Physics Training Research Articles

Інноваційні технології навчання фізики в контексті stem-освіти в закладах вищої освіти технічного профілю

The article is devoted to the digital laboratory Cobra-4, which is one of the means of introducing STEM-education into the educational process of studying natural sciences in technical institutions of higher education. Object of research is methodology for teaching physics using innovative technologies in the context of STEM education. The purpose of the article is to highlight the introduction of innovative technologies, namely, digital laboratories in the teaching of physics using interdisciplinary and integrated approaches in the context of STEM education in higher education institutions of technical profile. The main components of this kit and the list of experiments in physics are considered. The article analyzes the development of innovation activity of Ukraine in relation to the international indices of innovations. Objects and subjects of innovations are considered. It has been determined and grounded that the introduction of digital technologies during the study of natural phenomena and processes changes the nature of the student's operational activity, since under these conditions the nature of such activities differs from the composition of the actions that the student must perform, making a real experimental installation and working with the subject and measuring instruments. Prospects for further research are the improvement of this educational equipment, which consists in the development of a methodology and technique for the implementation of a training experiment in physics in institutions of higher education of a technical profile in the context of the development of STEM education.

Historical and Biographical Approaches towards Teachers Training in Learning Physics Using Moodle LMS

This article describes the possibilities for applying the historical and biographical approaches during the blended physics courses taught by using the original electronic training courses. This article provides the original e-learning modules that were applied during the Pedagogical Education course at the Kazan Federal University in 2016-2017 and 2017-2018. The training process was based on several different thematic blocks. Survey was conducted after the success testing. This survey has revealed that the historical and biographical approaches to teaching physics by means of the MOODLE LMS allow the teachers to increase the interest not only to this course, but also to the history of its development. In percentage terms, 39.7% of students have noted an increased level of motivation for independent activity. The original online courses will come in handy to design new physics curricula for online teaching and learning in other countries.

Augmented Reality Tools in Physics Training at Higher Technical Educational Institutions

Hruntova T. V., Yechkalo YU. V., Stryuk A. M. and Pikilʹnyak A. V. Augmented Reality Tools in Physics Training at Higher Technical Educational Institutions.
 Research goal: the research is aimed at theoretical substantiation of applying the augmented reality technology and its peculiarities at higher technical educational institutions. Research objectives: the research is to solve the problems of determining the role and place of the technology in the educational process and its possible application to physics training. Object of research: teaching physics to students of higher technical educational institutions. Subject of research: the augmented reality technology as a component of the training process at higher educational institutions. Research methods used: theoretical methods include analysis of scientific and methodological literature; empirical methods include studying and observation of the training process. Research results: analysis of scientific publications allows defining the notion of augmented reality; application of augmented reality objects during laboratory practical works on physics is suggested. Main conclusions. introduction of the augmented reality technology in thetraining process at higher technical educational institutions increases learning efficiency, facilitates students’ training and cognitive activities, improves the quality of knowledge acquisition, provokes interest in a subject, promotesdevelopment of research skills and a future specialist’s competent personality.

Clinical Medical Physicist Training Program at Reza Radiotherapy and Oncology Centre (RROC)

Introduction: It has been shown that there is a strong correlation between training and improving the Radiation Oncology Medical Physicist (ROMP) and an Oncology Department Quality Management plans. The Reza Radiotherapy and Oncology Centre (RROC) beside of its development plan, has recently implemented a comprehensive in-site training plan based on ROMPs abilities and the Department requirement. This study is a comparison of the domestic plan with others developed by AAPM, CAMPEB, ACPSEM etc. Materials and Methods: Evaluating all potential and appropriate residency Continuous Performance Development plans designed for ROMPs, a combination of all available plans were elected. At the first step, several competencies for all areas were designed. The overall time for the program is designed for two years. Results & Conclusion: Due to the lack of a comprehensive clinical training program, RROC plan can be nominated as one of the potential plans for residency program in Iran based on the requirement and developments.

Horst Feistel: the inventor of LUCIFER, the cryptographic algorithm that changed cryptology

This paper documents the early life of Horst Feistel, in particular, the events shaping his career. His creativity led to the development of today’s high-grade cryptographic algorithms. We describe Feistel’s successful escape from Nazi Germany, his university training in physics in Zurich and in Boston, and the career change to cryptography. Feistel became a Research Staff Member at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, New York, in 1968. The cryptographic algorithm LUCIFER encrypts data to secure their contents. It embodies the ideas intrinsic in Feistel’s 1971 IBM patent. Claude Shannon’s 1949 prescription for achieving ideal secrecy was the basis for LUCIFER and its successors DES, 3DES and AES. DES authenticated transactions in the automated teller machine system developed by IBM as part of the Lloyds Bank Cashpoint System in England. Public key cryptography and advances in communication networks would provide a means to secure credit card transactions and lead to a lucrative environment for E-Commerce. The availability of high-grade encryption appears to have drastically limited the National Security Agency’s Signals Intelligence mission. The Department of Justice’s dispute with Apple’s iPhone is an attempt to restrict the commercial availability of high-grade encryption algorithms. It signals the struggle between privacy and national security.

Evaluation of medical physics training in radiology residency in 67 countries

PurposeThe main aim of medical physics training in radiology residency is to have appropriate and safer imaging of patients and safety of personnel. The need to have adequate coverage of medical physics and radiation safety in curricula of radiology residency is well perceived, but it is not known how far it is implemented in practice. MethodsWe have analysed the data from 67 countries on medical physics teaching and assessment of residents in radiology programs, considering differences between countries in function of their human development index (HDI). ResultsThe results indicate that teaching of medical physics by radiologists rather than by medical physicists is very common and there is relationship with the developmental status of a country. The majority of countries with very high HDI used a written test (69%) for medical physics topics, often in combination with other subjects (63%). Further, there is lack of direct involvement of medical physicists during the examination phase of residents. Geographically, it can be seen that Latin American countries in particular lack involvement of medical physicists during both the teaching and examination phase. ConclusionThe lack of adequate involvement of medical physicists in training and in the formal examination of radiology residents in both developed and developing countries is a matter of concern with likely implications on patient and staff safety.

Methods of virtual modeling of dynamic educational programs in terms different manufacturing sectors requirements

The article considers problems connected with the professional standards implementation at an enterprise. The principles of dynamic construction of educational programs are revealed. The approach to the formation of dynamic educational programs taking into account the requirements of the professional community and foreign experience is proposed. To cut the transition costs we suggest that a specialist selection process as well as dynamic design and methodological support formation should be automated for the implementation of the new generation curricula according to the professional standards requirements. This approach can be applied, among other things, to the training of physicists for various production sectors.

I113] Teaching of medical physics to radiology residents

Purpose The main aim of medical physics training in radiology residency is to have appropriate and safer imaging of patients and safety of personnel. The need to have adequate coverage of medical physics and radiation safety in curricula of radiology residency is well perceived, but it is not known how far it is implemented in practice. Methods We have analysed the data from 67 countries on medical physics teaching and assessment of residents in radiology programs, considering differences between countries in function of their human development index (HDI). Results The results indicate that teaching of medical physics by radiologists rather than by medical physicists is very common and there is relationship with the developmental status of a country. The majority of countries with very high HDI used a written test (69%) for medical physics topics, often in combination with other subjects (63%). Further, there is lack of direct involvement of medical physicists during the examination phase of residents. Geographically, it can be seen that Latin American countries in particular lack involvement of medical physicists during both the teaching and examination phase. Conclusion The lack of adequate involvement of medical physicists in training and in the formal examination of radiology residents in both developed and developing countries is a matter of concern with likely implications on patient and staff safety.

The medical physics education and training program of Nguyen Tat Thanh University - the first offficial medical physics training program in Vietnam

The paper aimed to present the introduction of the fi offi medical physics training program - a new health care profession in Vietnam. The detail studies and analyses of the current status of training in Medical Physics as well as the present and future demands of it were also reported. The main roles, responsibilities and the challenges of medical physicists in medicine were discussed and clarifi as well.

The fiftieth anniversary of physics at UFSM: a gender analysis of graduates

The Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM - Universidade Federal de Santa Maria) has trained more than 600 undergraduateand 200 Ph.D. students, becoming a reference in physics training at the Rio Grande do Sul central region. In this work we presenta gender analysis of the UFSM graduated students from both levels. The number of graduated students of the female gender hasbeen rising with time and is significatively bigger than the number observed nationally in both levels. The mean values are35 %, 37 %, 28 %, 42 % e 39 % for the courses physics teaching (daytime), physics teaching (nightime), physics, master anddoctorate, respectively. We also observe an increase in the participation of female students in graduate courses, when comparing to undergraduate courses, unlike what is observed in the national average numbers. Considering only the last 5 years the number of graduated students reaches 50 % in the physics teaching (daytime) and master courses. Although this study is of a local nature, it reinforces the need for the dissemination of data regarding the gender of graduates by all universities, allowing to conduct general gender studies.

Playing with Quantum Toys: Julian Schwinger’s Measurement Algebra and the Material Culture of Quantum Mechanics Pedagogy at Harvard in the 1960s

In the early 1960s, a PhD student in physics, Costas Papaliolios, designed a simple—and playful—system of Polaroid polarizer filters with a specific goal in mind: explaining the core principles behind Julian Schwinger’s quantum mechanical measurement algebra, developed at Harvard in the late 1940s and based on the Stern-Gerlach experiment confirming the quantization of electron spin. Papaliolios dubbed his invention “quantum toys.” This article looks at the origins and function of this amusing pedagogical device, which landed half a century later in the Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments at Harvard University. Rendering the abstract tangible was one of Papaliolios’s demonstration tactics in reforming basic teaching of quantum mechanics. This article contends that Papaliolios’s motivation in creating the quantum toys came from a renowned endeavor aimed, inter alia, at reforming high-school physics training in the United States: Harvard Project Physics. The pedagogical study of these quantum toys, finally, compels us to revisit the central role playful discovery performs in pedagogy, at all levels of training and in all fields of knowledge.

Physics Training and Talent Search

Physics Training and Talent Search

Hybrid Linearized Class-BD Double Sided (LBDD) Digital Pulse Width Modulator (DPWM) for Class-BD Audio Amplifiers

The paper presents an original architecture and implementation of 9-bit LBDD hybrid DPWM circuit for Class-BD digital audio amplifier. The input PCM signals are directly transformed into 24-bit LBDD DPWM signals and then are requanized to the 9-bit digital outputs using noise-shaping process to support high fidelity with practical values of time resolution, and finally are converted by the DTCs into the two physical trains of 1-bit PWM signals. The architecture of the proposed Class-BD hybrid DPWM circuit is composed of two Class-AD ones. The hybrid quantizer converts 6 MSB bits using counter method, based on the STM32F407xx microcontroller, while the remaining 3 LSB bits - using a method based on the Programmable Tapped Delay Line (PTDL). All necessary time waveforms are generated on the base of the internal microcontroller oscillator 168 MHz. The proposed 9-bit Class-DB DPWM circuit allows to attain SNR of 110 dB and THD about 0,2% within the audio baseband, at switching frequency of 328.1 kHz, clock frequency of 42 MHz and modulation index M = 0.95. Basic verification of algorithm and circuit operation as well as simulation and preliminary experimental results have been performed.

Training more Socially-Conscious Physicists using Undergraduate Discussion Groups based around YouTube videos

This is a research article supported by a video. To read the article, please click on the pdf, to play the video, click on the link at the bottom of this page.Physics students today need to learn about being a scientist, not just about science. They need to be exposed to, consider, discuss and debate the complex social and professional issues that go along with being a working scientist in the twenty-first century. The traditional physics training structure of lectures, laboratory sessions and problem-solving-focused workshops and/or tutorials does not allow this training to occur in any formal way. In this paper, we describe and analyse a new discussion-class format, based upon YouTube videos and similar in spirit to the tutorials so prevalent in the humanities. This format was extremely successful in stimulating a lively and thoughtful discussion between students on oft-neglected issues such as gender representation in physics and trust in experts. Students actively thought about these issues, articulated their viewpoints, considered the viewpoints of others and debated the issues.Here, we analyse transcriptions of the discussion groups and observations from the classes to explore the reasons for the success of this model and how it can be expanded to encourage physicists to explore and develop their own views on the range of social and professional challenges they are likely to experience as working physicists, including environmental concerns, the relationship between media and science and even the influence on science of Brexit. We use a novel multimedia format here to present the results of this research, including both a traditional written report which incorporates analysis of the discussion group sessions themselves and a video presentation.

Navigating the medical physics education and training landscape.

PurposeThe education and training landscape has been profoundly reshaped by the ABR 2012/2014 initiative and the MedPhys Match. This work quantifies these changes and summarizes available reports, surveys, and statistics on education and training.MethodsWe evaluate data from CAMPEP‐accredited program websites, annual CAMPEP graduate and residency program reports, and surveys on the MedPhys Match and Professional Doctorate degree (DMP).ResultsFrom 2009–2015, the number of graduates from CAMPEP‐accredited graduate programs rose from 210 to 332, while CAMPEP‐accredited residency positions rose from 60 to 134. We estimate that approximately 60% of graduates of CAMPEP‐accredited graduate programs intend to enter clinical practice, however, only 36% of graduates were successful in acquiring a residency position in 2015. The maximum residency placement percentage for a graduate program is 70%, while the median for all programs is only 22%. Overall residency placement percentage for CAMPEP‐accredited program graduates from 2011–2015 was approximately 38% and 25% for those with a PhD and MS, respectively. The disparity between the number of clinically oriented graduates and available residency positions is perceived as a significant problem by over 70% of MedPhys Match participants responding to a post‐match survey. Approximately 32% of these respondents indicated that prior knowledge of this situation would have changed their decision to pursue graduate education in medical physics.ConclusionThese data reveal a substantial disparity between the number of residency training positions and graduate students interested in these positions, and a substantial variability in residency placement percentage across graduate programs. Comprehensive data regarding current and projected supply and demand within the medical physics workforce are needed for perspective on these numbers. While the long‐term effects of changes in the education and training infrastructure are still unclear, available survey data suggest that these changes could negatively affect potential entrants to the profession.

In memory of George E. Ioup: Founder of the University of New Orleans physics program at the Stennis Space Center

In the late 1970s, two U.S. Navy organizations were formed and located in an area now known as the Stennis Space Center, Mississippi, located nearly 50 miles East of the University of New Orleans (UNO). These two organizations employed nearly 1500 scientists and technicians who needed advanced training in physics, specifically courses involving acoustics and signal processing. In 1982, Professor George E. Ioup took the initiative to have UNO develop and teach these courses on-site at the Stennis Space Center. In the following 33 years, nearly 20 different graduate level courses were developed and taught multiple times at the Stennis Space Center. It was possible to take all the necessary courses needed for the Masters and Ph.D. degrees on-site, while maintaining full-time employment. Under Professor Ioup's leadership, several dozen Navy scientists received advanced degrees from the University of New Orleans, and many more received specific training that enhanced their professional careers. This presentation will highlight the dedicated efforts and successes of George Ioup in creating the UNO physics program at the Stennis Space Center, MS.

Comparison of BMI and waist-hip ratio in physically trained adults and sedentary adults

Obesity can increase the incidence of angina pectoris, myocardial infarction, hypertension and cerebrovascular diseases. This study is undertaken with the aim to evaluate the effect of physical training on BMI, Waist-hip ratio. The study was conducted on 50 male physically trained adults and 50 male sedentary adults in the age group between 30-40 years and the following parameters were evaluated BMI, Waist-hip ratio. There is statistically highly significant decrease in BMI, Waist-hip ratio, in physically trained adults as compared to sedentary adults. Aerobic exercise and games in combination causes highly significant decrease in BMI, W-H ratio. Thus, combination of aerobic exercise and games is more beneficial instead of only aerobic exercise and hence should be recommended.

Comparison of lipid profile in physically trained adults and sedentary adults

The incidence of diseases like angina pectoris, myocardial infarction, hypertension and cerebrovascular is increasing nowadays. The high blood lipid level is found to be the main cause of atherosclerosis. Present study is undertaken with the aim to evaluate the effect of physical training on BMI, Waist-hip ratio and lipid profile. Our research is focussed to study the Effect of Physical Training on Serum Lipids in physically trained adults and sedentary adults. To compare lipid profile between physically trained adult and sedentary adult. The study was conducted on 50 male physically trained adults and 50 male sedentary adults in the age group between 30-40 years. Following parameters were evaluated: Total cholesterol, Triglycerides, HDL, LDL and VLDL. There is statistically highly significant decrease in BMI, Waist-hip ratio, total cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL- C, VLDL- C, and highly significant increase in HDL- C in physically trained adults as compared to sedentary adults. From the results, it is concluded that combination of aerobic exercise and games causes highly significant decrease in total cholesterol, TG, LDL- C, VLDL-C and increase in HDL-C. Thus, combination of aerobic exercise and games is more beneficial instead of only aerobic exercise and hence should be recommended.

A didactic experiment showing the Compton scattering by means of a clinical gamma camera

We describe a didactic approach aimed to explain the effect of Compton scattering in nuclear medicine imaging, exploiting the comparison of a didactic experiment with a gamma camera with the outcomes from a Monte Carlo simulation of the same experimental apparatus.We employed a 99mTc source emitting 140.5keV photons, collimated in the upper direction through two pinholes, shielded by 6mm of lead. An aluminium cylinder was placed on the source at 50mm of distance. The energy of the scattered photons was measured on the spectra acquired by the gamma camera.We observed that the gamma ray energy measured at each step of rotation gradually decreased from the characteristic energy of 140.5keV at 0° to 102.5keV at 120°. A comparison between the obtained data and the expected results from the Compton formula and from the Monte Carlo simulation revealed a full agreement within the experimental error (relative errors between −0.56% and 1.19%), given by the energy resolution of the gamma camera. Also the electron rest mass has been evaluated satisfactorily.The experiment was found useful in explaining nuclear medicine residents the phenomenology of the Compton scattering and its importance in the nuclear medicine imaging, and it can be profitably proposed during the training of medical physics residents as well.

Formación continua del profesorado de Física a través del conocimiento didáctico del contenido sobre el campo eléctrico en Bachillerato: un caso de estudio

The study describes the progress of the pedagogical content knowledge through an intervention program, as an alternative for the training of high school physics teacher based on reflection. The research was conducted in Colombia with a teacher with an assumed name, Maria, for the 2010-2012 periods. The results show that categories such as knowledge of the curriculum, students and teaching strategies progress after the intervention program. However, knowledge of evaluation and the ideas that the teacher has about the electric field change a little. The results also suggest that approaches through reflection on teacher says, designs and does, allow her to teach based on a more constructivist approach.