Everyday Maths through Everyday Provision

A number of studies provide evidence that the home numeracy environment (HNE) is important for the development of early numeracy skills. There is also evidence that preschoolers understanding of math language is a strong predictor of numeracy skills. However, there is limited research on the role of math language knowledge in the relation between the HNE and early numeracy skills. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relation between different aspects of the HNE (direct vs. indirect numeracy activities) and numeracy skills while considering math language as a moderator. Participants included 125 children between 3.01 to 5.17 years (M = 4.09) and their parents. Parents reported on the frequency of engaging children in home numeracy activities. Children were assessed in the fall and spring of their preschool year on their numeracy skills and math language knowledge. Hierarchical multiple regressions were conducted to test if prior math language knowledge would moderate the relation between each component of the HNE (indirect and direct numeracy activities) and later numeracy skills. Results indicate that math language was not a moderator of these relations. However, supplemental analyses suggest that math language mediates the relation between direct HNE and numeracy skills. These findings provide evidence that the relation between the direct HNE and early numeracy may be explained by preschooler’s math language knowledge.

An overwhelming number of high school graduates are ill-equipped with the tools necessary for post-secondary school success. A‚Â Virginia high school students are surpassing the national average on college entrance exams, however, roughly 1/3 of the 22,263 fall below the benchmarks established in math and science. A‚Â George Mason University and the STEM Accelerator Program seek to improve retention of their STEM majors as many students enter college with dismal math skills and study skills in general.A‚Â If poor study skills are added into the picture all STEM majors enter their post-secondary education at a deficit.A‚Â To help bridge the STEM divide, the STEM Accelerator Program has developed a STEM Boot camp and more recently a Math Readiness Camp for our incoming STEM majors.A‚Â Our Math Readiness Camp is designed to help students who have not mastered essential math skills that are required for STEM majors. A‚Â Since 2013 GMU hosted a Biology Boot Camp and two STEM Boot Camps. A‚Â During our one week camp, students sat through the first course they will take in their major; these classes included Cell Structure and Function (BIOL 213); General Chemistry (CHEM 211); or Calculus (Math 113).A‚Â These gatekeeper classes can turn students away from STEM if specific deficiencies are not addressed. A‚Â We will describe the Math Readiness and STEM Boot Camps and present retention data from the three cohorts that have participated in our Camps. A‚Â Lessons learned that can be applied beyond the camp model will be discussed, in addition to how the camps can also be modified for non-STEM majors.

AIM: The purpose of this study was to the effectiveness of self-regulated learning strategies on math anxiety of dependent cognitive style school students. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: This quasi-experimental study was conducted with pretest-posttest and control group. The statistical population included all first grade high school female students consisted of 136 participants in the academic year 2014–2015, and the sampling method was random sampling. The instruments of this study were: The math anxiety questionnaire (totally 30-item scale, the scale is a 5 Likert-type scale, Cronbachs alpha 0/86) and instruments was Witkin's Group embedded figures test and 18 is the geometric shape, each of which consists of several irregular geometric shape. Concurrent validity for men 0/82, and for women was 0/63 in the pretest questionnaire completed math anxiety by the students and students had high math anxiety in the experimental two group and a one control group were replaced. The experimental groups received training in self-regulated learning strategies method in order to analyze the data. In all hypotheses, ANCOVA analysis and SPSS 22 (IBM SPSS Software SPSS Statistics is a software package used for statistical analysis) was used. RESULTS: According to the findings, the self-regulated learning strategies training is reduced math anxiety of dependent cognitive style school students. CONCLUSIONS: Employing the self-regulated learning strategies training reduced the math anxiety of dependent cognitive style school students.

The purpose of this thesis was to further our understanding of the role of distributed cognition (with the use of pen and paper) in defusing the impact of evaluative pressure caused by priming gender-related stereotypes about girls’ maths performance and performance-approach goals on mental arithmetic performance. Interactivity is the transferring of internal cognitive process (e.g., computing simple maths tasks) to the outside world by using different tools (e.g., pen and paper). Some members of social groups (e.g., women) may not perform well in mathematics after negative stereotypes about their academic performance in the mathematical domain, which is known as stereotype threat. Stereotype threat is the risk of confirming a negative stereotype expectation about one’s group. Another decrement to performance may be caused by achievement goals, such as performance-approach goals. Performance-approach goals are linked to normative behaviour where the individual is motivated by outperforming others in academic performance. Negative stereotyping and performance-approach goals can generate anxiety that deplete existing working memory resources. However, some of these working memory limitations can be compensated by off-loading the internal cognitive process to the external environment. We tested whether off-loading could buffer the effects of stereotype threat and performance-approach goals in four experiments. In Studies 1 (16-year-old girls) and 2 (female university students), participants carried out mental arithmetic tasks in the stereotype threat condition or control, crossed with interactivity or no interactivity. There was increased maths performance (accuracies) with interactivity, confirming existing literature. Additionally, the solution latencies were improved when the mental arithmetic tasks were in a known format. However, when the maths tasks were in a novel format, the participants of the second study became slower because of speed-accuracy trade-off. The first two studies found no statistically significant effects of stereotype threat on maths performance. Nevertheless, working memory in participants in Study 1 was depleted in the stereotype threat condition, but it did not affect mental arithmetic performance. Finally, the participants in the interactive conditions in Study 2 had a reduction of their state maths anxiety levels measured at the end of the experiment. Studies 3 (Pilot Study) and 4 focused on achievement goals and their differing effects on working memory. Female university students carried out modular arithmetic tasks in a performance-approach goal or mastery-approach goal condition crossed with interactivity or no interactivity. Performance-approach goal endorsement hampered cognitive performance, as measured by maths accuracy in Study 3, but not in Study 4. These findings were extended in Study 4 where these negative effects were reduced with the help of interactivity. Across both studies, individuals in the mastery-approach goal condition had a performance drop in the interactive condition (Study 3 and 4). Thus, interactivity did not benefit the cognitive performance of these participants. Finally, Study 4 reported higher maths anxiety levels for the individuals in the performance-approach condition. However, the increased maths anxiety levels were not reduced with the help of distributed cognition. Reasons for the findings and future implications will be discussed.

This is a descriptive study using 6 years of secondary data to determine how a cohort of entering Filipino students at Rainbow Community College were performing on selected educational outcomes including Math and English placements (based on COMPASS test scores), remedial, developmental, and college level English and Math course attempts and completions, and finally, degree and certificate outcomes. Scant research exists on Filipino student performance in community colleges, especially since Filipinos are typically aggregated into a larger Asian category. Results found a majority of the cohort placing into at least one remedial or developmental course in English or Math and very few students transferring and completing a Baccalaureate degree. No significant differences were found when comparing English and Math completion rates by gender and no discernable patterns were found regarding English and Math course taking patterns in relation to degree completion. The results indicated that students’ best chance to successfully complete their remedial/developmental coursework is if it is attempted within the first year of enrollment in the college. Some policy implementations are suggested. The small size of the Filipino cohort was one of the major limitations of the study. Future research possibilities are also discussed.

In this paper, a new high optical gain amorphous avalanche photodiode has been successfully fabricated on ITO/glass substrate by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). All of these superlattice (SL) structures are made of an a-Si/SiC:H heterojunction to spatially confine the carrier ionization events within the narrow bandgap material (a-Si:H). As the carriers move across the heterobarrier step, they gain kinetic energy from the band edge discontinuity thus effectively reducing the impact ionization threshold energy. In this way each carrier will impact ionize a new electron-hole pair and the ionization rate can be enhanced. The performance of high gain, high sensitivity and low noise can be achieved. Due to the multiplication mechanism in the Si/SiC:H layer, the optical gain will be enhanced. For the a-SiC:H graded-gap superlattice structure, the room-temperature electron and hole impact ionization rates, α and β, have been determined by the photocurrent multiplication measurements. The ratio of the electron to hole ionization rates is 7.743 at a fixed electric field of 2.19×10^5Vcm^(-1). Avalanche multiplication in the superlattice layer yields a high optical gain of 206 at a reverse bias V(subscript R)=20V and an incident light power P(subscript in)=5μW and has a switching time of 7.2μs at a load resistance R(subscript L)=2.2KΩ. Multiplication excess noise is also measured, and is used to evaluate the ionization rate ratio. It was found that the a-SiC:H graded-gap superlattice avalanche photodiode generates high optical gain and low excess noise during the photocurrent multiplication. These results indicate that the a-SiC:H graded-gap superlattice avalanche photodiode is a promising device for the high sensitive imaging sensor. Besides, a variety of peak response wavelength is achievable by changing the applied bias and the well width in the SL structure, making the device useful as a wavelength selective multimedia color management photosensor.

A design and implementation of a 32 bit fast floating point multiplier with the single precision IEEE 754-2008 standard target for Xilinx virtex-5 FPGA. The proposed design and timing information of the multiplier sub-module has been calculated and the proposed design intends to increase the speed on the multiplier by reducing delay at every stage using optimal adder design. The proposed multiplier is made to multiply two floating point numbers and generate the output to make minimum time delay. The modules have been written in verilog HDL and it is simulated using the Xilinx ISE12.1 targeted on the FPGA.

Background: Clitoria ternatea L. is an important rare medicinal plant species with memory‑enhancing ability used as crude drugs in many ayurvedic medicines. Objective: The objectives were as follows: A. To develop a protocol for rapid clonal propagation of the important medicinal climber, C. ternatea L., through in vitro tissue culture of embryo explants through callogenesis and organogenesis, and B. Antibacterial study of ethanolic extract of in vitro raised plant and callus mass against Pseudomonas aeruginosa (MTCC189), Bacillus subtilis (MTCC8), Escherichia coli (MTCC1), and Klebsiella pneumonia (MTCC3883), respectively. Materials and Methods: Explants were cultured on Murashige and Skoog’s (MS) medium supplemented with different concentrations and combinations of 6‑benzylamino purine (BAP), (2,4‑dichlorophenoxy acetic acid (2,4‑D), and a‑naphthalene acetic acid (NAA)for shoot and root induction. The disc diffusion method was adopted for antimicrobial study of the plant extract. Results: The sub‑cultured of callus on MS basal medium supplemented with BAP (2.5 mg/l) and NAA (0.5 mg/l) showed highest rate of shoot multiplication. In vitro shoots were rooted on to the MS basal medium supplemented with NAA (0.5 mg/l). The sub‑culture of callus on MS basal medium supplemented with BAP (1 mg/l) and NAA (0.5 mg/l) showed highest rate of root multiplication from callus. The antibacterial activity of the ethanolic extracts of in vitro grown products of C. ternatea L. was found to have antimicrobial activity against all tested microorganisms. Preliminary phytochemical screening revealed the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins,carbohydrates, and steroids in the in vitro grown products of C. ternatea L. Conclusion: An efficient protocol was developed for successful micropropagation and multiple plant regeneration of an important medicinal plant C. ternatea L. It is a widely used in ayurvedic medicine because of its multi‑potent bioactive molecules and significant antibacterial properties. Key words: Antibacterial activity, Clitoria ternatea L., ethanolic extracts, growth regulator, in vitro multiplication, phytochemicals

A.G. Vulih has shown how an essentially unique intrinsic multiplication can be defined in certain types of Riesz spaces (vector lattices) L. In general, the multiplication is not universally defined in L, but L can always be imbedded in a large space L# in which multiplication is universally defined. If ф is a normal integral in L, then ф can be extended to a normal integral on a large space L1(ф) in L#, and L1(ф) may be regarded as an abstract integral space. A very general form of the Radon-Nikodym theorem can be proved in L1(ф), and this can be used to give a relatively simple proof of a theorem of Segal giving a necessary and sufficient condition that the Radon-Nikodym theorem hold in a measure space. In another application, the multiplication is used to give a representation of certain Riesz spaces as rings of operators on a Hilbert space.

Background Oil leaks from pipelines, including unauthorized cut-ins, cause substantial economic and ecological damage during operation of the Russian oil pipelines. Published materials demonstrate continual growth of the damage. Numerous methods have been developed to determine coordinates of leaks and cut-ins. The methods are based on using various physical laws and phenomena and differ in their sensitivity to noise, noise immunity, dependence on the natural factors, speed and accuracy of determining coordinates of leaks and cut-ins. Yet, neither of these methods solves the problem of locating the pipeline damage in real time. The methods also differ in the frequency range of received and processed sound vibrations – low-frequency infrasonic and high-frequency. Infrasonic detection systems seem to be most promising, where the signal detection and propagation distance are considered. Aims and Objectives Math modeling of a dampening infrasonic signal and evaluating the accuracy of detecting coordinates of leakages, caused by authorized/unauthorized cut-in or corrosion of the main oil pipeline, where the signal is disturbed by noises of different intensity and the parameters of the signal math model are unknown. Methods Speed and accuracy of locating the source of the signal may be determined by two methods: a) evaluation of the moment of the first entrance of and signals into П 1 and П 2 receivers by calculating spectral density of energy and/or dispersion of the signal in the given «sliding window»; b) evaluation (making precise) of the time lag of one signal in relation to the other signal by finding the maximum mutual correlation function of spectral density of the compared signal energy, which allow to exclude the influence of signal damping on the accuracy of evaluating . Results Accuracy of evaluating the time lag of one signal in relation to the other signal is studied on the base of the developed math model of damping infrasonic vibrations generated by a source and received by two receivers with some delay. It is demonstrated that the accuracy depends both on the relative position of the signal source and the receivers, and on the signal/noise relation. Signal model and methods of signal processing allow to select monitoring system parameters (coordinates of receivers), that ensure the highest accuracy of evaluating the time lag . Conclusion It is studied whether math models of damping infrasonic vibrations generated by certain resources can be used for designing oil pipeline monitoring systems, which determine the coordinates of the signal generating source.

Formal verification of integer multipliers was an open problem for a long time as the size of any reduced ordered binary decision diagram (BDD) [1] which represents integer multiplication is exponential in the width of the operands [2]. In 1995, Bryant and Chen [4] introduced multiplicative binary moment diagrams (*BMD) which are a canonical data structure for pseudo Boolean functions allowing a linear representation of integer multipliers. Based on this data structure, Bryant/Chen [4] and Hamaguchi et.al. [5] experimentally showed that integer multipliers up to a word size of 64 bits can be formally verified. However, all these results only handle the problem of proving a faultless integer multiplier to be correct. But, what happens if the multiplier is faulty? Does the backward construction method of Hamaguchi et.al. stop after a short time? After what time can I be sure that the integer multiplier under consideration is faulty? In this paper, we show that these questions are relevant in practice. In particular, we investigate simple add-step multipliers and show that simple design errors can lead to exponential growth of the *BMDS occuring during backward construction. This proves that the backward construction method can only be applied as filter during formal logic combinational verification unless sharp upper bounds for the sizes of the *BMDs occuring during the backward construction have been proven for the various circuit types as Keim et.al. [6] did it for Wallace Tree multipliers.

Objective To explore the mathematics cognitive function of epileptic children with mathematical Event-related potential(ERP). Methods ERPs from 15 epileptic children and 15 controls were measured and analyzed when they were instructed to perform a mental calculation task which included addition, subtraction and multiplication operations.Results (1)Compared with the control group, the amplitudes of P3 and N2 decreased obviously and the latencies of P3 and N2 prolonged in epileptic children group( P <0.05).(2)The response time was longer[as follow:(addition(949.0±167.2)ms,subtraction(1007.3±166.5)ms,multiplication(985.0±153.6)ms);addition(769.5±149.5)ms,subtraction(799.5±176.7)ms,multiplication(794.6±167.3)ms,P <0.05] in the all three arithmetic operations and there were more errors [as follow:(addition(18.8±13.0)%,subtraction(33.1±21.1)%,(addition(6.4±4.4)%,subtraction(7.5±7.4)%,P <0.05] in addition and subtraction in epileptic children group compared to the controls.Conclusion There is the dysfunction of mental arithmetic in epileptic children,such as addition,subtraction.The ERP may be used as a quantitative index to monitor arithmetic cognitive impairment in epileptic patients. Key words: Epileptic children; Arithemtic; Event-related potential

Current globalization and immigration have gradually changed Taiwan, where a special phenomenon appears due to the growing intermarriage. The main purpose of this survey research was to investigate the mathematics performance of the ”new children of Taiwan”, the children of ”immigrant women”. The results showed that a) there was obvious individual difference among these children on math performance; b) in average, the proficiency diversity of the children was higher in Statistics than the other math topics, while that in Algebra was vaguer; c) in comparison with local students, these children had lower achievement in Measurement and Geometry, but had no obvious difference on Number, Statistics, and Algebra; d) The nationalities of immigrant women weren't the crucial factor to influence their children's math performance.

This paper aims to determine whether certain classroom practices will increase the chance that students will decide whether they are poor in math. The study was conducted to Senior High School (SHS) students in a private university in Dasmarinas City, Cavite. A total of 282 respondents coming from the different strands were selected. Using multiple linear regression, results revealed that two factors were found to be significant as to why the ability perceptions exist in the classroom. The teacher’s report about the student’s talent in math and the task structures practiced inside the classroom. This further implies that in a student’s point of view, the higher the grade that they are receiving, the more that they think they are superior to others, which makes the ability perception score to increase as well. On the other hand, the more frequent the math structure is practiced in class, the lower the tendency of ability perception to exist in class. This study, therefore proves that ability perception also exists in SHS students.

It is a trend to develop the computerized test nowadays, since the testing process can be cheaper and more efficient than the paper-pencil test. The concern in the measurement community is, although there are many advantages to administrate the test on computers, there is still a potential problem that the computer skills may be a factor to affect student's test scores. This paper checked the unidimensionality of a computerized reading and math test using different methods. It is found that DIMTEST is the most powerful method to detect the multidimensionality and Grade 3 Math is the subject to violate the unidimensionlity assumption. The possible explanation of the results is given in the discussion section.