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This paper describes the collaborative development of an agenda for research on e-assessment in undergraduate mathematics. We built on an established approach to develop the agenda from the contributions of 22 mathematics education researchers, university teachers and learning technologists interested in this topic. The resulting set of 55 research questions are grouped into 5 broad themes: errors and feedback, student interactions with e-assessment, design and implementation choices, affordances offered by e-assessment tools, and mathematical skills. This agenda gives a framework for a programme of research aligned with practical concerns that will contribute to both theoretical and practical development.

The impact of discharge from effluent treatment plants (ETP) into water bodies is a matter of great concern to most organizations. A series ofenvironmental legislation, norms and policies establish standards and guiding values to define the level of treatment necessary to ensure that the environmental impact caused by the disposal of treated sewage is acceptable. In this conception, the objective of this studyis to propose the optimization of the process, the increase in the efficiency of the effluent treatment plant and the reduction of expenses with chemical products. The study was carried out in a food company located in the state of Santa Catarina. By controlling the input Ph, analyzing whether it is necessary to use sodium hydroxide atthe station, and carrying out the initial test, the company will save time and optimize the process. O impacto da descarga de estações de tratamento de efluente (ETE) em corpos d'água é uma questão de grande preocupação para a maioria dasorganizações. Uma série de legislações, normas e políticas ambientais estabelecem padrões e valores orientadores para definir o nível de tratamento necessário a fim de garantir que o impacto ambiental causado pelo descarte do esgoto tratado seja aceitável. Nessa concepção, o objetivo desse estudo é a proposta de otimização do processo, o aumento da eficiência da estação de tratamento de efluente e a redução de gastos com produtos químicos. O estudo foi realizado em uma empresa de alimentos localizada, no estado de Santa Catarina. Controlando o Ph de entrada, analisando se é necessário utilizar hidróxido de sódio na estação e fazendo o teste inicial, a empresa poupara tempo e otimizará o processo.

‘That it is possible to find the form of the Lorentz transformations without requiring the speed of light to be the same in every inertial system is rediscovered about every thirty years and, rightly, forgotten.’ This proposition alongside the doctoral dissertation of Hendrik Smid in 1986 provides food for thought: Is the light postulate of special relativity, which gives the speed of light c in vacuum its status of maximum and unchanging speed, indeed not necessary? What kind of physical world are you then left with? What could be the value of discussing this in class? In this paper we show how the Lorentz transformation, which describes the relationship between two coordinate systems moving relative to each other at a constant speed, can indeed be derived by replacing the light postulate by another assumption, namely the requirement of closure under composition of transformations that relate inertial frames of reference (i.e. two successive coordinate transformations of certain type can be written as one transformation of the same type). Although well known in specialised literature of physics research, the remarkable insight that c is somehow buried in nature is hardly mentioned in pre-university and bachelor’s physics courses and textbooks. Yet, the presented comprehensible approach may support the understanding and plausibility of the abstract subject of special relativity. Mathematics may go too far for an average pre-university student, but this subject would certainly not be out of place in an undergraduate physics course or a physics teacher course. Although many teachers do not know that the light postulate of special relativity can be replaced by another assumption or may not appreciate such replacement as part of their teaching of the topic, it offers in our opinion an opportunity to inform students that a critical look at postulates and an investigation of alternatives is an essential part of the nature of science.

This paper describes the collaborative development of an agenda for research on e-assessment in university mathematics. We adapted an established approach to develop the agenda from the contributions of 22 mathematics education researchers, university teachers and learning technologists interested in this topic. The resulting set of 55 questions are grouped into 5 broad themes: errors and feedback, students, design and implementation, affordances, and mathematical skills. This agenda gives the framework for a programme of research aligned with practical concerns, that will contribute to both theoretical and practical development.

The book presents developmental outcomes from an EU Erasmus+ project involving eight partner universities in seven countries in Europe. Its focus is the development of mathematics teaching and learning at university level to enhance the learning of mathematics by university students. Its theoretical focus is inquiry-based teaching and learning. It bases all activity on a three-layer model of inquiry: (1) Inquiry in mathematics and in the learning of mathematics in lecture, tutorial, seminar or workshop, involving students and teachers; (2) Inquiry in mathematics teaching involving teachers exploring and developing their own practices in teaching mathematics; (3) Inquiry as a research process, analysing data from layers (1) and (2) to advance knowledge inthe field. As required by the Erasmus+ programme, it defines Intellectual Outputs (IOs) that will develop in the project. PLATINUM has six IOs: The Inquiry-based developmental model; Inquiry communities in mathematics learning and teaching; Design of mathematics tasks and teaching units; Inquiry-based professional development activity; Modelling as an inquiry process; Evalutation of inquiry activity with students. The project has developed Inquiry Communities, in each of the partner groups, in which mathematicians and educators work together in supportive collegial ways to promote inquiry processes in mathematics learning and teaching. Through involving students in inquiry activities, PLATINUM aims to encourage students` own in-depth engagement with mathematics, so that they develop conceptual understandings which go beyond memorisation and the use of procedures. Indeed the eight partners together have formed an inquiry community, working together to achieve PLATINUM goals within the specific environments of their own institutions and cultures. Together we learn from what we are able to achieve with respect to both common goals and diverse environments, bringing a richness of experience and learning to this important area of education. Inquiry communities enable participants to address the tensions and issues that emerge in developmental processes and to recognise the critical nature of the developmental process. Through engaging in inquiry-based development, partners are enabled and motivated to design activities for their peers, and for newcomers to university teaching of mathematics, to encourage their participation in new forms of teaching, design of teaching, and activities for students. Such professional development design is an important outcome of PLATINUM. One important area of inquiry-based activity is that of “modelling” in mathematics. Partners have worked together across the project to investigate the nature of modelling activities and their use with students. Overall, the project evaluates its activity in these various parts to gain insights to the sucess of inquiry based teaching, learning and development as well as the issues and tensions that are faced in putting into practice its aims and goals.

When thinking about Olympic winter sports and watching events on television, people mostly focus on events where the chances of success are high for fellow-countrymen. For example, in the Netherlands speed skating is considered the main winter sports event. But with Kimberley Bos there is now also a Dutch medal candidate for the Winter Olympics 2022 in the skeleton discipline. Where speed skaters prepare in summer for the winter season with roller skates, Bos trains on an athletics track with a self-built board on wheels as a replacement for the skeleton. British athletes on the other hand can choose the bobsleigh and skeleton push-start track at the University of Bath for their summer preparation. We prepare for the upcoming Winter Olympics 2022 by taking a physics view on advanced sleighing. We show how school physics helps understanding the motion of athletes in bobsleigh and skeleton and increases respect for the athletes’ performance.

The Research Institute for Applications of Computer Algebra ( RIACA ), in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, has as its goal the research of applications of computer algebra in the fields of mathematics and sciences, engineering, etc. It aims to be an institute with a strong international visibility.

This introductory talk reflects on history, sets up pieces of context, and puts forward a few issues to be hopefully addressed during the meeting.

The current dramatic evolution in information technology is bringing major modifications in the way scientists work and communicate. The concept of electronic information handling -and thus of electronic publishing -encompasses the diverse types of information, the different media, as well as the various communication methodologies and technologies. The structure itself of information has become different by the introduction ofhypertextual links. Fluid information is becoming a common concept. While publication is considered here as a public announcement (no implicit assumption being made as to the medium used), it is obvious that electronic publishing will have to diverge from an electronic version of contributions on paper and will become part of a more general diversified publishing policy. The procedures for validating published material and for evaluating scientific activities will have to be adjusted too. Provision of electronic refereed informa¬ tion independently from commercial publishers is now feasible and even maybe highly recommended in view of strict copyright policies tentatively applied by some publishers to the electronic material. In other terms, scientists and scientific institutions have now the possibility to run an efficient information server with validated (refereed) material without the help of a commercial publisher., Heck André. La publication électronique. In: Bulletin de la Classe des sciences, tome 8, n°1-6, 1997. pp. 21-26.

Our algorithm for stellar luminosity calibrations (based on the principle of maximum likelihood) allows the calibration of relations of the type:Where n is the size of the sample at hand,Mi, are the individual absolute magnitudes,Cijare observational quantities (j = 1, …, N), andqjare the coefficients to be determined.If we put N = 1 and CiN= 1, we havethe mean absolute magnitude of the sample. As additional output, the algorithm provides us also with the dispersion in magnitude of the sample σM, the mean solar motion (U, V, W) and the corresponding velocity ellipsoid (σu, σV, σw).

The IUE project is described, with special emphasis on the IUE data management and archive retrieval.This paper briefly describes a more specific data center providing also a service to the astronomical community, or more precisely a group of data centers dedicated to a given instrument.This instrument is the IUE ( International Ultraviolet Explorer) launched on Jan. 26, 1978 and collecting since then spectral images of all kinds of celestial objects in the ultraviolet wavelength range.

Most professional astronomers do not conduct specific comet-discovery programmes and a new comet is, in general, an intrusion into an observational programme, although one that does, of course, receive all the attention it deserves. Comet discoveries are by-products of professional work. This may also be the case with some amateurs (G.E. Alcock discovered his fifth comet while looking for novae). Most amateur discoveries are the result of active and systematic work. Over the period 1951–70, on average 9 comets per year were discovered by amateurs.The time spent scanning the sky before discovering a comet is typically hundreds of hours. The times of W. Bradfield between his first comets were 260, 306, 145 and 106 hours. Astronomers at Skalnaté Pleso discovered eight comets in six years, averaging one comet for 206 hours of searching. R.D. Austin and R. Meier spent 151 and 105 hours, respectively, between discoveries. These figures are only indicators, because many other factors (including luck) play a part. Alcock’s two comets in six days is quite exceptional.