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This article describes the outcomes of a faculty partnership between a math professor and a composition professor to improve the final paper in a research-focused senior capstone math course. Much attention has been paid in recent years to the importance of undergraduate research experiences and how to best create and support such endeavors. However, little space has been dedicated to helping math faculty design and scaffold writing assignments to support their students' development as scholars. We describe how our partnership took place, the changes we made to existing assignments and the creation of new ones, and an assessment of our efforts completed by an interdisciplinary group of faculty and students, which showed marked improvement in the areas of information literacy, critical thinking, and quality of writing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emerging digital technologies offer a transformative potential to redefine learning tasks and many examples of this potential are now available. The scaling of the innovative pedagogies emerging from the research into widespread and sustainable practice, however, remains problematic. This paper addresses the issue of scaling by using Design Based Research (DBR), also known as Educational Design Research, within teacher professional development to reposition teachers' thinking about the place of digital tools in their teaching. Using a project seeking to support the use of new digital technologies to develop children's spatial reasoning as a 'worked example', this paper highlights how the bringing together of the knowledge of educational research and knowledge of teaching practice in DBR can provide a catalyst for epistemic change. The paper will argue that DBR positions the knowledge and practice objects of both research and teaching as 'epistemic' or 'not yet known' objects and, therefore, the legitimate focus of experimentation and reflection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article introduces some efficient generalized class of factor-type exponential imputation techniques and their corresponding estimators using auxiliary information. Generalized ratio, product, and dual to ratio type exponential estimators are the special cases of our suggested imputation techniques. Biases and mean squared error expressions are derived up to the first order of large sample approximations. The proposed imputation techniques can be viewed as efficient extensions of the work of Singh and Horn [Compromised imputation in survey sampling. Metrika. 2000;51(3):267–276. doi: 10.1007/s001840000054], Singh and Deo [Imputation by power transformation. Statist Papers. 2003;44(4):555–579. doi: 10.1007/BF02926010], Toutenburg and Srivastava [Amputation versus imputation of missing values through ratio method in sample surveys. Statist Papers. 2008;49(2):237–247. doi: 10.1007/s00362-006-0009-4], Kadilar and Cingi [Estimators for the population mean in the case of missing data. Commun Stat Theory Methods. 2008;37(14):2226–2236. doi: 10.1080/03610920701855020], Singh [A new method of imputation in survey sampling. Statistics. 2009;43(5):499–511. doi: 10.1080/02331880802605114], Gira [Estimation of population mean with a new imputation methods. Appl Math Sci. 2015;9(34):1663–1672] and Singh et al. [An improved alternative method of imputation for missing data in survey sampling. J Stat Appl Probab. 2022;11(2):535–543. doi: 10.18576/jsap]. Our proposed estimators are compared with these estimators, including the mean, ratio, and regression imputation techniques. Thereafter, a numerical illustration and simulation study are conducted for a comparative study using real and simulated data sets, and the demonstration shows that our suggested estimators are the most efficient estimators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Mathematical Sciences Department at Shenandoah University focused on increasing the participation of women in the mathematics program by fostering a welcoming learning community and promoting double majors. Data from the past decade is presented. During this time, the program saw an increase in women undergraduate mathematics majors from 11% to as high as 71%. This paper describes the initiatives taken to make these changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The University of Minnesota Talented Youth Mathematics Program (UMTYMP) is a selective, five-year accelerated mathematics program for students in grades 6–12. During the program, students take college mathematics courses on University of Minnesota campuses, starting with algebra and continuing through logic and proofs, linear algebra, and multivariable calculus. The majority of UMTYMP students come from two demographic groups: White and Asian/Asian American. In 2020, we surveyed UMTYMP students to understand the impact of model minority stereotypes (MMS) on Asian/Asian American students, particularly girls, who are labeled as "gifted" and/or "talented." In this paper, we reveal the preliminary results of this study, discuss their implications, and provide recommendations for addressing the MMS in mathematics programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses several linear algebra activities designed to help enhance students' skills in collaborating, exploring mathematics, and linking together abstract and visual ways of approaching mathematics. Most of these activities are short, accessible, engaging, and easy to incorporate into any classroom. In addition, we discuss some questions instructors can ask themselves to design novel and engaging activities when constrained to teaching from a particular curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper employs two scalar parameters to extend auxiliary function-based integral inequality into a new formulations, say a parametrised auxiliary function-based integral inequality. Using these formulations, the constituent signals are utilised more efficiently by exploiting the interaction between them to reduce conservatism. Numerical example for stability analysis of linear systems with time-varying delay shows the improved performance of the proposed new formulations in terms of maximum delay bounds and decision variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For a simple graph G on n vertices the Seidel Estrada index of G, denoted by $ SEE(G) $ SEE (G) , is defined as $ SEE(G)=\sum _{i=1}^ne^{\theta _i} $ SEE (G) = ∑ i = 1 n e θ i , where $ \theta _1,\ldots,\theta _n $ θ 1 , ... , θ n are the Seidel eigenvalues (the eigenvalues of the Seidel matrix) of G. In this paper, we find the maximum and minimum values of the Seidel Estrada index among all graphs with the fixed number of vertices. Our results confirm some conjectures on Seidel Estrada index of graphs that have been posed in [M. Hakimi-Nezhaad, M. Ghorbani, On the Estrada Index of Seidel Matrix, Mathematics Interdisciplinary Research5 (2020) 43–54]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we consider a singular Adams' inequality with logarithmic weights in the unit ball of $ \mathbb {R}^4 $ R 4 . Our results extend the results of Zhu and Wang [Adams' inequality with logarithmic weights in $ \mathbb {R}^4 $ R 4 . Proc Amer Math Soc. 2021;149(8):3463–3472] on Adams' inequality with logarithmic weights to singular case. Then, we study the existence of solutions for some weighted mean field equations, relying on variational methods and the singular Adams' inequality with logarithmic weights we previously established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The application of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education in solving real-world problems is challenging. To tackle this challenge, a project-based learning approach that integrates robots with cost-effective self-made toys to problem-solving was adopted to assist rural primary school students to apply STEM skills. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of the project-based learning approach which includes lecturing and hands-on activities on primary school students' STEM learning outcomes and attitudes. An experiment was conducted with 25 primary school students who voluntarily participated in a STEM summer-camp programme. Students were asked to assemble a paper house equipped with an IoT control module and LED light switches, and write and edit robot scripts to produce a robot-based storytelling narrative using the paper house they made as a context. The results show that the project-based learning approach was an effective approach for cultivating primary school students' STEM knowledge and skills as evidenced from the post-written test. The relationships between the students' STEM learning outcomes and attitudes were also confirmed by a clustering analysis. Students who had higher learning attitudes also achieved higher STEM learning outcomes; the findings are also supported by the feedback from the open-ended questionnaire items. This study suggests that integrating low-cost self-made toys and robots in project-based learning activities is an effective and practical approach to enhance primary school students' learning outcomes and learning attitudes in STEM education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teaching music often focuses on developing musical concepts, through comparisons and discriminations. This paper contributes to the discussion on concept development in music through recognition of common elements in a situation and a shift from a local to a general level, considering theoretical approaches to mathematical generalisation. It sets to explore preschool children's understanding of tempo and its use in new musical situations. The research involved a musical intervention in six preschool classrooms. Critical incidences from focus group discussions and non-participant observation recorded children's understanding of tempo from their musical actions, drawings, responses and reflection to teacher questions. The findings highlight that children could go beyond the specific content of the activities and focus on the basic characteristics of tempo, integrating them into their song creations. A teaching approach oriented to generalisation through concept development can assist teachers to elaborate musical content and realise students' level of understanding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes an account of why proof is the only way to acquire knowledge of some mathematical proposition's truth. Admittedly, non-deductive arguments for mathematical propositions can be strong and play important roles in mathematics. But this paper proposes a necessary condition for knowledge that can be satisfied by putative proofs (and proof sketches), as well as by non-deductive arguments in science, but not by non-deductive arguments from mathematical evidence. The necessary condition concerns whether we can justly expect that if the mathematical proposition is actually false, despite the evidence for its truth, then this fact has an explanation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the paper 'Composition operators on weighted Bergman spaces of Dirichlet series. J Math Anal Appl. 2015;426:340–363', Bailleul completely characterized the boundedness of composition operators on weighted Bergman spaces of Dirichlet series for the case of symbols with $ c_0\ge 1 $ c 0 ≥ 1. But the sufficient conditions for the other case $ c_0=0 $ c 0 = 0 were unsolved. In this paper, we follow this line and study the boundedness of composition operators on weighted Bergman spaces of Dirichlet series for the case $ c_0=0 $ c 0 = 0. Moreover, we also obtain the compact characterizations of composition operators with $ c_0\geq 1 $ c 0 ≥ 1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the implementation of a STEM scholarship program which utilized a holistic approach to providing a multi-dimensional student support system. The program has been successful in encouraging and supporting women in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science by offering a diverse suite of extracurricular opportunities, actively engaging them in organized events, research projects, and participation in STEM communities, and helping them achieve higher GPAs and shorter times to graduation. The supported women also benefitted from close mentoring relationships with the faculty mentors. The program emphasized the development of empowering settings for women's engagement and achievement, which act to sustain and expand interest in mathematics and computing, and thereby help them to see themselves as future professionals in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We exploit the existence and non-existence of positive solutions to the eigenvalue problem driven by the nonhomogeneous fractional $ p\& q $ p &q Laplacian operator with indefinite weights \[ \left(-\Delta_p\right)^{\alpha}u + \left(-\Delta_q\right)^{\beta}u = \lambda\left[a \left|u\right|^{p-2}u + b \left|u\right|^{q-2}u \right]\quad{\rm in}\ \Omega, \] (− Δ p) α u + (− Δ q) β u = λ [ a | u | p − 2 u + b | u | q − 2 u ] in Ω , where $ \Omega \subseteq \mathbb {R}^N $ Ω ⊆ R N is a smooth bounded domain that has been extended by zero. We further show the existence of a continuous family of eigenvalues in the case $ \Omega =\mathbb {R}^N $ Ω = R N and $ b\equiv 0 $ b ≡ 0 a.e. Our approach relies strongly on variational Analysis, in which the Mountain pass theorem plays the key role. Due to the lack of spatial compactness and the embedding $ \mathcal {W}^{\alpha, p}\left (\mathbb {R}^N\right) \hookrightarrow \mathcal {W}^{\beta, q}\left (\mathbb {R}^N\right) $ W α , p (R N) ↪ W β , q (R N) in $ \mathbb {R}^N $ R N , we employ the concentration-compactness principle of P.L. Lions [The concentration-compactness principle in the calculus of variations. The limit case. II, Rev Mat Iberoamericana. 1985;1(2):45–121]. to overcome the difficulty. Our paper can be considered as a counterpart to the important works [Alves et al. Existence, multiplicity and concentration for a class of fractional $ p\& q $ p &q Laplacian problems in $ \Bbb R^N $ R N , Commun Pure Appl Anal, 2019;18(4):2009–2045], [Benci et al. An eigenvalue problem for a quasilinear elliptic field equation. J Differ Equ, 2002;184(2):299–320], [Bobkov et al. On positive solutions for $ (p,q) $ (p , q) -Laplace equations with two parameters, Calc Var Partial Differ Equ, 2015;54(3):3277–3301], [Colasuonno and Squassina. Eigenvalues for double phase variational integrals, Ann Mat Pura Appl (4), 2016;195(6):1917–1956], [Papageorgiou et al. Positive solutions for nonlinear Neumann problems with singular terms and convection, J Math Pures Appl (9), 2020;136:1–21], [Papageorgiou et al. Ground state and nodal solutions for a class of double phase problems, Z Angew Math Phys, 2020;71:1–15], and may have further applications to deal with other problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we explore the roles of gender social norms in explaining the gender gap in maths test scores across the entire distribution. Applying generalized quantile regression models, we show that gender-equal cultural norms eliminate the gender gap in maths scores at the top of the distribution. Moreover, this effect is concentrated among students in the higher grade level. An investigation of the underlying mechanisms shows that girls from more gender-equal regions are less likely to hold maths-specific stereotypes and are likely to receive more attention from maths teachers. Additionally, girls from more gender-equal regions tend to perceive that parents have higher educational aspirations for them and are more confident about their future. Our paper provides compelling evidence that policy initiatives aiming at fostering egalitarian gender norms could serve as powerful tools to alleviate the gender gap in maths at the top of the distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

D'Arcy Thompson (1860–1948) is most remembered for his influential book On Growth and Form (1917), which looked to maths to explain why biological creatures take the shapes that they take. In January 1917, a few months before this book was released, Thompson had a letter to the editor published in Nature titled 'Stability in Flight'. Using this paper, and the response to it, as a basis, this article will investigate Thompson's relationship with mathematics, uncovering his ideas on an ideological hierarchy of subjects, where mathematics informs biology, but the reverse case is not true. It will also explore the ideas of flight Thompson discusses in the article, from the aeronautical physics paper which inspired Thompson, to the ideas on modern ornithology which agree with his work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper addresses the potential relationships between shared authority in mathematics classrooms and students' mathematical reasoning. Even though tensions and challenges related to shared authority are explicated in the literature, there are few examples of how these issues play out in mathematics teaching. We investigate the case of a mathematics teacher attempting to share authority as well as applying several moves recognized as supporting meaningful student learning. Data has been collected in a fourth-grade Norwegian classroom and is analyzed by means of open coding, inspired by literature. We identify the moves used by the teacher, and we rank these moves along two dimensions: (1) their potential to support mathematical reasoning and (2) their potential for sharing authority. From this, we uncover how a teacher's work of orchestrating mathematical discussions involves moves in all four quadrants, and we discuss how the interplay of moves affects the authority structures and the collaborative reasoning in the classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among the problems identified at Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges, low achievement in mathematical subjects is the most prominent one. This paper documents a qualitative case study undertaken at TVET College in Gauteng with the purpose of exploring the National Certificate Vocational (NC(V)) Level 4 students' errors and associated misconceptions when answering optimisation questions in differential calculus. The participants were 60 students who were registered for a course in mathematics. Data were generated from the written student responses to two non-routine test items followed by interviews. Using the Newman error hierarchical model to analyse the data, it was discovered that students errors were conceptual and procedural as well as systematic and non-systematic. The literature also alluded to instructional approaches as some of the causes of students' misconceptions and the errors and that interventions should target students as well as the instructors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prepare2Nspire (P2N) is a near-peer mentoring and tutoring program dedicated to creating dynamic mathematical experiences for urban learners. P2N's mission is multi-fold. The program acts as an extracurricular outlet for in-school mathematics learning, providing students of color with social support from adult mentors. Additionally, P2N aligns education and community development by focusing on social and institutional improvements in the host neighborhood. This paper used case study methodology to examine African American male mentoring relationships at P2N. Through a mentoring and tutoring approach, middle school participants related to adult mentors through shared lived experiences, essential norms were enforced within the learning community, and emphasis was given to team collaboration. Moving forward, P2N will continue to promote African American male mentorship to disrupt deficit-based perspectives and increase social and academic motivations of African American youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With this paper, we share an activity for the undergraduate mathematics classroom called The Harp Project that leverages the aesthetic nature of both the mathematical and the musical arts. This project was conceived as a STEAM/PBL project with the added feature that it was carried out in pieces by an entire class. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the uncommonly high level of students' interest and engagement in the experience and the communal feel of their participation can be attributed to this collective quality of the project's design. For this reason, we invite others to consider this curricular experience as it appears viable for supporting efforts to cultivate a broader population of students with an affinity for mathematics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Let $ \beta (z) $ β (z) be the Dirichlet beta function. Series for $ \beta (4) $ β (4) are very rare in the historical development of mathematics. With the help of the operator method and a transformation formula for hypergeometric series, we prove a surprising conjectural series of Z.-W Sun for the mathematical constant $ \beta (4) $ β (4). Furthermore, we find five new series for the same constant in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Curiosity has long been touted as important for the ability to learn and has been linked with innovation and entrepreneurship. It is also important that employers know how to identify curious potential employees in cost-effective ways during recruitment processes. This paper explores the association between curiosity and cognitive ability. Recruitment processes rely heavily on educational attainment, especially when recruiting young people with low labour market experience. This paper explores the association between curiosity and maths, science, and reading ability in youth. Using six waves of data from the 2003, 2006, and 2009 cohorts of the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth, we examine the extent to which the curiosity of young adults is associated with their school-age cognition level. We find that curious individuals are more likely to have had higher levels of science and reading ability in school, yet curiosity is negatively associated with school-age mathematics ability. These findings provide clear strategies for employers wanting to recruit curious employees without access to expensive profiling techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The connections between critical pedagogy, living theory and participatory action research (PAR) are discussed to explore their combined strength for empowering students, positively impacting on their attitudes towards their mathematics learning and creating social change in their primary-secondary mathematics transitions. This transition is recognised as creating social inequalities which existing transition research has failed to resolve. The interpretation of critical pedagogy, living theory and PAR are described before a summary of their application in a small scale, two-year study in a British curriculum school in Muscat, Oman. Critical pedagogy combined with living theory and PAR provides the theoretical and methodological framework to empower the students epistemologically. This paper gives an example of how PAR with students was conducted within the framework of critical pedagogy theory and living theory methodology. This account provides a valuable reference for participatory action researchers. The paper concludes that the combination of critical pedagogy, living theory and PAR can empower students to create social change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present the analysis of the students' achievements in learning calculus in a dynamic software environment during the Covid19 crisis. Two groups of students, the experimental and the control one, were monitored. Blended learning was applied to the students in the experimental group, with the help of Microsoft Teams and dynamic software GeoGebra, in autumn 2020. All students in the control group learned in the classroom without using GeoGebra in 2019. The comparison between these two groups of first-year students, regarding their calculus test results, is described in this paper. It is interesting that the results of the experimental group were significantly better than the results of students in the control group, despite the fact that the students from the experimental group learned during the Covid19 crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inclusive teaching practices can be characterized as recurrent ways how teachers work with their students' diverse abilities, but how exactly are they enacted in subject matter classrooms? The paper proposes a conceptual framework to unpack inclusive practices according to the student ability to which they refer, in five typical jobs for teachers: (a) identifying the demands for the ability, (b) differentiating learning goals, (c) compensating for low abilities, (d) enhancing abilities, and (e) addressing the abilities in joint learning. The proposed job-ability framework for inclusive teaching practices is substantiated in a video study of 25 mathematics lessons on percentages with the same curriculum material. In total, rather than 50, 133 different inclusive teaching practices were identified in 3862 sequences and structured into 20 cells. They address four abilities (from most often to least often): (1) selective attention/working memory, (2) mathematical pre-knowledge, (3) language proficiency, and (4) metacognitive regulation. The large variance of enacted practices identified within and between lessons calls for professional development that elicits, leverages, and extends the repertoire of practices. While the reported frequencies are specific to the chosen teaching unit, the job-ability framework can be transferred to other subject-matter classrooms and used in professional development programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research Findings: Children are increasingly using touchscreen technologies at home, which has become a recurring feature within their classroom too. Research has investigated the potential effect of using computer-based tests to assess pupils' performance rather than traditional paper tests. An agreement has still not been formed about the impact of the mode of assessment on pupils' mathematical test scores. A mixed methods design was employed to explore the impact of the testing on young children's mathematical test scores. Thirty-seven children 4-7-years old were recruited from a primary school in England with their parents. A mathematical test on paper and an iPad was administered to each participant which was accompanied by an interview. Data regarding the use of touchscreens at home were explored with an on-line parental questionnaire. The results showed that gender and test type impact mathematical test scores, with females performing the best on the iPad test. The findings also suggested that as tablet usage increased at home, iPad mathematical test scores decreased. The interviews revealed that children rely on different strategies when resolving mathematical problems. Practice or Policy: Digital testing may enable a better investigation of mathematical skills in the first years of schooling and of differences between males and females' responses to solving mathematical questions, which then could be used to tailor the curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

‘Group work’ is a vague description of an instructional activity, because many factors shape its character and effect on students. One important factor is group formation, that is, how groups are formed by the instructor. In this paper, we sought to better understand the variation of group work with respect to group formation by addressing: How do university mathematics instructors form groups over the course of a semester? To this end, we examined eight instructors' methods of forming groups in one multi-section introduction to proof course. Our findings include a classification of group formation methods and descriptions of how instructors varied their formation methods across the semester. Further, we sought to understand: How do students experience different group formation methods? We analysed interviews with 29 students from the eight instructors' classes and identified central themes among students' experiences of different group formation methods. Finally, we discuss the sometimes conflicting research on (when) which group formation method is most appropriate and offer our thoughts on how the differences between typical undergraduate and K-12 mathematics classrooms may contribute to different recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study described in this paper investigated a unique collaboration among a special education and two general educators that sought to prepare students for success in the general education mathematics curriculum and that consisted of coordinated, reform-based instructional design across classroom and pull-out services provided by the special educator including preteaching. During preteaching, the special educator delivered instruction on key mathematics and collaboration skills that special education students would need a few days before they would receive instruction on the same content in their general education classrooms. Their collaboration produced high levels of teacher satisfaction, substantive teacher change, and increases in student engagement, self-efficacy, and achievement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we explore Norwegian teachers’ perspectives on inclusive teaching practices in the mathematics classroom, defined as practices which maximise every pupil’s potential regardless of prior attainment. As previous research suggests, both mathematics teachers’ perspectives in general and the conceptualisation of inclusion, inclusive education, and inclusive practices are culturally situated, varying significantly across countries and educational systems. We draw on data from a large project in Norway focusing on the use of grouping by attainment and its relation to policy and pedagogical practices around inclusion in mathematics. Participants were 13 primary and lower-secondary mathematics teachers from six schools in the Oslo area. Analysis of semi-structured interviews focusing on strategies for inclusion of all pupils in mathematics classrooms reveals the cultural particularities of mathematics teachers’ perspectives on inclusive practices, highlighting the value of similar investigations in other cultural contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we extend SMSNS [Pourbagher M, Salkuyeh DK. On the solution of a class of complex symmetric linear systems. Appl Math Lett. 2018;76:14–20.] iteration method for solving a class of complex symmetric system of linear equations. We propose a successive-overrelaxation (SOR) acceleration scheme for SMSNS (SMSNSSOR), discuss the convergence conditions of it and give the optimal parameters which make the fast convergence. Numerical results demonstrate that SMSNSSOR iteration method is feasible and effective for solving complex symmetric systems, and performs better than some other usually used iteration methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study the centralizer of a separating continuous flow without fixed points. We show that if M is a compact metric space and $ \phi _t:M\to M $ ϕ t : M → M is a separating flow without fixed points, then $ \phi _t $ ϕ t has a quasi-trivial centralizer, that is, if a continuous flow $ \psi _t $ ψ t commutes with $ \phi _t $ ϕ t , then there exists a continuous function $ A: M\to \mathbb {R} $ A : M → R which is invariant along the orbit of $ \phi _t $ ϕ t such that $ \psi _t(x)=\phi _{A(x)t}(x) $ ψ t (x) = ϕ A (x) t (x) holds for all $ x\in M $ x ∈ M. We also show that if M is a compact Riemannian manifold without boundary and $ \Phi _u $ Φ u is a homogenous separating $ C^1 $ C 1 $ \mathbb {R}^m $ R m -action on M, then $ \Phi _u $ Φ u has a quasi-trivial centralizer, that is, if $ \Psi _u $ Ψ u is a $ \mathbb {R}^{ m} $ R m -action on M commuting with $ \Phi _u $ Φ u , then there is a continuous map $ A: M\to \mathcal {M}_{m\times m}(\mathbb {R}) $ A : M → M m × m (R) which is invariant along orbit of $ \Phi _u $ Φ u such that $ \Psi _{u}(x)=\Phi _{A(x)u}(x) $ Ψ u (x) = Φ A (x) u (x) for all $ x\in M $ x ∈ M. These improve Theorem 1 of [M. Oka, Expansive flows and their centralizers, Nagoya Math. J. 64 (1976), pp. 1–15.] and Theorem 2 of [W. Bonomo, J. Rocha, and P. Varandas, The centralizer of Komuro-expansive flows and expansive $ \mathbb {R}^d $ R d -actions, Math. Z. 289(3–4) (2018), pp. 1059–1088.] respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous studies affirm the importance of students' attitudes for mathematical education. This study uses mathematical autobiographical essays to examine the mathematical experiences and attitudes of undergraduate students enrolled in mathematics classes at a Midwestern University in the United States. The essays of 41 students (20 men, 21 women) out of 170 enrolled in College Algebra, Precalculus, and Calculus were analyzed using the categories of (1) confidence in mathematics ability, (2) value of mathematics, and (3) liking of mathematics. This paper provides context and theoretical depth to student reports of their attitudes in these categories. Statements at the intersections of both confidence and liking, and value and liking provide additional insights. First, students who perceive mathematics as valuable are more likely to like it. Second, the vast majority of students talk about confidence and liking together, and with a positive correlation. Further, these students tend to talk about liking or not liking mathematics because of their perceived ability in mathematics. Our study suggests the importance of proactive teaching strategies to improve students' perceptions of the value, liking of, and their confidence in, mathematics, and also suggests self-efficacy as a potential theoretical basis for this work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We classify two of Bertrand Russell's theories of events within the point-free ontology. The first of such approaches was presented informally by Russell in 'The World of Physics and the World of Sense' (Lecture IV in Our Knowledge of the External World of 1914). Based on this theory, Russell sketched ways to construct instants as collections of events. This paper formalizes Russell's approach from 1914. We will also show that in such a reconstructed theory, we obtain all axioms of Russell's second theory from 1936 and all axioms of Thomason's theory of events from 1989. Russell's work certainly influenced the works of Stanisław Leśniewski, his student Alfred Tarski, and Czesław Lejewski – prominent members of the Lvov-Warsaw School (LWS). We see our work in the tradition of the research of Leśniewski and Tarski. Building on the technical tools developed in this environment and in the spirit of the traditional research of the LWS, we engage here, in particular, with two classic works by Russell on fundamental ontology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem of precise characterisation of traditional forms of reasoning applied in mathematics was independently investigated and successfully resolved by Jaśkowski and Gentzen in 1934. However, there are traces of earlier interests in this field exhibited by the members of the Lvov-Warsaw School. We focus on the results obtained by Jaśkowski and Leśniewski. Jaśkowski provided the first formal system of natural deduction in 1926. Leśniewski also demonstrated in some of his papers how to construct proofs in accordance with intuitively correct principles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, typing is considered as one of the highly important aspects of accessibility that the visually impaired and blinds struggle with the most as existing virtual keyboards are complex and slow. This paper proposes a new text entry method named SwingBoard for visually impaired and blind smartphone users to solve their accessibility problem. It supports a–z, 0–9, 7 punctuations, 12 symbols, and eight keyboard functionalities that are arranged in 8 zones (specific range of angles), four segments, two modes, and different gestures. The proposed keyboard is suitable for the either single-handed or both-handed operation that tracks swipe angle and length to trigger any of the 66 key events. The key triggering process is based on only swiping the finger at different angles with different lengths. Typing speed of SwingBoard is increased by including some effective features such as the quick alphabet and number mode shifting, haptic feedback feature, talkback on swipe to learn the map quickly, and customizable swipe length feature. At the end of 150 one-minute tests, seven blind participants reached an average of 19.89 words per minute (WPM) with an 88% accuracy rate which is one of the fastest-ever recorded average typing speeds for the blind. Almost all users found SwingBoard effective, easy to learn and want to keep using it. SwingBoard is a handy virtual keyboard for visually impaired people with amazing typing speed and accuracy. Rehabilitation would be easier for a visually impaired/disabled person who can adapt the current technology-oriented world and use communication tools easily. As visually impaired and blind people faced a lot of problems in their regular life because of their inability to see things, coping with the evolving world's demands from a person to do a certain task using smart devices would be easier for them with the proposed virtual keyboard topology. As the number of visually impaired and blind users of smartphones rises, faster typing becomes a vital aspect of the smartphone experience. Deaf-blind communities are expanding but solutions for them are not increasing at the same pace because of the limitation of implication. Research on a virtual keyboard with the proposed eyes-free swipe-based typing operation and ears-free reliability on haptic feedback would enable others to create new solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ballistics is an area of flight, and fewer subjects were of greater importance to nation states in the eighteenth century. William Mountaine who published on the topic in 1747 and 1781, wrote: 'It is not possible in the nature of things for any one kingdom to continue long in a state of peace and tranquility', and 'the art of gunnery has from time to time engaged the attention of the most eminent mathematicians'. This paper describes the slow up-take of ideas, first put forward explicitly by Benjamin Robins in 1742, which challenged the belief that air resistance could be neglected in the flight of cannon balls, and asks why it could be, that for a topic so pressing, a clearly wrong mathematical theory was upheld for so long. While considering a number of factors, it argues the attraction of beautiful and simple geometry can be beguiling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

If $ P(z)=a_n\prod _{v=1}^{n}(z-z_v) $ P (z) = a n ∏ v = 1 n (z − z v) is a polynomial of degree n having all its zeros in $ |z|\le k, k\ge 1 $ | z | ≤ k , k ≥ 1 then Aziz [Inequalities for the derivative of a polynomial. Proc Am Math Soc. 1983;89(2):259–266] proved that \[ \max_{|z|=1}|P'(z)|\ge \frac{2}{1+k^n}\sum_{v=1}^{n}\frac{k}{k+|z_v|}\max_{|z|=1}|P(z)|. \] max | z | = 1 | P ′ (z) | ≥ 2 1 + k n ∑ v = 1 n k k + | z v | max | z | = 1 | P (z) |. Recently, Kumar [On the inequalities concerning polynomials. Complex Anal Oper Theory. 2020;14(6):1–11 (Article ID 65)] established a generalization of this inequality and proved under the same hypothesis for a polynomial $ P(z)=a_0+a_1z+a_2z^2+\cdots +a_nz^n=a_n\prod _{v=1}^{n}(z-z_v) $ P (z) = a 0 + a 1 z + a 2 z 2 + ⋯ + a n z n = a n ∏ v = 1 n (z − z v) , that $$\begin{align*} & \max_{|z|=1}|P'(z)| \\ & \ge \left(\frac{2}{1+k^n}+\frac{(|a_n|k^n-|a_0|)(k-1)}{(1+k^n)(|a_n|k^n+k|a_0|)}\right)\sum_{v=1}^{n}\frac{k}{k+|z_v|}\max_{|z|=1}|P(z)|. \end{align*} $$ max | z | = 1 | P ′ (z) | ≥ (2 1 + k n + (| a n | k n − | a 0 |) (k − 1) (1 + k n) (| a n | k n + k | a 0 |)) ∑ v = 1 n k k + | z v | max | z | = 1 | P (z) |. In this paper, we sharpen the above inequalities and further extend the obtained results to the polar derivative of a polynomial. As a consequence, our results also sharpens considerably some results of Dewan and Upadhye [Inequalities for the polar derivative of a polynomial. J Ineq Pure Appl Math. 2008;9:1–9 (Article ID 119)]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With constantly changing political landscapes affecting the ability of college students with minoritized identities of sexuality and/or gender (MIoSG; Vaccaro et al., 2015) to thrive on campus, higher educators need to understand student reported stressors to design more inclusive learning environments. Building from minority stress theory and using data from a grounded theory study with 56 collegiate STEM students with MIoSG, this paper documents stressors that students reported as contributing to diminished wellbeing. We used constant comparative grounded theory analysis to identify stressors shared by all participants, which included lack of belonging and invisibility in competitive STEM cultures as well as exclusionary interactions with STEM peers. Recommendations include the design and delivery of holistic education and support services on campus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Owing to its recognition as a 21st-century skill, computational thinking (CT) is currently being introduced into school curricula around the world. However, in-service teachers are largely unprepared for this implementation, which, in turn, makes teacher educators (TEds) important stakeholders in preparing prospective teachers to integrate CT into their classroom practices. In this regard, TEds are charged with a twofold responsibility: they must develop not only their own CT skills and digital competence but also a way of teaching these to the next generation of teachers who will facilitate future pupils’ learning. In this paper, we report on 17 TEds’ experience regarding the challenges and opportunities of integrating CT into Norway’s primary teacher education mathematics and science courses two years after CT’s introduction into Norwegian primary schools. A data-driven thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews was conducted. Our analysis suggests that it is challenging to integrate CT into existing courses. Such challenges, as well as opportunities, seem to apply at four levels: the systemic, teacher educator, student teacher, and subject levels. The results provide valuable insights for key stakeholders into the challenges and opportunities of integrating CT into teacher education, thus contributing to the body of research on professional digital competence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What is the "right way" to define dimension? Mathematicians working in the early and middle 20th-century formalized three intuitive definitions of dimension that all turned out to be equivalent on separable metric spaces. But were these definitions the "right" ones? What would it mean to have the "right" definition of dimension? In this paper we attempt to inspire thought about these questions by introducing Abbott dimension, a geometrically intuitive definition of dimension based on Edwin Abbott's 1884 novella Flatland. We show that while Abbott dimension has intuitive appeal, it does not always agree with the classical definitions of dimension on separable metric spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I revisit my 1993 paper on Putnam and mathematical realism focusing on the indispensability argument and how it has fared over the years. This argument starts from the claim that mathematics is an indispensable part of science and draws the conclusion, from holistic considerations about confirmation, that the ontology of science includes abstract objects as well as the physical entities science deals with. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces the equivalent contact temperature (ECT) model for local thermal comfort assessment in contact areas for non-uniform environmental conditions. It aims to complete the comfort evaluation scheme of the equivalent temperature approach included in ISO 14505-2 by the contact areas back and buttocks that are currently neglected in the standard. For the assessment of local and overall thermal comfort of seated persons, these contact areas are of great importance, especially if exposed to personal comfort systems. Person-oriented climatization systems, such as seat heating and ventilation, are much more energy efficient than conventional HVAC systems and allow to incorporate the human individual into the system's control loop. The ECT-approach is formally defined, analytically as well as mathematically derived and validated by a subject study. The results of the subject study (air temperature of 26 °C and 29 °C) confirm the cooling effect due to the seat ventilation and show fundamental correlations between ECTs and body part specific mean thermal votes for buttocks and back. Practitioner summary:The equivalent contact temperature model for local thermal comfort assessment in contact areas for non-uniform environmental conditions is formally defined, analytically as well as mathematically derived and validated by a subject study. It completes the existing equivalent temperature comfort scheme by both contact areas back a nd buttocks to improve thermal comfort assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Let $ \hat {\mathcal {S}}_{(\alpha,\beta)} $ S ^ (α , β) be the familiar class of almost spirallike functions of type β and order α in the unit disk (see Definition 1.1). In this paper, first, we prove that for a function $ f(z)=z+\sum _{n=2}^\infty a_nz^n $ f (z) = z + ∑ n = 2 ∞ a n z n in the class $ \hat {\mathcal {S}}_{(\alpha,\beta)} $ S ^ (α , β) , then $$\begin{align*} & |a_{3}-\lambda a_{2}^2|\\ & \quad \leq (1-\alpha)\cos{\beta}\max\{1,|1-4(1-\alpha)(1-\lambda)\cos{\beta}\,{\rm e}^{{\rm i}\beta}|\},\quad \lambda\in \mathbb{C}. \end{align*} $$ | a 3 − λ a 2 2 | ≤ (1 − α) cos ⁡ β max { 1 , | 1 − 4 (1 − α) (1 − λ) cos ⁡ β e i β | } , λ ∈ C. The above estimation is sharp. Second, we extend this result to the bounded starlike circular domain in $ \mathbb {C}^{n} $ C n and obtain the sharp estimates. The results presented here would provide extensions of those given by Xu et al. [The Fekete and Szegö problem on the bounded starlike circular domain in $ \mathbb {C}^n $ C n . Pure Appl Math Q. 2016;12:621–638] and Xiong [Sharp coefficients bounds for class of almost starlike mappings of order α in $ \mathbb {C}^n $ C n . J Math Inequalities. 2020;14:853–865]. Finally, a certain conjecture is also formulated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Let $ \hat {\mathcal {S}}_{(\alpha,\beta)} $ S ^ (α , β) be the familiar class of almost spirallike functions of type β and order α in the unit disk (see Definition 1.1). In this paper, first, we prove that for a function $ f(z)=z+\sum _{n=2}^\infty a_nz^n $ f (z) = z + ∑ n = 2 ∞ a n z n in the class $ \hat {\mathcal {S}}_{(\alpha,\beta)} $ S ^ (α , β) , then $$\begin{align*} & |a_{3}-\lambda a_{2}^2|\\ & \quad \leq (1-\alpha)\cos{\beta}\max\{1,|1-4(1-\alpha)(1-\lambda)\cos{\beta}\,{\rm e}^{{\rm i}\beta}|\},\quad \lambda\in \mathbb{C}. \end{align*} $$ | a 3 − λ a 2 2 | ≤ (1 − α) cos ⁡ β max { 1 , | 1 − 4 (1 − α) (1 − λ) cos ⁡ β e i β | } , λ ∈ C. The above estimation is sharp. Second, we extend this result to the bounded starlike circular domain in $ \mathbb {C}^{n} $ C n and obtain the sharp estimates. The results presented here would provide extensions of those given by Xu et al. [The Fekete and Szegö problem on the bounded starlike circular domain in $ \mathbb {C}^n $ C n . Pure Appl Math Q. 2016;12:621–638] and Xiong [Sharp coefficients bounds for class of almost starlike mappings of order α in $ \mathbb {C}^n $ C n . J Math Inequalities. 2020;14:853–865]. Finally, a certain conjecture is also formulated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Math anxiety and academic distress, two interrelated forms of psychological stress, are pervasive problems for undergraduate mathematics students. Most of the research in this area has taken a broad view of the impact this stress has on students' learning across an entire course or, more broadly, the entire curriculum for their degree. To complement this existing body of research, this paper serves a dual purpose: First, to provide insight into undergraduate students' day-to-day classroom stress, and secondly, to explore fitness trackers as a tool for in situ detection of student anxiety or stress in the classroom. To accomplish the first objective, we conduct a phenomenographic analysis to explore the variation in 29 students' reported experiences of psychological stress within a session on roots of polynomial functions. We identified 7 categories of description. For the second objective, we recorded the students' heart rate during the same lesson. We clustered students heart rate variability plots according to our categories of description and employed a logistic regression model to estimate the probability that a student will report experiencing psychological stress given their heart rate variability. Our results show that fitness trackers can produce measures that serve as a predictor of self-reported emotional change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study 2019 assessment results show a drop in mathematics achievement among Hong Kongese students. While several predictors associated with Hong Kongese students' declining mathematics outcomes in recent years have been explored, only a few of them have interrogated the relationship of teacher-background factors on students' mathematics scores. This paper analyzed the association between teacher characteristics and eighth-grade Hong Kongese students' mathematics scores using the ordinary least squares regression. Findings revealed a statistically significant association between predictors and the dependent variable. Findings suggest that school administrators, educators, policymakers, and researchers attend to teacher-background variables as critical indicators associated with students' mathematics performance among eighth-grade Hong Kongese students and students in similar other country contexts and/or education systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper evaluates math performance at four high-need middle schools during a four-year intervention, which was designed to help math teachers diagnose students' areas of need and to design lesson plans responsive to those needs. Before the intervention began, the researchers pre-selected four comparison schools by matching based on achievement and also on demographics. A difference-in-difference analysis finds a significant increase of about 0.11 standard deviation in test scores per year for students in the program schools. Supplementary event study and synthetic control analyses to detect year-by-year effects lack precision but are weakly suggestive of a smaller impact in year 1 than later years. A cost analysis considers the affordability of extending similar programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We establish a trace inequality of symplectic matrices via a more general trace minimization theorem. As a consequence, we derive another proof of a result in [R. Bhatia, T. Jain, On symplectic eigenvalues of positive-definite matrices, J. Math. Phys., 56 (2015),112201.]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A wide range of reforms to improve the teaching capacities of pre-service and in-service teachers have been carried out in Kosovo. In assessing the success of these previous interventions, large-scale assessment data is invaluable. In 2019, 4754 students from 145 schools participated in the TIMSS assessment. Results reveal that student's performance, in mathematics and science, is significantly higher when teachers are clear in their instructions, satisfied with their job, and have more teaching experience. Teacher qualifications also impact achievement, with students performing higher when the teacher only has a secondary education without a bachelor's degree. Students' higher readiness for instruction, preferences for the subjects, and confidence in their abilities are linked to higher literacy levels. Finally, TIMSS data of the 2019 study also raise questions regarding the type of homework assigned to students, the importance of experience over qualifications, and the academization of teacher preparation programs that may hinder practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]