models representing them in mathematical form is important for a physics teacher so that the teacher can make physics understandable…

Some applications of mathematics in theoretical physics - A review

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bora, Kalpana

2016-06-21

Mathematics is a very beautiful subject−very much an indispensible tool for Physics, more so for Theoretical Physics (by which we mean here mainly Field Theory and High Energy Physics). These branches of Physics are based on Quantum Mechanics and Special Theory of Relativity, and many mathematical concepts are used in them. In this work, we shall elucidate upon only some of them, like−differential geometry, infinite series, Mellin transforms, Fourier and integral transforms, special functions, calculus, complex algebra, topology, group theory, Riemannian geometry, functional analysis, linear algebra, operator algebra, etc. We shall also present, some physics issues, where these mathematical toolsmore » are used. It is not wrong to say that Mathematics is such a powerful tool, without which, there can not be any Physics theory!! A brief review on our research work is also presented.« less

Some applications of mathematics in theoretical physics - A review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bora, Kalpana

2016-06-01

Mathematics is a very beautiful subject-very much an indispensible tool for Physics, more so for Theoretical Physics (by which we mean here mainly Field Theory and High Energy Physics). These branches of Physics are based on Quantum Mechanics and Special Theory of Relativity, and many mathematical concepts are used in them. In this work, we shall elucidate upon only some of them, like-differential geometry, infinite series, Mellin transforms, Fourier and integral transforms, special functions, calculus, complex algebra, topology, group theory, Riemannian geometry, functional analysis, linear algebra, operator algebra, etc. We shall also present, some physics issues, where these mathematical tools are used. It is not wrong to say that Mathematics is such a powerful tool, without which, there can not be any Physics theory!! A brief review on our research work is also presented.

IMACS 󈨟: Proceedings of the IMACS World Congress on Computation and Applied Mathematics (13th) Held in Dublin, Ireland on July 22-26, 1991. Volume 2. Computational Fluid Dynamics and Wave Propagation, Parallel Computing, Concurrent and Supercomputing, Computational Physics/Computational Chemistry and Evolutionary Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-01-01

Investigations of uniform convergence Sorption gel5ster Stoffe in porisen Medien (in German). Ver- are-in progress. lag P -Lang, Frankfurt/M., 1991 (in press...ad- sorption terms. Numerical results for solute transport with instantaneous, /it + 01(p): - q(p)#= 0, X > 0, t > 0. (5) nonlinear adsorption-are...13 ] A, S113S = (PfIJl) 8Iax, S1136= m A, y H137=- pf A, v 138 -f A, IIso l r opic-visco° c ousic- Y 139 im A, z-pliole (C’ilz) y 1141 = [ PfA 𔃻 + P

George Hartley Bryan, Ludwig Boltzmann, and the Stability of Flight

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boyd, T. James M.

2012-03-01

A century ago, George Hartley Bryan (1864-1928) published his classic book, Stability in Aviation. I draw together some strands from events that awakened his interest in the nascent science of aviation, in particular the stability of flight. Prominent among those who influenced him was Ludwig Boltzmann (1844-1906), who held Bryan in high esteem for his contributions to thermodynamics and kinetic theory. I argue that the seeds of Bryan's interest in aviation were sown at the British Association meeting at Oxford in the summer of 1894, at which Boltzmann was guest of honor. A joint discussion between Section A (Mathematical and Physical Science) and Section G (Mechanical Science) was devoted to the problems of flight, during the course of which Boltzmann revealed a hitherto unsuspected enthusiasm for flying.

Building a Program of University Physics and Mathematics Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tanaka, Tadayoshi; Nakamura, Akira; Kagiyama, Shigenori; Namiki, Masatoshi; Ejiri, Arisato; Ohshima, Kazunari; Mishima, Akiomi; Aoki, Katsuhiko

Authors built physics learning modules which consist of lectures, experiments and practices, introducing physics experiments of elementary and secondary education. In addition, we are operating "KIT Mathematics Navigation" in order to complement mathematical basics to engineering education. Based on these results, we are building studies and development of an education program in order to support the learning paradigm shift and to help students learn physics and mathematics complimentarily for liberal arts education course in universities.

Mathematical sense-making in quantum mechanics: An initial peek

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dreyfus, Benjamin W.; Elby, Andrew; Gupta, Ayush; Sohr, Erin Ronayne

2017-12-01

Mathematical sense-making—looking for coherence between the structure of the mathematical formalism and causal or functional relations in the world—is a core component of physics expertise. Some physics education research studies have explored what mathematical sense-making looks like at the introductory physics level, while some historians and "science studies" have explored how expert physicists engage in it. What is largely missing, with a few exceptions, is theoretical and empirical work at the intermediate level—upper division physics students—especially when they are learning difficult new mathematical formalism. In this paper, we present analysis of a segment of video-recorded discussion between two students grappling with a quantum mechanics question to illustrate what mathematical sense-making can look like in quantum mechanics. We claim that mathematical sense-making is possible and productive for learning and problem solving in quantum mechanics. Mathematical sense-making in quantum mechanics is continuous in many ways with mathematical sense-making in introductory physics. However, in the context of quantum mechanics, the connections between formalism, intuitive conceptual schema, and the physical world become more compound (nested) and indirect. We illustrate these similarities and differences in part by proposing a new symbolic form, eigenvector eigenvalue, which is composed of multiple primitive symbolic forms.

In-vitro development of vitrified-warmed bovine oocytes after activation may be predicted based on mathematical modelling of cooling and warming rates during vitrification, storage and sample removal.

PubMed

Sansinena, Marina; Santos, Maria Victoria; Chirife, Jorge; Zaritzky, Noemi

2018-05-01

Heat transfer during cooling and warming is difficult to measure in cryo-devices; mathematical modelling is an alternative method that can describe these processes. In this study, we tested the validity of one such model by assessing in-vitro development of vitrified and warmed bovine oocytes after parthenogenetic activation and culture. The viability of oocytes vitrified in four different cryo-devices was assessed. Consistent with modelling predictions, oocytes vitrified using cryo-devices with the highest modelled cooling rates had significantly (P < 0.05) better cleavage and blastocyst formation rates. We then evaluated a two-step sample removal process, in which oocytes were held in nitrogen vapour for 15 s to simulate sample identification during clinical application, before being removed completely and warmed. Oocytes exposed to this procedure showed reduced developmental potential, according to the model, owing to thermodynamic instability and devitrification at relatively low temperatures. These findings suggest that cryo-device selection and handling, including method of removal from nitrogen storage, are critical to survival of vitrified oocytes. Limitations of the study include use of parthenogenetically activated rather than fertilized ova and lack of physical measurement of recrystallization. We suggest mathematical modelling could be used to predict the effect of critical steps in cryopreservation. Copyright © 2018 Reproductive Healthcare Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Zimbabwean Female Participation in Physics: The Influence of Identity Formation on Perception and Participation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gudyanga, Anna; Kurup, Raj

2017-01-01

The study investigated the influence of identity formation on the perceptions and participation of Zimbabwean Advanced Level (A' Level) female adolescent students in physics. Nine female adolescent students eighteen years and above: three doing mathematics and physics, one doing physics without mathematics and five doing mathematics without…

Experience, gender, and performance: Connecting high school physics experience and gender differences to introductory college physics performance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tai, Robert H.

Current science educational practice is coming under heavy criticism based on the dismaying results of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study of 1998, the latest in a series of large scale surveys; and from research showing the appallingly low representation of females in science-related fields. These critical evaluations serve to draw attention to science literacy in general and lack of persistence among females in particular, two issues that relate closely to the "preparation for future study" goal held by many high school science teachers. In other words, these teachers often seek to promote future success and to prevent future failure in their students' academic careers. This thesis studies the connection between the teaching practices recommended by reformers and researchers for high school teachers, and their students' subsequent college physics performance. The teaching practices studied were: laboratory experiences, class discussion experiences, content coverage, and reliance on textbooks. This study analyzed a survey of 1500 students from 16 different lecture-format college physics courses at 14 different universities. Using hierarchical linear modeling, this study accounted for course-level variables (Calculus-based/Non-calculus course type, professor's gender, and university selectivity). This study controlled for the student's parents education, high school science/mathematics achievement, high school calculus background, and racial background. In addition, the interactions between gender and both pedagogical/curricular and course-level variables were analyzed. The results indicated that teaching fewer topics in greater depth in high school physics appeared to be helpful to college physics students. An interaction between college course type and content coverage showed that students in Calculus-based physics reaped even greater benefits from a depth-oriented curriculum. Also students with fewer labs per month in high school physics appeared to perform better in college physics than did students with many more labs per month. The only significant interaction was between gender and Calculus-based/Non-calculus college course type. Females appeared to do better on average than their males counterparts in Non-calculus physics, but this trend is clearly reversed for Calculus-based physics. This is a disturbing result for educators who have worked to promote persistence among women in engineering and science research. Recommendations are included for high school physics teachers, students and their parents, and college physics instructors.

TRIBUTE: Brian G Wybourne: Innovator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Louck, James D.

2006-03-01

This volume encloses the Proceedings of the Eighth Summer School on Theoretical Physics under the banner title Symmetry and Structural Properties of Condensed Matter (SSPCM 2005). The School, organised by Rzeszów University of Technology, Poland, together with Laboratory of Physical Foundation of Information Processing, Poland (LFPPI), was held between 31 August and 7 September 2005 in Myczkowce. The main goal of the whole series of biannual SSPCM schools (since 1990) is promotion of advanced mathematical methods within condensed matter physics, directed towards its symmetry and structural properties. This SSPCM 05 School focused on the following three main subjects: decoherence and quantum computers; the role of combinatorics in classification of solutions for exactly solvable models; geometric aspects in nanophysics. The Proceedings are divided into three parts accordingly, but particular topics can overlap between main subjects, and be related to problems pursued in previous SSPCM schools. In this way, the present school is concentrated on various aspects of theory and technology of quantum informatics, with the inclusion of exactly solvable models of statistical physics of condensed matter in low dimensions, as some natural theoretical prototypes of a quantum computer. The last SSPCM 05 was devoted to the memory of Professor Brian G Wybourne, a great Inspirer, inestimable Patron and Lecturer of the whole series of these schools. The School gathered together more than 50 participants, both advanced researchers in physics and mathematics, as well as their young collaborators and students, representing altogether 10 countries from all over the world. The Organising Committee would like to express their gratitude to all members of the International Advisory Committee for their opinions and support and to all invited lecturers and contributors for their talks and preparation of their manuscripts. Special thanks are addressed to all participants and everyone who attended for creating such a stimulating and friendly atmosphere during our meeting, and for several valuable discussions. We thank all chairmen for their polite but efficient leading of sessions. Many thanks are due to the referees who improved significantly the quality of papers presented in this volume. The organisers address special thanks to The Nicholas C. Metropolis Mathematics Foundation (USA) for a substantial initiating support, and to the Polish State Committee for Scientific Research. The hospitality of the whole team of the hotel 'Energetyk' Myczkowce is also appreciated.

Interactions Between Mathematics and Physics: The History of the Concept of Function—Teaching with and About Nature of Mathematics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kjeldsen, Tinne Hoff; Lützen, Jesper

2015-07-01

In this paper, we discuss the history of the concept of function and emphasize in particular how problems in physics have led to essential changes in its definition and application in mathematical practices. Euler defined a function as an analytic expression, whereas Dirichlet defined it as a variable that depends in an arbitrary manner on another variable. The change was required when mathematicians discovered that analytic expressions were not sufficient to represent physical phenomena such as the vibration of a string (Euler) and heat conduction (Fourier and Dirichlet). The introduction of generalized functions or distributions is shown to stem partly from the development of new theories of physics such as electrical engineering and quantum mechanics that led to the use of improper functions such as the delta function that demanded a proper foundation. We argue that the development of student understanding of mathematics and its nature is enhanced by embedding mathematical concepts and theories, within an explicit-reflective framework, into a rich historical context emphasizing its interaction with other disciplines such as physics. Students recognize and become engaged with meta-discursive rules governing mathematics. Mathematics teachers can thereby teach inquiry in mathematics as it occurs in the sciences, as mathematical practice aimed at obtaining new mathematical knowledge. We illustrate such a historical teaching and learning of mathematics within an explicit and reflective framework by two examples of student-directed, problem-oriented project work following the Roskilde Model, in which the connection to physics is explicit and provides a learning space where the nature of mathematics and mathematical practices are linked to natural science.

The role of a posteriori mathematics in physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

MacKinnon, Edward

2018-05-01

The calculus that co-evolved with classical mechanics relied on definitions of functions and differentials that accommodated physical intuitions. In the early nineteenth century mathematicians began the rigorous reformulation of calculus and eventually succeeded in putting almost all of mathematics on a set-theoretic foundation. Physicists traditionally ignore this rigorous mathematics. Physicists often rely on a posteriori math, a practice of using physical considerations to determine mathematical formulations. This is illustrated by examples from classical and quantum physics. A justification of such practice stems from a consideration of the role of phenomenological theories in classical physics and effective theories in contemporary physics. This relates to the larger question of how physical theories should be interpreted.

The Rights of the Learner: A Framework for Promoting Equity through Formative Assessment in Mathematics Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kalinec-Craig, Crystal A.

2017-01-01

An elementary mathematics teacher once argued that she and her students held four Rights of the Learner in the classroom: (1) the right to be confused; (2) the right to claim a mistake; (3) the right to speak, listen and be heard; and (4) the right to write, do, and represent only what makes sense. Written as an emerging framework to promote…

Scientific divulgation through the teaching of Astronomy and Mathematics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Silva, Alysson Wanderley Teixeira; de Macedo, Josué Antunes; Voelzke, Marcos Rincon

2015-09-01

This article presents an experience report of a workshop held at the State School Professor Plínio Ribeiro, who aimed to spread the use of interactive materials for teaching Astronomy and its relationship with Mathematics during the Forum Biotemas. Despite being part of the official documents, be present in the curricular proposals from several Brazilian states, and has contributed to the human and technological development, Astronomy is rarely taught adequately in basic education, with unsatisfactory results presented by students and teachers. In this sense was held a workshop planned for elementary education students called 'Astronomy and Mathematics: Learn to Observe the Sky With Other Eyes' involving several resources. The methodology consisted of awareness of those involved, presentation videos, using Stellarium software, application of Mathematics in Astronomy and discussions. Among the main results, can highlight students' interest in scientific matters, because when the study of the sciences takes place without interaction with natural and technological phenomena, a huge gap in the education of students occurs. In this sense, the use of different resources, as templates, observations, real and virtual experiments, animations, simulations, video lessons, can arouse the interest of students by conceptual content, differently from what happens when the study takes place using only conventional resources, with books and handouts.

The Challenge of Learning Physics before Mathematics: A Case Study of Curriculum Change in Taiwan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chiu, Mei-Shiu

2016-01-01

The aim of this study was to identify challenges in implementing a physics-before- 10 mathematics curriculum. Obviously, students need to learn necessary mathematics skills in order to develop advanced physics knowledge. In the 2010 high school curriculum in Taiwan, however, grade 11 science students study two-dimensional motion in physics without…

Electromagnetic Concepts in Mathematical Representation of Physics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Albe, Virginie; Venturini, Patrice; Lascours, Jean

2001-01-01

Addresses the use of mathematics when studying the physics of electromagnetism. Focuses on common electromagnetic concepts and their associated mathematical representation and arithmetical tools. Concludes that most students do not understand the significant aspects of physical situations and have difficulty using relationships and models specific…

The Mathematics of High School Physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kanderakis, Nikos

2016-10-01

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, mathematicians and physical philosophers managed to study, via mathematics, various physical systems of the sublunar world through idealized and simplified models of these systems, constructed with the help of geometry. By analyzing these models, they were able to formulate new concepts, laws and theories of physics and then through models again, to apply these concepts and theories to new physical phenomena and check the results by means of experiment. Students' difficulties with the mathematics of high school physics are well known. Science education research attributes them to inadequately deep understanding of mathematics and mainly to inadequate understanding of the meaning of symbolic mathematical expressions. There seem to be, however, more causes of these difficulties. One of them, not independent from the previous ones, is the complex meaning of the algebraic concepts used in school physics (e.g. variables, parameters, functions), as well as the complexities added by physics itself (e.g. that equations' symbols represent magnitudes with empirical meaning and units instead of pure numbers). Another source of difficulties is that the theories and laws of physics are often applied, via mathematics, to simplified, and idealized physical models of the world and not to the world itself. This concerns not only the applications of basic theories but also all authentic end-of-the-chapter problems. Hence, students have to understand and participate in a complex interplay between physics concepts and theories, physical and mathematical models, and the real world, often without being aware that they are working with models and not directly with the real world.

Equity and spatial reasoning: reducing the mathematical achievement gap in gender and social disadvantage

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lowrie, Tom; Jorgensen, Robyn

2018-03-01

Since the early 70s, there has been recognition that there are specific differences in achievement based on variables, such as gender and socio-economic background, in terms of mathematics performance. However, these differences are not unilateral but rather quite specific and relate strongly to spatial reasoning. This early work has paved the way for thinking critically about who achieves in mathematics and why. This project innovatively combines the strengths of the two Chief Investigators—Lowrie's work in spatial reasoning and Jorgensen's work in equity. The assumptions, the approach and theoretical framing used in the study unite quite disparate areas of mathematics education into a cogent research program that seeks to challenge some of the long-held views in the field of mathematics education.

"Universe" event at AIMS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2008-06-01

Report of event of 11 May 2008 held at the African Institute of Mathematical Sciences (Muizenberg, Cape), with speakers Michael Griffin (Administrator of NASA), Stephen Hawking (Cambridge), David Gross (Kavli Institute, Santa Barbara) and George Smoot (Berkeley).

Stable same-sex friendships with higher achieving partners promote mathematical reasoning in lower achieving primary school children.

PubMed

DeLay, Dawn; Laursen, Brett; Kiuru, Noona; Poikkeus, Anna-Maija; Aunola, Kaisa; Nurmi, Jari-Erik

2015-11-01

This study was designed to investigate friend influence over mathematical reasoning in a sample of 374 children in 187 same-sex friend dyads (184 girls in 92 friendships; 190 boys in 95 friendships). Participants completed surveys that measured mathematical reasoning in the 3rd grade (approximately 9 years old) and 1 year later in the 4th grade (approximately 10 years old). Analyses designed for dyadic data (i.e., longitudinal actor-partner interdependence model) indicated that higher achieving friends influenced the mathematical reasoning of lower achieving friends, but not the reverse. Specifically, greater initial levels of mathematical reasoning among higher achieving partners in the 3rd grade predicted greater increases in mathematical reasoning from 3rd grade to 4th grade among lower achieving partners. These effects held after controlling for peer acceptance and rejection, task avoidance, interest in mathematics, maternal support for homework, parental education, length of the friendship, and friendship group norms on mathematical reasoning. © 2015 The British Psychological Society.

Stable Same-Sex Friendships with Higher Achieving Partners Promote Mathematical Reasoning in Lower Achieving Primary School Children

PubMed Central

DeLay, Dawn; Laursen, Brett; Kiuru, Noona; Poikkeus, Anna-Maija; Aunola, Kaisa; Nurmi, Jari-Erik

2015-01-01

This study is designed to investigate friend influence over mathematical reasoning in a sample of 374 children in 187 same-sex friend dyads (184 girls in 92 friendships; 190 boys in 95 friendships). Participants completed surveys that measured mathematical reasoning in the 3rd grade (approximately 9 years old) and one year later in the 4th grade (approximately 10 years old). Analyses designed for dyadic data (i.e., longitudinal Actor-Partner Interdependence Models) indicated that higher achieving friends influenced the mathematical reasoning of lower achieving friends, but not the reverse. Specifically, greater initial levels of mathematical reasoning among higher achieving partners in the 3rd grade predicted greater increases in mathematical reasoning from 3rd grade to 4th grade among lower achieving partners. These effects held after controlling for peer acceptance and rejection, task avoidance, interest in mathematics, maternal support for homework, parental education, length of the friendship, and friendship group norms on mathematical reasoning. PMID:26402901

Comparison of university students' understanding of graphs in different contexts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Planinic, Maja; Ivanjek, Lana; Susac, Ana; Milin-Sipus, Zeljka

2013-12-01

This study investigates university students’ understanding of graphs in three different domains: mathematics, physics (kinematics), and contexts other than physics. Eight sets of parallel mathematics, physics, and other context questions about graphs were developed. A test consisting of these eight sets of questions (24 questions in all) was administered to 385 first year students at University of Zagreb who were either prospective physics or mathematics teachers or prospective physicists or mathematicians. Rasch analysis of data was conducted and linear measures for item difficulties were obtained. Average difficulties of items in three domains (mathematics, physics, and other contexts) and over two concepts (graph slope, area under the graph) were computed and compared. Analysis suggests that the variation of average difficulty among the three domains is much smaller for the concept of graph slope than for the concept of area under the graph. Most of the slope items are very close in difficulty, suggesting that students who have developed sufficient understanding of graph slope in mathematics are generally able to transfer it almost equally successfully to other contexts. A large difference was found between the difficulty of the concept of area under the graph in physics and other contexts on one side and mathematics on the other side. Comparison of average difficulty of the three domains suggests that mathematics without context is the easiest domain for students. Adding either physics or other context to mathematical items generally seems to increase item difficulty. No significant difference was found between the average item difficulty in physics and contexts other than physics, suggesting that physics (kinematics) remains a difficult context for most students despite the received instruction on kinematics in high school.

Post-primary students' images of mathematics: findings from a survey of Irish ordinary level mathematics students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lane, Ciara; Stynes, Martin; O'Donoghue, John

2016-10-01

A questionnaire survey was carried out as part of a PhD research study to investigate the image of mathematics held by post-primary students in Ireland. The study focused on students in fifth year of post-primary education studying ordinary level mathematics for the Irish Leaving Certificate examination - the final examination for students in second-level or post-primary education. At the time this study was conducted, ordinary level mathematics students constituted approximately 72% of Leaving Certificate students. Students were aged between 15 and 18 years. A definition for 'image of mathematics' was adapted from Lim and Wilson, with image of mathematics hypothesized as comprising attitudes, beliefs, self-concept, motivation, emotions and past experiences of mathematics. A questionnaire was composed incorporating 84 fixed-response items chosen from eight pre-established scales by Aiken, Fennema and Sherman, Gourgey and Schoenfeld. This paper focuses on the findings from the questionnaire survey. Students' images of mathematics are compared with regard to gender, type of post-primary school attended and prior mathematical achievement.

Book of Proceedings of Workshops Held on Physical Education for the Mentally Retarded.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mississippi Univ. for Women, Columbus.

Proceedings are presented from three workshops concerning physical education for the mentally retarded held at Mississippi State University, University of Mississippi, and University of Southern Mississippi in 1967. Topics covered in the workshops include program development of physical education with the mentally handicapped, reports of research…

Modelling Mathematical Reasoning in Physics Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Uhden, Olaf; Karam, Ricardo; Pietrocola, Mauricio; Pospiech, Gesche

2012-01-01

Many findings from research as well as reports from teachers describe students' problem solving strategies as manipulation of formulas by rote. The resulting dissatisfaction with quantitative physical textbook problems seems to influence the attitude towards the role of mathematics in physics education in general. Mathematics is often seen as a…

A Study of the National Science Foundation Summer Institutes in Science and Mathematics held at the University of Idaho from 1957 through 1964 and their Impact on Professional Activities of the Recipients.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martinen, Gordon David

Investigated were the participants of Summer Institutes in Science and Mathematics at the University of Idaho and their subsequent educational and professional stature, occupational mobility, ability to initiate change in the curriculums of the schools in which they taught, and reactions to the social and academic climate which prevailed at the…

Proceedings of the 27th International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education Conference Held Jointly with the 25th PME-NA Conference (Honolulu, Hawaii, July 13-18, 2003). Volume 2

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pateman, Neil A., Ed.; Dougherty, Barbara J., Ed.; Zilliox, Joseph T., Ed.

2003-01-01

This volume of the 27th International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education Conference presents the following research reports: (1) Text Talk, Body Talk, Table Talk: A Design of Ratio and Proportion as Classroom Parallel Events (Dor Abrahamson); (2) Generalizing the Context and Generalising the Calculation (Janet Ainley); (3) Interview…

Proceedings of the 27th International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education Conference Held Jointly with the 25th PME-NA Conference (Honolulu, Hawaii, July 13-18, 2003). Volume 3

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pateman, Neil A., Ed; Dougherty, Barbara J., Ed.; Zilliox, Joseph T., Ed.

2003-01-01

This volume of the 27th International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education Conference includes the following research reports: (1) The Affective Views of Primary School Children (Peter Grootenboer); (2) Theoretical Model of Analysis of Rate Problems in Algebra (Jose Guzman, Nadine Bednarz and Fernando Hitt); (3) Locating Fractions on…

Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group = Groupe Canadien d'Etude en Didactique des Mathematiques. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting (24th, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, May 26-30, 2000).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Simmt, Elaine, Ed.; Davis, Brent, Ed.; McLoughlin, John Grant, Ed.

2000-01-01

This document contains the proceedings of the annual meeting of the Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group (CMESG) held at the University of Quebec in Montreal, Canada, May 26-30, 2000. The proceedings consist of two plenary lectures, five working groups, four topic sessions, new Ph.D. reports, and panel discussions. Papers include: (1)…

Proceedings of the 27th International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education Conference Held Jointly with the 25th PME-NA Conference (Honolulu, Hawaii, July 13-18, 2003). Volume 1

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pateman, Neil A., Ed; Dougherty, Barbara J., Ed.; Zilliox, Joseph T., Ed.

2003-01-01

This volume of the 27th International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education Conference presents papers from: plenary panels; research forums; working sessions; discussion groups; short oral communications; and poster sessions from the meeting. Plenary lectures included: (1) Studying and Capturing the Complexity of Practice: The Case of…

Report of the First Meeting of the Governing Board, SEAMEO Regional Centre for Education in Science and Mathematics (Penang, Malaysia, October 8-12, 1970). Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (Singapore). Regional Center for Education in Science and Mathematics.

This report details the proceedings of the first meeting of the Governing Board of the SEAMEO Regional Centre for Education in Science and Mathematics held in Penang, Malaysia from October 8-12, 1970. Procedural matters detailed in the report include: (1) the election of officers; (2) the acceptance of the annual report of the events and…

The solution of the sixth Hilbert problem: the ultimate Galilean revolution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

D'Ariano, Giacomo Mauro

2018-04-01

I argue for a full mathematization of the physical theory, including its axioms, which must contain no physical primitives. In provocative words: `physics from no physics'. Although this may seem an oxymoron, it is the royal road to keep complete logical coherence, hence falsifiability of the theory. For such a purely mathematical theory the physical connotation must pertain only the interpretation of the mathematics, ranging from the axioms to the final theorems. On the contrary, the postulates of the two current major physical theories either do not have physical interpretation (as for von Neumann's axioms for quantum theory), or contain physical primitives as `clock', `rigid rod', `force', `inertial mass' (as for special relativity and mechanics). A purely mathematical theory as proposed here, though with limited (but relentlessly growing) domain of applicability, will have the eternal validity of mathematical truth. It will be a theory on which natural sciences can firmly rely. Such kind of theory is what I consider to be the solution of the sixth Hilbert problem. I argue that a prototype example of such a mathematical theory is provided by the novel algorithmic paradigm for physics, as in the recent information-theoretical derivation of quantum theory and free quantum field theory. This article is part of the theme issue `Hilbert's sixth problem'.

The solution of the sixth Hilbert problem: the ultimate Galilean revolution.

PubMed

D'Ariano, Giacomo Mauro

2018-04-28

I argue for a full mathematization of the physical theory, including its axioms, which must contain no physical primitives. In provocative words: 'physics from no physics'. Although this may seem an oxymoron, it is the royal road to keep complete logical coherence, hence falsifiability of the theory. For such a purely mathematical theory the physical connotation must pertain only the interpretation of the mathematics, ranging from the axioms to the final theorems. On the contrary, the postulates of the two current major physical theories either do not have physical interpretation (as for von Neumann's axioms for quantum theory), or contain physical primitives as 'clock', 'rigid rod', 'force', 'inertial mass' (as for special relativity and mechanics). A purely mathematical theory as proposed here, though with limited (but relentlessly growing) domain of applicability, will have the eternal validity of mathematical truth. It will be a theory on which natural sciences can firmly rely. Such kind of theory is what I consider to be the solution of the sixth Hilbert problem. I argue that a prototype example of such a mathematical theory is provided by the novel algorithmic paradigm for physics, as in the recent information-theoretical derivation of quantum theory and free quantum field theory.This article is part of the theme issue 'Hilbert's sixth problem'. © 2018 The Author(s).

Mathematical Physics in the Style of Gabriel Lamé and the Treatise of Emile Mathieu

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barbin, Évelyne; Guitart, René

The Treatise of Mathematical Physics of Emile Mathieu, published from 1873 to 1890, provided an exposition of the specific French "Mathematical Physics" inherited from Lamé, himself an heir of Poisson, Fourier, and Laplace. The works of all these authors had significant differences, but they were pursuing the same goal, described here with its relation to Theoretical Physics.

Analytical derivation: An epistemic game for solving mathematically based physics problems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bajracharya, Rabindra R.; Thompson, John R.

2016-06-01

Problem solving, which often involves multiple steps, is an integral part of physics learning and teaching. Using the perspective of the epistemic game, we documented a specific game that is commonly pursued by students while solving mathematically based physics problems: the analytical derivation game. This game involves deriving an equation through symbolic manipulations and routine mathematical operations, usually without any physical interpretation of the processes. This game often creates cognitive obstacles in students, preventing them from using alternative resources or better approaches during problem solving. We conducted hour-long, semi-structured, individual interviews with fourteen introductory physics students. Students were asked to solve four "pseudophysics" problems containing algebraic and graphical representations. The problems required the application of the fundamental theorem of calculus (FTC), which is one of the most frequently used mathematical concepts in physics problem solving. We show that the analytical derivation game is necessary, but not sufficient, to solve mathematically based physics problems, specifically those involving graphical representations.

Rationale and study protocol of the EASY Minds (Encouraging Activity to Stimulate Young Minds) program: cluster randomized controlled trial of a primary school-based physical activity integration program for mathematics.

PubMed

Riley, Nicholas; Lubans, David R; Holmes, Kathryn; Morgan, Philip J

2014-08-08

Novel strategies are required to increase school-based physical activity levels of children. Integrating physical activity in mathematics lessons may lead to improvements in students' physical activity levels as well as enjoyment, engagement and learning. The primary aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of a curriculum-based physical activity integration program known as EASY Minds (Encouraging Activity to Stimulate Young Minds) on children's daily school time physical activity levels. Secondary aims include exploring the impact of EASY Minds on their engagement and 'on task' behaviour in mathematics. Grade 5/6 classes from eight public schools in New South Wales, Australia will be randomly allocated to intervention (n = 4) or control (n = 4) groups. Teachers from the intervention group will receive one day of professional development, a resource pack and asked to adapt their lessons to embed movement-based learning in their daily mathematics program in at least three lessons per week over a six week period. Intervention support will be provided via a weekly email and three lesson observations. The primary outcomes will be children's physical activity levels (accelerometry) across both the school day and during mathematics lessons (moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and sedentary time). Children's 'on-task' behaviour, enjoyment of mathematics and mathematics attainment will be assessed as secondary outcomes. A detailed process evaluation will be undertaken. EASY Minds is an innovative intervention that has the potential to improve key physical and academic outcomes for primary school aged children and help guide policy and practice regarding the teaching of mathematics. Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Register ACTRN12613000637741 13/05/2013.

Comparison of Student Understanding of Line Graph Slope in Physics and Mathematics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Planinic, Maja; Milin-Sipus, Zeljka; Katic, Helena; Susac, Ana; Ivanjek, Lana

2012-01-01

This study gives an insight into the differences between student understanding of line graph slope in the context of physics (kinematics) and mathematics. Two pairs of parallel physics and mathematics questions that involved estimation and interpretation of line graph slope were constructed and administered to 114 Croatian second year high school…

Promoting the Understanding of Mathematics in Physics at Secondary Level

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thompson, Alaric

2016-01-01

This article explores some of the common mathematical difficulties that 11- to 16-year-old students experience with respect to their learning of physics. The definition of "understanding" expressed in the article is in the sense of transferability of mathematical skills from topic to topic within physics as well as between the separate…

Methods of Mathematical and Computational Physics for Industry, Science, and Technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Melnik, Roderick V. N.; Voss, Frands

2006-11-01

Many industrial problems provide scientists with important and challenging problems that need to be solved today rather than tomorrow. The key role of mathematical physics, modelling, and computational methodologies in addressing such problems continues to increase. Science has never been exogenous to applied research. Gigantic ships and steam engines, repeating catapult of Dionysius and the Antikythera `computer' invented around 80BC are just a few examples demonstrating a profound link between theoretical and applied science in the ancient world. Nowadays, many industrial problems are typically approached by groups of researchers who are working as a team bringing their expertise to the success of the entire enterprise. Since the late 1960s several groups of European mathematicians and scientists have started organizing regular meetings, seeking new challenges from industry and contributing to the solution of important industrial problems. In particular, this often took the format of week-long workshops originally initiated by the Oxford Study Groups with Industry in 1968. Such workshops are now held in many European countries (typically under the auspices of the European Study Groups with Industry - ESGI), as well as in Australia, Canada, the United States, and other countries around the world. Problems given by industrial partners are sometimes very difficult to complete within a week. However, during a week of brainstorming activities these problems inevitably stimulate developing fruitful new ideas, new approaches, and new collaborations. At the same time, there are cases where as soon as the problem is formulated mathematically, it is relatively easy to solve. Hence, putting the industrial problem into a mathematical framework, based on physical laws, often provides a key element to the success. In addition to this important first step, the value in such cases is the real, practical applicability of the results obtained for an industrial partner who presents the problem. Under both outlined scenarios, scientists and mathematicians are provided with an opportunity to challenge themselves with real-world problems and to work together in a team on important industrial issues. This issue is a result of selected contributions by participants of the meeting that took place in the Sønderborg area of Denmark, one of the most important centers for information technology, telecommunication and electronics in the country. The meeting was hosted by the University of Southern Denmark in a picturesque area of Southern Jutland. It brought together about 65 participants, among whom were professional mathematicians, engineers, physicists, and industrial participants. The meeting was a truly international one, with delegates from four major Danish Universities, the UK, Norway, Italy, Czech Republic, Turkey, China, Germany, Latvia, Canada, the United States, and Finland. Five challenging projects were presented by leading industrial companies, including Grundfos, Danfoss Industrial Control, Unisensor, and Danfoss Flow Division (now Siemens). The meeting featured also the Mathematics for Industry Workshop with several distinguished international speakers. This volume of Journal of Physics: Conference Series on `Methods of Mathematical and Computational Physics for Industry, Science, and Technology' contains contributions from some of the participants of the workshop as well as the papers produced as a result of collaborative efforts with the above mentioned industrial companies. We would like to thank all authors and participants for their contributions and for bearing with us during the review process and preparation of this issue. We thank also all our referees for their timely and detailed reports. The publication of the proceedings of this meeting in Denmark was delayed due to problems with a previous publisher. We are very grateful that Journal of Physics: Conference Series kindly agreed to publish the proceedings rapidly at this late stage. As industrial problems become increasingly multidisciplinary, their successful solutions are often contingent on effective collaborative efforts between scientists, mathematicians, industrialists, and engineers. This volume has provided several examples of such collaborative efforts in the context of real-world industrial problems along with the analysis of important physics-based mathematical models applicable in a range of industrial contexts. Roderick V N Melnik, Professor of Mathematical Modelling, Syddansk Universitet (Denmark) and Professor and Canada Research Chair, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Canada E-mail: rmelnik@wlu.ca Frands Voss, Director of the Mads Clausen Institute, Syddansk Universitet (Denmark)

University teachers' perspectives on the role of the Laplace transform in engineering education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Holmberg née González Sampayo, Margarita; Bernhard, Jonte

2017-07-01

The Laplace transform is an important tool in many branches of engineering, for example, electric and control engineering, but is also regarded as a difficult topic for students to master. We have interviewed 22 university teachers from five universities in three countries (Mexico, Spain and Sweden) about their views on relationships among mathematics, physics and technology/application aspects in the process of learning the Laplace transform in engineering education. Strikingly, the teachers held a spectrum of qualitatively differing views, ranging from seeing virtually no connection (e.g. some thought the Laplace transform has no relevance in engineering), through to regarding the aspects as intimately, almost inseparably linked. The lack of awareness of the widely differing views among teachers might lead to a lack of constructive alignment among different courses that is detrimental to the quality of engineering education.

KSC-2012-1563

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-02-23

ORLANDO, Fla. – Education specialist Jim Gerard, in the red shirt, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, prepares a physics demonstration for students from Meadow Woods Middle School in Orlando during NASA’s Project Management PM Challenge 2012. The demonstrations are designed to increase student interest and pursuit of the science, technology, engineering and mathematics STEM fields integral to producing the next generation of scientists and engineers. PM Challenge 2012 was held at the Caribe Royale Hotel and Convention Center in Orlando, Fla., on Feb. 22-23, to provide a forum for all stakeholders in the project management community to meet and share stories, lessons learned and new uses of technology in the industry. The PM Challenge is sponsored by NASA's Office of the Chief Engineer. For additional information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/offices/oce/pmchallenge/index.html. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann

KSC-2012-1560

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-02-23

ORLANDO, Fla. – Education project specialist Josh Santora, left, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, engages a student from Meadow Woods Middle School in Orlando in a physics demonstration during NASA’s Project Management PM Challenge 2012. The demonstrations are designed to increase student interest and pursuit of the science, technology, engineering and mathematics STEM fields integral to producing the next generation of scientists and engineers. PM Challenge 2012 was held at the Caribe Royale Hotel and Convention Center in Orlando, Fla., on Feb. 22-23, to provide a forum for all stakeholders in the project management community to meet and share stories, lessons learned and new uses of technology in the industry. The PM Challenge is sponsored by NASA's Office of the Chief Engineer. For additional information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/offices/oce/pmchallenge/index.html. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann

Physical modelling of the rainfall infiltration processes and related landslide behaviour.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Capparelli, Giovanna; Damiano, Emilia; Olivares, Lucio; Spolverino, Gennaro; Versace, Pasquale

2016-04-01

The prediction of natural processes, such as weather-induced landslide, an issue that is of great importance. Were held numerous research to understand the processes underlying the triggering of a landslide, and to improve the forecasting systems. A valid prediction model can allow the implementation of an equally valid announcement and warning system, thus reducing the risk caused by such phenomena. The hydraulic and hydrologic modeling of the process that takes place in an unstable slope subjected to rainfall, can be performed using two approaches: through mathematical models or physical models. Our research uses an integrated approach, making system data of experimental sites, with both the results and interpretations of physical models, both with simulations of mathematical models. The intent is to observe and interpret laboratory experiments to reproduce and simulate the phenomenon with mathematical models. The research aims to obtain interpretations of hydrological and hydraulic processes, which occur in the slopes as a result of rain, more and more accurate. For our research we use a scaled-down physical model and a mathematical model FEM. The physical model is a channel with transparent walls composed of two floors at a variable angle (ignition and propagation) 1 meter wide and 3 meters long each. The model is instrumented with sensors that control the hydraulic and geotechnical parameters within the slopes and devices that simulate natural events. The model is equipped with a monitoring system able to keep under observation the physical quantities of interest. In particular, the apparatus is equipped with tensiometers miniaturized, that can be installed in different positions and at different depths, for the measurement of suction within the slope, miniaturized pressure transducers on the bottom of the channel for the measurement of any pressure neutral positive , TDR system for the measurement of the volumetric water content, and displacement transducers to laser technology for the measurement of surface movements in the direction orthogonal to the plane of sliding. The monitoring system is completed with an apparatus of scanning type PIV consists of high-definition cameras, used for the reconstruction of the flow fields on the surface of the sample. It has performed a first test, reconstructing within the channel a homogeneous deposit of volcanic ash, which committed the entire width of the channel for a length of 1,50 m and a thickness of 0.20 m. We proceeded to tilt the slope up to an angle of about 38 ° and has imposed an artificial rain of considerable intensity (about 220 mm / h), aimed at achieving the conditions trigger a landslide along the artificial slope. The second test was made with the same characteristics as the first, but reconstructing a layered deposit, using the same stratigraphy found in a test site. Comparing the values recorded in the two tests can assess the different responses of the two deposits.

Open problems in mathematical physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Coley, Alan A.

2017-09-01

We present a list of open questions in mathematical physics. After a historical introduction, a number of problems in a variety of different fields are discussed, with the intention of giving an overall impression of the current status of mathematical physics, particularly in the topical fields of classical general relativity, cosmology and the quantum realm. This list is motivated by the recent article proposing 42 fundamental questions (in physics) which must be answered on the road to full enlightenment (Allen and Lidstrom 2017 Phys. Scr. 92 012501). But paraphrasing a famous quote by the British football manager Bill Shankly, in response to the question of whether mathematics can answer the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything, mathematics is, of course, much more important than that.

REVIEWS OF TOPICAL PROBLEMS: Analytic calculations on digital computers for applications in physics and mathematics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gerdt, V. P.; Tarasov, O. V.; Shirkov, Dmitrii V.

1980-01-01

The present state of analytic calculations on computers is reviewed. Several programming systems which are used for analytic calculations are discussed: SCHOONSCHIP, CLAM, REDUCE-2, SYMBAL, CAMAL, AVTO-ANALITIK, MACSYMA, etc. It is shown that these systems can be used to solve a wide range of problems in physics and mathematics. Some physical applications are discussed in celestial mechanics, the general theory of relativity, quantum field theory, plasma physics, hydrodynamics, atomic and molecular physics, and quantum chemistry. Some mathematical applications which are discussed are evaluating indefinite integrals, solving differential equations, and analyzing mathematical expressions. This review is addressed to physicists and mathematicians working in a wide range of fields.

Confronting the Core Curriculum: Considering Change in the Undergraduate Mathematics Major. Proceedings of the West Point Core Curriculum Conference in Mathematics (West Point, New York, April 23-24, 1994). Notes 45.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dossey, John A., Ed.

This document contains the proceedings of a conference held at the U.S. Military Academy to consider the question of core requirements for the courses often employed by partner disciplines, what concepts and procedural skills are really central, and how these questions might lead to the creation of a new undergraduate set of requirements that meet…

Development and Evaluation of a Casualty Evacuation Model for a European Conflict.

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-08-18

W Applications and Computations," lIE Transactions, 16, 2, 127-134 "- ( 1984 ).-,’’ ,., 3. Ali, A. I., Helgason, R. V., Kennington, J. L., and kall ...Part II," Mathematical Programming, 1, 6-25 ( 1971 ). 38. Held, M., Wolfe, P., and Crowder, H., "Validation of Subgradient Optimization", Mathematical...California, Los Angeles, CA, ( 1971 ). Si 66. Swoveland, C., "A Two-Stage Decomposition Algorithm for a Generalized Muticommodity Flow Problem," INFOR

Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group = Groupe Canadien d'Etude en Didactique des Mathematiques. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting (25th, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, May 25-29, 2001).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Simmt, Elaine, Ed.; Davis, Brent, Ed.

2001-01-01

This document contains the proceedings of the 2001 annual meeting of the Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group (CMESG) held at the University of Alberta, May 25-39, 2000. The proceedings consist of two plenary lectures, four working groups, five topic sessions, new Ph.D. reports, an AD Hoc Session, and panel discussions. Papers include: (1)…

Meeting the Demands of the Knowledge Based Economy: Strengthening Undergraduate Science, Mathematics and Engineering Education. Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Research, Committee on Science, House of Representatives, 107th Congress, First Session (March 7, 2002).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Congress of the U.S., Washington, DC. House.

This hearing was held to examine the current state of mathematics, science, and engineering education at the undergraduate level by focusing on the demands of a knowledge-based economy. Contents include opening statements by Representative Nick Smith, Chairman, Subcommittee on Research, Committee in Science, U.S. House of Representatives;…

On the Formal-Logical Analysis of the Foundations of Mathematics Applied to Problems in Physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kalanov, Temur Z.

2016-03-01

Analysis of the foundations of mathematics applied to problems in physics was proposed. The unity of formal logic and of rational dialectics is methodological basis of the analysis. It is shown that critical analysis of the concept of mathematical quantity - central concept of mathematics - leads to the following conclusion: (1) The concept of ``mathematical quantity'' is the result of the following mental operations: (a) abstraction of the ``quantitative determinacy of physical quantity'' from the ``physical quantity'' at that the ``quantitative determinacy of physical quantity'' is an independent object of thought; (b) abstraction of the ``amount (i.e., abstract number)'' from the ``quantitative determinacy of physical quantity'' at that the ``amount (i.e., abstract number)'' is an independent object of thought. In this case, unnamed, abstract numbers are the only sign of the ``mathematical quantity''. This sign is not an essential sign of the material objects. (2) The concept of mathematical quantity is meaningless, erroneous, and inadmissible concept in science because it represents the following formal-logical and dialectical-materialistic error: negation of the existence of the essential sign of the concept (i.e., negation of the existence of the essence of the concept) and negation of the existence of measure of material object.

Mathematics and Physics: The Idea of a Pre-Established Harmony

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kragh, Helge

2015-01-01

For more than a century the notion of a pre-established harmony between the mathematical and physical sciences has played an important role not only in the rhetoric of mathematicians and theoretical physicists, but also as a doctrine guiding much of their research. Strongly mathematized branches of physics, such as the vortex theory of atoms…

An epistemic framing analysis of upper level physics students' use of mathematics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bing, Thomas Joseph

Mathematics is central to a professional physicist's work and, by extension, to a physics student's studies. It provides a language for abstraction, definition, computation, and connection to physical reality. This power of mathematics in physics is also the source of many of the difficulties it presents students. Simply put, many different activities could all be described as "using math in physics". Expertise entails a complicated coordination of these various activities. This work examines the many different kinds of thinking that are all facets of the use of mathematics in physics. It uses an epistemological lens, one that looks at the type of explanation a student presently sees as appropriate, to analyze the mathematical thinking of upper level physics undergraduates. Sometimes a student will turn to a detailed calculation to produce or justify an answer. Other times a physical argument is explicitly connected to the mathematics at hand. Still other times quoting a definition is seen as sufficient, and so on. Local coherencies evolve in students' thought around these various types of mathematical justifications. We use the cognitive process of framing to model students' navigation of these various facets of math use in physics. We first demonstrate several common framings observed in our students' mathematical thought and give several examples of each. Armed with this analysis tool, we then give several examples of how this framing analysis can be used to address a research question. We consider what effects, if any, a powerful symbolic calculator has on students' thinking. We also consider how to characterize growing expertise among physics students. Framing offers a lens for analysis that is a natural fit for these sample research questions. To active physics education researchers, the framing analysis presented in this dissertation can provide a useful tool for addressing other research questions. To physics teachers, we present this analysis so that it may make them more explicitly aware of the various types of reasoning, and the dynamics among them, that students employ in our physics classes. This awareness will help us better hear students' arguments and respond appropriately.

Experimental Mathematics and Mathematical Physics

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bailey, David H.; Borwein, Jonathan M.; Broadhurst, David

2009-06-26

One of the most effective techniques of experimental mathematics is to compute mathematical entities such as integrals, series or limits to high precision, then attempt to recognize the resulting numerical values. Recently these techniques have been applied with great success to problems in mathematical physics. Notable among these applications are the identification of some key multi-dimensional integrals that arise in Ising theory, quantum field theory and in magnetic spin theory.

Math Attendees Find There's Life After Fermat Proof.

PubMed

Cipra, B

1994-02-04

The uncertain status of the recent proof of Fermat's Last Theorem (Science, 24 December 1993, p. 1967) was the hot topic in the hallways at the joint meetings of the American Mathematical Society and the Mathematical Association of America, held 12-15 January in Cincinnati. But a few other topics did manage to get discussed. Among them: How gambling pays off in computing the volume of high-dimensional shapes; how a mathematical description of water dripping down a window pane might lead to the design of digital pulses that could race through the optical fibers of the future; and how one can be fooled infinitely often by another theorem of Fermat's.

The Challenge of Learning Physics Before Mathematics: A Case Study of Curriculum Change in Taiwan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chiu, Mei-Shiu

2016-12-01

The aim of this study was to identify challenges in implementing a physics-before- 10 mathematics curriculum. Obviously, students need to learn necessary mathematics skills in order to develop advanced physics knowledge. In the 2010 high school curriculum in Taiwan, however, grade 11 science students study two-dimensional motion in physics without prior learning experiences of trigonometry in mathematics. The perspectives of three curriculum developers, 22 mathematics and physics teachers, two principals, and 45 science students were obtained by interview. The results of qualitative data analysis revealed six challenges and suggested likely solutions. The national level includes political and social challenges, resolved by respecting teachers as professionals; the teacher level includes knowledge and teaching challenges, resolved by increasing teacher trans-literal capacities; and the student level includes learning and justice challenges, resolved by focusing on students' diverse developments in cross-domain learning.

Potential characteristics that relate to teachers mathematics-related beliefs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Purnomo, Y. W.; Aziz, T. A.; Pramudiani, P.; Darwis, S.; Suryadi, D.

2018-01-01

A characteristic of the persons was very potential to affect the beliefs they held. This study examines whether there was a significant difference between the beliefs factors with characteristics such as gender, teaching experience, certification status, and grade level assignments. There were 325 primary school teachers in East Jakarta who participated in this research. MANOVA was applied to analyze the data. The findings of this study indicate that only on teaching experience, there was a significant difference between the beliefs held by the teachers, i.e. teachers who have 11-20 years teaching experience were more likely to think absolute than constructivism. Moreover, there was no difference between each belief they held with the other characteristics.

Promoting Ocean Literacy through American Meteorological Society Programs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Passow, Michael; Abshire, Wendy; Weinbeck, Robert; Geer, Ira; Mills, Elizabeth

2017-04-01

American Meteorological Society Education Programs provide course materials, online and physical resources, educator instruction, and specialized training in ocean, weather, and climate sciences (https://www.ametsoc.org/ams/index.cfm/education-careers/education-program/k-12-teachers/). Ocean Science literacy efforts are supported through the Maury Project, DataStreme Ocean, and AMS Ocean Studies. The Maury Project is a summer professional development program held at the US Naval Academy designed to enhance effective teaching of the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics of oceanography. DataStreme Ocean is a semester-long course offered twice a year to participants nationwide. Created and sustained with major support from NOAA, DS Ocean explores key concepts in marine geology, physical and chemical oceanography, marine biology, and climate change. It utilizes electronically-transmitted text readings, investigations and current environmental data. AMS Ocean Studies provides complete packages for undergraduate courses. These include online textbooks, investigations manuals, RealTime Ocean Portal (course website), and course management system-compatible files. It can be offered in traditional lecture/laboratory, completely online, and hybrid learning environments. Assistance from AMS staff and other course users is available.

Preface.

PubMed

Ditlevsen, Susanne; Lansky, Petr

2016-06-01

This Special Issue of Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering contains 11 selected papers presented at the Neural Coding 2014 workshop. The workshop was held in the royal city of Versailles in France, October 6-10, 2014. This was the 11th of a series of international workshops on this subject, the first held in Prague (1995), then Versailles (1997), Osaka (1999), Plymouth (2001), Aulla (2003), Marburg (2005), Montevideo (2007), Tainan (2009), Limassol (2010), and again in Prague (2012). Also selected papers from Prague were published as a special issue of Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering and in this way a tradition was started. Similarly to the previous workshops, this was a single track multidisciplinary event bringing together experimental and computational neuroscientists. The Neural Coding Workshops are traditionally biennial symposia. They are relatively small in size, interdisciplinary with major emphasis on the search for common principles in neural coding. The workshop was conceived to bring together scientists from different disciplines for an in-depth discussion of mathematical model-building and computational strategies. Further information on the meeting can be found at the NC2014 website at https://colloque6.inra.fr/neural_coding_2014. The meeting was supported by French National Institute for Agricultural Research, the world's leading institution in this field. This Special Issue of Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering contains 11 selected papers presented at the Neural Coding 2014 workshop. The workshop was held in the royal city of Versailles in France, October 6-10, 2014. This was the 11th of a series of international workshops on this subject, the first held in Prague (1995), then Versailles (1997), Osaka (1999), Plymouth (2001), Aulla (2003), Marburg (2005), Montevideo (2007), Tainan (2009), Limassol (2010), and again in Prague (2012). Also selected papers from Prague were published as a special issue of Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering and in this way a tradition was started. Similarly to the previous workshops, this was a single track multidisciplinary event bringing together experimental and computational neuroscientists. The Neural Coding Workshops are traditionally biennial symposia. They are relatively small in size, interdisciplinary with major emphasis on the search for common principles in neural coding. The workshop was conceived to bring together scientists from different disciplines for an in-depth discussion of mathematical model-building and computational strategies. Further information on the meeting can be found at the NC2014 website at https://colloque6.inra.fr/neural_coding_2014. The meeting was supported by French National Institute for Agricultural Research, the world's leading institution in this field. Understanding how the brain processes information is one of the most challenging subjects in neuroscience. The papers presented in this special issue show a small corner of the huge diversity of this field, and illustrate how scientists with different backgrounds approach this vast subject. The diversity of disciplines engaged in these investigations is remarkable: biologists, mathematicians, physicists, psychologists, computer scientists, and statisticians, all have original tools and ideas by which to try to elucidate the underlying mechanisms. In this issue, emphasis is put on mathematical modeling of single neurons. A variety of problems in computational neuroscience accompanied with a rich diversity of mathematical tools and approaches are presented. We hope it will inspire and challenge the readers in their own research. We would like to thank the authors for their valuable contributions and the referees for their priceless effort of reviewing the manuscripts. Finally, we would like to thank Yang Kuang for supporting us and making this publication possible.

Opening Talk: Opening Talk

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Doebner, H.-D.

2008-02-01

Ladies and Gentlemen Dear Friends and Colleagues I welcome you at the 5th International Symposium `Quantum Theory and Symmetries, QTS5' in Valladolid as Chairman of the Conference Board of this biannual series. The aim of the series is to arrange an international meeting place for scientists working in theoretical and mathematical physics, in mathematics, in mathematical biology and chemistry and in other sciences for the presentation and discussion of recent developments in connection with quantum physics and chemistry, material science and related further fields, like life sciences and engineering, which are based on mathematical methods which can be applied to model and to understand microphysical and other systems through inherent symmetries in their widest sense. These systems include, e.g., foundations and extensions of quantum theory; quantum probability; quantum optics and quantum information; the description of nonrelativistic, finite dimensional and chaotic systems; quantum field theory, particle physics, string theory and quantum gravity. Symmetries in their widest sense describe properties of a system which could be modelled, e.g., through geometry, group theory, topology, algebras, differential geometry, noncommutative geometry, functional analysis and approximation methods; numerical evaluation techniques are necessary to connect such symmetries with experimental results. If you ask for a more detailed characterisation of this notion a hand waving indirect answer is: Collect titles and contents of the contributions of the proceedings of QTS4 and get a characterisation through semantic closure. Quantum theory and its Symmetries was and is a diversified and rapidly growing field. The number of and the types of systems with an internal symmetry and the corresponding mathematical models develop fast. This is reflected in the content of the five former international symposia of this series: The first symposium, QTS1-1999, was organized in Goslar (Germany) with 170 participants and 89 contributions in the proceedings; it was centred on the foundations and extensions of quantum theory, on quantisation methods and on q-algebras. In QTS2-2001 in Cracow (Poland) with 175 participants and 81 contributions; the main topics were applications of quantum mechanics, representations of algebras and group theoretical techniques in physics. In the symposium QTS3-2003 in Cincinnati (USA) with 145 participants and 92 contributions, quantum field theory, loop quantum gravity, string and brane theory was discussed. The focus in QTS4-2005 in Varna (Bulgaria) with 228 participant and 105 contributions, was on conformal field theory, quantum gravity, noncommutative geometry and quantum groups. Three proceedings volumes were published with World Scientific and one volume with Heron Press. The promising and interesting programme for QTS5-2007 in Valladolid (Spain) attracted more than 200 participants; the contributions will be published in a special issue of Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical and a volume of Journal of Physics: Conference Series. This shows the wide scope of symmetry in connection with quantum physics and related sciences. In the background of the symposia series is the Conference Board with presently 13 members. The Board encourages scientists and Institutions to present detailed proposals for a QTS symposium; it agrees to one proposal and is prepared to assist in matters of organisation; the local organisers are responsible for the scientific programme and for the organisation, including the budget. The Board decided that the next symposium QTS6 will be held 2009 at the University of Kentucky in Lexington (USA); Alan Shapere is the chairman of the Local Organizing committee. In the name of all of you I express my appreciation and my thanks to the members of the Local Organizing Committee of QTS5, especially to Mariano del Olmo. The programme is outstanding; it covers recent and new developments in our field. The organization is very effective and complete. We have all the necessary condition for a successful and smooth meeting. Thank you again Mariano. H-D Doebner Chairman of the Conference Board of QTS5

Obstacles Related to Structuring for Mathematization Encountered by Students When Solving Physics Problems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Niss, Martin

2017-01-01

This paper studies the cognitive obstacles related to one aspect of mathematization in physics problem-solving, namely, what might be called "structuring for mathematization," where the problem situation is structured in such a way that a translation to a mathematical universe can be done. We report the results of an analysis of four…

Problem Solving in the Borderland between Mathematics and Physics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jensen, Jens Højgaard; Niss, Martin; Jankvist, Uffe Thomas

2017-01-01

The article addresses the problématique of where mathematization is taught in the educational system, and who teaches it. Mathematization is usually not a part of mathematics programs at the upper secondary level, but we argue that physics teaching has something to offer in this respect, if it focuses on solving so-called unformalized problems,…

Number sense in infancy predicts mathematical abilities in childhood.

PubMed

Starr, Ariel; Libertus, Melissa E; Brannon, Elizabeth M

2013-11-05

Human infants in the first year of life possess an intuitive sense of number. This preverbal number sense may serve as a developmental building block for the uniquely human capacity for mathematics. In support of this idea, several studies have demonstrated that nonverbal number sense is correlated with mathematical abilities in children and adults. However, there has been no direct evidence that infant numerical abilities are related to mathematical abilities later in childhood. Here, we provide evidence that preverbal number sense in infancy predicts mathematical abilities in preschool-aged children. Numerical preference scores at 6 months of age correlated with both standardized math test scores and nonsymbolic number comparison scores at 3.5 years of age, suggesting that preverbal number sense facilitates the acquisition of numerical symbols and mathematical abilities. This relationship held even after controlling for general intelligence, indicating that preverbal number sense imparts a unique contribution to mathematical ability. These results validate the many prior studies purporting to show number sense in infancy and support the hypothesis that mathematics is built upon an intuitive sense of number that predates language.

Number sense in infancy predicts mathematical abilities in childhood

PubMed Central

Starr, Ariel; Libertus, Melissa E.; Brannon, Elizabeth M.

2013-01-01

Human infants in the first year of life possess an intuitive sense of number. This preverbal number sense may serve as a developmental building block for the uniquely human capacity for mathematics. In support of this idea, several studies have demonstrated that nonverbal number sense is correlated with mathematical abilities in children and adults. However, there has been no direct evidence that infant numerical abilities are related to mathematical abilities later in childhood. Here, we provide evidence that preverbal number sense in infancy predicts mathematical abilities in preschool-aged children. Numerical preference scores at 6 months of age correlated with both standardized math test scores and nonsymbolic number comparison scores at 3.5 years of age, suggesting that preverbal number sense facilitates the acquisition of numerical symbols and mathematical abilities. This relationship held even after controlling for general intelligence, indicating that preverbal number sense imparts a unique contribution to mathematical ability. These results validate the many prior studies purporting to show number sense in infancy and support the hypothesis that mathematics is built upon an intuitive sense of number that predates language. PMID:24145427

Evaluating High School Students' Conceptions of the Relationship between Mathematics and Physics: Development of a Questionnaire

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kapucu, S.; Öçal, M. F.; Simsek, M.

2016-01-01

The purposes of this study were (1) to develop a questionnaire measuring high school students' conceptions of the relationship between mathematics and physics, (2) and to determine the students' conceptions of the relationship between mathematics and physics. A total of 718 high school students (343 male, 375 female) participated in this study.…

Shadows constructing a relationship between light and color pigments by physical and mathematical perspectives

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yurumezoglu, Kemal; Karabey, Burak; Yigit Koyunkaya, Melike

2017-03-01

Full shadows, partial shadows and multilayer shadows are explained based on the phenomenon of the linear dispersion of light. This paper focuses on progressing the understanding of shadows from physical and mathematical perspectives. A significant relationship between light and color pigments is demonstrated with the help of the concept of sets. This integration of physical and mathematical reasoning not only manages an operational approach to the concept of shadows, it also outputs a model that can be used in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) curricula by providing a concrete and physical example for abstract concept of the empty set.

Predicting Physics Achievement: Attitude towards Physics, Self-Efficacy of Learning Physics, and Mathematics Achievement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kapucu, Serkan

2017-01-01

This study aims to explore the relationships among Turkish high school students' attitude towards physics, self-efficacy of learning physics, mathematics achievement, and physics achievement. To investigate the relationships, a unique questionnaire that identifies the attitude, self-efficacy and achievements were delivered to a total of 301 high…

Gender Representation on Journal Editorial Boards in the Mathematical Sciences.

PubMed

Topaz, Chad M; Sen, Shilad

2016-01-01

We study gender representation on the editorial boards of 435 journals in the mathematical sciences. Women are known to comprise approximately 15% of tenure-stream faculty positions in doctoral-granting mathematical sciences departments in the United States. Compared to this group, we find that 8.9% of the 13067 editorships in our study are held by women. We describe group variations within the editorships by identifying specific journals, subfields, publishers, and countries that significantly exceed or fall short of this average. To enable our study, we develop a semi-automated method for inferring gender that has an estimated accuracy of 97.5%. Our findings provide the first measure of gender distribution on editorial boards in the mathematical sciences, offer insights that suggest future studies in the mathematical sciences, and introduce new methods that enable large-scale studies of gender distribution in other fields.

Gender Representation on Journal Editorial Boards in the Mathematical Sciences

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

We study gender representation on the editorial boards of 435 journals in the mathematical sciences. Women are known to comprise approximately 15% of tenure-stream faculty positions in doctoral-granting mathematical sciences departments in the United States. Compared to this group, we find that 8.9% of the 13067 editorships in our study are held by women. We describe group variations within the editorships by identifying specific journals, subfields, publishers, and countries that significantly exceed or fall short of this average. To enable our study, we develop a semi-automated method for inferring gender that has an estimated accuracy of 97.5%. Our findings provide the first measure of gender distribution on editorial boards in the mathematical sciences, offer insights that suggest future studies in the mathematical sciences, and introduce new methods that enable large-scale studies of gender distribution in other fields. PMID:27536970

A Physicist as President of the University

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dynes, Robert

2005-03-01

My wife, physicist Frances Hellman, is fond of referring to me as a ``restless soul,'' and I do not dispute her. In the 40 years since graduating from the University of Western Ontario with a bachelor's degree in mathematics and physics, I went on to earn master's and doctorate degrees in physics and an honorary doctor of science degree from McMaster University. In 22 years working at AT&T Bell Laboratories, I held five positions, was department head in two departments, and director of one laboratory. At the University of California, San Diego, I was a Professor of Physics, chair of the Department of Physics, senior vice chancellor and then chancellor. Currently, in addition to being a professor of Physics, I am president of the University of California. The ``restless'' trajectory of my career from physics undergraduate to university president follows the nature of physics itself. In physics, you are constantly seeking challenges, experimenting, creating hypotheses, looking for and finding solutions. I recall having a structured view of the world as a boy, a sense that there was a guiding ``master plan'' to most things and that wise, educated, benevolent people were there to implement the plan. ``They'' would do the right thing. Along the way, I realized, ``there is no `they' there; there is only us.'' Acknowledging the laws of thermodynamics-- ``you can't win, you can't break even, and you can't get out of the game'' --I nonetheless believe that if you have a restless mind, an open heart, and intellectual honesty without giving into wishful thinking, physicists can do anything. .

Marriages of mathematics and physics: A challenge for biology.

PubMed

Islami, Arezoo; Longo, Giuseppe

2017-12-01

The human attempts to access, measure and organize physical phenomena have led to a manifold construction of mathematical and physical spaces. We will survey the evolution of geometries from Euclid to the Algebraic Geometry of the 20th century. The role of Persian/Arabic Algebra in this transition and its Western symbolic development is emphasized. In this relation, we will also discuss changes in the ontological attitudes toward mathematics and its applications. Historically, the encounter of geometric and algebraic perspectives enriched the mathematical practices and their foundations. Yet, the collapse of Euclidean certitudes, of over 2300 years, and the crisis in the mathematical analysis of the 19th century, led to the exclusion of "geometric judgments" from the foundations of Mathematics. After the success and the limits of the logico-formal analysis, it is necessary to broaden our foundational tools and re-examine the interactions with natural sciences. In particular, the way the geometric and algebraic approaches organize knowledge is analyzed as a cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural issue and will be examined in Mathematical Physics and Biology. We finally discuss how the current notions of mathematical (phase) "space" should be revisited for the purposes of life sciences. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

PREFACE: International Conference on Modern Perspectives of Cosmology and Gravitation (COSGRAV 12)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pal, Supratik; Basu, Banasri

2012-12-01

This volume of Journal of Physics: Conference Series is dedicated to the International Conference on Modern Perspectives of Cosmology and Gravitation (COSGRAV 12) organized by Physics and Applied Mathematics Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, held on 7-11 February 2012. The conference, which focused exclusively on recent trends of research in Cosmology and Gravitation, was the first in the series held in this institute of great repute. The ultimate plan is to make it a regular event every two or three years based on the very positive response we received which was beyond our expectation. The immediate purpose of this conference was to bring together experienced as well as young scientists who are interested in working actively on various aspects of Cosmology and Gravitation. The lectures addressed major theoretical issues, current and forthcoming observational data as well as upcoming ideas in both theoretical and observational sectors. Keeping in mind the 'academic exchange first' approach the lectures were arranged in such a way that the young researchers had ample scope to interact with the stalwarts who are internationally leading experts in their respective fields of research. The major topics covered in the conference are: Early Universe: Inflation, Alternatives and Links to Fundamental Physics Present Universe: Dark Matter, Dark Energy, Alternatives Observational Cosmology: CMB, Supernovae, Lensing, Galaxies and Clusters Quantum Aspects of Gravity Black Hole Physics Interface of Gravitation with Information Theory and Condensed Matter Physics. Besides the invited talks a good proportion of the participants also presented their work through contributory talks and posters on this big platform. This was particularly encouraging and of benefit to the young participants, given that there were a number of scientists of international repute among the participants, the feedback from whom could guide them in the right direction. All the contributions were refereed by experts. This set a standard of its own. We are indebted to the Indian Statistical Institute for providing us with generous funding that covered all the expenses required to organize such a huge conference, and for providing us with the support staff facilities. We gratefully acknowledge encouragement from Professor Bimal K Roy, Director, Indian Statistical Institute, and his constant support in all aspects of the conference which made the program function so well. We thank the Scientific Advisory Committee for their valuable suggestions on technical aspects of the conference. We thank all the members of Local Organizing Committee as well as the volunteering students who contributed their hard labour to make the conference a great success. Special thanks to Sudipta Das, Barun Kumar Pal and Sayantan Choudhury for their help during every stage of the conference. We sincerely thank IOP Publishing and the staff of Journal of Physics: Conference Series for the publication of this issue. Last but not least, we thank all the speakers and participants without whom the program would not have been such as success. We hope we will your active participation in future versions of the conference as well. Supratik Pal and Banasri Basu (Editors) Physics and Applied Mathematics Unit Indian Statistical Institute 203 B.T.Road Kolkata 700108 INDIA Conference photograph

A Guided Tour of Mathematical Methods - 2nd Edition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Snieder, Roel

2004-09-01

Mathematical methods are essential tools for all physical scientists. This second edition provides a comprehensive tour of the mathematical knowledge and techniques that are needed by students in this area. In contrast to more traditional textbooks, all the material is presented in the form of problems. Within these problems the basic mathematical theory and its physical applications are well integrated. The mathematical insights that the student acquires are therefore driven by their physical insight. Topics that are covered include vector calculus, linear algebra, Fourier analysis, scale analysis, complex integration, Green's functions, normal modes, tensor calculus, and perturbation theory. The second edition contains new chapters on dimensional analysis, variational calculus, and the asymptotic evaluation of integrals. This book can be used by undergraduates, and lower-level graduate students in the physical sciences. It can serve as a stand-alone text, or as a source of problems and examples to complement other textbooks. All the material is presented in the form of problems Mathematical insights are gained by getting the reader to develop answers themselves Many applications of the mathematics are given

The Real and the Mathematical in Quantum Modeling: From Principles to Models and from Models to Principles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Plotnitsky, Arkady

2017-06-01

The history of mathematical modeling outside physics has been dominated by the use of classical mathematical models, C-models, primarily those of a probabilistic or statistical nature. More recently, however, quantum mathematical models, Q-models, based in the mathematical formalism of quantum theory have become more prominent in psychology, economics, and decision science. The use of Q-models in these fields remains controversial, in part because it is not entirely clear whether Q-models are necessary for dealing with the phenomena in question or whether C-models would still suffice. My aim, however, is not to assess the necessity of Q-models in these fields, but instead to reflect on what the possible applicability of Q-models may tell us about the corresponding phenomena there, vis-à-vis quantum phenomena in physics. In order to do so, I shall first discuss the key reasons for the use of Q-models in physics. In particular, I shall examine the fundamental principles that led to the development of quantum mechanics. Then I shall consider a possible role of similar principles in using Q-models outside physics. Psychology, economics, and decision science borrow already available Q-models from quantum theory, rather than derive them from their own internal principles, while quantum mechanics was derived from such principles, because there was no readily available mathematical model to handle quantum phenomena, although the mathematics ultimately used in quantum did in fact exist then. I shall argue, however, that the principle perspective on mathematical modeling outside physics might help us to understand better the role of Q-models in these fields and possibly to envision new models, conceptually analogous to but mathematically different from those of quantum theory, helpful or even necessary there or in physics itself. I shall suggest one possible type of such models, singularized probabilistic, SP, models, some of which are time-dependent, TDSP-models. The necessity of using such models may change the nature of mathematical modeling in science and, thus, the nature of science, as it happened in the case of Q-models, which not only led to a revolutionary transformation of physics but also opened new possibilities for scientific thinking and mathematical modeling beyond physics.

Integrating Mathematics into the Introductory Biology Laboratory Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

White, James D.; Carpenter, Jenna P.

2008-01-01

Louisiana Tech University has an integrated science curriculum for its mathematics, chemistry, physics, computer science, biology-research track and secondary mathematics and science education majors. The curriculum focuses on the calculus sequence and introductory labs in biology, physics, and chemistry. In the introductory biology laboratory…

TIMSS Advanced 2008 Assessment Frameworks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Garden, Robert A.; Lie, Svein; Robitaille, David F.; Angell, Carl; Martin, Michael O.; Mullis, Ina V.S.; Foy, Pierre; Arora, Alka

2006-01-01

Developing the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) Advanced 2008 Assessment Frameworks was a collaborative venture involving mathematics and physics experts from around the world. The document contains two frameworks for implementing TIMSS Advanced 2008--one for advanced mathematics and one for physics. It also contains…

A Mathematics Entrance Exam for General (Non-Majors) Physics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chediak, Alex

2010-01-01

In a previous issue of "The Physics Teacher", John Hubisz explained how a mathematics background check has been used at three different colleges to determine the appropriate physics sequence for incoming students. Based on their performance, students are placed into either calculus-based physics (CBP), algebra-trig physics (ATP), or a year of…

Advancement of understanding in physical science and reduction of mathematical anxiety through the use of supplemental mathematics material

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roberson, James Chadwick

The purpose of this study was to determine if supplementary mathematics materials (created to be complementary to a physical science course) could provide a significant change in the attitudes and performance of the students involved. The supplementary text was provided in the form of a booklet. Participants were students in a physical science class. Students were given surveys to evaluate existing knowledge of physical science, mathematics skill, and mathematics anxiety in the context of a science class. Students were divided into control and experimental groups by lab section, with the experimental group receiving a supplemental booklet. At the end of the semester, another anxiety survey was given. The anxiety surveys and test grades were compared between groups. Anxiety scores were compared between the beginning and end of the semester within each group. Too few students reported using the booklets for a reliable statistical comparison (of grades) to be made. A statistically significant difference in mathematics anxiety levels was found between the groups.

The reasonable effectiveness of mathematics in the natural sciences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harvey, Alex

2011-12-01

Mathematics and its relation to the physical universe have been the topic of speculation since the days of Pythagoras. Several different views of the nature of mathematics have been considered: Realism—mathematics exists and is discovered; Logicism—all mathematics may be deduced through pure logic; Formalism—mathematics is just the manipulation of formulas and rules invented for the purpose; Intuitionism—mathematics comprises mental constructs governed by self evident rules. The debate among the several schools has major importance in understanding what Eugene Wigner called, The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences. In return, this `Unreasonable Effectiveness' suggests a possible resolution of the debate in favor of Realism. The crucial element is the extraordinary predictive capacity of mathematical structures descriptive of physical theories.

The Relationship Between Lower Extremily Strength and Shoulder Overuse Symptoms: A Model Based on Polio Survivors

DTIC Science & Technology

1998-01-01

developed based on a questionnaire designed to measure habitual physical activity.9 The survey 124 included specific activities that might predispose...manual strength examination was then performed by a physical therapist using a hand- 149 held dynamometer (Empi Microfet2, St. Paul, MN). The physical ...subject pushed against the padded dynamometer force plate, 157 which the physical therapist held stationary. The peak force was measured in pounds, and

PREFACE: New trends in Computer Simulations in Physics and not only in physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shchur, Lev N.; Krashakov, Serge A.

2016-02-01

In this volume we have collected papers based on the presentations given at the International Conference on Computer Simulations in Physics and beyond (CSP2015), held in Moscow, September 6-10, 2015. We hope that this volume will be helpful and scientifically interesting for readers. The Conference was organized for the first time with the common efforts of the Moscow Institute for Electronics and Mathematics (MIEM) of the National Research University Higher School of Economics, the Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics, and the Science Center in Chernogolovka. The name of the Conference emphasizes the multidisciplinary nature of computational physics. Its methods are applied to the broad range of current research in science and society. The choice of venue was motivated by the multidisciplinary character of the MIEM. It is a former independent university, which has recently become the part of the National Research University Higher School of Economics. The Conference Computer Simulations in Physics and beyond (CSP) is planned to be organized biannually. This year's Conference featured 99 presentations, including 21 plenary and invited talks ranging from the analysis of Irish myths with recent methods of statistical physics, to computing with novel quantum computers D-Wave and D-Wave2. This volume covers various areas of computational physics and emerging subjects within the computational physics community. Each section was preceded by invited talks presenting the latest algorithms and methods in computational physics, as well as new scientific results. Both parallel and poster sessions paid special attention to numerical methods, applications and results. For all the abstracts presented at the conference please follow the link http://csp2015.ac.ru/files/book5x.pdf

Introductory Physics Students' Physics and Mathematics Epistemologies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scanlon, Erin M.

2017-01-01

The purpose of this three study dissertation is to investigate why students are enrolled in introductory physics courses experience difficulties in being successful; one possible source of their difficulties is related to their epistemology. In order to investigate students' epistemologies about mathematics and physics, students were observed…

ASCR Workshop on Quantum Computing for Science

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Aspuru-Guzik, Alan; Van Dam, Wim; Farhi, Edward

This report details the findings of the DOE ASCR Workshop on Quantum Computing for Science that was organized to assess the viability of quantum computing technologies to meet the computational requirements of the DOE’s science and energy mission, and to identify the potential impact of quantum technologies. The workshop was held on February 17-18, 2015, in Bethesda, MD, to solicit input from members of the quantum computing community. The workshop considered models of quantum computation and programming environments, physical science applications relevant to DOE's science mission as well as quantum simulation, and applied mathematics topics including potential quantum algorithms formore » linear algebra, graph theory, and machine learning. This report summarizes these perspectives into an outlook on the opportunities for quantum computing to impact problems relevant to the DOE’s mission as well as the additional research required to bring quantum computing to the point where it can have such impact.« less

KSC-2012-1561

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-02-23

ORLANDO, Fla. – Education specialists from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center set up a physics demonstration for the students from Meadow Woods Middle School in Orlando during NASA’s Project Management PM Challenge 2012. Here, Jim Gerard, in the red shirt at center, is assisted by Rachel Powers, in the blue shirt. The demonstrations are designed to increase student interest and pursuit of the science, technology, engineering and mathematics STEM fields integral to producing the next generation of scientists and engineers. PM Challenge 2012 was held at the Caribe Royale Hotel and Convention Center in Orlando, Fla., on Feb. 22-23, to provide a forum for all stakeholders in the project management community to meet and share stories, lessons learned and new uses of technology in the industry. The PM Challenge is sponsored by NASA's Office of the Chief Engineer. For additional information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/offices/oce/pmchallenge/index.html. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann

KSC-2012-1564

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-02-23

ORLANDO, Fla. – Students from Meadow Woods Middle School in Orlando take part in a hands-on activity during NASA’s Project Management PM Challenge 2012. Education specialists from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center supported the annual PM Challenge with demonstrations designed to illustrate various principles of physics. The demonstrations are designed to increase student interest and pursuit of the science, technology, engineering and mathematics STEM fields integral to producing the next generation of scientists and engineers. PM Challenge 2012 was held at the Caribe Royale Hotel and Convention Center in Orlando, Fla., on Feb. 22-23, to provide a forum for all stakeholders in the project management community to meet and share stories, lessons learned and new uses of technology in the industry. The PM Challenge is sponsored by NASA's Office of the Chief Engineer. For additional information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/offices/oce/pmchallenge/index.html. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann

Proceedings of the ninth national conference on undergraduate research, 1995. Volume 2

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yearout, R.D.

1995-07-01

The Ninth National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR 95) was held at Union College in Schenectady, New York. This annual celebration of undergraduate scholarly activity continues to elicit strong nation-wide support and enthusiasm among both students and faculty. Attendance was nearly 1,650, which included 1,213 student oral and poster presenters. For the second year in a row, many student papers had to be rejected for presentation at NCUR due to conference size limitations. Thus, submitted papers for presentation at NCUR 95 were put through a careful review process before acceptance. Those students who have been selected to have their papermore » appear in these Proceedings have been through yet a second review process. As a consequence, their work has been judged to represent an impressive level of achievement at the undergraduate level. Volume 2 contains papers related to Engineering and Mathematics (41 papers) and Physical Science (18 papers).« less

Students' Mathematical Modeling of Motion

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marshall, Jill A.; Carrejo, David J.

2008-01-01

We present results of an investigation of university students' development of mathematical models of motion in a physical science course for preservice teachers and graduate students in science and mathematics education. Although some students were familiar with the standard concepts of position, velocity, and acceleration from physics classes,…

Modeling and Simulation Environment for Critical Infrastructure Protection

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-06-20

address at the triennial International Symposium on Mathematical Programming, held in Copenhagen, Denmark in August 2003. Finally, in very recent work... Teleworking - The human and organizational issues of computer and information security. Paper presented at the 11th Annual Conference on Human

78 FR 57174 - Advisory Committee Meeting

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-09-17

... recommended for inclusion on future Joint Board examinations in actuarial mathematics, pension law and... Advisory Committee on Actuarial Examinations. DATES: The meeting will be held on October 18, 2013, from 8.... SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Notice is hereby given that the Advisory Committee on Actuarial Examinations will...

PREFACE: 3rd Italian-Pakistani Workshop on Relativistic Astrophysics (IPWRA2011)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

De Paolis, Francesco; Siddiqui, Azad A.

2012-03-01

The Third Italian-Pakistani Workshop on Relativistic Astrophysics was held at the Rectorate of the University of Salento in Lecce on June 20-22, 2011. It follows the first two editions of this Workshop held at the Department of Physics of the University of Salento on 20-22 June 2007 and at ICRA (International Center for Relativistic Astrophysics) in Pescara on 8-10 July 2009. The Proceedings of the first two editions of this Workshop have been published in two special issues of Nuovo Cimento B [1] and General Relativity and Gravitation [2], respectively. The workshop series, whose aim is that of discussing the different aspects (both theoretical and observational) of Relativistic Astrophysics, follows the signature, in 2006, of an agreement between the University of Salento, Italy and the National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Pakistan, and aims at promoting scientific and academic cooperation between the parties. The organizing committee of this Workshop has decided to dedicate the present workshop's edition to the celebration of the 65th birthday of the founder of this series of meetings, Prof. Asghar Qadir, one of the greatest Pakistani scientists of any time and a renowned world expert in the theory of general relativity. Many of the Workshop's participants have either been students or collaborators of Asghar Qadir, or both. In Pakistan the words Relativity and Asghar Qadir are synonymous. It would not be entirely wrong to say that anybody who has anything to do with relativity in Pakistan is either his student or a student of one of his students. Asghar Qadir has inspired generations of researchers and teachers, and continues to be a source of inspiration for hard work and dedication. He is a mentor of Pakistani scientists and the equivalent in Pakistan of what John Archibald Wheeler has been in the US. Qadir and Wheeler An autographed picture of John Archibald Wheeler with a young Asghar Qadir Asghar had the rare privilege of being introduced into the world of research by Sir Roger Penrose, who was his PhD supervisor. They worked on Twistor theory, which was one of the foremost runners in the race to quantize gravity at the time. Later in 1971, he joined Quaid-i-Azam University (then Islamabad University) and developed research collaborations with several well-known physicists and mathematicians including John Archibald Wheeler and Remo Ruffini. Of special mention are his efforts with Abdus Salam (NL) for encouraging Physics and Mathematics in the Third World and especially in Pakistan (by running the Salam Prize in Science). Asghar has since become one of the world's top relativists and a leading name in the study of symmetries. In 2004, he founded the Centre for Advanced Mathematics and Physics at NUST. Under his dynamic leadership, the centre has become as influential as any other institute of Pakistan in the development of Mathematics and Mathematical Physics within a very short time. One of his many talents is his amazing ability to detect potential for science among his students. As a result he has been able to successfully guide an astonishing number of PhDs - 14 to be exact and still counting, and no doubt this has been his greatest contribution to Relativity in Pakistan. Asghar has received several national and international awards and honours for his services to science in and outside Pakistan. 65th Birthday Celebrations of the 65th birthday of Asghar Qadir during the third Italian-Pakistani workshop on Relativistic Astrophysics These Proceedings contain revised versions of selected papers presented at the Workshop, which has been sponsored by the Salento University, the National University of Sciences and Technology, the Abdus Salam International Center for Theoretical Physics and the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN, Section of Lecce). All these institutions are acknowledged here for their support together with the bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena. Participants Participants of the third Italian-Pakistani workshop on Relativistic Astrophysics We would like to thank all the Workshop's participants, more than 30 physicists coming from at least six countries, and in particular the speakers who contributed with enthusiasm to the scientific success of the Workshop. Special thanks go to the members of the organizing committee, actively involved in the organization of this event, and in particular to Achille Nucita, Gabriele Ingrosso, Mubasher Jamil and Ibrar Hussain.

The stability issues in problems of mathematical modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mokin, A. Yu.; Savenkova, N. P.; Udovichenko, N. S.

2018-03-01

In the paper it is briefly considered various aspects of stability concepts, which are used in physics, mathematics and numerical methods of solution. The interrelation between these concepts is described, the questions of preliminary stability research before the numerical solution of the problem and the correctness of the mathematical statement of the physical problem are discussed. Examples of concrete mathematical statements of individual physical problems are given: a nonlocal problem for the heat equation, the Korteweg-de Fries equation with boundary conditions at infinity, the sine-Gordon equation, the problem of propagation of femtosecond light pulses in an area with a cubic nonlinearity.

A mathematical model for predicting photo-induced voltage and photostriction of PLZT with coupled multi-physics fields and its application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, J. H.; Wang, X. J.; Wang, J.

2016-02-01

The primary purpose of this paper is to propose a mathematical model of PLZT ceramic with coupled multi-physics fields, e.g. thermal, electric, mechanical and light field. To this end, the coupling relationships of multi-physics fields and the mechanism of some effects resulting in the photostrictive effect are analyzed theoretically, based on which a mathematical model considering coupled multi-physics fields is established. According to the analysis and experimental results, the mathematical model can explain the hysteresis phenomenon and the variation trend of the photo-induced voltage very well and is in agreement with the experimental curves. In addition, the PLZT bimorph is applied as an energy transducer for a photovoltaic-electrostatic hybrid actuated micromirror, and the relation of the rotation angle and the photo-induced voltage is discussed based on the novel photostrictive mathematical model.

Bridging the Gulf between Formal Calculus and Physical Reasoning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Van Der Meer, A.

1980-01-01

Some ways to link calculus instruction with the mathematical models used in physics courses are presented. The activity of modelling is presented as a major tool in synchronizing physics and mathematics instruction in undergraduate engineering programs. (MP)

The Trouble with Trig

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Galle, Gillian; Meredith, Dawn

2014-01-01

A few years ago we began to revamp our introductory physics course for life science students. We knew that this cohort would be less prepared and less adventurous mathematically than engineering, physical science, or mathematics majors. Moreover, from our own experience and the mathematics education literature, we knew that trigonometry would be…

Can we expect more of teachers? Comment on Robinson-Cimpian, Lubienski, Ganley, and Copur-Gencturk (2014).

PubMed

Penner, Andrew M

2014-04-01

Robinson-Cimpian, Lubienski, Ganley, and Copur-Gencturk (2014) use nationally representative longitudinal data on a cohort of kindergarten students to argue that teachers' gender biases play a substantial role in creating gender differences in mathematics achievement. In this comment, I first underscore the importance of unpacking the black box of mathematics and understanding how gender differences in specific mathematics skills are related to subsequent gender differences in other areas of mathematics. Second, I place questions of teacher bias in a larger sociological context, arguing that we should not be surprised that teachers subscribe to widely held stereotypes and suggest that focusing on the shortcomings of teachers can mask the role that we as a society play in creating and maintaining these inequalities. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

Students’ epistemic understanding of mathematical derivations in physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sirnoorkar, Amogh; Mazumdar, Anwesh; Kumar, Arvind

2017-01-01

We propose an epistemic measure of physics in terms of the ability to discriminate between the purely mathematical, physical (i.e. dependent on empirical inputs) and nominal (i.e. empty of mathematical or physical content) propositions appearing in a typical derivation in physics. The measure can be relevant in understanding the maths-physics link hurdles among college students. To illustrate the idea, we construct a tool for a familiar derivation (involving specific heats of an ideal gas), and use it for a sample of students from three different institutes. The reliability of the tool is examined. The results indicate, as intuitively expected, that epistemic clarity correlates with content clarity. Data yield several significant trends on the extent and kinds of epistemic pitfalls prevalent among physics undergraduates.

PREFACE: 7th International Conference on Applications of Physics in Financial Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Takayasu, M.; Watanabe, T.; Ikeda, Y.; Takayasu, H.

2010-04-01

This volume contains contributed papers from the 7th international conference on 'Applications of Physics in Financial Analysis (APFA)' held at Tokyo on 1-5 March 2009. The conference was organized jointly by Tokyo Institute of Technology and Hitotsubashi University with support from the Research Institute of Economy, Trade, and Industry (RIETI), Physical Society of Japan, Japanese Economic Association, Information Processing Society of Japan, Japanese Society for Artificial Intelligence, and Japan Association for Evolutionary Economics. The first APFA conference (APFA1) was held in 1999 at Dublin, followed by APFA2 at Liege in 2000, APFA3 at London in 2001, APFA4 at Warsaw in 2003, APFA5 at Torino in 2006, and APFA6 at Lisbon in 2007. The 7th APFA conference, which is the first meeting held outside Europe, was attended by 223 researchers in physics and economics from 23 countries world-wide. In keeping with past APFA conferences, we paid special attention to issues in financial markets, which turned out to be very timely. The conference was held in March 2009, in the middle of the global financial crisis that originally started in the US and spread quickly to every corner of the world. The topic of the conference is 'New Approaches to the Analysis of Large Scale Business and Economic data'. The rapid development of information and communication technology has enabled financial/non-financial firms to keep detailed records of their business activities in the form of, for example, tick-by-tick data in financial markets, point-of-sale (POS) data on individual household's purchasing activity, and interfirm network data describing relationships among firms in terms of suppliers/customers transactions and ownerships. This growth in the scope and amount of business data available to researchers has led to a far-reaching expansion in research possibilities. Researchers not only in social sciences but also in physics, mathematics, and information sciences have recently become interested in such datasets, conducting empirical investigations about various aspects of economic activities. Specifically, they have searched for regularities and 'laws' akin to the ones in natural science, successfully producing fascinating results, as shown in the papers contained in this volume. Each paper submitted for publication in this volume has gone through the refereeing process, and has been revised on the basis of comments and discussion at the conference as well as comments from the anonymous referees. Finally, 19 papers were accepted for publication. The editors are very grateful to the colleagues involved in the refereeing process for their rapid and careful reviewing of the papers. We thank Takayuki Mizuno, Koji Sakai, Hiwon Yoon and Hiroki Matsui for their support for the conference. We appreciate the administrative assistance provided by Yayoi Hatano of Hitotsubashi University, and Masahiko Ozaki, Masato Yamada and Tomoko Kase of RIETI. We are most grateful to the authors for their contributions, as well as to the participants, all of whom made this conference stimulating and enjoyable. Misako Takayasu Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan Tsutomu Watanabe Hitotsubashi University, Japan RIETI, Japan Yuichi Ikeda Hitachi Research Laboratory, Hitachi Ltd, Japan Hideki Takayasu Sony Computer Science Laboratories, Inc, Japan

78 FR 19008 - Meeting of the Advisory Committee; Meeting

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-03-28

... inclusion on future Joint Board examinations in actuarial mathematics, pension law and methodology referred... closed meeting of the Advisory Committee on Actuarial Examinations. DATES: The meeting will be held on.... SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Notice is hereby given that the Advisory Committee on Actuarial Examinations will...

75 FR 16510 - Meeting of the Advisory Committee; Meeting

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-04-01

... recommended for inclusion on future Joint Board examinations in actuarial mathematics, pension law and... closed meeting of the Advisory Committee on Actuarial Examinations. DATES: The meeting will be held on.... SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Notice is hereby given that the Advisory Committee on Actuarial Examinations will...

Obstacles to Mathematization in Physics: The Case of the Differential

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

López-Gay, R.; Martinez Sáez, J.; Martinez Torregrosa, J.

2015-01-01

The process of the mathematization of physical situations through differential calculus requires an understanding of the justification for and the meaning of the differential in the context of physics. In this work, four different conceptions about the differential in physics are identified and assessed according to their utility for the…

Investigating Graphical Representations of Slope and Derivative without a Physics Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Christensen, Warren M.; Thompson, John R.

2012-01-01

By analysis of student use of mathematics in responses to conceptual physics questions, as well as analogous math questions stripped of physical meaning, we have previously found evidence that students often enter upper-level physics courses lacking the assumed prerequisite mathematics knowledge and/or the ability to apply it productively in a…

Effects of Vigorous Intensity Physical Activity on Mathematics Test Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Phillips, David S.; Hannon, James C.; Castelli, Darla M.

2015-01-01

The effect of an acute bout of physical activity on academic performance in school-based settings is under researched. The purpose of this study was to examine associations between a single, vigorous (70-85%) bout of physical activity completed during physical education on standardized mathematics test performance among 72, eighth grade students…

On the Role of Mathematics in Physics: A Constructivist Epistemic Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Quale, Andreas

2011-01-01

The association between the observable physical world and the mathematical models used in theoretical physics to describe this world is examined. Such models will frequently exhibit solutions that are "unexpected," in the sense that they describe physical situations which are different from that which the physicist may initially have had in mind…

Strategies to Recruit and Retain Students in Physical Science and Mathematics on a Diverse College Campus

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chang, Jen-Mei; Kwon, Chuhee; Stevens, Lora; Buonora, Paul

2016-01-01

This article presents implementation details and findings of a National Science Foundation Scholarship in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Program (S-STEM) consisting of many high-impact practices to recruit and retain students in the physical sciences and mathematics programs, particularly first-generation and underrepresented…

Increasing Mathematical Computation Skills for Students with Physical and Health Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Webb, Paula

2017-01-01

Students with physical and health disabilities struggle with basic mathematical concepts. The purpose of this research study was to increase the students' mathematical computation skills through implementing new strategies and/or methods. The strategies implemented with the students was utilizing the ten-frame tiles and technology with the purpose…

PREFACE: 1st Franco-Algerian Workshop on Neutrino Physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mebarki, N.; Mimouni, J.; Vanucci, F.; Aissaoui, H.

2015-04-01

The first Franco-Algerian workshop on neutrino physics was held on 22-23 October 2013 at the University of Mentouri, Constantine, Algeria. It was jointly organized by the Laboratory of Mathematical and Subatomic Physics (LPMS) and the Direction of Scientific Research (DGRSTD) for the Algerian side, and for the French part by the IN2P3, CNRS and CEA IRFU. It is one of a series of international scientific meetings organized every two years by the LPMS at Constantine on high energy physics (theoretical, nuclear physics, classical and quantum cosmology, astrophysics, mathematical physics and quantum computing etc...) to maintain a high quality in scientific research and education at Algerian universities. This specific meeting brought together experts in particle physics, astrophysics and cosmology from France and Algeria. It touched upon several theoretical, phenomenological as well as experimental aspects of the neutrinos. The workshop participants were mostly young researchers from many universities and research institutes in Algeria. The physics of neutrinos is a very active field in particle physics, hence the importance for the High Energy community in Algeria to gain expertise in this ''strategic'' area at the intersection of various topics in theoretical physics and high energy astrophysics (SM physics, CP violation, in general, SNe explosions, baryogenesis...). The neutrino proposed by Pauli back in 1930 as a ''desperate remedy'' to save the law of energy conservation in beta decay had a bright early history. Discovered in 1956 in the Cowan-Reines experiment despite all odds, this elusive particle which enabled us to understand the chiral nature of the weak interactions which later lead to the electro-weak unification finally appears to hold a key role in understanding subatomic physics as well as the structure and structuration of the Universe. It is also, after the discovery of the Higgs particle at the LHC in 2012, the only grey area left today in the Standard Model of particle physics. The various contributions covered in this scientific meeting lie between oral and posters presentations including many specialized topics like neutrinos' oscillations, the various large experiments like Borexino and Opera, the geo-neutrinos, as more theoretical topics like Majorana neutrinos and the double beta decay, anomalies in neutrino physics, neutrino models beyond the standard model and in curved space-time. We hope that putting in print the various contributions to this exciting meeting will be a valuable contribution to the literature to both professional as well as young researchers in neutrino physics. This workshop couldn't have taken place without the generous and unfaltering support of the DGRSTD which fully financed it through its various stages. Editors Profs. The editors: Mebarki N., Mimouni J., Vanucci F., Aissaoui H.

[On the founders of the Institute of Mathematics and Physics, University of Bahia].

PubMed

Dias, A L

The reduced number of female students of mathematics at the University of Bahia School of Philosophy (Faculdade de Filosofia, Universidade da Bahia - FF/UBa) is quite surprising. To date, they are concentrated in areas traditionally viewed as feminine whereas men predominate in the mathematical fields. I have examined interview data from a few women who graduated in mathematics and went on to teach at the University of Bahia School of Mathematics (Faculdade de Filosofia - FF) and at the Institute of Mathematics and Physics (Instituto de Matemática e Física - IMF), where they were soon to outnumber men and constitute the majority of the mathematics teaching staff. In this study, I have investigated the course of their careers over time: from their early student days, through their time as teaching assistants and professors, and finally as founders of the Institute of Mathematics and Physics, in 1960. Special reference is made to Martha Maria de Souza Dantas, organizer of the I Brazilian Conference on Mathematics Teaching, an event which has provided the groundwork for what was to become the Institute (IMF); and to Arlete Cerqueira Lima, the mastermind behind its creation.

NSF appointment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

President Ronald Reagan has announced his intention to nominate Richard S. Nicholson as assistant director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) for mathematical and physical sciences. Nicholson has been acting deputy director and staff director of NSF since 1983.A research chemist by training, Nicholson was an associate professor of chemistry at Michigan State University before joining NSF in 1970. He served in a number of capacities at NSF, including executive director of the National Science Board commission on precollege education in mathematics, science, and technology, deputy assistant director for the mathematical and physical sciences, and senior planning officer for mathematical and physical sciences. The nomination is subject to Senate confirmation.

Student Reasoning about Graphs in Different Contexts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ivanjek, Lana; Susac, Ana; Planinic, Maja; Andrasevic, Aneta; Milin-Sipus, Zeljka

2016-01-01

This study investigates university students' graph interpretation strategies and difficulties in mathematics, physics (kinematics), and contexts other than physics. Eight sets of parallel (isomorphic) mathematics, physics, and other context questions about graphs, which were developed by us, were administered to 385 first-year students at the…

10 CFR 35.51 - Training for an authorized medical physicist.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... on the NRC's Web page.) To have its certification process recognized, a specialty board shall require... physics, other physical science, engineering, or applied mathematics from an accredited college or... physical science, engineering, or applied mathematics from an accredited college or university; and has...

MATHEMATICAL MODEL OF ELECTROSTATIC PRECIPITATION FOR THE TEXAS INSTRUMENTS PROGRAMMABLE 59 CALCULATOR

EPA Science Inventory

The report describes a version of EPA's electrostatic precipitator (ESP) model suitable for use on a Texas Instruments Programmable 59 (TI-59) hand-held calculator. This version of the model allows the calculation of ESP collection efficiency, including corrections for non-ideal ...

75 FR 59292 - Meeting of the Advisory Committee; Meeting

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-09-27

... inclusion on future Joint Board examinations in actuarial mathematics, pension law and methodology referred... closed meeting of the Advisory Committee on Actuarial Examinations. DATES: The meeting will be held on... INFORMATION: Notice is hereby given that the Advisory Committee on Actuarial Examinations will meet at...

Symposium Promotes Technological Literacy through STEM

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Havice, Bill; Marshall, Jerry

2009-01-01

This article describes a symposium which promotes technological literacy through science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The three-day symposium titled, "The Anderson, Oconee, Pickens Symposium on Teaching and Learning STEM Standards for the 21st Century," was held August 4-6, 2008 at the Tri-County Technical College…

Sex, Class, and Physical Science Educational Attainment: Portions due to Achievement Versus Recruitment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Simon, Richard M.; Farkas, George

Nationally representative data from the National Education Longitudinal Study are used to investigate why males (rather than females) and children of parents with advanced degrees (rather than those from less-educated parents) are more highly represented among physical science bachelor's degrees and graduate students. Parental education is measured by three categories: neither parent has a bachelor's degree, at least one parent has a bachelor's degree, or at least one parent has a degree beyond the bachelor's. Physical science is defined as students majoring in physics, engineering, mathematics, or computer science. The effects of mathematics achievement and effects not accounted for by mathematics achievement (what the authors call "recruitment" effects) are isolated for parental education categories and for sex, allowing inequality in physical science degree attainment to be decomposed into portions due to achievement and portions due to recruitment. Additionally, the results from logistic regressions predicting the attainment of a bachelor's degree in physical science as well as the pursuit of a graduate degree in physical science are presented. It is found that for parental education categories, the gaps in physical science educational attainment are nearly entirely accounted for by differences in mathematics achievement, suggesting that if achievement could be equalized, physical science educational attainment differences among parental education categories would disappear. However, the sex gap in physical science educational attainment operates almost entirely independent of achievement effects, suggesting that if the mathematics achievement distributions of males and females were identical, the sex gap in physical science educational attainment would be unchanged from what it is today.

Introductory Physics Students' Physics and Mathematics Epistemologies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scanlon, Erin M.

The purpose of this three study dissertation is to investigate why students are enrolled in introductory physics courses experience difficulties in being successful; one possible source of their difficulties is related to their epistemology. In order to investigate students' epistemologies about mathematics and physics, students were observed solving physics problems in groups during a laboratory course (study 1) and while solving physics and mathematics problems individually during office-hour sessions (study 2). The Epistemological Resources theoretical framework was employed (Hammer & Elby, 2002). Using emergent and a priori epistemological resource operationalizations (Jones, 2015), 25 distinct epistemological resources were identified in study 1. Differences in physics epistemological resource usage between students of varying academic background (as measured by their number of previously completed mathematics and science classes were identified. By employing an external (Jones, 2015) and internal (Scanlon, 2016) a priori epistemological resource coding scheme, a total of 17 distinct epistemological resources were identified in study 2. The data were sampled to compare the mathematics and physics epistemological resource usage of participants with consistent and inconsistent sign usage in an energy conservation physics problem in order to provide a meaningful context for discussion. Participants of the same sign usage group employed epistemological resources similarly. Conversely, participants in different groups had significantly different physics epistemological resource usage patterns. Finally, student epistemological resource usage patterns from the first two studies were compared to course outcomes in order to determine implications for practice (study 3). Educators must be aware of and address the epistemological underpinnings of students' difficulties in introductory physics courses.

Zimbabwean Female Participation in Physics: Facets of Identity Formation Considered to Be of Significance by Female Students in Relation to Physics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gudyanga, Anna

2016-01-01

The study explored facets of identity formation considered to be of significance by Zimbabwean female adolescent students in physics. Four high schools that were offering physics at A' level in the Midlands Province, in Zimbabwe were targeted. Nine female adolescents doing mathematics and physics and only mathematics were chosen. Data generation…

A Study of the Relationship between Physical Skills and Achievement in Listening Comprehension, Mathematics, and Reading.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Templeton, Josey; Jones, Robbie

To determine if a relationship existed between physical skills and achievement in reading, mathematics, and listening comprehension of fifth-grade students, a study evaluated 334 fifth-graders in Starkville, Mississippi, on 20 physical fitness, motor fitness, and sports skills, as well as the Stanford Achievement Tests. The physical skills test…

Problem Solving and the Use of Math in Physics Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Redish, Edward F.

2006-01-01

Mathematics is an essential element of physics problem solving, but experts often fail to appreciate exactly how they use it. Math may be the language of science, but math-in-physics is a distinct dialect of that language. Physicists tend to blend conceptual physics with mathematical symbolism in a way that profoundly affects the way equations are…

Near Identifiability of Dynamical Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hadaegh, F. Y.; Bekey, G. A.

1987-01-01

Concepts regarding approximate mathematical models treated rigorously. Paper presents new results in analysis of structural identifiability, equivalence, and near equivalence between mathematical models and physical processes they represent. Helps establish rigorous mathematical basis for concepts related to structural identifiability and equivalence revealing fundamental requirements, tacit assumptions, and sources of error. "Structural identifiability," as used by workers in this field, loosely translates as meaning ability to specify unique mathematical model and set of model parameters that accurately predict behavior of corresponding physical system.

The Mathematics of "Star Trek"--An Honors Colloquium

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Karls, Michael A.

2011-01-01

After the success of a course on cryptography for a general audience, based on Simon Singh's "The Code Book" [49], I decided to try again and create a mathematics course for a general audience based on "The Physics of Star Trek" by Lawrence Krauss [32]. This article looks at the challenges of designing a physics-based mathematics course "from…

Material Encounters with Mathematics: The Case for Museum Based Cross-Curricular Integration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

de Freitas, Elizabeth; Bentley, Sean J.

2012-01-01

This paper reports on research from a network of high school and museum partnerships designed to explore techniques for integrating mathematics and physics learning experiences during the first year of high school. The foundation of the curriculum is a problem-based, museum-based, and hands-on approach to mathematics and physics. In this paper, we…

Stealing from Physics: Modeling with Mathematical Functions in Data-Rich Contexts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Erickson, Tim

2006-01-01

In the course of a project to create physics education materials for secondary schools in the USA we have, not surprisingly, had insights into how students develop certain mathematical understandings. Some of these translate directly into the mathematics classroom. With our materials, students get data from a variety of sources, data that arise in…

Attitudes towards Older Adults: A Comparison of Physical Therapy and Medical Students.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schmidt, Ron; And Others

Since attitudes of medical professionals may influence the health care delivered to elderly people and there is an increasing proportion of older people in society, it would seem appropriate to assess the attitudes toward older adults held by health care providers. This study examined attitudes toward older adults held by physical therapy…

Investigation of Atmospheric Aerosol properties by Atomic Force Microscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sevalia, Barry; Joseph, Kelli; Gasseller, Morewell

The effects of aerosols on the atmosphere, climate, and public health are among the central topics in current environmental research. Aerosol particles scatter and absorb solar and terrestrial radiation, they are involved in the formation of clouds and precipitation as cloud condensation and ice nuclei, and they affect the abundance and distribution of atmospheric trace gases by chemical reactions and other multiphase processes. Moreover, airborne particles play an important role in the spreading of biological organisms, reproductive materials, and pathogens and they can cause or enhance respiratory, cardiovascular, infectious, and allergic diseases. In this study we use two distinct methods to characterize atmospheric aerosol particles. With the AFM, we use analytical and interpretative techniques to deduce fundamental physical properties of the aerosol particles such as particle sizes and morphology. The microscopy techniques are then compared and complemented with optical techniques that employ hand held sun photometers to measure aerosol optical thickness (AOT) of the atmosphere. The chemical nature of the aerosols is investigated by exposing the samples to a stream of ozone gas and then reimage them. Using this approach, we are only able to classify particles as organic, gr Maryam Foroozesh, Ph.D. Chair, Division of Mathematical and Physical Sciences Head, Department of Chemistry.

Investigation of possible observable e ects in a proposed theory of physics

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Freidan, Daniel

2015-03-31

The work supported by this grant produced rigorous mathematical results on what is possible in quantum field theory. Quantum field theory is the well-established mathematical language for fundamental particle physics, for critical phenomena in condensed matter physics, and for Physical Mathematics (the numerous branches of Mathematics that have benefitted from ideas, constructions, and conjectures imported from Theoretical Physics). Proving rigorous constraints on what is possible in quantum field theories thus guides the field, puts actual constraints on what is physically possible in physical or mathematical systems described by quantum field theories, and saves the community the effort of trying tomore » do what is proved impossible. Results were obtained in two dimensional qft (describing, e.g., quantum circuits) and in higher dimensional qft. Rigorous bounds were derived on basic quantities in 2d conformal field theories, i.e., in 2d critical phenomena. Conformal field theories are the basic objects in quantum field theory, the scale invariant theories describing renormalization group fixed points from which all qfts flow. The first known lower bounds on the 2d boundary entropy were found. This is the entropy- information content- in junctions in critical quantum circuits. For dimensions d > 2, a no-go theorem was proved on the possibilities of Cauchy fields, which are the analogs of the holomorphic fields in d = 2 dimensions, which have had enormously useful applications in Physics and Mathematics over the last four decades. This closed o the possibility of finding analogously rich theories in dimensions above 2. The work of two postdoctoral research fellows was partially supported by this grant. Both have gone on to tenure track positions.« less

A qualitative study comparing the instruction on vectors between a physics course and a trigonometry course

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

James, Wendy Michelle

Science and engineering instructors often observe that students have difficulty using or applying prerequisite mathematics knowledge in their courses. This qualitative project uses a case-study method to investigate the instruction in a trigonometry course and a physics course based on a different methodology and set of assumptions about student learning and the nature of mathematics than traditionally used when investigating students' difficulty using or applying prerequisite mathematics knowledge. Transfer theory examined within a positivist or post-positivist paradigm is often used to investigate students' issue applying their knowledge; in contrast, this qualitative case-study is positioned using constructionism as an epistemology to understand and describe mathematical practices concerning vectors in a trigonometry and a physics course. Instructor interviews, observations of course lectures, and textbooks served as the qualitative data for in-depth study and comparison, and Saussure's (1959) concept of signifier and signified provided a lens for examining the data during analysis. Multiple recursions of within-case comparisons and across-case comparison were analyzed for differences in what the instructors and textbooks explicitly stated and later performed as their practices. While the trigonometry and physics instruction differed slightly, the two main differences occurred in the nature and use of vectors in the physics course. First, the "what" that is signified in notation and diagrams differs between contextualized and context-free situations, and second, physics instruction taught vectors very similar to trigonometry instruction when teaching the mathematics for doing physics, but once instruction focused on physics, the manner in which vector notation and diagrams are used differed from what is explicitly stated during mathematics instruction.

The skeleton in the closet: should historians of science care about the history of mathematics?

PubMed

Alexander, Amir

2011-09-01

Up until the 1950s, the history of mathematics was an integral part of the history of science. To George Sarton and his contemporaries, mathematics was the rational skeleton that organized science and held it together, and its history was a fundamental component of the broader history of science. But when historians began focusing on the cultural roots of science rather than its rational structure, the study of mathematics was marginalized and ultimately excluded from the history of science. The alienation between the two fields is detrimental to both, and in recent years there has been a sustained effort to reestablish meaningful communication between the two. This time, however, mathematics is seen not as the static skeleton of science but, instead, as a dynamic and historically evolving field in its own right-just like science itself. The new approach allows for a culturally sensitive study of mathematics, as well as a new and fruitful relationship between the history of science and the history of mathematics. The essays in this Focus section offer a sampling of the new approaches, opening the way to a rapprochement between fields that have gone their separate ways but should by rights be closely interconnected.

The Increase of Critical Thinking Skills through Mathematical Investigation Approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sumarna, N.; Wahyudin; Herman, T.

2017-02-01

Some research findings on critical thinking skills of prospective elementary teachers, showed a response that is not optimal. On the other hand, critical thinking skills will lead a student in the process of analysis, evaluation and synthesis in solving a mathematical problem. This study attempts to perform an alternative solution with a focus on mathematics learning conditions that is held in the lecture room through mathematical investigation approach. This research method was Quasi-Experimental design with pre-test post-test design. Data analysis using a mixed method with Embedded design. Subjects were regular students enrolled in 2014 at the study program of education of primary school teachers. The number of research subjects were 111 students consisting of 56 students in the experimental group and 55 students in the control group. The results of the study showed that (1) there is a significant difference in the improvement of critical thinking ability of students who receive learning through mathematical investigation approach when compared with students studying through expository approach, and (2) there is no interaction effect between prior knowledge of mathematics and learning factors (mathematical investigation and expository) to increase of critical thinking skills of students.

Opportunities for Funding at NSF

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kafafi, Zakya H.

2009-03-01

Materials science, inter- and multi-disciplinary in nature, provides the bridge to many areas of fundamental and applied sciences such as biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, computer sciences, and engineering. Strong links that may exist between materials science and other disciplines, such as biology or chemistry or physics, very often lead to novel applications and enable technologies of great benefit to our society. The Division of Materials Research (DMR) invested 274.0 M in FY 2008 and is estimated to invest 324.6 M in FY 2009 funding research and education as well as enabling tools & instrumentation for individual investigators, groups, centers, and national facilities. DMR programs cover a wide spectrum of materials research and education ranging from condensed matter and materials physics, solid-state and materials chemistry, multifunctional, hybrid, electronic, photonic, metallic, ceramic, polymeric, bio-materials, composites and nanostructures to list a few. New modes of funding, research opportunities and directions, such as the recent SOLAR solicitation, will be described. This Solar Energy Initiative launched jointly by three divisions, namely Chemistry, Materials Research and Mathematical Science is aimed at supporting truly interdisciplinary efforts that address the scientific challenges of highly efficient harvesting, conversion, and storage of solar energy. The goal of this new program is to create a new modality of linking the mathematical with the chemical and materials sciences to develop transformative paradigms based on the integrated expertise and synergy from three disciplinary communities. DMR is also seeking new ways to transform materials science and education, and make it more attractive as a career for bright, young women & men. A description will be given of several workshops held this year and planned for next year with this purpose in mind. Outreach programs that emphasize how the innovations resulting from materials research lead to a better quality of life and improved economic development for people all over the world will also be given. As science is becoming increasingly global, DMR is particularly interested in preparing students to be agile thinkers in this universal environment and in forging collaborations and cooperation among scientists and engineers around the world. Free movement of knowledge without any obstacles can only be achieved through a more coordinated approach for international collaboration. Following the presentation there will be a question-and-answer period. For additional information, visit the DMR Web page at www.nsf.gov/materials

Comparison of University Students' Understanding of Graphs in Different Contexts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Planinic, Maja; Ivanjek, Lana; Susac, Ana; Milin-Sipus, Zeljka

2013-01-01

This study investigates university students' understanding of graphs in three different domains: mathematics, physics (kinematics), and contexts other than physics. Eight sets of parallel mathematics, physics, and other context questions about graphs were developed. A test consisting of these eight sets of questions (24 questions in all) was…

Calculators and Polynomial Evaluation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weaver, J. F.

The intent of this paper is to suggest and illustrate how electronic hand-held calculators, especially non-programmable ones with limited data-storage capacity, can be used to advantage by students in one particular aspect of work with polynomial functions. The basic mathematical background upon which calculator application is built is summarized.…

Working with Numbers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Newton, Derek

1993-01-01

In order to help students learn mathematics skills and how to apply them, a staff development workshop for vocational tutors was held at Calderdale College (England). The workshop focused on three objectives: to identify and raise awareness of students' needs, to identify barriers to learning, and to identify ways of supporting students. Four key…

Exciting Students through VEX Robotic Competitions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Robinson, Trevor P.; Stewardson, Gary A.

2012-01-01

Robotic competitions continue to gain popularity in the educational community as a way to engage students in hands-on learning that can raise a student's interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. In 1992, For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) held its first competition and presented a style of…

STEM Education Summit: Summary of Key Themes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Education Council, 2015

2015-01-01

The Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education Summit, held in Sydney on 5 November 2015, was hosted by the New South Wales (NSW) Minister for Education, Adrian Piccoli, on behalf of his Education Council colleagues. It was attended by just over 100 experts, thought leaders and STEM professionals from industry, government…

77 FR 19034 - Meeting of the Advisory Committee; Meeting

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-03-29

... Joint Board examinations in actuarial mathematics, pension law and methodology referred to in 29 U.S.C... closed meeting of the Advisory Committee on Actuarial Examinations. DATES: The meeting will be held on... INFORMATION: Notice is hereby given that the Advisory Committee on Actuarial Examinations will meet at...

76 FR 17967 - Meeting of the Advisory Committee; Meeting

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-03-31

... Joint Board examinations in actuarial mathematics, pension law and methodology referred to in 29 U.S.C... closed meeting of the Advisory Committee on Actuarial Examinations. DATES: The meeting will be held on... INFORMATION: Notice is hereby given that the Advisory Committee on Actuarial Examinations will meet at Mercer...

Two-Year College Mathematics Instructors' Conceptions of Variation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dabos, Monica Graciela Gandhini

2011-01-01

Statistics education researchers are urging teachers of statistics to help students develop a more sophisticated understanding of variation, since variation is the core of statistics. However, little research has been done into the conceptions of variation held by instructors of statistics. This is of particular importance at the community college…

A Report by the Air Pollution Committee

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kirkpatrick, Lane

1972-01-01

Description of a Symposium on Air Resource Protection and the Environment,'' held at the 1972 Environmental Health Conference and Exposition. Reports included a mathematical model for predicting future levels of air pollution, evaluation and identification of transportation controls, and a panel discussion of points raised by the speakers. (LK)

75 FR 10328 - Advisory Committee for Mathematical and Physical Sciences; Notice of Meeting

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-03-05

... Person: Dr. Morris L. Aizenman, Senior Science Associate, Directorate for Mathematical and Physical... Directorate; Report of NSF Advisory Working Groups; Meeting of MPSAC with Divisions within MPS Directorate...

An Event to Encourage High School Students to Pursue College Degrees in Physics and Math

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bukiet, Bruce; Thomas, Gordon

2003-04-01

We discuss a Math and Physics Day for high school students and teachers, with hands-on activities and seminars involving mathematics and physics. Participants also learn about careers for those who go on to major in physics and mathematics in college. The New York State Section of the APS has provided generous support for this workshop through its Outreach grant program. Approximately a dozen high schools and 100 students attend each year. The program, which runs from 9:15 AM until 2:15 PM, includes an introduction to undergraduate degree programs in Mathematics, Statistics, Optics, Actuarial Science and Applied Physics, a group physics experiment/contest, brief talks over lunch by speakers from industry who have degrees in Math or Physics, and an afternoon seminar. Teachers earn Professional Development credit.

Enhancing Interpretation of Natural Phenomena through a Mathematical Apparatus: A Proposal of an Interactive Unit in Optics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sokolowski, Andrzej

2012-01-01

This paper integrates technology, in the form of a physics simulation; science concepts, via image formation by lenses; and a mathematics apparatus, in the form of rational functions. All constituents merge into an instructional unit that can be embedded into a high school or undergraduate mathematics or physics course. The cognitive purpose of…

Student reasoning about graphs in different contexts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ivanjek, Lana; Susac, Ana; Planinic, Maja; Andrasevic, Aneta; Milin-Sipus, Zeljka

2016-06-01

This study investigates university students' graph interpretation strategies and difficulties in mathematics, physics (kinematics), and contexts other than physics. Eight sets of parallel (isomorphic) mathematics, physics, and other context questions about graphs, which were developed by us, were administered to 385 first-year students at the Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb. Students were asked to provide explanations and/or mathematical procedures with their answers. Students' main strategies and difficulties identified through the analysis of those explanations and procedures are described. Student strategies of graph interpretation were found to be largely context dependent and domain specific. A small fraction of students have used the same strategy in all three domains (mathematics, physics, and other contexts) on most sets of parallel questions. Some students have shown indications of transfer of knowledge in the sense that they used techniques and strategies developed in physics for solving (or attempting to solve) other context problems. In physics, the preferred strategy was the use of formulas, which sometimes seemed to block the use of other, more productive strategies which students displayed in other domains. Students' answers indicated the presence of slope-height confusion and interval-point confusion in all three domains. Students generally better interpreted graph slope than the area under a graph, although the concept of slope still seemed to be quite vague for many. The interpretation of the concept of area under a graph needs more attention in both physics and mathematics teaching.

Potential air contamination during CO2 angiography using a hand-held syringe: theoretical considerations and gas chromatography.

PubMed

Cho, David R; Cho, Kyung J; Hawkins, Irvin F

2006-01-01

To assess air contamination in the hand-held syringes currently used for CO2 delivery and to determine whether there is an association between their position and the rate of air contamination. Assessment of air contamination in the syringe (20 ml) included theoretical modeling, mathematical calculation, and gas chromatography (GC). The model was used with Fick's first law to calculate the diffusion of CO2 and the amount of air contamination. For GC studies, the syringes were placed in the upright, horizontal, and inverted positions and gas samples were obtained after 5, 10, 20, 30, and 60 min. All trials with each position for each sampling time were performed five times. The amounts of air contamination with time calculated mathematically were 5-10% less than those of GC. With the diffusivity of air-CO2 at 0.1599 cm2/sec (9.594 cm2/min), air contamination was calculated to be 60% at 60 min. With GC air contamination was 13% at 5 min, 31% at 20 min, 43% at 30 min, and 68% at 60 min. There was no difference in air contamination between the different syringe positions. Air contamination occurs in hand-held syringes filled with CO2 when they are open to the ambient air. The amounts of air contamination over time are similar among syringes placed in the upright, horizontal, and inverted positions.

Pattern of mathematic representation ability in magnetic electricity problem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hau, R. R. H.; Marwoto, P.; Putra, N. M. D.

2018-03-01

The mathematic representation ability in solving magnetic electricity problem gives information about the way students understand magnetic electricity. Students have varied mathematic representation pattern ability in solving magnetic electricity problem. This study aims to determine the pattern of students' mathematic representation ability in solving magnet electrical problems.The research method used is qualitative. The subject of this study is the fourth semester students of UNNES Physics Education Study Program. The data collection is done by giving a description test that refers to the test of mathematical representation ability and interview about field line topic and Gauss law. The result of data analysis of student's mathematical representation ability in solving magnet electric problem is categorized into high, medium and low category. The ability of mathematical representations in the high category tends to use a pattern of making known and asked symbols, writing equations, using quantities of physics, substituting quantities into equations, performing calculations and final answers. The ability of mathematical representation in the medium category tends to use several patterns of writing the known symbols, writing equations, using quantities of physics, substituting quantities into equations, performing calculations and final answers. The ability of mathematical representations in the low category tends to use several patterns of making known symbols, writing equations, substituting quantities into equations, performing calculations and final answer.

Which Kind of Mathematics for Quantum Mechanics? the Relevance of H. Weyl's Program of Research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Drago, Antonino

In 1918 Weyl's book Das Kontinuum planned to found anew mathematics upon more conservative bases than both rigorous mathematics and set theory. It gave birth to the so-called Weyl's elementary mathematics, i.e. an intermediate mathematics between the mathematics rejecting at all actual infinity and the classical one including it almost freely. The present paper scrutinises the subsequent Weyl's book Gruppentheorie und Quantenmechanik (1928) as a program for founding anew theoretical physics - through quantum theory - and at the same time developing his mathematics through an improvement of group theory; which, according to Weyl, is a mathematical theory effacing the old distinction between discrete and continuous mathematics. Evidence from Weyl's writings is collected for supporting this interpretation. Then Weyl's program is evaluated as unsuccessful, owing to some crucial difficulties of both physical and mathematical nature. The present clear-cut knowledge of Weyl's elementary mathematics allows us to re-evaluate Weyl's program in order to look for more adequate formulations of quantum mechanics in any weaker kind of mathematics than the classical one.

76 FR 14996 - Advisory Committee for Mathematical and Physical Sciences; Notice of Meeting

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-03-18

.... Aizenman, Senior Science Associate, Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Room 1005, National... Committee of Visitors Report of NSF Advisory Working Groups Meeting of MPSAC with Divisions within MPS...

Essential Mathematics for the Physical Sciences; Volume I: Homogeneous boundary value problems, Fourier methods, and special functions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Borden, Brett; Luscombe, James

2017-10-01

Physics is expressed in the language of mathematics; it is deeply ingrained in how physics is taught and how it's practiced. A study of the mathematics used in science is thus a sound intellectual investment for training as scientists and engineers. This first volume of two is centered on methods of solving partial differential equations and the special functions introduced. This text is based on a course offered at the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) and while produced for NPS needs, it will serve other universities well.

Validation and upgrading of physically based mathematical models

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Duval, Ronald

1992-01-01

The validation of the results of physically-based mathematical models against experimental results was discussed. Systematic techniques are used for: (1) isolating subsets of the simulator mathematical model and comparing the response of each subset to its experimental response for the same input conditions; (2) evaluating the response error to determine whether it is the result of incorrect parameter values, incorrect structure of the model subset, or unmodeled external effects of cross coupling; and (3) modifying and upgrading the model and its parameter values to determine the most physically appropriate combination of changes.

Students' Understanding of Mathematical Expressions in Physical Chemistry Contexts: An Analysis Using Sherin's Symbolic Forms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Becker, Nicole; Towns, Marcy

2012-01-01

Undergraduate physical chemistry courses require students to be proficient in calculus in order to develop an understanding of thermodynamics concepts. Here we present the findings of a study that examines student understanding of mathematical expressions, including partial derivative expressions, in two undergraduate physical chemistry courses.…

The Mathematics of High School Physics: Models, Symbols, Algorithmic Operations and Meaning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kanderakis, Nikos

2016-01-01

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, mathematicians and physical philosophers managed to study, via mathematics, various physical systems of the sublunar world through idealized and simplified models of these systems, constructed with the help of geometry. By analyzing these models, they were able to formulate new concepts, laws and…

Analytical Derivation: An Epistemic Game for Solving Mathematically Based Physics Problems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bajracharya, Rabindra R.; Thompson, John R.

2016-01-01

Problem solving, which often involves multiple steps, is an integral part of physics learning and teaching. Using the perspective of the epistemic game, we documented a specific game that is commonly pursued by students while solving mathematically based physics problems: the "analytical derivation" game. This game involves deriving an…

Wyoming Mathematics Curriculum Guide, Grades 7-12.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wyoming State Dept. of Education, Cheyenne.

GRADES OR AGES: 7-12; SUBJECT MATTER: Mathematics. ORGANIZATION AND PHYSICAL APPEARANCE: The guide has an introduction and four chapters: 1) A Sample Mathematics Curriculum; 2) The Exceptional Student in Mathematics; 3) Mathematics Components for Comprehensive Occupational Education; 4) Reference Materials. The guide is printed and spiral bound…

Epistemic Views of the Relationship between Physics and Mathematics: Its Influence on the Approach of Undergraduate Students to Problem Solving

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pereira de Ataide, Ana Raquel; Greca, Ileana Maria

2013-01-01

The relationship between physics and mathematics is hardly ever presented with sufficient clarity to satisfy either physicists or mathematicians. It is a situation that often leads to misunderstandings that may spread quickly from teacher to student, such as the idea that mathematics is a mere instrument for the physicist. In this paper, we…

Interactions between Mathematics and Physics: The History of the Concept of Function--Teaching with and about Nature of Mathematics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kjeldsen, Tinne Hoff; Lützen, Jesper

2015-01-01

In this paper, we discuss the history of the concept of function and emphasize in particular how problems in physics have led to essential changes in its definition and application in mathematical practices. Euler defined a function as an analytic expression, whereas Dirichlet defined it as a variable that depends in an arbitrary manner on another…

Gesellschaft fuer angewandte Mathematik und Mechanik, Scientific Annual Meeting, Universitaet Stuttgart, Federal Republic of Germany, Apr. 13-17, 1987, Reports

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Recent advances in the analytical and numerical treatment of physical and engineering problems are discussed in reviews and reports. Topics addressed include fluid mechanics, numerical methods for differential equations, FEM approaches, and boundary-element methods. Consideration is given to optimization, decision theory, stochastics, actuarial mathematics, applied mathematics and mathematical physics, and numerical analysis.

On the Reasonable and Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in Classical and Quantum Physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Plotnitsky, Arkady

2011-03-01

The point of departure for this article is Werner Heisenberg's remark, made in 1929: "It is not surprising that our language [or conceptuality] should be incapable of describing processes occurring within atoms, for … it was invented to describe the experiences of daily life, and these consist only of processes involving exceedingly large numbers of atoms. … Fortunately, mathematics is not subject to this limitation, and it has been possible to invent a mathematical scheme—the quantum theory [quantum mechanics]—which seems entirely adequate for the treatment of atomic processes." The cost of this discovery, at least in Heisenberg's and related interpretations of quantum mechanics (such as that of Niels Bohr), is that, in contrast to classical mechanics, the mathematical scheme in question no longer offers a description, even an idealized one, of quantum objects and processes. This scheme only enables predictions, in general, probabilistic in character, of the outcomes of quantum experiments. As a result, a new type of the relationships between mathematics and physics is established, which, in the language of Eugene Wigner adopted in my title, indeed makes the effectiveness of mathematics unreasonable in quantum but, as I shall explain, not in classical physics. The article discusses these new relationships between mathematics and physics in quantum theory and their implications for theoretical physics—past, present, and future.

Negotiating the Boundaries Between Mathematics and Physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Radtka, Catherine

2015-07-01

This paper examines physics and mathematics textbooks published in France at the end of the 1950s and at the beginning of the 1960s for children aged 11-15 years old. It argues that at this "middle school" level, textbooks contributed to shape cultural representations of both disciplines and their mutual boundaries through their contents and their material aspect. Further, this paper argues that far from presenting clearly delimited subjects, late 1950s textbooks offered possible connections between mathematics and physics. It highlights that such connections depended upon the type of schools the textbooks aimed at, at a time when educational organization still differentiated pupils of this age. It thus stresses how the audience and its projected aptitudes and needs, as well as the cultural teaching traditions of the teachers in charge, were inseparable from the diverse conceptions of mathematics and physics and their relationships promoted through textbooks of the time.

Identifying potential dropouts from college physics classes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wollman, Warren; Lawrenz, Frances

Hudson and Rottman (1981) established that mathematics ability is probably a secondary factor influencing dropout from college physics courses. Other factors remain to be found for predicting who will drop out or at least have difficulty with the course. When mathematics ability is coupled with general indicators of performance (total GPA and ACT natural science), prediction of performance for those who complete the course is substantially improved. Moreover, discriminant analyses reveal who will have at least some difficulty, but not who will drop out. The problem of isolating specific weaknesses of students who have difficulty persists. Physics achievement appears to depend on mathematics ability only to the extent that students possess the ability to utilize mathematics knowledge for solving physics problems. Identification of the specific aspects of this ability as well as the specific deficiencies leading to dropout should be the object of future research. For the present, interviews might be more revealing than group testing methods.

The Harmony of Physics, Mathematics, and Music: A discovery in mathematical music theory is found to apply in physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krantz, Richard; Douthett, Jack

2009-05-01

Although it is common practice to borrow tools from mathematics to apply to physics or music, it is unusual to use tools developed in music theory to mathematically describe physical phenomena. So called ``Maximally Even Set'' theory fits this unusual case. In this poster, we summarize, by example, the theory of Maximally Even (ME) sets and show how this formalism leads to the distribution of black and white keys on the piano keyboard. We then show how ME sets lead to a generalization of the well-known ``Cycle-of-Fifths'' in music theory. Subsequently, we describe ordering in one-dimensional spin-1/2 anti-ferromagnets using ME sets showing that this description leads to a fractal ``Devil's Staircase'' magnetic phase diagram. Finally, we examine an extension of ME sets, ``Iterated Maximally Even Sets'' that describes chord structure in music.

The Harmony of Physics, Mathematics, and Music: A discovery in mathematical music theory is found to apply in physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krantz, Richard; Douthett, Jack

2009-10-01

Although it is common practice to borrow tools from mathematics to apply to physics or music, it is unusual to use tools developed in music theory to mathematically describe physical phenomena. So called ``Maximally Even Set'' theory fits this unusual case. In this poster, we summarize, by example, the theory of Maximally Even (ME) sets and show how this formalism leads to the distribution of black and white keys on the piano keyboard. We then show how ME sets lead to a generalization of the well-known ``Cycle-of-Fifths'' in music theory. Subsequently, we describe ordering in one-dimensional spin-1/2 anti-ferromagnets using ME sets showing that this description leads to a fractal ``Devil's Staircase'' magnetic phase diagram. Finally, we examine an extension of ME sets, ``Iterated Maximally Even'' sets that describes chord structure in music.

"MAPHICS", its development and influence on the future of Science.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Castellano, Doc

2001-11-01

On the fifth 'anniversary' of his conferences with Einstein, the Author reviewed the State of the Art of Mathematical Physics. During this review, 1960, the Author formulated an Omega Science. Namely, combining the Philosophy of Mathematics with the Philosophy of Physics into ONE Philosophy, "MAPHICS". "MA from MAthematics and PH--ICS" from Physics; "MAPHICS" (TM). The PhD co. views Science in general, and Mathematical Physics in particular, from a Historic-Philosophical viewpoint. Thus, it remained anonymous and 'in the background' as publicly known Mathematicians and Physicists, with their great reservoir of rhetoric expertise in said Fields; gradually presented and refined the essence of what the Author calls "Spirito Mathematics". A Philosophical concept that now appears to be publicly developing, with the utilization of some its speed and resolution power. The Author will give at least three examples of its speed and resolution power. One being the partial differential equation in the development of Wave Mechanics & Quantum Mechanics. Namely, [(-ih bar(squared)/2m)(2nd Part.Der. psi/ respect to x)] + V psi = ih bar -(Part.Der. psi/respect to t).

Physical Concepts and Mathematical Symbols

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grelland, Hans Herlof

2007-12-01

According to traditional empiricist philosophy of science, concepts and meaning grow out of sense experience, and the mathematical structure of a physical theory is nothing but a formalisation of a given meaning-content. This view seems to work well in classical mechanics. But it breaks down in quantum physics, where we have a self-supported mathematical structure which resists any conceptual or pictorial interpretation in the traditional sense. Thus, traditional empiricism is flawed. Quantum physics teaches us that mathematics is a language in itself which extends beyond ordinary language. To understand the meaning of this extended language, we have to explore how new concepts and intuitions grow out of mathematics, not the other way around. The symbolic structure is prior to its meaning. This point of view is called linguistic empiricism, to stress that the connection with experience is still crucial. As cases, I compare the concept of stiffness in classical mechanics and the concept of electron density in quantum mechanics. The last case demonstrates that the wave function has a richer interpretation than the probabilistic one concerning measurement of position.

Throw Away Your Mathematical Handbook! Undergraduate Physics with Wolfram|Alpha, a FREE(!) Internet-Based Mathematical Engine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Looney, Craig W.

2009-10-01

Wolfram|Alpha (http://www.wolframalpha.com/), a free internet-based mathematical engine released earlier this year, represents an orders-of magnitude advance in mathematical power freely available - without money, passwords, or downloads - on the web. Wolfram|Alpha is based on Mathematica, so it can plot functions, take derivatives, solve systems of equations, perform symbolic and numerical integration, and more. These capabilities (especially plotting and integration) will be explored in the context of topics covered in upper level undergraduate physics courses.

Mathematical Modeling: A Structured Process

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anhalt, Cynthia Oropesa; Cortez, Ricardo

2015-01-01

Mathematical modeling, in which students use mathematics to explain or interpret physical, social, or scientific phenomena, is an essential component of the high school curriculum. The Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM) classify modeling as a K-12 standard for mathematical practice and as a conceptual category for high school…

PREFACE: XXXth International Colloquium on Group Theoretical Methods in Physics (ICGTMP) (Group30)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brackx, Fred; De Schepper, Hennie; Van der Jeugt, Joris

2015-04-01

The XXXth International Colloquium on Group Theoretical Methods in Physics (ICGTMP), also known as the Group30 conference, took place in Ghent (Belgium) from Monday 14 to Friday 18 July 2014. The conference was organised by Ghent University (Department of Applied Mathematics, Computer Science and Statistics, and Department of Mathematical Analysis). The website http://www.group30.ugent.be is still available. The ICGTMP is one of the traditional conference series covering the most important topics of symmetry which are relevant to the interplay of present-day mathematics and physics. More than 40 years ago a group of enthusiasts, headed by H. Bacry of Marseille and A. Janner of Nijmegen, initiated a series of annual meetings with the aim to provide a common forum for scientists interested in group theoretical methods. At that time most of the participants belonged to two important communities: on the one hand solid state specialists, elementary particle theorists and phenomenologists, and on the other mathematicians eager to apply newly-discovered group and algebraic structures. The conference series has become a meeting point for scientists working at modelling physical phenomena through mathematical and numerical methods based on geometry and symmetry. It is considered as the oldest one among the conference series devoted to geometry and physics. It has been further broadened and diversified due to the successful applications of geometric and algebraic methods in life sciences and other areas. The first four meetings took place alternatively in Marseille and Nijmegen. Soon after, the conference acquired an international standing, especially following the 1975 colloquium in Nijmegen and the 1976 colloquium in Montreal. Since then it has been organized in many places around the world. It has become a bi-annual colloquium since 1990, the year it was organized in Moscow. This was the first time the colloquium took place in Belgium. There were 246 registered participants at the Group30 colloquium from 46 different countries. This high number of participants makes the 30th edition of ICGTMP one of the most successful meetings of the series. We were particularly happy with the attendance of 32 students and many young postdocs: this is promising for the future of the research field and of the colloquium series. The attraction of young scientists was promoted by a reduced participation fee, the availability of cheap accommodation in the University Student Guest House, grants from a US-NSF project and grants from the Organising Committee supporting participants from countries with limited financial resources. The colloquium brought together international top researchers, with a variety of different backgrounds but with "group theoretical or algebraic methods" as common ground. The selection of plenary speakers and topics was made by the Organizing Committee, following the suggestions of the International Advisory Committee (consisting of prominent scientists in their domain), and ensuring the diversity of the subjects treated. There were 11 plenary talks, given as well by distinguished world experts as by young rising stars: Matthias Christandl, Alberto De Sole, Rui Loja Fernandes, François Gay-Balmaz, Gitta Kutyniok, Amiram Leviatan, Karl-Hermann Neeb, Christoph Schweigert, Yuji Tachikawa, Luc Vinet and Joshua Zak. Next to the plenary talks, there were 170 talks in six parallel sessions and 10 poster presentations. All scientific activities took place in the Joseph Plateau Building of the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture of Ghent University, a historical building conveniently located in the city centre of Ghent. In this building we could make use of the main lecture hall (400 seats) for the plenary lectures, six lecture rooms for parallel sessions, two offices for organizational activities and registrations, two PC-rooms and a large foyer for coffee breaks, book exhibitions and the poster session. As part of the colloquium, a panel discussion on recent advances and future challenges in group theoretical methods in physics was held on Wednesday morning. The panel members were: Maia Angelova, Heinz-Dietrich Doebner, Jean-Pierre Gazeau, Norbert Hounkonnou, Peter Olver and Luc Vinet, with Willard Miller Jr. as moderator. In this discussion, the importance of "symmetry" in physics (and other sciences) was emphasized, and some challenges were made explicit. On Wednesday evening there was a separate ceremony in the Aula Academica (the "University Palace") of Ghent University, for the presentation of the 2014 Wigner Medal and Hermann Weyl Prize. The Hermann Weyl Prize was established in 2000 to provide recognition for young scientists having performed original work of significant scientific quality in the area of the understanding of physics through symmetries. The 2014 Hermann Weyl Prize was awarded to Yuji Tachikawa (Tokyo University). He is praised for his outstanding contributions to the understanding of supersymmetric quantum field theories and in particular, to the discovery of the Alday-Gaiotto-Tachikawa correspondence that has led to spectacular advances in both mathematics and quantum physics. The Wigner Medal, established in 1978, is an award designed "to recognize outstanding contributions to the understanding of physics through Group Theory", and can be considered as a "lifetime achievement award". It was awarded to Joshua Zak (Technion, Haifa, Israel) for his discovery of the magnetic translation group and the phase and transform that bear his name. In his work, the relationship between mathematics and physics could hardly be closer, with mathematicians being familiar with the "Zak transform" and physicists with the "Zak phase", both concepts originating in group theory. The ceremony was graced by a saxophone quintet, "Sax Obsession", and followed by a reception in the adjacent Peristylium. The social programme included a variety of events. On Monday evening, the welcome address by Christophe Peeters, Deputy Mayor of the City of Ghent, was followed by a reception in the historical "Pacificatiezaal" of the City Hall. On Wednesday afternoon the participants had the opportunity to take a guided tour through medieval Ghent, admiring its wide range of monuments. The tour was followed by a much-appreciated boat trip exploring the canals and rivers of Ghent, all in sunny weather. On Thursday evening the conference banquet was held in the "Brasserie HA". Located in the Handelsbeurs Ghent. In the majestic banquet hall, the participants were not only treated to an exclusive dinner, but also to some fine piano music by Dmitry Gal'tsov and Richard Kerner. The conference was sponsored by: American Institute of Physics (AIP Publishing), Clay Mathematics Institute, Clifford Research Group - Faculty of Engineering and Architecture (Ghent Unviversity), Elsevier, Faculty of Sciences (Ghent University), Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique (FNRS), Foundation Compositio Mathematica, FWO Research Foundation - Flanders, International Association of Mathematical Physics, International Solvay Institutes, International Union of Pure and Applied Physics, National Science Foundation (USA) and Springer Birkhäuser. We would like to thank all our sponsors for their generous support. It took more than two years to organise a conference of such a size and importance. We express our gratitude to the International Advisory Committee for its help in selecting the plenary speakers and to the external members of the Organising Committee for their helpful suggestions and advice. We thank Wouter Dewolf for his devoted secretarial, administrative and organisational work and Vera Vanden Driessche for arranging the "Accompanying persons' programme". Finally, a big 'thank you' to all the local people (administrative and technical staff, research assistants and research students) for their devoted and tireless work in preparing and running the conference. Fred Brackx, Hennie De Schepper and Joris Van der Jeugt

Use of the "Moodle" Platform to Promote an Ongoing Learning When Lecturing General Physics in the Physics, Mathematics and Electronic Engineering Programmes at the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

López, Gabriel A.; Sáenz, Jon; Leonardo, Aritz; Gurtubay, Idoia G.

2016-01-01

The "Moodle" platform has been used to put into practice an ongoing evaluation of the students' Physics learning process. The evaluation has been done on the frame of the course General Physics, which is lectured during the first year of the Physics, Mathematics and Electronic Engineering Programmes at the Faculty of Science and…

Key Ideas: What Are They and How Can They Help Us Understand How People View Proof?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Raman, Manya

2003-01-01

Examines the views of proof held by university-level mathematics students and teachers. Develops a framework for characterizing people's views of proof based on a distinction between public and private aspects of proof and the key ideas that link these two domains. (Author/KHR)

Teaching for Statistical Literacy: Utilising Affordances in Real-World Data

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chick, Helen L.; Pierce, Robyn

2012-01-01

It is widely held that context is important in teaching mathematics and statistics. Consideration of context is central to statistical thinking, and any teaching of statistics must incorporate this aspect. Indeed, it has been advocated that real-world data sets can motivate the learning of statistical principles. It is not, however, a…

Cocoa High School's Academic Courses as Viewed by Their Consumers: A Field Study.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Louwerse, F. H.

A 16-item self-report instrument (included in an appendix) was developed to determine the views held by students (N=1,004) concerning aspects of courses in 5 academic areas: English, foreign languages, mathematics, science, and social studies. Individual items reflected views concerning: understanding course requirments (2 items), teacher/student…

Preface

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gidea, Marian; Sieber, Jan; Silber, Mary; Wieczorek, Sebastian

2015-05-01

This special issue on "Tipping Points: Fundamentals and Applications" is an offspring of the workshop with the same title held at the International Centre for Mathematical Sciences (ICMS), Edinburgh, between September 09-13, 2013. The theme of the meeting was the study of threshold behavior in complex environmental systems, such as Earth's climate, or ecological, sociological or economic systems.

The Best Friend Mathematics Ever Had

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mulcahy, Colm; Goetz, Albert

2014-01-01

This article begins with three brain teasers, and the answers, provided at the end of the article, may prove surprising. Figuring out why they are correct leads the reader to delightful "aha" moments. The kinds of "aha!" moments that result from solving these challenges for yourself were held in high estimation by the person…

77 FR 59979 - Meeting of the Advisory Committee; Meeting

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-10-01

... actuarial mathematics, pension law and methodology referred to in 29 U.S.C. 1242(a)(1)(B). A determination... closed meeting of the Advisory Committee on Actuarial Examinations. DATES: The meeting will be held on... is hereby given that the Advisory Committee on Actuarial Examinations will meet at Towers Watson, 800...

Preservice Teachers' Observations of Children's Learning during Family Math Night

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kurz, Terri L.; Kokic, Ivana Batarelo

2011-01-01

Family math night can easily be implemented into mathematics methodology courses providing an opportunity for field-based learning. Preservice teachers were asked to develop and implement an inquiry-based activity at a family math night event held at a local school with personnel, elementary children and their parents in attendance. This action…

STEM Strategies: Student Ambassadors and Equality in Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gartland, Clare

2014-01-01

More skilled young people are urgently needed in science, technology, engineering and mathematics in the UK. This book indicates how policy can be developed to encourage young people to consider STEM careers. It challenges widely held assumptions about how role models help raise aspirations and support progression to Higher Education and asks…

Geography Olympiads in Estonia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liiber, Ulle; Roosaare, Juri

2007-01-01

The Olympiad movement has a long history in Estonia, and the national system developed several decades ago. The first Olympiad for gifted and talented students was held in mathematics in 1950. Now there are more than 20 different fields of competition for basic school and gymnasium students. In 2005/2006, Estonian teams participated in 18…

The science of complexity and the role of mathematics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bountis, T.; Johnson, J.; Provata, A.; Tsironis, G.

2016-09-01

In the middle of the second decade of the 21st century, Complexity Science has reached a turning point. Its rapid advancement over the last 30 years has led to remarkable new concepts, methods and techniques, whose applications to complex systems of the physical, biological and social sciences has produced a great number of exciting results. The approach has so far depended almost exclusively on the solution of a wide variety of mathematical models by sophisticated numerical techniques and extensive simulations that have inspired a new generation of researchers interested in complex systems. Still, the impact of Complexity beyond the natural sciences, its applications to Medicine, Technology, Economics, Society and Policy are only now beginning to be explored. Furthermore, its basic principles and methods have so far remained within the realm of high level research institutions, out of reach of society's urgent need for practical applications. To address these issues, evaluate the current situation and bring Complexity Science closer to university students, a series of Ph.D. Schools on Mathematical Modeling of Complex Systems was launched, starting in July 2011 at the University of Patras, Greece (see http://www.math.upatras.gr/˜phdsch11). These Schools lasted two weeks each and included, beyond introductory lectures, a conference component of 2-3 days where students were exposed to recent results mainly presented by young researchers. The Ph.D. Schools continued successfully, the 2nd one taking place at Pescara, Italy (2012), (see http://www.nodycosy.unich.it), the 3d one at Heraklion, Crete, Greece (2013) (see http://nlsconf2013.physics.uoc.gr) and the 4th one in Athens, Greece (2014) (see http://nlsconf2014.physics.uoc.gr) (2014). This Special Theme volume contains the proceedings of the 5th Ph.D. School-Conference of this series held at the University of Patras, Greece, 20 30 July, 2015 (see http://www.math.upatras.gr/˜phdsch15) and includes many of the introductory lectures and research talks presented at this event. The primary concern of all those that participated in these events was to emphasize the role of mathematics, modeling and numerical simulation, which are indispensable for understanding what we call complex behavior of physical, biological, technological and socio - economical systems. In the discussions that took place, a great number of participants expressed the need to formulate a unifying theory of complex systems based on the main conclusions that have been reached so far in the science of Complexity. As Guest Editors of this volume, we also feel that it is important to reach some fundamental conclusions concerning common phenomena, theories and methodologies that arise in Complexity. We should all work to explore common rules and approaches, particularly in view of the remarkable challenges that face us all regarding complex social problems that threaten present day society and civilization as we know them.

An Analysis of the Changes in Ability and Knowledge of Students Taking A-Level Physics and Mathematics over a 35 Year Period

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barham, Peter J.

2012-01-01

New undergraduate students arriving to study physics at the University of Bristol from 1975 onwards have all taken the same test of their knowledge and understanding of physics and mathematics. Many of the questions test knowledge of material that has been in the A-level syllabus for maths or physics throughout this period. The ability of incoming…

Do Students Trust in Mathematics or Intuition during Physics Problem Solving? An Epistemic Game Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yavuz, Ahmet

2015-01-01

This study aims to investigate (1) students' trust in mathematics calculation versus intuition in a physics problem solving and (2) whether this trust is related to achievement in physics in the context of epistemic game theoretical framework. To achieve this research objective, paper-pencil and interview sessions were conducted. A paper-pencil…

Interdisciplinary Mathematics-Physics Approaches to Teaching the Concept of Angle in Elementary School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Munier, Valerie; Merle, Helene

2009-01-01

The present study takes an interdisciplinary mathematics-physics approach to the acquisition of the concept of angle by children in Grades 3-5. This paper first presents the theoretical framework we developed, then we analyse the concept of angle and the difficulties pupils have with it. Finally, we report three experimental physics-based teaching…

Mathematical Physics in Italy in the XIX Century: The Theory of Elasticity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Capecchi, Danilo

In the second half of the nineteenth century there was in Italy an important group of mathematicians who focused their attention on mathematical physics. The most prominent of them were Enrico Betti, Eugenio Beltrami, Gregorio Ricci-Curbastro and some others (Vito Volterra, Carlo Somigliana and Tullio Levi Civita) whose activity persevered for many years in the twentieth century. In this article, I will write about the contribution of this group to the theory of elasticity. The best representative writing on continuum mechanics and elasticity as theories of mathematical physics is presented in the book Teoria della elasticità by Enrico Betti. The book is interesting not only for the particular results found but also for its structure which became paradigmatic for the development of subsequent texts on elasticity, not only those in Italian. Betti's interest was concentrated on the mathematical aspects of a physical theory. Physical principles are not discussed; they are only exposed in the most formal way possible. The objective is to arrive, without discussing epistemological or empirical problems, at the formulation and solution of differential equations that rule elasticity, as had become classic in the emerging mathematical physics. Beltrami wrote no complete books on elasticity; however, his contribution to this field was perhaps more original than that of Betti. A similar consideration holds true for Volterra and Somigliana.

Promoting Physical Activity through Hand-Held Computer Technology

PubMed Central

King, Abby C.; Ahn, David K.; Oliveira, Brian M.; Atienza, Audie A.; Castro, Cynthia M.; Gardner, Christopher D.

2009-01-01

Background Efforts to achieve population-wide increases in walking and similar moderate-intensity physical activities potentially can be enhanced through relevant applications of state-of-the-art interactive communication technologies. Yet few systematic efforts to evaluate the efficacy of hand-held computers and similar devices for enhancing physical activity levels have occurred. The purpose of this first-generation study was to evaluate the efficacy of a hand-held computer (i.e., personal digital assistant [PDA]) for increasing moderate intensity or more vigorous (MOD+) physical activity levels over 8 weeks in mid-life and older adults relative to a standard information control arm. Design Randomized, controlled 8-week experiment. Data were collected in 2005 and analyzed in 2006-2007. Setting/Participants Community-based study of 37 healthy, initially underactive adults aged 50 years and older who were randomized and completed the 8-week study (intervention=19, control=18). Intervention Participants received an instructional session and a PDA programmed to monitor their physical activity levels twice per day and provide daily and weekly individualized feedback, goal setting, and support. Controls received standard, age-appropriate written physical activity educational materials. Main Outcome Measure Physical activity was assessed via the Community Healthy Activities Model Program for Seniors (CHAMPS) questionnaire at baseline and 8 weeks. Results Relative to controls, intervention participants reported significantly greater 8-week mean estimated caloric expenditure levels and minutes per week in MOD+ activity (p<0.04). Satisfaction with the PDA was reasonably high in this largely PDA-naive sample. Conclusions Results from this first-generation study indicate that hand-held computers may be effective tools for increasing initial physical activity levels among underactive adults. PMID:18201644

Rethinking Mathematics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abad, Ernesto A.

1994-01-01

Poses solutions for our failure to show students how well mathematics interlocks with the physical structures of the Universe. Some examples are provided to illustrate the natural integration of mathematics and science. (ZWH)

Mathematics Ab Ovo: Hans Driesch and Entwicklungsmechanik.

PubMed

Priven, Silvia Waisse; Alfonso-Goldfarb, Ana M

2009-01-01

One of the factors leading to the creation of embryology as a modern discipline at the end of the 19th century was Wilhelm Roux's formulation of the program of Entwicklungsmechanik (developmental mechanics). A look into the work of Hans Driesch, an equal contributor to developmental mechanics, may shed further light on this process. For Roux, developmental mechanics was an anatomical science, but for Driesch it was associated with a mathematical and physical approach to the natural world. Likewise, Roux used the concept of mechanics as an analogy, but Driesch used it literally. Driesch's generation had been trained in a pedagogic context that emphasized mathematics and physics, which may explain why he went a step further than Roux to state that a true "mechanics" of development required the reduction of morphogenetic problems to the known laws of physics. It is argued here that this difference in background is behind the enthusiastic adoption and further development of Roux's program by Driesch's generation, a generation that conceived Entwicklungsmechanik to be the reduction of embryological processes to "the laws of matter in motion." This same mathematical and physical mindset would underscore Driesch's later construction of entelechy as a regulating factor in embryogenesis, through mathematical analysis grounded on the notion of mathematical functions.

Acceleration of neutrons in a scheme of a tautochronous mathematical pendulum (physical principles)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rivlin, Lev A

We consider the physical principles of neutron acceleration through a multiple synchronous interaction with a gradient rf magnetic field in a scheme of a tautochronous mathematical pendulum. (laser applications and other aspects of quantum electronics)

Special issue on cluster algebras in mathematical physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Di Francesco, Philippe; Gekhtman, Michael; Kuniba, Atsuo; Yamazaki, Masahito

2014-02-01

This is a call for contributions to a special issue of Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical dedicated to cluster algebras in mathematical physics. Over the ten years since their introduction by Fomin and Zelevinsky, the theory of cluster algebras has witnessed a spectacular growth, first and foremost due to the many links that have been discovered with a wide range of subjects in mathematics and, increasingly, theoretical and mathematical physics. The main motivation of this special issue is to gather together reviews, recent developments and open problems, mainly from a mathematical physics viewpoint, into a single comprehensive issue. We expect that such a special issue will become a valuable reference for the broad scientific community working in mathematical and theoretical physics. The issue will consist of invited review articles and contributed papers containing new results on the interplays of cluster algebras with mathematical physics. Editorial policy The Guest Editors for this issue are Philippe Di Francesco, Michael Gekhtman, Atsuo Kuniba and Masahito Yamazaki. The areas and topics for this issue include, but are not limited to: discrete integrable systems arising from cluster mutations cluster structure on Poisson varieties cluster algebras and soliton interactions cluster positivity conjecture Y-systems in the thermodynamic Bethe ansatz and Zamolodchikov's periodicity conjecture T-system of transfer matrices of integrable lattice models dilogarithm identities in conformal field theory wall crossing in 4d N = 2 supersymmetric gauge theories 4d N = 1 quiver gauge theories described by networks scattering amplitudes of 4d N = 4 theories 3d N = 2 gauge theories described by flat connections on 3-manifolds integrability of dimer/Ising models on graphs. All contributions will be refereed and processed according to the usual procedure of the journal. Guidelines for preparation of contributions The deadline for contributed papers is 31 March 2014. This deadline will allow the special issue to appear at the end of 2014. There is no strict regulation on article size, but as a guide the preferable size is 15-30 pages for contributed papers and 40-60 pages for reviews. Further advice on publishing your work in Journal of Physics A may be found at iopscience.iop.org/jphysa. Contributions to the special issue should be submitted by web upload via ScholarOne Manuscripts, quoting 'JPhysA special issue on cluster algebras in mathematical physics'. Submissions should ideally be in standard LaTeX form. Please see the website for further information on electronic submissions. All contributions should be accompanied by a read-me file or covering letter giving the postal and e-mail addresses for correspondence. The Publishing Office should be notified of any subsequent change of address. The special issue will be published in the print and online versions of the journal.

Special issue on cluster algebras in mathematical physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Di Francesco, Philippe; Gekhtman, Michael; Kuniba, Atsuo; Yamazaki, Masahito

2013-12-01

This is a call for contributions to a special issue of Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical dedicated to cluster algebras in mathematical physics. Over the ten years since their introduction by Fomin and Zelevinsky, the theory of cluster algebras has witnessed a spectacular growth, first and foremost due to the many links that have been discovered with a wide range of subjects in mathematics and, increasingly, theoretical and mathematical physics. The main motivation of this special issue is to gather together reviews, recent developments and open problems, mainly from a mathematical physics viewpoint, into a single comprehensive issue. We expect that such a special issue will become a valuable reference for the broad scientific community working in mathematical and theoretical physics. The issue will consist of invited review articles and contributed papers containing new results on the interplays of cluster algebras with mathematical physics. Editorial policy The Guest Editors for this issue are Philippe Di Francesco, Michael Gekhtman, Atsuo Kuniba and Masahito Yamazaki. The areas and topics for this issue include, but are not limited to: discrete integrable systems arising from cluster mutations cluster structure on Poisson varieties cluster algebras and soliton interactions cluster positivity conjecture Y-systems in the thermodynamic Bethe ansatz and Zamolodchikov's periodicity conjecture T-system of transfer matrices of integrable lattice models dilogarithm identities in conformal field theory wall crossing in 4d N = 2 supersymmetric gauge theories 4d N = 1 quiver gauge theories described by networks scattering amplitudes of 4d N = 4 theories 3d N = 2 gauge theories described by flat connections on 3-manifolds integrability of dimer/Ising models on graphs. All contributions will be refereed and processed according to the usual procedure of the journal. Guidelines for preparation of contributions The deadline for contributed papers is 31 March 2014. This deadline will allow the special issue to appear at the end of 2014. There is no strict regulation on article size, but as a guide the preferable size is 15-30 pages for contributed papers and 40-60 pages for reviews. Further advice on publishing your work in Journal of Physics A may be found at iopscience.iop.org/jphysa. Contributions to the special issue should be submitted by web upload via ScholarOne Manuscripts, quoting 'JPhysA special issue on cluster algebras in mathematical physics'. Submissions should ideally be in standard LaTeX form. Please see the website for further information on electronic submissions. All contributions should be accompanied by a read-me file or covering letter giving the postal and e-mail addresses for correspondence. The Publishing Office should be notified of any subsequent change of address. The special issue will be published in the print and online versions of the journal.

Special issue on cluster algebras in mathematical physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Di Francesco, Philippe; Gekhtman, Michael; Kuniba, Atsuo; Yamazaki, Masahito

2013-11-01

This is a call for contributions to a special issue of Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical dedicated to cluster algebras in mathematical physics. Over the ten years since their introduction by Fomin and Zelevinsky, the theory of cluster algebras has witnessed a spectacular growth, first and foremost due to the many links that have been discovered with a wide range of subjects in mathematics and, increasingly, theoretical and mathematical physics. The main motivation of this special issue is to gather together reviews, recent developments and open problems, mainly from a mathematical physics viewpoint, into a single comprehensive issue. We expect that such a special issue will become a valuable reference for the broad scientific community working in mathematical and theoretical physics. The issue will consist of invited review articles and contributed papers containing new results on the interplays of cluster algebras with mathematical physics. Editorial policy The Guest Editors for this issue are Philippe Di Francesco, Michael Gekhtman, Atsuo Kuniba and Masahito Yamazaki. The areas and topics for this issue include, but are not limited to: discrete integrable systems arising from cluster mutations cluster structure on Poisson varieties cluster algebras and soliton interactions cluster positivity conjecture Y-systems in the thermodynamic Bethe ansatz and Zamolodchikov's periodicity conjecture T-system of transfer matrices of integrable lattice models dilogarithm identities in conformal field theory wall crossing in 4d N = 2 supersymmetric gauge theories 4d N = 1 quiver gauge theories described by networks scattering amplitudes of 4d N = 4 theories 3d N = 2 gauge theories described by flat connections on 3-manifolds integrability of dimer/Ising models on graphs. All contributions will be refereed and processed according to the usual procedure of the journal. Guidelines for preparation of contributions The deadline for contributed papers is 31 March 2014. This deadline will allow the special issue to appear at the end of 2014. There is no strict regulation on article size, but as a guide the preferable size is 15-30 pages for contributed papers and 40-60 pages for reviews. Further advice on publishing your work in Journal of Physics A may be found at iopscience.iop.org/jphysa. Contributions to the special issue should be submitted by web upload via ScholarOne Manuscripts, quoting 'JPhysA special issue on cluster algebras in mathematical physics'. Submissions should ideally be in standard LaTeX form. Please see the website for further information on electronic submissions. All contributions should be accompanied by a read-me file or covering letter giving the postal and e-mail addresses for correspondence. The Publishing Office should be notified of any subsequent change of address. The special issue will be published in the print and online versions of the journal.

High-Productivity Computing in Computational Physics Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tel-Zur, Guy

2011-03-01

We describe the development of a new course in Computational Physics at the Ben-Gurion University. This elective course for 3rd year undergraduates and MSc. students is being taught during one semester. Computational Physics is by now well accepted as the Third Pillar of Science. This paper's claim is that modern Computational Physics education should deal also with High-Productivity Computing. The traditional approach of teaching Computational Physics emphasizes ``Correctness'' and then ``Accuracy'' and we add also ``Performance.'' Along with topics in Mathematical Methods and case studies in Physics the course deals a significant amount of time with ``Mini-Courses'' in topics such as: High-Throughput Computing - Condor, Parallel Programming - MPI and OpenMP, How to build a Beowulf, Visualization and Grid and Cloud Computing. The course does not intend to teach neither new physics nor new mathematics but it is focused on an integrated approach for solving problems starting from the physics problem, the corresponding mathematical solution, the numerical scheme, writing an efficient computer code and finally analysis and visualization.

Foundational concepts and underlying theories for majors in "biochemistry and molecular biology".

PubMed

Tansey, John T; Baird, Teaster; Cox, Michael M; Fox, Kristin M; Knight, Jennifer; Sears, Duane; Bell, Ellis

2013-01-01

Over the past two years, through an NSF RCN UBE grant, the ASBMB has held regional workshops for faculty members and science educators from around the country that focused on identifying: 1) core principles of biochemistry and molecular biology, 2) essential concepts and underlying theories from physics, chemistry, and mathematics, and 3) foundational skills that undergraduate majors in biochemistry and molecular biology must understand to complete their major coursework. Using information gained from these workshops, as well as from the ASBMB accreditation working group and the NSF Vision and Change report, the Core Concepts working group has developed a consensus list of learning outcomes and objectives based on five foundational concepts (evolution, matter and energy transformation, homeostasis, information flow, and macromolecular structure and function) that represent the expected conceptual knowledge base for undergraduate degrees in biochemistry and molecular biology. This consensus will aid biochemistry and molecular biology educators in the development of assessment tools for the new ASBMB recommended curriculum. © 2013 by The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

Primordial Particles; Collisions of Inelastic Particles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sagi, George

2011-03-01

Three-dimensional matter is not defined by Euclidian or Cartesian geometries. Newton's and Einstein's laws are related to the motions of elastic masses. The study of collisions of inelastic particles opens up new vistas in physics. The present article reveals how such particles create clusters composed of various numbers of particles. The Probability of each formation, duplets, triplets, etc. can be calculated. The particles are held together by a binding force, and depending upon the angles of collisions they may also rotate around their center of geometry. Because of these unique properties such inelastic particles are referred to as primordial particles, Pp. When a given density of Pp per cubic space is given, then random collisions create a field. The calculation of the properties of such primordial field is very complex and beyond the present study. However, the angles of collisions are infinite in principle, but the probabilities of various cluster sizes are quantum dependent. Consequently, field calculations will require new complex mathematical methods to be discovered yet.

Associations of Physical Activity, Sports Participation and Active Commuting on Mathematic Performance and Inhibitory Control in Adolescents.

PubMed

Domazet, Sidsel L; Tarp, Jakob; Huang, Tao; Gejl, Anne Kær; Andersen, Lars Bo; Froberg, Karsten; Bugge, Anna

2016-01-01

To examine objectively measured physical activity level, organized sports participation and active commuting to school in relation to mathematic performance and inhibitory control in adolescents. The design was cross-sectional. A convenient sample of 869 sixth and seventh grade students (12-14 years) was invited to participate in the study. A total of 568 students fulfilled the inclusion criteria and comprised the final sample for this study. Mathematic performance was assessed by a customized test and inhibitory control was assessed by a modified Eriksen flanker task. Physical activity was assessed with GT3X and GT3X+ accelerometers presented in sex-specific quartiles of mean counts per minute and mean minutes per day in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. Active commuting and sports participation was self-reported. Mixed model regression was applied. Total physical activity level was stratified by bicycling status in order to bypass measurement error subject to the accelerometer. Non-cyclists in the 2nd quartile of counts per minute displayed a higher mathematic score, so did cyclists in the 2nd and 3rd quartile of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity relative to the least active quartile. Non-cyclists in the 3rd quartile of counts per minute had an improved reaction time and cyclists in the 2nd quartile of counts per minute and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity displayed an improved accuracy, whereas non-cyclists in the 2nd quartile of counts per minute showed an inferior accuracy relative to the least active quartile. Bicycling to school and organized sports participation were positively associated with mathematic performance. Sports participation and bicycling were positively associated with mathematic performance. Results regarding objectively measured physical activity were mixed. Although, no linear nor dose-response relationship was observed there was no indication of a higher activity level impairing the scholastic or cognitive performance.

Associations of Physical Activity, Sports Participation and Active Commuting on Mathematic Performance and Inhibitory Control in Adolescents

PubMed Central

Huang, Tao; Gejl, Anne Kær; Froberg, Karsten

2016-01-01

Objectives To examine objectively measured physical activity level, organized sports participation and active commuting to school in relation to mathematic performance and inhibitory control in adolescents. Methods The design was cross-sectional. A convenient sample of 869 sixth and seventh grade students (12–14 years) was invited to participate in the study. A total of 568 students fulfilled the inclusion criteria and comprised the final sample for this study. Mathematic performance was assessed by a customized test and inhibitory control was assessed by a modified Eriksen flanker task. Physical activity was assessed with GT3X and GT3X+ accelerometers presented in sex-specific quartiles of mean counts per minute and mean minutes per day in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. Active commuting and sports participation was self-reported. Mixed model regression was applied. Total physical activity level was stratified by bicycling status in order to bypass measurement error subject to the accelerometer. Results Non-cyclists in the 2nd quartile of counts per minute displayed a higher mathematic score, so did cyclists in the 2nd and 3rd quartile of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity relative to the least active quartile. Non-cyclists in the 3rd quartile of counts per minute had an improved reaction time and cyclists in the 2nd quartile of counts per minute and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity displayed an improved accuracy, whereas non-cyclists in the 2nd quartile of counts per minute showed an inferior accuracy relative to the least active quartile. Bicycling to school and organized sports participation were positively associated with mathematic performance. Conclusions Sports participation and bicycling were positively associated with mathematic performance. Results regarding objectively measured physical activity were mixed. Although, no linear nor dose-response relationship was observed there was no indication of a higher activity level impairing the scholastic or cognitive performance. PMID:26727211

What is behind small deviations of quantum mechanics theory from experiments? Observer's mathematics point of view

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khots, Boris; Khots, Dmitriy

2014-12-01

Certain results that have been predicted by Quantum Mechanics (QM) theory are not always supported by experiments. This defines a deep crisis in contemporary physics and, in particular, quantum mechanics. We believe that, in fact, the mathematical apparatus employed within today's physics is a possible reason. In particular, we consider the concept of infinity that exists in today's mathematics as the root cause of this problem. We have created Observer's Mathematics that offers an alternative to contemporary mathematics. This paper is an attempt to relay how Observer's Mathematics may explain some of the contradictions in QM theory results. We consider the Hamiltonian Mechanics, Newton equation, Schrodinger equation, two slit interference, wave-particle duality for single photons, uncertainty principle, Dirac equations for free electron in a setting of arithmetic, algebra, and topology provided by Observer's Mathematics (see www.mathrelativity.com). Certain results and communications pertaining to solution of these problems are provided.

Fermilab Today

Science.gov Websites

standard for special mathematical functions A new standard for mathematical special functions in C++ has the standard are frequently used in applications of high-energy physics and other mathematical

The Effect of Syllabus on Mathematical Knowledge

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Belsom, C. G. H.; Elton, L. R. B.

1974-01-01

Item analysis of a mathematics preknowledge test given to physics students revealed that significant differences existed on certain items between groups of students who had followed different mathematics syllabuses. (MLH)

How Much Space Does a Library Need? Justifying Collections Space in an Electronic Age

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Butkovich, Nancy J.

2010-01-01

In 2002, plans to merge Penn State's Physical Sciences Library and Mathematics Library provoked a controversy in the Eberly College of Science over the size of the library needed to support its departments. The College contended that a physical collection no more than 5 years old was adequate. A study of astronomy, chemistry, mathematics, physics,…

Behaviour of mathematics and physics students in solving problem of Vector-Physics context

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sardi; Rizal, M.; Mansyur, J.

2018-04-01

This research aimed to describe behaviors of mathematics and physics students in solving problem of the vector concept in physics context. The subjects of the research were students who enrolled in Mathematics Education Study Program and Physics Education Study Program of FKIP Universitas Tadulako. The selected participants were students who received the highest score in vector fundamental concept test in each study program. The data were collected through thinking-aloud activity followed by an interview. The steps of data analysis included data reduction, display, and conclusion drawing. The credibility of the data was tested using a triangulation method. Based on the data analysis, it can be concluded that the two groups of students did not show fundamental differences in problem-solving behavior, especially in the steps of understanding the problem (identifying, collecting and analyzing facts and information), planning (looking for alternative strategies) and conducting the alternative strategy. The two groups were differ only in the evaluation aspect. In contrast to Physics students who evaluated their answer, mathematics students did not conducted an evaluation activity on their work. However, the difference was not caused by the differences in background knowledge.

Bell's Inequality: Revolution in Quantum Physics or Just AN Inadequate Mathematical Model?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khrennikov, Andrei

The main aim of this review is to stress the role of mathematical models in physics. The Bell inequality (BI) is often called the "most famous inequality of the 20th century." It is commonly accepted that its violation in corresponding experiments induced a revolution in quantum physics. Unlike "old quantum mechanics" (of Einstein, Schrodinger Bohr, Heisenberg, Pauli, Landau, Fock), "modern quantum mechanics" (of Bell, Aspect, Zeilinger, Shimony, Green-berger, Gisin, Mermin) takes seriously so called quantum non-locality. We will show that the conclusion that one has to give up the realism (i.e., a possibility to assign results of measurements to physical systems) or the locality (i.e., to assume action at a distance) is heavily based on one special mathematical model. This model was invented by A. N. Kolmogorov in 1933. One should pay serious attention to the role of mathematical models in physics. The problems of the realism and locality induced by Bell's argument can be solved by using non-Kolmogorovian probabilistic models. We compare this situation with non-Euclidean geometric models in relativity theory.

The Mental and Physical Health Difficulties of Children Held within a British Immigration Detention Center: A Pilot Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lorek, Ann; Ehntholt, Kimberly; Nesbitt, Anne; Wey, Emmanuel; Githinji, Chipo; Rossor, Eve; Wickramasinghe, Rush

2009-01-01

Objective: The present study aimed to assess the mental and physical health of children held within a British immigration detention center. Method: A total of 24 detained children (aged 3 months to 17 years) were assessed with their parents or carer after being referred by a registered legal charity. Thirteen were seen by a pediatrician alone, 4…

International Scientific Conference on "Radiation-Thermal Effects and Processes in Inorganic Materials"

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2015-04-01

The International Scientific Conference on "Radiation-Thermal Effects and Processes in Inorganic Materials" is a traditional representative forum devoted to the discussion of fundamental problems of radiation physics and its technical applications. The first nine conferences were held four times in Tomsk, then in Ulan-Ude (Russia), Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan), Tashkent (Uzbekistan), Sharm El Sheikh (Egypt), and the island of Cyprus. The tenth conference was held in Tomsk, Russia. The program of the Conference covers a wide range of technical areas and modern aspects of radiation physics, its applications and related matters. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to: • Physical and chemical phenomena in inorganic materials in radiation, electrical and thermal fields; • Research methods and equipment modification states and properties of materials; • Technologies and equipment for their implementation; • The use of radiation-thermal processes in nanotechnology; • Adjacent to the main theme of the conference issues The conference was attended by leading scientists from countries near and far abroad who work in the field of radiation physics of solid state and of radiation material science. The School-Conference of Young Scientists was held during the conference. The event was held with the financial support of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, projects No. 14-38-10210 and No. 14-02-20376.

PREFACE: International Scientific Conference on Radiation-Thermal Effects and Processes in Inorganic Materials 2015 (RTEP2015)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2016-02-01

The International Scientific Conference "Radiation-Thermal Effects and Processes in Inorganic Materials" is a traditional representative forum devoted to the discussion of fundamental problems of radiation physics and its technical applications. The first nine conferences were held fourfold in Tomsk, Ulan-Ude (Russia), Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan), Tashkent (Uzbekistan), Sharm El Sheikh (Egypt), the island of Cyprus. The XI conference was held in Tomsk, Russia. The program of the Conference covers a wide range of technical areas and modern aspects of radiation physics, its applications and related matters. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to: • Physical and chemical phenomena in inorganic materials in radiation, electrical and thermal fields; • Research methods and equipment modification states and properties of materials; • Technologies and equipment for their implementation; • The use of radiation-thermal processes in nanotechnology; • Adjacent to the main theme of the conference issues The conference was attended by leading scientists from countries near and far abroad who work in the field of radiation physics of solid state and of radiation material science. The School-Conference of Young Scientists was also held during the conference. The event was held with the financial support of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, projects No. 15-02-20616.

Mathematics and complex systems.

PubMed

Foote, Richard

2007-10-19

Contemporary researchers strive to understand complex physical phenomena that involve many constituents, may be influenced by numerous forces, and may exhibit unexpected or emergent behavior. Often such "complex systems" are macroscopic manifestations of other systems that exhibit their own complex behavior and obey more elemental laws. This article proposes that areas of mathematics, even ones based on simple axiomatic foundations, have discernible layers, entirely unexpected "macroscopic" outcomes, and both mathematical and physical ramifications profoundly beyond their historical beginnings. In a larger sense, the study of mathematics itself, which is increasingly surpassing the capacity of researchers to verify "by hand," may be the ultimate complex system.

Preface for the special issue of Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering, BIOCOMP 2012.

PubMed

Buonocore, Aniello; Di Crescenzo, Antonio; Hastings, Alan

2014-04-01

The International Conference "BIOCOMP2012 - Mathematical Modeling and Computational Topics in Biosciences'', was held in Vietri sul Mare (Italy), June 4-8, 2012. It was dedicated to the Memory of Professor Luigi M. Ricciardi (1942-2011), who was a visionary and tireless promoter of the 3 previous editions of the BIOCOMP conference series. We thought that the best way to honor his memory was to continue the BIOCOMP program. Over the years, this conference promoted scientific activities related to his wide interests and scientific expertise, which ranged in various areas of applications of mathematics, probability and statistics to biosciences and cybernetics, also with emphasis on computational problems. We are pleased that many of his friends and colleagues, as well as many other scientists, were attracted by the goals of this recent event and offered to contribute to its success.

Automated method for the systematic interpretation of resonance peaks in spectrum data

DOEpatents

Damiano, B.; Wood, R.T.

1997-04-22

A method is described for spectral signature interpretation. The method includes the creation of a mathematical model of a system or process. A neural network training set is then developed based upon the mathematical model. The neural network training set is developed by using the mathematical model to generate measurable phenomena of the system or process based upon model input parameter that correspond to the physical condition of the system or process. The neural network training set is then used to adjust internal parameters of a neural network. The physical condition of an actual system or process represented by the mathematical model is then monitored by extracting spectral features from measured spectra of the actual process or system. The spectral features are then input into said neural network to determine the physical condition of the system or process represented by the mathematical model. More specifically, the neural network correlates the spectral features (i.e. measurable phenomena) of the actual process or system with the corresponding model input parameters. The model input parameters relate to specific components of the system or process, and, consequently, correspond to the physical condition of the process or system. 1 fig.

Automated method for the systematic interpretation of resonance peaks in spectrum data

DOEpatents

Damiano, Brian; Wood, Richard T.

1997-01-01

A method for spectral signature interpretation. The method includes the creation of a mathematical model of a system or process. A neural network training set is then developed based upon the mathematical model. The neural network training set is developed by using the mathematical model to generate measurable phenomena of the system or process based upon model input parameter that correspond to the physical condition of the system or process. The neural network training set is then used to adjust internal parameters of a neural network. The physical condition of an actual system or process represented by the mathematical model is then monitored by extracting spectral features from measured spectra of the actual process or system. The spectral features are then input into said neural network to determine the physical condition of the system or process represented by the mathematical. More specifically, the neural network correlates the spectral features (i.e. measurable phenomena) of the actual process or system with the corresponding model input parameters. The model input parameters relate to specific components of the system or process, and, consequently, correspond to the physical condition of the process or system.

44 CFR 67.6 - Basis of appeal.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... absolute (except where mathematical or measurement error or changed physical conditions can be demonstrated... a mathematical or measurement error or changed physical conditions, then the specific source of the... registered professional engineer or licensed land surveyor, of the new data necessary for FEMA to conduct a...

PHYS-MA-TECH. An Integrated Partnership.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scarborough, Jule Dee

This document contains 45 integrated physics, mathematics, and technology curriculum modules developed by teachers at 5 Illinois schools. An introduction discusses the collaborative project, in which teams of one mathematics, physics, and technology teacher from each school developed innovative instructional delivery models that enabled the three…

Aviation Maintenance Technology. General. G101 Aviation Mathematics and Physics. Instructor Material.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oklahoma State Board of Vocational and Technical Education, Stillwater. Curriculum and Instructional Materials Center.

These instructor materials for an aviation maintenance technology course contain three instructional modules covering safety, aviation mathematics, and aviation physics. Each module may contain an introduction and module objective, specific objectives, an instructor's module implementation guide, technical information supplements, transparency…

An appraisal of an online tutorial system for the teaching and learning of engineering physics in conjunction with contextual physics and mathematics, and relevant mathematics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bhathal, Ragbir

2016-09-01

The number of students entering engineering schools in Australian universities has increased tremendously over the last few years because of the Australian Federal Government's policy of increasing the participation rates of Higher School Certificate students and students from low social economic status backgrounds in the tertiary sector. They now come with a diverse background of skills, motivations and prior knowledge. It is imperative that new methods of teaching and learning be developed. This paper describes an online tutorial system used in conjunction with contextual physics and mathematics, and the revision of the relevant mathematical knowledge at the appropriate time before a new topic is introduced in the teaching and learning of engineering physics. Taken as a whole, this study shows that students not only improved their final examination results but there was also an increase in the retention rate of first-year engineering students which has financial implications for the university.

The Combination of Just-in-Time Teaching and Wikispaces in Physics Classrooms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mohottala, Hashini E.

2013-01-01

The general student population enrolled in today's physics classrooms is diverse. They come from a variety of different educational backgrounds. Some demonstrate a good knowledge of natural laws of physics with a better understanding of mathematical concepts, while others show a fair knowledge in fundamentals of physics with a minimum knowledge in mathematics. There are few who have not been exposed to physics or mathematics in their high schools (or at least they claim it to be the case). In addition, now we have "nontraditional" students: working part-time students, older students, commuting students, and, occasionally, military veterans. Regardless of the background, the majority of the students show little or no interest in physics and exhibit anxiety toward learning the subject. In order to address such a diverse and often unmotivated student population, and excite them about physics in a timely manner, we should deviate from conventional teaching techniques. Just-in-Time Teaching (JiTT) combined with wikis is an excellent way to accomplish this goal.

PREFACE: Physics and Mathematics of Nonlinear Phenomena 2013 (PMNP2013)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Konopelchenko, B. G.; Landolfi, G.; Martina, L.; Vitolo, R.

2014-03-01

Modern theory of nonlinear integrable equations is nowdays an important and effective tool of study for numerous nonlinear phenomena in various branches of physics from hydrodynamics and optics to quantum filed theory and gravity. It includes the study of nonlinear partial differential and discrete equations, regular and singular behaviour of their solutions, Hamitonian and bi- Hamitonian structures, their symmetries, associated deformations of algebraic and geometrical structures with applications to various models in physics and mathematics. The PMNP 2013 conference focused on recent advances and developments in Continuous and discrete, classical and quantum integrable systems Hamiltonian, critical and geometric structures of nonlinear integrable equations Integrable systems in quantum field theory and matrix models Models of nonlinear phenomena in physics Applications of nonlinear integrable systems in physics The Scientific Committee of the conference was formed by Francesco Calogero (University of Rome `La Sapienza', Italy) Boris A Dubrovin (SISSA, Italy) Yuji Kodama (Ohio State University, USA) Franco Magri (University of Milan `Bicocca', Italy) Vladimir E Zakharov (University of Arizona, USA, and Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics, Russia) The Organizing Committee: Boris G Konopelchenko, Giulio Landolfi, Luigi Martina, Department of Mathematics and Physics `E De Giorgi' and the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, and Raffaele Vitolo, Department of Mathematics and Physics `E De Giorgi'. A list of sponsors, speakers, talks, participants and the conference photograph are given in the PDF. Conference photograph

0.4971 and All That--Is There Life after the Calculator?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mitchell, Peter

1997-01-01

Assesses the status and use of the hand-held calculator in the current school curriculum. Comments on current proposals to restrict its use in the examination room at A-level. Concludes that at the stage of A-level mathematics, calculations that are not practicable without calculating aids cannot be avoided without indefensible contrivance.…

Modeling the Development Process of Dialogical Critical Thinking in Pupils Aged 10 to 12 Years

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Daniel, Marie-France; Lafortune, Louise; Pallascio, Richard; Splitter, Laurance; Slade, Christina; de la Garza, Teresa

2005-01-01

This research project investigated manifestations of critical thinking in pupils 10 to 12 years of age during their group discussions held in the context of Philosophy for Children Adapted to Mathematics. The objective of the research project was to examine, through the pupils' discussions, the development of dialogical critical thinking…

Understanding Local Instructional Responses to Federal and State Accountability Mandates: A Typology of Extended Learning Time

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Midkiff, Brooke; Cohen-Vogel, Lora

2015-01-01

For the past dozen years, the federal government has held schools accountable for students' achievement in reading and mathematics. Schools that have not demonstrated improved student scores have faced heavy sanctions, including reconstitution and closure. In response to this high-stakes environment, schools appear to have extended the time…

Substitution and Sameness: Two Components of a Relational Conception of the Equals Sign

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, Ian; Inglis, Matthew; Gilmore, Camilla; Dowens, Margaret

2012-01-01

A sophisticated and flexible understanding of the equals sign (=) is important for arithmetic competence and for learning further mathematics, particularly algebra. Research has identified two common conceptions held by children: the equals sign as an operator and the equals sign as signaling the same value on both sides of the equation. We argue…

Implementation of an Asynchronous Workshop for STEM Educators Designed to Enhance Professor-Student Rapport

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Christe, Barbara

2015-01-01

Expanding faculty buy-in to retention efforts may be improved through training and opportunities for assessment. Materials created for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) faculty based on the scholarly literature may dispel the view held by some that student attrition is beneficial to STEM disciplines and may expand an…

An Image of the Whole: Knowledge and Curriculum in an Age of Fragmentation. Proceedings of a Series of Symposia.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Higginson, William, Ed.

This document presents papers delivered at a symposium held to discuss the problems associated with excessive specialization in contemporary education and of ways of counterbalancing this trend. Papers were presented in the areas of mathematics, fine arts, science, literature, philosophy, psychology, social sciences, and integrative education. (SL)

The International Symposium on Microwave Signatures and Remote Sensing Held in Gothenburg (Sweden) on 19-22 January 1987.

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-05-28

7 A-A1 I 334 NT NAI A SNI JN O ICR MUfI CM NTU AN III UNCLASSIF ED Rkl~ lWLA 2MY90 LAF/C 17/9 ML u-iD i1.0 V , .2 2 il4 016 - 9 I or 9P: FILE OM...returned radar signal to sea various mathematical models. The group state it has been found that the scatter- studied these spikes in an attempt to...Sobieski (Univer- object. A mathematical model relating sity of Louvain, Belgium) attempted to these parameters was developed but no develop an

Graph Structure Theory: Proceedings of a Joint Summer Research Conference on Graph Minors Held June 22 to July 5, 1991, at the University of Washington, Seattle. Contemporary Mathematics 147

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-01-01

aspects of classical field theory, 1992 131 L A. Bokut’, Yu. L Ershov, and A. I. Kostrikin, Editors, Proceedings of the International Conference on Algebra...should be addressed to the Manager of Editorial Services , American Mathematical Society, P.O. Box 6248, Providence, Rhode Island 02940-6248. The...dominant edges in T, and b(T) as the number of dominant edges not in T, for the fixed enumeration U. In [2] a(T) is called the " internal activity" and b(T

Astronomy and Mathematics Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ros, Rosa M.

There are many European countries where Astronomy does not appear as a specific course on the secondary school. In these cases Astronomy content can be introduced by means of other subjects. There are some astronomical topics within the subject of Physics but this talk concerns introducing Astronomy in Mathematics classes. Teaching Astronomy through Mathematics would result in more exposure than through Physics as Mathematics is more prevalent in the curriculum. Generally it is not easy to motivate students in Mathematics but they are motivated to find out more about the universe and Astronomy current events than appears in the media. This situation can be an excellent introduction to several mathematics topics. The teachers in secondary and high school can use this idea in order to present more attractive mathematics courses. In particular some different examples will be offered regarding * Angles and spherical coordinates considering star traces * Logarithms and visual magnitudes * Plane trigonometry related orbital movements * Spherical trigonometry in connection with ecliptic obliquity * Conic curves related to sundial at several latitudes Some students do not enjoy studying Mathematics but they can be attracted by practical situations using Applied Mathematics: Astronomy is always very attractive to teenagers.

Success in introductory college physics: The role of gender, high school preparation, and student learning perceptions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Jean Chi-Jen

Physics is fundamental for science, engineering, medicine, and for understanding many phenomena encountered in people's daily lives. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between student success in college-level introductory physics courses and various educational and background characteristics. The primary variables of this study were gender, high school mathematics and science preparation, preference and perceptions of learning physics, and performance in introductory physics courses. Demographic characteristics considered were age, student grade level, parents' occupation and level of education, high school senior grade point average, and educational goals. A Survey of Learning Preference and Perceptions was developed to collect the information for this study. A total of 267 subjects enrolled in six introductory physics courses, four algebra-based and two calculus-based, participated in the study conducted during Spring Semester 2002. The findings from the algebra-based physics courses indicated that participant's educational goal, high school senior GPA, father's educational level, mother's educational level, and mother's occupation in the area of science, engineering, or computer technology were positively related to performance while participant age was negatively related. Biology preparation, mathematics preparation, and additional mathematics and science preparation in high school were also positively related to performance. The relationships between the primary variables and performance in calculus-based physics courses were limited to high school senior year GPA and high school physics preparation. Findings from all six courses indicated that participant's educational goal, high school senior GPA, father's educational level, and mother's occupation in the area of science, engineering, or computer technology, high school preparation in mathematics, biology, and the completion of additional mathematics and science courses were positively related to performance. No significant performance differences were found between male and female students. However, there were significant gender differences in physics learning perceptions. Female participants tended to try to understand physics materials and relate the physics problems to real world situations while their male counterparts tended to rely on rote learning and equation application. This study found that participants performed better by trying to understand the physics material and relate physics problems to real world situations. Participants who relied on rote learning did not perform well.

TIMSS Advanced 2015 and Advanced Placement Calculus & Physics. A Framework Analysis. Research in Review 2016-1

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lazzaro, Christopher; Jones, Lee; Webb, David C.; Grover, Ryan; Di Giacomo, F. Tony; Marino, Katherine Adele

2016-01-01

This report will determine to what degree the AP Physics 1 and 2 and AP Calculus AB and BC frameworks are aligned with the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) Advanced Physics and Mathematics frameworks. This will enable an exploration of any differences in content coverage and levels of complexity, and will set the stage…

FINAL REPORT: GEOMETRY AND ELEMENTARY PARTICLE PHYSICS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Singer, Isadore M.

2008-03-04

The effect on mathematics of collaborations between high-energy theoretical physics and modern mathematics has been remarkable. Mirror symmetry has revolutionized enumerative geometry, and Seiberg-Witten invariants have greatly simplified the study of four manifolds. And because of their application to string theory, physicists now need to know cohomology theory, characteristic classes, index theory, K-theory, algebraic geometry, differential geometry, and non-commutative geometry. Much more is coming. We are experiencing a deeper contact between the two sciences, which will stimulate new mathematics essential to the physicists’ quest for the unification of quantum mechanics and relativity. Our grant, supported by the Department of Energymore » for twelve years, has been instrumental in promoting an effective interaction between geometry and string theory, by supporting the Mathematical Physics seminar, postdoc research, collaborations, graduate students and several research papers.« less

Impact of Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Research in Mathematics and Biology on the Development of a New Course Integrating Five STEM Disciplines

PubMed Central

Caudill, Lester; Hill, April; Lipan, Ovidiu

2010-01-01

Funded by innovative programs at the National Science Foundation and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Richmond faculty in biology, chemistry, mathematics, physics, and computer science teamed up to offer first- and second-year students the opportunity to contribute to vibrant, interdisciplinary research projects. The result was not only good science but also good science that motivated and informed course development. Here, we describe four recent undergraduate research projects involving students and faculty in biology, physics, mathematics, and computer science and how each contributed in significant ways to the conception and implementation of our new Integrated Quantitative Science course, a course for first-year students that integrates the material in the first course of the major in each of biology, chemistry, mathematics, computer science, and physics. PMID:20810953

Impact of Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Research in mathematics and biology on the development of a new course integrating five STEM disciplines.

PubMed

Caudill, Lester; Hill, April; Hoke, Kathy; Lipan, Ovidiu

2010-01-01

Funded by innovative programs at the National Science Foundation and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Richmond faculty in biology, chemistry, mathematics, physics, and computer science teamed up to offer first- and second-year students the opportunity to contribute to vibrant, interdisciplinary research projects. The result was not only good science but also good science that motivated and informed course development. Here, we describe four recent undergraduate research projects involving students and faculty in biology, physics, mathematics, and computer science and how each contributed in significant ways to the conception and implementation of our new Integrated Quantitative Science course, a course for first-year students that integrates the material in the first course of the major in each of biology, chemistry, mathematics, computer science, and physics.

Cluster functions and scattering amplitudes for six and seven points

DOE PAGES

Harrington, Thomas; Spradlin, Marcus

2017-07-05

Scattering amplitudes in planar super-Yang-Mills theory satisfy several basic physical and mathematical constraints, including physical constraints on their branch cut structure and various empirically discovered connections to the mathematics of cluster algebras. The power of the bootstrap program for amplitudes is inversely proportional to the size of the intersection between these physical and mathematical constraints: ideally we would like a list of constraints which determine scattering amplitudes uniquely. Here, we explore this intersection quantitatively for two-loop six- and seven-point amplitudes by providing a complete taxonomy of the Gr(4, 6) and Gr(4, 7) cluster polylogarithm functions of [15] at weight 4.

Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics: Applying mathematical techniques to solve important problems in quantum theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bender, Carl

2017-01-01

The theory of complex variables is extremely useful because it helps to explain the mathematical behavior of functions of a real variable. Complex variable theory also provides insight into the nature of physical theories. For example, it provides a simple and beautiful picture of quantization and it explains the underlying reason for the divergence of perturbation theory. By using complex-variable methods one can generalize conventional Hermitian quantum theories into the complex domain. The result is a new class of parity-time-symmetric (PT-symmetric) theories whose remarkable physical properties have been studied and verified in many recent laboratory experiments.

Physics Education activities sponsored by LAPEN

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mora Ley, Cesar E.

2007-05-01

In this work we present the first activities of the Latin-American Physics Education Network (LAPEN) organized by representatives of Brazil, Cuba, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Uruguay, Peru and Spain. These activities include Seminars, Congress, Postgraduate Programs on Physics Education and several publications. The creation of LAPEN has been inspired and warranted by members of the International Commission on Physics Education of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics. LAPEN was constituted in the International Meeting on Teaching Physics and Training Teachers (RIEFEP 2005) which was held in Matanzas, Cuba in November 2005. The creation of LAPEN was also warranted by the General Assembly of the IX Inter-American Conference on Physics Education held in San José, Costa Rica from 3 to 7 July 2006, and by the ICPE Committee in the International Conference on Physics Education 2006 at Tokyo, Japan. LAPEN has a Coordinator Committee integrated by a President, a Vice-president and an Executive Secretary.

Support for 26th International Conference on Neutrino Physics and Astrophysics

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kearns, Edward; Feldman, Gary

The XXVI International Conference on Neutrino Physics and Astrophysics (Neutrino 2014) was held in Boston, U.S.A. from June 2 to 7, 2014. The Conference was co-­hosted by Boston University, Harvard University, M.I.T., and Tufts University. The Conference welcomed 549 registered participants from 33 countries. The Boston University Student Village offered an inexpensive housing option and was taken advantage of by 282 attendees. The lecture venue was the George Sherman Union at Boston University. There were 63 scientific presentations by speakers from 15 countries. The Conference held two poster sessions with a total of 287 posters. The Conference featured a receptionmore » at the M.I.T. Museum plus a multi-­week exhibition on neutrino physics capped by public presentations on the closing date of the conference. The banquet was a strolling buffet dinner held at the New England Aquarium.« less

Childhood physical abuse and differential development of paranormal belief systems.

PubMed

Perkins, Stefanie L; Allen, Rhiannon

2006-05-01

This study compared paranormal belief systems in individuals with and without childhood physical abuse histories. The Revised Paranormal Belief Scale and the Assessing Environments III Questionnaire were completed by 107 University students. Psi, precognition, and spiritualism, which are thought to provide a sense of personal efficacy and control, were among the most strongly held beliefs in abused subjects, and were significantly higher in abused versus nonabused subjects. Superstition and extraordinary life forms, thought to have an inverse or no relation to felt control, were the least strongly held beliefs in abused subjects, and, along with religious beliefs, did not differ between the two abuse groups. Witchcraft was unexpectedly found to be the most strongly held belief among those with abuse histories. Results suggest that by providing a sense of control, certain paranormal beliefs may offer a powerful emotional refuge to individuals who endured the stress of physical abuse in childhood.

Some Mathematics and Physics of Ball Games.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hughes, D. E.

1985-01-01

Gives examples on the applications of arithmetic, geometry, and some calculus, vector algebra, and mechanics to ball games. Suggestions for further interesting investigations are provided together with references to other articles and books on applications of mathematics and physics to ball games and sports in general. (JN)

Exploring the relations among physical fitness, executive functioning, and low academic achievement.

PubMed

de Bruijn, A G M; Hartman, E; Kostons, D; Visscher, C; Bosker, R J

2018-03-01

Physical fitness seems to be related to academic performance, at least when taking the role of executive functioning into account. This assumption is highly relevant for the vulnerable population of low academic achievers because their academic performance might benefit from enhanced physical fitness. The current study examined whether physical fitness and executive functioning are independent predictors of low mathematics and spelling achievement or whether the relation between physical fitness and low achievement is mediated by specific executive functions. In total, 477 students from second- and third-grade classes of 12 primary schools were classified as either low or average-to-high achievers in mathematics and spelling based on their scores on standardized achievement tests. Multilevel structural equation models were built with direct paths between physical fitness and academic achievement and added indirect paths via components of executive functioning: inhibition, verbal working memory, visuospatial working memory, and shifting. Physical fitness was only indirectly related to low achievement via specific executive functions, depending on the academic domain involved. Verbal working memory was a mediator between physical fitness and low achievement in both domains, whereas visuospatial working memory had a mediating role only in mathematics. Physical fitness interventions aiming to improve low academic achievement, thus, could potentially be successful. The mediating effect of executive functioning suggests that these improvements in academic achievement will be preceded by enhanced executive functions, either verbal working memory (in spelling) or both verbal and visuospatial working memory (in mathematics). Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Special issue on cluster algebras in mathematical physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Di Francesco, Philippe; Gekhtman, Michael; Kuniba, Atsuo; Yamazaki, Masahito

2013-10-01

This is a call for contributions to a special issue of Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical dedicated to cluster algebras in mathematical physics. Over the ten years since their introduction by Fomin and Zelevinsky, the theory of cluster algebras has witnessed a spectacular growth, first and foremost due to the many links that have been discovered with a wide range of subjects in mathematics and, increasingly, theoretical and mathematical physics. The main motivation of this special issue is to gather together reviews, recent developments and open problems, mainly from a mathematical physics viewpoint, into a single comprehensive issue. We expect that such a special issue will become a valuable reference for the broad scientific community working in mathematical and theoretical physics. The issue will consist of invited review articles and contributed papers containing new results on the interplays of cluster algebras with mathematical physics. Editorial policy The Guest Editors for this issue are Philippe Di Francesco, Michael Gekhtman, Atsuo Kuniba and Masahito Yamazaki. The areas and topics for this issue include, but are not limited to: discrete integrable systems arising from cluster mutations cluster structure on Poisson varieties cluster algebras and soliton interactions cluster positivity conjecture Y-systems in the thermodynamic Bethe ansatz and Zamolodchikov's periodicity conjecture T-system of transfer matrices of integrable lattice models dilogarithm identities in conformal field theory wall crossing in 4d N = 2 supersymmetric gauge theories 4d N = 1 quiver gauge theories described by networks scattering amplitudes of 4d N = 4 theories 3d N = 2 gauge theories described by flat connections on 3-manifolds integrability of dimer/Ising models on graphs. All contributions will be refereed and processed according to the usual procedure of the journal. Guidelines for preparation of contributions The deadline for contributed papers is 31 March 2014. This deadline will allow the special issue to appear at the end of 2014. There is no strict regulation on article size, but as a guide the preferable size is 15-30 pages for contributed papers and 40-60 pages for reviews. Further advice on publishing your work in Journal of Physics A may be found at iopscience.iop.org/jphysa. Contributions to the special issue should be submitted by web upload via authors.iop.org/, or by email to jphysa@iop.org, quoting 'JPhysA special issue on cluster algebras in mathematical physics'. Submissions should ideally be in standard LaTeX form. Please see the website for further information on electronic submissions. All contributions should be accompanied by a read-me file or covering letter giving the postal and e-mail addresses for correspondence. The Publishing Office should be notified of any subsequent change of address. The special issue will be published in the print and online versions of the journal.

Predicting Scientific Understanding of Prospective Elementary Teachers: Role of Gender, Education Level, Courses in Science, and Attitudes Toward Science and Mathematics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kumar, David D.; Morris, John D.

2005-12-01

A multiple regression analysis of the relationship between prospective teachers' scientific understanding and Gender, Education Level (High School, College), Courses in Science (Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Earth Science, Astronomy, and Agriculture), Attitude Towards Science, and Attitude Towards Mathematics is reported. Undergraduate elementary science students ( N = 176) in an urban doctoral-level university in the United States participated in this study. The results of this study showed Gender, completion of courses in High School Chemistry and Physics, College Chemistry and Physics, and Attitudes Toward Mathematics and Science significantly correlated with scientific understanding. Based on a regression model, Gender, and College Chemistry and Physics experiences added significant predictive accuracy to scientific understanding among prospective elementary teachers compared to the other variables.

The Physics and Mathematics of MRI

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ansorge, Richard; Graves, Martin

2016-10-01

Magnetic Resonance Imaging is a very important clinical imaging tool. It combines different fields of physics and engineering in a uniquely complex way. MRI is also surprisingly versatile, `pulse sequences' can be designed to yield many different types of contrast. This versatility is unique to MRI. This short book gives both an in depth account of the methods used for the operation and construction of modern MRI systems and also the principles of sequence design and many examples of applications. An important additional feature of this book is the detailed discussion of the mathematical principles used in building optimal MRI systems and for sequence design. The mathematical discussion is very suitable for undergraduates attending medical physics courses. It is also more complete than usually found in alternative books for physical scientists or more clinically orientated works.

Precision Cosmology: The First Half Million Years

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jones, Bernard J. T.

2017-06-01

Cosmology seeks to characterise our Universe in terms of models based on well-understood and tested physics. Today we know our Universe with a precision that once would have been unthinkable. This book develops the entire mathematical, physical and statistical framework within which this has been achieved. It tells the story of how we arrive at our profound conclusions, starting from the early twentieth century and following developments up to the latest data analysis of big astronomical datasets. It provides an enlightening description of the mathematical, physical and statistical basis for understanding and interpreting the results of key space- and ground-based data. Subjects covered include general relativity, cosmological models, the inhomogeneous Universe, physics of the cosmic background radiation, and methods and results of data analysis. Extensive online supplementary notes, exercises, teaching materials, and exercises in Python make this the perfect companion for researchers, teachers and students in physics, mathematics, and astrophysics.

Matter Gravitates, but Does Gravity Matter?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Groetsch, C. W.

2011-01-01

The interplay of physical intuition, computational evidence, and mathematical rigor in a simple trajectory model is explored. A thought experiment based on the model is used to elicit student conjectures on the influence of a physical parameter; a mathematical model suggests a computational investigation of the conjectures, and rigorous analysis…

A Guide to Federal Funding in the Physical and Mathematical Sciences.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ficklen, Myra

This guide provides summaries of federal programs in the physical and mathematical sciences of interest to colleges and universities. Programs from the following federal agencies are included: National Science Foundation; Department of Energy; Environmental Protection Agency; Office of Education; Department of Interior; Smithsonian Institution;…

Energy Transfer and a Recurring Mathematical Function

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Atkin, Keith

2013-01-01

This paper extends the interesting work of a previous contributor concerning the analogies between physical phenomena such as mechanical collisions and the transfer of power in an electric circuit. Emphasis is placed on a mathematical function linking these different areas of physics. This unifying principle is seen as an exciting opportunity to…

Using LabVIEW for Applying Mathematical Models in Representing Phenomena

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Faraco, G.; Gabriele, L.

2007-01-01

Simulations make it possible to explore physical and biological phenomena, where conducting the real experiment is impracticable or difficult. The implementation of a software program describing and simulating a given physical situation encourages the understanding of a phenomenon itself. Fifty-nine students, enrolled at the Mathematical Methods…

How Mathematics Propels the Development of Physical Knowledge

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schwartz, Daniel L.; Martin, Taylor; Pfaffman, Jay

2005-01-01

Three studies examined whether mathematics can propel the development of physical understanding. In Experiment 1, 10-year-olds solved balance scale problems that used easy-to-count discrete quantities or hard-to-count continuous quantities. Discrete quantities led to age typical performances. Continuous quantities caused performances like those of…

Physics Teaching: Mathematics as an Epistemological Tool

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kneubil, Fabiana B.; Robilotta, Manoel R.

2015-01-01

We study the interconnection between Physics and Mathematics in concrete instances, departing from the usual expression for the Coulomb electric field, produced by a point-like charge. It is scrutinized by means of six epistemology-intensive questions and radical answers are proposed, intended to widen one's understanding of the subject. Our…

PREFACE: International Conference on Advancement in Science and Technology 2012 (iCAST): Contemporary Mathematics, Mathematical Physics and their Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ganikhodjaev, Nasir; Mukhamedov, Farrukh; Hee, Pah Chin

2013-04-01

The 4th International Conference on the Advancement of Science and Technology 2012 (iCAST 2012), with theme 'Contemporary Mathematics, Mathematical Physics and their Applications', took place in Kuantan, Malaysia, from Wednesday 7 to Friday 9 November 2012. The conference was attended by more than 100 participants, and hosted about 160 oral and poster papers by more than 140 pre-registered authors. The key topics of the 4th iCAST 2012 include Pure Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, Theoretical/Mathematical Physics, Dynamical Systems, Statistics and Financial Mathematics. The scientific program was rather full since after the Keynote and Invited Talks in the morning, four parallel sessions ran every day. However, according to all attendees, the program was excellent with a high level of talks and the scientific environment was fruitful; thus all attendees had a creative time. The conference aimed to promote the knowledge and development of high-quality research in mathematical fields concerned with the application of other scientific fields as well as modern technological trends in physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, economics, sociology and environmental sciences. We would like to thank the Keynote and the Invited Speakers for their significant contributions to 4th iCAST 2012. We would also like to thank the members of the International Scientific Committee and the members of the Organizing Committee. We cannot end without expressing our many thanks to International Islamic University Malaysia and our sponsors for their financial support . This volume presents selected papers which have been peer-reviewed. The editors hope that it may be useful and fruitful for scholars, researchers, and advanced technical members of the industrial laboratory facilities for developing new tools and products. Guest Editors Nasir Ganikhodjaev, Farrukh Mukhamedov and Pah Chin Hee The PDF contains the committee lists, board list and biographies of the plenary speakers.

The mysterious connection between mathematics and physics.

PubMed

Kauffman, Louis H; Ul-Haq, Rukhsan

2015-12-01

The essay is in the form of a dialogue between the two authors. We take John Wheeler's idea of "It from Bit" as an essential clue and we rework the structure of the bit not to the qubit, but to a logical particle that is its own anti-particle, a logical Marjorana particle. This is our key example of the amphibian nature of mathematics and the external world. We emphasize that mathematics is a combination of calculation and concept. At the conceptual level, mathematics is structured to be independent of time and multiplicity. Mathematics in this way occurs before number and counting. From this timeless domain, mathematics and mathematicians can explore worlds of multiplicity and infinity beyond the apparent limitations of the physical world and see that among these possible worlds there are coincidences with what is observed. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

What is behind small deviations of quantum mechanics theory from experiments? Observer's mathematics point of view

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Khots, Boris, E-mail: bkhots@cccglobal.com; Khots, Dmitriy, E-mail: dkhots@imathconsulting.com

2014-12-10

Certain results that have been predicted by Quantum Mechanics (QM) theory are not always supported by experiments. This defines a deep crisis in contemporary physics and, in particular, quantum mechanics. We believe that, in fact, the mathematical apparatus employed within today's physics is a possible reason. In particular, we consider the concept of infinity that exists in today's mathematics as the root cause of this problem. We have created Observer's Mathematics that offers an alternative to contemporary mathematics. This paper is an attempt to relay how Observer's Mathematics may explain some of the contradictions in QM theory results. We considermore » the Hamiltonian Mechanics, Newton equation, Schrodinger equation, two slit interference, wave-particle duality for single photons, uncertainty principle, Dirac equations for free electron in a setting of arithmetic, algebra, and topology provided by Observer's Mathematics (see www.mathrelativity.com). Certain results and communications pertaining to solution of these problems are provided.« less

Phil Wallace and Theoretical Physics at McGill in the 1950's: A Personal Perspective

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jackson, John David

In 1946 Philip (Phil) Russell Wallace joined the Mathematics Department of McGill University as an Associate Professor of Applied Mathematics, apparently because A. H. S. Gillson, Dean of Arts and Science, wanted theoretical physicists to be in the Mathematics Department. He came with the dream of creating a theoretical physics group at McGill. By the spring of 1949, Phil was authorized to recruit two junior faculty in Mathematics. He hired Theodore (Ted) F. Morris from U. Toronto, who joined in September 1949, and me, who came in January 1950. The group had begun. Phil Wallace was born in Toronto inmore » 1915 and grew up there. He entered the University of Toronto in 1933, earned a B.A. in mathematics in 1937, a M.A. in 1938, and a Ph.D. in applied mathematics in 1940 under Leopold Infeld. His Ph.D. thesis in general relativity was entitled 'On the relativistic equations of motion in electromagnetic theory.' In 1940 World War II had engulfed Europe and was having its effect on Canada, but the US was still at peace. L. J. Synge, Head of the Applied Mathematics Department at Toronto, told Wallace that people such as he would be needed in war work, but things were not ready quite yet. Hold yourself ready. Phil took a two-year position as lecturer in mathematics at the University of Cincinnati (1940-42); in the fall of 1942 he became a lecturer in mathematics at M.I.T. It was from there that he was recruited by Synge to join the war effort from 1943 to 1946 at N.R.C.'s Montreal Laboratory, the genesis of the Canadian Atomic Energy Project. Phil has described those heady wartime years in these pages. Much of the effort of the theoretical physicists was on nuclear reactor theory and the properties of relevant materials, such as graphite, under long and intense neutron bombardment. In late 1945 Phil was sent for four months to Bristol to learn about the properties of graphite from the esteemed N. F. Mott. This exposure led Phil to a life-long interest in graphite and in condensed matter physics in general. After the war, the group of Montreal Lab theorists dissolved - some had already left for Los Alamos; some went to Chalk River; Volkoff returned to UBC to foster theoretical physics as part of physics in the West; Wallace to do the same in the East. But the path at McGill was not smooth. As a singular anomaly in a pure math department, Phil was tucked away in the corner of some engineering building, remote from the bulk of the mathematicians. And there was no welcoming mat from Physics. As Wallace remarks, 'I took a post at McGill, not surprisingly in the department of Mathematics. Certain complications of academic politics followed, such as jurisdictional disputes over course assignments. Theoretical physicists were treated more or less as foreigners or rivals by at least a segment of the physics department.' 'Why was that?' McGill's attitude about theoretical physics was colored for fifty years by the lingering influence of Ernest Rutherford, who was a faculty member from 1898 to 1907. In his essay about the beginnings of theoretical physics in Canada, Wallace quotes examples of Rutherford's views about theoretical physics. In short, theoretical physics is applied mathematics and has no place in a department devoted to the study of natural phenomena. Because of his eminence and connection to McGill, numerous physics graduates went to the 'Mecca' of Manchester then Cambridge to do a Ph.D. with the great man. Some then returned to the McGill Physics faculty to teach and perpetuate the Rutherfordian view of theory. Although the theoretical physics group at McGill in the 1950s had no official standing and no statutory leader, Phil Wallace was that leader and builder of the group. An inspiration to students and junior colleagues alike, he protected and nurtured us in the sometimes difficult circumstances of citizens without a country.« less

PREFACE: 3rd International Conference on Mathematical Modeling in Physical Sciences (IC-MSQUARE 2014)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2015-01-01

The third International Conference on Mathematical Modeling in Physical Sciences (IC-MSQUARE) took place at Madrid, Spain, from Thursday 28 to Sunday 31 August 2014. The Conference was attended by more than 200 participants and hosted about 350 oral, poster, and virtual presentations. More than 600 pre-registered authors were also counted. The third IC-MSQUARE consisted of different and diverging workshops and thus covered various research fields where Mathematical Modeling is used, such as Theoretical/Mathematical Physics, Neutrino Physics, Non-Integrable Systems, Dynamical Systems, Computational Nanoscience, Biological Physics, Computational Biomechanics, Complex Networks, Stochastic Modeling, Fractional Statistics, DNA Dynamics, Macroeconomics etc. The scientific program was rather heavy since after the Keynote and Invited Talks in the morning, three parallel oral sessions and one poster session were running every day. However, according to all attendees, the program was excellent with high level of talks and the scientific environment was fruitful, thus all attendees had a creative time. We would like to thank the Keynote Speaker and the Invited Speakers for their significant contribution to IC-MSQUARE. We also would like to thank the Members of the International Advisory and Scientific Committees as well as the Members of the Organizing Committee.

PREFACE: 4th International Conference on Mathematical Modeling in Physical Sciences (IC-MSquare2015)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vlachos, Dimitrios; Vagenas, Elias C.

2015-09-01

The 4th International Conference on Mathematical Modeling in Physical Sciences (IC-MSQUARE) took place in Mykonos, Greece, from Friday 5th June to Monday 8th June 2015. The Conference was attended by more than 150 participants and hosted about 200 oral, poster, and virtual presentations. There were more than 600 pre-registered authors. The 4th IC-MSQUARE consisted of different and diverging workshops and thus covered various research fields where Mathematical Modeling is used, such as Theoretical/Mathematical Physics, Neutrino Physics, Non-Integrable Systems, Dynamical Systems, Computational Nanoscience, Biological Physics, Computational Biomechanics, Complex Networks, Stochastic Modeling, Fractional Statistics, DNA Dynamics, Macroeconomics etc. The scientific program was rather intense as after the Keynote and Invited Talks in the morning, three parallel oral and one poster session were running every day. However, according to all attendees, the program was excellent with a high quality of talks creating an innovative and productive scientific environment for all attendees. We would like to thank the Keynote Speaker and the Invited Speakers for their significant contribution to IC-MSQUARE. We also would like to thank the Members of the International Advisory and Scientific Committees as well as the Members of the Organizing Committee.

The effects of experience and attrition for novice high-school science and mathematics teachers.

PubMed

Henry, Gary T; Fortner, C Kevin; Bastian, Kevin C

2012-03-02

Because of the current high proportion of novice high-school teachers, many students' mastery of science and mathematics depends on the effectiveness of early-career teachers. In this study, which used value-added models to analyze high-school teachers' effectiveness in raising test scores on 1.05 million end-of-course exams, we found that the effectiveness of high-school science and mathematics teachers increased substantially with experience but exhibited diminishing rates of return by their fourth year; that teachers of algebra 1, algebra 2, biology, and physical science who continued to teach for at least 5 years were more effective as novice teachers than those who left the profession earlier; and that novice teachers of physics, chemistry, physical science, geometry, and biology exhibited steeper growth in effectiveness than did novice non-science, technology, engineering, and mathematics teachers.

Fourth International Conference on Squeezed States and Uncertainty Relations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Han, D. (Editor); Peng, Kunchi (Editor); Kim, Y. S. (Editor); Manko, V. I. (Editor)

1996-01-01

The fourth International Conference on Squeezed States and Uncertainty Relations was held at Shanxi University, Taiyuan, Shanxi, China, on June 5 - 9, 1995. This conference was jointly organized by Shanxi University, the University of Maryland (U.S.A.), and the Lebedev Physical Institute (Russia). The first meeting of this series was called the Workshop on Squeezed States and Uncertainty Relations, and was held in 1991 at College Park, Maryland. The second and third meetings in this series were hosted in 1992 by the Lebedev Institute in Moscow, and in 1993 by the University of Maryland Baltimore County, respectively. The scientific purpose of this series was initially to discuss squeezed states of light, but in recent years, the scope is becoming broad enough to include studies of uncertainty relations and squeeze transformations in all branches of physics, including, of course, quantum optics and foundations of quantum mechanics. Quantum optics will continue playing the pivotal role in the future, but the future meetings will include all branches of physics where squeeze transformations are basic transformation. This transition took place at the fourth meeting of this series held at Shanxi University in 1995. The fifth meeting in this series will be held in Budapest (Hungary) in 1997, and the principal organizer will be Jozsef Janszky of the Laboratory of Crystal Physics, P.O. Box 132, H-1052. Budapest, Hungary.

Using Mathematics and Engineering to Solve Problems in Secondary Level Biology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cox, Charles; Reynolds, Birdy; Schunn, Christian; Schuchardt, Anita

2016-01-01

There are strong classroom ties between mathematics and the sciences of physics and chemistry, but those ties seem weaker between mathematics and biology. Practicing biologists realize both that there are interesting mathematics problems in biology, and that viewing classroom biology in the context of another discipline could support students'…

Science Modelling in Pre-Calculus: How to Make Mathematics Problems Contextually Meaningful

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sokolowski, Andrzej; Yalvac, Bugrahan; Loving, Cathleen

2011-01-01

"Use of mathematical representations to model and interpret physical phenomena and solve problems is one of the major teaching objectives in high school math curriculum" [National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), "Principles and Standards for School Mathematics", NCTM, Reston, VA, 2000]. Commonly used pre-calculus textbooks provide a…

Science modelling in pre-calculus: how to make mathematics problems contextually meaningful

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sokolowski, Andrzej; Yalvac, Bugrahan; Loving, Cathleen

2011-04-01

'Use of mathematical representations to model and interpret physical phenomena and solve problems is one of the major teaching objectives in high school math curriculum' (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), Principles and Standards for School Mathematics, NCTM, Reston, VA, 2000). Commonly used pre-calculus textbooks provide a wide range of application problems. However, these problems focus students' attention on evaluating or solving pre-arranged formulas for given values. The role of scientific content is reduced to provide a background for these problems instead of being sources of data gathering for inducing mathematical tools. Students are neither required to construct mathematical models based on the contexts nor are they asked to validate or discuss the limitations of applied formulas. Using these contexts, the instructor may think that he/she is teaching problem solving, where in reality he/she is teaching algorithms of the mathematical operations (G. Kulm (ed.), New directions for mathematics assessment, in Assessing Higher Order Thinking in Mathematics, Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ, 1994, pp. 221-240). Without a thorough representation of the physical phenomena and the mathematical modelling processes undertaken, problem solving unintentionally appears as simple algorithmic operations. In this article, we deconstruct the representations of mathematics problems from selected pre-calculus textbooks and explicate their limitations. We argue that the structure and content of those problems limits students' coherent understanding of mathematical modelling, and this could result in weak student problem-solving skills. Simultaneously, we explore the ways to enhance representations of those mathematical problems, which we have characterized as lacking a meaningful physical context and limiting coherent student understanding. In light of our discussion, we recommend an alternative to strengthen the process of teaching mathematical modelling - utilization of computer-based science simulations. Although there are several exceptional computer-based science simulations designed for mathematics classes (see, e.g. Kinetic Book (http://www.kineticbooks.com/) or Gizmos (http://www.explorelearning.com/)), we concentrate mainly on the PhET Interactive Simulations developed at the University of Colorado at Boulder (http://phet.colorado.edu/) in generating our argument that computer simulations more accurately represent the contextual characteristics of scientific phenomena than their textual descriptions.

PREFACE: IC-MSQUARE 2012: International Conference on Mathematical Modelling in Physical Sciences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kosmas, Theocharis; Vagenas, Elias; Vlachos, Dimitrios

2013-02-01

The first International Conference on Mathematical Modelling in Physical Sciences (IC-MSQUARE) took place in Budapest, Hungary, from Monday 3 to Friday 7 September 2012. The conference was attended by more than 130 participants, and hosted about 290 oral, poster and virtual papers by more than 460 pre-registered authors. The first IC-MSQUARE consisted of different and diverging workshops and thus covered various research fields in which mathematical modelling is used, such as theoretical/mathematical physics, neutrino physics, non-integrable systems, dynamical systems, computational nanoscience, biological physics, computational biomechanics, complex networks, stochastic modelling, fractional statistics, DNA dynamics, and macroeconomics. The scientific program was rather heavy since after the Keynote and Invited Talks in the morning, two parallel sessions ran every day. However, according to all attendees, the program was excellent with a high level of talks and the scientific environment was fruitful; thus all attendees had a creative time. The mounting question is whether this occurred accidentally, or whether IC-MSQUARE is a necessity in the field of physical and mathematical modelling. For all of us working in the field, the existing and established conferences in this particular field suffer from two distinguished and recognized drawbacks: the first is the increasing orientation, while the second refers to the extreme specialization of the meetings. Therefore, a conference which aims to promote the knowledge and development of high-quality research in mathematical fields concerned with applications of other scientific fields as well as modern technological trends in physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, economics, sociology, environmental sciences etc., appears to be a necessity. This is the key role that IC-MSQUARE will play. We would like to thank the Keynote Speaker and the Invited Speakers for their significant contributions to IC-MSQUARE. We would also like to thank the members of the International Scientific Committee and the members of the Organizing Committee. Conference Chairmen Theocharis Kosmas Department of Physics, University of Ioannina Elias Vagenas RCAAM, Academy of Athens Dimitrios Vlachos Department of Computer Science and Technology, University of Peloponnese The PDF also contains a list of members of the International Scientific Committes and details of the Keynote and Invited Speakers.

From Compulsory to Compelling: A Whole New School for a Whole New Mind

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

DeGarmo, Jacqueline; Turckes, Steven R.

2009-01-01

In his book "A Whole New Mind: Why Right Brainers Will Rule the Future," Daniel Pink uses the traditionally held beliefs about the cognitive functioning of the left and right hemispheres of the brain (left: logical, sequential, mathematical, etc., and right: intuition, creative, artistic, etc.) as a metaphor to postulate that a new era is emerging…

The Science of Enhanced Student Engagement and Employability: Introducing the Psychology Stream of the Inaugural HEA STEM Conference

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hulme, Julie; Taylor, Jacqui; Davies, Mark N. O.; Banister, Peter

2012-01-01

The Higher Education Academy (HEA) is committed to enhancing the quality of learning and teaching for all university students in the UK, and the inaugural conference for the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects, held in April 2012 at Imperial College, London, aimed to showcase research and evidence-based educational…

U.S./U.S.S.R. SYMPOSIUM ON PARTICULATE CONTROL (3RD) HELD AT SUZDAL, U.S.S.R. ON SEPTEMBER 10-12, 1979

EPA Science Inventory

The proceedings document the Third U.S./U.S.S.R. Symposium on Particulate Control, September 10-12, 1979, in Suzdal, U.S.S.R. Papers covered such topics as: predicting back-corona formation and fly ash resistivity, improved electrostatic precipitator (ESP) mathematical modeling, ...

From No to Yes: The Impact of an Intervention on The Persistence of Algebraic Misconceptions among Secondary School Algebra Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zielinski, Susan F.

2017-01-01

Many students enter high school with persistent algebraic misconceptions that limit their success in mathematics and, by extension, limit potential educational attainment and future earnings. The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of a warm conceptual change based intervention on remediating algebraic misconceptions held by…

An Examination of the Domain of Multivariable Functions Using the Pirie-Kieren Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sengul, Sare; Yildiz, Sevda Goktepe

2016-01-01

The aim of this study is to employ the Pirie-Kieren model so as to examine the understandings relating to the domain of multivariable functions held by primary school mathematics preservice teachers. The data obtained was categorized according to Pirie-Kieren model and demonstrated visually in tables and bar charts. The study group consisted of…

Studies in Teaching: 2005 Research Digest. Research Projects Presented at Annual Research Forum (Winston-Salem, North Carolina, December 7, 2005)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCoy, Leah P., Ed.

2005-01-01

These Proceedings document an educational research forum held at Wake Forest University (Winston-Salem, North Carolina) on December 7, 2005. Table of contents and 26 research studies of high school teaching are included. Studies include: (1) Mathematical Reasoning in Multiple Representations: Connections and Confidence (Justin Allman); (2) The…

Studies in Teaching: 2006 Research Digest. Research Projects Presented at Annual Research Forum (Winston-Salem, North Carolina, December 6, 2006)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCoy, Leah P., Ed.

2006-01-01

These Proceedings document an educational research forum held at Wake Forest University (Winston-Salem, North Carolina) on December 6, 2006. Table of contents and 27 research studies of high school teaching are included. Studies include: (1) A Study of Teachers' Perceptions of High School Mathematics Instructional Methods (Caroline Adkisson); (2)…

Graphing Calculators in the Secondary Mathematics Classroom. Monograph #21.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eckert, Paul; And Others

The objective of this presentation is to focus on the use of a hand-held graphics calculator. The specific machine referred to in this monograph is the Casio fx-7000G, chosen because of its low cost, its large viewing screen, its versatility, and its simple operation. Sections include: (1) "Basic Operations with the Casio fx-7000G"; (2) "Graphical…

"Beyond "BIO2010": Celebration and Opportunities" at the Intersection of Mathematics and Biology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jungck, John R.; Gaff, Holly D.; Fagen, Adam P.; Labov, Jay B.

2010-01-01

In this article, the authors report on an important symposium, Beyond BIO2010: Celebration and Opportunities, which was held at the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in Washington, D.C. on May 21-22, 2010. This symposium was organized to assess what progress has been made in addressing the challenges and recommendations in the National Research…

The Number Pad Game

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fink, Alex; Guy, Richard

2007-01-01

In this article, we explore the game based on the following problem from the 1st Mathematical Olympiad of Central America and the Caribbean, held in Costa Rica in 1999: Player A turns on the calculator, presses a digit key and then presses the + key. A second later, player B presses a digit key in the same row or column of the last digit key…

Some resonances between Eastern thought and Integral Biomathics in the framework of the WLIMES formalism for modeling living systems.

PubMed

Simeonov, Plamen L; Ehresmann, Andrée C

2017-12-01

Forty-two years ago, Capra published "The Tao of Physics" (Capra, 1975). In this book (page 17) he writes: "The exploration of the atomic and subatomic world in the twentieth century has …. necessitated a radical revision of many of our basic concepts" and that, unlike 'classical' physics, the sub-atomic and quantum "modern physics" shows resonances with Eastern thoughts and "leads us to a view of the world which is very similar to the views held by mystics of all ages and traditions." This article stresses an analogous situation in biology with respect to a new theoretical approach for studying living systems, Integral Biomathics (IB), which also exhibits some resonances with Eastern thought. Stepping on earlier research in cybernetics 1 and theoretical biology, 2 IB has been developed since 2011 by over 100 scientists from a number of disciplines who have been exploring a substantial set of theoretical frameworks. From that effort, the need for a robust core model utilizing advanced mathematics and computation adequate for understanding the behavior of organisms as dynamic wholes was identified. At this end, the authors of this article have proposed WLIMES (Ehresmann and Simeonov, 2012), a formal theory for modeling living systems integrating both the Memory Evolutive Systems (Ehresmann and Vanbremeersch, 2007) and the Wandering Logic Intelligence (Simeonov, 2002b). Its principles will be recalled here with respect to their resonances to Eastern thought. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

(Proceedings) 18th Advanced ICFA Beam Dynamics Workshop on Quantum Aspects of Beam Physics (QABP)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chen, Pisin

2002-10-25

The 18th Advanced ICFA Beam Dynamics Workshop on ''Quantum Aspects of Beam Physics'' was held from October 15 to 20, 2000, in Capri, Italy. This was the second workshop under the same title. The first one was held in Monterey, California, in January, 1998. Following the footstep of the first meeting, the second one in Capri was again a tremendous success, both scientifically and socially. About 70 colleagues from astrophysics, atomic physics, beam physics, condensed matter physics, particle physics, and general relativity gathered to update and further explore the topics covered in the Monterey workshop. Namely, the following topics weremore » actively discussed: (1) Quantum Fluctuations in Beam Dynamics; (2) Photon-Electron Interaction in Beam handling; (3) Physics of Condensed Beams; (4) Beam Phenomena under Strong Fields; (5) Quantum Methodologies in Beam Physics. In addition, there was a newly introduced subject on Astro-Beam Physics and Laboratory Astrophysics.« less

[Gaston Bachelard anagogical reverie and surrational at stake].

PubMed

Castellana, Mario

2015-01-01

The latest studies on epistemological thought of Gaston Bachelard, especially in France and Italy, they are highlighting some fundamental issues, such as creative and propulsive assigned to mathematics in the construction of physical reality. The studies of Bachelard on the quantum mechanics of the '30s, and especially on the theoretical physics of Paul Dirac, introduced a particular concept of "anagogical reverie" precisely in order to understand the increasingly abstract and creative thinking of mathematics in the various levels of physical reality. In the wake of what Federigo Enriques called "mathematical poetry", Bachelard comes to propose a real "nouménologie mathématique" which characterizes the contemporary scientific thought and which provides the basis epistemic appropriate to understand the 'rational effectiveness' of mathematics and the real meaning of their application to the real. For these reasons, Bachelard in the '30s used a new term to describe his rationalist engagement, the "surrationalisme", just to understand in depth what Enriques called the "implicit philosophy" in sciences, the "pensée des sciences", where mathematics, thanks to the "anagogical reverie", put in place continue "enjeux" of the rational.

The Physics Laboratory in Honduras.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zuniga, M. A.

1979-01-01

This paper, presented at the conference on the role of the laboratory in physics education, which was held in Oxford, England in July 1978, describes the role of the laboratory in school and university physics in Honduras. (HM)

Annual Report of the Commission on Physical Sciences, Mathematics, and Resources.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Academy of Sciences - National Research Council, Washington, DC. Commission on Physical Sciences, Mathematics, and Resources.

This report highlights and presents examples of the Commission on Physical Science, Mathematics, and Resources' (CPSMR) recent activities and future plans. Selected programs and activities from the 224 boards and committees that operate within CPSMR are reviewed. These range from studies of basic science to examinations of applied science and…

Understanding Student Use of Differentials in Physics Integration Problems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hu, Dehui; Rebello, N. Sanjay

2013-01-01

This study focuses on students' use of the mathematical concept of differentials in physics problem solving. For instance, in electrostatics, students need to set up an integral to find the electric field due to a charged bar, an activity that involves the application of mathematical differentials (e.g., "dr," "dq"). In this…

Qualitative Investigation into Students' Use of Divergence and Curl in Electromagnetism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bollen, Laurens; van Kampen, Paul; Baily, Charles; De Cock, Mieke

2016-01-01

Many students struggle with the use of mathematics in physics courses. Although typically well trained in rote mathematical calculation, they often lack the ability to apply their acquired skills to physical contexts. Such student difficulties are particularly apparent in undergraduate electrodynamics, which relies heavily on the use of vector…

An Assessment of Research-Doctorate Programs in the United States: Mathematical & Physical Sciences.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, Lyle V., Ed.; And Others

The quality of doctoral-level chemistry (N=145), computer science (N=58), geoscience (N=91), mathematics (N=115), physics (N=123), and statistics/biostatistics (N=64) programs at United States universities was assessed, using 16 measures. These measures focused on variables related to: program size; characteristics of graduates; reputational…

Physics and Physical Science Units for Tech Prep.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bielefeld, Marilyn; Daniels, Sadie; Hall, Yolanda; McClendon, Cecil; Schlinger, Gary

Promoting ACademic Excellence in Mathematics and Science for Workers of the 21st Century (PACE) was a consortium project made up of Indiana University Northwest, the Gary Community Schools, and the Merrillville Community Schools. The focus of this project was to prepare teachers and curricula for Tech Prep mathematics and science courses for the…

Assessing Student Learning in Gender Inclusive Tertiary Mathematics and Physics Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wistedt, Inger

1998-01-01

The merits and limitations of an alternative assessment method implemented in an inclusive university education program are discussed based on data from a study in which 24 Swedish university students presented mathematics and physics project results. The study shows how an interdisciplinary approach to assessment can promote critical reflection…

Collection of solved problems in physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koupilová, ZdeÅka; Mandíková, Dana; Snětinová, Marie

2017-01-01

To solve physics problems is a key ability which students should reach during their physics education. Ten years ago we started to develop a Collection of fully solved problems. The structure of problems' solutions is specially designed to substitute tutor's help during lesson and encourage students to solve at least some parts of a problem independently. Nowadays the database contains about 770 fully solved problems in physics in Czech, more than 100 problems in Polish and more than 140 problems in English. Other problems are still being translated. Except for physics problems, the Collection has also a mathematical part, which contains more than 300 fully solved problems in mathematics. This paper follows the presentation of the Collection of solved problems from previous years and introduces a new interface of the Collection, its enhanced functionality, new topics, newly created interface for teachers, user feedback and plans for future development. The database is placed at the website of the Department of Physics Education, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University in Prague, the links are: http://reseneulohy.cz/fyzika (Czech version); http://www.physicstasks.eu/ (English version).

Scientific Assistant Virtual Laboratory (SAVL)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alaghband, Gita; Fardi, Hamid; Gnabasik, David

2007-03-01

The Scientific Assistant Virtual Laboratory (SAVL) is a scientific discovery environment, an interactive simulated virtual laboratory, for learning physics and mathematics. The purpose of this computer-assisted intervention is to improve middle and high school student interest, insight and scores in physics and mathematics. SAVL develops scientific and mathematical imagination in a visual, symbolic, and experimental simulation environment. It directly addresses the issues of scientific and technological competency by providing critical thinking training through integrated modules. This on-going research provides a virtual laboratory environment in which the student directs the building of the experiment rather than observing a packaged simulation. SAVL: * Engages the persistent interest of young minds in physics and math by visually linking simulation objects and events with mathematical relations. * Teaches integrated concepts by the hands-on exploration and focused visualization of classic physics experiments within software. * Systematically and uniformly assesses and scores students by their ability to answer their own questions within the context of a Master Question Network. We will demonstrate how the Master Question Network uses polymorphic interfaces and C# lambda expressions to manage simulation objects.

Rudolf Mössbauer in Munich

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kalvius, G. M.; Kienle, P.

Mössbauer and one of the authors (PK) started in 1949 studying physics at the Technische Hochschule München (THM), which was still under reconstruction from the war damages. It offered two directions for studying physics: "Physik A" and "Physik B." I took courses in "Physik A," which meant Technical Physics; Mössbauer studied "Physik B," which was General Physics. Actually, the lectures of both directions were not too different up to the forth semester, followed by a "pre-diploma" examination, which Mössbauer passed in 1952. I as "Physik A" student had besides the various physics, chemistry, and mathematics courses, in addition lectures in Technical Electricity, Technical Mechanics, Technical Thermodynamics, and later Measurement Engineering offered by very famous professors, such as W.O. Schumann, L. Föppl, W. Nußelt, and H. Piloty. Our physics teachers were G. Joos (Experimental physics), G. Hettner (Theoretical Physics), and W. Meissner (Technical Physics); in mathematics, we enjoyed lectures by J. Lense and R. Sauer, and interesting chemistry lectures by W. Hieber. Thus we received a high-class classical education, but quantum mechanics was not a compulsory subject. Mössbauer complained about this deficiency when he realized that the effect he found was a quantum mechanical phenomenon. Quantum mechanics was offered as an optional subject by Prof. Fick and Prof. Haug. Mössbauer just missed to take these advanced lectures, although he was highly talented in mathematics and received even a tutoring position in the mathematics institute of Prof. R. Sauer, while I worked in engineering projects and had extensive industrial training.

Creating a Culture of Inquiry in Mathematics Programs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dietz, Jill

2013-01-01

We argue that student research skills in mathematics should be honed throughout the curriculum just as such skills are built over time in the natural and physical sciences. Examples used in the mathematics program at St. Olaf College are given.

A mathematical applications into the cells.

PubMed

Tiwari, Manjul

2012-01-01

Biology has become the new "physics" of mathematics, one of the areas of greatest mathematical applications. In turn, mathematics has provided powerful tools and metaphors to approach the astonishing complexity of biological systems. This has allowed the development of sound theoretical frameworks. Here, in this review article, some of the most significant contributions of mathematics to biology, ranging from population genetics, to developmental biology, and to networks of species interactions are summarized.

1976 annual summary report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1978-03-01

Abstracts of papers published during the previous calendar year, arranged in accordance with the project titles used in the USDOE Schedule 189 Budget Proposals, are presented. The collection of abstracts supplements the listing of papers published in the Schedule 189. The following subject areas are represented: high-energy physics; nuclear physics; basic energy sciences (nuclear science, materials sciences, solid state physics, materials chemistry); molecular, mathematical, and earth sciences (fundamental interactions, processes and techniques, mathematical and computer sciences); environmental research and development; physical and technological studies (characterization, measurement and monitoring); and nuclear research and applications.

Foreword to special issue: Papers from the 57th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Plasma Physics, November 16–20, 2015, Savannah, Georgia, USA

DOE PAGES

Meyerhofer, D. D.; Mauel, M. E.

2016-05-18

The 57th annual meeting of the APS Division of Plasma Physics (DPP) was held November 16–20, 2015 in Savannah, Georgia. The meeting brings together researchers (undergraduate students through retirees) from all areas of plasma physics. 1887 abstracts were included in the program, approximately 200 more than the previous year. The presentations included five invited review talks, 97 invited talks, three invited postdeadline talks, and four tutorials. Furthermore, there were approximately 1780 contributed presentations, with about 40% oral and 60% poster. Three mini-conferences were held concurrently.

Foreword to special issue: Papers from the 57th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Plasma Physics, November 16–20, 2015, Savannah, Georgia, USA

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Meyerhofer, D. D.; Mauel, M. E.

The 57th annual meeting of the APS Division of Plasma Physics (DPP) was held November 16–20, 2015 in Savannah, Georgia. The meeting brings together researchers (undergraduate students through retirees) from all areas of plasma physics. 1887 abstracts were included in the program, approximately 200 more than the previous year. The presentations included five invited review talks, 97 invited talks, three invited postdeadline talks, and four tutorials. Furthermore, there were approximately 1780 contributed presentations, with about 40% oral and 60% poster. Three mini-conferences were held concurrently.

Developing Effective Physical Fitness Testing Standards for Pre Service Physical Educators

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hill, Kory; Thornburg, Roland

2016-01-01

Physical educators are often held to a higher standard of physical fitness. The ability to effectively convey the importance of physical fitness may depend upon the ability to appear physically fit. The ability to perform at a minimal level of proficiency on fitness tests was deemed important by the faculty of one physical education teacher…

New tools for investigating student learning in upper-division electrostatics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wilcox, Bethany R.

Student learning in upper-division physics courses is a growing area of research in the field of Physics Education. Developing effective new curricular materials and pedagogical techniques to improve student learning in upper-division courses requires knowledge of both what material students struggle with and what curricular approaches help to overcome these struggles. To facilitate the course transformation process for one specific content area --- upper-division electrostatics --- this thesis presents two new methodological tools: (1) an analytical framework designed to investigate students' struggles with the advanced physics content and mathematically sophisticated tools/techniques required at the junior and senior level, and (2) a new multiple-response conceptual assessment designed to measure student learning and assess the effectiveness of different curricular approaches. We first describe the development and theoretical grounding of a new analytical framework designed to characterize how students use mathematical tools and techniques during physics problem solving. We apply this framework to investigate student difficulties with three specific mathematical tools used in upper-division electrostatics: multivariable integration in the context of Coulomb's law, the Dirac delta function in the context of expressing volume charge densities, and separation of variables as a technique to solve Laplace's equation. We find a number of common themes in students' difficulties around these mathematical tools including: recognizing when a particular mathematical tool is appropriate for a given physics problem, mapping between the specific physical context and the formal mathematical structures, and reflecting spontaneously on the solution to a physics problem to gain physical insight or ensure consistency with expected results. We then describe the development of a novel, multiple-response version of an existing conceptual assessment in upper-division electrostatics courses. The goal of this new version is to provide an easily-graded electrostatics assessment that can potentially be implemented to investigate student learning on a large scale. We show that student performance on the new multiple-response version exhibits a significant degree of consistency with performance on the free-response version, and that it continues to provide significant insight into student reasoning and student difficulties. Moreover, we demonstrate that the new assessment is both valid and reliable using data from upper-division physics students at multiple institutions. Overall, the work described in this thesis represents a significant contribution to the methodological tools available to researchers and instructors interested in improving student learning at the upper-division level.

Tensor Arithmetic, Geometric and Mathematic Principles of Fluid Mechanics in Implementation of Direct Computational Experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bogdanov, Alexander; Khramushin, Vasily

2016-02-01

The architecture of a digital computing system determines the technical foundation of a unified mathematical language for exact arithmetic-logical description of phenomena and laws of continuum mechanics for applications in fluid mechanics and theoretical physics. The deep parallelization of the computing processes results in functional programming at a new technological level, providing traceability of the computing processes with automatic application of multiscale hybrid circuits and adaptive mathematical models for the true reproduction of the fundamental laws of physics and continuum mechanics.

A comparison of cognitive skills between completes and dropouts in a college physics course

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hudson, H. T.

Separate tests of mathematics skills, proportions and translations between words, and mathematical expression given the first week of class were correlated with performance for students who completed a college physics course (completes) and students who dropped the course (drops). None of the measures used discriminated between completes and drops as groups. However, the correlations between score on the test of math skills and on both of the measures involving mathematical reasoning (proportions, and translations) were dramatically different for the two groups. For the completes, these correlations were slightly negative, but not significant. For the drops, the correlation was positive and signficant at the p < 0.01 level. This suggests the possibility that the students who complete the course tend to have independent cognitive skills for the mechanical mathematical operations and for questions requiring some degree of reasoning, while, in contrast, the same skills for students at high risk for dropping overlap significantly. The study also found that when students are given the results of mathematics skills tests in a diagnostic mode, with feedback on specific areas of weakness and time to remediate with self study, the correlation between mathematics and physics is lower than previously reported values.Received: 2 April 1985

Developing Mathematical Concepts through Orientation and Mobility

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Derrick W.

2006-01-01

The National Council for Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM; 2000) encourages students to experience mathematics in multiple contexts, including science, history, physical education, business sciences, and agricultural sciences. All educators, including professionals such as orientation and mobility specialists who work with students who are visually…

34 CFR 691.17 - Determination of eligible majors.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... majors in the physical, life, or computer sciences, mathematics, technology, engineering, critical... EDUCATION, DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION ACADEMIC COMPETITIVENESS GRANT (ACG) AND NATIONAL SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS... years of study in mathematics and three years of study in the sciences, with a laboratory component in...

Microgravity: A Teacher's Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rogers, Melissa J.B.; Vogt, Gregory L.; Wargo, Michael J.

1997-01-01

Microgravity is the subject of this teacher's guide. This publication identifies the underlying mathematics, physics, and technology principles that apply to microgravity. The topics included in this publication are: 1) Microgravity Science Primer; 2) The Microgravity Environment of Orbiting Spacecraft; 3) Biotechnology; 4) Combustion Science; 5) Fluid Physics; 6) Fundamental Physics; and 7) Materials Science; 8) Microgravity Research and Exploration; and 9) Microgravity Science Space Flights. This publication also contains a glossary of selected terms.

Shadows Constructing a Relationship between Light and Color Pigments by Physical and Mathematical Perspectives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yurumezoglu, Kemal; Karabey, Burak; Koyunkaya, Melike Yigit

2017-01-01

Full shadows, partial shadows and multilayer shadows are explained based on the phenomenon of the linear dispersion of light. This paper focuses on progressing the understanding of shadows from physical and mathematical perspectives. A significant relationship between light and color pigments is demonstrated with the help of the concept of sets.…

Relating the Stored Magnetic Energy of a Parallel-Plate Inductor to the Work of External Forces

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gauthier, N.

2007-01-01

Idealized models are often used in introductory physics courses. For one, such models involve simple mathematics, which is a definite plus since complex mathematical manipulations quickly become an obstacle rather than a tool for a beginner. Idealized models facilitate a student's understanding and grasp of a given physical phenomenon, yet they…

Selection of fire spread model for Russian fire behavior prediction system

Treesearch

Alexandra V. Volokitina; Kevin C. Ryan; Tatiana M. Sofronova; Mark A. Sofronov

2010-01-01

Mathematical modeling of fire behavior prediction is only possible if the models are supplied with an information database that provides spatially explicit input parameters for modeled area. Mathematical models can be of three kinds: 1) physical; 2) empirical; and 3) quasi-empirical (Sullivan, 2009). Physical models (Grishin, 1992) are of academic interest only because...

Physical-mathematical model of condensation process of the sub-micron dust capture in sprayer scrubber

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shilyaev, M. I.; Khromova, E. M.; Grigoriev, A. V.; Tumashova, A. V.

2011-09-01

A physical-mathematical model of the heat and mass exchange process and condensation capture of sub-micron dust particles on the droplets of dispersed liquid in a sprayer scrubber is proposed and analysed. A satisfactory agreement of computed results and experimental data on soot capturing from the cracking gases is obtained.

Translating across Macroscopic, Submicroscopic, and Symbolic Levels: The Role of Instructor Facilitation in an Inquiry-Oriented Physical Chemistry Class

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Becker, Nicole; Stanford, Courtney; Towns, Marcy; Cole, Renee

2015-01-01

In physical chemistry classrooms, mathematical and graphical representations are critical tools for reasoning about chemical phenomena. However, there is abundant evidence that to be successful in understanding complex thermodynamics topics, students must go beyond rote mathematical problem solving in order to connect their understanding of…

Developing Physics E-Scaffolding Teaching Media to Increase the Eleventh-Grade Students' Problem Solving Ability and Scientific Attitude

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Saputri, Affa Ardhi; Wilujeng, Insih

2017-01-01

This research aims at revealing (1) the suitability of physics e-scaffolding teaching media with mathematical and image/diagrammatic representation, as well as (2) the effectiveness of the e-scaffolding teaching media with mathematical and image/diagrammatic representation to improve students' problem solving ability and scientific attitude. It is…

Evaluation of a Voluntary Tutoring Program in Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics for First-Year Undergraduates at Universidad Andres Bello, Chile

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jiménez, Verónica A.; Acuña, Fabiola C.; Quiero, Felipe J.; López, Margarita; Zahn, Carmen I.

2015-01-01

This work describes the preliminary results of a tutoring program that provides personalized academic assistance to first-year undergraduates enrolled in introductory chemistry, physics and mathematics courses at Universidad Andres Bello (UNAB), in Concepción, Chile. Intervened courses have historically large enrolments, diverse student population…

Quantum-Like Models for Decision Making in Psychology and Cognitive Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khrennikov, Andrei.

2009-02-01

We show that (in contrast to rather common opinion) the domain of applications of the mathematical formalism of quantum mechanics is not restricted to physics. This formalism can be applied to the description of various quantum-like (QL) information processing. In particular, the calculus of quantum (and more general QL) probabilities can be used to explain some paradoxical statistical data which was collected in psychology and cognitive science. The main lesson of our study is that one should sharply distinguish the mathematical apparatus of QM from QM as a physical theory. The domain of application of the mathematical apparatus is essentially wider than quantum physics. Quantum-like representation algorithm, formula of total probability, interference of probabilities, psychology, cognition, decision making.

PREFACE: 2nd International Conference on Mathematical Modeling in Physical Sciences 2013 (IC-MSQUARE 2013)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2014-03-01

The second International Conference on Mathematical Modeling in Physical Sciences (IC-MSQUARE) took place at Prague, Czech Republic, from Sunday 1 September to Thursday 5 September 2013. The Conference was attended by more than 280 participants and hosted about 400 oral, poster, and virtual presentations while counted more than 600 pre-registered authors. The second IC-MSQUARE consisted of different and diverging workshops and thus covered various research fields where Mathematical Modeling is used, such as Theoretical/Mathematical Physics, Neutrino Physics, Non-Integrable Systems, Dynamical Systems, Computational Nanoscience, Biological Physics, Computational Biomechanics, Complex Networks, Stochastic Modeling, Fractional Statistics, DNA Dynamics, Macroeconomics. The scientific program was rather heavy since after the Keynote and Invited Talks in the morning, three parallel sessions were running every day. However, according to all attendees, the program was excellent with high level of talks and the scientific environment was fruitful, thus all attendees had a creative time. We would like to thank the Keynote Speaker and the Invited Speakers for their significant contribution to IC-MSQUARE. We also would like to thank the Members of the International Advisory and Scientific Committees as well as the Members of the Organizing Committee. Further information on the editors, speakers and committees is available in the attached pdf.

34 CFR 691.2 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... physical, life, or computer sciences, mathematics, technology, engineering, or a critical foreign language..., DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION (CONTINUED) ACADEMIC COMPETITIVENESS GRANT (ACG) AND NATIONAL SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS...

34 CFR 691.2 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... physical, life, or computer sciences, mathematics, technology, engineering, or a critical foreign language..., DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION (CONTINUED) ACADEMIC COMPETITIVENESS GRANT (ACG) AND NATIONAL SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS...

34 CFR 691.2 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... physical, life, or computer sciences, mathematics, technology, engineering, or a critical foreign language..., DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION (CONTINUED) ACADEMIC COMPETITIVENESS GRANT (ACG) AND NATIONAL SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS...

34 CFR 691.2 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... physical, life, or computer sciences, mathematics, technology, engineering, or a critical foreign language..., DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION (CONTINUED) ACADEMIC COMPETITIVENESS GRANT (ACG) AND NATIONAL SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS...

Drawing Space: Mathematicians' Kinetic Conceptions of Eigenvectors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sinclair, Nathalie; Gol Tabaghi, Shiva

2010-01-01

This paper explores how mathematicians build meaning through communicative activity involving talk, gesture and diagram. In the course of describing mathematical concepts, mathematicians use these semiotic resources in ways that blur the distinction between the mathematical and physical world. We shall argue that mathematical meaning of…

What Is Mathematical Modelling? Exploring Prospective Teachers' Use of Experiments to Connect Mathematics to the Study of Motion

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carrejo, David J.; Marshall, Jill

2007-01-01

This paper focuses on the construction, development, and use of mathematical models by prospective science and mathematics teachers enrolled in a university physics course. By studying their involvement in an inquiry-based, experimental approach to learning kinematics, we address a fundamental question about the meaning and role of abstraction in…

ALT-C 96: Integrating Technology into the Curriculum. Conference Programme and Abstracts of the Association for Learning Technology Conference (3rd, Glasgow, Scotland, September 16-18, 1996).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cameron, Shona, Ed.

This program for the 1996 Association for Learning Technology Conference summarizes the poster sessions, discussions, workshops, and software demonstrations, and provides abstracts of the 38 papers presented. Topics covered by the papers include: hand-held technology for mathematics; modeling global warming; computer-mediated communications; Java;…

Geometric Methods for Infinite-Dimensional Dynamical Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-08-27

singular perturbation theory , nonlinear optic and traveling waves. 15. SUBJECT TERMS 16. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF: 17. LIMITATION OF ABSTRACT 18...participants, but no registration fee was charged. The 14 (long) plenary talks and the eight (short) topical talks were held in the lecture hall of...afternoon about open problems and important mathematical techniques, as well as a reception Friday evening, both of which were attended by all