2:15 - 2:30 - A1

Results from the E865 Collaboration: Unitary Matrices and Forbidden Decays. Julia Thompson, for the E865 collaboration, University of Pittsburgh and University of Missouri at St. Louis, Pittsburgh, PA 15260. Experiment E865 at Brookhaven National Laboratory has searched for the forbidden decay: Kaon (+) to pion(+), muon(+), and electron(-). This decay would conserve charge, energy, and momentum, but not a rather elusive quantity called lepton family number (no leptons initially, but a muon and an electron in the final state, where a muon is in many respects like a heavy electron.). None of these forbidden decays have been found, but a limit has been set. Also, other results have been obtained, including one which appears to help close a possible loophole for other quark generations or other non-standard physics. The experiment and its results will be discussed.

2:30 - 2:45 - A2

Effects of Irradiation on the Grating Kinetics in Rare-earth Doped Silicate Glasses. Nathan Anterhaus, Abdullatif Hamad, Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, IL 62026. We studied the effects of electron beam irradiation on the grating kinetics in Eu-doped and un-doped silicate glasses. The effects were studied using the four-wave mixing technique as well as absorption spectroscopy. The irradiated samples gave higher diffracted power than the un-irradiated doped samples. The absorption spectra showed two bands centered about 450 nm and 620 nm due to the generation of defects in the un-doped sample. The irradiated Eu-doped sample only showed the band centered about 620 nm. We attributed the volume grating formation to both absorption and index of refraction modulations caused by laser bleaching.

2:45 - 3:00 - A3

Neutrino Oscillations and the MINOS Experiment: Special Leptons and their Vagaries. Julia Thompson, MINOS collaboration, University of Pittsburgh and University of Missouri at St. Louis, Pittsburgh, PA 15260. Neutrinos and their interactions have been of special interest since their first postulation to explain the mysteries of beta decay of nuclei. Recent evidence from Japan and North American studies of atmospheric neutrinos has come together to give rather convincing evidence for neutrino oscillations (switching from one kind of neutrino to another), which would in turn explain a long standing puzzle of apparently too few electron neutrinos coming from the sun. The MINOS experiment at Fermilab will start taking data in 2005 and will be in a position to measure this oscillation with better precision than it is currently known. The neutrinos will start out at Fermilab, and the survivors will be detected in northern Minnesota, at the soudan mine. A brief history of neutrino investigations will be given, and a description of the MINOS detector: status and physics plans.

3:00 - 3:10 - Take Fives
  1.  Mary Frohne, "Pocket Photon Energy Demonstrator"
  2.  Ann Brandon, "In or Out?"

2:15 - 3:30         Session B  (concurrent with Session A) -  Contributed Papers - Stevenson 434
                                  Session Chair: Shang-Fen Ren, Illinois State University

2:15 - 2:30 - B1

The HANG: A Hand-played Steel Drum. Thomas Rossing, Felix Rohner, and Sabina Schärer, Northern Illinois University and PanArt, DeKalb, IL and Bern, Switzerland. The HANG is a new steel percussion instrument consisting of two spherical shells of steel, suitable for playing with the hands. Seven to nine notes are harmonically tuned around a central deep note which is formed by the Helmholtz (cavity) resonance of the instrument body. By means of holographic interferometry we have studied the modes of vibration of a HANG developed by PanArt, Switzerland. We will demonstrate some sounds of the HANG.

2:30 - 2:45 - B2

Sound of Cup with and without Instant Coffee. Andrew Morrison and Thomas Rossing, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL 60115. An empty coffee cup, like an ancient Chinese two-tone bell, emits two distinctly different tones, depending upon where it is tapped. When it is filled with hot water, and some instant coffee is added, however, a whole new set of sounds is heard when the cup is tapped. We describe the modes of vibration in a coffee cup and the sound emitted by a coffee cup as filled with instant coffee as the bubble density changes. These phenomena make for effective demonstrations of two important concepts related to sound which can be used in high school or college classrooms.

2:45 - 3:00 - B3

Acoustics of Bagpipes . Thomas Rossing, Eric Cox, Sandra Carral, Murray Campbell, Northern Illinois University and University of Edinburgh, DeKalb, IL and Edinburgh, Scotland. Bagpipes have a long tradition in many European countries. We discuss the acoustics of Scottish bagpipes, including Highland pipes, border pipes, and smallpipes. The pitch of a border bagpipe, blown by an expert player as well as by a blowing machine, is found to depend upon blowing pressure. A practice chanter will be demonstrated. Although it has a cylindrical bore, the practice chanter sounds even- as well as odd-numbered harmonics. Reed velocity waveforms are recorded by means of a laser Doppler velocimeter.

3:00 - 3:10 - Take Fives
  1.  Gary Wolber, "Name that Charge"
  2.  Thomas Rossing, "Websites for Teaching Acoustics"
  3.  Cecilia Vogel, "Fooling the Scales"

3:30 - 4:30         Session C  -  Contributed Papers - Stevenson 401
                                  Session Chair: Rainer Grobe, Illinois State University

3:30 - 3:45 - C1

Teaching Nonlinear Dynamics to Liberal Arts Majors. Brian Clark, Illinois State University, Normal, IL 61790-4560. The typical physics course delivered to liberal arts majors concentrates on introducing students to the laws of physics with applications and examples drawn from topics including astronomy, lasers, and optics, for example. As nonlinear processes become increasingly important in the nonsciences, student should receive an introduction to major concepts in nonlinear processes. I discuss the graphical approach that will be used in an introductory physics course at Illinois State University this fall.

3:45 - 4:00 - C2

Teaching Neural Networks to Physics Majors. Richard Martin, Illinois State University, Normal, IL 61790-4560. The field of neural networks is not usually considered physics, yet physicists have had a major impact on this field and its methodology is seeing useful application in a variety of physics research problems. I've taught an introduction to neural networks for several years as one third of a senior level computational physics projects course. The module covers feed-forward backpropagation networks and associative memory nets. Students are expected to write their own backpropagation code and to use it for time series prediction. I'll describe the course and student response to it.

4:00 - 4:15 - C2

International REU: Preparing Students for a Global Future. Shang-Fen Ren, Illinois State University, Normal, IL 61790. International Research Experience for Undergraduates (INT REU) is a NSF initiative to address a critical issue of US R&D workforce. I have been working on international REU with a focus on Nano-scale Science and technology since 1999. The International REU has provided American undergraduates with an exceptional research and cultural experience that can greatly expand their education. I will discuss my motivation and practices of running such international REU program. The impacts of such international REUs will also be discussed.

4:15 - 4:30 - C4

Hands-on Inquiry-based In-lecture Astronomy Activities. Rebecca Lindell and Tom Foster, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Edwardsville, IL 62026-1654. At Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, we have recently restructured our introductory astronomy course to include hands-on inquiry-based in- class group activities. These activities utilize a learning cycle approach to cover specific astronomical concepts that traditionally resist conceptual change, such as phases of the moon and seasons, or that students have difficulty mastering, such as Hubble's law and the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. Each group activity is designed to be completed during one 50- minute class period and utilize hands-on equipment whenever possible. In this talk, we will discuss the design and implementation of these group activities into our introductory astronomy course, as well as the trials and tribulations of incorporating group activities into a large lecture course.

9:00 - 9:15 - D1

Use of the Magnetic Microscope (MFM) for Domain Wall Imaging in Magnetoelastic Torque Sensors. Jason Wilson, Gregory M. Sollenberger, and Mark S. Boley, Physics Department, Western Illinois University, Macomb, IL 61455. In this study, we created two distinct portions of the torque sensor ring or shaft in which a high degree of oppositely polarized circumferential magnetization was maintained with a saturated alignment of the magnetic domains due to the high circumferential coercive force. This sensory area produces a field signal linearly proportional to the applied torque. The ring sample was constructed of a steel alloy of 18% nickel in iron (known as C250), while the shafts used were steel alloys of 0.5% chromium and 0.3% nickel, 0.5% chromium and 4% nickel, 3.5% chromium and 0% nickel, and 12% chromium and 0.3% nickel (known as O-1, Kapstar, S-7, and D-2 respectively). Previously unknown has been the exact nature of the interface between the regions of opposing circumferential magnetization. In this study, we have used the magnetic force probe of our AFM, in an imaging technique known as MFM, to determine the width and sharpness of the domain wall transition region between the two oppositely polarized regions of both types of sensors and their relative depth of magnetic alignment. We found the domain wall transition region to be much wider and to change in a more gradual manner in the shaft sensors. However, following the heat treatment of the shaft-type sensors, the width of their domain walls began to approach that of the ring-type sensor. We also found that the relative height of the domain wall signals compared to the background signals was in direct correlation with the torque load sensitivity numbers measured for each of the samples.

9:15 - 9:30 - D2

The Effects of Chromium Concentrations on Magnetically Polarized Heat-Treated Steel Torque Transducer Shafts. Jason T. Orris, Christopher C. Jurs, and Mark S. Boley, Physics Department, Western Illinois University, Macomb, IL 61455. In many applications where a standard sensory torque transducer ring would be impractical, two distinct portions of a hollow ferromagnetic high-speed steel shaft can be utilized as the torque transducer, in which a high degree of oppositely polarized circumferential magnetic domain alignment can be maintained, provided the steel has high coercive forces and is not too brittle. In this work, we have discovered that a large enhancement in transducer sensitivity can be gained by increasing the chromium concentration of the steel to as high as the 12% level (with nickel concentrations under l%), without the sacrifice of any essential mechanical properties. Beyond this optimal concentration level, the enhancement in the sensitivity appears to have saturated and then gradually disappears as additional chromium is added. Among the steel shafts we investigated were four with respective chromium concentrations of 0.15%, 3.5%, 12.0%, and 25.5%, that are correspondingly known as steel types W-1, S-7, D-2, and F-255. Their transducer sensitivities were found as 1.5, 4.0, 12.5, and 2.9 mG/N-m, respectively. Additionally, the S-7 and D-2 magnetic transducers exhibited still further increases in their sensitivity following their standard heat treatments, with the greatest increase of all occurring for the D-2 sample, which also had the highest sensitivity and the best linearity over the normal response range of any of the magnetic transducers studied. Corresponding to this sensitivity enhancement, we also found that the area of the axial hysteresis curves for the first three of these steels dramatically decreased as the chromium concentration went up to the 12% level, and then gradually increased again as additional chromium was added. However, relatively little change was observed in the already broad circumferential hysteresis curves over the range of chromium concentrations investigated, which assures that transducer integrity can be easily maintained throughout.

9:30 - 9:45 - D3

mTIPERs and eTIPERs*. Curtis Hieggelke, Joliet Junior College, Joliet, IL 60431. TIPERs are task formats that are inspired by the work and techniques used by physics education research into students’ reasoning and understanding. Good research tasks and questions often make good instructional materials. We (David Maloney, Tom O’Kuma, Steve Kanim, and myself) are developing TIPER sets that target important physical concepts and scientific reasoning skills in magnetism (mTIPERs) and electrostatics (eTIPERs). A collection of TIPERs that target the same issue or question is called a TIPER set. Students often do not recognize the same question or issue when presented in a different format. These materials employ various formats that include: Ranking Tasks; Working Backwards Tasks; What, if anything, is Wrong Tasks; Qualitative Reasoning Tasks; Bar Chart Tasks; Conflicting Contentions Tasks; Linked Multiple Choice Tasks; Changing Representations Tasks; Meaningful, Meaningless Calculations Tasks; and other types of alternative task formats. The goal of these projects is to provide tools for learning that will help promote and establish a better functional understanding in electrostatics and magnetism for introductory physics students. This understanding can be used as a base upon which students can solve problems with greater understanding and satisfaction. Rather than adapt a whole new curriculum at once (a process that tends to be stress-inducing and unpalatable) these materials are intended to allow instructors to modify their courses incrementally to incorporate more research-based materials. This paper will illustrate and discuss these new materials. *supported in part by CCLI grants # 9952735 and 0125831 from the Division of Undergraduate Education of the National Science Foundation.

9:45 - 9:55 - Take Fives
  1.  Bill Hogan, "Isn't Normal Force Always Equal to Weigh?"
  2.  Eric Peterson, "Fluorescent Laser Dyes"
 

10:15 - 10:30 - E1

Physics Education in the Nineteenth Century. Mary V. Frohne, Benedictine University, Lisle, IL 60532. A look at several dozen physics and physical science textbooks dated from 1829 through the 1920’s reveals insights about the evolution of the current physics curriculum and teaching practices. Many noted physicists of a century ago were energetic educators whose pedagogical work bears re-examination today. A surprising revelation is the extent to which the professionalization of general public education in the mid 1800’s spearheaded the growth of the entire physics discipline.

10:30 - 10:45 - E2

The Matter & Interactions Experience: Voices. Tom Foster, Rebecca Lindell, James Kuhlman, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Edwardsville, IL 62026-1654. For two years, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville has been experimenting with a new curriculum for its introductory calculus-based physics course. The Matter & Interactions curriculum* is a commercially available alternative which emphasizes modern aspects of mechanics and the centrality of the atomic perspective. Previous presentations at ISAAPT have discussed our on-going evaluations of this course, but this talk will focus on our informal discussions with our students and colleagues. In addition, we will discuss the impact the curriculum has had on our program, including increasing the number of minors and majors. *Chabay R. W., & Sherwood, B.A. (2002). Matter & Interaction. John Wiley and Sons, Inc. NY, NY.

10:45 - 11:00 - E3

Physics Workshops for the 21st Century*. Curtis Hieggelke, Joliet Junior College, Joliet, IL 60431. This paper will report on recent and future workshops offered by this project for two-year college and high school physics teachers. Some of the workshop activities will be shown such as a high-speed video of a water-filled balloon breaking. The goal of this project is to help TYC and HS physics students develop a stronger understanding of science, with an emphasis on physics and its applications in industry. The task of updating and improving physics is difficult due to the rapid changes in technology, the heavy and complex workload of the faculty, and their lack of knowledge about the needs and applications of physics in the workplace. This program addresses these issues by providing faculty development workshops for teachers who teach core physics courses for technology programs and other programs. These workshops are designed to acquaint the participants with the integration and implementation of emerging technology and active learning strategies. These workshops provide extensive and intensive, collaborative experiences for participants with workshop materials that make it easy for participants to implement the workshop ideas in their classroom. *Supported in part by ATE grant #0101589 from the National Science Foundation.