An agent-based model of jaguar movement through conservation corridors

Wildlife corridors mitigate against habitat fragmentation by connecting otherwise isolated regions, bringing well established benefits to conservation both in principle and practice. Populations of large mammals in particular may depend on habitat connectivity, yet conservation managers struggle to optimise corridor designs with the rudimentary information generally available on movement behaviours. We present an agent-based model of jaguars (Panthera onca), scaled for fragmented habitat in Belize where proposals already exist for creating a jaguar corridor. We use a leastcost approach to simulate movement paths through alternative possible landscapes. Six different types of corridor and three control conditions differ substantially in their effectiveness at mixing agents across the environment despite relatively little difference in individual welfare. Our best estimates of jaguar movement behaviours suggest that a set of five narrow corridors may out-perform one wide corridor of the same overall area. We discuss the utility of ALife modelling for conservation management

Risk reduction and diversification in UK commercial property portfolios

The issue of diversification in direct real estate investment portfolios has been one of the most widely studied topics in academic and practitioner literature. Most work, however, has been done using mean returns and risks for broad market segments as inputs to asset allocation models, or in a few cases using data from small sets of individual properties. This paper reports results from a comprehensive testing of asset allocation modelling drawing on records of 10,000+ UK properties tracked by Investment Property Databank. It provides for the first time robust estimates of the diversification gains attainable given return, risk and cross-correlations across individual properties actually available to fund managers. The discussion of results covers implications for the number of assets and amount of money needed to construct “balanced” portfolios by direct investment, or via indirect specialist vehicles.Publisher PD

Examination of Teacher Workplace Satisfaction and Student Achievement

Research has been conducted to study teacher workplace satisfaction. The following factors were identified as integral to teacher workplace satisfaction: administrative support; student behaviors; workplace atmosphere; autonomy and efficacy. Findings within the extant literature indicated that student achievement is a factor in teachers\u27 satisfaction with their work. Specifically, educators have repeatedly expressed a need to impact student achievement and have noted satisfaction or dissatisfaction in relation to their perception of their influence or lack therefore. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between teacher workplace satisfaction and student achievement with the intent of making recommendations regarding maximization of satisfaction in order to positively impact student achievement. A non-experimental design was used to examine teacher workplace satisfaction and student achievement. The researcher designed a teacher workplace satisfaction survey and distributed it to 1,532 teachers within a large metropolitan school district in Georgia to measure five factors of workplace satisfaction (administrative support, student behaviors, workplace atmosphere, autonomy, and efficacy). Further, student achievement data for each teacher participant was gathered. A mean scale score of student achievement scores for the students assigned to each teacher was calculated and matched with the corresponding teacher\u27s satisfaction rating. An independent t-test was conducted to determine whether or not teacher workplace satisfaction and student achievement had statistically significant different mean values. In order to discern the relationship between teacher workplace satisfaction and student achievement, the five factors (administrative support, student behaviors, workplace atmosphere, autonomy, and efficacy) that contribute to the dependent variable, student achievement, were held constant to estimate the independent contribution of each to the variation in student achievement. Through a multiple regression analysis, the findings of this study reaffirmed the correlation between satisfaction and student achievement, but they did not however, provide any additional insight for development of a predictive model because teacher satisfaction is a complex phenomenon made up of several factors that individually cannot account for improved student achievement. Thus, how best to maximize workplace satisfaction as a vehicle to improving student achievement remains unknown

An Instructional Approach for Improving the Writing of Literature Reviews

The authors engaged in a team-teaching approach to foster improvements in the writing and evaluation of scholarly literature reviews by their graduate students in music education. A focal point of the semester-long project was the analysis and public critique of each author\u27s dissertation literature review by the other author, using a variant of a rubric for evaluating literature reviews by Boote and Beile. Students further refined the rubric by evaluating literature reviews in current music education journals and then used the rubric to guide their own writing. Student reflections and responses were gathered through questionnaires and interviews, with indications that the process had a twofold effect: (a) improved skills in conceptualizing, writing, and analyzing literature reviews and (b) increased collegiality as students perceived their instructors as peer scholars

Students’ Expectations Within a Nontraditional College of Business Classroom

Students in a college of business classroom have various expectations regarding the faculty member and the course. If the faculty member fails to meet those expectations, the resulting misalignment can cause misunderstandings and other issues. This study attempts to understand the expectations of nontraditional students to assist faculty in identifying the potential areas of misalignment. Using a series of modified questions from Schmitt, Larsen, Miller, Badawy, Dougherty, Sharma & Benson (2013), this study reports the results of a survey of 152 upper-division undergraduate and graduate students from the college of business at a regional university with a teaching mission. The findings indicate that students’ primary expectations included in-class discussions and text-book use, faculty interactions with students while in class, and timely responses by faculty to questions

Computing With Voice

  Recent and continuing improvements in voice recognition and voice response technology have provided tremendous customer service benefits for users and implementers alike. Advantages for business organizations such as improved quality and productivity, reduced costs, increased return on investment, use in many industries, and increased standardization show promise for this technology now and in the future.  In this case study, we will discuss the procedure for choosing and implementing a successful interactive voice response (IVR) system. Included in this study is a discussion of the benefits of an interactive voice response system. These benefits included improved customer service and increased productivity without increased staffing.