The rationale behind this study concerns the issues school administrators and teachers of expatriate students face over the progress and placement of the growing number of these students in mathematics classrooms in various countries brought about by the demographical changes occurring in this globalization era. This study aimed to present a method of examining lower secondary school mathematics textbooks with the purpose of evaluating students' expected past learning and comparing students' expected mathematics learning across the different curricula. It is anticipated that such an investigation will be of value to those responsible for the correct level of placement of these students.Six sets of textbooks from four countries on the Asia-Pacific rim, namely Australia, Brunei, China and Singapore, were selected for this study. The textbook content of each country was analyzed in terms of strand weighting and content details, and then coupled with information gained from interviews with teachers. This led to the findings which addressed the various issues raised.The findings facilitated a comparison of the learning paths offered by the various textbooks, fleshed out the differences and similarities of the various curricula and made available detailed comparisons of the textbooks' content in terms of topics covered. The analytical procedure of the examination of text content as presented in this study is itself a diagnostic technique for assessment of the students' past learning, which addressed the main objective of the study.The findings will be of interest to all who are interested in the mathematics taught in the countries involved. / Outcomes will be particularly useful to curriculum planners and textbook writers as well as the administrators and teachers of International Schools and other schools enrolling expatriate students from these countries. The study offers a 'simplistic' way of evaluating textbooks to assess students' learning progress, and highlights the traits of the countries' curricula to provide a general idea of the mathematics ability expected from the expatriate students residing in these countries.

Le codage et le comportement de l'arithmétique à virgule flottante disponible dans les ordinateurs sont spécifiés par la norme IEEE-754. Cette norme impose au système de rendre comme résultat de l'une des quatre opérations (+, *, /, sqrt), l'arrondi du résultat exact. Cette propriété que l'on appelle <>, permet de garantir la qualité du résultat. Elle permet également la construction de preuves d'algorithmes, quelles que soient les machines sur lesquelles l'opération est executée. Toutefois cette norme présente des limites, puisque les fonctions élémentaires (sinus, cosinus, exponentielle...) en sont absentes. Cette abscence est liée au <> : il est, contrairement aux opérations de base, difficile de connaître la précision nécessaire pour garantir l'arrondi correct des fonctions élémentaires. Cependant, si l'on fixe le format de représentation, il est alors possible par une recherche exhaustive de déterminer cette borne; ce fut le travail de thèse de Lefèvre pour la double précision. <br /><br />L'objectif de ce mémoire est d'exploiter les bornes associées à chaque fonction, pour certifier l'arrondi correct des fonctions élémentaires en double précision pour les quatre modes d'arrondi. À cet effet, nous avons implémenté les évaluations en deux étapes : l'une rapide et juste la plupart du temps, basée sur les propriétés de l'arithmétique IEEE double précision, et l'autre juste tout le temps, composé d'opérateurs multiprécision. Pour cette deuxième phase, nous avons développé une bibliothèque d'opérateurs multiprécision optimisés pour les précisions données par ces bornes et les caractéristiques des processeurs en 2003.

One of the main criticisms of previously studied label noise models in the PAC-learning framework is the inability of such models to represent the noise in real world data. In this thesis, we study this problem by introducing a framework for modeling label noise and suggesting four new label noise models. We prove positive learnability results for these noise models in learning simple concept classes and discuss the difficulty of the problem of learning other interesting concept classes under these new models. In addition, we study the previous general learning algorithm, called the minimum pn-disagreement strategy, that is used to prove learnability results in the PAC-learning framework both in the absence and presence of noise. Because of limitations of the minimum pn-disagreement strategy, we propose a new general learning algorithm called the minimum nn-disagreement strategy. Finally, for both minimum pn-disagreement strategy and minimum nn-disagreement strategy, we investigate some properties of label noise models that provide sufficient conditions for the learnability of specific concept classes.

Abstract The main purpose of this study is to investigate, through the ¡§Series¡¨ unit in the first volume of high school mathematics, the impact of the updated-version textbooks on the learning effectiveness of students so as to provide references to be used by future revisers of teaching materials. The research subjects were drawn from Kaohsiung City high schools. Three schools were selected (two public and one private). These three high schools, from the 1999 academic year, began to use mathematics textbooks of three different versions, one to each school. A first-year class and a second-year class were drawn from each school, and there were six classes in total. In total there were 237 students receiving the experimentation. The students from the same school, no matter they were first-year or second-year, had been taught by the same teacher in respect of the unit that was included in the study. Among the three schools, School ¥Ò®Õ admitted for the 1998 and 1999 school years new students with scores higher than 580 on the joint entrance examination, School ¤A®Õadmitted for the 1998 and 1999 school years new students with scores from 530 to 580 on the joint entrance examination, and School ¤þ®Õadmitted for the 1998 and 1999 school years new students with scores lower than 530 on the joint entrance examination. The three new versions used in the study were published by Nan-I Book Store, Ta Tung Information Enterprise, Co., Ltd., and Han Lin Publisher respectively. They are high school mathematics textbooks examined and approved by the Ministry of Education (excluding Teacher¡¦s Manual, supplementary materials, journals, reference books, etc). The outdated version was published by National Bureau of Editing and Translation. Mathematics Test written by the researcher was used as the testing tool, and the t-test method was adopted. Moreover, because the variances of the file data collected from a school fluctuated tremendously and the sample space was unequal, a single-factor ANOVA analysis was conducted to indicate whether there existed a significant difference between classes in terms of their learning achievement. The ¡§Questionnaire on Mathematics Opinions¡¨ was administered and the results were represented by ¡¥5¡¦, ¡¥4¡¦, ¡¥3¡¦, ¡¥2¡¦, ¡¥1¡¦, which indicated their scores. An ANOVA analysis was conducted to investigate the differences in students¡¦ learning attitude. After synthesizing the analytical results of this study, the author has come up with the following conclusions: ¤@¡BIt is known from t-test and ANOVA analysis: in School ¥Ò®Õ, there existed a significant difference between the first-year and the second-year students in respect of their learning effectiveness; in School ¤A®Õ, there existed no significant difference between the first-year and the second-year students in respect of their learning effectiveness; in School ¤þ®Õ, there existed no significant difference between the first-year and the second-year students in respect of their learning effectiveness. ¤G¡BAccording to the correct percentage of each question made by students and the error pattern, the test questions were classified into three types: concept, calculation, and comprehensive application (including questions that integrated comprehension, analysis, and application abilities). It was found from the classification of questions that: (1) Textbooks have no impact on both the well-established (School ¥Ò®Õ) and the weak (School ¤þ®Õ) students in respect of the effectiveness of learning concept questions. There is no difference between the outdated and the updated-version textbooks. However, as far as the students with ordinary achievement (School ¤A®Õ) are concerned, the updated-version textbooks have a significant impact on learning effectiveness. (2) Textbooks have an impact on both the well-established (School ¥Ò®Õ) and the weak (School¤þ®Õ) students in respect of the effectiveness of learning calculation questions, and the first-year students have benefited more from the updated-version textbooks than have their second-year counterparts in terms of the effectiveness in learning calculation questions. However, as far as the students with ordinary achievement (School ¤A®Õ) are concerned, the updated-version textbooks have a significant impact on the effectiveness of their learning to reduce cycle fractions, but have no significant impact on their learning other calculation questions. (3) Textbooks have an impact on the effectiveness of learning comprehensive application questions, as far as both the well-established (School¥Ò®Õ ) and the students with ordinary achievement (School¤A®Õ) are concerned. Moreover, the first-year students have benefited less from the updated-version textbooks than have their second-year counterparts in terms of the effectiveness in learning comprehensive application questions. However, as far as the weak students (School¤þ®Õ) are concerned, the updated-version textbooks have a significant impact on the effectiveness of their learning comprehensive application questions. In particular, the updated-version textbooks have an especially significant impact on the effectiveness in learning the comprehensive application questions of regression principle. ¤T¡BFrom investigating the difference between attitude toward and effectiveness in learning mathematics as far as different groups are concerned, it has been found: There existed a significant difference between learning attitude and learning effectiveness as far as the first-year and the second-year students of School ¥Ò®Õ are concerned. There existed no significant difference between learning attitude and learning effectiveness as far as the first-year students of School ¤A®Õare concerned. There existed a significant difference between learning attitude and learning effectiveness as far as the second-year students of School ¤þ®Õ are concerned. There existed no significant difference between learning attitude and learning effectiveness as far as the first-year and the second-year students of School ¤þ®Õ are concerned. ¥|¡BFrom the correlation between the learning attitude (consisting of five sub- categories: learning habit, learning process, learning desire, learning method, and test preparation) and the learning effectiveness of the first-year and second-year students of the three schools, it has been found: ¡]1¡^ As far as the correlations between their learning effectiveness and their learning desire and between their learning effectiveness and their learning method are concerned, there existed a significant difference between the first-year and the second-year students. Because both learning desire and learning method are related to textbooks, the updated-version textbooks had a significant impact on the learning effectiveness of the first-year students of School ¥Ò®Õ. ¡]2¡^ On the average, there existed a significant correlation between the learning effectiveness of the second-year students of School¥Ò®Õ , School ¤A®Õ, and School ¤þ®Õ and each of the five sub-categories of learning attitude (learning habit, learning process, learning desire, learning method, test preparation). Their performance on each sub-category of learning attitude is more or less related to textbooks. Therefore, there existed a significant correlation between the updated-version textbooks and each of the five sub-categories of learning attitude. ¡]1¡^ The correlation between learning effectiveness and learning method presented by the first-year students of School ¥Ò®Õ and School ¤þ®Õ (especially School ¥Ò®Õ) is more significant than that presented by their second-year counterparts. ¡]4¡^ The correlation between learning effectiveness and test preparation presented by the first-year students of School ¥Ò®Õ, School ¤A®Õand School ¤þ®Õ is more significant than that presented by their second-year counterparts.

Many students struggle on writing tasks with little success because writing is a complex task. Students with learning disabilities (LD) and students who are served in English to Speakers of Other Language (ESOL) programs generally perform at lower rates on writing tasks than their English-only speaking peers without disabilities. Several researchers indicate that students with disabilities may be able to improve their performance on writing tasks through the implementation of Direct Instruction writing programs. The purpose of the current study was to demonstrate the relationship between the implementation of an accelerated Direct Instruction program and student writing performance with students who have LD in written expression, and who are either English-only speaking or native Spanish-speaking. Specifically, using a multiple-probe across participants single-subject research design, two groups of students received instruction using the Expressive Writing program. One group of three students were concurrently served in both special education for learning disabilities in the area of written expression and in a program for students who were English Language Learners (ELL), and another group of three were native English speakers who had learning disabilities in written expression. Students were divided into two separate groups to determine the effect of an abbreviated instructional sequence on both groups of students as the language background differences between the two groups did not allow them to be examined as one distinct group. The effects of instruction were measured by analyzing the number of correct word sequences, the number of words, and the types of errors when students were given three-minute writing probes. Additionally, performance on the Test of Written Language (3rd edition) (TOWL-3) and a classroom generalization measure were examined. Results indicated that when only half of the total lessons were presented to the students in both groups, the number of correct word sequences and the total number of words written increased on within-program writing probes, the TOWL-3, and on a generalization measure. An implication of these results is that adolescent students with writing deficits may be able improve their basic writing skills using half of the total program. Such a finding is important because students at this level who have not yet acquired these skills must quickly acquire them to be able to develop the more sophisticated skills required of students at their grade level. Limitations included the lack of the in-program placement test being proctored at the end of the intervention and the use of a nonconcurrent baseline with the second group of students.

ABSTRACT ROBUSTNESS OF TWO FORMULAS TO CORRECT PEARSON CORRELATION FOR RESTRICTION OF RANGE by Dung Minh Tran Many research studies involving Pearson correlations are conducted in settings where one of the two variables has a restricted range in the sample. For example, this situation occurs when tests are used for selecting candidates for employment or university admission. Often after selection, there is interest in correlating the selection variable, which has a restricted range, to a criterion variable. The focus of this research was to compare Alexander, Alliger, and Hanges’s (1984) formula to Thorndike’s (1947) formula and population values using Monte Carlo simulation when the assumption of normal distribution is violated in a particular way. In both Thorndike’s and Alexander et al.’s correction formulas, values for the variances in the restricted and the unrestricted situations are required. For both formulas, the variance in restricted situations was a sample estimate. In the Monte Carlo simulation, the difference between the two approaches was that in Thorndike’s formula, the variance in the unrestricted situation was the population variance from the exogenous variable, whereas in Alexander et al.’s approach, the population variance was estimated based on the sample variance in the restricted situation. In the simulation, robustness situations were created from non-normal distributions for predicted group membership in a classification problem. As expected, Thorndike’s corrected correlation values were more accurate than Alexander et al.’s corrected correlation values, and Thorndike’s formula had a smaller standard error of estimates. Absolute values of the mean differences between the estimated and population correlations for Alexander et al.’s approach compared to Thorndike’s approach in robustness situations ranged from 1.37 to 2.15 larger. Nevertheless, Alexander et al.’s approach, which is based only on estimated variances, appears to be a worthwhile correction in most of the simulated situations with a few notable exceptions for non-normal distributions.

Pastaruoju metu Lietuvoje suintensyvėjo sociolingvistiniai tyrimai. Nuošalyje neliko ir Šiaulių universiteto mokslininkai bei jų vadovaujami, pirmuosius mokslinius darbus rašantys, studentai. Darbe aptariama taisyklingos kalbos vartosenos problema. Remiantis anketomis analizuojamas jaunųjų lituanistų požiūris į taisyklingą kalbos vartoseną, kalbos prestižą, motyvaciją kalbėti taisyklingai. Atliktas tyrimas leidžia ne tik susipažinti su Šiaulių universiteto Humanitarinio fakulteto lituanistų taisyklingos kalbos vartosena, bet ir padeda suvokti, kaip rimtai jaunoji lituanistų karta vertina savo pasirinktą specialybę – lietuvių kalbą. / Recently, Lithuania intensified the research of language. Left behind and Siauliai University scientists and their guidance, the first scientific work on writing students. The paper deals with regular use of the language problem. Based on the analysis of questionnaires for young specialists in Lithuanian philology approach to correct language usage, language prestige, the motivation to speak correct. Study allows not only access to the Siauliai University Faculty of Humanities lituanistų correct language usage, but also helps to understand how serious the younger generation appreciates specialists in Lithuanian philology his chosen profession - the Lithuanian language.

No description available.

The development of high integrity embedded systems remains an arduous and error-prone task, despite the efforts by researchers in inventing tools and techniques for design automation. Much of the problem arises from the fact that the semantics of the modeling languages for the various tools, are often distinct, and the semantics gaps are often filled manually through the engineer's understanding of one model or an abstraction. This provides an opportunity for bugs to creep in, other than standardizing software engineering errors germane to such complex system engineering. Since embedded systems applications such as avionics, automotive, or industrial automation are safety critical, it is very important to invent tools, and methodologies for safe and reliable system design. Much of the tools, and techniques deal with either the design of embedded platforms (hardware, networking, firmware etc), and software stack separately. The problem of the semantic gap between these two, as well as between models of computation used to capture semantics must be solved in order to design safer embedded systems. In this dissertation we propose a methodology for the end-to-end modeling and analysis of safety-critical embedded systems. Our approach consists of formal platform modeling, and analysis; formal application modeling; and 'correct-by-construction' code synthesis with the aim of bridging semantic gaps between the various abstractions and models required for the end-to-end system design. While the platform modeling language AADL has formal semantics, and analysis tools for real-time, and performance verification, the application behavior modeling in AADL is weak and part of an annex. In our work, we create the APECS (AADL and Polychrony based Embedded Computing Synthesis) methodology to allow an embedded system design specification all the way from platform architecture and platform components, the real-time behavior, non-functional properties, as well as the application software modeling. Our main contribution is to integrate a polychronous application software modeling language, and synthesis algorithms in order for synthesis of the embedded software running on the target platform, with the required constraints being met. We believe that a polychronous approach is particularly well suited for a multiprocessor/multi-controller distributed platform where different components often operate at independent rates and concurrently. Further, the use of a formal polychronous language will allow for formal validation of the software prior to code generation. We present a prototype framework that implements this approach, which we refer to as the AADL and Polychrony based Embedded Computing System (APECS). Our prototype utilizes an extended version of Ocarina to provide code generation for the AADL model. Our polychronous modeling language is MRICDF. Our prototype extends Ocarina to support software specification in MRICDF and generate multi-threaded software. Additionally, we implement an automated translation from Simulink to MRICDF, allowing designers to benefit from its formal semantics and exploit engineers' familiarity with Simulink tools, and legacy models. We present case studies utilizing APECS to implement safety critical systems both natively in MRICDF and in Simulink through automated translation. / Ph. D.

Nonword repetition (NWR) has demonstrated significant potential as a less-biased language assessment measure for dual language learners (DLLs). However, there are currently no available guidelines for the use of NWR in a clinical setting. The purpose of this preliminary study is to develop initial recommendations for the clinical use of NWR tasks by determining the diagnostic accuracy and optimal cut-off scores for two NWR tasks and scoring methods, and to evaluate the clinical feasibility of NWR as an assessment measure. Participants included 23 DLL students with and without language disorder between the ages of 6 and 8. Spanish and English NWR tasks were administered in school classrooms and scored by percent phonemes correct (PPC) and number of whole words correct. Optimal cut-off scores resulting in the best sensitivity and specificity were calculated for each task and scoring method. Diagnostic accuracy was then compared for each task, combination of tasks, and scoring method. English PPC, Spanish PPC, and combined whole word scores yielded acceptable levels of sensitivity and specificity. Combined PPC scores resulted in excellent specificity, but inadequate sensitivity. Whole word scores for the tasks individually did not approach acceptable diagnostic accuracy. The current findings suggest that NWR can be feasibly implemented in the clinical setting and yield accurate results. English-Spanish whole word scores show potential as an accurate assessment measure for DLL children but should be investigated further. English-Spanish PPC scores appear to be appropriate for ruling out a language disorder, but are insufficient for ruling one in. These results provide preliminary support for the use of NWR tasks in the clinical assessment of DLLs as well as initial recommendations for their administration and interpretation.