Tarski's influence on computer science

The influence of Alfred Tarski on computer science was indirect but significant in a number of directions and was in certain respects fundamental. Here surveyed is the work of Tarski on the decision procedure for algebra and geometry, the method of elimination of quantifiers, the semantics of formal languages, modeltheoretic preservation theorems, and algebraic logic; various connections of each with computer science are taken up

Living-learning communities improve first-year engineering student academic performance and retention at a small private university

Living-Learning Communities (LLCs), in which students share a residence, one or more classes, and extracurricular activities, have been shown to improve first-year student engagement, academic performance, and retention in non-engineering fields. Research on Engineering LLCs has focused primarily on student engagement. Two studies to examine performance and retention found that LLCs had little effect on first-semester grades but increased first-year retention in engineering by 2 to 12%. Unfortunately, one of these studies did not control for differences in incoming student characteristics, and another used a comparison group that differed little from the LLC group, possibly causing them to understate the LLC’s true effects. To improve our understanding, this paper examines performance and retention in the inaugural Engineering LLCs at a small, private non-profit, regional university in the northeastern United States. Results indicate that 82% of the Engineering LLC participants were retained within the engineering program, compared to 66% of first-year engineering students who chose not to participate. More strikingly, the average first-semester GPA of the LLC participants was 0.31 points (nearly a third of a letter grade) higher than that of the non-participants. To address the possibility that these improvements were caused by differences in incoming student characteristics, linear and logistic regression analyses were performed to control for gender, race/ethnicity, SAT scores, and other factors. These analyses suggest that LLC participation increased GPA by 0.35 points compared to first-year engineering students from prior years, while non-participation lowered GPA by 0.07 points. LLC participation increased the odds of retention in the major by 2.3 times compared to first-year students from prior years, while nonparticipation lowered the odds of retention by 1.35 times

A Conversation with Professor Tadeusz Cali\'{n}ski

Tadeusz Cali\'{n}ski was born in Pozna\'{n}, Poland in 1928. Despite the absence of formal secondary eduction for Poles during the Second World War, he entered the University of Pozna\'{n} in 1948, initially studying agronomy and in later years mathematics. From 1953 to 1988 he taught statistics, biometry and experimental design at the Agricultural University of Pozna\'{n}. During this period he founded and developed the Pozna\'{n} inter-university school of mathematical statistics and biometry, which has become one of the most important schools of this type in Poland and beyond. He has supervised 24 Ph.D. students, many of whom are currently professors at a variety of universities. He is now Professor Emeritus. Among many awards, in 1995 Professor Cali\'{n}ski received the Order of Polonia Restituta for his outstanding achievements in the fields of Education and Science. In 2012 the Polish Statistical Society awarded him The Jerzy Sp{\l}awa-Neyman Medal for his contribution to the development of research in statistics in Poland. Professor Cali\'{n}ski in addition has Doctoral Degrees honoris causa from the Agricultural University of Pozna\'{n} and the Warsaw University of Life Sciences. His research interests include mathematical statistics and biometry, with applications to agriculture, natural sciences, biology and genetics. He has published over 140 articles in scientific journals as well as, with Sanpei Kageyama, two important books on the randomization approach to the design and analysis of experiments. He has been extremely active and successful in initiating and contributing to fruitful international research cooperation between Polish statisticians and biometricians and their colleagues in various countries, particularly in the Netherlands, France, Italy, Great Britain, Germany, Japan and Portugal. The conversations in addition cover the history of biometry and experimental design in Poland and the early influence of British statisticians.Comment: Published at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/15-STS522 in the Statistical Science (http://www.imstat.org/sts/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

A literature survey of low-rank tensor approximation techniques

During the last years, low-rank tensor approximation has been established as a new tool in scientific computing to address large-scale linear and multilinear algebra problems, which would be intractable by classical techniques. This survey attempts to give a literature overview of current developments in this area, with an emphasis on function-related tensors

Glimpses of the Octonions and Quaternions History and Todays Applications in Quantum Physics

Before we dive into the accessibility stream of nowadays indicatory applications of octonions to computer and other sciences and to quantum physics let us focus for a while on the crucially relevant events for todays revival on interest to nonassociativity. Our reflections keep wandering back to the $Brahmagupta$ $Fibonacc$ two square identity and then via the $Euler$ four square identity up to the $Degen$ $Ggraves$ $Cayley$ eight square identity. These glimpses of history incline and invite us to retell the story on how about one month after quaternions have been carved on the $Broughamian$ bridge octonions were discovered by $John$ $Thomas$ $Ggraves$, jurist and mathematician, a friend of $William$ $Rowan$ $Hamilton$. As for today we just mention en passant quaternionic and octonionic quantum mechanics, generalization of $Cauchy$ $Riemann$ equations for octonions and triality principle and $G_2$ group in spinor language in a descriptive way in order not to daunt non specialists. Relation to finite geometries is recalled and the links to the 7stones of seven sphere, seven imaginary octonions units in out of the $Plato$ cave reality applications are appointed . This way we are welcomed back to primary ideas of $Heisenberg$, $Wheeler$ and other distinguished fathers of quantum mechanics and quantum gravity foundations.Comment: 26 pages, 7 figure

Digital technology in mathematics education: Why it works (or doesn't)

The integration of digital technology confronts teachers, educators and researchers with many questions. What is the potential of ICT for learning and teaching, and which factors are decisive in making it work in the mathematics classroom? To investigate these questions, six cases from leading studies in the field are described, and decisive success factors are identified. This leads to the conclusion that crucial factors for the success of digital technology in mathematics education include the design of the digital tool and corresponding tasks exploiting the tool's pedagogical potential, the role of the teacher and the educational context