Experimental and numerical analysis of a carousel stirrer for reverberation chambers
The paper analyzes the performance of a reverberation chamber equipped by a “carousel” stirring system. The working volume is positioned inside the stirrer rotating volume. More precisely, the carousel consists of several vertical strips that rotate around a central axis and having a total diameter as large as possible compared to chamber dimensions. An FDTD code, optimized for reverberation chamber simulations and tested with experimental results, is used to analyze the chamber performance as function of strip number and width. The proposed setup increases the working volume and improves the reverberation chamber behavior with respect to a traditional setup. Moreover, it needs just one motor to control the stirrer, and it does not require more complex mechanical part. All simulations are compared to measurements showing a good agreement.
Reverberation Chamber Performance Varying the Position of the Stirrer Rotation Axis
We analyzed how the position of the stirrer influences the reverberation chamber (RC) performance. We simulated a RC moving the rotation axis of the stirrer from a corner to the center. Simulation is carried out by a finite-difference time-domain code optimized for high-performance computers. Results show that the stirrer rotation center position weakly affects the most used statistical parameters.
The Intuitive Physics of the Equilibrium of the Lever and of the Hydraulic Pressures: Implications for the Teaching of Elementary Physics.
The research field of intuitive physics focuses on discrepancies between 
theoretical and intuitive physical knowledge. Consideration of these 
discrepancies can help in the teaching of elementary physics. However, 
evidence shows that theoretical and intuitive physical knowledge may also 
be congruent. Physics teaching could further benefit from understanding the 
reasons for this congruence. The present study explored these reasons by 
investigating the intuitive physics of the equilibrium of the lever and of the 
hydraulic pressures. It was found that the intuitive-physics law of the lever 
was multiplicative for all participants while the intuitive-physics law of the 
hydraulic pressures differed among participants. Since these laws are 
equally simple and the layman probably has had extensive experience with 
the lever and scarce or no experience with the hydraulic lift, these findings 
support the general hypothesis that physical laws and corresponding 
intuitive-physics laws are congruent when people have had experience with 
the respective phenomena. The results and theoretical considerations suggest 
two strategic principles for teaching elementary physics.