Using Data Mining in Educational Administration - A Case Study on Improving School Attendance

open access articlePupil absenteeism remains a significant problem for schools across the globe with its negative impacts on overall pupil performance being well-documented. Whilst all schools continue to emphasize good attendance, some schools still find it difficult to reach the required average attendance, which in the UK is 96\%. A novel approach is proposed to help schools improve attendance that leverages the market target model, which is built on association rule mining and probability theory, to target sessions that are most impactful to overall poor attendance. Tests conducted at Willen Primary School, in Milton Keynes, UK, show that significant improvements can be made to overall attendance, attendance in the target session, and persistent (chronic) absenteeism, through the use of this approach. The paper concludes by discussing school leadership, research implications, and highlights future work which includes the development of a software program that can be rolled-out to other schools

Algorithms to Detect and Rectify Multiplicative and Ordinal Inconsistencies of Fuzzy Preference Relations

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.Consistency, multiplicative and ordinal, of fuzzy preference relations (FPRs) is investigated. The geometric consistency index (GCI) approximated thresholds are extended to measure the degree of consistency for an FPR. For inconsistent FPRs, two algorithms are devised (1) to find the multiplicative inconsistent elements, and (2) to detect the ordinal inconsistent elements. An integrated algorithm is proposed to improve simultaneously the ordinal and multiplicative consistencies. Some examples, comparative analysis, and simulation experiments are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods

Defuzzification of the Discretised Generalised Type-2 Fuzzy Set: Experimental Evaluation

CCI - Centre for Computational Intelligence NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Information Science. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version can be found by following the DOIThe work reported in this paper addresses the challenge of the efficient and accurate defuzzification of discretised generalised type-2 fuzzy sets as created by the inference stage of a Mamdani Fuzzy Inferencing System. The exhaustive method of defuzzification for type-2 fuzzy sets is extremely slow, owing to its enormous computational complexity. Several approximate methods have been devised in response to this defuzzification bottleneck. In this paper we begin by surveying the main alternative strategies for defuzzifying a generalised type-2 fuzzy set: (1) Vertical Slice Centroid Type-Reduction; (2) the sampling method; (3) the elite sampling method; and (4) the $\alpha$-planes method. We then evaluate the different methods experimentally for accuracy and efficiency. For accuracy the exhaustive method is used as the standard. The test results are analysed statistically by means of the Wilcoxon Nonparametric Test and the elite sampling method shown to be the most accurate. In regards to efficiency, Vertical Slice Centroid Type-Reduction is demonstrated to be the fastest technique

Type-Reduction of the Discretised Interval Type-2 Fuzzy Set: Approaching the Continuous Case through Progressively Finer Discretisation.

The defuzzification of a type-2 fuzzy set is a two stage process consisting of firstly type-reduction, and secondly defuzzification of the resultant type-1 set. This paper considers three approaches to discrete interval type-reduction: 1. The exhaustive method which produces the Type-Reduced Set, 2. the Greenfield-Chiclana Collapsing Defuzzifier which gives rise to the Representative Embedded Set Approximation, and 3. the Nie-Tan Method from which the Nie-Tan Set is derived. In the discrete case these three type-1 sets are distinct. The behavior of the three sets under fine discretisation is investigated experimentally, in order to shed light on the relationships between the continuous versions of these type-1 sets

Fuzzy in 3-D: Contrasting Complex Fuzzy Sets with Type-2 Fuzzy Sets

CCIComplex fuzzy sets come in two forms, the standard form, postulated in 2002 by Ramot et al., and the 2011 innovation of pure complex fuzzy sets, proposed by Tamir et al.. In this paper we compare and contrast both forms of complex fuzzy set with type-2 fuzzy sets, as regards their rationales, applications, definitions, and structures. In addition, pure complex fuzzy sets are compared with type-2 fuzzy sets in relation to their inferencing operations. Complex fuzzy sets and type-2 fuzzy sets differ in their roles and applications. Their definitions differ also, though there is equivalence between those of a pure complex fuzzy set and a type-2 fuzzy set. Structural similarity is evident between these three-dimensional sets. Complex fuzzy sets are represented by a line, and type-2 fuzzy sets by a surface, but a surface is simply a generalisation of a line. This similarity is particularly evident between pure complex fuzzy sets and type-2 fuzzy sets, which are both mappings from the domain onto the unit square. Type-2 fuzzy sets were found not to be isomorphic to pure complex fuzzy sets

Extended Fuzzy Sets and Their Applications

This contribution deals with introducing the innovative concept of extended fuzzy set (E-FS), in which the S-norm function of membership and non-membership grades is less than or equal to one. The proposed concept not only encompasses the concept of the fuzzy set (FS), but it also includes the concepts of the intuitionistic fuzzy set (IFS), the Pythagorean fuzzy set (PFS) and the p-rung orthopair fuzzy set (p-ROFS). In order to explore the features of the E-FS concept, set and algebraic operations on E-FSs, average and geometric operations of E-FSs are studied and an E-FS score function is defined. The superiority of the E-FS concept is further confirmed with a score-based decision making technique in which the concepts of FS, IFS, PFS and p-ROFS do not make sense

Regression Analysis of Macroeconomic Conditions and Capital Structures of Publicly Listed British Firms

Using an unbalanced panel of 922 non-financial companies publicly listed on the London Stock Exchange during January 1995 and September 2014, this article tests the predictions of Pecking Order Theory (POT), Trade-off Theory (TOT) and Market Timing Theory (MTT) of capital structure through the lens of macroeconomic conditions. We find strong evidence that leverage is negatively associated with the business cycle but positively related to stock market performance, which is consistent with POT. In addition, leverage is negatively related to financial market risk, as predicted by TOT. Furthermore, leverage is positively related to credit supply, which is in line with both the POT and TOT. Finally, there is no evidence in support of MTT. The above results are robust with respect to the measurement of macroeconomic variables, the choice of estimation methods and the inclusion of a dummy variable to account for the effect of the 2008 financial crisis. An important implication is that, because firms tend to be highly levered during business cycle downturns, expansionary fiscal and monetary policies to encourage more business borrowings may not be effective after all

An Empirical Investigation of Multinationality and Stock Price Crash Risk for MNCs in China

There is a large volume of literature in international business on multinationality. There is an equally large volume of literature in finance on stock price crash risk. However, very few studies have attempted to provide a link between these two research areas. Using an unbalanced panel data consisting of 473 multinational corporations (MNCs) publicly listed in the Chinese stock markets during 2004 to 2020, this paper is one of the first to empirically investigate whether and to what extent multinationality affects stock price crash risk. The paper finds strong evidence that multinational operation is negatively related to stock price crash risk. In addition, MNCs with better corporate governance quality experience larger decline in stock price crash risk when the degree of multinationality increases. Furthermore, MNCs with higher stock market liquidity experience lower crash risk. An important implication is that companies should strengthen their corporate governance and market liquidity while “going global”.Universiti Teknologi Brune

Using Data Mining in Educational Administration: A Case Study on Improving School Attendance

The authors would like to thank the leadership and staff of Willen Primary School for permitting us to use their data and for their efforts in supporting this study, in particular, Ms Emma Warner (attendance officer), Ms Carrie Matthews (headteacher), and Ms Sarah Orr (deputy headteacher).Pupil absenteeism remains a significant problem for schools across the globe with negative impacts on overall pupil performance being well-documented. Whilst all schools continue to emphasize good attendance, some schools still find it difficult to reach the required average attendance, which in the UK is 96%. A novel approach is proposed to help schools improve attendance that leverages the market target model, which is built on association rule mining and probability theory, to target sessions that are most impactful to overall poor attendance. Tests conducted at Willen Primary School, in Milton Keynes, UK, showed that significant improvements can be made to overall attendance, attendance in the target session, and persistent (chronic) absenteeism, through the use of this approach. The paper concludes by discussing school leadership, research implications, and highlights future work which includes the development of a software program that can be rolled-out to other schools