Compressed School Week Cultural Bias against English Second Language Student Performance on Standardized Exams

Financial constraints have driven K-12 schools in the isolated mountain regions of USA to reduce costs by shortening the teaching week These regions have a high relative population of Hispanic Mexican immigrants who are English Language Learners ELL Hispanic immigrants come to USA to work but generally at low wages so it is a financial strain to pay childcare during the week to avoid losing a day of work At the same time teachers are under pressure from the No Child Left Behind national initiative to ensure all students pass standardized tests There is some evidence that shorter school weeks does not negatively impact student learning However we argue that a shorter school week negatively impacts ELL student performance on standardized exams and if this were true it would be unfair to immigrants so the practice should be changed We empirically tested the effectiveness of various school week formats using a large sample of rural schools in Oregon with a high concentration of ELL students from Hispanic Mexican cultures N 62

Optimal Point Placement for Mesh Smoothing

We study the problem of moving a vertex in an unstructured mesh of triangular, quadrilateral, or tetrahedral elements to optimize the shapes of adjacent elements. We show that many such problems can be solved in linear time using generalized linear programming. We also give efficient algorithms for some mesh smoothing problems that do not fit into the generalized linear programming paradigm.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures. A preliminary version of this paper was presented at the 8th ACM/SIAM Symp. on Discrete Algorithms (SODA '97). This is the final version, and will appear in a special issue of J. Algorithms for papers from SODA '9

Using recursive regression to explore nonlinear relationships and interactions: A tutorial applied to a multicultural education study

This paper discusses how a seldom-used statistical procedure, recursive regression (RR), can numerically and graphically illustrate data-driven nonlinear relationships and interaction of variables. This routine falls into the family of exploratory techniques, yet a few interesting features make it a valuable compliment to factor analysis and multiple linear regression for method triangulation. By comparison, nonlinear cluster analysis also generates graphical dendrograms to visually depict relationships, but RR (as implemented here) uses multiple combinations of nominal and interval predictors regressed on a categorical or ratio dependent variable. In similar fashion, multidimensional scaling, multiple discriminant analysis and conjoint analysis are constrained at best to predicting an ordinal dependent variable (as currently implemented in popular software). A flexible capability of RR (again as implemented here) is the transformation of factor data (for substituting codes). One powerful RR feature is the ability to treat missing data as a theoretically important predictor value (useful for survey questions that respondents do not wish to answer). For practitioners, the paper summarizes how this technique fits within the generally-accepted statistical methods. Popular software such as SPSS, SAS or LISREL can be used, while sample data can be imported in common formats including ASCII text, comma delimited, Excel XLS, and SPSS SAV. A tutorial approach is applied here using RR in LISREL. The tutorial leverages a partial sample from a study that used recursive regression to predict grades from international student learning styles. Some tutorial portions are technical, to improve the ambiguous RR literature. Accessed 17,736 times on https://pareonline.net from March 16, 2009 to December 31, 2019. For downloads from January 1, 2020 forward, please click on the PlumX Metrics link to the right

International Coercion, Emulation and Policy Diffusion: Market-Oriented Infrastructure Reforms, 1977-1999

Why do some countries adopt market-oriented reforms such as deregulation, privatization and liberalization of competition in their infrastructure industries while others do not? Why did the pace of adoption accelerate in the 1990s? Building on neo-institutional theory in sociology, we argue that the domestic adoption of market-oriented reforms is strongly influenced by international pressures of coercion and emulation. We find robust support for these arguments with an event-history analysis of the determinants of reform in the telecommunications and electricity sectors of as many as 205 countries and territories between 1977 and 1999. Our results also suggest that the coercive effect of multilateral lending from the IMF, the World Bank or Regional Development Banks is increasing over time, a finding that is consistent with anecdotal evidence that multilateral organizations have broadened the scope of the “conditionality” terms specifying market-oriented reforms imposed on borrowing countries. We discuss the possibility that, by pressuring countries into policy reform, cross-national coercion and emulation may not produce ideal outcomes.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/40099/3/wp713.pd

Approximation of L\"owdin Orthogonalization to a Spectrally Efficient Orthogonal Overlapping PPM Design for UWB Impulse Radio

In this paper we consider the design of spectrally efficient time-limited pulses for ultrawideband (UWB) systems using an overlapping pulse position modulation scheme. For this we investigate an orthogonalization method, which was developed in 1950 by Per-Olov L\"owdin. Our objective is to obtain a set of N orthogonal (L\"owdin) pulses, which remain time-limited and spectrally efficient for UWB systems, from a set of N equidistant translates of a time-limited optimal spectral designed UWB pulse. We derive an approximate L\"owdin orthogonalization (ALO) by using circulant approximations for the Gram matrix to obtain a practical filter implementation. We show that the centered ALO and L\"owdin pulses converge pointwise to the same Nyquist pulse as N tends to infinity. The set of translates of the Nyquist pulse forms an orthonormal basis or the shift-invariant space generated by the initial spectral optimal pulse. The ALO transform provides a closed-form approximation of the L\"owdin transform, which can be implemented in an analog fashion without the need of analog to digital conversions. Furthermore, we investigate the interplay between the optimization and the orthogonalization procedure by using methods from the theory of shift-invariant spaces. Finally we develop a connection between our results and wavelet and frame theory.Comment: 33 pages, 11 figures. Accepted for publication 9 Sep 201

AGN Feedback in Galaxy Groups: the Delicate Touch of Self-Regulated Outflows

AGN heating, through massive subrelativistic outflows, might be the key to solve the long-lasting `cooling flow problem' in cosmological systems. In a previous paper, we showed that cold accretion feedback and, to a lesser degree, Bondi self-regulated models are in fact able to quench cooling rates for several Gyr, at the same time preserving the mainc ool core features, like observed density and temperature profiles. Is it true also for lighter systems, such as galaxy groups? The answer is globally yes, although with remarkable differences. Adopting a modified version of the AMR code FLASH 3.2, we found that successful 3D simulations with cold and Bondi models are almost convergent in the galaxy group environment, with mechanical efficiencies in the range 5.e-4 - 1.e-3 and 5.e-2 - 1.e-1, respectively. The evolutionary storyline of galaxy groups is dominated by a quasi-continuous gentle injection with sub-Eddington outflows (with mechanical power and velocity around 1.e44 erg/s and 1.e4 km/s). The cold and hybrid accretion models present, in addition, very short quiescence periods, followed by moderate outbursts (10 times the previous phase), which generate a series of 10-20 kpc size cavities with high density contrast, temperatures similar to the ambient medium and cold rims. After shock heating, a phase of turbulence promotes gas mixing and diffusion of metals, which peak along jet-axis (up to 40 kpc) during active phases. At this stage the tunnel, produced by the enduring outflow (hard to detect in the mock SBx maps), is easily fragmented, producing tiny buoyant bubbles, typically a few kpc in size. In contrast to galaxy clusters, the AGN self-regulated feedback has to be persistent, with a `delicate touch', rather than rare and explosive strokes. This evolutionary difference dictates in the end that galaxy groups are not scaled-down versions of clusters.Comment: Accepted by MNRAS; 22 pages, 7 figure

Imaginative Representations of Two- and Three-Dimensional Matrices in Children with Nonverbal Learning Disabilities

Children with non-verbal learning disabilities (NLD) are characterized by high verbal and poor non-verbal intelligence, poor cognitive abilities, school difficulties, and—sometimes—depressive symptoms. NLD children lack visuospatial working memory, but it is not clear whether they encounter difficulties in mental imagery tasks. In the present study, NLD adolescents without depressive symptoms, depressed adolescents without NLD symptoms, and a control group were administered a mental imagery task requiring them to imagine to move along the cells of a 2-D (5 × 5) or 3-D (3 × 3 × 3) matrix. Results showed that NLD adolescents had difficulty at performing the imagery task when a 3-D pattern was involved. It is suggested that 3-D mental imagery tasks tap visuospatial processes which are weak in NLD individuals. In addition, their poor cognitive performance cannot be attributed to a depressive state, as the depressed group had a performance similar to that of controls

Transmission+Interference: A New Materialist and Machine-Oriented Approach to Collectively Make-With Noise

This thesis explores the materiality at play within installation and performance artworks from across the interdisciplinary fields of media arts, digital arts and contemporary technological arts and is positioned at the noisier end of the artistic spectrum of these disciplines. The practice-led research presented here deals with the shift away from clean digital media environments of production in order to embrace a more material focused approach that has emerged within recent years (see the emergence of physical computing and electronics practices), especially across sonic arts practices (see also the re-emergence of modular synthesis). The aim is to unfold an understanding of the creative potential within the movement and flow of noise in machines or systems utilising light and sound. Central to this aim is the discussion around the physical objects at play within tools / devices / technological machines in order to realise the power in the non-human object and its extended interactions. This is not meant in order to ignore the human but rather as a case to present a more entangled discourse of human, object and machine where the influence of minuscule particles over actions and activities of a machine are viewed as equally important as the hand, flesh and brain that engages with them for creative, artistic purposes. This approach engages with fields of theoretical discourse emerging from post-humanism, in particular Object-Oriented Ontology (OOO) and New Materialism. This theoretical discourse offers the platform for dealing with the fields of assemblages, territories, resonance, noise, in-between, interference, interaction, and agency through the writings of, among others, Deleuze and Guattari, Ian Bogost, Levi Bryant, Jane Bennett, Elisabeth Grosz, and Michel Serres. In order to deal with the creative complexity in the topic and to aid the contextualisation of the discourse a variety of practical projects are introduced throughout as examples of and influences upon this practice-led research. These works range from historically influential media and sonic artists such as Nam June Paik and John Cage through to contemporary media and sonic artists and makers such as Martin Howse and John Richards. Entangled throughout this discourse the author presents the collaborative practical research project by David Strang and Vincent Van Uffelen: transmission+interference. This practice develops noise devices through open, collaborative workshops exploring the creative potential of noise in light and sound. As many of these devices are constructed for sonic output they suggest the term ‘instrument’ but that seems to carry too much of a classical connotation of standard musical practice or too scientific - for the purposes of this thesis, the discourse, following Levi Bryant (2014), engages with the term of the ‘machine’. The term ‘machine’ does not ignore the technical objects entangled together and suggests a physicality in support of the materiality of the objects. It also encourages thought around the imperfections of machines (they are not scientific) and suggests that they are, in someway, following from Deleuze and Guattari and Manuel Delanda’s discourse of assemblages, appropriated to arrive at the form they take. The creative art practices that are discussed each offer a unique discourse within the themes of the thesis. The practice of transmission+interference is introduced at the start of this thesis in order to contextualise later discussions around the project. It is here where we first encounter the combinations of objects, things, materials, noise and workshop practices at a surface level before dealing with the complexities of that matter in later sections. This section acts to frame the thesis and subsequent discourse by mapping out the territories of the practice-led research in order to understand what is being made (what objects, things, materials are involved), how it is being made (what forms of collaboration are involved) and what the overall outcomes from the practice are (performances or installations). The thesis then shifts to deal with the physical matter of things, objects and materials at play within the practice of transmission+interference to focus on what Jane Bennett calls ‘the power of things’ (2010) in order to examine the influence and impact of objects across creative workshops and begin to flatten the ontology between the human and non-human components interacting within. The fields of OOO and New Materialism are introduced here as the core theoretical grounding for the thesis as the discourse navigates from objects and things and vibrant units (Bogost) to more complex assemblages (Deleuze and Guattari, DeLanda) and structurally open machines (Bryant). Following on from this materials focused discourse the thesis then presents the largest object at play within the practice: noise. This section explores the capacities of and for noise from within the fields of sonic arts, avant-garde music, and information theory to present the creative potential of noise within the making process. Presented here is a noisy vitalism (a form of resonance) drawn from the objects and things of the previous section that is now acting within systems to form new emergent machines. Finally, the thesis discusses the making process itself - the creative workshop, where the physical materials of chapter one and the noise of chapter two are entangled in an assemblage of interactive and intra-active (Barad, 2007) making. This section engages in discourse that has recently moved away from the limiting field of D.I.Y (Do It Yourself) practices to the more openly collaborative D.I.W.O (Doing It With Others). It is here where the entanglement of human and non-human is most richly experienced as the ‘Others’ is ontologically flattened to include all objects, things, materials, and humans. What is presented here in this practice-led research is anew methodology embracing in the noisy entanglements of human and non-human materiality that is influenced by sonic arts practices. Through OOO and New Materialism humans are opened up to the inner powers and intra-actions of objects and materials through chance wanderings to reveal new creative potential for sonic arts performances and interactive installations

Principal Trade-off Analysis

How are the advantage relations between a set of agents playing a game organized and how do they reflect the structure of the game? In this paper, we illustrate "Principal Trade-off Analysis" (PTA), a decomposition method that embeds games into a low-dimensional feature space. We argue that the embeddings are more revealing than previously demonstrated by developing an analogy to Principal Component Analysis (PCA). PTA represents an arbitrary two-player zero-sum game as the weighted sum of pairs of orthogonal 2D feature planes. We show that the feature planes represent unique strategic trade-offs and truncation of the sequence provides insightful model reduction. We demonstrate the validity of PTA on a quartet of games (Kuhn poker, RPS+2, Blotto, and Pokemon). In Kuhn poker, PTA clearly identifies the trade-off between bluffing and calling. In Blotto, PTA identifies game symmetries, and specifies strategic trade-offs associated with distinct win conditions. These symmetries reveal limitations of PTA unaddressed in previous work. For Pokemon, PTA recovers clusters that naturally correspond to Pokemon types, correctly identifies the designed trade-off between those types, and discovers a rock-paper-scissor (RPS) cycle in the Pokemon generation type - all absent any specific information except game outcomes.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figure