8,308 research outputs found
Dungeness crab research program
In 1974, the California State Legislature, recognizing the
problem of low yields from the Dungeness crab resource of
central California, directed the Department of Fish and Game
to conduct an investigation into the causes of the decline.
The Operations Research Branch of the Department has conducted
preliminary studies and field operations necessary to formulate the Dungeness Crab Research Program. The objectives,
research design, and work plans are presented for a 4-year
program from July 1, 1975 through August 31, 1979. (38pp.
What is the problem to which interactive multimedia is the solution?
This is something of an unusual paper. It serves as both the reason for and the result of a small number of leading academics in the field, coming together to focus on the question that serves as the title to this paper: What is the problem to which interactive multimedia is the solution? Each of the authors addresses this question from their own viewpoint, offering informed insights into the development, implementation and evaluation of multimedia. The result of their collective work was also the focus of a Western Australian Institute of Educational Research seminar, convened at Edith Cowan University on 18 October, 1994.
The question posed is deliberately rhetorical - it is asked to allow those represented here to consider what they think are the significant issues in the fast-growing field of multimedia. More directly, the question is also asked here because nobody else has considered it worth asking: for many multimedia is done because it is technically possible, not because it offers anything that is of value or provides the solution to a particular problem.
The question, then, is answered in various ways by each of the authors involved and each, in their own way, consider a range of fundamental issues concerning the nature, place and use of multimedia - both in education and in society generally. By way of an introduction, the following provides a unifying context for the various contributions made here
Issues of partial credit in mathematical assessment by computer
The CALM Project for Computer Aided Learning in Mathematics has operated at Heriot‐Watt University since 1985. From the beginning CALM has featured assessment in its programs (Beevers, Cherry, Foster and McGuire, 1991), and enabled both students and teachers to view progress in formative assessment The computer can play a role in at least four types of assessment: diagnostic, self‐test, continuous and grading assessment. The TLTP project Mathwise employs the computer in three of these roles. In 1994 CALM reported on an educational experiment in which the computer was used for the first time to grade, in part, the learning of a large class of service mathematics students (Beevers, McGuire, Stirling and Wild ,1995), using the Mathwise assessment template. At that time the main issues identified were those of ‘partial credit’ and communication between the student and the computer. These educational points were addressed in the next phase of the CALM Project in which the commercial testing program Interactive PastPapers was developed. The main aim of this paper is to describe how Interactive Past Papers has been able to incorporate some approaches to partial credit which has helped to alleviate student worries on these issues. Background information on other features in Interactive Past Papers is also included to provide context for the discussion
Discriminants, symmetrized graph monomials, and sums of squares
Motivated by the necessities of the invariant theory of binary forms J. J.
Sylvester constructed in 1878 for each graph with possible multiple edges but
without loops its symmetrized graph monomial which is a polynomial in the
vertex labels of the original graph. In the 20-th century this construction was
studied by several authors. We pose the question for which graphs this
polynomial is a non-negative resp. a sum of squares. This problem is motivated
by a recent conjecture of F. Sottile and E. Mukhin on discriminant of the
derivative of a univariate polynomial, and an interesting example of P. and A.
Lax of a graph with 4 edges whose symmetrized graph monomial is non-negative
but not a sum of squares. We present detailed information about symmetrized
graph monomials for graphs with four and six edges, obtained by computer
calculations
Computer assessment in mathematics
This thesis investigates methods of assessing students' mathematical ability by using
the computer.
It starts by reviewing the general types of assessment within mathematics educational
software and then describes some different ways of presenting the assessment
on the computer by the use of varying types of questions.
In Chapter 2 there is a review of the literature and research conducted in the area
of computer assessment of mathematics. In particular, the most prevalent dilemmas
of computer aided learning and computer aided assessment are highlighted whilst
looking forward at how the contents of further chapters in the thesis can help in
addressing some of these difficulties.
The following chapter gives an historical account of how the CALM(1) software
has addressed some of the inherent difficulties of assessment and highlights the
ways in which some of these hurdles have been overcome. The shortfalls of CALM
are described and, where relevant, pointers to the parts of thesis which tackle these
shortfalls are given. In particular, the work in Chapter 4 undertakes an improvement
in the way simple mathematical expressions(2) can be handled as it shows how binary
tree constructions can be utilised within an educational environment.
Chapter 5 tests out two applications of the binary tree structures with the creation
of a tool to aid student-computer communication of mathematics and by providing
a method of comparing student-set questions against a true answer.
The following chapter describes an educational experiment which set out to show
how a computer can be used to assess students' mathematical ability during a formal university examination. It deals with very important educational issues which arise
when performing such examinations and gives conclusions as to their educational
validity. In particular, issues of student input, partial credit, objectivity, consistency,
flexibility and efficiency are considered along with the impact that this research could
have for future testing of mathematics.
The final chapter describes how the thesis has been instrumental in further research
and development within the field of computer assessment of mathematics.
(1)CALM is the acronym for the Computer Aided Learning in Mathematics project at the Department
of Mathematics, Heriot- Watt University.
(2)in this thesis, the word expression is taken to be a mathematical entity which does not contain
any comparison operators
Plants from the park : Establishing community harvesting of plants as a conservation tool at Bwindi Impenetrable and Mgahinga National Parks, Uganda
It is now accepted that communities surrounding national parks in developing countries should benefit from conservation if the parks, and their constituent biodiversity, are to have a secure long-term future. It has also been accepted as morally questionable for communities living next to parks to pay the costs for national and international biodiversity conservation, and at the same time being excluded from any level of decision making regarding the management of those parks. Strategies to achieve conservation with equity include community involvement in park management and mechanisms to share conservation benefits
Dynamical Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov Theory of Vortices in Bose-Einstein Condensates at Finite Temperature
We present a method utilizing the continuity equation for the condensate
density to make predictions of the precessional frequency of single off-axis
vortices and of vortex arrays in Bose-Einstein condensates at finite
temperature. We also present an orthogonalized Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (HFB)
formalism. We solve the continuity equation for the condensate density
self-consistently with the orthogonalized HFB equations, and find stationary
solutions in the frame rotating at this frequency. As an example of the utility
of this formalism we obtain time-independent solutions for
quasi-two-dimensional rotating systems in the co-rotating frame. We compare
these results with time-dependent predictions where we simulate stirring of the
condensate.Comment: 13 pages, 11 figures, 1 tabl
On a generalized quantum SWAP gate
The SWAP gate plays a central role in network designs for qubit quantum computation. However, there has been a view to generalize qubit quantum computing to higher dimensional quantum systems. In this paper we construct a generalized SWAP gate using only instances of the generalized controlled-NOT gate to cyclically permute the states of d qudits for d prime
The transient response of global-mean precipitation to increasing carbon dioxide levels
The transient response of global-mean precipitation to an increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels of 1% yr(-1) is investigated in 13 fully coupled atmosphere-ocean general circulation models (AOGCMs) and compared to a period of stabilization. During the period of stabilization, when carbon dioxide levels are held constant at twice their unperturbed level and the climate left to warm, precipitation increases at a rate of similar to 2.4% per unit of global-mean surface-air-temperature change in the AOGCMs. However, when carbon dioxide levels are increasing, precipitation increases at a smaller rate of similar to 1.5% per unit of global-mean surface-air-temperature change. This difference can be understood by decomposing the precipitation response into an increase from the response to the global surface-temperature increase (and the climate feedbacks it induces), and a fast atmospheric response to the carbon dioxide radiative forcing that acts to decrease precipitation. According to the multi-model mean, stabilizing atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide would lead to a greater rate of precipitation change per unit of global surface-temperature change
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