A new blind equalization algorithm based on convex combination

The convex combination is a mathematic approach to keep the advantages of its component algorithms for better performance. In this paper, we employ convex combination in the blind equalization to achieve better blind equalization. By combining the blind constant modulus algorithm (CMA) and decision directed algorithm, the combinative blind equalization (CBE) algorithm can retain the advantages from both. Furthermore, the convergence speed of the CBE algorithm is faster than both of its component equalizers. Simulation results are also given to verify the proposed algorithm.

The automatic layout model in the sequencing of construction activities of multi-objective diaphragm wall unit by using self-learning neural network

Foundation construction process has been an important key point in a successful construction engineering. The frequency of using diaphragm wall construction method among many deep excavation construction methods in Taiwan is the highest in the world. The traditional view of managing diaphragm wall unit in the sequencing of construction activities is to establish each phase of the sequencing of construction activities by heuristics. However, it conflicts final phase of engineering construction with unit construction and effects planning construction time. In order to avoid this kind of situation, we use management of science in the study of diaphragm wall unit construction to formulate multi-objective combinational optimization problem. Because the characteristic (belong to NP-Complete problem) of problem mathematic model is multi-objective and combining explosive, it is advised that using the 2-type Self-Learning Neural Network (SLNN) to solve the N=12, 24, 36 of diaphragm wall unit in the sequencing of construction activities program problem. In order to compare the liability of the results, this study will use random researching method in comparison with the SLNN. It is found that the testing result of SLNN is superior to random researching method in whether solution-quality or Solving-efficiency.

Measuring students' emotions in the early years: the Achievement Emotions Questionnaire-Elementary School (AEQ-ES)

This article reports about the development and validation of a measurement instrument assessing elementary school students' achievement emotions (Achievement Emotions Questionnaire-Elementary School, AEQ-ES). Specifically, the instrument assesses students' enjoyment, anxiety, and boredom pertaining to three types of academic settings (i.e., attending class, doing homework, and taking tests and exams). Scale construction was based on Pekrun's (2006) control-value theory of achievement emotions. The instrument was tested using samples from German and American elementary school classrooms. The results of Study 1 (German sample) corroborate the reliability and structural validity of the new emotion measure. Moreover, they show that students' achievement emotions were linked with their control and value appraisals as well as their academic performance, thus supporting the external validity of the measure as well as propositions of Pekrun's (2006) control-value theory of achievement emotions. Study 2 (American sample) corroborated the cross-cultural equivalence of the measure and the generalizability of findings across the German and American samples. Implications for research on achievement emotions and educational practice are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved)(journal abstract)

A Genetic Algorithm for Solar Boat

Genetic algorithm has been widely used in different areas of optimization problems. Ithas been combined with renewable energy domain, photovoltaic system, in this thesis.To participate and win the solar boat race, a control program is needed and C++ hasbeen chosen for programming. To implement the program, the mathematic model hasbeen built. Besides, the approaches to calculate the boundaries related to conditionhave been explained. Afterward, the processing of the prediction and real time controlfunction are offered. The program has been simulated and the results proved thatgenetic algorithm is helpful to get the good results but it does not improve the resultstoo much since the particularity of the solar driven boat project such as the limitationof energy production

PANA V : Evaluation of a Literacy Project

PANA V Evaluation of a Literacy ProjectSUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONSThis evaluation set out to explore the impact of the literacy work carried out through PANA V. It focussed on clarifying effects such as empowerment and poverty reduction in relation to the civil society. Two specific objectives were to evaluate the methodological approach and the didactic materials and to evaluate the sustainability of the project.Although the focus of the evaluation has been PANA V, the project has been evaluated in its context, as one in a series of five projects located in Rwanda ten years after the war and genocide. The conclusion will consider future plans in this field.The evaluator has striven to create a holistic picture of the effects of the project, although the given time for the evaluation was short. Only three weeks were spent in the field study and only ten days in the actual field. Although there were some organisational and logistic problems, as is common when carrying out a study like this in a poor country, many literacy sites were visited and quite many participators were interviewed. The overall impression from the study is overwhelmingly positive. So many people commit themselves in this task of teaching Rwandans reading, writing and numeracy. Despite harsh conditions learners strive to learn and group leaders devote themselves to the task. Many leaders on different levels try their very best to manage their difficult and demanding task. The main objective was to explore the impact of the project on poverty reduction, particularly on empowerment and strategies for everyday life. Women were to be regarded particularly. From the results it is clear that the project has a strong, positive impact both on poverty reduction and empowerment of marginalised groups. Among those who have benefited from the alphabetisation are mainly women. Unfortunately, when it comes to leaders in PANA, who may also be said to have benefited from the project, only a small minority is women. This is something that is recommended that it be reconsidered inside the organisation. As a majority of the targeted learners are women, and as the economic and social situation of women in Rwanda is generally weak, this is a question that I recommend the Pentesostal church and ADEPR to look particularly into. With many women being single breadwinners of their households, it is important that also women get access to positions that may bring benefits of different kind.It is also clear that the project has positive effects for the civil society. In the present situation in Rwanda, during the process of reconciliation and rapid progress, basic education for the poor majority is a democratic issue. In a country with a plethora of internet-cafés in the capital and a small minority that use cars and mobile-telephones to communicate nation-wide, it is of outmost importance that the majority acquires basic education, of which literacy is a central part. To strengthen the civil society in Rwanda literacy is important. One central issue is then that Rwanda develops toward becoming a country where literacy is used for the benefit of the citizens and it is a democratic issue that all citizens get an opportunity to participate. Crucial for this is that strong efforts are put into primary schools nation-wide. Literacy projects for adults, like PANA, may only complement these efforts, but they constitute important and necessary complements. Other relevant ways to promote literacy are campaigns in Radio and TV and through cultural events such as festivals, music and theatre. News papers, magazines and books are natural parts of such campaigns as well as adult education. As stated under the results not much can be said about the didactics in this evaluation. On the whole the methodology and the materials fill their function well and receive a high reputation. As people learn to read and write under very simple conditions, obviously the approach is appropriate. A few suggestions may be given from the study:•Focus groups leaders’ attention on clearness, that they show very clearly what is to be read. Good structuring is probably of great importance for many learners.•Make clear what is tested in the tests and consider the possibility to use a holistic test that would be more congruent with the methodology. The possibility to use only one grade, pass, would enable a more practical test, such as reading a short, relevant text, writing something relevant and solving practical mathematic problems. Avoid tests that demand school knowledge.•Avoid using methaphors such as “fight against illiteracy” and connections between illiteracy/literacy and darkness/light. It is not true that illiteracy causes bad things and that literacy only brings good. •Be prepared that it may be more difficult in the future to achieve the goals as it may be the case that the early learners where the ones who achieved easily. The goal of “literacy in six month” in PANA will probably hold only for some learners but also those who do not manage in six months need literacy skills.A third objective was to secure sustainability. As for sustainability of the project in itself, and of the literacy process, the main conclusion is that there is a good potential. The commitment and devotedness among many involved in PANA proves good. One weakness is individual leaders in ADEPR who do not see this as an important task for the Pentecostal church in Rwanda. Other weaknesses are the unwillingness to mention explicitly the wish, for example among group leaders, to get some kind of incentive and the fear of loosing believers by cooperation with other organisations. A higher degree of transparency in this issue would probably solve some irritations and tensions.As for the sustainability of the literacy skills much may be done to improve. The acquired skills seem to be comparably relevant. The level achieved, and the level tested, may be defined as basic literacy skills, consisting of basic reading, writing and numeracy skills. However, these skills are very restricted and there is a high risk that the skills will decline, which means that there is a high risk that people will forget how to read and write because of lack of exercising. From these conclusions a few suggestions for future development will be given.

Are CGE Models still useful in economic policy making?

This paper develops background considerations to help better framing the results of a CGE exercise. Three main criticisms are usually addressed to CGE efforts. First, they are too aggregate, their conclusions failing to shed light on relevant sectors or issues. Second, they imply huge data requirements. Timeliness is frequently jeopardised by out-dated sources, benchmarks referring to realities gone by. Finally, results are meaningless, as they answer wrong or ill-posed questions. Modelling demands end up by creating a rather artificial context, where the original questions lose content. In spite of a positive outlook on the first two, crucial questions lie in the third point. After elaborating such questions, and trying to answer some, the text argues that CGE models can come closer to reality. If their use is still scarce to give way to a fruitful symbiosis between negotiations and simulation results, they remain the only available technique providing a global, inter-related way of capturing economy-wide effects of several different policies. International organisations can play a major role supporting and encouraging improvements. They are also uniquely positioned to enhance information and data sharing, as well as putting people from various origins together, to share their experiences. A serious and complex homework is however required, to correct, at least, the most dangerous present shortcomings of the technique.

Análise de resultados intermediários das políticas de bônus em escolas públicas estaduais brasileiras

Programas de bônus para servidores de escolas públicas, visando estimular a melhoria da aprendizagem dos alunos, foram adotados por diferentes estados brasileiros entre 2008 e 2011. A presente pesquisa teve como objetivo avaliar o impacto desses programas em três dimensões: 1. práticas pedagógicas dos professores; 2. absenteísmo e rotatividade dos professores ou visão do diretor ou professor sobre a assiduidade e rotatividade do professor; 3. interlocução com familiares para garantir a frequência dos alunos. A coleta de dados foi feita a partir dos questionários da Prova Brasil, respondidos por diretores, professores e alunos das escolas do grupo de tratamento e do grupo controle. Foram considerados na análise: a variação no ano de implementação dos programas (dose), seus diferentes desenhos (tipo) e a série/ano dos alunos (série) que responderam a Prova Brasil. A abordagem metodológica adotada para a análise proposta foi a de pareamento pelo escore de propensão, seguido do cálculo de diferenças em diferenças, entre os Estados que implementaram a política e os que não adotaram. Os resultados variam de acordo com a série e dose, havendo impacto positivo para algumas categorias de análise na dimensão 1, relacionado à frequência com que professores corrigem o dever de casa. Na dimensão 2, os resultados apontam para uma redução de preocupação dos diretores com a rotatividade dos professores e aumento da percepção de que o absenteísmo dos docentes é um problema na realidade escolar pública brasileira. Quanto à dimensão 3, os dados revelam, de modo geral, ausência de impacto. Permanece a dúvida sobre a eficiência e a eficácia do estímulo financeiro para produzir mudanças no comportamento dos professores e diretores que possam promover resultados intermediários na melhoria da aprendizagem dos alunos.

Um estudo sobre as origens da Lógica Matemáitca

The present study has as objective to explaining about the origins of the mathematical logic. This has its beginning attributed to the autodidactic English mathematician George Boole (1815-1864), especially because his books The Mathematical Analysis of Logic (1847) and An Investigation of the Laws of Thought (1854) are recognized as the inaugural works of the referred branch. However, surprisingly, in the same time another mathematician called Augutus of Morgan (1806-1871) it also published a book, entitled Formal Logic (1847), in defense of the mathematic logic. Even so, times later on this same century, another work named Elements of Logic (1875) it appeared evidencing the Aristotelian logic with Richard Whately (1787-1863), considered the better Aristotelian logical of that time. This way, our research, permeated by the history of the mathematics, it intends to study the logic produced by these submerged personages in the golden age of the mathematics (19th century) to we compare the valid systems in referred period and we clarify the origins of the mathematical logic. For that we looked for to delineate the panorama historical wrapper of this study. We described, shortly, biographical considerations about these three representatives of the logic of the 19th century formed an alliance with the exhibition of their point of view as for the logic to the light of the works mentioned above. In this sense, we aspirated to present considerations about what effective Aristotelian´s logic existed in the period of Boole and De Morgan comparing it with the new emerging logic (the mathematical logic). Besides of this, before the textual analysis of the works mentioned above, we still looked for to confront the systems of Boole and De Morgan for we arrive to the reason because the Boole´s system was considered better and more efficient. Separate of this preponderance we longed to study the flaws verified in the logical system of Boole front to their contemporaries' production, verifying, for example, if they repeated or not. We concluded that the origins of the mathematical logic is in the works of logic of George Boole, because, in them, has the presentation of a new logic, matematizada for the laws of the thought similar to the one of the arithmetic, while De Morgan, in your work, expand the Aristotelian logic, but it was still arrested to her

Uma análise histórico-epistemológica do conceito de grupo

This work aims to analyze the historical and epistemological development of the Group concept related to the theory on advanced mathematical thinking proposed by Dreyfus (1991). Thus it presents pedagogical resources that enable learning and teaching of algebraic structures as well as propose greater meaning of this concept in mathematical graduation programs. This study also proposes an answer to the following question: in what way a teaching approach that is centered in the Theory of Numbers and Theory of Equations is a model for the teaching of the concept of Group? To answer this question a historical reconstruction of the development of this concept is done on relating Lagrange to Cayley. This is done considering Foucault s (2007) knowledge archeology proposal theoretically reinforced by Dreyfus (1991). An exploratory research was performed in Mathematic graduation courses in Universidade Federal do Pará (UFPA) and Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN). The research aimed to evaluate the formation of concept images of the students in two algebra courses based on a traditional teaching model. Another experience was realized in algebra at UFPA and it involved historical components (MENDES, 2001a; 2001b; 2006b), the development of multiple representations (DREYFUS, 1991) as well as the formation of concept images (VINNER, 1991). The efficiency of this approach related to the extent of learning was evaluated, aiming to acknowledge the conceptual image established in student s minds. At the end, a classification based on Dreyfus (1991) was done relating the historical periods of the historical and epistemological development of group concepts in the process of representation, generalization, synthesis, and abstraction, proposed here for the teaching of algebra in Mathematics graduation course

Dificuldade de berço? Professores de matemática no ensino médio: práticas, formação continuada e juventude

The present paper is focused on pedagogical practices and continued lecturing formation of High School Mathematic teachers. Knowing the essential importance of the teacher at the educational process since he/she is the mediator on knowledge gathering by the scholars and continued formation meaning on that process, we hereby propose to investigate and compare what Math teachers think about their professional role, the kind of continued formation they receive and their development on teacher s knowledge and doing; to gather and compare what do Math teachers know about young people at public and private schools and their demands and as which find out if they link with the way as their students are taught. To develop our comparative research, we chose a qualitative focus and an investigation of ethnographic type. We took as the subject four Math teachers that work with high school 1st and 2nd grades in public and private schools, morning and afternoon shifts and license titles. The research results reveal differences in structural matter between the spaces, but the comparisons between teacher doings and knowledge reveal that the differences refer to the sort of formation and how often do the teachers search for it. Nevertheless, the reports pointed to continued lecturing formation offering and consistence problems and these reflect on their work and on its basis. The knowledge about youth and adolescence, such as theoric and methodological knowledge that lead their practices, are revealers of teachers difficulties in developing their activities according to the target public and nowadays educational demands

Do hematologic constituents really increase due to endurance exercise in horses?

Este estudo objetivou avaliar o comportamento dos componentes do sangue em cavalos que concluiram com êxito provas de enduro em condições tropicais. Punção da veia jugular foi realizada para coletar o sangue antes, durante e após o evento. Os dados foram analisados por meio de uma abordagem matemática, com base no hematócrito e volume de sangue onde a variação percentual no volume plasmático foi utilizada para corrigir os valores de cada variável analisada. O nível de significância adotado foi P<0,05. O modelo matemático proposto para avaliar as concentrações de componentes do sangue permitiu a observação de um padrão diferente no comportamento de várias variáveis plasmáticas, destacando que a abordagem seguida pelos autores é mais sensível do que aquelas que não seguiram este procedimento. em conclusão, o método utilizado neste estudo permitiu acompanhar os processos fisiológicos que realmente ocorrem durante o esforço de resistência em condições tropicais.

A modelagem matemática como alternativa de ensino e aprendizagem da geometria na educação de jovens e adultos

This is work itself insert in the mathematics education field of the youth and adult education to aim to practitioners of the educational action into the mathematics area performing to with this is teaching kind, adopting to as parameter the Mathematics Molding approach. The motive of the research is to draw up a application proposal of the molding mathematics as teaching and learning geometry alternative in the youth and adult education. The research it develops in three class of the third level (series 5th and 6th) of he youth and adults education in the one school municipal from the Natal outskirts. Its have qualitative nature with participating observation approach, once performing to directly in to research environment as a mathematics teacher of those same classes. We are used questionnaires, lesson notes and analyses of the officials documents as an basis of claim instruments. The results indicates that activity used the mathematic moldings were appreciated the savoir-faire of the student in to knowledge construction process, when search develop to significant learning methods, helping to student build has mathematics connections with other knowledge areas and inside mathematics himself, so much that enlarges your understanding and assist has in your participation in the other socials place, over there propitiate to change in student and teacher posture with relation to mathematic classroom dynamics

As quatro operações básicas: uma compreensão dos procedimentos algorítmicos

The current research had as main objective to analyze the possibility of knowledge elaboration/re-elaboration about ideas and algorithmic procedures related to basic operations by pupils of the 6th degree fundamental teaching in a significant learning process. This way the study had as basis a methodological intervention developed in a 6th degree class of a Fundamental Teaching Municipal School in the city of João Pessoa, PB. The research had as central steps the application of pre-tests (1 and 2); the execution of semi-structured interviews with the pupils involved in the theme deep studies; the elaboration and development of teaching activities, having as referential the significant learning and the application of a pre-test. The data collected in the pre-tests (1 and 2) showed a low level of the pupils comprehension about the contents related to the four operations. The answers to the post-test questions were analyzed mainly from the qualitative point of view based on the mathematic concepts comprehension theory proposed by Skemp (1980) having as complementary subsidy data collected through interviews. The analysis of the results obtained in the post-test showed that the major part of pupils reached a relational comprehension about the ideas and algorithmic procedures related to addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Such results showed us that the application of a teaching methodology that privileges the content comprehension, considering the pupils previous knowledge and the reflection about the action along the activities proposed, made possible the elaboration or re-elaboration of knowledge by pupils regarding to contents adopted as theme for our research

Estudo histórico e pedagógico sobre ternos pitagóricos à luz de eugène bahier

At the present investigation had the purpose to achieve a descritive analysis pedagogy in the work of Recherche méthodique et propriétés des triangles rectangles en nombres entiers. According to the analysis achieved, we made and applyed the teaching module called Pitagories: one of tools to comprehension Pitagory Theorema, there were studying by public students in mathematic course in the UFRN , the new mathematic teachers in future. The analysis the was made with writen test the was showed that all students got the view comprehension in the teaching approach module, to apointed the difference in the learning qualytative with other reseach that was made with quastionaire and enterview. With this module that was made with the new future teacheres there was more attention the better comprehension with the Pitagory Theorema, that was good focus in the pitagory about the potential historical pedagogyc in the work studied.