On the Multidimensional Stable Marriage Problem

We provide a problem definition of the stable marriage problem for a general number of parties $p$ under a natural preference scheme in which each person has simple lists for the other parties. We extend the notion of stability in a natural way and present so called elemental and compound algorithms to generate matchings for a problem instance. We demonstrate the stability of matchings generated by both algorithms, as well as show that the former runs in $O(pn^2)$ time.Comment: 8 page

Overcoming cross-cultural group work tensions: mixed student perspectives on the role of social relationships

As universities worldwide rapidly internationalise, higher education classrooms have become unique spaces for collaboration between students from different countries. One common way to encourage collaboration between diverse peers is through group work. However, previous research has highlighted that cross-cultural group work can be challenging and has hinted at potential social tensions. To understand this notion better, we have used robust quantitative tools in this study to select 20 participants from a larger classroom of 860 students to take part in an in-depth qualitative interview about cross-cultural group work experiences. Participant views on social tensions in cross-cultural group work were elicited using a unique mediating artefact method to encourage reflection and in-depth discussion. In our analysis of emergent interview themes, we compared student perspectives on the role of social relationships in group work by their academic performance level. Our findings indicated that all students interviewed desired the opportunity to form social relationships with their group work members, but their motivations for doing so varied widely by academic performance level

Turning points: the personal and professional circumstances that lead academics to become middle managers

In the current higher education climate, there is a growing perception that the pressures associated with being an academic middle manager outweigh the perceived rewards of the position. This article investigates the personal and professional circumstances that lead academics to become middle managers by drawing on data from life history interviews undertaken with 17 male and female department heads from a range of disciplines, in a post-1992 UK university. The data suggests that experiencing conflict between personal and professional identities, manifested through different socialization experiences over time, can lead to a ‘turning point’ and a decision that affects a person’s career trajectory. Although the results of this study cannot be generalized, the findings may help other individuals and institutions move towards a firmer understanding of the academic who becomes head of department—in relation to theory, practice and research

Context-driven agents in computer supported cooperative works

This thesis describes a research project that investigates the level of contextualization needed to successfully build context-driven agents that can manage a cooperative project. Many times in industry, collaborators in a large project may be located vast distances from each other. It is for this reason that management of such projects can often be difficult. The purpose of this research is to design an agent that can take on the role of a project manager (PM) to assist the human project manager. Specifically, this thesis looks to give such project management agents full situational awareness. It is hypothesized that only with situational awareness can an agent successfully act in the role of a project manager. This thesis describes the investigation into the use of Context-Based Reasoning and Contextual Graphs to create an agent with such situational awareness. This thesis shows that with enough situational awareness, an agent will have the ability to successfully take on the role of a project manager. In particular, this thesis looks at a PM-agent that can manage a simulated project to design and construct a small sounding rocket

The reciprocal sum of primitive nondeficient numbers

We investigate the reciprocal sum of primitive nondeficient numbers, or pnds. In 1934, Erdos showed that the reciprocal sum of pnds converges, which he used to prove that the abundant numbers have a natural density. We show the reciprocal sum of pnds is between 0.348 and 0.380.Comment: 12 page