An Objetive Empirical Teaching Evaluation Metric at a Southeastern US Public University

The marginal contribution of faculty to student learning at an AACSB-accredited College of Business Administration in a public university located in a southeastern state in the United States (U.S.) is measured for the first time by an objective quantitative method. Student cumulative Grade Point Average (GPA), centralized to avoid grade inflation relates to the partial amount of credit hours each teacher devotes to students. We proffer that the marginal contribution of the professor to student GPA earned per contact hour of instruction is the regression coefficient associated with the professor. Since the university uses GPA as a measure of progress, contribution to GPA is the professorial teaching contribution to the university objective. Such a teaching contribution is consistent with the professor’s assignment of responsibility. The computational results of a five-year empirical data analysis are presented.La contribución marginal de los profesores al aprendizaje de los estudiantes en una Facultad de Administración de Empresas acreditada por AACSB en una universidad pública ubicada en un estado del sudeste de los Estados Unidos (EE.UU.), se mide por primera vez mediante un método cuantitativo objetivo. El Promedio Acumulativo de Calificaciones (GPA, por sus siglas en inglés) de los estudiantes, centralizado para evitar la inflación de las calificaciones, se relaciona con la cantidad parcial de horas de crédito que cada profesor dedica a los estudiantes. Consideramos que la contribución marginal del profesor al GPA del estudiante obtenido por hora de contacto de instrucción es el coeficiente de regresión asociado con el profesor. Dado que la universidad usa el GPA como una medida de progreso, la contribución al GPA es la contribución del docente al objetivo de la universidad. Dicha contribución docente es consistente con la asignación de responsabilidad del profesor. Se presentan los resultados computacionales de un análisis de datos empíricos de cinco años.&nbsp

Galaxy Zoo: Mergers – Dynamical models of interacting galaxies

The dynamical history of most merging galaxies is not well understood. Correlations between galaxy interaction and star formation have been found in previous studies, but require the context of the physical history of merging systems for full insight into the processes that lead to enhanced star formation. We present the results of simulations that reconstruct the orbit trajectories and disturbed morphologies of pairs of interacting galaxies. With the use of a restricted three-body simulation code and the help of citizen scientists, we sample 105 points in parameter space for each system. We demonstrate a successful recreation of the morphologies of 62 pairs of interacting galaxies through the review of more than 3 million simulations. We examine the level of convergence and uniqueness of the dynamical properties of each system. These simulations represent the largest collection of models of interacting galaxies to date, providing a valuable resource for the investigation of mergers. This paper presents the simulation parameters generated by the project. They are now publicly available in electronic format at http://data.galaxyzoo.org/mergers.html. Though our best-fitting model parameters are not an exact match to previously published models, our method for determining uncertainty measurements will aid future comparisons between models. The dynamical clocks from our models agree with previous results of the time since the onset of star formation from starburst models in interacting systems and suggest that tidally induced star formation is triggered very soon after closest approach