Impact of first-year mathematics study groups on the retention and graduation of engineering students

Many interventions have been proposed to improve the retention and graduation rates of engineering students. One such intervention is to use study groups for first-year college students; such groups provide a structured environment in which the students can learn course material from each other outside of class and can provide the students with a sense of community. In this paper, we report on the impacts fostered by study groups in first-year mathematics courses on the odds of retaining and graduating engineering students. Students who participated in the study groups are compared to students of similar academic preparation who did not participate in such groups. It is found that student participation in study groups is significantly associated with the higher odds of being retained in engineering studies through the first 3 years of college. The results reported here are not as certain for the effect of study group participation on 5-year graduation odds for engineering students and some possible reasons for this are discussed.     

Bayesian graduation of FHA/HUD single-family home mortgage insurance contracts — Section 203

In this paper we will describe a procedure used to construct the survivorship (or double-decrement) table for FHA Section 203 mortgage insurance contracts on single-family home mortgages having a 30-year term. The methodological approach is based on a procedure known in the actuarial literature as Bayesian graduation. This procedure has been described by Kimeldorf and Jones (1967) and Hickman and Miller (1977).     

A contribution to the statistical theory of linear graduation

Moving (weighted) average techniques provide a flexible tool for the graduation (smoothing) of vital rates. As is shown in the present paper, one may construct linear graduation methods which are superior with respect to some formal evaluation criteria, but such ‘improved’ methods lack an important robustness property which the moving average graduation techniques possess and which is a main motivation for their use.A linear graduation technique is an estimation method, and an important consideration in the evaluation of its properties is the class for which it is unbiased, i.e., the class of functions which it reproduces unchanged. A classical test usually said to be a chi-square test of the goodness-of-fit of a graduation is revealed to be a test of the hypothesis that the graduation method is indeed unbiased for the set of theoretical rates actually estimated, and its properties are investigated along with those of alternative chi-square tests.     

The Effects of Teachers and Schooling on the Vocational Choice of University Research Scientists

Thirty-five research scientists from the academic areas of Chemistry, Geology, Physics and Zoology were surveyed to obtain information regarding the effect of teachers and formal schooling on their decisions to become scientists. All subjects included in the study held the PhD. degree and were actively involved in research. Data analysis indicated that 63 percent of the subjects had identified a genuine interest in science by the time they were in the ninth grade, but only 9 percent of them attributed this interest to their elementary or junior high school teachers. The data revealed that 43 percent of the population were influenced to become scientists by one or more high school teachers. Also, one-third of the subjects had made the decision to become a scientist by the time of high school graduation. Most of the other two-thirds of the individuals studied decided to become scientists because of the influence of college professors in their freshman-and sophomore-level courses. The subjects were asked if particular events that occurred in junior or senior high school science classes positively influenced them to become scientists. Seventy-eight percent of the subjects responded that there were no classroom activities occurring that attracted them to science.     

What are We Developing? A Case Study of a College Mathematics Program

Over one‐third of all college mathematics enrollments are in courses considered to be developmental. While such courses have been the subject of a large body of research, one question that seems not to have been studied empirically is the alignment of the content of developmental and college level mathematics courses. This paper gives the results of such a study, conducted at a medium sized public liberal arts university. While the content of the developmental mathematics courses was used subsequently in the Precalculus course, most of the content of the Intermediate Algebra course was not used in other college level mathematics courses. It is hoped that the results of this paper will serve as a catalyst for other institutions to examine carefully and define the mission of both their developmental and college level mathematics courses.     

Instructional immediacy in the Chinese quantitative reasoning classroom

The present investigation examined instructor immediacy behaviors, students' perceptions of those behaviors, and student math anxiety in Chinese classrooms. Consistent with the American college classroom, a simple causal chain was anticipated in which instructor immediacy behaviors positively induced a psychological response to immediacy, which had a negative influence on math anxiety. Study 1 tested this model in the Chinese college classroom and the model failed. It was speculated that perhaps given the high testing admission standards of Chinese colleges (i.e., the GaoKao), that Chinese college students were a biased sample of only students who had learned to manage their anxieties. Thus, in Study 2, the model was retested among junior and senior high Chinese students. Among junior and senior high Chinese students, the model fit well.     

JOHNSON VS. UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA: Tailoring an Admissions Plan to Pass Constitutional Muster

Abstract

These are tough times for supporters of diversity. As the courts, state legislatures, and the public vent their growing disaffection with affirmative action, racial preferences in college admissions and faculty hiring fall under increasing attack.

California's Proposition 209, passed in 1996, amended the California Constitution by requiring that “the state shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting [italics added].”     

Optimal staffing of specialized programme trainees under uncertainty

We propose a stochastic model and provide an easy-to-implement optimization tool for admission decisions to specialized training programmes designed for service industries. The model can be applied for staffing of trainees in medical residency programmes, vocational schools, management trainee programmes, and similar. Especially towards graduation, trainees in these programmes substantially contribute to workforce of their affiliated institutions, thus having a targeted number of advanced level students become a potential performance metric for administration. For uncertain attrition rates and study duration, we model and provide an iterative solution algorithm to find the optimal annual admission number for these programmes. Our numeric analysis results show that the solution is robust to changes in attrition and study duration probabilities; hence, our model is robust against specification errors for these parameters, which could be hard to estimate due to data unavailability and fluctuations in educational and economic conditions.     

回归分析在指导考生填报高考志愿中的应用

近年来我国高等教育蓬勃发展 ,在高考指导中估计高校的录取分数线对于考生理性填报志愿尤为重要 .建立回归模型可以预测院校录取线对于当地分数线的相对水平 ,在此谨希望能对拓宽高招改革思路 ,提高考务部门管理水平有所帮助 .     

Graded generalizations of Weyl- and Clifford algebras

Graded skew bilinear forms {,} on graded vector spaces V are defined such that their restrictions to the even resp. odd subspaces are skew resp. odd. Over such graded symplectic vector spaces a (universal) factor algebra of the tensor algebra of V is described which reduces to a Weyl- resp. Clifford algebra if only one even resp. odd subspace is nontrivial. Introducing the total graduation on this polynomial algebra and graded symmetrization it is shown that the elements up to second power are closed under graded commutation. If the graduation is of type Z₂ the elements of second power are a Lie-graded algebra and this is the only graduation for which this is true. The graded commutation relations of this algebra are calculated. It is isomorphic to the graded symplectic algebra of (V,{,}) which is contained in the graded derivation algebra of the graded Heisenberg algebra of elements up to first power.     

Mathematics Teachers' Instructional Practices in an Era of High‐Stakes Testing

This study explored mathematics teachers' instructional practices in the context of high‐stakes testing. Data were obtained from a survey instrument given to a stratified sample of Mississippi and Tennessee teachers who teach the same content tested on their state's high school graduation examination. An analysis showed teachers using a balance of standards‐based and traditional practices and tools, including textbook‐based assignments, calculators, open‐response questions, supplementary materials, and multiple‐choice questions. Over 90% of teachers from both states felt that an “interest in helping my students attain test scores that will allow them to graduate high school” was a factor influencing their instructional practices. This was followed by an “interest in helping my school improve high school graduation examination scores,” and “belief these are the best instructional practices.”     

Cross-validatory graduation

Cross-validation is applied to the choice of the parameters that control the degree of smoothing in generalized Whittaker—Henderson graduation. The approach is compared with the Bayesian method, and is illustrated by graduation of a data set of Hickman and Miller and of data underlying the English Life Table number 13 (males).     

基于层次分析法的毕业论文(设计)综合评价方法

毕业论文是高校实施教学计划的重要环节.针对目前很多高校毕业论文评价方法中存在的一些问题,结合论文评价过程的相关特点,在层次分析法(AHP)的基础上提出了群组AHP模型和模糊AHP模型两种决策优化模型,给出了基于这两种模型的高校学生毕业论文综合评价方法.实践表明,在对学生论文进行评价的过程中,方法具有合理、公正、简便、灵活、易于推广的特点,开发的基于该方法的毕业论文评价系统具有很强的应用价值.     

System Dynamic simulation of treatment policies to address colliding epidemics of tuberculosis,drug resistant tuberculosis and injecting drug users driven HIV in Russia

The explosive increase in the number of people infected with tuberculosis (TB),multi drug resistant tuberculosis (MDRTB), and injecting drug users (IDU)HIV/AIDS has become a serious public health challenge in Russia. The WorldHealth Organization is recommending policies including simultaneous use ofhighly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) to treat HIV/AIDS and second linedrugs to treat MDRTB. We developed a System Dynamics simulation model torepresent the dynamic transmission of TB, MDRTB and human immunodeficiency virus(HIV). The model simulated scenarios regarding MDRTB cure rate and HAARTcoverage, that is the HIV/AIDS population covered by HAART. The results over a20-year period indicate that reduction in TB and HIV-associated TB deaths wouldbe negligible for HAART coverage up to 50%. The reduction is onlysignificant for HAART coverage of 70% and above. Similarly, high MDRTBcure rate reduces significantly deaths from TB and MDRTB and this reduction ismore important as the HAART coverage is increased.     

The near-peer mathematical mentoring cycle: studying the impact of outreach on high school students’ attitudes toward mathematics

College students may be seen as near-peers to high school students and high school students are often able to see themselves in the college students who are but one step ahead. This nearness in maturity and educational level may place college students in a particularly powerful position when it comes to reaching out to high school students to promote higher education in math and science. In this study college students gave dynamic mathematics outreach presentations, MathShows, to minority and low-income high school students in a mid-sized public school district on the U.S. border with Mexico. The study investigated the impacts of this sort of outreach work on high school students’ attitudes towards mathematics using a mathematics attitudes survey. Results, obtained from N = 306 participants, showed statistically significant improvements in almost all components of mathematical attitudes, with less of an effect on the component of self-confidence in doing mathematics. Differences in impacts by specific student subgroups are all discussed.     

学生成绩排名的综合评价模型

对学生成绩排名提出几种新的综合评价模型:主成分分析模型,专家调查法-主成分分析模型,因子分析模型.然后利用一般使用模型和上面介绍的几种模型对理学院信计2000级学生成绩进行分析处理.最后对各种模型比较,找出一种较科学、公平、合理的评价模型.     

The interaction between dropout,graduation rates and quality ratings in universities

This paper investigates in a non-parametric framework whether academic programmes maximize their student graduation rates and programme quality ratings given the first-year student dropout rates. In addition, it explores what institutional and programme characteristics explain this interaction. The results show a large variation in how academic programmes are able to deal with the selective nature of first-year dropout. Nevertheless, we can accurately explain the variation among programmes by programme and institutional characteristics. It seems that universities can maximize the relation between first-year dropout, graduation rates and quality ratings in several ways: (1) by improving student programme satisfaction, (2) by better preparing certain groups of students for higher education, (3) by supporting male students, (4) by supporting ethnic minority students, (5) by attracting older staff, and (6) by strengthening the selective nature of the first year (ie, increasing the academic dismissal policy threshold).     

研究型大学教师绩效模糊综合评价探究

研究型大学核心竞争力在于师资队伍的整体素质.公正客观的评价结果是建立在科学合理的评价指标体系和评价方法之上的,它对教师工作不仅具有鉴定、管理的作用,而且具有直接的导向、改进和激励的功能.从高校的科学研究、培养人才、服务社会的功能出发,建立教师绩效综合评价的指标体系,应用模糊数学构建教师绩效的模糊综合评价模型,利用层次分析法确定指标权重,为研究型大学教师绩效评价提供一套科学可行的方法.     

将数学实验的思想和方法融入大学数学教学

大学数学教学中应注重理论联系实际,注重数学思想和方法的讲授,强调应用案例中融入数学实验思想的新教学方法.改革课堂教学方法,探索新的教学模式,加强学生的实践性教学环节,培养学生的应用和创新能力.最后,本文给出了几个例子显示了数学实验与大学数学教学结合的效果.     

基于GA_XGBoost模型的大学生科研能力预测问题研究

科学评价大学生科研创新能力对我国科研水平的提高具有重要意义.采用机器学习模型来预测大学生科研能力可以起到良好的效果,提出一种GAXGBoost模型来实现对大学生的科研能力预测.此模型是以Xgboost算法为基础,然后充分利用遗传算法的全局搜索能力自动搜索Xgboost最优超参数,避免了人为经验调参不准确的缺陷,最后采用精英选择策略以此确保每一轮都是最佳的进化结果.通过分析表明,所采用的GAXGBoost模型在大学生科研能力预测的结果中具有很高的精度,将此模型与Logistic Regression、Random Forest、SVM等模型进行对比,GAXGBoost模型的预测精度最高.