Integrating design problems in mathematics curriculum: an architecture college case study

This paper reports an attempt to improve results in the mathematics course in one of the architecture colleges in Israel through practise in applications. The effect of integrating structure design problems in the calculus curriculum on students' achievements and attitudes was examined. The applied topics in the curriculum were connected to calculus topics and studied through problembased learning activities. The integrated curriculum was implemented and the learning results in experimental and control groups were assessed by means of achievement tests, attitude questionnaires and student interviews. The learning achievements in the experimental group proved to be significantly higher than in the control group. The positive impact of learning applications on motivation, understanding, creativity and interest in mathematics is indicated.     

Rawlsian altruism with perfect discrimination leads to social efficiency

Recent studies draw attention on the highly specialized capacity of human beings in recognizing altruists versus cheaters in social interactions. These results hint at the existence of specialized abilities that support discriminating behavior in strategic interactions. In this paper, we explore the implications of discriminating behavior in the study of the indirect evolutionary selection of selfish versus altruistic motivations in the context of generic 2×2 base games, and in particular for coordination and cooperation scenarios. We find that inequality averse (Rawlsian) altruism can enforce under rather general conditions socially optimal outcomes, including cases where selfishness cannot, such as in prisoner’s dilemmas. Inequality seeking (Nietzschian) altruism in no case improves upon Rawlsian altruism in terms of social optimality of outcomes, and often does worse. In the cooperation scenario in particular, Nietzschean altruism never manages to implement the cooperative outcome. Under perfect discrimination, moreover, inequality averse (Rawlsian) altruism often evolves at the expense of selfishness. These results suggest that the development of sophisticated discrimination abilities may be strongly adaptive in supporting fairness-oriented forms of pro-sociality in humans in the context of social dilemmas and coordination problems.     

Conceptualizations of slope in Mexican intended curriculum

Slope is a fundamental mathematics concept in middle and high school that transcends to the university level. An understanding of slope is needed at the university level since slope plays an important role in understanding problems involving variation and change. In this study Mexican curricula documents were examined to determine which conceptualizations of slope are addressed in the intended mathematics curriculum. To explain the results, we use conceptualizations of slope identified in previous research. Our findings reveal that, to a certain extent, the conceptualizations proposed in the Mexican intended mathematics curriculum differ slightly in terms of the emphasis and timing of instruction from what others have identified in the U.S., with slope as a geometric ratio receiving less emphasis in the Mexican curriculum. There was also noted discontinuity within the Mexican curriculum in introducing slope in grade 9 and subsequently introducing of linear functions in grade 10 without explicit mention of slope. Suggestions are made for future studies, both to consider the conceptualizations of slope promoted in the Mexican textbooks and the impact they have in classroom instruction and student learning of slope.     

Scientists and mathematicians collaborating to build quantitative skills in undergraduate science

There is general agreement in Australia and beyond that quantitative skills (QS) in science, the ability to use mathematics and statistics in context, are important for science. QS in the life sciences are becoming ever more important as these sciences become more quantitative. Consequently, undergraduates studying the life sciences require better QS than at any time in the past. Ways in which mathematics and science academics are working together to build the QS of their undergraduate science students, together with the mathematics and statistics needed or desired in a science degree, are reported on in this paper. The emphasis is on the life sciences. Forty-eight academics from eleven Australian and two USA universities were interviewed about QS in science. Information is presented on: what QS academics want in their undergraduate science students; who is teaching QS; how mathematics and science departments work together to build QS in science and implications for building the QS of science students. This information leads to suggestions for improvement in QS within a science curriculum.     

基于平行DEA模型的我国小学教育资源配置效率分析

小学教育是教育阶段的基础,也是我国强制教育的一部分。但如何在各省份性别比例相差较大的情况下,更加有效的提高各省份小学教育资源配置效率是一个值得思考的问题。为了避免性别带来的影响,可以通过平行结构DEA模型根据学生性别分为两个平行子系统,来衡量我国2012~2018年各省份小学教育的资源配置情况。研究发现大部分省份小学教育资源配置的总系统效率未达到有效边界,仍有需要改进的地方。男学生在小学教育阶段的效率通常优于女学生在小学教育阶段的效率,但随着近些年我国教育体制的日益完善,女学生在小学教育阶段的效率呈上升趋势。此外,我国西部地区的小学教育资源配置效率在一些年份普遍优于东部和中部地区,而中部地区和东部地区小学教育总系统效率相对稳定,西部地区小学教育总系统效率波动较大。     

Sur la détermination d'une relation binaire à partir d'informations locales

This paper deals with the problematic aspect of the reconstruction of binary relations: it includes all the questions raising the possibility or impossibility to determine a structure by gathering given substructures. It is the continuation of three studies: the first made by G. Lopez [9] in 1972 about the determination of a binary relation through the types of isomorphism of its restrictions, the second made by K. B. Reid and C. Thomassen [15] in 1976 about the strongly self-complementary tournaments (every subtournament is self-complementary), the third made by C. Thomassen [16] in 1989 about the cycle space of a tournament. In the second section, we use the notion of class of difference (which was introduced in [9]) to extend a study made in [16] to binary relations. Then, in the third section, we improve the result of this last study in the case of the tournaments. After noticing that the result of [15] inferred itself naturally from the approach developed in [9], we extend, in the fourth section, the study made in [15] to binary relations.     

An overview on the history of actuarial calculus in Portugal until the late 19th century

Pension funds, namely survivors' pension funds were established in Portugal in the late 18th century, in mutual benefit societies. The first Portuguese life assurance companies were created in the first half of the 19th century but their activity was not very extensive. Only in the 20th century did both institutions become actuarially-based. In this paper, we provide an overview of the development of actuarial calculus in Portugal until the late 19th century, in order to contextualise the scientific progress of those institutions, mainly the former. This paper lays the groundwork for further research on the history of actuarial calculus in Portugal.     

Employing stochastic differential equations to model wildlife motion

The concern is with the properties of stochastic differential equations (SDEs) describing the motion of particles in 3 dimensional space, on the sphere or in the plane. There is consideration of the case where the drift function comes from a potential function. There is study of SDEs whose parameters are periodic in time. These are useful for incorporating circadian rhythm in the behavior. The cases of a seal in a frozen lake in Alaska, an elephant seal migrating a great distance in the Pacific Ocean and of a group of "free-ranging" elk in a reserve in Oregon are referred to. For the elk nonparametric estimates of the drift and variance terms of an SDE model are discussed and evaluated and the fit of the model assessed. One issue is how to include explanatories, beyond location and time, in the model. A number of questions motivated by the wildlife motion concerning diffusion processes of the type considered are posed at the end of the paper. Received: 25 April 2002     

火灾发生的周期性规律及其在火灾非线性组合预测模型中应用

研究火灾发生规律及发展趋势,具有实用价值.分析历年中国火灾统计数据,发现中国火灾的发生规律同时具有增长趋势性和周期波动性特征:①中国火灾从90年代开始大幅度增加,在2002年达到最大,然后逐年缓慢下降;②每年12个月呈正弦函数波动,周期为12,1、2月发生起数最大,8、9月最小.借助于M ATLAB软件,根据2000-2006年中国火灾统计数据,建立火灾的月发生起数的非线性周期性组合预测模型,预测值与实际值的平均相对误差小于0.07.研究结论为消防研究、消防部门决策提供科学依据.     

我国制造业背景下质量管理活动的量表开发研究

质量管理的测度是质量管理实证研究的基础,但我国在此领域还处于起步阶段。以重庆市制造业企业为样本,采用基于偏最小二乘法的证实性因子分析方法,对我国制造业企业的质量管理活动进行了实证度量。结论显示,我国制造业企业质量管理活动包含六个方面的主要内容:企业高层的支持、员工的参与、供应商关系、重视客户、产品设计和流程管理。研究给出了具体的我国质量管理活动的测度量表。     

Modeling and simulation of severe slugging in air-water systems including inertial effects

A mathematical model and numerical simulations corresponding to severe slugging in air-water pipeline-riser systems are presented. The mathematical model considers continuity equations for liquid and gas phases, with a simplified momentum equation for the mixture. A drift-flux model, evaluated for the local conditions in the riser, is used as a closure law. In many models appearing in the literature, propagation of pressure waves is neglected both in the pipeline and in the riser. Besides, variations of void fraction in the stratified flow in the pipeline are also neglected and the void fraction obtained from the stationary state is used in the simulations. This paper shows an improvement in a model previously published by the author, including inertial effects. In the riser, inertial terms are taken into account by using the rigid water-hammer approximation. In the pipeline, the local acceleration of the water and gas phases are included in the momentum equations for stratified flow, allowing to calculate the instantaneous values of pressure drop and void fraction. The developed model predicts the location of the liquid accumulation front in the pipeline and the liquid level in the riser, so it is possible to determine which type of severe slugging occurs in the system. A comparison is made with experimental results published in literature including a choke valve and gas injection at the bottom of the riser, showing very good results for slugging cycle and stability maps. Simulations were also made assessing the effect of different strategies to mitigate severe slugging, such as choking, gas injection and increase in separation pressure, showing correct trends.     

Productive efficiency and energy use: An historical perspective

The paper discusses long-term trends in relationships between energy use and the overall productive efficiency of the American economy. While total energy consumption grew strongly during the twentieth century, the intensity of energy use (i.e. the energy/GNP ratio) fell persistently much of the time. Thus, there were simultaneous long-term improvements in labor productivity, total factor productivity,and energy productivity. The historical record appears to be at odds with conventional beliefs that gains in productive efficiency depend upon the rising intensity of energy use in production processes. A key role in bringing about these counter-intuitive results is assigned to what is referred to as the energy-technology-productivity nexus, in which the quality of particular energy forms such as electricity and liquid fuels (along with closely linked changes in energy-using technologies) played a critical part in leveraging the overall efficiency of production. As a result of these energy form-dependent improvements in productive efficiency, outputs grew more rapidly than all inputs, including the inputs of energy. The more recent past stands in sharp contrast to the long-term record. While energy efficiency (as measured by energy/GNP) showed strong gains during the late 1970's and early 1980's, the growth in overall productive efficiency was severely retarded. Implications for the future of suggested linkages between the quality of particular energy forms and technological progress are considered.     

Robust heteroclinic cycles

Summary One phenomenon in the dynamics of differential equations which does not typically occur in systems without symmetry is heteroclinic cycles. In symmetric systems, cycles can be robust for symmetry-preserving perturbations and stable. Cycles have been observed in a number of simulations and experiments, for example in rotating convection between two plates and for turbulent flows in a boundary layer. Theoretically the existence of robust cycles has been proved in the unfoldings of some low codimension bifurcations and in the context of forced symmetry breaking from a larger to a smaller symmetry group. In this article we review the theoretical and the applied research on robust cycles.     

Mathematical modelling of social obesity epidemic in the region of Valencia,Spain

In this article, we analyse the incidence of excess weight in 24- to 65-year-old residents in the region of Valencia, Spain, and predict its behaviour in the coming years. In addition, we present some possible strategies to prevent the spread of the obesity epidemic.

We use classical logistic regression analysis to find out that a sedentary lifestyle and unhealthy nutritional habits are the most important causes of obesity in the 24- to 65-year-old population in Valencia. We propose a new mathematical model of epidemiological type to predict the incidence of excess weight in this population in the coming years. Based on the mathematical model sensitivity analysis, some possible general strategies to reverse the increasing trend of obesity are suggested.

The obese population in the region of Valencia is increasing (11.6% in 2000 and 13.48% in 2005) and the future is worrisome. Our model predicts that 15.52% of the population in Valencia will be obese by 2011. Model sensitivity analysis suggests that obesity prevention strategies (healthy advertising campaigns) are more effective than obesity treatment strategies (physical activity) involving the obese and overweight subpopulation in controlling the increase of adulthood obesity in the region of Valencia.     

Initial–boundary layer associated with the nonlinear Darcy–Brinkman system

We study the interaction of initial layer and boundary layer in the nonlinear Darcy–Brinkman system in the vanishing Darcy number limit. In particular, we show the existence of a function of corner layer type (so-called initial–boundary layer) in the solution of the nonlinear Darcy–Brinkman system. An approximate solution is constructed by the method of multiple scale expansion in space and in time. We establish the optimal convergence rates in various Sobolev norms via energy method.     

Conjugate duality in vector optimization and some applications to the vector variational inequality

The aim of this paper is to extend the so-called perturbation approach in order to deal with conjugate duality for constrained vector optimization problems. To this end we use two conjugacy notions introduced in the past in the literature in the framework of set-valued optimization. As a particular case we consider a vector variational inequality which we rewrite in the form of a vector optimization problem. The conjugate vector duals introduced in the first part allow us to introduce new gap functions for the vector variational inequality. The properties in the definition of the gap functions are verified by using the weak and strong duality theorems.     

Scan Statistics on Enron Graphs

We introduce a theory of scan statistics on graphs and apply the ideas to the problem of anomaly detection in a time series of Enron email graphs. Previous presentation: Workshop on Link Analysis, Counterterrorism and Security at the SIAM International Conference on Data Mining, Newport Beach, CA, April 23, 2005. Carey E. Priebe received the B.S. degree in mathematics from Purdue University in 1984, the M.S. degree in computer science from San Diego State University in 1988, and the Ph.D. degree in information technology (computational statistics) from George Mason University in 1993. From 1985 to 1994 he worked as a mathematician and scientist in the US Navy research and development laboratory system. Since 1994 he has been a professor in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Whiting School of Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland. At Johns Hopkins, he holds joint appointments in the Department of Computer Science and the Center for Imaging Science. He is a past President of the Interface Foundation of North America—Computing Science & Statistics, a past Chair of the Section on Statistical Computing of the American Statistical Association, and on the editorial boards of Journal of Computational and Graphical Statistics, Computational Statistics and Data Analysis, and Computational Statistics. His research interests are in computational statistics, kernel and mixture estimates, statistical pattern recognition, statistical image analysis, and statistical inference for high-dimensional and graph data. He was elected Fellow of the American Statistical Association in 2002. John M. Conroy received a B.S. in Mathematics from Saint Joseph's University in 1980 and a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from the University of Maryland in 1986. Since then he has been a research staff member for the IDA Center for Computing Sciences in Bowie, MD. His research interest is applications of numerical linear algebra. He is a member of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and the Association for Computational Linguistics. David J. Marchette received a B.A. in 1980, and an M.A. in mathematics in 1982, from the University of California at San Diego. He received a Ph.D. in Computational Sciences and Informatics in 1996 from George Mason University under the direction of Ed Wegman. From 1985–1994 he worked at the Naval Ocean Systems Center in San Diego doing research on pattern recognition and computational statistics. In 1994 he moved to the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Dahlgren Virginia where he does research in computational statistics and pattern recognition, primarily applied to image processing, text processing, automatic target recognition and computer security. Dr. Marchette is a Fellow of the American Statistical Society. Youngser Park received the B.E. degree in electrical engineering from Inha University in Korea in 1985, the M.S. degree in computer science from The George Washington University in 1991, and had pursued a doctoral degree there. From 1998 to 2000 he worked at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutes as a senior research engineer. Since 2003 he is working as a research analyst in the Center for Imaging Science at the Johns Hopkins University. His research interests are clustering algorithm, pattern classification, and data mining.     

Stability of Quantum Electrodynamics and Quantum Chromodynamics

We consider the vacuum energy in QED viewed as in a system of charged fermions and bosons and in QCD viewed as in a system of quarks (fermions) and gluons (bosons) in a self-dual field with a constant strength. We show that the cause of instability is the instability of bosons in the self-dual vacuum field. For the global stability of a system consisting of fermions and bosons, the number of fermions should be sufficiently large. The nonzero self-dual field leading to the confinement of fermions realizes the minimum of the vacuum energy in the case where the boson has the smallest mass in the system. Confinement therefore does not arise in QED, where the fermion (electron) has the smallest mass, and does arise in QCD, where the boson (gluon) has the smallest mass.     

Quantum Mechanics in Riemannian Space: Different Approaches to Quantization of the Geodesic Motion Compared

We compare different approaches to the construction of the quantum mechanics of a particle in the general Riemannian space and space–time via quantization of motion along geodesic lines. We briefly review different quantization formalisms and the difficulties arising in their application to geodesic motion in a Riemannian configuration space. We then consider canonical, semiclassical (Pauli–De Witt), and Feynman (path-integral) formalisms in more detail and compare the quantum Hamiltonians of a particle arising in these models in the case of a static, topological elementary Riemannian configuration space. This allows selecting a unique ordering rule for the coordinate and momentum operators in the canonical formalism and a unique definition of the path integral that eliminates a part of the arbitrariness involved in the construction of the quantum mechanics of a particle in the Riemannian space. We also propose a geometric explanation of another main problem in quantization, the noninvariance of the quantum Hamiltonian and the path integral under configuration space diffeomorphisms.     

“小麦发育后期茎秆抗倒性的数学模型”综述

2011年第8届全国研究生数学建模竞赛C题是一个农业生产中小麦倒伏问题,在给出3年原始测量数据的基础上要求建立小麦发育后期茎秆抗倒性的数学模型,内容包括小麦性状数据处理和弹性力学模型.综述为C题竞赛总结,含问题的提出、问题的解答与评阅情况、存在问题及研究建议.