Representative Names of Computing Degree Programs Worldwide

Through the auspices of ACM and with support from the IEEE Computer Society, a task group charged to prepare the IT2017 report conducted an online international survey of computing faculty members about their undergraduate degree programs in computing. The purpose of this survey was to clarify the breadth of and disparities in nomenclature used by diverse communities in the computing field, where a word or phrase can mean different things in different computing communities. This paper examines the English-language words and phrases used to name the computing programs of almost six hundred survey respondents, and the countries in which those names are used. Over eight hundred program names analysed in this paper reveal six program names that together account for more than half of all program names. The paper goes on to consider possible correspondence between reported program names and the five areas of computing identified by the ACM. Names such as computer science and information technology appear to dominate, but with different meanings, while the names of other computing disciplines show clear geographic preferences. Convergence towards a very small number of highly representative program names in computing education worldwide might be deceptive. The paper calls for further examination and international collaborations to align program names with program curriculum content

Perceptions of Selected School Board Members, Principals, and Students on the School Activity Program of Certain Secondary Schools

The problem of this study was to determine if there was a significant difference among the expressed perceptions of selected school board members, principals, and students as related to specific aspects of the student activity program. The sample size of this study consisted of 359 participants in the following groups: school board members, principals, and students. School board members and principals were treated as intact groups while the students were randomly selected and stratified based on sex and rank in class. Each group was described based on demographic data. The t-test for independent samples and analysis of variances were used for statistical analysis. Eleven research questions, with six responses each, were analyzed according to six aspects of student activities: (a) athletics, (b) academic-class related activities, (c) performing arts, (d) student government, (e) career-oriented activities, and (f) social-oriented activities. A mean score for each group on each activity was calculated for test purposes. Significant differences were found between (a) school board members and students as related to academic-class related activities, and (b) school board members and students as related to social-oriented activities. Other important findings included the following: (1) Sixty-seven percent of students lived in the county, not towns or cities. (2) Career-oriented activities were the most popular among students. (3) Middle-ranked students had more favorable perceptions of the student activity program than top-ranked or bottom-ranked students. (4) There is general agreement among school board members, principals, and students concerning the student activity program

Perceptions of Selected School Board Members, Principals, and Students on the School Activity Program of Certain Secondary Schools

The problem of this study was to determine if there was a significant difference among the expressed perceptions of selected school board members, principals, and students as related to specific aspects of the student activity program. The sample size of this study consisted of 359 participants in the following groups: school board members, principals, and students. School board members and principals were treated as intact groups while the students were randomly selected and stratified based on sex and rank in class. Each group was described based on demographic data. The t-test for independent samples and analysis of variances were used for statistical analysis. Eleven research questions, with six responses each, were analyzed according to six aspects of student activities: (a) athletics, (b) academic-class related activities, (c) performing arts, (d) student government, (e) career-oriented activities, and (f) social-oriented activities. A mean score for each group on each activity was calculated for test purposes. Significant differences were found between (a) school board members and students as related to academic-class related activities, and (b) school board members and students as related to social-oriented activities. Other important findings included the following: (1) Sixty-seven percent of students lived in the county, not towns or cities. (2) Career-oriented activities were the most popular among students. (3) Middle-ranked students had more favorable perceptions of the student activity program than top-ranked or bottom-ranked students. (4) There is general agreement among school board members, principals, and students concerning the student activity program

Photon indistinguishability measurements under pulsed and continuous excitation

The indistinguishability of successively generated photons from a single quantum emitter is most commonly measured using two-photon interference at a beam splitter. Whilst for sources excited in the pulsed regime the measured bunching of photons reflects the full wavepacket indistinguishability of the emitted photons, for continuous wave (cw) excitation the inevitable dependence on detector timing resolution and driving strength obscures the underlying photon interference process. Here we derive a method to extract the photon indistinguishability from cw measurements by considering the relevant correlation functions. The equivalence of both methods is experimentally verified through comparison of cw and pulsed excitation of an archetypal source of photons, a single molecule

Baculum shape complexity correlates to metrics of post-copulatory sexual selection in Musteloidea

The penis bone, or baculum, is present in many orders of mammals, although its function is still relatively unknown, mainly due to the challenges with studying the baculum in vivo. Suggested functions include increasing vaginal friction, prolonging intromission and inducing ovulation. Since it is difficult to study baculum function directly, functional morphology can give important insights. Shape complexity techniques, in particular, are likely to offer a useful metric of baculum morphology, especially since finding homologous landmarks on such a structure is challenging. This study focuses on measuring baculum shape complexity in the Musteloidea—a large superfamily spanning a range of body sizes with well-developed, qualitatively diverse bacula. We compared two shape complexity metrics—alpha shapes and ariaDNE and conducted analyses over a range of six different coefficients, or bandwidths, in 32 species of Musteloidea. Overall, we found that shape complexity, especially at the baculum distal tip, is associated with intromission duration using both metrics. These complexities can include hooks, bifurcations and other additional projections. In addition, alpha shapes complexity was also associated with relative testes mass. These results suggest that post-copulatory mechanisms of sexual selection are probably driving the evolution of more complex-shaped bacula tips in Musteloidea and are likely to be especially involved in increasing intromission duration during copulation

Motivation, optimal experience and flow in first year computing science.

We examine the concept of motivation from the perspective of Self Determination Theory and give a brief overview of relevant results. We also consider the optimal state known as Flow and give an account of its conceptualisation in the theory due to Csikszentmihalyi. After discussion of ways in which these concepts can be measured, we describe a set of preliminary studies that investigate motivation and flow in the context of a first year computing class. We analyse student responses to enquiries about perceptions of motivation and flow experiences and look at links between them. We also discuss intrinsic motivation within the subject

Newtonian Gravity and the Bargmann Algebra

We show how the Newton-Cartan formulation of Newtonian gravity can be obtained from gauging the Bargmann algebra, i.e., the centrally extended Galilean algebra. In this gauging procedure several curvature constraints are imposed. These convert the spatial (time) translational symmetries of the algebra into spatial (time) general coordinate transformations, and make the spin connection gauge fields dependent. In addition we require two independent Vielbein postulates for the temporal and spatial directions. In the final step we impose an additional curvature constraint to establish the connection with (on-shell) Newton-Cartan theory. We discuss a few extensions of our work that are relevant in the context of the AdS-CFT correspondence.Comment: Latex, 20 pages, typos corrected, published versio

Validating variation in radio-signal strength as an index of aquatic fauna activity

Abstract. Studying biological rhythms of activity and determining the external factors that influence behaviour of animals can be challenging in many aquatic habitats. We investigated the validity of using variations in radio-signal strength to quantify changes in activity of radio-tagged aquatic fauna on a small spatial scale under controlled conditions in the field. We monitored short-term activity (<1 min) of two aquatic species, rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and Murray River crayfish (Euastacus armatus), that differ markedly in their primary mode of movement. Simultaneous video monitoring confirmed that active and inactive periods for both species could be accurately determined by radio-telemetry, as were specific behaviours exhibited by trout. We were also able to quantify activity based on different radio-tag (coil and trailing whip antennas) and receiving antenna configurations (yagi and gap-loop antennas); however, we recommend use of control tags to provide reference data. Variation in radio-signal strength represents a valid means of monitoring activity of moderately site-attached aquatic species

Changes in species composition and diversity of a montane beetle community over the last millennium in the High Tatras, Slovakia : Implications for forest conservation and management

Montane biomes are niche environments high in biodiversity with a variety of habitats. Often isolated, these non-continuous remnant ecosystems inhabit narrow ecological zones putting them under threat from changing climatic conditions and anthropogenic pressure. Twelve sediment cores were retrieved from a peat bog in Tatra National Park, Slovakia, and correlated to each other by wiggle-matching geochemical signals derived from micro-XRF scanning, to make a reconstruction of past conditions. A fossil beetle (Coleoptera) record, covering the last 1000 years at 50- to 100-year resolution, gives a new insight into changing flora and fauna in this region. Our findings reveal a diverse beetle community with varied ecological groups inhabiting a range of forest, meadow and synanthropic habitats. Changes in the beetle community were related to changes in the landscape, driven by anthropogenic activities. The first clear evidence for human activity in the area occurs c. 1250 CE and coincides with the arrival of beetle species living on the dung of domesticated animals (e.g. Aphodius spp.). From 1500 CE, human (re)settlement, and activities such as pasturing and charcoal burning, appear to have had a pronounced effect on the beetle community. Local beetle diversity declined steadily towards the present day, likely due to an infilling of the forest hollow leading to a decrease in moisture level. We conclude that beetle communities are directly affected by anthropogenic intensity and land-use change. When aiming to preserve or restore natural forest conditions, recording their past changes in diversity can help guide conservation and restoration. In doing so, it is important to look back beyond the time of significant human impact, and for this, information contained in paleoecological records is irreplaceable.Peer reviewe