Thesis (PH. M.)--Catholic University of America. / Description based on print version record. Biographical.

Inaug.-diss.--Marburg. / Lebenslauf.

Inaug.-diss.--Erlangen. / Lebenslauf.

Inaug.-diss.--Bonn. / Lebenslauf.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1956. / Typescript. Abstracted in Dissertation abstracts, v. 17 (1957) no. 5, p. 1098-1099. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaf 57).

At the beginning of this study I wanted to discover what effects competition in games and simulations had on learning. I also wished to gain a deeper understanding of how people learn from games so that I could produce findings which would be useful to practitioners of games and simulations. My research has revealed that competition can become too great an influence on students' decisions and behaviour and then becomes harmful to learning. I found that students adopt different approaches to competitive games which I labelled Competitive or Opportunist, Learning, Skill Specific, Rhino (Really Here In Name Only) and Confused. Their approach depends upon their prior experience, age, maturity, expectations and the quality of the tutor involvement. These different approaches lead in turn to different types of decisions, behaviour and eventually, learning. I also found that tutors need to be deeply involved during the whole game in order to guide students away from over-competitive behaviour and decisions,and towards a more rational and learning orientated approach. In addition tutors need to devote considerable time and effort at the end of the game to resolving conflicts and misunderstandings. In order that my study should prove useful to practitioners I have designed models of student approaches to games and simulations as well as a model of a business game. In addition I have drawn up, on the basis of my findings, a list of suggested guidelines for tutors who use (or are thinking of using) games and simulations. I hope they will indeed prove to be beneficial to both tutors and students.

A Rogowski coil has been used for the measurement of a pulsed discharge current. The frequency response of the coil is discussed, and a method which extends this response to higher frequencies (100 Mc/s) is described. It has been found that the noise signals associated with the measurement of a pulsed discharge current are due principally to the electromagnetic radiation from the spark gap switches which are required in such a circuit. The radiation depends upon the breakdown mechanism of the spark gap, and its effect upon the measuring circuit can be minimized by making use of damping, resistors in series with the triggering sparks, shielded cables in the measuring circuit, and careful grounding of the discharge circuit. The noise signal on the current wave form can be completely eliminated by altering the spark gap geometry of the open air spark gap switch. / Science, Faculty of / Physics and Astronomy, Department of / Graduate

A method is described whereby the recovery of plasmas formed by the passage of a high current discharge across a spark gap has been measured as a function of both the time after the passage of a current pulse and the radial distance from the centre of the spark gap. The effects of pressure, current magnitude and current waveform on the recovery time of the test gap were investigated and it was found that all of them exerted powerful but explicable influences on the recovery. Gas temperatures were derived using the assumption that the Paschen Law holds true during the final recovery period. / Science, Faculty of / Physics and Astronomy, Department of / Graduate

[No abstract available] / Science, Faculty of / Physics and Astronomy, Department of / Graduate

A high-frequency discharge ion source was developed yielding 45% protons in an 800 microampere, 14 kv energy focused beam of positive hydrogen ions. Higher ion currents could be delivered at higher voltages. The discharge was excited in a pyrex discharge tube, 1¼ inches in diameter and 9 inches long, by a 210 Mc/sec. push-pull, oscillator capable of delivering 120 watts power. An electrostatic potential difference of 1.8 kv applied axially with the discharge tube, accelerated the positive ions formed in the discharge toward the exit canal. A magnetic field of 240 gauss, also applied axially, shaped the discharge conically, and intensified the redness of the discharge, causing the Balmer lines to appear prominently when the discharge was viewed through a spectroscope. The ions emerging from the exit canal were focused by an electrostatic lens using a potential difference of 12 kv. The hydrogen pressure in the discharge tube measured 17 microns, and the rate of hydrogen consumption measured 11 cc. per hr. The proton percentage was found to depend on the oscillator power and critically on the gas pressure. The magnetic field increased the proton percentage, but in an unpredictable manner. It was also found that the focusing lens in front of the probe canal exerted an extracting action on the ions in the discharge; influencing very strongly the total ion beam current collected. The general performance of the ion source was found to be satisfactory. / Science, Faculty of / Physics and Astronomy, Department of / Graduate