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Contract cheating is a challenging problem facing higher and further education providers (HE and FE) worldwide. In the UK, contract cheating has been identified as a growing problem by the HEA and, more recently, the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education and the Department for Education. The high rate of contact cheating among students suggests that 8–9% of degrees awarded in the UK are unsafe. To address this issue, the current study with a new approach seeks to investigate student's motivations, experiences, and rationale for using contract cheating from their point of view. Collected data has been subjected to content analysis and the findings show different phases and drivers in this process. This study will help increase awareness among UK academics and education providers about the processes involved in contract cheating and propose a set of recommendations for the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider the problem of parallel-machine scheduling with machine-dependent slack (SLK) due-window assignment in the multitasking environment, which exists in various application domains such as Internet services, project management, and manufacturing. Motivated by practical observations, we extend the original model of multitasking to a more general model where each job's interruption proportion depends on the job itself and its processing position. In the light of individualised service, we consider SLK due-window assignment. Our objective is to minimise the total cost that comprises the earliness, tardiness, and due-window-related costs. Finding that an optimal schedule exists when each machine is occupied by at least one job, we show that the problem is polynomially solvable. We provide a more efficient solution algorithm for a special case of the problem. Finally, we present numerical examples to illustrate the application of the theoretical results and working of the solution algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Literature reviews are often used as part of teaching undergraduates about secondary research. The assignment, however, presents challenges for inexperienced researchers and writers and can be difficult for instructors to read and grade. This "quick fix" piece offers an alternative assignment to begin students in gaining secondary research gathering and synthesis skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A concern in engineering education is students adopting a 'recognise and reproduce' approach to problem solving. In this study, an assignment was conceived and analysed through Legitimation Code Theory – which allows for visualisation of students' thinking, and to illuminate how students construct knowledge in open-ended problem solving. The assignment was based on students posing their own exam-style questions. Evidence for its subjective effect on the students was generated through students' responses to a questionnaire. Most (72%) students found the assignment assisted their understanding and context of the work, while 75% believed the open-ended nature of the assignment would make them better engineers. About 52% said they would change the way they study based on the insights and self-reflection from the assignment. While several students discuss an approach focussed on repetition, recognition, and algorithmic learning, the assignment showed students using an open-ended approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ridesourcing services have emerged as a popular alternative for commuters in metropolitan areas. There is a significant spatio-temporal variation of demand and supply for such services, which requires efficient ride-matching strategies to ensure optimal allocation of trips to drivers and users. This paper reviews different ride-matching techniques/strategies that highlight the outlook of different stakeholders, such as, drivers, users, and service providers and summarises the impacts of the matching process on the ideologies of the stakeholders. The review found that searching techniques guide the primary stakeholders like riders and drivers, and the assignment techniques ensure trip allotment. We also observed that fleet size is an important attribute to ensure availability as well as the assignment of ridesourcing services in an urban area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The assignment of tasks to teams is a challenging combinatorial optimisation problem. The uncertainty in the tasks’ execution processes further complicates the assignment decisions. This study investigates a variant of the typical assignment problem, in which each task can be divided into two parts, one is deterministic and the other is uncertain with respect to their workloads. From the stochastic perspective, this paper proposes both a stochastic programming model that can cope with arbitrary probability distributions of tasks’ random workload requirements, and a robust optimisation model that is applicable to situations in which limited information about probability distributions is available. An example of its application in the software project management is given. Some numerical experiments are also performed to validate the effectiveness of the proposed models and the relationships between the two models. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This case will cover the experiences that the Online Learning Librarian (OLL) and E-resources Librarian (ERL) worked on adding a module about privacy to a 1 credit Information Literacy course at the University of North Florida (UNF). There will be a discussion of what motivated the OLL to include data privacy as a module within Canvas, how the module was implemented, and the student experience in this course. At UNF, librarians have taught undergraduates in LIS1001 "Beginning Library and Information Systems Studies since the 1980s. The course has focused on information literacy and information freedom; data privacy, however, has not been included. Despite this, many students have asked about what happens to their data submitted into UNF systems. When students enter the UNF Thomas G. Carpenter library, they must scan their student IDs, which provides the library statistical data of major, academic standing and other identifying information. In addition, all students, in person or online, must use authentication when logging into computers, into databases, when reading ebooks, etc. Since Dan Feinberg, the OLL, started working at UNF in 2017, students complained to him regarding the data necessary to attend school. These off-the-cuff discussions reflected a desire for information freedom. After discussing privacy issues, the ERL and the OLL decided to come up with a module on data privacy that would work for undergraduates in the LIS1001 course. The OLL and ERL considered what aspects of privacy to cover (i.e. how much on technology) and resources to include, focusing on materials appropriate for undergraduates and that related to their experience. The OLL developed and built a unique module in Canvas that was used already in one course and will be used in future semesters. Within this structure, students learned about privacy issues in higher education and expressed their interpretations of privacy, what it means to them, and considered what they are willing and able to sacrifice to maintain privacy as college students in 2020. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contains an in-depth exploration of the relation between police code of silence and police assignment. A police integrity survey was used to measure the contours of the code among Croatian patrol officers, detectives, and community-policing officers. Samples of police officers evaluated fourteen hypothetical scenarios describing various forms of police misconduct. Whereas the type of assignment was a weak predictor of the respondents' adherence to the code of silence, the respondents' assessments of misconduct seriousness and expected discipline, as well as perceptions whether other officers would report misconduct, were strong predictors of the respondents' own expressed adherence to the code. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article introduces the schedule assignment problem for public transit, which aims to assign vehicle blocks of a planning period to buses in the fleet of a transportation company. This assignment has to satisfy several constraints, the most important of which is compatibility, meaning that certain blocks can only be serviced by buses belonging to given types. Other constraints come from the fact that the problem considers a long-term plan for several days or weeks, which means that daily parking and periodic maintenance activities also have to be taken into account. We give a state-expanded multi-commodity flow network for the above problem. This model takes parking constraints into account, and also assigns preventive maintenance tasks to buses after serving blocks for a fixed amount of time. The solutions of this model are presented for real-life and randomly generated instances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When evaluating a clustering solution, we often have to compare alternative solutions – e.g., to address clustering stability or external validity. Each comparison essentially relies on a contingency table referring to a pair of (crisp) clustering solutions. These data is commonly used as an input to: (1) an assignment problem, to match the clusters of the two partitions; (2) determine several indices of agreement; (3) represent the two partitions in a two-dimensional map resorting to Correspondence Analysis. We propose using the Multidimensional Unfolding (MDU) technique to picture the cross-classification data between two partitions, complementing a clustering evaluation analysis and overcoming some limitations of the traditional approaches (1) to (3). This approach relies on a new similarity measure that excludes agreement between clusters due to chance alone. The resulting MDU map is very easy to interpret, picturing agreement between clustering solutions: the further apart are the clusters (represented by points) from the two partitions, the larger the (Euclidean) distances between the corresponding points. Two applications illustrate the relevance of this approach: an application to a data set on UCI Machine Learning Repository to access clustering external validity; and an application to greenhouse gas emissions data to address the temporal stability of clustering solutions, the clusters of European countries, which have homogeneous sources of pollutant emissions, being compared over three years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The integrated planning of several activities implicated in paper production can lead to remarkable gains in terms of raw materials and resource usage. However, activities such as order assignment, production sequencing and cutting planning are usually addressed separately while ignoring the interactions among these processes. But the quality of the solution resulting from the juxtaposition of the partial solutions is not guaranteed, and may have a significant impact in terms of inefficiency of global performance. This article considers production planning in a pulp and paper industry in order to meet a set of orders of diverse types of products, admitting the possibility of producing simultaneously in two or more paper machines with their own features. The developed approach, ASC-3Steps, considers not only cutting optimisation but also extends itself to the processes of assigning orders to paper machines and production sequencing at each machine. Minimisation of wasted paper is assumed to be the overall goal. A set of computational results based on real data is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivated by foundry service provisioning in the semiconductor industry, this paper adopts a reverse auction-based mechanism to model job order assignment from a job owner (auctioneers) to a few qualified and competing foundry fabs (bidders). A job order owner announces job requirements and payments for fabs to bid on while qualified fabs bid on a job by offering the discount to payment and processing schedule of the job. This model aims at capturing the non-cooperative gaming among the job owner and the fabs because of the private information such as objectives, valuation of jobs, available capacity and constraints. Two integer-programming formulations are formulated for the reverse auction of job assignment; one is deterministic and models a common practice of mean value-based bidder decision-making while the other is stochastic and captures bidders' consideration of uncertainties and the associated risk in decision-making. A Lagrange relaxation-based, near-optimal scheduling method is developed to model a bidder's selection of job-to-bid and schedule for the deterministic formulation. The bidder's job selection and scheduling model for the stochastic formulation combines simulation and simple heuristics. A bidder decides the discount offer for each job-to-bid by a simple fixed-increment scheme. The auctioneer simply assigns the job to the bid with the highest discount offer in each round of bidding. Analyses show that the reverse auction model leads to an equilibrium solution, where no single bidder would unilaterally deviate from the auction result. Numerical study by using the reverse auction model demonstrates that consideration of uncertainties in bidders' decisions has a larger impact on performance of both bidders and the auctioneer than optimality of the mean value-based bidder scheduling algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The assignment of claims is of indisputable commercial significance. With the ever-growing globalization this is not only true for national but also for cross-border transactions. However, the current situation leaves parties with great legal uncertainty when it comes to cross-border assignments. Currently, the Rome I-Regulation provides no satisfactory provision. Particularly, there is no provision regulating the most important aspect regarding third-party effects. Therefore, it is highly welcome that the Commission’s Capital Markets Union Action Plan has created new momentum in this regard. A new attempt is made to establish a conflict of laws rule relating to third-party effects. This Article reviews the current status of the relevant provision in the Rome I-Regulation and the possible adjustments. It is submitted that of the mainly promoted views for a conflict of laws rule regarding third-party effects (law of the underlying claim, law of the assignment and law of the seat of the assignor), a mixed rule would aggravate the legal uncertainty and that instead, the law of the underlying claim should govern third-party effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The benefits of in-class discussion, a form of active learning, are well-documented; in particular, discussions allow students the opportunity to learn from their peers. Yet students often treat discussions as ‘down’ or ‘free’ time. If students are not taking notes during discussion and reviewing those notes later on, they may not be learning much from this activity, despite their professed understanding of its value. This article reviews the benefits of discussion and the important functions of note-taking before introducing an online weekly reflection assignment that was designed to motivate students to take notes during discussion, particularly on their peers' contributions. An analysis of past weekly reflection text and survey data from students confirms the utility of the assignment. Intended and unintended benefits of the weekly reflection assignment are shared, as well as its limitations. The conclusion offers suggestions for future areas of research to complement this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conventional graded assignments are commonly structured in a format where students attempt a prescribed question and are graded based on the completeness of their workings rather than the understanding of concepts. An alternative assignment format was proposed which requires students to identify and explain mistakes in a given set of workings based on a question. Questionnaire responses from 243 civil engineering undergraduates from National University of Singapore showed that majority preferred this format. They also felt that it enhanced their learning and thinking ability. However, based on results, students fared better in the conventional format due to its familiarity. Furthermore, students were generally over-optimistic about their grades. A possible reason could be the misinterpretation of the requirements of the alternative format. As such, role play was introduced to clarify concerns raised by students. Analysis also showed that students who are academically inclined reaped greater benefits from the new approach as compared to students who are not as strong academically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To the author’s knowledge, this is the first Australian study to empirically compare the use of a multiple-choice questionnaire (MCQ) with the use of a written assignment for interim, summative law school assessment. This study also surveyed the same student sample as to what types of assessments are preferred and why. In total, 182 undergraduate property law students participated in this study. Results showed that scores for the MCQ (assessing five topics) and assignment (assessing one topic) followed a similar distribution. This indicates that an MCQ does not necessarily skew students towards higher grades than an assignment. Results also showed significant but low correlations of test scores across instruments. When asked which instrument best assessed their knowledge of property law, students expressed a strong preference for an assignment over an MCQ or examination. Comments revealed a strong belief that, because lawyers write, law schools must assess legal writing – a skill not captured by MCQs. This study is important as many Australian law schools face increasing marking loads due to higher student numbers and compulsory mid-term assessments. This article endorses the use of MCQs but only as part of a diverse suite of law school assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study contributes to the on-going discourse on calibration among University students. The study examines the understanding of student self-reflectivity in relation to class written tests and assignments, and of the fact that students' expected results rarely match the actual results. A quantitative research approach was adopted to collect data from third-year and honours management students at a university in South Africa. The sample population for the class test was 105 out of 205 students, while the sample population for the assignment was 71 out of 205 students. The method applied involved asking students to forecast their result before and after the class test or the assignment. The evaluation process involved a comparison of students' expected results and the actual performance in both cases. The findings reveal that students' perception and understanding of the questions in the class test and the assignment contribute immensely to their individual performance. A limitation on this study is that data were collected from students within the management discipline only. Insights from this study can be used to develop assessment methods that are in sync with changes in the present-day education environment. The study contributes to an understanding of curriculum development within the context of challenges facing the educational system in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This pilot study uses a quantitative linguistic analysis to assess evidence of agency and control, as well as treatment engagement, in letters written by men (N = 46, 37% Latino) participating in a batterer intervention program. At the program’s conclusion, men were asked to imagine their situation in 5 years and write a letter from their “future self” to their “present self.” Letters were scored for grammatical representations of agency and objectification, and temporal complexity. Results showed that the men tended to grant themselves the subject position (conferring agency) and to grant others the object position (deferring or denying agency) by almost equal margins, both rhetorical maneuvers suggesting an objectifying stance toward others. Moreover, they employed several strategies to address temporality, with more complex strategies suggesting greater treatment engagement. Findings suggest that quantitative linguistic analysis is a promising tool for assessing participants’ progress in and engagement with treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Consideration is given to the economic manpower shift planning (EMSP) problem, an NP-hard capacity planning problem appearing in various industrial settings including the packing stage of production in process industries and maintenance operations. EMSP aims to determine the manpower needed in each available workday shift of a given planning horizon so as to complete a set of independent jobs at minimum cost. Three greedy heuristics are presented for the EMSP solution. These practically constitute adaptations of an existing algorithm for a simplified version of EMSP which had shown excellent performance in terms of solution quality and speed. Experimentation shows that the new algorithms perform very well in comparison to the results obtained by both the CPLEX optimizer and an existing metaheuristic. Statistical analysis is deployed to rank the algorithms in terms of their solution quality and to identify the effects that critical planning factors may have on their relative efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article focuses on how the sexuality of convict women transported in the first half of the nineteenth century to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) was monitored by the British establishment. A series of Victorian enquiries into the convict system were set up to report on the efficacy of transportation. I argue that the anxious discussion and ensuing policies used to observe, curtail, punish, and “correct” convict women's bodies reveal the processes by which Victorian gender, class, and race regimes were socially constructed. Further, the article argues that convict women used various tools of resistance and defiance, one of which was the formation of lesbian sub-cultures as the embodiment of sexual dissidence. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The considered problem consists in optimizing the refueling costs of a fleet of locomotives over a railway network. The goal consists in determining the number of trucks contracted for each yard (truck assignment problem) and to determine the refueling plan of each locomotive (fuel distribution problem), while minimizing the costs and satisfying constraints. A two-levels approach is proposed to tackle this NP-hard problem. Three metaheuristics (namely a descent procedure, a tabu search, and an ant local search algorithm) are proposed for the truck assignment level, and a flow model is designed for the fuel distribution level. A post-optimization procedure can be combined with the latter flow model. Six algorithms are proposed for the whole problem, and were tested on a realistic instance proposed by the Railway Applications Section of INFORMS. Competitive results were obtained. A strength of the proposed approach is its flexibility, as it can be easily adapted to non linear cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes an offline wavelength assignment technique for de Bruijn (d, k) optical wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) networks having nodal degree d and diameter k that can support lightpaths between pair of nodes. Each lightpath uses a channel (wavelength) along each link in its route. An efficient algorithm is proposed that can be used to assign wavelengths to lightpath requests in O(k|V|) time, where |V| represents the number of nodes of the de Bruijn network and V represents the set of nodes. The proposed algorithm can be efficiently used for wavelength assignment in de Bruijn WDM networks having limited wavelength conversion capabilities. This work shows that de Bruijn graph can be expressed as union of edge-disjoint rings. Wavelengths are assigned for the individual rings in the graph thus resulting in the assignment for the graph itself. Results are shown for a given de Bruijn graph and for an arbitrary request. The proposed algorithm is compared with two other algorithms, which use two other known works of wavelength assignment on ring topology. Comparisons of the time complexity and the type of wavelength conversion required for these algorithms clearly show that the proposed algorithm is a faster and more efficient way of assigning wavelengths. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The teaching of introductory computer programming seems far from successful, with many first-year students performing more poorly than expected. One possible reason for this is that novices hold 'non-viable' mental models (internal explanations of how something works) of key programming concepts which then cause misconceptions and difficulties. An initial study investigated the apparent viability of novices' models of fundamental programming concepts, focusing on value and reference assignment. This revealed that many students appeared to hold 'non-viable' mental models of these key concepts and that those students who appeared to hold viable mental models performed significantly better in programming tasks than those with non-viable models. To address this, a teaching model integrating cognitive conflict and program visualisation is proposed. A series of studies found that this teaching model is potentially effective in enhancing engagement with learning materials and may therefore help novice programmers develop a better understanding of key concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We solve a due-window assignment problem on parallel identical machines. In addition to the standard objective of finding the optimal job schedule, in due-window assignment problems one has to assign a time interval during which goods are delivered to customers with no cost. Jobs scheduled prior to or after the due-window are penalized according to their earliness/tardiness value. We assume that jobs have identical processing times, but may have job-dependent earliness and tardiness costs (eg, due to possible different destinations). We show that the problem can be reduced to a non-standard asymmetric assignment problem, and introduce an efficient (O(n4)) solution procedure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The elastic generalized assignment problem (eGAP) is a natural extension of the generalized assignment problem (GAP) where the capacities are not fixed but can be adjusted; this adjustment can be expressed by continuous variables. These variables might be unbounded or restricted by a lower or upper bound, respectively. This paper concerns techniques aiming at reducing several variants of eGAP to GAP, which enables us to employ standard approaches for the GAP. This results in a heuristic, which can be customized in order to provide solutions having an objective value arbitrarily close to the optimal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dial's algorithm is one of the most effective and popular procedures for a logit-type stochastic traffic assignment, as it does not require path enumeration over a network. However, a fundamental problem associated with the algorithm is its simple definition of 'efficient paths', which sometimes produces unrealistic flow patterns. In this paper, an improved algorithm based on the route extension coefficient is proposed in order to circumvent this problem, in which 'efficient paths' simultaneously consider link travel cost and minimum travel cost. Path enumeration is still not required and a similar computing efficiency with the original algorithm is guaranteed. A limitation of the algorithm is that it can only be applied to a directed acyclic network because a topological sorting algorithm is used to decide the order of the sequential calculation. A numerical example based on the Beijing subway network illustrates the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. It is found that it is able to exclude most unrealistic paths, but include all reasonable paths when compared with path enumeration and the original Dial's algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The assignment of molecular vibrations by diabatic correlation diagrams does not work in the form originally implemented by Rose and Kellman [J. Chem. Phys. 105, 7348 (1996)] for the class of states of CHBrClF where the two bend modes couple to rotating and counter-rotating motion. We show that an improved version of diabatic correlation, where we allow the variation of some additional parameters, works quite well. This improved diabatic correlation also provides a simplified Hamiltonian for the class of states under study. The results coming out of the improved correlation method are compared with the assignment coming out of a graphical method [C. Jung, E. Ziemniak, and H.S. Taylor, J. Chem. Phys. 115, 2499 (2001)]; they coincide perfectly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The structural assignment of amescla resin was carried out using a methodology already established in a previous work published by Tavares and Silva. From the methodology, three structural fragments were determined, allowing us to conclude that this natural resin was polymerized from the double bond localized in the middle of the aliphatic chain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the petrol station replenishment problem (PSRP), the aim is to deliver petroleum products to petrol stations by means of an unlimited heterogeneous fleet of compartmented tank trucks. The problem consists of jointly determining quantities to deliver within a given interval, of allocating products to tank truck compartments and of designing delivery routes to stations. This article describes an exact algorithm which decomposes the PSRP into a truck loading problem and a routing problem. An algorithm which makes use of assignment, optimality tests and possibly standard ILP algorithm is proposed to solve the loading problem. The routing problem is handled using two different strategies, based either on a matching approach or on a column generation scheme. This algorithm was extensively tested on randomly generated data and on a real-life case arising in Eastern Quebec. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We show how a classification and assignment for highly excited molecular vibrational states obtained previously by wave function inspection can also be obtained by analytic perturbative methods. This gives additional insight into the meaning of the classification. In addition it allows one to predict beforehand in which region of the spectrum which class of states is to be expected. As examples we present the class of states in DCO which are based on the coupling of the bend with the DC stretch, the class of states of DCO without any coupling and the bend vibrational states of acetylene at both ends of the spectrum within a given polyad. Thereby we learn the exact definition and meaning of the transverse quantum numbers. As a byproduct we get for the nonintegrable original Hamiltonian, integrable approximations which are valid in a restricted region of the phase space classically or for one class of states quantum mechanically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adaptability is critical to success in business. Yet, many businesses in the UK occupy premises on fixed term leases, which run for several years, a feature that has great appeal to investors. However, during this time property requirements can change. This research critically examines the three main mechanisms by which tenants can bring their leases to an end, breaks, assignment and subletting. We examine the legal rules governing these devices and undertake analyses of lease data and interview and questionnaire surveys. The research finds that break clauses are an increasingly common exit mechanism agreed in the leases of office and industrial property tenants but are less frequent in retail markets. However they are not usually operated, raising questions about their purpose and timing. Breaks cannot give the more general flexibility of assignment and subletting, although these latter clauses are not often part of lease negotiations. Landlords have legitimate reasons for preventing some assignment and subletting but can be unnecessarily restrictive on some aspects. Addressing the disparate concerns of both sides of the landlord and tenant relationship on lease flexibility is a challenge to the property industry and to policy makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes new proximity measures for assignment algorithms for the Multi-Depot Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows (MDVRPTW). Given the intrinsic difficulty of this problem class, two-step approximation methods of the type ‘cluster first, route second’ seem to be the most promising for practical size problems. The focus is on the clustering phase, the assignment of customers to depots. Our approach is to extend the existing metrics with time windows. New measures that include time windows and distances are added to two assignment heuristics, that previously only used distance to evaluate proximity between customers and depots. A computational study of their performance is presented, which shows that the inclusion of time windows in the measures of proximity gives better results, in terms of routing, than only using the distance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the relationship between achievement goals and some important learning-related variables in the completion of a course assignment. The research on achievement goals is reviewed and two contentious issues—the nature of performance goals and the effects of multiple goals—are highlighted. Three hundred and seventy-three Chinese distance learners in Hong Kong participated in a mailed survey. A correlation analysis revealed that their mastery goals were adaptive to learning; but, in contrast, work-avoidance goals were maladaptive to the processes of completing an assignment. A mixed pattern of association was found with performance-approach goals. Using a median-split technique, the participants were classified into four different groups of ‘multiple-goal learners’. MANOVA tests showed that mastery-focused learners had the most adaptive pattern of learning and engagement in completing the assignment, followed in order by balanced-goal learners, performance-focused learners and performance-anxious learners. The results are discussed in light of achievement goal research conducted using campus-based students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The generalized assignment problem (GAP) has been studied by numerous researchers over the past 30 years or so. Simply stated, one must find a minimum-cost assignment of tasks to agents such that each task is assigned to exactly one agent and such that each agent's resource capacity is honoured. The problem is known to be NP-hard. In this paper, we study the elastic generalized assignment problem (EGAP). The elastic version of GAP allows agent resource capacity to be violated at additional cost. Another version allows undertime costs to be assessed as well if an agent's resource capacity is not used to its full extent. The EGAP is also NP-hard. We describe a special-purpose branch-and-bound algorithm that utilizes linear programming cuts, feasible solution generators, Lagrangean relaxation and subgradient optimization. We present computational results on a large collection of randomly generated `hard' problems with up to 4000 binary variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transportation of over 160,000 convicts to Australia during the period 1788–1868 provided unfree labour for both government and private projects. Prisoners involved in the latter were known as 'assigned servants' and carried out a variety of work for their 'masters'. In spite of accusations at the time from critics of the system, they were not slaves. Not only did they retain rights under the law but most of them eventually became free members of society. In the process they worked for both 'emancipists' (ex-convicts) and free settlers, contributing in some instances to the attainment of an élite status by the latter. Archibald Clunes Innes was an example of this colonial 'aristocracy', creating at his estate a microcosm of hierarchical British society in which assigned servants played a crucial part. Circumstances ultimately frustrated his ambitions but the archaeological record provides an opportunity to test the extent to which social and economic differences between the Innes family and their servants, and between free and bond individuals among those servants, can be identified in the physical evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fighter aircraft protect specific facilities on alert in the air by patrolling expectation zones. These zones are located in the direction from which enemy aircraft attacks are expected; fighter formations are sent from them to intercept enemy aircraft. The problem considered in this paper is to determine the optimum assignment of fighter plane formations to enemy formations. The proposed solution is based on fuzzy logic and integer linear programming. A numerical example is given to illustrate the application possibilities of the proposed solution. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Expatriate relocation is a complex process which is influenced by a variety of issues. One issue, the dual-career couple, increases the likelihood of dissatisfaction and failure of the foreign assignment. The trailing spouse plays a critical role in the amount of stress/conflict experienced by the expatriate and she/he is key to increasing the success rate of expatriate managers. This research reports on a survey of 258 dual-career couples and their concerns with: (1) willingness to relocate; (2) unique adjustment issues; (3) stress/conflict generating situations; and (4) the type/level of support provided by the expatriate managers' MNCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]