Altering the Bias in Differential School Effectiveness Using Data Envelopment Analysis

There is evidence that many schools are differentially effective in that they promote with different effectiveness the academic attainments of different groups of pupils, divided by such characteristics as prior academic attainments, socio-economic background and so on. Awareness of the extent and direction of a school's differential effectiveness is important. Measures of overall performance of a differentially effective school can be misleading and targets seeking to improve the overall performance of such a school may not address its underlying inadequacies in raising the attainments of specific groups of pupils. This paper develops a data envelopment analysis based method for setting targets for diffentially effective schools to enable them to alter the bias of their differential effectiveness. The method also identifies role model schools which a differentially effective school can emulate in seeking to redress the imbalances in its effectiveness.     

A comparison of public and private schools in Spain using robust nonparametric frontier methods

This paper uses an innovative approach to evaluate educational performance of Spanish students in PISA 2009. Our purpose is to decompose their overall inefficiency between different components with a special focus on studying the differences between public and state subsidized private schools. We use a technique inspired by the non-parametric free disposal hull and the application of robust order-\(m\) models, which allow us to mitigate the influence of outliers and the curse of dimensionality. Subsequently, we adopt a metafrontier framework to assess each student relative to the own group best practice frontier (students in the same school) and to different frontiers constructed from the best practices of different types of schools. The results show that state-subsidised private schools outperform public schools, although the differences between them are significantly reduced once we control for the type of students enrolled in both type of centres.     

Every graph is (2,3)-choosable

A total weighting of a graph G is a mapping ? that assigns to each element z ∈ V (G)∪E(G) a weight ?(z). A total weighting ? is proper if for any two adjacent vertices u and v, ∑ _e∈E(u) ?(e)+?(u)≠∑ _e∈E(v) ?(e)+?(v). This paper proves that if each edge e is given a set L(e) of 3 permissible weights, and each vertex v is given a set L(v) of 2 permissible weights, then G has a proper total weighting ? with ?(z) ∈ L(z) for each element z ∈ V (G)∪E(G).     

A continuation method for solving symmetric Toeplitz systems

A fast algorithm is proposed for solving symmetric Toeplitz systems. This algorithm continuously transforms the identity matrix into the inverse of a given Toeplitz matrix T. The memory requirements for the algorithm are O(n), and its complexity is O(log κ(T)nlogn), where (T) is the condition number of T. Numerical results are presented that confirm the efficiency of the proposed algorithm.     

On <Emphasis Type="Italic">g</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">c</Emphasis></Subscript>-colorings of nearly bipartite graphs

Let G be a simple graph, let d(v) denote the degree of a vertex v and let g be a nonnegative integer function on V (G) with 0 ≤ g(v) ≤ d(v) for each vertex v ∈ V (G). A g _c -coloring of G is an edge coloring such that for each vertex v ∈ V (G) and each color c, there are at least g(v) edges colored c incident with v. The g _c -chromatic index of G, denoted by χ′g _c (G), is the maximum number of colors such that a gc-coloring of G exists. Any simple graph G has the g _c -chromatic index equal to δ _g (G) or δ _g (G) ? 1, where \({\delta _g}\left( G \right) = \mathop {\min }\limits_{v \in V\left( G \right)} \left\lfloor {d\left( v \right)/g\left( v \right)} \right\rfloor \). A graph G is nearly bipartite, if G is not bipartite, but there is a vertex u ∈ V (G) such that G ? u is a bipartite graph. We give some new sufficient conditions for a nearly bipartite graph G to have χ′g _c (G) = δ _g (G). Our results generalize some previous results due to Wang et al. in 2006 and Li and Liu in 2011.     

Polyboxes,Cube Tilings and Rigidity

A non-empty subset A of X=X ₁×???×X _d is a (proper) box if A=A ₁×???×A _d and A _i ?X _i for each i. Suppose that for each pair of boxes A, B and each i, one can only know which of the three states takes place: A _i =B _i , A _i =X _i ?B _i , A _i ?{B _i ,X _i ?B _i }. Let F and G be two systems of disjoint boxes. Can one decide whether ∪F=∪G? In general, the answer is ‘no’, but as is shown in the paper, it is ‘yes’ if both systems consist of pairwise dichotomous boxes. (Boxes A, B are dichotomous if there is i such that A _i =X _i ?B _i .) Several criteria that enable to compare such systems are collected. The paper includes also rigidity results, which say what assumptions have to be imposed on F to ensure that ∪F=∪G implies F=G. As an application, the rigidity conjecture for 2-extremal cube tilings of Lagarias and Shor is verified.     

Regularity in the Local CR Embedding Problem

We consider a formally integrable, strictly pseudoconvex CR manifold M of hypersurface type, of dimension 2n?1≥7. Local CR, i.e., holomorphic, embeddings of M are known to exist from the works of Kuranishi and Akahori. We address the problem of regularity of the embedding in standard Hölder spaces C ^a (M), a∈R. If the structure of M is of class C ^m , m∈Z, 4≤m≤∞, we construct a local CR embedding near each point of M. This embedding is of class C ^a , for every a, 0≤a<m+(1/2). Our method is based on Henkin’s local homotopy formula for the embedded case, some very precise estimates for the solution operators in it, and a substantial modification of a previous Nash–Moser argument due to the second author.     

Existence of positive solutions to some nonlinear equations on locally finite graphs

Let G =(V,E) be a locally finite graph,whose measure μ(x) has positive lower bound,and A be the usual graph Laplacian.Applying the mountain-pass theorem due to Ambrosetti and Rabinowitz(1973),we establish existence results for some nonlinear equations,namely △u+hu=f(x,u),x∈V.In particular,we prove that if h and f satisfy certain assumptions,then the above-mentioned equation has strictly positive solutions.Also,we consider existence of positive solutions of the perturbed equation △u+hu=f(x,u)+∈g.Similar problems have been extensively studied on the Euclidean space as well as on Riemannian manifolds.     

Minimum implicit degree condition restricted to claws for hamiltonian cycles

Let id(v) denote the implicit degree of a vertex v in a graph G. We define G to be implicit 1-heavy (implicit 2-heavy) if at least one (two) of the end vertices of each induced claw has (have) implicit degree at least n/2. In this paper, we prove that: (a) Let G be a 2-connected graph of order n ≥ 3. If G is implicit 2-heavy and |N(u) ∩ N(v)| ≥ 2 for every pair of vertices u and v with d(u, v) = 2 and max{id(u), id(v)} < n/2, then G is hamiltonian. (b) Let G be a 3-connected graph of order n ≥ 3. If G is implicit 1-heavy and |N(u) ∩ N(v)| ≥ 2 for each pair of vertices u and v with d(u, v) = 2 and max{id(u), id(v)} < n/2, then G is hamiltonian.     

Unit Interval Orders of Open and Closed Intervals

A poset P = (X, ?) is a unit OC interval order if there exists a representation that assigns an open or closed real interval I(x) of unit length to each x ∈ P so that x ? y in P precisely when each point of I (x) is less than each point in I (y). In this paper we give a forbidden poset characterization of the class of unit OC interval orders and an efficient algorithm for recognizing the class. The algorithm takes a poset P as input and either produces a representation or returns a forbidden poset induced in P.     

A new heuristic approach for the P-median problem

The Euclidean p-median problem is concerned with the decision of the locations for public service centres. Existing methods for the planar Euclidean p-median problems are capable of efficiently solving problems of relatively small scale. This paper proposes two new heuristic algorithms aiming at problems of large scale. Firstly, to reflect the different degrees of proximity to optimality, a new kind of local optimum called level-m optimum is defined. For a level-m optimum of a p-median problem, where m<p, each of its subsets containing m of the p partitions is a global optimum of the corresponding m-median subproblem. Starting from a conventional local optimum, the first new algorithm efficiently improves it to a level-2 optimum by applying an existing exact algorithm for solving the 2-median problem. The second new algorithm further improves it to a level-3 optimum by applying a new exact algorithm for solving the 3-median problem. Comparison based on experimental results confirms that the proposed algorithms are superior to the existing heuristics, especially in terms of solution quality.     

Normal families of meromorphic functions and shared functions

The paper is devoted to the normal families of meromorphic functions and shared functions. Generalizing a result of Chang (2013), we prove the following theorem. Let h (≠≡ 0,∞) be a meromorphic function on a domain D and let k be a positive integer. Let F be a family of meromorphic functions on D, all of whose zeros have multiplicity at least k + 2, such that for each pair of functions f and g from F, f and g share the value 0, and f^(k) and g^(k) share the function h. If for every f ∈ F, at each common zero of f and h the multiplicities m_f for f and m_h for h satisfy m_f ≥ m_h + k + 1 for k > 1 and m_f ≥ 2m_h + 3 for k = 1, and at each common pole of f and h, the multiplicities nf for f and nh for h satisfy n_f ≥ n_h + 1, then the family F is normal on D.     

Weight assurance region in two-stage additive efficiency decomposition DEA model: an application to school data

In this paper we use the additive efficiency decomposition approach in two-stage data envelopment analysis. Initially, we evaluate the variable returns to scale version and face a structural difficulty of the model. In an extreme case, weights ξ₁ or ξ₂, which represent the relative importance of the performance of the first and second stages, respectively, become zero for a number of decision making units (DMUs). As a result, individual stage efficiencies for these DMUs are undefined. We propose a weight assurance region model to restrict ξ₁ and ξ₂, which ensures that both weights are always positive, and therefore individual stage efficiency is always defined. Furthermore, the proposed model is appropriate for policy making in the presence of a priori information about the relative importance of each stage in the overall process. We employ the new model to evaluate the efficiency of secondary education in 65 countries and construct an overall ‘school efficiency’ index. In the first stage we measure the ‘learning environment efficiency’ and in the second we measure the ‘student’s performance efficiency’.     

A Functional Central Limit Theorem for a Markov-Modulated Infinite-Server Queue

We consider a model in which the production of new molecules in a chemical reaction network occurs in a seemingly stochastic fashion, and can be modeled as a Poisson process with a varying arrival rate: the rate is λ _i when an external Markov process J(?) is in state i. It is assumed that molecules decay after an exponential time with mean μ ^?1. The goal of this work is to analyze the distributional properties of the number of molecules in the system, under a specific time-scaling. In this scaling, the background process is sped up by a factor N ^α , for some α>0, whereas the arrival rates become N λ _i , for N large. The main result of this paper is a functional central limit theorem (F-CLT) for the number of molecules, in that, after centering and scaling, it converges to an Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process. An interesting dichotomy is observed: (i) if α > 1 the background process jumps faster than the arrival process, and consequently the arrival process behaves essentially as a (homogeneous) Poisson process, so that the scaling in the F-CLT is the usual \(\sqrt {N}\), whereas (ii) for α≤1 the background process is relatively slow, and the scaling in the F-CLT is N ^1?α/2. In the latter regime, the parameters of the limiting Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process contain the deviation matrix associated with the background process J(?).     

Linear homotopy method for computing generalized tensor eigenpairs

Let m,m′, n be positive integers such that m ≠ m′. Let A be an mth order n-dimensional tensor, and let ? be an m′th order n-dimensional tensor. λ ∈ ? is called a ?-eigenvalue of A if A x^m?1 = λ?x^m′?1 and ?xm′= 1 for some x ∈ ?ⁿ\{0}. In this paper, we propose a linear homotopy method for solving this eigenproblem. We prove that the method finds all isolated ?-eigenpairs. Moreover, it is easy to implement. Numerical results are provided to show the efficiency of the proposed method.     

Characterization of 2-Local Derivations and Local Lie Derivations on Some Algebras

We prove that each 2-local derivation from the algebra M_n(A ) (n > 2) into its bimodule M_n(M) is a derivation, where A is a unital Banach algebra and M is a unital A -bimodule such that each Jordan derivation from A into M is an inner derivation, and that each 2-local derivation on a C*-algebra with a faithful traceable representation is a derivation. We also characterize local and 2-local Lie derivations on some algebras such as von Neumann algebras, nest algebras, the Jiang–Su algebra, and UHF algebras.     

Modified quasi-Chebyshev acceleration to nonoverlapping parallel multisplitting method

In this study, we propose a modified quasi-Chebyshev acceleration to the nonoverlopping multisplitting iteration method for solving the linear systems A x = b where A is a real symmetric positive definite matrix or an H-matrix. In the process of the parallel multisplitting method, the distributive tasks are parallelly computed by each processor, then a global modified acceleration is used to obtain the solution of the system A x = b for every τ steps, such that the efficiency of the computation can be improved. The convergence theory of the new algorithm is given under some reasonable conditions. Finally, numerical experiments show that the method is efficient and effective.     

Packing circles in the smallest circle: an adaptive hybrid algorithm

The circular packing problem (CPP) consists of packing n circles C _i of known radii r _i , i∈N={1,?…,?n}, into the smallest containing circle ?. The objective is to determine the coordinates (x _i ,?y _i ) of the centre of C _i , i∈N, as well as the radius r and centre (x,?y) of ?. CPP, which is a variant of the two-dimensional open-dimension problem, is NP hard. This paper presents an adaptive algorithm that incorporates nested partitioning within a tabu search and applies some diversification strategies to obtain a (near) global optimum. The tabu search is to identify the n circles’ ordering, whereas the nested partitioning is to determine the n circles’ positions that yield the smallest r. The computational results show the efficiency of the proposed algorithm.     

Note: A conjecture on partitions of groups

We conjecture that every infinite group G can be partitioned into countably many cells \(G = \bigcup\limits_{n \in \omega } {A_n }\) such that cov(A _n A _n ^?1 ) = |G| for each n ∈ ω Here cov(A) = min{|X|: X} ? G, G = X A}. We confirm this conjecture for each group of regular cardinality and for some groups (in particular, Abelian) of an arbitrary cardinality.     

On the critical pair theory in abelian groups: Beyond Chowla’s Theorem

We obtain critical pair theorems for subsets S and T of an abelian group such that |S + T| ≤ |S| + |T|. We generalize some results of Chowla, Vosper, Kemperman and a more recent result due to Rødseth and one of the authors.