An investigation into the effects of gender, prior academic achievement, place of residence, age and attendance on first year undergraduate attainment

The number of people engaging in higher education (HE) has increased considerably over the past decade. However, there is a need to achieve a balance between increasing access and bearing down on rates of non-completion. It has been argued that poor attainment and failure within the first year are significant contributors to the overall statistics for non-progression and that, although research has concentrated on factors causative of student withdrawal, less attention has focused on students who fail academically. This study investigated the effects of a number of a number of factors on the academic attainment of first-year undergraduates within the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Glamorgan. Results showed that gender and age had only minor impacts upon educational achievement, while place of residence, prior educational attainment and attendance emerged as significant predictors of attainment. Further analysis showed these three factors to be interrelated , with attendance correlating strongly with both entry points and place or residence. In turn, prior attainment was strongly linked to place of residence. Findings may be used to identify and proactively target students at risk of poor academic performance and dropout in order in order to improve rates of performance and progression

Efficient Computation of the Kauffman Bracket

This paper bounds the computational cost of computing the Kauffman bracket of a link in terms of the crossing number of that link. Specifically, it is shown that the image of a tangle with $g$ boundary points and $n$ crossings in the Kauffman bracket skein module is a linear combination of $O(2^g)$ basis elements, with each coefficient a polynomial with at most $n$ nonzero terms, each with integer coefficients, and that the link can be built one crossing at a time as a sequence of tangles with maximum number of boundary points bounded by $C\sqrt{n}$ for some $C.$ From this it follows that the computation of the Kauffman bracket of the link takes time and memory a polynomial in $n$ times $2^{C\sqrt{n}}.

Friday Night at the Mayaguez Mall: A Rationale With Examples on the Use of Drama in the Notional-Functional Classroom

Three recent intensive courses teaching EFL in Puerto Rico and ESL in Brattleboro provided the author with practical experience using drama activities in connection with the application of notional-functional syllabuses. These experiences are described and the choice of a functional approach is justified. Functions are explained and an overview of drama is given. Seven practical drama activities for a variety of language levels and situations are presented. A discussion of the pedagogical aspects of practicing functions through drama follows, wherein such considerations as the role of the teacher, the development of the student, lesson planning, giving directions and aims are included. Some thoughts on the language/drama teacher conclude the paper