Prior knowledge of potential energy and the understanding of quantum mechanics

Quantum mechanics (QM) has become part of many secondary school curricula. These curricula often do not include the mathematical tools for a formal, mathematical introduction of QM. QM therefore needs to be taught at a more conceptual level, but making secondary school students understand counterintuitive QM concepts without introducing mathematical formalism is a challenge. In order to accept QM, students not only have to see the need of it, but also have to see that QM is understandable and logical. Dutch secondary school students are familiar with potential energy (PE) in the context of gravitational and elastic energy. Therefore, the introduction of QM by using the potential wells and tunneling with emphasis on students’ prior knowledge of PE could be a way to make QM more understandable and logical. To explore this, we investigated the relation between the understanding of energy diagrams and the understanding of the potential well and tunneling. A module was created to promote students’ understanding of PE in classical context. Then, a quasi-experimental intervention was used, in which the experimental group received additional lessons using the module on classical energy diagrams before being taught QM. Two tests were developed in order to determine students’ understanding of PE and QM. The results of the tests showed that the experimental group not only had better understanding of PE diagrams, but also of QM even before they were being taught QM. Analysis of the tests also showed that there was a significant correlation between the understanding of PE diagrams and the understanding of QM. Therefore, the results of this study indicate that emphasis on PE can be used to reduce the gap between students’ prior knowledge and QM.

Ultra-weak emission and microcurrents instabilities in blue GaN LEDs at different stages of degradation

It is found that the ultra-weak luminescence observed in microcurrents mode in blue GaN LEDs with multiple quantum wells is due to tunnel-recombination processes with the participation of defect states and local potential wells of various depths, which arise as a result of planar fluctuations of indium in the InGaN layers of the active region. Digital photographs were obtained and patterns of ultra-weak luminescence of the surface of LED crystals were analyzed. It is shown that the patterns of luminescence, along with the current-voltage characteristic, demonstrate significant changes after testing even at the initial stages of degradation, which indicates a high sensitivity of these parameters to degradation processes and the possibility of their use in diagnostic and non-destructive testing methods.

An Evolutionary Frog Leaping Algorithm for Global Optimization Problems and Applications

Shuffled frog leaping algorithm, a novel heuristic method, is inspired by the foraging behavior of the frog population, which has been designed by the shuffled process and the PSO framework. To increase the convergence speed and effectiveness, the currently improved versions are focused on the local search ability in PSO framework, which limited the development of SFLA. Therefore, we first propose a new scheme based on evolutionary strategy, which is accomplished by quantum evolution and eigenvector evolution. In this scheme, the frog leaping rule based on quantum evolution is achieved by two potential wells with the historical information for the local search, and eigenvector evolution is achieved by the eigenvector evolutionary operator for the global search. To test the performance of the proposed approach, the basic benchmark suites, CEC2013 and CEC2014, and a parameter optimization problem of SVM are used to compare 15 well-known algorithms. Experimental results demonstrate that the performance of the proposed algorithm is better than that of the other heuristic algorithms.

Study on Dynamic Snap-Through and Nonlinear Vibrations of an Energy Harvester Based on an Asymmetric Bistable Composite Laminated Shell

Bistable energy harvesters have been extensively studied. However, theoretical research on the dynamics of bistable energy harvesters based on asymmetric bistable composite laminated plate and shell structures has not been conducted. In this paper, a theoretical model on the dynamics of an energy harvester based on an asymmetric bistable composite laminated shell is established. The dynamic snap-through, the nonlinear vibrations and the voltage output with two potential wells of the bistable energy harvester are studied. The influence of the amplitude and the frequency for the base excitation on the bistable energy harvester is studied. When the frequency for the base excitation with a suitable amplitude in the frequency sweeping is located in a specific range or the amplitude for the base excitation with a suitable frequency in the amplitude sweeping is located in a specific range, the large-amplitude dynamic snap-through, nonlinear vibrations and voltage output with two potential wells can be found to occur. The amplitude and the frequency for the base excitation interact on each other for the specific amplitude or frequency range which migrates due to the softening nonlinearity. The vibration in the process of the dynamic snap-through behaves as the chaotic vibration. The nonlinear vibrations of the bistable system behave as the periodic vibration, the quasi-periodic vibration and the chaotic vibration. This study provides a theoretical reference for the design of energy harvesters based on asymmetric bistable composite laminated plate and shell structures.

Unusual Chemical Processes in Interstellar Chemistry: Past and Present

The chemistry that occurs in interstellar clouds consists of both gas-phase processes and reactions on the surfaces of dust grains, the latter particularly on and in water-dominated ice mantles in cold clouds. Some of these processes, especially at low temperature, are very unusual by terrestrial standards. For example, in the gas-phase, two-body association reactions form a metastable species known as a complex, which is then stabilized by the emission of radiation under low-density conditions, especially at low temperatures. In the solid phase, it has been thought that the major process for surface reactions is diffusive in nature, occurring when two species undergoing random walks collide with each other on a surface that has both potential wells and intermediate barriers. There is experimental evidence for this process, although very few rates at low interstellar temperatures are well measured. Moreover, since dust particles are discrete, modeling has to take account that reactant pairs are on the same grain, a problem that can be treated using stochastic approaches. In addition, it has been shown more recently that surface reactions can occur more rapidly if they undergo any of a number of non-diffusive processes including so-called three-body mechanisms. There is some experimental support for this hypothesis. These and other unusual gaseous and solid-state processes will be discussed from the theoretical and experimental points of view, and their possible role in the synthesis of organic molecules in interstellar clouds explained. In addition, their historical development will be reviewed.

A Plasmon Modulator by Directly Controlling the Couple of Photon and Electron

As a strong couple mode of photon and electron collective oscillation, the movement of an electron can affect the collective plasmon behaviors efficiently. In this paper, we proposed a novel method for modulating the plasmon by directly controlling the movement of the electron but independent of the properties of the medium. This method is demonstrated by a hybrid graphene-dielectric-interdigital electrode structure in the mid-infrared range. It is possible to regulate the confinement of the graphene carrier and stimulate the plasmon in real-time by using the potential wells created by interdigital electrodes. Furthermore, the plasmon frequency can also be modulated utilizing changing the confined area and the density of the carrier. As a result. the frequency has been tuned over a range of ~ 33 cm−1 by applying voltage, and the maximum extinction ratio we measured is 8%. Due to the movement of the electron can also be driven optically, these findings may define a new approach to the all-optical modulator with low pump power.

Teleparallel gravity: Effects of torsion in 6D braneworlds

Braneworld models are interesting theoretical and phenomenological frameworks to search for new physics beyond the standard model of particles and cosmology. In this work, we discuss braneworld models whose gravitational dynamics is governed by teleparallel [Formula: see text] gravities. Here, we emphasize a codimension two-axisymmetric model, also known as a string-like brane. Likewise, in the 5D domain-wall models, the [Formula: see text] gravitational modification leads to a phase transition on the perfect fluid source providing a brane-splitting mechanism. Furthermore, the torsion changes the gravitational perturbations. The torsion produces new potential wells inside the brane core leading to a massless mode more localized around the ring structures. In addition, the torsion keeps a gapless nonlocalizable and a stable tower of massive modes in the bulk.

Effects of cryo-EM cooling on structural ensembles

Structure determination by cryo electron microscopy (cryo-EM) provides information on structural heterogeneity and ensembles at atomic resolution. To obtain cryo-EM images of macromolecules, the samples are first rapidly cooled down to cryogenic temperatures. To what extent the structural ensemble is perturbed by the cooling is currently unknown. Here, to quantify the effects of cooling, we combined continuum model calculations of the temperature drop, molecular dynamics simulations of a ribosome complex before and during cooling with kinetic models. Our results suggest that three effects markedly contribute to the narrowing of the structural ensembles: thermal contraction, reduced thermal motion within local potential wells, and the equilibration into lower free-energy conformations by overcoming separating free-energy barriers. During cooling, barrier heights below 10 kJ/mol were found to be overcome resulting in reduction of B-factors in the ensemble imaged by cryo-EM. Our approach now enables the quantification of the heterogeneity of room-temperature ensembles from cryo-EM structures.