Persistence in Mathematics by Underrepresented Students: Experiences of a Math Excel Program

Success in mathematics by underrepresented and nontraditional college students is measured not only by academic performance (grades), but also by the continued participation and persistence of these students in mathematics coursework. The Math Excel program at Oregon State University attempts to build learning communities with a sharp academic focus in support of students concurrently taking introductory level mathematics courses. The Math Excel program is based heavily on Uri Treisman\u27s Emerging Scholars Workshop model of collaborative problem solving. In this article, we examine the experience of minority students in the Educational Opportunities Program participating in the Math Excel program. While the program had appeared successful in terms of improving academic performance in the concurrent mathematics course, the continued participation and persistence of these students in mathematics was disappointing. On a trial basis, structural changes were made to build a much stronger identification of the Math Excel learning community with a section of College Algebra. In the next term, there was a much higher incidence of participation in the subsequent Precalculus using the same Math Excel structure. While the collaborative problem solving activity provided in Math Excel was crucial to students\u27 successful academic performance, these results suggest that subtle issues related to students\u27 recognition of and identification with a learning community may be critically important to underrepresented and nontraditional students\u27 continued persistence in mathematics

The 1984 NASA/ASEE summer faculty fellowship program

An overview is given of the program management and activities. Participants and research advisors are listed. Abstracts give describe and present results of research assignments performed by 31 fellows either at the Johnson Space Center, at the White Sands test Facility, or at the California Space Institute in La Jolla. Disciplines studied include engineering; biology/life sciences; Earth sciences; chemistry; mathematics/statistics/computer sciences; and physics/astronomy

Phase Diagrams of Quasispecies Theory with Recombination and Horizontal Gene Transfer

We consider how transfer of genetic information between individuals influences the phase diagram and mean fitness of both the Eigen and the parallel, or Crow-Kimura, models of evolution. In the absence of genetic transfer, these physical models of evolution consider the replication and point mutation of the genomes of independent individuals in a large population. A phase transition occurs, such that below a critical mutation rate an identifiable quasispecies forms. We generalize these models of quasispecies evolution to include horizontal gene transfer. We show how transfer of genetic information changes the phase diagram and mean fitness and introduces metastability in quasispecies theory, via an analytic field theoretic mapping.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, to appear in Physics Review Letter

The Nonlinear Evolution of Instabilities Driven by Magnetic Buoyancy: A New Mechanism for the Formation of Coherent Magnetic Structures

Motivated by the problem of the formation of active regions from a deep-seated solar magnetic field, we consider the nonlinear three-dimensional evolution of magnetic buoyancy instabilities resulting from a smoothly stratified horizontal magnetic field. By exploring the case for which the instability is continuously driven we have identified a new mechanism for the formation of concentrations of magnetic flux.Comment: Published in ApJL. Version with colour figure

The Outsourcing of Football Stadium Foodservice Operations by National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I Athletic Programs

The purpose of this study was to explore the current state of the outsourcing of foodservice operations by National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I athletic programs, particularly at their home football stadiums, in order to assist decision makers. Potential participants for this study were athletic administrators responsible for the oversight of football stadium foodservice operations at each NCAA member institution sponsoring the sport of football at the Division I level during the 2010-11 academic year as either an active or provisional member, as well as those institutions that had just added the sport of football but played a Division I schedule in 2010-11. Thus, the total population size for the study was 244. The number of responses usable for at least one of the analyses totaled 111 (45.5%).;A majority (89.3%) of respondents reported that their institution had control to decide whether to self-operate or outsource foodservice operations at their institution\u27s home football stadium. Of those Division I institutions with control over their football stadium foodservice operations, a greater percentage (59.8%) of responding institutions outsourced all or part of football stadium foodservice operations than self-operated (40.2%), which was slightly higher than past figures found in the literature. Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) institutions, particularly those from the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) conferences showed a preference toward outsourcing. Among responding institutions nationally recognized foodservice firms, particularly Sodexo, were clearly the most popular in terms of number of contracts.;Replicating the work of Li and Burden (2002), benefit statements on outsourcing foodservice operations were combined into four different benefit inventories; however, no statistically significant differences (p \u3c .05) were found between FBS and Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) institutions regarding agreement with the benefit inventories. When examining the relationship between foodservice operation method and inventories designed to measure satisfaction with various operations considerations, a significant difference ( p \u3c .05) was found in only one inventory, Human Resource Considerations. Finally, a backward stepwise logistic regression model revealed that only one of eight predictor variables, the Improvement in Administrative Efficiency benefit inventory, was found to be a significant predictor of whether an FBS athletic program outsourced its football stadium foodservice operations

MOTOR VEHICLES AND TRAFFIC Trucks on Multi-Lane Highways: Change Certain Provisions Relating to Trucks Using Multi-Lane Highways To Allow the Department of Transportation To Designate Usage Lanes

The Act changes the Georgia Code relating to driving on the right side of roadways, overtaking and passing, and following too closely. The Act changes certain provisions relating to trucks using multi-lane highways. The Act also authorizes the Department of Transportation to designate certain usage lanes for trucks traveling on multi-lane highways