Books in Brief

Abstract

Paradigms Lost: Reflections on Literacy and its Decline by John Simon. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 222 pages, $12.95.

Fire Watch by Alan Dennis Burke. Boston: Atlantic—Little, Brown, 386 pages, $11.95.

Understanding Student and Faculty Life: Using Campus Surveys to Improve Academic Decision Making by Leonard L. Baird, Rodney T. Hartnett, and Associates. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 299 pages, $14.95.

A Program for Renewed Partnership: The Report of the Sloan Commission on Government and Higher Education. Cambridge, Mass.: Ballinger, 309 pages, $18.50.

What is an Educated Person? The Decades Ahead edited by Martin Kaplan. New York: Praeger, 195 pages, $22.95.

Outward Bound: Schools of the Possible by Robert Godfrey New York: Anchor Press/Doubleday, 273 pages, $16.95 (58.95 paper).     

Transforming the Physical Environment for Learning

Abstract

Everything Looks Impressive by Hugh Kennedy. New York: Doubteday, 1993, $10.00.

Generation X: Tales For An Accelerated Culture by Douglas Coupland. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1991, $13.95.

Also Cited: Campus Life: Undergraduate Cultures From The End Of The Eighteenth Century To The Present by Helen Lefkowitz Horowitz. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1987.

Coming Of Age In New Jersey: College In American Culture by Michael Moffatt. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1989.

Stover At Yale by Owen Johnson. New York: Collier Books, 1968 (originally published by Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1912).

The Plastic Age by Percy Marks. New York: Grosset &; Dunlap, 1924.     

Books in Brief

Abstract

Cyril Burt, Psychologist by L. S. Hearnshaw. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 370 pages, $19.50.

The Great American Writing Block: Causes and Cures of the New Illiteracy by Thomas C. Wheeler. New York: Viking Press, 189 pages, $8.95.

Scholarly Communication: The Report of the National Enquiry. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 176 pages, $3.95

The Impersonal Campus by Virginia B. Smith and Alison R. Bernstein. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 137 pages, $10.95.

Howard Mumford Jones: An Autobiography. Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 292 pages, $17.50.     

How to Choose Winning Lottery Numbers—Secret Ways to Win Big Money

Abstract

The New Bookstore in Town—Books Found on the Shelf

Reasoning with Statistics, Third ed. by Frederick Williams. New York: Holt, Reinhart and Winston, 1986, 224 pp., $16.95, paperback (ISBN 0-03-019536-5). Reviewed by Michael M. Meyer

Envisioning Information by Edward R. Tufte, Cheshire, Connecticut: Graphics Press, 1990, 126 pp., $48., hardcover (ISBN 0-961-3921-1-8). Reviewed by William F. Eddy     

Seven Days in May: The Teacher in Apocalypse

Abstract

Point: “A balanced, well-rounded, meticulously documented account.” Reviewed by Nathan Glazer

Illiberal Education: The Politics of Race and Sex on Campus by Dinesh D'Souza, New York: The Free Press, 1991, x, 319 pp., $19.95.

Counterpoint: “A sulphury vision of higher education Hell.” Reviewed by Michael A. Olivas     

Book Reviews

Abstract

How to Think About Statistics by John L. Phillips, Jr. New York: W. H. Freeman and Co., 1992, 256 pp., $23.95 (hardcover), $14.95 (paperback). Reviewed by Michael M. Meyer

News from the National Research Council. Reviewed by Michael M. Meyer

Improving Information for Social Policy Decisions: The Uses of Microsimulation Modeling Vol. I Review and Recommendations, Vol. II Technical Papers edited by Constance F. Citro and Eric A. Hanushek. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1991, two volumes, 346 and 351 pp. Reviewed by Michael M. Meyer

On Combining Information: Statistical Issues and Opportunities for Research Panel on Statistical Issues and Opportunities for Research in the Combination of Information. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1992. Reviewed by John E. Rolph     

Teachable Moments,Teachable Places: Education Beyond the Classroom

Abstract

A Long Way Together: A Personal View of Ncte's First Sixty-Seven Years by J. N. Hook. Urbana, III.: National Council of Teachers of English, 303 pages, $9.50.

Children's Secrets by Thomas J. Cottle. Garden City, N.Y.: Anchor Press/Doubleday, 273 pages, $10.

The Paradox of Progressive Education: The Gary Plan And Urban Schooling by Ronald D. Cohen and Raymond A. Mohl. Port Washington, N.Y.: Kennikat Press, 216 pages, $15.

Organization Without Authority: Dilemmas of Social Control in Free Schools by Ann Swidler. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 199 pages, $12.50.

Legislated Learning: The Bureaucratization of the American Classroom by Arthur E. Wise. Berkeley: University of California Press, 219 pages, $10.95.

Families and Communities as Educators edited by Hope Jensen Leichter. New York: Teachers College Press, 246 pages, $11.95 hardcover; $7.95 paperback.     

Books in Brief

Abstract

Prisoners of Silence: Breaking the Bonds for Adult Illiteracy in the United States by Jonathan kozol. New York: Continuum, 113 pages, $8.95.

Happier by Degrees by Pam Mendelsohn. New York: E.P. Dutton, 302 pages, $13.95 ($7.95 paperback).

The Kent State Coverup by Joseph Kelner and James Munves. New York: Harper and Row, 305 pages, $15.00     

Sul minimo di funzionali definiti sullo spazio delle funzioni di variazione limitata inn dimensioni

Summary Given a proper normal integrand we define a functional on the space of functions of bounded variations inR ⁿ; sufficient conditions which assure the existence of the minimum of this functional are given.

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Entrata in Redazione il 27 aprile 1977.

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Lavoro eseguito nell'ambito dell'attività del Laboratorio per la Matematica Applicata.     

On lightly and countably compact spaces in ZF

Abstract

Given a topological space X = (X, T ), we show in the Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory ZF that:

1. Every locally finite family of open sets of X is finite iff every pairwise disjoint, locally finite family of open sets is finite.

2. Every locally finite family of subsets of X is finite iff every pairwise disjoint, locally finite family of subsets of X is finite iff every locally finite family of closed subsets of X is finite.

3. The statement “every locally finite family of closed sets of X is finite” implies the proposition “every locally finite family of open sets of X is finite”. The converse holds true in case X is T₄ and the countable axiom of choice holds true.

   We also show:

4. It is relatively consistent with ZF the existence of a non countably compact T₁ space such that every pairwise disjoint locally finite family of closed subsets is finite but some locally finite family of subsets is infinite.

5. It is relatively consistent with ZF the existence of a countably compact T₄ space including an infinite pairwise disjoint locally finite family of open (resp. closed) sets.

     

Seeing through Statistics

Abstract

Introduction to Graphical Modelling by David Edwards, New York: Springer-Verlag, 1995, 274 pp. Reviewed by Garry Robins

Introduction to Graphical Modelling by David Edwards, New York: Springer-Verlag, 1995, 274 pp. Reviewed by Garry Robins

Graphical Models by Steffen L. Lauritzen, Oxford, U.K.: Clarendon Press, 1996, 298 pp. Reviewed by Garry Robins     

(Bi-)Cohen–Macaulay Simplicial Complexes and Their Associated Coherent Sheaves

ABSTRACT

Via the BGG correspondence, a simplicial complex Δ on [n] is transformed into a complex of coherent sheaves on P ^n?1. We show that this complex reduces to a coherent sheaf ? exactly when the Alexander dual Δ* is Cohen–Macaulay.

We then determine when both Δ and Δ* are Cohen–Macaulay. This corresponds to ? being a locally Cohen–Macaulay sheaf.

Lastly, we conjecture for which range of invariants of such Δ's it must be a cone, and show the existence of such Δ's which are not cones outside of this range.     

In Short

Abstract

The Great Transformation in Higher Education, 1960–1980 by Clark Kerr, Albany; State University of New York Press, 1991, xxii + 383 pages, notes, index.

Learning in Adulthood: A Comprehensive Guide by Sharon B. Merriam and Rosemary S. Caffarella, San Francisco, Oxford: Jossey-Bass, 1991, xx + 376 pages, references, indices.

Literacy in the United States: Readers and Reading Since 1880 by Carl F. Kaestle, et al. New Haven, London: Yale University Press, 1991, xxiii + 338 pages, appendix, bibliography, index.

Major American Higher Education Issues and Answers in the 1990s by Richard I. Miller, London: Jessica Kingsley, 1990, 219 pages, references, index.     

KNOPFMACHER EXPANSIONS IN NUMBER THEORY

Abstract

Dedicated to the memory of John Knopfmacher (1937–1999)

We survey in this paper J. Knopfmacher results on number theoretical expansions as they arised from our common collaboration.     

Visual Revelations

Abstract

Berger Statistical Superhero: A Review Reviewed by Albert Madansky

A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper by John Allen Paulos, New York: Anchor Books (Doubleday), 1996: xi + 212 pp. Reviewed by Thomas L. Moore     

Books in Brief

Abstract

Empty Pages: A Search for Writing Competence in School and Society by Clifton Fadiman and James Howard. Belmont, Calif.: Fearon Pitman, 166 pages, $7.95.

Mean Things Happening in This Land: The Life and Times of H. L. Mitchell, Co-Foudnder of The Southern Tenant Farmers Union by H. L. Mitchell. Mont-clair, N.J.: Allanheld, Osmun, 358 pages, $10.95.

US and UK Educational Policy: A Decade of Reform by Edgar Litt and Michael Parkinson. New York: Praeger, 161 pages, $19.95.

Impurely Academic: The Letters, Memos, and other Humorous Pieces of William J. Keefe, Political Scientist edited by Alan Rosenthal. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Books, 88 pages, $3.95 paperback.     

On a Class of Projections on *-Rings

ABSTRACT

In this article we describe the structure of projections acting on semiprime *-rings and satisfying a certain functional identity. The main result is applied to bicircular projections on C *-algebras.     

A CHARACTERIZATION OF LINEAR OPERATORS IN CERTAIN PARANORMED SEQUENCE SPACES

Abstract

We define a new class B of sets of strongly summable and bounded sequences, determine their first and second α- and β-duals, and characterize linear operators on the spaces in B.     

A Character Theoretic Condition for F(G) > 1

ABSTRACT

If G is a nontrivial finite group with the property that χ (1) ² divides bi| G | for all irreducible (complex) characters χ , then G has a nontrivial normal abelian subgroup.

     

The deformed twisted Heisenberg–Virasoro type Lie bialgebra

Abstract

In this article, we investigate Lie bialgebra structures on the deformed twisted Heisenberg–Virasoro Lie algebra. Sufficient and necessary conditions for this type Lie bialgebra structures to be triangular coboundary are given.

Communicated by K. C. Misra