In Sweden, a compulsory national assessment of all students’ reading skills has been implemented by the National Agency at the end of 1st grade to improve early identification of students in need of extra support in their reading development. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate to what extent the compulsory criterion-referenced assessment identifies children with poor reading skills in comparison to two commonly used standardized and norm-referenced assessment materials measuring word reading skills and reading comprehension. Fifty-three Swedish students participated in the compulsory national assessment at the end of 1st grade and were administered the norm-referenced assessments of reading comprehension and word reading at the beginning of grade 2. Furthermore, a survey was distributed to 27 teachers in primary school to explore teachers’ experiences of using the compulsory national assessment in grade 1. Results indicated that the national compulsory assessment in grade 1 only identified 8 % of the students identified with reading comprehension difficulties and weak word reading skills in the norm-referenced standardized assessment in grade 2. A majority (70 %) of the teachers question the criterion based national assessments’ capacity to identify children at risk in their reading development. Implications for early identification of reading difficulties in Swedish primary school are discussed.

Neste trabalho estudamos a topologia local, trivialidade topolóogica e as singularidades de superfícies regradas em \'R POT.3\'. O objetivo do trabalho é comparar as singularidades que ocorrem no conjunto das superfícies regradas com as singularidades de germes de aplicações de \'R POT.2\' em \'R POT.3\', fazer a classificação topológica local e estudar a trivialidade topológica de famílias de superfícies regradas. Finalmente, discutimos possíveis generalizações de superfícies regradas para altas dimensões / We study the local topology, topological triviality and singularities of ruled surfaces in \'R POT.3\'. In this work we compare the singularities of germs from \'R POT.2\' to \'R POT.3\' with the singularities appearing in the set of ruled surfaces, doing a local topology classification of the ruled surface and study the topological triviality of families of ruled surfaces. Finally we will try to give possible generalizations of ruled surfaces for higher dimensions.

Correlación de resultados para distintos tipos de estructuras de hormigón armado, según su localización y su edad.

Analiza la variación a través del tiempo del valor de la DO de la prueba de EIA y su posible relación con factores de riesgo en los participantes VHS-2 positivo del estudio Comunidades Positivas (C-POS) 2008. Se analizan los datos de 198 participantes, entre ellos se considera los tres valores de DO del EIA para detectar infección por VHS-2 (muestra basal y dos seguimientos), conducta sexual y estado serológico para VIH y Sífilis. La DO promedio de la muestra basal es 1.5 (±0.81; 95% IC). La edad promedio es 30.8 años (±7.08; 95% IC), 49 (24.75%) participantes presentaron VIH, 59 (29.8%) Sífilis y 18 (9.09%) tienen coinfección VIH/Sífilis. De todos, 139 participantes manifietan tener práctica sexual receptiva (70.20%), 50 reportan ser modernos (25.25%) y 9 penetrativos (4.55%). Se observa diferencias significativas en la comparación del seguimiento1 (media 1.522) versus la medición basal (mediana1.791; valor p>0.001; 95% IC) y el seguimiento2 (mediana 1.338; valor p=0.004; 95% IC) pero no al subclasificarlos en grupos (valores p obtenidos entre 0.046-0.722; 95% IC). El estudio concluye que no existiría variación de las DO al ser subclasificado por la conducta sexual y serología del paciente. / Tesis

Equating is a statistical process used to accomplish score comparability so that the scores from the different test forms can be used interchangeably. One of the most widely used equating procedures is unidimensional item response theory (UIRT) equating, which requires a set of assumptions about the data structure. In particular, the essence of UIRT rests on the unidimensionality assumption, which requires that a test measures only a single ability. However, this assumption is not likely to be fulfilled for many real data such as mixed-format tests or tests composed of several content subdomains: failure to satisfy the assumption threatens the accuracy of the estimated equating relationships. The main purpose of this dissertation was to contribute to the literature on multidimensional item response theory (MIRT) equating by developing a theoretical and conceptual framework for true-score equating using a simple-structure MIRT model (SS-MIRT). SS-MIRT has several advantages over other complex MIRT models such as improved efficiency in estimation and a straightforward interpretability. In this dissertation, the performance of the SS-MIRT true-score equating procedure (SMT) was examined and evaluated through four studies using different data types: (1) real data, (2) simulated data, (3) pseudo forms data, and (4) intact single form data with identity equating. Besides SMT, four competitors were included in the analyses in order to assess the relative benefits of SMT over the other procedures: (a) equipercentile equating with presmoothing, (b) UIRT true-score equating, (c) UIRT observed-score equating, and (d) SS-MIRT observed-score equating. In general, the proposed SMT procedure behaved similarly to the existing procedures. Also, SMT showed more accurate equating results compared to the traditional UIRT equating. Better performance of SMT over UIRT true-score equating was consistently observed across the three studies that employed different criterion relationships with different datasets, which strongly supports the benefit of a multidimensional approach to equating with multidimensional data.

Eating disorders (EDs) are strikingly common among American adults. Past research has indicated that athletes in general are particularly vulnerable to developing EDs due to media pressure, athletic drive, and the population’s proclivity to perfectionism. Most ED research, both in athletic and non-athletic populations, is female-focused, as women are more likely to develop EDs. However, men are still susceptible to develop EDs and are understudied. Links between lack of autonomy and EDs exist in familial settings, but have yet to be applied in organizational settings. This quantitative thesis sought to bridge a research gap by assessing ED levels in male NCAA Division 1 athletes and examining the relationships with perceived levels of concertive, institutional, and simple control present in athletic settings. Findings indicated that although athletes perceived different forms of control in their sport, these forms of control did not negatively affect their eating habits. Implications and direction for future research are explored.

The aim of this thesis is to generate original symmetric presentations for finite non-abelian simple groups. We will discuss many permutation progenitors, including but not limited to 2*14 : D28, 2∗9 : 3•(32), 3∗9 : 3•(32), 2∗21 : (7X3) : 2 as well as monomial progenitors, including 7∗5 :m A5, 3∗5 :m S5. We have included their homomorphic images which include the Mathieu group M12, 2•J2, 2XS(4, 5), as well as, many PGL′s, PSL′s and alternating groups. We will give proofs of the isomorphism types of each progenitor, either by hand using double coset enumeration or computer based using MAGMA. We have also constructed Cayley graphs of the following groups, 25 : S5 over 2∗5 : S5, PSL(2, 8) over 2∗7 : D14, M12 over a maximal subgroup, 2XS5. We have developed a lemma using relations to factor permutation progenitors of the form m∗n : N to give an isomorphism of mn : N . Motivated by Robert T. Curtis’ research, we will present a program using MAGMA that, when given a target finite non-abelian simple group, the program will generate possible control groups to write progenitors that will give the given finite non-abelian simple group. Iwasawa’s lemma is also discussed and used to prove PSL(2, 8) and M12 to be simple groups.

The foundation of the work of this thesis is based around the involutory progenitor and the finite homomorphic images found therein. This process is developed by Robert T. Curtis and he defines it as 2^{*n} :N {pi w | pi in N, w} where 2^{*n} denotes a free product of n copies of the cyclic group of order 2 generated by involutions. We repeat this process with different control groups and a different array of possible relations to discover interesting groups, such as sporadic, linear, or unitary groups, to name a few. Predominantly this work was produced from transitive groups in 6,10,12, and 18 letters. Which led to identify some appealing groups for this project, such as Janko group J1, Symplectic groups S(4,3) and S(6,2), Mathieu group M12 and some linear groups such as PGL2(7) and L2(11) . With this information, we performed double coset enumeration on some of our findings, M12 over L_2(11) and L_2(31) over D15. We will also prove their isomorphism types with the help of the Jordan-Holder theorem, which aids us in defining the make up of the group. Some examples that we will encounter are the extensions of L_2(31)(center) 2 and A5:2^2.

I will be going over writing representations of both permutation and monomial progenitors, which include 2^{*4} : D_4, 2^(*7) :L_2 (7) as permutation progenitors, and monomial progenitors 7^(*2) :_m S_3 \times 2, 11^{*2} :_m (5:2)^{*}5, 11^{*3} :_m (25:3), 11^{*4} :_m (4 : 5)^{*}5. Also, the images of these different progenitors at both lower and higher fields and orders. \\ We will also do the double coset enumeration of S5 over D6, S6 over 5 : 4, A_5 x A_5 over (5:2)^{*}5, and go on to also do the double coset enumeration over maximal subgroups for larger constructions. We will also do the construction of sporadic group M22 over maximal subgroup A7, and also J1 with the monomial representation 7^(*2) :_m S_3 \times 2 over maximal subgroup PSL(2,11). We will also look at different extension problems of composition factors of different groups, and determine the isomorphism types of each extension.

Combining multiple forecasts in order to generate a single, more accurate one is a well-known approach. A simple average of forecasts has been found to be robust despite theoretically better approaches, increasing availability in the number of expert forecasts, and improved computational capabilities. The dominance of a simple average is related to the small sample sizes and to the estimation errors associated with more complex methods. We study the role that expert correlation, multiple experts, and their relative forecasting accuracy have on the weight estimation error distribution. The distributions we find are used to identify the conditions when a decision maker can confidently estimate weights versus using a simple average. We also propose an improved expert weighting approach that is less sensitive to covariance estimation error while providing much of the benefit from a covariance optimal weight. These two improvements create a new heuristic for better forecast aggregation that is simple to use. This heuristic appears new to the literature and is shown to perform better than a simple average in a simulation study and by application to economic forecast data.