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We report on an ongoing investigation of student understanding in several introductory engineering courses at Hamburg University of Technology. Preliminary results from a first-year electrical engineering course indicate that many students did not gain a conceptual understanding of the material. Some students had difficulty interpreting graphical representations of information or displayed a lack of understanding of basic principles. Specific examples concerning load lines and three-phase systems are used to illustrate how general findings from physics education research can guide investigations of student understanding and the development of curriculum in an introductory engineering context. © 2007 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik in Heidelberg a next generation electrostatic storage ring for cryogenic temperatures is under development. The main focus of this unique machine is the research on ions, molecules and clusters up to bio molecules in the energy range of 20–300 keV at low temperatures down to 2 Kelvin. The achievement of this low temperature for all material walls seen by the ions in the storage ring will allow novel experiments to be performed, such as rotational and vibrational state control of molecular ions and their interaction with ultra-low energy electrons and laser radiation. The low temperature of the storage ring not only causes a strong reduction of black body radiation incident onto the stored particles, but also acts as a large cryopump, expected to lead to a vacuum in the 10–15 mbar range. In this paper the cryogenic concept of the storage ring and the related vacuum design will be presented. © 2006 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]